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, April 24, 1997
Volume 1, Number 59
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) Five students run for CEP seat; voting starts Monday
2) Documentary on women of color premieres tonight
3) Curriculum Committee: new Honors program not perfect yet
4) Leftist movie series continues with Cuban propaganda film
5) World news roundup
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Yesterday’s results: men’s lacrosse, softball, women’s rugby
2) Tuesday’s results (cont’d): men’s tennis
3) Tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests
WEATHER FORECAST
Today: Rain showers likely, with gusting winds. High around 55.
This weather stinks. Wear something warm and dry.
Tonight: Still mostly cloudy, more rain possible. Low of 45.
Don’t change clothes.
Friday: Clearing up, partly sunny. High around 65.
NEWS REPORT
1) Five students run for CEP seat; voting starts Monday
Next week’s Student Council elections will feature a jam-packed race for
the student seat on the Council on Educational Policy; five candidates are
seeking the position.
One person who doesn’t want to serve on CEP next year is the incumbent,
Mandara Meyers ’99. She’s entered the race for SC Outreach Chair instead.
Meyers explained the outreach position will suit her goals better. “My goal
in being on Student Council is to make it a body that’s more accessible to
students,” she said.
Meyers said she thought many students want the CEP seat because the
committee is in charge of long-term plans for the College’s curriculum. “I
think a lot of people like feeling like they have the educational future of
the College in their hands,” she explained.
Surprisingly, there’s only one candidate for the open seat on College
Planning Committee, even though the ongoing long-range planning process
means CPC will be making as many major decisions as CEP. The incumbent on
CPC, Naomi Michlin ’98, is running unopposed for re-election.
Voting will take place next Monday through Wednesday in Sharples, Tarble
and Parrish Parlors, said Chris Seaman ’99, SC Elections Chair.
In addition to Meyers and Michlin, the candidates are:
For CEP: Dan Barnes ’99, Rick Bell ’98, Shari Bloom ’00, Vonalis Pina ’00
and Ashwin Rao ’99.
For College Budget Committee: Adam Booth ’00 and Christian Mikkelson ’99.
For Curriculum Committee: Shabnam Mansukhani ’00 and Sarah Pheasant ’98.
For Student Observer to the Board of Managers: Ali Erdem ’00 and Laura
Barandes ’99.
For SC Secretary: Stacey Bearden ’99 and Tsong Lin ’00.
For SC Treasurer: Ari Plost ’98.
For SC Outreach Chair: Melissa Amir-Arjomand ’00 and Beth Bonacci ’00.
Platforms will be published in Friday’s edition of The Phoenix, Seaman said.
*****
2) Documentary on women of color premieres tonight
“Voices of Color,” a 23-minute student-produced documentary on the
experiences of women of color at Swarthmore, will premiere tonight at 8
o’clock in the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema.
Two seniors, Amy Mai Hope and Elizabeth Glater, interviewed about 50
students, faculty and staff over the last year to produce the film.
“Our objective is to spread awareness and to inspire discussion on the
different and diverse experiences of people of color on campus, in
particular women,” Hope said.
Glater said she got the idea for the film at a meeting of the Women of
Color organization last year. Older members of the group were describing
its history, and Glater realized that when they graduated that history
would be lost.
So she and Hope set out to preserve it. They put in about 150 hours
interviewing campus women, deciding what material to include in the final
film, and editing the video using equipment in the LPAC.
The documentary, as well as tapes of all the interviews, will be donated to
the Friends Historical Library, Hope said. She added that the project isn’t
finished yet; she and Glater hope a younger student will pick up where they
left off and do more interviews in the years to come.
Funds from a Hewlett Foundation grant to the College, plus donations from
Women of Color, the President’s Office and the Intercultural Center, funded
the project.
*****
3) Curriculum Committee: new Honors program not perfect yet
Some kinks in the new Honors program still need to be ironed out, but the
program is nonetheless better than what existed before, Curriculum
Committee members told students Wednesday night.
“I know some of you feel like guinea pigs. You are guinea pigs,” said
Professor Craig Williamson. He characterized some portions of the new plan
as “klunky”, but said that the “benefits are worth it.”
Student questions varied widely, from “Where are the Honors exams going to
be?” to concerns about external examiners grading theses to complaints that
professors weren’t well informed about the new program. In response,
Provost Jennie Keith compared the process of disseminating information
about the new Honors program to “lifting a passive elephant off the floor.”
Students had little to say about recent changes in the grades that will be
given for honors work. Instead of traditional letter grades corresponding
to various levels of honors, students will receive grades of HHH for
highest honors, HH for high honors, and H for honors.
The grades will appear on transcripts only for senior honors study.
External examiners will also give the H/HH/HHH grades to theses, but these
grades will be converted to traditional letter grades on transcripts.
Swarthmore instructors will assign letter grades for students’ seminars.
Curriculum Committee announced the new grading system last week, partly in
response to student outcry.
About 50 students attended the meeting in Kirby Lecture Hall.
*****
4) Leftist movie series continues with Cuban propaganda film
Film Society is screening a Cuban propaganda epic, “I Am Cuba,” tonight at
10 o’clock in DuPont Lecture Hall, said Esther Parker ’97, Film Society
coordinator.
The movie is the third in this spring’s Left-Wing Film Series, sponsored by
Film Society in conjunction with the Socialist Political Action Collective,
the Marxist Reading Group, the Department of English Literature, and the
German Section of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.
Completed in 1964 as a Soviet-Cuban co-production, “I Am Cuba” was released
for the first time in the United States in 1995. The film was not shown
outside Cuba and the USSR until 1992.
Unabashedly a propaganda film, “I Am Cuba” mythologizes the Cuban
revolution and presents Cuba as a model of transformation for former Third
World colonies. The film has four segments, each detailing one aspect of
pre-revolutionary 1950s Cuban life.
In Part I, greedy capitalists, when not lounging around the pool, harass a
poor prostitute. In Part II, an old peasant loses his tenant farm to United
Fruit. In Part III, leftist students organize and plot against the
government. In Part IV, a poor peasant discovers his class-consciousness
and joins Fidel Castro’s army.
*****
5) World news roundup
PERUVIAN HOSTAGES RESCUED
Soldiers on Tuesday raided the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima,
Peru, freeing dozens of hostages who had been held there since Dec. 17 by
Tupac Amaru rebels. One hostage, two soldiers and all 14 rebels died in the
raid. Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s president, said he approved the operation
because negotiations were deteriorating. The rebels wanted Peru to release
jailed comrades.
AIR FORCE FINDS WRECKAGE OF MISSING WARPLANE
Dangling from a helicopter over the Rocky Mountains Wednesday, an Air Force
searcher retrieved pieces of an A-10 Thunderbolt warplane that had been
missing since April 2. But he found no sign of the pilot, Capt. Craig
Button, who broke away from a training flight in Arizona three weeks ago.
Button’s plane was tracked on radar to Colorado, where eyewitnesses
reported seeing an explosion near mountain peaks. The Air Force sent
mountaineers and high-tech spy planes to look for Button and his plane, but
until this week heavy snow and avalanche danger hampered search efforts.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Yesterday’s results: men’s lacrosse, softball, women’s rugby
MEN’S LACROSSE
Widener 9, Swarthmore 1
The Garnet’s lone goal was scored by Steve Shin ’98.
SOFTBALL
Widener 13, Swarthmore 4
Jean Quinn ’99 went 1-3 with a run scored and an RBI double. Jen VanderVeer
’99 went 1-2.
WOMEN’S RUGBY
Swarthmore 27, Ursinus 0
The B-side team played a great game against a new team from Ursinus. In the
spirit of the A-side’s dominating season, the B-side soared over the Bears.
Scoring maniac and scrum-half Meghan Brennan ’00 scored twice. Corinne
Bright ’98 and Kira Cochran-Bond ’00 each scored once. The last try was
scored on the combined effort of Beth Wiles ’98 bringing the ball into the
try zone and Katie Jozwicki ’97 touching it down.
*****
2) Tuesday’s results (cont’d): men’s tennis
MEN’S TENNIS
Swarthmore 6, Haverford 1
The Garnet took a positive step in narrowing the Hood Trophy standings,
which are currently 7-5 in favor of the Fords.
*****
3) Tonight’s and tomorrow’s contests
TODAY
Women’s lacrosse hosts Johns Hopkins in a 4 p.m. matchup.
Softball travels to Franklin & Marshall for a doubleheader at 3 p.m.
FRIDAY (25 April)
Baseball travels to Ursinus for a 3:30 p.m. game.
The men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete at the Penn Relays.
*****
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1997 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.