Tuesday, April 30, 2002

by Evelyn Khoo, Gazette News Reporter
additional reporting by Jeremy Schifeling

For the next two days, Parrish Beach will be the scene of a cluster of
tents, billowing flags and melodic strains of the Russian Red Army Choir.
Students of Professor Jeffrey Murer’s Political Science 051: Socialism in
Europe class have taken over the lawn in a demonstration of communal living
to commemorate International Workers’ Day this Wednesday.

In a proposal put forth by Emiliano Rodriguez ’05 and Jonathan Fombonne ’05
as an alternative to a portion of their final, the class agreed to attempt
communal living by living together for three days on Parrish Beach.

The experiment was designed to test different theories (from the likes of
Bakunin, Kroptkin and Golman) about the human capacity for cooperation and
the prospects for larger-scale communal living. Also, the students felt
that the experiment would challenge and strengthen their understandings of
the course materials.

“The commune expects many people to come by and ask questions,” said Prof.
Murer. “The students must be able to tell people what they are doing and
why. We felt as a class, that this would be even more difficult than an exam.”

Before they could physically create their society, however, the students
had to lay out some ground rules. Thus, after hours and hours of discussion
and heated debate, the class drew up a governing manifesto, covering
everything “from economic structure to child raising and gender
liberation,” according to Peter Mohanty ’05.

With the planning stage finally complete, the class began constructing
their tent-village on Parrish Beach around noon yesterday, and soon settled
in for the three-day project.

Although they are allowed to leave the site for reasons such as taking a
shower, doing a paper, going to class and other such commitments, the
participants “decided that citizenship required that each member of the
collective spend as much time as possible on the commune,” according to
Murer. “All meals will be taken together, and all members must sleep at the
commune.”

For food, the class submitted their meal numbers to Dining Services, who
then gave them the basics, such as beans and rice. All meals will be
prepared in Parrish kitchen.

“We’re supposed to try and prepare all our meals on our own,” explained
Kevin Pastor ’04, another member of the class.

Other challenges the group has faced: pitching the tents and cold nights.

“We spent at least two hours putting up the main tent,” said Mohanty.
Monday night, which saw temperatures dipping below 50, also brought the
problem of dealing with the cold. One of the members of the group, Andrea
Figueroa ’02, was so cold that by 7.30 p.m. Monday evening she was walking
around the site wrapped in the blanket.

Despite the challenges they face, the group’s spirits remained high.

“We’re advocating a Communist Revolution!” exclaimed Alex Black ’04.

And while there was certainly a measure of levity at the site, the students
will be making a serious statement on Wednesday when they hold a rally to
“raise awareness of labor issues and to demonstrate solidarity with the
French students protesting Le Pen also on May Day,” according to Murer.

Beyond the rally, the class hopes to create dialogue about alternatives to
capitalism, by demonstrating, in the words of Mohanty, “that the American
way of life is not the only way, that slavery to the market is not the sole
means of economic transaction or dividing of labor, and that people can
take a proactive stand to demonstrate hope for a better tomorrow less
ridden by the evils of oppression, inequality, and excessive consumption.”

by Jeremy Schifeling
Gazette Section Editor

David Kamin ’02 will be the student speaker at this year’s Commencement
ceremony after he beat out seven other competitors to win this past
Sunday’s Senior Speak-Off.

Kamin won the event with a speech that touched on such diverse themes as
chocolate, Smurfs, and ET.

“I tried to capture what will certainly be the excitement and joy in the
air during graduation,” said Kamin. “In the midst of the fun, I also tried
to reflect back on my personal development here at Swarthmore–how I grew
from an insecure first-year to a senior who can now truly enjoy Swat’s
community–both intellectual and social.”

Kamin drew upon some self-described “over-the-top evangelical preacher
style oratory” in his remarks, which also looked ahead towards a post-Swat
world “that seems sadly sinister.”

The winning rhetorician was inspired to enter the competition in order to
“give something back to my class–to leave them with a fun speech that
would make them laugh and maybe, just maybe, would be inspiring.”

Kamin will deliver a very similar speech to those assembled in the
Amphitheatre on June 2, but he hopes to “make it all the funnier and all
the more poignant” during the interim period. However, Kamin is reluctant
to make significant alterations to the text so as to preserve the “sense of
spontaneity” that won him the acclaim of his peers.

*****

* In an effort to ease the federal budget deficit, which is predicted to
rise to more than $100 billion, a proposal has been made to cut $1.3
billion from a federal student loan program. The program, started in 1986,
allows college students and graduates to consolidate their student loans,
which would allow them to take advantage of a federally subsidized, fixed
interest rate which they can repay over a span of as much as 30 years.
According to the proposal, these consolidated loans will have to bide by
variable interest rates, which will inevitably make them less appealing to
students and thus save the government billions in subsidies. Trent Duffy,
spokesman for White House budget director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr, who put
forth the proposal, said that the proposal was “very preliminary” and that
it would offset a budget shortfall for the Pell Grants, the education grant
for low-income students. David Sirota, a spokesman for Democrats on the
House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats would oppose the change
because it would effectively raise the interest on education loans for
millions of Americans. Said Sirota: “The president and his budget director
are finally being honest about their misguided priorities–more tax cuts
for Enron paid for by effectively raising taxes on middle-class students
and their families.”

* The U.S. has regained the seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which
it had previously held for over 50 years, since the establishment of the
U.N. in 1947. The humiliating loss last year was blamed on numerous
reasons, of which include the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto climate
treaty, and the U.S. decision to build a national missile defense system,
among others. Although the U.S. will now be able to out forth resolutions
it was unable to do as an observer during the past year, the election of
China, Zimbabwe and Ukraine, countries who have poor human rights records,
might cause problems. Said Joanne Weschler, U.N. representative for Human
Rights Watch noted that the number of governments with human rights
problems on the commission have increased, which is a worry since they are
a “pretty powerful bloc” and who operate as a bloc.

* Florida officials reported today that separate and unrelated incidents
left two people dead at Walt Disney World last week. On Friday, 36-year-old
Sean Slattery of New Hampshire was found drowned in the man-made Seven Seas
Lagoon after his wife reported him missing the previous night. Slattery’s
death is currently being investigated as an accidental drowning, although
Slattery was reportedly drinking before he disappeared and may have gotten
into an argument with another park visitor. Later on Friday evening, Paul
Lambeck, a 28-year-old part-time employee at the park, apparently committed
suicide by jumping from the top of the Contemporary Resort, falling 24
stories to his death.

*****

Faculty Writing Panel
Scheuer Room, 4:30 p.m.

Animal Rights Coalition meeting
Trotter 303, 7:00 p.m.

Empty the Shelters meeting
Kohlberg 115, 7:30 p.m.

Argentine Tango Lesson
Upper Tarble, 9:00 p.m.

Non-violent Resistance in Palestine: Voices from the International
Solidarity Movement
7:30pm, Swarthmore Friends Meetinghouse

———-
Non-violent Resistance in Palestine: Voices from the International
Solidarity Movement
Thursday, May 2, 7:30 p.m., Swarthmore Friends Meetinghouse

The International Solidarity Movement is a group of people from around the
world working to support non-violent resistance to the Occupation of
Palestine. Local ISM activists Josina Manu (Jewish) and Ribhi Mustafa
(Palestinian American) will discuss their experiences working in Bethlehem
in April during the attack by the Israeli military. Sponsored by Forum for
Free Speech, Swarthmore Progressive Action Committee, Why-War?, Muslim
Students’ Association and Jews Against the Occupation.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

The women’s ultimate frisbee team competed at Regionals this past weekend
and went 2-2, missing out on the two Nationals bids. In the first game of
the tournament, the squad brought down Syracuse, 15-7. A tough loss to Penn
State, 11-7, in their next contest sent the team into the down bracket
unfortunately. While the Warmoms were able to storm back and obliterate NYU
15-2 in their last Saturday game, they could not overcome a strong
Haverford squad on Sunday and fell to the ‘Fords 13-8. Although the season
has now come to a close for the Moms, departing seniors Sara Kates-Chinoy
’02, Marah Gotcsik ’02, and Sierra Curtis-McLane ’02 leave with fond
memories of a great year.

*****

* The Canadiens upset the top-seeded Bruins last night by beating them 2-1
to take their first round series 4-2. Yanic Perreault scored the
game-winner 39 seconds into the third period on a power play. Meanwhile,
the Avalanche are also advancing into the second round with a Game Seven
victory over the Kings, 4-0. Patrick Roy made 23 saves to extend his record
number of playoff shutouts to 21.

* Sacramento knocked the Jazz out of the NBA playoffs Monday night with a
91-86 victory over Utah in Game Four of their first round series. Peja
Stojakovic scored 30 points to lead the Kings into a conference semifinal
matchup with the Mavs. Elsewhere, the Raptors stayed alive in their series
against the Pistons with an 89-83 win last night. Keon Clark had a huge
game, posting 19 points and 16 boards to force a decisive Game Five on
Thursday.

* The hard-luck Memphis Grizzlies received a rejuvenating shot in the arm
yesterday as Jerry West agreed to take over as the club’s president of
basketball operations. West, who is an NBA Hall-of-Famer as well as the man
behind the current Lakers squad chasing its third consecutive championship,
will give up a $1 million/year deal with LA to come to Memphis. There, he
will find a club whose 23-59 finish this past season was the best in the
franchise’s seven-year history.

*****

There are no contests scheduled for today or tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal.”
–Leo Tolstoy

*****
.
Interested in reporting or writing for the Gazette?
Got a news or sports tip for us?
Just want to tell us what you think?