Monday, October 25, 2003

by Josh Hausman
Gazette Weatherman

Summary: Although we are week closer to winter, this week will be warmer than
last. Today will rainy but warm, with temperatures possibly hitting 70. Tuesday
will be much cooler, but thereafter highs will be in the 60s, warming to near
70 over the weekend. Lows will be in 40s throughout the week.

by Pei Pei Liu
Managing Editor

Those who knew and loved Davis Rosen, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and
member of the Swarthmore College Orchestra for the past 51 years, gathered in
Lang Concert Hall on Friday to remember the life of a truly inspiring individual
who passed away this summer.

Directly after receiving his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania,
Dr. Rosen joined the Swarthmore College faculty in 1952 and stayed until his
retirement in 1987. He was chair of the Mathematics Department from 1969-1976,
and during his tenure engaged in various research projects and teaching sabbaticals,
including a National Science Foundation Fellowship to the University of Cambridge
in 1968 and a Fulbright Fellowship to Ireland in 1972. He continued his interest
in number theory and scholarship even after his retirement–characteristic of
a man who pursued his passions whole-heartedly throughout life.

One of these great passions was music and the double bass in particular: Dr.
Rosen joined the Swarthmore College Orchestra in his first year on the faculty
and stayed for the rest of his life. He also frequently performed with local
chamber groups and orchestras and served on the board of Orchestra 2001.

The community-wide memorial service on Friday afternoon embodied Dr. Rosen’s
interests with its wide range of remembrances. Two student chamber ensembles
bookended a host of speakers whose lives had been touched by Dr. Rosen. After
President Al Bloom’s opening remarks, Dr. Rosen’s brother and son delivered
their memories, as did Professor Stephen Maurer, Professor Emeritus Thomas Blackburn,
Professor Thomas Schmidt of the University of Oregon, and orchestra director
Daniel Wachs, while Dorothy Freeman read a statement on behalf of her husband,
Professor Emeritus James Freeman.

Swarthmore College Orchestra manager Rachel Scott ’05, who played bass alongside
Dr. Rosen in the orchestra and performed with her quintet at the memorial, said
that the ceremony was appropriately loving and funny for Dr. Rosen’s warm personality
and kindheartedness.

“It wasn’t somber at all, and he would have liked that,” she said.
“We described it as a celebration of his life, and that’s really what it
was, a celebration.”

Dr. Rosen died from complications associated with lymphoma on August 24, 2003.
He was 82 years old.

*****

by Greg Leiserson
Campus News Editor

Not every Capitol Steps performance features a twenty minute Skidmore commencement
address but the one on Saturday night did, and the packed house in LPAC loved
every second of it. Director Bill Strauss, a Swarthmore father, put together
the piece which poked fun at everything from college internet access and the
rugby team to the school’s name and coed nature.

In addition to the Swarthmore-specific elements, the show was filled with the
group’s traditional fare, including titles such as “God Bless My SUV,”
“You Don’t Send Me Flowers” featuring Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat,
and “401k” to the tune of “YMCA.”

As Andrew Abdalian ’06 noted, the main themes of the show were fairly standard,
“complete with easy jabs at Bush, but [it was] punctuated by more unexpected
jabs at the French army and a wonderful Laura Bush impression.”

Senior Ryan Budish, who organized the effort to bring the Steps to Swat, commented,
“It surpassed all my expectations. I think the reason why was because this
was far from their standard show, especially in the second act. The Swarthmore
specific bits really made it a fun experience, and made it a lot more fun. I
think a lot of people were teased in those bits, but I think everyone seemed
to take it with good humor.”

The Steps formed in 1981 and had their first performance at a Senate Christmas
party. Since then, they have recorded 23 albums, appeared on numerous television
programs, and have been featured in three national specials for public television.
Most of the Steps have worked at some point as congressional staffers and the
current members have worked in the offices of 11 senators and seven house members.

Maybe the best measure of the audience’s enjoyment was the rate at which the
Steps’ CDs were selling in the lobby during intermission. Eager students and
faculty were buying them in numbers, many spending $30 to get all three they
had available.

Said Budish, “It was the fastest sellout [at LPAC] ever, so there was
clearly a lot of pre-show interest, and I think people left the show happy.”

*****

by Alex Glick
Gazette Reporter

Earthlust, Swarthmore’s environmental group, will “Storm the Dorms”
for the fourth time this evening starting at around 9:00 p.m. The effort is
taking place in part to make students more aware of the energy situation on
campus as well as of their own personal energy usage.

Thanks in part to Earthlust, five percent of the energy Swarthmore uses comes
from wind power, an environmentally friendly alternative to oil. The group hopes
that Swarthmore will increase its wind power usage to 7.5% by the end of this
year. Earthlust will again visit the dorms on campus to teach students ways
to save energy, in part to compensate for the extra costs of wind power, in
a variety of ways including doing laundry and using computers. Storm the Dorms,
which has been successful in the past, will involve Earthlust’s group members
working in pairs to visit many of the rooms on campus for a few minutes and
trying to make the largest possible impact.

Earthlust, which normally meets on Monday nights, encourages students to take
the time to listen to its group members tonight. Besides the energy issues facing
Swarthmore and beyond, Earthlust takes on a variety of other projects including
helping to clean up our campus, encouraging recycling, and working with issues
of environmental justice.

*****

* The U.S. authority in Baghdad suffered two more attacks on Sunday/early Monday
morning. The first attack, a missile barrage on the Al-Rasheed Hotel, killed
an American colonel and wounded 18 people. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz was visitng Baghdad and in the hotel at the time, but U.S. officials
denied that he was the direct target. At around 8:30 a.m. Baghdad time on Monday,
another explosion hit the city, this time near a Red Cross Center. More details
on the breaking story were unavailable at the time of publication.

* Wildfires raged across Southern California on Sunday, killing 13 people and
leaving more than 650 homes burned. A total of 10 major fires were counted in
the region, with the biggest affecting 100,000 acres. The flames drew much of
their strength from the fierce Santa Ana winds.

* In a move that reaches across partisan lines, members of Congress accused
the White House on Sunday of stalling a probe into 9/11. A 10-member bipartisan
commission is charged with investigating the attacks of that day, and has until
May 27 to submit a report on that investigation. But the White House has repeatedly
blocked the commission from receiving documents, despite the threat of a subpoena.

*****

Smoking Cessation Workshop
Kohlberg 328, 12:15 p.m.

Catholic Mass
Bond Common Worship Room, 12:35 p.m.

Linguistics Department Lecture
Kohlberg 115, 4:00 p.m.

Fund for Public Interest Info Session
Bond, 7:00 p.m.

Lecture: ‘Demystifying U.S. Colonialism in Puerto Rico’
Science Center 101, 7:00 p.m.

Lecture by Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America:
‘Israel & the Arabs: Is Peace Possible?’
Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.

Lecture: ‘Pragmatism and Tomantic Paradox’
Papazian 324, 8:00 p.m.

SAC Meeting
Kohlberg 330, 9:00 p.m.

SWIL Movie Night: ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo’
Science Center 101, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Alex Glick
Gazette Reporter

Swarthmore’s field hockey team lost a very well-played game to the Muhlenberg
Mules 2-1 this past weekend on Clothier Field.

The bleachers were roaring on the crisp Saturday afternoon; many of the 132
fans present were Swarthmore field hockey alums, who would play in an alumni
game later. Possession of the ball passed back and forth during the very evenly
matched first half. The Garnet put the pressure on in the twelfth minute, earning
4 penalty corners, but they were unable to score. Swat came close again with
about 8 minutes left, and Heidi Fieselmann ’06 scored her seventh goal of the
year with 7:02 left in the half off of a Summer Spicer ’07 assist. The first
half ended with Swat in the lead 1-0.

Muhlenberg was much more aggressive in the second half and scored on Karen
Lorang ’07 7:42 into the half. The Mules soon earned a penalty stroke, but Lorang
made an amazing save to keep the score tied at one. With 19:06 left in the game,
Lorang was drawn from the goal and Muhlenberg scored.

Swarthmore took the offensive at the end of the game but were not able to get
past the Muhlenberg defense, and the game ended with the Mules ahead by one.

The Swat field hockey team, now with a 5-11 record (1-7 in the Centennial Conference)
will play its final home game of the year tomorrow at 4:00 against cross-town
rival Haverford.

*****

Katey McCaffrey ’04 scored the Garnet’s goal on a Natalie Negrey ’07 assist,
but it was not enough as the Garnet fell at Dickinson in a key Centennial Conference
(CC) match-up. Swat falls to 7-8 overall, 3-5 in the CC. The Garnet host Bryn
Mawr at 6:00 p.m. today.

*****

The Garnet were shutout at McDaniel in CC action. Nate Shupe recorded nine
saves in goal as the Green Terror held a 17-6 shot advantage over the Garnet.
Swat falls to 5-10-2 overall, 3-4 in the CC. Swarthmore hosts Ursinus at 6:00
p.m. on Wednesday.

*****

Johns Hopkins 3, Swarthmore 0 (30-26, 30-22, 30-23)
Dickinson 3, Swarthmore 2 (24-30, 30-26, 28-30, 30-22, 15-8)

The Garnet dropped both contests of a tri-match at Tarble Pavilion. Emily Conlon
’06 led the Garnet attack with 20 assists and 17 digs against the Blue Jays.
Conlon, then added 50 assists and 17 digs against the Red Devils. Emma Benn
’04 (15 kills, 21 digs) and Erica George ’07 (17 kills and 16 digs) both added
double-doubles. Swat falls to 13-18 overall, 4-5 in the CC.

The Garnet return to the court for their season finale when they host cross-town
rival Haverford College on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

*****

Today:
Women’s soccer hosts Bryn Mawr, 6:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Field hockey hosts Haverford, 4:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened
of the old ones.”
–John Cage

*****

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

Contact the staff at daily@swarthmore.edu

The Daily Gazette is published Monday through Friday by an independent
group of Swarthmore College students. The Daily Gazette Web Site is updated
regularly, as news happens. Technical support from the Swarthmore College
Computer Society is gratefully acknowledged.