Thursday, October 21, 2004

by Maile Arvin
Gazette Reporter

Can you remember what made you want to come to Swarthmore? For those of us who have already turned into jaded seniors, watching the newest addition to the Admissions Office’s library of materials for prospective students might serve as a healthy reminder.

The Admissions Office has produced a new DVD which features a 15-minute video entitled “Swarthmore Unscripted,” which focuses in on the daily routines of five Swarthmore students. Filmmakers, from a contracted company called Tribe Pictures, shadowed students Sam Graffeo ’07, Chloe Le Pichon ’05, Emiliano Rodriguez ’05, Joe Dickerson ’04, and Matt Goldstein ’04 for three days in March. The footage shown in the video tracks the students from dorm rooms to classes, art studios, professors’ offices and even the mail room. The five are also shown busily practicing sports, orchestra and a capella, socializing at the Screw Your Roommate dance, participating in protests, and salsa dancing in Philly. Along with several other students whose monologues are interspersed throughout the film, they speak about profoundly influential professors, the diversity of their friends and peers, the work that’s currently consuming them, and what they’d like to do after graduation.

Dean of Admissions Jim Bock ’90 described the video as another part of the Admissions Office’s family of publications. The rest of these publications, including the viewbook, offer all the information a prospective student might need, Bock said, However, he sees the DVD as providing a more vibrant introduction to the experience of actually being at Swarthmore. Besides the featured video, the DVD includes an additional collection of eleven student self-interviews and several deleted scenes that failed to make it into the feature video (including promising footage of the Screw Your Roommate rituals in Sharples). There is also a 15-minute video produced by the Meaning of Swarthmore campaign which features a discussion among alumni about the school.

That the DVD is part of a stated initiative on the part of the Admissions Office to change what they perceive as a popular outside perception of Swarthmore as a rigidly intellectual environment has already earned it some negative buzz. Bock maintained that Admissions is definitely not seeking to misrepresent Swarthmore or recruit a new type of student with the video. “Everyone assumes it’s really slick. It’s not,” Bock said. “Do you think I could tell Swatties what to say?” Bock asserted that Admissions was simply trying to represent a more holistic view of student life to prospective students who are highly sought after by competing colleges as well. “My job is to inform, not to convince,” he said.

The DVD has already been viewed by the Board of Managers, the Student Council Presidents, the Admissions Committee, some of the students who were filmed for the video, and this writer. Sam Graffeo, who has viewed the final product, said that she enjoyed being part of the project, and that “it was quite an interesting experience having a camera crew follow you around…I don’t think that they were able to capture every part of me or every part of any of those involved in the video but what they did grasp were parts of us,” she stated. “If three short days in my life can allow a prospective student a glimpse into the life of a Swattie then I’m glad I was able to help.”

Copies of the DVDs are still being produced, and Bock expects the DVD to be ready for mailing in early November. The Admissions Office plans to mail the DVD to interested high school seniors and high school counselors first, and will work out other ways to utilize it from there. A trailer will be added to the Admissions website, adding to a small, rotating collection of “Swarthmore Unscripted” student self-interviews that the site already hosts.

Jim Bock confirmed that the campus will also be privy to a showing of the DVD, though Student Council is in charge of it and a date is not yet set.

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by Ken Patton
Gazette Reporter

Last Thursday the Swarthmore Co-op unveiled its new building in the Swarthmore Ville, in between Cheng Hing and the old Co-op. The new, more spacious store boasts a larger selection of products and a much more modern appearance making it easier for customers to collect what they want.

The Co-op was founded in 1937 as a group of people with the goal of providing an economical source of good produce. The members of the Co-op at that time would take turns driving down to the Philadelphia food distribution center to purchase food for everyone. Then, sometime between 1939 and 1945, the Co-op officially became a community store and took residence in a building that Jack Cavanaugh, current president of the Board of Managers, described as “at one point a car dealership, not exactly meant to be a store.” However the Co-op members made this location work for over 50 years.

Under the initial founding, residents of the Borough could join as a member of the Co-op for five dollars. Becoming a Co-op member primarily granted people the ability to run for the Board of Managers, which allowed the community to direct the actions of the store.

The ordeal of moving to a new store began a few years ago when an architect was brought onto the Board of Managers. The architect examined the structural status of the Co-op and determined that “it would have cost one to one and a half million dollars just to shore up the old store” according to Cavanaugh.

In addition to repairing the old store, the Board sought out other options such as moving to a new building more suited to hold the Co-op. However, as a part of the community they wanted to stay as near as possible to residents who relied on the closeness of the store. At one point they almost considered putting up a large tent in the Ville to house the Co-op while the old building was renovated, but a new option turned up when they found that the Borough had acquired money to put a new road through the property next to the Co-op.

After meeting, the Borough and the Board agreed it would be beneficial to both parties to trade the roughly equal sized properties; this would allow the Co-op to build a new store and put the road closer to the center of the Ville. However, the price tag for the new store was estimated at around two million dollars, which provided the next challenge for the move.

After contacting the National Cooperative Bank, which provides loans to co-operatives around the country, they found out that they could get a loan for all but around $650,000 of the costs. To get the remaining money the Co-op went to the community and raised money by increasing the minimum membership cost and enacting a multi-level investment based membership system. With the help of the community and a total of $50,000 from the college, the Co-op met its goal and began the project.

In the end everything went as planned; it cost a bit more than was estimated in the beginning, but was still under budget. The floor area of the new building is approximately double the 3,000 square feet of the old store, with all the products the old Co-op contained plus “expanded selections of organic foods, prepared foods, produce, seafood, and local products” according to Cavanaugh.

After what was called the “soft” opening, Cavanaugh commented that “sales are up…people are coming to the Co-op for specific products they had to buy at Genuardi’s before.” They are waiting on the official Grand Opening until the street is put in next to the store, most likely in the spring.

The new store also plans to focus on nutrition education for children, with the hope of getting kids to eat healthy early in their lives. As a community-oriented store, the Co-op’s mission is to provide what the community needs; “if a person comes in and asks for a specific product, 99 times out of 100 we will try to stock it” said Cavanaugh, adding that they just need to know what people want.

*****

by Micaela Baranello
Gazette Reporter

The process of planning for the annual Large Scale Event (LSE) has been changed this year to facilitate organization. Veronica Lim ’07 has been hired in the new position of LSE Coordinator. Previously, the LSE was planned by a coalition committee representing the President’s Office, the Dean’s Office, the Student Budget Committee, Student Council, the Social Affairs Committee and Olde Club. The committee will remain in place, but with a central figure to coordinate planning.

Suggestions for the LSE will be solicited from the student body at tabling in Sharples today and tomorrow. The committee will decide on an event, with the Coordinator participating as another committee member. Student Activities Coordinator Jenny Yim emphasizes that this will allow “students to take ownership and make the event their own.” Previously, the event has been organized in many different ways, mostly questionably efficient. The committee and coordinator are also responsible for Worthstock.

The nature of the LSE is flexible. The traditional choice is a band, though last year’s appearance by comedian Mitch Hedberg drew a large crowd. Hopefully, this year’s event will be smoothly organized and popular through the entire campus. Students are invited to suggest acts at tabling this week.

*****

* The highest ranking US army reservist to be charged in the Abu Ghraib case pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick admitted to dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, assault, and indecent acts. The plea bargain requires Frederick to cooperate in the prosecution of other cases related to the prison abuse scandal. During the court martial held at Camp Victory in Baghdad, the sergeant told the presiding judge that he knew what he was doing was wrong but that he was following the lead of military intelligence officers. In regards to the abuse, he said that “nudity was supposed to humiliate and degrade them for military intelligence purposes.”

* New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the nation’s first gay Episcopal bishop, expressed regret on Wednesday for the divisiveness his position has caused among Christians. Bishop Robinson is particularly worried about the effect on Christianity in the developing world, where he believes his promotion to bishop is viewed as “one more unilateral action on the part of Americans.” But the bishop also stated that he has no intention of stopping down.

* In a historic victory on Thursday, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees in game 7 of the American League Championship Series. With a final score of 10-3, the Red Sox became the first team in history to win a best of 7 series after losing the first three games. They will face either the Houston Astros or the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday.

*****

Career Services: Coffee and Conversation on the Bard Program on Globalization and International Affairs
Parrish 135, 2:30 p.m.

Law Panel: UPenn, UMichigan, UVirginia
Kohlberg 115, 4:30 p.m.

21st Century Community Learning Centers Information Session
Lang Center, 5:00 p.m.

Muslim Students Association
Kohlberg 226, 5:00 p.m.

Library Interactive Event: Open Access: Should Information Be Free?
Kohlberg 318, 6:00 p.m.

McCabe Lecture: “Implications of Computer-Aided Research for the Appreciation of Historic Texts” by Richard Harley ’72
LPAC Cinema, 7:00 p.m.

Startingbloc information session
Parrish 159, 7:00 p.m.

Swarthmore College Bowl
Kohlberg 202, 7:00 p.m.

Swarthmore Christian Fellowship
Kohlberg 230, 7:00 p.m.

Films of Fury: Fist of Legend
SCCS Media Lounge, 7:30 p.m.

French Film Festival: Tous les matins du monde
Science Center 199, 7:30 p.m.

QSA Movie Screening
Kohlberg 115, 8:00 p.m.

Swarthmore Massage Sessions
Bond Memorial Hall, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
Field Hockey at Bryn Mawr, 4:30 p.m.
Volleyball hosts Ursinus, 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled for tomorrow

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Setting a good example for children takes all the fun out of middle age.”
–William Feather

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