Thursday, April 29, 2004

by Victoria Swisher

Gazette Reporter

At last week’s faculty meeting, Suzanne Welsh, Vice President for
Finance and Treasurer, distributed copies of a summary of the current
status of the College’s budget, which focused on ways to fund a living
wage. Ms. Welsh noted, “This is by no means a proposal, but an attempt
to put the discussion about the Living Wage in a financial context. It
is meant to help facilitate discussion.”

The report gives a rundown of how the College has balanced its budget
and met needs by holding “departmental budgets constant and
reallocating funds to priority needs.” By reducing costs in various
areas, the college has managed to save $1.5 million dollars. However,
the proposal also indicates that implementing the next step of the
faculty retirement plan and anticipating health insurance costs will
cost a combined $400,000. To accommodate the Ad Hoc Committee’s Living
Wage recommendation of $750,000-$2,000,000, the report sees “only a few
areas which might provide significant source of funds without serious
erosion of the program.”

These areas, as identified by the report would be: holding departmental
budgets constant for the fourth year in a row, an additional 0.5% in
student charges, reduction in suggested areas by the Living Wage
Campaign (eg, honors week, athletics), and eliminating faculty and
tenured positions. Unfortunately, the report indicated that the most
likely source of significant funds would be eliminating anywhere from
6-15 non-tenured or tenured track faculty positions and 7-19 staff
positions.

Of the report, Vice President Maurice Eldgridge stated, “This is meant
to be a basis for conversation on how to move forward. We’re looking
for ways to communicate this around campus. The next step is to create
dialogue.” On behalf of Swarthmore’s Living Wage and Democracy
Campaign, Harris Kornstein ’06 noted, “…we think that’s a good
starting point, but we’ve still got a long way to go–clearly there are
more possibilities than the few that have so far been brought to the
table. Otherwise, I think that the Ad Hoc Committee’s report was very
impressive, and was probably the most progressive and creative living
wage recommendation on any college/university campus thus far.”

According to Kornstein, the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendations do not
include “firing anybody”, and the Living Wage and Democracy Campaign
believes that a living wage can be instituted by finding “more
creative” ways to create a “realistic funding proposal.”

Vice President Eldridge hopes that in the coming weeks, the College can
“get a sense of where the campus stands.”

*****

On April 10th, Swarthmore College Bowl sent a shorthanded team of Will
Schricker ’04, Chris White ’05 and Emily Ullman ’06 to compete in the
ACF National Championships, the most rigorous, difficult tournament of
the year. They placed 17th, and unofficially 4th among
undergraduate-only teams. Highlights included Will’s top 20 individual
performance, and a defeat of 5th-place Rochester, led by erstwhile
Swattie Fred Bush ’98.

The Swarthmore College Bowl team finished its season this past Saturday
with a bang at Princeton’s Buzzerfest tournament, where Chris, Will,
Emily and Matt Fowles ’04 went 8-1 in the prelims (and defeated
eventual champions Maryland A) en route to a third-place finish, second
among college teams.  Chris was third individually, and Will was
sixth in his final tournament.

Thanks to Chris White for the results.

*****

On 4/17/2004 a vehicle owner parked her car on the west side of the
Chester Road underpass.  Upon returning to her vehicle on
4.18/2004 at 2:35 p.m. she discovered someone had damaged her left side
rear view mirror.  Officer Thomas took the report.

On 4/25/2004 at 3:40 a.m., Officer Bardo received a radio dispatch of 3
males damaging a van in the DuPont parking lot of Swarthmore
College.  Upon arrival the van was found to have a damaged right
side window.  A Swarthmore College Public Safety Officer heard
males in the area of the 600 block of Elm Avenue.  A subsequent
search failed to find the males.

Officer Bardo responded to a burglary in progress call in the 200 block
of N. Swarthmore Avenue on 4/25/2004 at 5:30 a.m.  Upon arrival
she was met by a resident who reported he woke up and observed a
subject in the hallway dressed in black and carrying a bag.  The
subject observed the resident and ran out the back door of the
residence.  The resident went to the doorway and looked but did
not see where the subject fled.  No description was
obtained.  Taken were a laptop computer and a camcorder.  The
investigation is continuing.

A report of an assault was received by Officer Bardo on 4/25/2004 at
5:15 p.m.  According to the victim he had attended a party at
Swarthmore College on 4/25/2004.  At approximately 12:45 a.m. he
was approached by an individual outside the party.  Following an
argument he was grabbed from behind and held while but was able to kick
himself free.  He then fell down and was kicked in the head, body,
and arm.  He lost consciousness and was revived by friends who
took him to a friend’s house.  He was later taken to Riddle
Hospital for treatment of the injuries.  An investigation is
continuing.

A t-shirt and a sweatshirt on display in the Swarthmore Borough Hall
lobby were taken between 7:30 a.m., 4/23/2004 and 7:30 a.m., 4/26/2004.
 Both items contained the Swarthmore logo.  They were valued
at $42.  Chief Craig took the report.

*****

* A recent NBC News/New York Times poll indicates that Americans are
increasingly critical of the way the Bush Administration has handled
the war in Iraq. The poll shows that Americans are concerned with the
amount of troops remain in Iraq and the amount of time they will
continue to fight. Initially, the public had strongly supported the war
in Iraq, but now it is evenly divided between keeping troops in Iraq
for as long as it takes to resolve the conflict and removing all troops
as soon as possible.

* After the Islamic Militant group Hamas made threats against U.S.
interests, the U.S. State Department has warned its citizens “to avoid
travel to Israel and to leave the Gaza Strip immediately,” according to
the BBC. The statement says, “Statements have been made by Hamas
elements and other terrorist Groups threatening revenge against US
interests following the killings of Hamas leaders in Gaza, which could
include kidnappings.” There has been continued violence in recent
weeks, and officials say the situation “remains extremely volatile.”

* As part of an international effort to support North Korea, South
Korea has sent emergency aid to help victims of last week’s train
explosion. North Korea estimates that approximately $350 million of
damage was caused by the explosion. According to the BBC, “The North
Korean state news agency KCNA said there had been ‘horrible’ human and
material loss, and that many victims had been left ‘deaf and blind’.”
The agency continued, however to laud the “heroes” who died trying to
save portraits of Kim Jong-il and his deceased father, Kim Il-sung. The
shipment of aid from South Korea includes instant noodles, blankets,
bottled water, towels and clothes.

*****

Reading by Stephanie Fox and Sarah St. Vincent

SCI 199, 7:00 p.m.

Goldwater Workshop for Sophomores & Juniors

Parrish Parlours, 7:00 p.m.

Screening: “A Republic Gone Mad: Rwanda 1894-1994”

SCI 101, 7:30 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Alex Glick

Sports Editor

The men’s lacrosse team fell to undefeated Washington (15-0 overall,
8-0 in the Centennial Conference) yesterday afternoon 10-3. 
Swarthmore’s loss to the number two team in Division III brings their
record to 5-9 overall (2-5 in the conference).

A very vocal and aggressive Washington team scored four times in the
first quarter to take an early lead.  Each goal made the visitors’
stands erupt with noise, which included the ringing of a cowbell! 
Swarthmore made a couple of close shots, but Washington goalie Richard
Yost made a few well-timed saves to keep the Garnet off the board for
the first fifteen minutes of play.

Swarthmore’s offense picked up a great deal in the second quarter, with
Jay Charles ’07 scoring 22 seconds in off of a Charlie Sussman ’05
assist.  The Garnet stayed near their opponents’ goal for quite a
while this quarter but were unable to put together another goal-scoring
play.  Washington added three goals in the second quarter to bring
the score to 7-1 in favor of the Shoremen.

Swarthmore took control of the ball early on in the third quarter and
made a lot of clean passes, but they were unable to take many shots on
goal.  The Garnet continued to become more aggressive as the
quarter went on, but Washington added another goal to put them even
further ahead (8-1).

Washington continued to put together a series of fast and smooth passes
in the fourth quarter to net two more balls.  Swarthmore, however,
tallied two more of their own as Tom Coughlin ’05 and John Cleaver ’04
scored.  It would not be enough though, and the Shoremen took
their fifteenth win of the year.

Swarthmore goalie Steve Isbister made twelve big saves in the game,
while Washington goalie Yost made nine.  The Garnet played hard
overall but were not able to penetrate the Shoremen’s defense when in
possession of the ball.

The Garnet will wrap up their season on Saturday when they host
Haverford (7-5, 2-5 in conference play) at 8:00 p.m. at Clothier
Fields.  Saturday will be senior night, a chance for Swarthmore to
honor graduating players. This game, like all Swat-Haverford contests,
will surely be heated and will be one that you will not want to miss!

*****

Today:

There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:

Track & Field hosts the Centennial Conference Championships 1:00
p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

–Marcus Aurelius

*****

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