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.
There was neither a solemn peal of the Clothier bells nor a beeping alarm to tell Swarthmore’s mustached marauders that their time was up. They merely checked their cell phones and exchanged glances of reluctant acknowledgement. Mustache November had to come to an end on a razor’s edge of midnight. The great shave-off had begun.“I will miss my moustache,†elegized Cole Armstrong ’10, “like Napoleon missed his Republican Guard when finally bidding them farewell for the last time to depart for St. Helena to be poisoned to death by the treacherous British.â€
Armstrong and the other hirsute heroes, including Registrar Martin Warner, sported mustaches of varying efflorescence for the last month as part of Mustache November, a worldwide facial hair exhibition tradition that enjoys particular success among college students.
Yet despite obstacles high and low, in the month of November all mustaches grow in one direction. At the thoughtful beard-stroke of midnight, Swarthmore’s brave and bristled were tamed once more.
“My lip feels naked,†said Warner, “but I will get used to it.â€
Nine protesters, including one Swarthmore student and one student on an extended leave of absence, were arrested last Saturday, May 3, ending the four-day Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) encampment on Trotter Lawn. The seven others arrested were unaffiliated with the
The pro-Palestinian encampment constructed on Trotter Lawn on April 30 by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and demolished May 3, 2025, bears many similarities to the encampment the group constructed Spring 2024. However, one of the most striking differences between the
As the encampment continued at Swarthmore College, faculty-admin communication on next steps was minimal, with many faculty sharing that there was no communication other than President Smith’s messages to the entire campus. On Friday afternoon, more than 48 hours after the tents
