Monday, November 11, 2002

by Josh Hausman
Gazette Weatherman

by Greg Leiserson
Gazette News Reporter

Students and faculty gathered in the LPAC movie theater on Friday afternoon
for a collection examining the issue of racial prejudices. The collection
centered around a showing of Marlon Riggs’ documentary “Ethnic Notions,”
which was then followed by a brief discussion period.

“Ethnic Notions” studied the development, evolution and impact of
stereotypes of African-Americans in America for the past 150 years. The
film explained that stereotypes embedded in American culture have been used
for a variety of purposes at different times in American history, and have
evolved as circumstances changed. Before the Civil War, certain
preconceptions existed that were used to justify the existence of slavery,
but after the war, other stereotypes developed to justify the inferior
position of African-Americans in society.

In addition to the political uses of the stereotypes, the film also looked
at the changes in entertainment resulting from stereotypes of
African-Americans portrayed by actors wearing blackface. One historian in
the film suggested that blackface entertainment was almost a cathartic
experience for the actor and viewers because it allowed the actor to do
things that they would not normally be able to do. Today, many stereotypes
continue to exist that are modified versions of the older ones.

Questions and statements after the film focused on understanding some of
the stereotypes mentioned in the film and understanding the ways that
racial stereotypes have become embedded in our society and culture over
time. History professors Tim Burke and Allison Dorsey were present to
answer students’ questions and to contribute to the discussion.

Students seeking clarification about stereotypes asked questions about the
portrayal of African-American women as over-sexed and about the frequent
appearance of watermelons in cartoons and images of African-Americans.

Students also raised the issue of whether Swarthmore College is doing a
satisfactory job of educating students about issues of race. One student
offered the opinion that it seems the college wishes to have each student
struggle with the issues on his/her own, when it really might be more
productive for the college to be more actively involved in the process. He
also mentioned the idea of making the Winter Institute a larger program,
and a mandatory one.

Students also looked for increased awareness on the part of students to
subtle incidents of prejudice or stereotypes in society. Included in the
discussion of this topic were the objectionable costumes at the ML
Halloween Party and the recent Abercrombie & Fitch clothing that featured
stereotypes of Asian-Americans. Also raised was the issue of professors who
use examples involving stereotypes of groups and cultures to illustrate
concepts.

Because the theater in LPAC was needed for other prior commitments and
classes, the discussion was cut short after 20 minutes, and Dean Smaw
closed the collection with a request to students: “I need your help, we
need each others’ help to make this place respectful, civil.to make it what
it will be down the road.”

*****

by Jeremy Schifeling
Co-Managing Editor

With America’s pundits and armchair political analysts still scrutinizing
the results of last week’s elections, searching for kernels of meaning
behind the numbers, we thought you might like to see what members of the
Swarthmore community are saying about Tuesday’s outcomes.

On campus, members of the two student party groups had different initial
reactions, but perhaps not the ones you would expect.

Randy Goldstein ’05, president of the College Republicans, was “definitely
surprised by the overall results of the election,” which saw Republicans
buck historic mid-term trends to gain control of Congress. Meanwhile,
College Democrats co-Presidents Adam Gerber ’05 and Sam Berger ’05 were not
as taken aback by the outcomes, citing the “the lack of direction in the
Democratic Party recently.” They emphasized, however, that this opinion was
theirs alone, and not necessarily representative of the perspectives of
other student Democrats.

Political Science Professor Richard Valelly ’75, who teaches courses on
American politics, joined Goldstein in expressing surprise over the
national result–a reaction that he says is shared by many media
commentators as well as his close academic peers. Still, he cautioned
against attributing this reaction to all members of his field, noting that
“there may be a few political scientists out there who are mid-term
elections experts who knew this was coming.”

One commentator who was caught off guard by the election results was
William Saletan ’87, Slate.com’s chief political correspondent. While
Saletan’s support for fellow alum Chris Van Hollen ’82 was borne out by his
victory over a Republican incumbent in Maryland’s 8th congressional
district, Saletan admitted that it was “time to eat crow” after his
Democratic selections in an online weblog didn’t pan out.

Saletan pinned the Democrats’ failure on their inability to “sell the
public a story about how Democrats would fix the economy.” He goes on to
elaborate in a later post, saying “the problem with Democrats in 2002
wasn’t that they hugged the center or hugged the left. The problem was that
they didn’t hug each other. Some were against war in Iraq; others weren’t.
Some were for rolling back the Bush tax cut; others weren’t. Some were for
spending more money to revive the economy or relieve suffering; others
weren’t. Republicans had a clear leader and a clear message; Democrats didn’t.”

This lack of a singular party message was echoed by Gerber and Berger, who
mentioned that “because of this [disunity], they [the Democrats] have been
unable to raise support even though a majority of Americans agree with the
party on most issues. Unfortunately, attempts to distance the Democrats
from Bill Clinton have hurt more than they have helped and too often
Democrats have allowed the Republicans to frame the issues in a way
favorable to them.”

Goldstein, on the other hand, felt more emphasis should be put on the
things that the Republicans did well, rather than on their opponents’
flaws. He cited President Bush’s strong approval rating and effective
campaigning as major factors in the outcome, as well as the party’s ability
to focus on “the nation’s most pressing issues: the war on terror, national
defense, and the economy.”

Based on this success, Goldstein sees the new Republican-controlled
Congress revisiting the President’s tax plan and taking a more aggressive
stance on the Iraq issue. And although he concedes that any such long-term
prognostication is very risky, Goldstein has “faith that Bush will continue
to make proper, informed decisions and that his approval rating will remain
high through the 2004 election.”

Gerber and Berger also see Iraq as the defining issue that will shape the
next major election, but suggest that questions about the economy may
hamper widespread American support for the initiative. Still, given the
Democrats’ seeming failure to capitalize on economic concerns in the
current election, they note that “the Democratic Party will flounder until
we have some consistent leadership.”

Professor Valelly, for his part, offers a unique hypothetical scenario for
the new Congress–one in which there exists “the possibility of division
among Republicans who wish to push a conservative agenda and those who do not.”

“If that division becomes difficult,” says Valelly, “it will cause problems
for the President.” However, he concedes that Bush may be more politically
savvy than many Swatties give him credit for–especially given his
successful campaigning in this election. And as a result, the President may
well be able to maneuver out of any such trouble.

by Roxanne Yaghoubi
Gazette News Reporter

John McCutcheon and Holly Near, two famed folk artists, performed together
twice on Friday at Swarthmore.

The first event was a workshop entitled “Teaching Peace,” held on Friday
afternoon. Dealing with how peace activists can spread the message of peace
and justice to young children in public schools, the workshop started with
people in the audience listing various types of violence. The room was then
split up into six smaller groups, each of which discussed a scenario
dealing with the issues surrounding peace activism. The scenarios ranged
from deciding how to deal with a Klu Klux Klan protest near an elementary
school to the difficulty of choosing which candidate should get a heart
transplant when only one heart was available. The groups then came together
to share their thoughts.

Later that night, McCutcheon and Near took to the LPAC mainstage for a
concert played to a crowded house of both students and local community
members. Despite Near’s illness, both singers continued performing, to the
great enjoyment of the audience. The artists first performed a few songs
together, then each performed individually, before coming back together for
a final song and then an encore (following a standing ovation).

Audience members sang along to many of the songs, most of which had to do
with issues of peace, activism, queer rights, and feminism. Particularly
popular were McCutcheon’s renditions of a song composed entirely of
Bushisms and another song dealing with Operation TIPS (which would allow
ordinary Americans to report on their neighbors’ suspected terrorist
activities). The refrain of that song was, “I want to be in Ashcroft’s
army, I want to be a spy.” Outside the venue, vendors sold the CDs of both
performers.

*****

by Jeremy Schifeling
Co-Managing Editor

The debating duo of Rob Peterson ’03 and Sarah Drescher ’03 finished in
second place at this past weekend’s tournament, hosted by Tri-Co neighbor
Bryn Mawr.

Peterson and Drescher beat teams from University of Maryland – College Park
and Harvard en route to the final round, where they fell to debaters from
NYU and Princeton by an 8-5 judge’s vote. After discussing NATO and the
Greek mythology in previous rounds, the Swat team proposed a case about the
first Harry Potter movie in the championship round: “You are Headmaster
Dumbledore in ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ – Don’t take the
House Cup away from Slytherin based on the rule-breaking exploits of Harry
Potter and his Gryffindor friends.”

While the team was not able to win it all, they did earn an automatic
invitation to the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s national
championship by making it to the final round. Additionally, Peterson was
named the 10th-place speaker of the tournament.

Also faring well for Swat were Sonya Hoo ’05 and Lisa Tredeau ’06. Hoo
earned seventh-place team honors while partnering with a debater from
Harvard, and Hunter was named the ninth-place novice speaker in addition to
taking fourth-place amongst novice teams with partner Emily Tredeau ’06.

*****

* John Lee Malvo, 17, has admitted to pulling the trigger in several of the
sniper attacks. The information has been used to tie Malvo to at least
one  shooting, that of FBI analyst Linda Franklin in Falls Church
Virginia.  Because of this, Malvo will be prosecuted in Fairfax County
Virginia. The suspect also indicated that he and his partner, John Allen
Muhammed, operated in a military fashion by using two-way radios to
communicate.

* Saddam Hussein ordered a special convening of the Iraqi parliament on
Monday. The order came following the decision of the Arab League to welcome
the U.N. resolution demanding Iraq to disarm. It is expected that the
Revolution Command Council, Iraq’s highest authority, will make a decision
regarding the U.N. resolution.

* A Palestinian attack on a northern Israeli kibbutz happened on Sunday,
hours after a suicide bombing in the same area was foiled. The attack on
the kibbutz, done by one or more gunmen, caused five peoples’ deaths. Al
Akhsa Martyr’s Brigade, a militant offshoot of the mainstream Fatah
movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

*****

Helen Sheehan lecture: Traditional Medicine
Kirby Lecture Hall, 4:00 p.m.

Chanan Cohen lecture: “Peace in the Middle East? Is there hope?”
Kohlberg 115, 4:30 p.m.

Women in Science dinner
Sharples Room 4, 6:00 p.m.

Ice cream social and discussion on social change
CRC, 7:00 p.m.

“Nnwonkoro: Madame Afua Abasaa and the Akan Female Song”
Lecture by Akosua Anyidoho, Linguistics Department, University of Ghana
Scheuer Room, 7:00 p.m.

Linguistics Film: “Todo Sobre Mi Madre”
Kohlberg 116, 7:30 p.m.

Good Schools PA letter-writing
Parrish Parlors – East, 8:00 p.m.

Good Schools PA meeting
Mephistos, 9:00 p.m.

Student Council meeting
CRC, 10:00 p.m.

SWIL Movie Night: “The Lost Boys”
Kirby Lecture Hall, 10:00 p.m.

———–
Upcoming events

Professor Bruce Maxwell ’91, Assistant Professor of Engineering, will
present a faculty lecture entitled “One Small Step for a Robot, One Giant
Leap for Robotics.” On July 31st, 2002, the mobile robot GRACE made history
by autonomously completing the American Association for Artificial
Intelligence challenge. GRACE’s performance was the result of a
5-institution cooperative effort which included Swarthmore College. This
talk will introduce GRACE, outline the software and hardware innovations
that made her possible, and describe the Swarthmore Vision Module, which
was Prof. Maxwell’s contribution to the project.

The lecture will begin at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, November 13 in the
Scheuer Room and will be followed by a reception. All faculty, students,
and staff are welcome.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Jenna Adelberg
Gazette Sportswriter

The fall 2002 intramural soccer season ended Sunday with a nail-biting
final between I-20 and a combined Wharton Women/Chowkings squad. It was a
very close game all the way through, and what made the difference in the
end was an overtime goal by senior Anteneh Tesfaye, which gave I-20 the IM
fall soccer crown.

Both sides played offensively, giving goalkeepers Chris Milla (I-20) and
Peter Mohanty (Wharton Women) a chance to show their skills. A 0-0 tie
throughout regulation, the game took a victorious turn for I-20 in overtime
when Tesfaye kicked a pass from Adem Kader ’06 just out of Mohanty’s reach
and into the goal.

Stephen Duvignau ’06 remarked, “In general the team played very well, with
particular distinction to Chris Milla who saved the game for I-20 with a
miraculous save later in the game. In the first half I-20 was shaky in the
midfield, but we began to play much better in the second half, and finally
everything came together in first overtime with Anteneh’s goal.”

The victory marked I-20’s third consecutive IM fall soccer championship

The results from this weekend’s swim match against Widener were unavailable
at the time of publication.

*****

Today:
Men’s basketball at Penn JV (scrimmage), 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled for tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did
succeed in making those idiots understand their language.”
–Mark Twain

*****
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