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
Thursday, March 27, 1997
Volume 1, Number 39
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) SAC funding for Easter service prompts debate
2) Fewer than one in four applicants accepted for Class of ’01
3) Blanton ’97 wins Watson Fellowship
4) World news roundup
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Yesterday’s results: baseball
2) Tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests
CORRECTION
In a story yesterday on events sponsored by the Social Affairs Committee
this week, The Daily Gazette reported incorrectly that an all-campus
bonfire organized by the Outsiders club will be held on Sunday, March 30.
The bonfire is actually scheduled for Saturday, March 29. Also, the same
story failed to note that a party sponsored by SAC and the senior class
officers will take place Friday night, March 28, in Worth J lounge.
NEWS REPORT
1) SAC funding for Easter service prompts debate
Social Affairs Committee’s decision to fund a reception to be held after an
Easter Sunday service provoked debate among student leaders Wednesday. Some
Student Council members said SAC shouldn’t pay for the event, but SAC
leaders said the event is worthwhile and won’t cost much anyway.
SAC gets its money from the Student Activities Fund, so it must obey all
SAF rules, including one that says SAF money may not be used “for a
religious ceremony, or for activities that would inherently tend to exclude
those of another persuasion.”
Since the money is paying for a reception and not the service itself, the
rule hasn’t been violated, said Budget Committee Treasurer Vincent Jones
’98, who is charged with enforcing SAF rules. He said that even though the
reception follows a Christian service, students of any religion can attend.
“If there’s a reception for Dinesh D’Souza, he doesn’t necessarily speak to
me, but I can still go to a reception afterwards,” he said. “It’s free
food, regardless of what it’s for.”
Jones and Naomi Michlin ’98, Student Council co-chair, both said SAC still
shouldn’t have funded the event because groups holding receptions are
supposed to get the money directly from Budget Committee, not from SAC.
“This reception is not a social event, and it is not accessible to all
members of the campus community. The purpose of SAC is to allocate funds to
all-campus events,” said Michlin.
But SAC co-director Tanisha Little ’97 said SAC has funded receptions in
the past. She added that SAC has larger problems to deal with. SAC is
spending only $70 on the Easter service reception, but could lose $200 a
week renting sound equipment from outside companies if Concessions
Committee doesn’t appoint a director for Rattech, the student organization
that provides loudspeakers and other equipment for parties, by April 1.
“Here SAC is trying to figure out what to do about this Rattech director,
and Student Council is harassing us about $70,” she said.
“I agree that we need to fill the Rattech position as soon as possible,”
Michlin said. “We’re going to do what we can to help fill that. But I don’t
think that means we can overlook funding decisions that SAC makes.”
No one has applied to take over Rattech from the current director, Ned
Small ’98, whose term expires at the end of March.
*****
2) Fewer than one in four applicants accepted for Class of ’01
A total of 981 students, just 23 percent of the 4,269 who applied, have
been offered admission to Swarthmore’s Class of 2001, the Admissions Office
announced Wednesday.
Of the 981 admittees, 150 were accepted in December or January through the
College’s early decision program.
The number of applicants was a record, indicating that stepped-up
recruiting efforts and this year’s number one ranking in the U.S. News and
World Report guide to colleges have made Swarthmore more popular among high
school seniors deciding where they might want to go to school.
The true test will come, of course, when the accepted students let
Swarthmore know whether they plan to attend classes here next fall.
Students must send in their decisions by May 1.
According to an announcement released yesterday by the College, 37 percent
of the admitted students whose high schools report class ranks are
valedictorians or salutatorians. Nearly 90 percent rank in the top ten
percent of their high school class.
Six percent of the admitted students are foreign citizens, and 40 percent
are students of color.
The Daily Gazette could not obtain comparable statistics on the students
accepted last year.
*****
3) Blanton ’97 wins Watson Fellowship
Robin Blanton ’97 has won a $18,000 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study
church organs in Europe next year, College officials said.
Blanton will travel to Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the
Netherlands to study historic organs and work with organ builders. She has
previously worked with an organ builder in her hometown of Staunton, Va.
Watson Fellowships, named for the founder of IBM, allow students to travel
the world while pursuing independent study projects.
*****
4) World news roundup
IRA SUSPECTED IN BRITISH BOMBINGS
The Irish Republican Army may be beginning a major bombing campaign in
Britain. It is suspected of bombing a major British rail junction and a
Northern Ireland police station Wednesday. No one was hurt when two bombs
went off at the Wilmslow railroad junction in northern England. Police shot
and injured a man who fired an explosive at a police station in Coalisland,
Northern Ireland, but no one else was hurt in that incident. The attacks
came just five weeks before Britain’s next elections and prompted concern
that the IRA will set off more bombs in its efforts to end Britain’s rule
of Northern Ireland.
JUDGE APPROVES TEXACO DISCRIMINATION SETTLEMENT
A class-action race-discrimination suit against Texaco has been settled for
a record $176 million. The settlement, the largest race-discrimination
settlement in history, will be distributed among the case’s 1400
plaintiffs, who claimed Texaco maintained a racist and disciminatory
corporate culture. Texaco agreed to a tenative settlement in November after
the release of tape recordings of company executives belittling black
employees and conspiring to destroy evidence.
The world news roundup is produced by Swarthmore Radio News, which airs
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and midnight on WSRN 91.5 FM.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Yesterday’s results: baseball
BASEBALL
The baseball game against Eastern was postponed due to unplayable field
conditions.
*****
2) Tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests
TODAY
The baseball team hosts Stockton State in a 3:30 p.m. game.
Women’s tennis travels to Western Maryland for a 3:30 p.m. match.
Men’s volleyball takes on Washington at home in a 7:30 p.m. game.
FRIDAY (28 March)
Women’s tennis travels to Washington for a 4:00 p.m. match.
*****
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1997 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.