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Xingyyu Zhang | Phoenix Staff

Rebecca Chopp spoke Friday in the Lang Music Hall for the sophomore collection.

BY LINDA HOU

In print | Published October 8, 2009

“Fall in love! Not with that attractive person sitting three rows in front of you in calculus class, but with an intellectual vision of the future you probably can’t even imagine at the moment,” President Rebecca Chopp said last Friday at the first ever Swarthmore Sophomore Collection, quoting MIT biology professor Nancy Hopkins.

Against the backdrop of the Lang Music Building, Chopp addressed the group of about 80 sophomores on what she called the new PPR — Passion, Practice, and Responsibility. At the collection, Chopp urged sophomores to not only find their passions but also to discover the passions of others.

“Even as you study the subjects faculty members teach you, study the faculty as exemplars of passionate living. Learn how they discovered their passion, learn also what it takes in order for a passion to be successfully pursued,” Chopp said. “Every single faculty member you meet … has devoted her life to studying the impact of race on electoral politics, or developing the new field of ecological developmental biology, or exposing students to the art of Taiko, which some believe is the perfect marriage of dance and drumming, or analyzing terrorist acts and governmental and societal responses to them, or exploring adaptive robotics and artificial intelligence, or… I could go on!”

Although it was once customary to have a college-wide collection every week, Swarthmore has long since stopped that tradition. When that ended there has only been the freshman collection during orientation week. Dean of Class 2012 Myrt Westphal said that she wanted to recreate the experience, if not as ritualistic, for sophomores.

The collection is part of Westphal’s series of programs aimed at fighting “the sophomore slump.”
In addition to a speech by Chopp, there were also an introduction by Westphal and a reception and food afterward.

After attending the event, Kristen Allen ’12 said that Chopp’s “speech about intellectual passion” inspired her to develop closer communication with her professors.

“She encouraged me to do something that I never would have done, which was to talk to my professors and ask them why they do their work,” Allen said. “I’m definitely going to do that … I think it was nice she directed [her speech] toward that one thing.”

As part of the anti-sophomore slump program, sophomores were also given a coupon to take a professor out for coffee. Chopp suggested that students ask their professors three questions: Did they find a passion or did passion find them? How does one master the reason, practices and habits necessary to pursue a passion? Does intellectual passion come with responsibility?

In addition to talking about professors’ passions, Chopp also mentioned alumni’s various passions, such as “Stephanie Nyombayire ’06, who had 100 relatives killed in Rwanda.” She later started the Genocide Intervention Network at Swarthmore and then worked with Orphans of Rwanda.

“Sometimes people ask me why I like my job so much. My answer is: I get to experience people’s passions,” Chopp said.

“Henri Frederick Amiel, a Swiss philosopher and poet, once noted that ‘A man without passion is only a latent force, only a possibility, like a stone waiting for the blow from the iron to give forth sparks.’ Our alumni are not latent forces of iron — and I so enjoy seeing the sparks,” Chopp said.

Being the first of its kind, the sophomore collection was not without flaws. Allen said that she would’ve liked more speakers to talk about their passions. Others wanted the collection in the Friends Meeting House. For many, it was also their first time meeting Chopp and hearing her speak. Nevertheless, Brice Jordan ’12 applauded the focus on sophomores.

“I really appreciate the new president coming out and addressing the sophomores. I liked the fact that there was so much attention paid to sophomores who are making so many important decisions right now,” Jordan said.

The collection ended with a Quaker tradition, the shaking of hands. And the not-so-Quaker must: appetizers from Qdoba.

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