Bring Back Swarthmore’s Distinct Character: It’s Time to Resurrect Quirkiness

It’s early fall when “The Graduate” is screened outside: first-year students watch with intrigue, cozied together on blankets as they enter their collegiate worlds, and seniors wryly observe the depiction of a graduate “a little worried about his future,” as the tagline goes. It’s a Thursday in Paces when “American Pie” comes on. Every Swattie knows what this means: it’s nearly midnight, time to go home, and all party attendees form a circle, arm in arm, to dance to this 1971 hit for its eight-minute-and-42-second duration. The party has a keg and the college paid for it. Swatties gather in the iconic WSRN room on Parrish 4th, with walls entirely “graffitied” over the years in students’ signatures, poems, cartoons, and words of wisdom. Such iconic Swarthmore experiences may evoke fond memories for alums and current seniors alike. Yet, all of these traditions either risk elimination or are entirely gone. 

These traditions are a crucial component of campus culture and of what makes Swarthmore distinct. It is in these time-honored idiosyncrasies that the magic of Swarthmore is made. When alumni return to campus, they ask which traditions remain. They ask how students are having fun on campus these days. Traditions like Pub Nite are fond but distant memories, only really known by current seniors who saw it hosted consistently by a group of super-seniors in 2021. Events like bonfires are few and far between, the radio room risks being painted over and effectively erased, and students must go through intensive hurdles to host parties. While some of these changes may seem small, they are representative of a greater loss of institutional memory for student culture and an increase in sterility. With the absence of these events, few student-led traditions remain.

Another notable example of a lost tradition is the Swarthmore College Halcyon. The TriCollege Libraries Digital Collections maintains a digital archive of the yearbooks and The Phoenix, too, is in possession of several archival copies. The most recent Halcyon The Phoenix could find was published in 2012. Although current Swatties are attempting to revive the annual yearbook, the college must prioritize this essential element of institutional memory and community spirit.

In the past decade or so, affected by handbook changes and the COVID pandemic, Swarthmore has begun to lose key components of the quirky side of its institutional memory. These eccentric student traditions are essential to the fabric of Swarthmore’s unique culture.

Students should have the funding and support to more freely be able to preserve and engage with time-honored traditions. Not enough traditions remain and people are afraid to participate, engage, or spearhead these actions themselves because Pub Safe strictly shuts down student activity that goes against policies, unusual for colleges full of adults. By not allowing young people to be young people — safely, of course — there is no room for fun and traditions to flourish.

Increased surveillance and stricter campus rules have made it difficult to preserve traditions without institutional help, funding, and/or permission. Instead of erasing campus culture and practices, the college should design a sustainable framework to help students maintain the things that make Swarthmore distinct. Traditions and quirks are part of why Swarthmore is the unique place it is; it is time to preserve them for generations of Swatties to come.