On Sept. 13, 2023, President Valerie Smith announced in a campus-wide email plans to take a sabbatical during the upcoming spring semester. During Smith’s leave from Feb. 9, 2024 to Aug. 9, 2024, Provost Tomoko Sakomura and Vice President for Finance and
On Wednesday, Feb. 22, President Valerie Smith announced in an email to students, faculty, and staff members that Commencement will take place on Parrish Lawn in front of Clothier Memorial Hall and Parrish Hall. While Commencement has historically taken place in the
President Valerie Smith shared an email on Tuesday, Nov. 2 providing an official announcement regarding the location of Commencement for the Class of 2022. The message conveyed the decision that the ceremony will be held on Mertz Field, as it was for
Over Garnet weekend, President Valerie Smith and Vice President of Student Affairs Jim Terhune made public for the first time the College’s decision to hold the Swarthmore 2022 commencement ceremony on Mertz Field. This decision represents a stark departure from the long-standing
Last year, for the first time in Swarthmore’s history, commencement was held virtually due to an emergency campus evacuation because of rapidly rising U.S. COVID-19 cases; this year, however the Class of 2021 will have two commencements. After a period of uncertainty,
Last week, Provost Tom Stephenson emailed students and faculty the official academic calendar schedule for the spring of 2017. The new calendar shortens the time between the end of classes and Commencement. The email expresses a specific interest in meeting the needs
At this spring’s Commencement ceremony, Interim President Constance Hungerford will bestow honorary degrees on an esteemed musician and educator, a Delaware Supreme Court Justice and a renowned plant geneticist. John Alston, the founding director of the Chester Children’s Chorus, will receive one
Another year, another college commencement controversy. This time, however, it’s not at Swarthmore. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women’s rights advocate and critic of Islam’s treatment of women, was disinvited from speaking and receiving an honorary degree at Brandeis’ commencement this spring. You
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. When Robert
When Swarthmore announced that alumnus and former President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick ’75 would be the 2013 commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary degree, students responded in a multitude of ways. While many students, especially seniors, questioned why someone
