BY SUNG CHOI

In print | Published February 21, 2008

The decisions made in the 2020 planning process will mark a pivotal moment in the history of Swarthmore College. We, as a college community, must boldly reaffirm our commitment to true diversity and critical multiculturalism by taking this opportunity to redefine the standards of undergraduate education. As we heard Maurice Eldridge speak this week about his experiences here decades ago, we were reminded that this noble institution’s founding ideal of social justice cannot remain in the ethereal realm of words but must be ceaselessly embodied in our every action and deed. We cannot stop to applaud ourselves for being ahead of our peers and our time when we have the ability to become the leaders of tomorrow, today.

Galvanized by this chance to leave a legacy even better than the one we inherited, students primarily from the Intercultural Center and Black Cultural Center communities have gathered over the past several weeks in order to delineate the concrete steps necessary to reach these goals. At the same time, we have become very concerned with what we see as the under-representation of student voices within the capital campaign and its planning processes.

First and foremost, we believe that Swarthmore’s commitment to diversity must be reflected in all facets of the college. This means filling in the geographic and cultural gaps in our curriculum and expanding course offerings in American/Ethnic Studies with the goal of developing a minor and major in the field. It also means having a faculty and staff as diverse as the student body, providing spaces and funds that reflect the large and growing size of the IC/BCC communities and removing the last vestiges of an inequitable admissions process by providing need-blind admissions to international students.

The college must also commit to fully supporting its diverse students and communities. The college must start by aiding students with their transition to life at Swarthmore by providing an expanded international orientation as well as a new bridge program for those coming from underprivileged school systems.

Afterwards, it must continue its support in the form of mentoring across the board, for women pursuing careers in the natural sciences, for members of underrepresented communities interested in pursuing professional degrees or for those in need of financial aid counseling.

No less important is the pressing need to expand the IC and BCC staff in a manner befitting its size and mission. In addition, emergency funds must be made available to students who find themselves in a variety of unexpected situations such as being financially cut off by their parents because of their queer identity.

Lastly, student voices should be fully structured into the framework of the college’s decision-making process. In addition to the future implementation of increased transparency and plenary sessions, there must be greater student representation in the planning process at hand. The Student Council president and vice president alone simply cannot fully represent the diverse voices of the student body. Moreover, committee meetings should not be the only forum to collect student opinion concerning Swarthmore and its future. This inadequacy in student representation threatens Swarthmore’s ideals of community, consensus and self-determination.

Therefore, we call upon the college and the Board of Managers to firmly uphold these principles and provide a forum for discussion with a larger cross-section of the student body. We specifically ask that the leaders of the IC and BCC be given an opportunity to meet with you in the very near future if not at this upcoming board of managers meeting in order to share our vision of Swarthmore in 2020.

The following persons have directly contributed to and/or endorsed this op-ed: Keith Benjamin ’09 (SASS, ABLE), Grace Kaissal ’10 (Enlace), Maria Kelly ’10 (COLORS), Tamara Demoor ’10 (Multi), Isabel Rivera ’10 (Enlace), Arthur Chyan ’10 (SAO, FoTS), Sarah Apt ’10 (White Women Against Racism), Humzah Soofi ’10 (MSA, Deshi), Sofia Saiyed ’10 (MSA, Deshi), Tatiana Cozzarelli ’08 (SQU), Valerie Vassor ’10 (SOCA), Kofi Anguah ’09 (NSBE) and Shumpei Tse ’10 (I-20).

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