Amelia Possanza

College releases strategic planning draft for public comment

A new dining hall, the creation of an Institute for Liberal Arts in the 21st Century and increasing faculty diversity are included in a draft released for comment by the Strategic Planning Council on …

Tribute to Joan Friedman (1943-2010)

Joan Esther Friedman asked all the members of her upper-level Spanish class to memorize Pablo Neruda’s simply-titled “Poem 20.” Many of her past students still remember some of the poem, or at least t…

Coalition takes all but one spot in StuCo election

Last fall members of the Intercultural Center, the Black Cultural Center and some activist groups formed a coalition to provide support for specific candidates in the Student Council elections in resp…

Campbell appointed to administration

In an e-mail to the official staff-faculty mailing list on Wednesday morning, President Rebecca Chopp announced that on July 1 Garikai Campbell ’90, acting dean of students, will become the Special As…

Alumna to study Middle East as Carnegie Fellow

While she has held a passion for Middle Eastern studies since her first year at Swarthmore, Mara Revkin ’09 admitted that the stalled political progress in the region can often give rise to pessimism …

StuCo Highlights

Media Shuttle to run on Fridays

The shuttle to Media will be up and running this Friday and will continue to run every Friday.

Student Life Representative Watufani Poe ’13 is working to create a King …

Staff gains skills, friendships

While Swarthmore students were enjoying their last week of winter break, members of the Swarthmore staff attended the first annual Staff Development Week. The three-day program ran from Jan. 12 to 14 …

College Rhodes scholar to study migration, refugees

Mark Dlugash ’08 was recently named a Rhodes Scholar. Thirty-two Americans were awarded the scholarship for two years of study at the University of Oxford. The Phoenix’s Amelia Possanza spoke with Dlu…

Symposium to bring new direction to sustainability

Many environmental activists, from Earthlust members to Al Gore, approach issues of climate change from an intellectual perspective. They cite figures and charts to advocate recycling, use public tran…

‘The Nation’ publisher, alum, explores political art

Victor Navasky ’54 is proud of the time he spent as editor of The Nation, the National Book Award he won for “Naming Names” and the current post he holds as the George Delacorte Professor of Magazine …

Eight students arrested in Phila. Blue Cross sit-in

Eight Swarthmore students and one alumna were arrested Friday after holding a sit-in at the entrance to the Independence Blue Cross headquarters in Philadelphia. Their non-violent direct action was ai…

H1N1 cases now prevalent on campus

Chemistry professor Bob Paley hasn’t given a make-up exam in his 20 years at Swarthmore. But when two of his students came down with influenza-like illnesses, or ILI, this week, he was forced to mak…

Chicken project receives administrative approval

The Swarthmore Chickens project proposal to bring 15 hens to campus was approved by the administration this Tuesday.

In late September, Nick Vogt ’12 and Sarah Scheub ’12 submitted a final proposal to…

10,000 Villages provides gateway for world artisians

The Phoenix’s Amelia Possanza recently sat down with Doug Dirks, a public relations staffer at the non-profit 10,000 Villages. The company is one of the largest fair trade organizations in the world –…

Project to get chickens on campus gaining momentum

Sarah Scheub ’12 and Nick Vogt ’12 want to bring free-range chickens to the Swarthmore campus, but the pair has not found a prescribed method for setting up their project.

Their proposal, which wa…

Composting extended to dorms, Essie Mae’s

Bertie may not make it through the year. Jean Dahlquist ’11, co-coordinator of the Good Food Compost Project, fears that the golf cart won’t be able to handle the addition of Essie Mae’s Snack Bar to …

Recent theft provokes higher security awareness

Since a student’s backpack was stolen two weeks ago in McCabe, administrators and community members are advising students to take advantage of several new security measures that were implemented last …

Coke returns in light of budget, ethics approval

A successful 2006 Kick Coke campaign removed Coca-Cola products from Sharples due to questions about the soft-drink company’s labor practices, but current economic pressures have now brought Coke prod…

Administration tackles the sophomore slump

“Freshman year happened to you” is the first part of 2012 Class Dean Myrt Westphal’s new tagline for sophomore year. The second part of this tagline? “Sophomore [year] is a time to start being more pu…

NOTA shakes elections yet leaves no vacancies

On the eve of the Student Council presidential elections, an anonymous, student-generated push to encourage students to vote “None of the Above” on the ballot emerged as a response to the low number o…

Chopp greets college with informal reception

While on campus for a series of meetings, President-Designate Rebecca Chopp held an informal reception with members of the Swarthmore community on Tuesday, April 14.

Chopp opened the reception with so…

Alumna opens Costa Rican summer primate field school

Last year alumna Lorna Joachim ’85 started a primate field school in Costa Rica alongside Grainne McCabe in hopes of changing systemic problems in the field of behavioral studies such as the lack of i…

Sager refocuses aims to prioritize activism

Reframing the notion of a monolithic lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community with a single set of concerns, Sager Symposium 2009 focused on the interconnectedness of queer experiences …

Shift in religious tolerance generates greater accord

Religion professor Mark Wallace remembers a time when students on campus closeted their beliefs, keeping their religious views hidden from their peers.

“Sometimes students would talk about ‘coming out…

Auction raises $2,000 for education in Ecuador

With just a few Christmas lights and a red carpet, the Village Education Project transformed the Alice Paul lounge into the site of the first annual “Black Tie” charity auction last Friday. According …

Despite decline, Wilcox says RA pool still “strong”

This year’s RA selection committee saw a decline in applicants, continuing a trend that has been occurring for the past several years. Only 75 students applied, as compared to the 91 that applied to s…

Eldridge shares college memories at fireside chat

On Monday, Feb. 16, Vice President of Community and College Relations Maurice Eldridge ’61 shared his experiences growing up in a still-segregated nation. The event, hosted by SASS, gave Swarthmore …

Labor Action Project to bring workers to campus

The Swarthmore Labor Action Project (SLAP) is bringing four local mushroom farm workers from Kennett Square to campus this Thursday to speak about their labor experiences in a panel and discussion ses…

Spirituality Week magnifies voice of all religions

Although religiosity on college campuses in general has long fallen out of fashion, this week, for the third year in a row, Religion and Spirituality Week is raising awareness of diverse expressions o…

New Gaming Commission regulations delay deer cull

Plans for the Crum Woods deer cull have been postponed due to a proposed change in Pennsylvania Gaming Commission regulations. The college applied to the PGC in the late fall to use sharpshooters to r…

Six recipients of Lang scholarship announced

In late December, the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility named six sophomores as recipients of the Eugene M. Lang Opportunity Scholarship. Awardees Ecem Erseker, Priya Johnson, Katherine …

Sustainability on campus found lacking

“Anywhere else it would have been an A” — a popular slogan that appears on some official college merchandise — now holds true for Swarthmore’s environmental record as well as its notoriously deflation…

Class Awareness Month refocuses discussion on politics and aid

Class Awareness Month kicked off earlier than usual this year to include discussions about the intersection of race, class and the election. Later on in the month, the dialogue will shift to issues cu…

Admissions Office to initiate new telementoring program

Beginning this spring, Swarthmore will offer college counseling services to low-income and first generation applicants in the form of student telementors. This new program, launched by the admissions …

Dining Services seeks campus input at forum

Sharples and Tarble are common nouns in the Swarthmore student vernacular that can be easily used as meeting locations or the subjects of a complaint. But few students truly know what sort of work mak…

Hechler, Gibson call for end to harmful mining practices in lecture

Retired West Virginia Congressman Ken Hechler ’35 returned to Swarthmore College to give a double lecture with environmentalist Larry Gibson last Tuesday.

The combination of Hechler’s political form…

Fireside chat proves success

Friday evenings are usually a time to relax and unwind after a hectic week of classes. But last Friday, over forty students opted instead to voice their ideas and questions concerning the current sear…