Welcome to Swarthmore! We’re happy to have you. Curious to learn more about campus life? Perhaps you’ve found a perfect six-person friend group, or maybe you still feel homesick. Either way, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a list of clubs, activities, places, and events to check out your first semester:
- Crum Woods
Swarthmore sits on Lenapehoking, to which the Lenni Lenape hold ancestral claim. Crum Woods, the college’s 220-acre nature preserve, contains a storied history of forced colonization and environmental racism by European and American settlers. In 2023, Swarthmore’s current president, Val Smith, shared a land acknowledgement encouraging the college’s increased engagement with Indigenous populations.
Simply put, the Crum remains an integral part of the college’s history. Its significance only exacerbates its beauty. The forest contains over 60,000 replanted trees and shrubs. There are flower fields, glistening streams, beautiful marshland, and endless spots to discover. Like deer and other critters? You’ll find them at dusk by Crum Creek. And you aren’t a Swattie until you lie on Crumhenge for the first time.
- Olde Club
The term “club” is misleading. Olde Club is a student-run music venue. Musicians like Mei Semones, Childish Gambino, and Nirvana — yes, Nirvana — have performed in the space. While students can use the hall to throw parties, the club hosts poetry readings, karaoke, and student band shows. Don’t let its reputation fool you. Olde Club has events for everyone, partiers and non-partiers alike.
- Swat Marriage Pact
Last year, Swarthmore broke out into a frenzy in early October 2024. Something called the “Marriage Pact” was sweeping across campus like a plague. Hushed whispers indicated that an anonymous questionnaire would place you with your Swarthmore soulmate.
The Marriage Pact was an anonymous questionnaire that placed students with their most compatible partner based on quiz results. Everyone received their match on the same day at the same time, with 1,034 submissions (roughly 62% of Swatties). Each student learned the full name of their soulmate, and it was then up to them to pursue further communication. It was dramatic, entertaining, and most of all, so very Swarthmore.
… #SwatMarriagePact2025?
- Motherpuckers (MoPo)
Did you know that Swarthmore has an ice hockey club? Twice a week, Swatties shuttle over to a nearby ice-skating rink to duke it out on skates. It’s aggressive, difficult, and you’ll definitely fall over on your face, but it’s 100% worth it. Whether you’re interested in high-intensity scrimmages or want to learn how to skate, you can find your niche at MoPo.
- Write for the Swarthmore Phoenix
We know, shameless self-promotion. But seriously, we source all kinds of writing from all types of writers. For example, a food review for Luna’s Mexican Grill landed on the front page last semester. Sports and Arts platformed creative writers, with Jen Placido-Rosas’s meditative nature stories and Katie Kerman’s reflective analysis on running. And there is also a new section this year, Features (AKA Campus Journal +), where all the miscellaneous items and pieces, late-night scraps of thoughts, and creative stories go — things that don’t fit anywhere else in the other Phoenix sections.
Ok, but maybe you’re more interested in hard news coverage. Last May, we published live updates of the encampment and subsequent arrests. No, you want to publish criticism of the college. We’ve got you. Opinions provided space to address the college’s displacement of Black communities. Into photography? You’ll get a taste of every section in your coverage of events, portraits, and landscapes.
Our point? Whatever way you want to express your thoughts, The Phoenix has a place for your voice. As our mission statement reads, “We report on the college, not for the college.” We want to hear what the incoming class thinks of Swarthmore, whether your stance is positive, negative, or neutral.
