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.
As many students may know, Student Council has had trouble establishing plans for a new Gazebo on the Science Center lawn. Dealing with cranky student engineers and cheap Student Budget Committee members, StuCo members had almost given up the entire plan until the surprise emergence of a savior: NYU Abu Dhabi.
Photo by Colin Purrington.The university has agreed to fund the entire Gazebo process, in exchange for the site’s status as a Recruitment Center. The site will feature spectacular, outlandish architecture with huge portraits of former Swarthmore administrators now at Abu Dhabi.
“We are extremely excited to announce our new partnership with NYU Abu Dhabi,” said StuCo President Simione Zha ‘11, noting that the gazebo “will commemorate the deans who are no longer with us.” The agreement also adds to StuCo’s long list of recent accomplishments (see below).
In the past, NYU Abu Dhabi has gained notoriety at Swarthmore for “stealing” many of the Administration’s deans, including former President Blooming, former Dean of Students Larriless, former Student Life Dean Wontcox, and Dean Tams, the former Director of the Black Cultural Center.
Many students were angered at the unjustness of this trend.
One student complained, “It’s totally not fair that they all get to enjoy the luxurious, dry desert and work on their tan in Abu Dhabi, leaving us with the same, old grass hill and short, boring buildings.”
Now all Swatties can have their chance at going to Abu Dhabi.
According to the NYU Abu Dhabi administration, the center will recruit students, faculty, and staff for short-term and long-term programs, from exchange programs for faculty to summer internships for students.
Formal plans for the ambitious new project will be revealed later next week, and the Gazebo Recruitment Center is projected to be completed by May 2011.
