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
Wednesday, October 29, 1997
Volume 2, Number 38
NEWS IN BRIEF
1) BC considering plan to increase activities fee
2) Swarthmore insulated from stock fluctuations, administrator says
3) Students hope cookbook will combat Sharples boredom
4) World news roundup
SPORTS IN BRIEF
1) Field hockey victorious again
2) Late result
3) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests
WEATHER FORECAST
Today: Sunny, a few clouds; breezy, a few gusts. High of 60.
The Bookstore has an excellent selection of sweatshirts.
Tonight: Clear, warmer than last night. Low close to 45.
But they are all too expensive, so stay inside.
Thursday: Mostly sunny. High around 60.
CORRECTIONS
In an article Tuesday about RoadMark, a student performance group, The
Daily Gazette mistakenly attributed to Dan Gallant ’98 a statement by
Andrew Bryce ’00 that “about 10 people” had attended Roadmark auditions.
Also, the statement referred only to tryouts held before Monday night; many
more people auditioned Monday and Tuesday nights. The same article said
that “Spoon River Anthology” was written by Edgar Lee Matthews; in fact,
Edgar Lee Masters was the author.
A schedule of upcoming athletic contests in Tuesday’s edition of The Daily
Gazette incorrectly reported that the volleyball team would play at
Haverford today. In fact, Haverford’s team will be coming to Swarthmore.
The match, the season’s last, begins at 7:30 p.m.
NEWS REPORT
1) BC considering plan to increase activities fee
Budget Committee Treasurer Vincent Jones ’98 has proposed raising the
student activities fee, currently $208, by $7 to $9 next year. Jones said
the increase is needed because BC is spending more than the fee brings in
and to meet inflationary pressures.
Revenues from the activities fee dropped because the size of the student
body decreased and the fee did not change. But student organizations did
not seek less funding, resulting in a deficit. Jones said that the size of
the student body is not likely to increase next year and that he feels an
increase in the fee is “necessary to maintain the current level of student
activities.”
Groups whose budgets were set this fall instead of during the regular
spring budgeting process pushed BC’s spending higher than its revenues. To
solve the problem, BC could have made a retroactive cuts of about 7 percent
in every student group’s budget. The committee opted instead to cover the
$22,883 difference from its capital replacement fund, which ordinarily pays
for the cost of replacing equipment owned by student groups. The committee
still must increase the fee if it wants to maintain the current level of
spending next year.
Committee member Amber Halsey ’98 said she thinks the fee increase should
not be higher than what is necessary to account for inflation. “A lot of
people will have issues with a significant increase,” she said, “because
it’s a lot of money to spend.”
BC member Josh Kramer ’00 suggested that the fee should be “raised
significantly.” He explained, “We’re spending from a surplus, and when it
runs out, whoever is then in charge will have the responsibility of paying
it off fall on them, and that’s not fair.”
BC is scheduled to discuss the fee increase at a meeting Sunday night.
After the committee decides how much to increase the fee, if at all,
Student Council must decide whether to approve BC’s proposal.
*****
2) Swarthmore insulated from stock fluctuations, administrator says
Recent leaps and dives in world stock markets won’t force changes in
Swarthmore’s budget, according to Treasurer Sue Welsh. The College’s policy
is to increase spending from its endowment by 1 percent more than inflation
every year, regardless of what happens to the endowment’s market value over
the year, she said.
“The endowment is going to go up and down, and 40 percent of our revenue
comes from the endowment. We don’t want 40 percent of our budget to go up
and down with the stock market,” Welsh explained. “We want support to the
budget from the endowment to go up at the same rate as tuition.”
The value of Swarthmore’s endowment fell from slightly over $800 million on
Wednesday to approximately $750 million at the close of trading Monday, she
said. The losses could have been worse: “Most of our domestic equity
managers fell 7 to 9 percent while the market was falling 11 percent,”
Welsh said, adding that a relatively small portion of the College’s
international investments are in Asia, where markets have been hit hardest
in recent days.
Welsh said that stock markets “are still pretty high” and that most of
Swarthmore’s investment advisers believe Monday’s 554-point drop in the Dow
Jones industrial average reflects “the return of some reason to the
market,” not fundamental problems in the economy.
About 85 percent of Swarthmore’s endowment is invested in stocks, Welsh said.
*****
3) Students hope cookbook will combat Sharples boredom
Hoping to improve the quality of dining at Swarthmore, a group of students
is collecting recipes whose main ingredients are available in Sharples
Dining Hall. Wendy Lawrence ’99, David Mimno ’99, Elisabeth Swim ’99, Dan
Finkel ’01, Jen Cox ’98 and Maurisa Thompson ’98 will then distribute a
cookbook filled with the culinary inventions.
According to Lawrence, the students thought of compiling the book when they
“got tired of walking into Sharples and wandering around … looking at
food they’ve eaten before (and realized that) the ability to be creative
… makes the meal a bit more palatable.”
About three weeks ago, they began asking friends for recipes. Though they
have mostly received vegetarian recipes, they are seeking suggestions for
foods of all kinds, Lawrence said.
The group has not decided when it will publish the book, which may be
distributed in print or via e-mail or the World Wide Web. Anyone interested
in submitting recipes should send e-mail to wlawren1@swarthmore.edu or
dfinkel1@swarthmore.edu.
*****
4) World news roundup
DOW BOUNCES BACK ON RECORD VOLUME
The Dow Jones industrial average surged upwards Tuesday, erasing more than
half of Monday’s 554-point loss, as more than 1.1 billion shares — the
most ever — changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. The index rose
337.17 points to 7,498.32, a 4.7 percent increase. A batch of economic
reports suggesting inflation would stay low and an announcement by IBM that
it would buy back $3.5 billion of its own stock encouraged investors. Other
stock markets around the country and the world also rebounded Tuesday and
early Wednesday.
JIANG, CLINTON MEET INFORMALLY AHEAD OF OFFICIAL TALKS
President Clinton and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, met Tuesday
night in the private quarters of the White House to get acquainted before
today’s formal summit. Among issues on the agenda are human rights, China’s
sales of nuclear weapons to Iran, and exports of nuclear energy equipment
from the U.S. to China. Several dozen rights protesters booed Jiang as he
toured Colonial Williamsburg on Tuesday.
IN OTHER NEWS …
Forces loyal to Zambian President Frederick Chiluba on Tuesday put down a
coup attempt led by a military captain who said an angel told him to
overthrow the government. … Republicans pronounced dead a $145 billion
highway construction bill after failing for the fourth time in two weeks to
end a filibuster by Senate Democrats, who say they will block all
non-essential legislation until a vote is scheduled on campaign finance
reform. … Amtrak managers and track workers agreed late Monday to extend
contract negotiations a second time, putting off a possible strike until
Nov. 6.
*****
SPORTS UPDATE
1) Field hockey victorious again
Swarthmore’s field hockey team racked up another win Tuesday, defeating
Bryn Mawr 6-1. Danielle Duffy ’98 and Katie Vivalo ’01 led with two goals
each. Michelle Walsh ’98 and Lurah Hess ’99 each scored once.
*****
2) Late result
Results from Tuesday’s women’s soccer game against Muhlenberg were not
available at deadline. Look for full coverage of the contest in tomorrow’s
edition of The Daily Gazette.
*****
3) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests
TODAY
Men’s soccer plays Ursinus at home at 3 p.m.
Volleyball battles Haverford at home at 7:30 p.m.
TOMORROW
No contests are scheduled for tomorrow.
*****
Interested in reporting or writing for the Gazette? Just want to tell us
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E-mail gazette-news@student-publications.swarthmore.edu.
Want to contact our sports editors?
E-mail gazette-sports@student-publications.swarthmore.edu.
The Daily Gazette
Board of Editors
Fred Bush
Kate Doty
Aarti Iyer
Karen Lloyd
Lorrin Nelson
Sam Schulhofer-Wohl
Staff Writers
Julie Falk
Jennifer Klein
Trang Pham
Weatherman
Rafi Dowty
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This concludes today’s report.
Copyright 1997 by The Daily Gazette. All rights reserved.