Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
I heard a rumor that, when David Kemp Hall is completed, there are plans to combine it, Alice Paul, and Mertz into an all-frosh “quad”. Is this true?
Currently, both Mertz and Alice Paul are home to students from all class years, so it would be a big change for Swarthmore to make them into first-year-only dorms. Not only that, but facilitating interaction between students at different stages of their Swat career is one of the central concerns of Swarthmore’s housing policy, so it seemed unlikely that such a change would actually be in the works.
But just in case, the Gazette asked Housing Coordinator Liz Derickson ’01, who confirmed in an email that “David Kemp has always been planned to house students of different class years, like all dorms at Swarthmore,” adding that, because of the large number of singles in the dorms in question, “it would upset the balance of housing for juniors/seniors if all of that housing went to first-year students.”
So, devoted AP/Mertz residents, there is no need to worry; you will be welcomed back to your favorite dorms next year and for the foreseeable future.
