Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
The Daily Gazette
Swarthmore College
Friday, February 21, 1997
Volume 1, Number 22
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) Computer network collapses
2) Vote totals for the Student Council elections
3) Group formed to support student dancers
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Garnet hoops fall short on senior night
2) Tonight’s and the weekend’s contests
NEWS REPORT
1) Computer network collapses
Swarthmore’s computer network collapsed Thursday, inconveniencing
administrators, students and professors and showing the campus just how
much it relies on computer networking. For most of the day, computers in
all but a few buildings were disconnected from computers elsewhere on
campus and from the world-wide Internet; Computing Center officials said
they expected to fix the network by Friday morning.
Workers in the Alumni Records office had little to do Thursday, since
they couldn’t connect to the networked database of information on
Swarthmore’s graduates. “We are going through our dead files and getting
rid of paper we don’t need,” said alumni recorder Jacqui West. “We’ve
done everything we possibly could, but we really rely on the network.”
In McCabe Library, employees and patrons alike couldn’t use Tripod, the
online card catalog Swarthmore shares with Haverford and Bryn Mawr
colleges. The old paper card catalog was thrown away long ago, so people
doing research had to find books using printed lists of standard call
numbers. And reserve books had to be checked out the old-fashioned way.
“We’ve gone back to our archaic system of having people sign the cards on
their honor, and I’m sure it will work. It worked for 40 years,” said
reserve desk staff member Nancy Bech.
With most parts of the network down, only a few people could send or
receive e-mail. Most had to use the telephone, or even make personal
contact with the people they’d normally contact electronically.
Judy Downing, director of computing and communication services, said the
effects of the outage demonstrated the campus computer network’s value.
“Any time there’s this much reaction to a problem, it’s a sign that
people use these utilities,” she said.
Downing said the network broke down because a major piece of network
hardware failed. She did not know specifically what equipment had broken;
Mark Dumic, manager of networking and systems, did know but was busy
fixing the problem and couldn’t discuss the situation with the Gazette.
One of Swarthmore’s top network technicians, Frank Yue, left the College
recently for a position at America Online. But Downing said the problem
could be fixed despite Yue’s absence because he had documented procedures
for repairing broken equipment and because the hardware that failed was
covered by a service contract with an outside vendor.
*****
2) Vote totals for the Student Council elections
In this week’s election for student representative to the Council on
Educational Policy, 443 students voted for the sole candidate, Mandara
Meyers ’99, and 107 abstained from voting, said Student Council co-chair
Naomi Michlin ’98.
Michlin said SC would not release vote totals from the race for
Appointments Chair, because at least one candidate for that position did
not want the totals made public. According to several sources on and off
SC, Jeannie Gallego ’00 won that seat by a large margin.
*****
3) Group formed to support student dancers
A group of Swarthmore students interested in dance is in the process of
forming a Student Council chartered organization to support student
dancers. The group will be called Dance Forum and is intended to
function in the same way as Drama Board by providing money to students
who are interested in producing their own productions, giving master
classes, and bringing in outside choreographers and dancers to perform
and teach master classes.
Dance Forum is kicking off the semester with a movie this evening at 7
p.m. in the LPAC Cinema, entitled “Dancing on the Edge.” There will also
be more movies and student-taught master classes later in the semester
and during the finals period. For more information about the Dance Forum
and its activities, please contact wmackin1.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Garnet hoops fall short on senior night
On senior night, the Garnet could not give its two departing seniors a
victorious farewell, but the team fought valiantly in losing 60-69. Lisl
Cochran-Bond ’97 and Pia Houseal ’97 were honored for their contributions
to the basketball program in a pregame ceremony. Cochran-Bond scored 15
points while Houseal had five points and five boards. Michelle Walsh ’98
scored a season-high 15 points, and Jean Quinn ’99 added 10. Swarthmore
(7-15) has one more chance to finish on a positive note this Saturday
when they travel to Haverford in the hope of avenging a loss earlier this
season.
*****
2) Tonight’s and the weekend’s contests
TONIGHT
The swim team travels to Franklin & Marshall for the Centennial
Conference Championships which last through Sunday.
Track and Field competes in day one of the two day Centennial
Championships at Haverford College.
SATURDAY (22 Feb.)
Day Two for both the Centennial Conference Championships in swimming at
F&M, and in indoor track and field at Haverford.
Badminton takes on Albright College at 11 a.m. in the last home match of
the season.
Basketball travels to Haverford: women’s game at 6 p.m., men’s game at 8
p.m.
SUNDAY (23 Feb.)
Final day of the Centennial Conference Swimming Championships at Franklin
and Marshall College.
Men’s club volleyball travels to the Philadelphia College of Textile Arts
and Sciences for a 1 p.m. game.
*****
The Daily Gazette
Board of Editors
Fred Bush
Kate Doty
Jennifer Klein
David Lischer
Eric Pakurar
Sam Schulhofer-Wohl
Sylvia Weedman
Contributing Writer
Will MacKintosh
The Daily Gazette is published Monday through Friday by an independent
group of Swarthmore College students. Technical support from the
Swarthmore College Computer Society is gratefully acknowledged.
To subscribe to the Gazette, free of charge, send e-mail to
daily-request@sccs.swarthmore.edu with the words “subscribe daily” in
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1997 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.
