1995
The popularity of a website by Justin Paulson ’96 caused 33,807 users in Mexico to crash Swarthmore’s UNIX computer system. The Swarthmore College Computer Society (SCCS) maintained a computer system that allowed staff and students to post things on the internet. Justin Paulson ran a page documenting peasant rebellions in Chiapas, Mexico. At the time, only 36 students maintained pages through SCCS’s computer. Justin’s page blew up when “La Reforma,” a national newspaper in Mexico, published the address of his webpage. Another Justin, Justin Hall ’97, already burdened the system with about 27,000 hits a day for his webpage “Links from the Underground,” and with the publishing of a link in “La Reforma,” the additional 30,000 hits for Paulson’s page brought down the entire student-run web infrastructure.
1985
Swarthmore faculty recognized that “…many of Swarthmore’s gifted students cannot express themselves as clearly and cogently in writing as we might wish,” and voted in favor of adopting a two-year trial program, the Writing Associates (WA). WAs were originally intended to be specifically assigned to classes, one for every ten to 15 students. Only first and second year students were eligible to apply, and they had to demonstrate teachability and capacity for interactions with peers. In assessing candidates, then-program director and professor of English Thomas H. Blackburn noted, “In fact … some of the best writers may not make good WAs; for many of them ‘may not be any damn good in working with other writers.’” WAs were set to receive a stipend of $300 a semester for taking “Colloquium in the Teaching of Writing” and assisting in one course. Swarthmore’s program was modeled after one initiated at Brown University three years prior, but with some adjustments to fit a small liberal arts college.
1965
Swarthmore was a hotbed of crime in 1965, it would seem. Eighty-two students reported being robbed during the academic year, with the total value of stolen property exceeding $1,900. What was being stolen? Small amounts of cash, typewriters, watches, and tape recorders. Two thefts of cash of more than fifty dollars were reported. About a quarter of the reported thefts consisted of items valued at twenty dollars or more. Where did the thefts occur? Primarily unlocked dorm rooms, but the coat racks in Parrish were another spot of frequent pilfering, as were lockers in the athletics building. The bookstore got off surprisingly light, with only “minor” thefts reported. What did the college propose to do about the string of thefts? The college looked into hiring private detectives to discourage theft but ultimately decided against it for the effect it might have on students.
1955
In an article for the Phoenix, Swarthmore student A. S. Roe dismissed the idea of a Creative Arts program at Swarthmore. While Roe admitted that there was great value in providing students the opportunity to practice their creative arts, ultimately, they did “ not believe that a college such as Swarthmore [could] attempt to sustain a full creative arts program.” However, they further specified, “Every effort should be made to provide the artistically gifted student with adequate opportunities and facilities for creative work, and with competent instruction,” but they emphasized that such instruction should remain, “…outside of regular curricular requirements.” Their reasoning: many great artists were “men of broad learning and many accomplishments.”
