BY LAUREN MENDOZA

In print | Published November 8, 2007

This November is Swarthmore’s third annual Class Awareness Month. CAM is a month when Swarthmore students can reflect on how their social class influences their academic experience at Swarthmore. Although for many students class significantly shapes how they assimilate to Swarthmore’s rigorous academic environment, attendance to CAM events declined after the initial year. Taking advantage of the panels and discussions can be a valuable experience for everyone, especially students who feel their class influences their identity at Swat. By digging deeper into class issues and seeking the support offered during CAM, we can improve the long-term support resources for students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Unlike race, gender or sexuality, class is one of the less talked about pieces of a student’s identity at Swarthmore. Class is often an uncomfortable topic of discussion because it is not necessarily a visible trait. Swarthmore has students from various socio-economic backgrounds, so it can be uncomfortable for a student to initiate a conversation about how money, or the lack of it, has influenced him with someone who possibly doesn’t share the same experiences. Addressing issues of class requires students to come out of their class closets and share their personal backgrounds, so many simply choose not to bring it up.

Although class isn’t a primary subject of discussion at Swat, once a student returns home or graduates and enters the real world, class matters. In our contemporary capitalist society, social advancement is on everyone’s mind. Many Swarthmore students are here to enrich their minds, while some are also here because it was the natural thing for them to do since everyone in their family went to college. But some students are here because they know if they want to have the money to live comfortably, they need a degree to get a high paying job. They know their family does not have the money to support them after school. For these working-class college students, coming to Swarthmore can be a rough transition, especially since there are very few prominent support networks available to them, despite all the pressure they are under to succeed. Being a student from a low income family at Swat is comparable to being in class limbo. On the one hand, they can feel separated from upper class peers who seem to have made an easy transition into the upper class academic world. On the other hand, they can feel separated from their former sense of self as a low income student, since they are in fact going to a highly ranked college, a choice often associated with being a member of the upper class. These factors make support networking and discussions extremely useful for first generation and lower income college students.

Many students come from a place where they were part of the same social class as all their friends. Many first-generation college students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are not used to the environment of a college with a billion-dollar endowment, or with having peers from the upper class. When they arrive at Swarthmore, they are exposed to challenging academics and are expected to promptly learn challenging material, an extremely different experience from what they were used to at their high schools. For example, coming from a public school where they were expected to do most of the work on their own, these students can initially feel apprehensive about approaching their professors or deans, or unsure of how to adjust to constantly having an overwhelming amount of work. When they see how easily some of their peers who went to private school have made the transition to college, they can feel discouraged if they are not making the same progress.

In an environment where class is an awkward subject, seeking support is difficult. In order to completely dissolve class barriers in a student’s education, the college needs to acknowledge that not all students can comfortably adjust to the college environment without putting class out into open discussion. They need to feel comfortable about seeking help. If the college encouraged more student discussions year-round, if academic advisors talked to students about class issues in the beginning of their first year, or even if the deans addressed class-consciousness during orientation week, it would help create a comfortable space for students to seek the help they need. By emphasizing that people at Swarthmore are open to talking about class issues and are willing to offer support, the deans, faculty, and wealthier students can help ease a low income student’s adjustment.

Swarthmore provides students many resources to remove class related issues, such as offering free printing in the library, free entrance into Paces parties, meal plans and numerous free campus events. Class issues still come up when students discuss their break plans, summer internships or jobs, or even when they order take-out from the Ville. For some students these actions do not seem like potential stress factors, but many do not feel comfortable telling their friends, “I can’t get this internship I really want because I have to work in order to pay for my books,” or “I can’t go home for break because I can’t afford the plane ticket.” Bringing up such issues is especially uncomfortable if it is the first time students talk openly about class.

Class Activists, the group responsible for hosting CAM, is one of the few groups that promotes discussion focusing on class awareness. Unlike the numerous intercultural or gender and sexuality resources, low income students have few places where they can comfortably find support networks. What can students do when they feel helpless about adjusting to this environment? Where can they go, and to whom can they speak? Because there are so few opportunities and resources for students to address their concerns about how their class affects their learning experience, students can feel alienated from help. CAM is a chance for students to find the support they need, as well as a good way to get people talking about class issues and to improve long-term assistance for first generation and low-income students. In order to see any improvements, students need to first participate in CAM. Low-income and first-generation students should take this opportunity to speak up about the impact class has on them at Swarthmore, so that it can become a more prevalent issue on campus. At that point these students will be able to find the support they need to thrive here, as well as help build support networks for future Swatties with similar backgrounds.

CAM is a great start in raising awareness of class issues on campus, but the College and the students need to give more attention to class issues like they do other prevailing issues on campus. Until stronger support networks exist for the working-class and low-income students on campus, these students will continue to lack the opportunity for an easier, more class sensitive adjustment to life at Swat.

Lauren is a sophomore. You can reach her at lmendoz1@swarthmore.edu.

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