24 20 962 http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/696899b252c565b6821c2cbb288e3437.pdf 77bf65771f251bfeaa5385f2e0ccd503 PDF Text Text �� �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Minutes of the Instruction Committee 04/29/1968] Description An account of the resource Box 2, Black Curriculum Committee 1968-1969 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Instruction Committee] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 04/29/1968 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Black Studies Faculty http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/47ddbdfc73a9ae46efd79b210e6c4f3a.pdf bebbf2272877c3ee60ab9d997b4160cc PDF Text Text ���������� ���������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Suggestions for an Alternative Approach for Black Studies Description An account of the resource Box 2, Administrations File Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Don Mizell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 08/19/1969 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Black Studies Don Mizell http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/836f34e989b3eadb2f28ac9e6ecec38a.pdf ff7b714770227d1810ace7014b42518a PDF Text Text ��� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource On a Black Cultural Center at Swarthmore Description An account of the resource Box 2, Administrations File Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Don Mizell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 07/1969 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Black Cultural Center Don Mizell http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/5d902b022d49aa16664889ac5507836e.pdf c1102256952b2ed478d0ee89adc42d3c PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from SASS to Parents of Black Students, 03/1970] Description An account of the resource Box 1, Miscellaneous correspondence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [03/1970] Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF 1970 sit-in Black admissions Black Cultural Center SASS http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/d2488e7587f047943e8b19859be4643c.jpg 4cc73830c8c4720200babb82dfa92042 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from SASS 01/1969] Description An account of the resource Box 1, Miscellaneous correspondence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 01/1969 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG 1969 sit-in SASS http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/6faf6286e4c1d0fc204099c9cc0215b6.jpg ee124bba18d0cf16829c8a0773562f32 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from Russell Frisby to Ernie 10/10/1970] Description An account of the resource Box 1, Miscellaneous correspondence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Russell Frisby Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10/10/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Black Studies Russell Frisby http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/6139fcfb2b1d0698dac0693e0baa385c.jpg d4747a88700cb6a5559b56e7a370375c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from Edward Cratsley to Steering Committee for the Black Cultural Center 11/04/1970] Description An account of the resource Box 1, Miscellaneous correspondence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Edward Cratsley Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 11/04/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Black Cultural Center President's Office Russell Frisby http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/dfeda907a45ef1c4a47f72d763a194fb.jpg 53977e3c389e0c163b54925d83cbf829 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from Dave Closson to Randall, 11/11/1971] Description An account of the resource Box 1, Miscellaneous correspondence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dave Closson Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 11/11/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Black Cultural Center http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/506fb3b38103dd277c8be33be1d5c3d0.pdf 93de70e80112a11341b1b4047f4223c6 PDF Text Text ��� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black Cultural Center Records Description An account of the resource Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Correspondence between SASS and Robert Cross, 04/10/1970.pdf Description An account of the resource Box 1, Miscellaneous correspondence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Robert Cross Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 04/10/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Black Cultural Center President's Office SASS http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/7d6d75cf55457a23a3ead88d4b9b6def.jpg d5b18cb8a40427a52bd9f6b8288ebc59 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Student Statement of support 01/07/1969] Description An account of the resource SASS file Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hank Levy et al Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 01/07/1969 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Black admissions Student Body http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/1981ff543626b5fbf3ad09c8bb698e33.pdf 98411c826fa120ae72d3dc5c27ad0663 PDF Text Text " COLLECTION SPEECH by President Robert D. Cross October 2, 1969 I am honored by this opportunity to speak at the First Collection at Swarthmore this year. It was a wise decision last year, I think, to change Collection from a required assembly to an occasion where members of the college community come together, not only in the expectation of fellowship, but on the hope that something worthwhile would transpire. ~, At the same time that I feel honored, I feel nervous. The Phoenix has been conducting a war of nerves with me. Last week I was ~di torially enjoined to deliver a major address. (Nothing they could have said would be more conducive to making me feel like a congenitally minor poet.) Then a week ago, a friendly reporter asked, 'What are you going to say that will bring the boys up from ML?" This was truly a stunning question to one like me who lived in Mar,y lyons for 7 years, and had by the end of that time come to realize that one of my duties was to make a weekly report to at least one of the student residents there about what was happening on the other side of the tracks. The Phoenix this past Tuesday reported I was indeed going to speak, then headed the remaining section of the article, which referred to subsequent Collection speakers under the hopeful term "better quality." To the Phoenix, I can only respond: (1) Paul Ylvisaker and Jean Cahn are remarkable people, and I don I t mind an invidious comparison with them:- (2) I don I t know whether the ML boys are here or not; it will be up to the Phoenix to carr,y the news up there. (3) MY own intention is to present a view of Swarthmore College; (whether it is a I~jor address" is for others to decide) I do not presume that my view will coincide with that of all others, though I hope to persuade at least a few dissenters; but that my main purpose is not to carve on stone a creed for the college, but to raise some issues that I hope can be muttered about, or discussed, or, hopefully, clarified as the year goes on. I invite any and all to meet with me in Commons after this talk to pursue the discussion. When I was introduced to many of the upperclassmen last Spring, I acknowledged that the last time I had spoken from this platform (in 1959) I had discussed what students who had finished Swarthmore faced, as they left the College, thereby immediately confronting the problems of old age. And I said last Spring, in the decade that I had been away from Swarthmore, I had come increasingly to wonder about the institution of a college; I had come to regard it as a gamble (but a gamble worth taking); and that I intended to spend as much of the summer thinking what sort of a gamble or game it was. Then, ten days ago, when I addressed an audience in the Meeting House, composed of 8 faculty and administrators, 45 upperclassmen helping with orientation, 360 freshmen, and 413,000 mosquitoes, I tried to suggest some of the purposes which had motivated the Founding Fathers of the College, and by implication, some part of the ethos which the past had recommended to the present and the future of the College. I'd now like to concentrate more directly on the present existential situation of the College. Because I need to save some of the ideas that have occurred to me for my inauguration speech �- 2 - next week,~ I propose to consider today what the internal relations - the domestic state o'f the College - seems to be and what it ought to be. Next week, I shall concentrate on our foreign relations, in short, with our society and our world. In making this distinction, I acknowledge IIEverything correlates,," as a i ts artificiality, and misleadingness. brilliant college book of a few years ago proclaimed. And the time has long since passed, if it ever existed, when a college, any more than this nation, could pretend t~t its department of health, education, and welfare could be conducted oblivious of what the department of state and department of defense (in more straightforward days, we called the latter departments of war and navy) were up to. But since it is primarily students and faculty here today, and since next week many alumni, Board members, and friends from the community will be here, I shall use the distinction, hopefully with appropriate reservations. I don't suppose that there has ever been a time when people generally agreed just what a college was or ought to be. Historians of the language, of the law, and of education instead make clear that there have always been pronounced variations, even within the same culture and the same period. And in the United states, one is tempted to paraphrase the late Bill Klem, the greatest of all baseball umpires, who, when questioned what his definition of a strike was, declared that a strike was what he called a strike. A liberal arts college in America, one might be led to conclude, has been what the man or men with the loudest voices declared was a liberal arts college. It is probably true that in our own time there has been a greater lack of agreement than at any other time, and at the same time less and less inclination to admit that there is any legitimate umpire to settle the dispute. I suspect these developments stem partly from the enormous increase in colleges, and the even greater number of people attending them, sending their children to them, or paying taxes to support them. It also results from the acceleration of social development - at a rate which would have staggered even Henry Adams which have rendered all previous definitions suspect and made all institutions seem anachronistic. And this at the very time that most people have retained a faith that education, even liberal education, may just be more important than ever. To sum up, our culture, with no clear tradition of what liberal arts education consists of, has simultaneously insisted that more and more of it be provided, at the same time that it has, more passionately than ever, disagreed on what liberal arts education should be, should so, should mean. In formulating my own conception of liberal arts education, I have been helped by trying to describe two models, two "ideal types ll ; I do not imagine that anyone, now or in the past, ever subscribed to every detail of these models, but I have tried to avoid constructing men of straw, from whom it would be too easy to knock the stuffing. But let me say here that after criticizing these models, I do not intend to present a wholly coherent one of m,y own, but simply to advance, later on, some notes towards a strategy of action appropriate to Swarthmore. �- 3 - The first model I shall, with some sense of risk, call the Establishment ,model. At its most glorious, it flourished during the late Middle Ages -and. the Renaissance; at its most banal, it still exists today, though as a paroqy of both premise and practice. Informing this model was the conviction that there was what can be called an encyclopedia of learning, comprising not only a swnma of what was known, but also tested methods for extending the boqy of knowledge, with respect both for the intrinsics~bject, and for the other areas of knowledge. It is an admirable convict~on. If, for convenience, specialization of knowledge and inquiry proved desirable, it would be specialization within an overarching conception of knowledge, and in the conviction that knowledge reached its fruition in being and doing. An educational in..;. stitution dominated by this conception would seek to initiate all comers into both the awareness of the grand schema, and the techniques by which knowledge could be advanced, at least in some area or discipline. Professors acquired a hearing by their ability both to outline the whole framework of knowledge, and to tell students how to develop specialized competences of their own. If the Ranaissance University constituted the apogee of this educational model, perhaps the old-time liberal arts college in the early 19th century illustrated the nadir. Students disenchanted with their college experience might find it illuminating to read Edward Gibbon's comments on Oxford in the 18th century, or Henry David Thoreau's account of his years at Harvard. Discontent with this model is not an invention of the contemporary generation. The second model was prefigured in Thoreau's participation in the first great romanticist revolution in western culture; we are, I think, nearly drowned by the in-flow of the second surge of romanticism today. In contrast to the belief that an encyclopedia of learning existed (at least in the mind of educated men), Thoreau believed that he would learn more by rowing up the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, or gazing intently through the ice of Walden Pond, or, perhaps most importantly, by looking into his own mind and soul, in the isolation of his own hut or of the town jail. Instead of disciplining himself to what his friend !Werson called the IIcorpse-cold n knowledge of Harvard and State Street, he preferred to instruct himself, listening to the discourse of neighboring farmers and itinerant Irish laborers, and reading only that which liberated him from the ' conventional wisdom of his times - such as the books of Eastern religion, and the literatur~ of contemporary English and German romantics. Like some students today, he could accept a college only if it helped him learn what he himself knew and thought; all that others knew and professed and believed in was obstruction and interference. He could echo Melville's complacent remark that the world of experience was his Yale College and his Harvard. In referring to these two types I do not mean either to lampoon them, nor to idealize them. I should hope that we could learn from them, and especially from their sense that the crucial aspect of the college lies in the quality of transaction between those who are gathered together in the artificial relationships that comprise a college. In the first �- 4,. model, the transaction was a flow of knowledge and skill from the learned professi~nal.>toward the young amateur; in the second, the student was uniquely active r if he did not regard the learned professor as irrelevant, he might be inclined to treat him as a simple resource, like books which Emerson declared were fit only for the inquirer's idle moments. As one modern romanticist would have it, students should come to college not to learn what a professoriat knows, but to find out what they themselves know, and f'eel,and believe. My notion of the college is one that presupposes a more qynamic interaction among students and teachers than either model stipulates. Both students and teachers are active, though not necessarily at the same time, nor in the same way. There is room and need, for both tradition and innovation. There is a responsibility to seek out not only the encyclopedia of learning as it has been perceived, however dimly, but to restore its coherence - or, what I think is much the same thing, - to sense its many-faceted relevance to all the activities of all of us as we are and as we would want to become, - as our society is now, and as we would want it to be in the future. For a college to realize such a notion, there are, I am afraid, no easy guides, no simple organizational charts. I do conf'ine myself to offering here some criteria, or notes tOl-lard the definition of an appropriate politics, or ethics, or tactics for an evolving liberal arts college of the kind I would admire. These criteria are directed not so much at defining the ultimate goal of the liberal arts college, as toward the conduct by which all of us at an institution which yearns to become one can advance that likelihood. Let me sum up a variety of suggestions under two main headings: authenticity and civility. Other terms, or broad categories might be equally appropriate, but these allow me to celebrate some important characteristics. By stressing two themes, I mean to give emphasis to their complementarity. Authenticity without civility may produce chaos; civility without authenticity is certain to mean stultification. By authenticity, I mean nothing more nor less than the achievement of true individuality. Certainly nothing is more dif'f'icult. The popular slogan of "doing your own thing," however admirable as an injunction, is no invitation to an easy, or unexamined life. Only the most romantic would assume that it means simply "doing what comes naturally." It is probably true that the steaqy development of contemporary mass culture has made the task steadily harder; yet it remains one of the most important responsibilities of liberal education to help the individual achieve true individuality, or authenticit,y. I certainly do not imply that for.ma1 education can hope to do the job alone, do it for everybody, or do it rapidly. But I am persuaded that it is one of' the supremely important jobs for liberal education to be concerned with. It is a sad fact, but a true one, that the roles we play in a college sometimes conspire to hamper the development of authenticity, �-5rather than to foster it. (Since I am a newcomer to the modern SWarthmore, I shall speak. mostly in general terms, making specific references to other places and-other rooms; if there are analogies to the Swarthmore you know, I imagine that you will be able to draw them.) To profess to be a teacher at a liberal arts college is an act of confidence, at times even bravado. For he must, given the role he has chosen to play, respond to the claims of both the art or science to which he is committed, and of the ~students with whom he must relate. Times may have changed, and hopefully changed in the right direction, but when I was a graduate student, I was given to understand that my aim in life was to be an historian. It seemed to me then, and still does, to be a most demanding profession. I took my cues from my professors, and other alreaQy-practicing historians. I attended many meetings of scholarly associations, and produced several scholarly papers, before I ever taught a class, or gave much thought to what teaching involved. Much of this was wholly proper, if seen as an emphasis for a phase of my training and not a whole preoccupation for a whole life. Surely, to be carefree or oblivious of the intellectual claims of one's discipline is not only irresponsible; it obviates the possibility of becoming the serious scholar that every teacher purports, or ought to purport to be. It was my good fortune to do my first substantial amount of teaching at Swarthmore, where I very swiftly came to realize both the intrinsic pleasure and the absolute necessity of establishing rapport with my students. This, too, is hard to accomplish authentically. Neither the student nor the professor benefits if in fact the professor, out of an excess of fellow-feeling or insecurity or responsiveness to the needs and interests of the student, becomes nothing more than a mirror to the student's glance. Emerson, in describing "The American Scholar," pointed to the best possible escape from the predicament I have sketched, by arguing that the scholar must above all else be a man, - one who stands on his own feet, and thinks rds own thoughts, and speaks his own mind. Anxious to respond wholeheartedly to the legitimate demands of his discipline, and also to the ambiance of his students, he must above all else find his own stance; he must, in short, be authentic. The task is, if anything, even more difficult for the student. He will be aided by great teachers, - defined as I have just done as men so committed to authenticity that they mean to reward or acclaim nothing less in their students. Every college I have known has been defaced by the spectacle of students - whether encouraged or not by faculty members is not in point here - who resolutely emulate a teacher, in his intellectual, social, or emotional style. Sadly enough the teachers emulated frequently are resolutely authentic themselves, yet somehow, in a manner perhaps obvious to members of the Psychology Department, convey to students the message that to respect is to emulate, or, if I may be explicit, to imitate, or to ape. A much more potent threat to the student comes from his peer-culture. It is devastatingly simple, and for much of one's psychological life profoundly reassuring to submerge oneself in the opinions, the preferences, �- 6" the behavior-patterns of one's peers. Usually, of course, one does not drown in the~ores of all one's peers, but rather in those of a select group, - ' those of one's precise age, one's own sex, one's dormitory, one's ethnic group, one's academic field. I do not wish to be misunderstood as advocating a hyper-individualism. It is right and proper, even healthy, to receive cues from one's fellow-students; to prefer the company of some to that of others; to unite in pursuit of goals that are common to a few other students, ,or common t~ all of them. What I hope for, what I think essential, is a self-conscious balancing of these legitimate claims with the steadfast pursuit of individual authenticity. Lest I assume the character of a common scold with admonitions for everyone but myself, may I add that the quest for authenticity is an important obligation for those whose chief task in a college is administrative. So long as we continue the curious custom of having a president in a college, it seems to me essential that he be more than a supremely other-directed man, however great his temptation to try to be all things to all men - or at least to all students, faculty, alumni, trustees, the foundations, the environing public, the government, and every other reference-group. Administrators need to cherish convictions of their own, need to know who they are (not just who is beating on them, or whom it might be pleasurable to beat on), and what they stand for. All those of you who encountered, if only briefly, Courtney Smith, the late President of SWarthmore College, recognized that you had met a man, a unique man, a man of authenticity. That is the kind of recognition all of us, - in administration, on the faculty, in the student boqy, should like to deserve. Complementary to the need for authenticity is the need in the College for civility. As with authenticity, it is both a goal and a precondition of liberal arts education. In a traditional society and in a traditional college, this point would not need to be argued. In a society like ours where tradition is not abandoned, but simply ignored, and in a college like Swarthmore where convention is more respected in poetry than anywhere else, the point may not be so obvious; but I think it is a persuasive one. All societies, and all colleges, have codes of conduct; some favor elaborately explicit, detailed, perhaps even written-down codes; others like Swarthmore, with a high regard for the wisdom and faith of the individual, have tended to promulgate relatively few hard-and-fast, and legible rules. The ultimate justification for civility, however it is sought, is not some abstract order - not some supernal calm - not some fastidious distaste for the dissidence of dissent - but rather the fostering of a climate in which it is plausible to hope that true authenticity, (among other goals) may flourish. Its pragmatic rationale is respect for the reasonable pursuit of authenticity of others. Its presupposition is that the reasonableness of others' enterprises may always be questioned, and that, if found to be in fact unreasonable, that they can be either rendered reasonable, or abated, promptly and reasonably. �- 7 - Last year,. on many college campuses and at Swarthmore"" after the occupation of the Admissions Office, there developed a widespread feeling that~here" ~as no longer any consensus on what constituted the legitimate demands of civility on a college campus. At Swarthmore, a student-faculty-administration-Board of Hanagers cOIlllllittee produced after thorough discussion a lengtny document outlining the arguments for what I call civility, and stipulating general ground-rules for dealing with occasions when it would seem to have broken down. The three student members on the committee ' a~ded concu~ring opinions which noted a measure of dissent from one part or another of the document. (Both the report and the special opinions are available, in the Library or the President's Office.) Subsequently last Spring the faculty approved, though not unanimously, the main report; the Board of Managers approved it in principle, though believing it might well be briefer and more explicit; the Student Council took no formal action on it. At the beginning of this new academic year, I feel obliged to make as clear as I can where I think the College stands in regard to this report, to the principles it enunciates, and the actions it suggests in the case of the breakdown of civility. (1) I believe the Report has served a useful purpose in advancing the College as a whole towards at least a partial consensus. I do not think it is likely to be fruitful to continue the search for fuller and more complete ratification of this document. On the other hand, I welcome continuing discussion of the issues, and continuing efforts not only to define the characteristics of a genuinely civil college community, but also to propose mechanisms by which felt grievances, which are frequently the provocation for breaches of community rules, can be received and relieved sympathetically and promptly. The Wise commission, concerned as it is with matters of governance, may make recommendations in these matters. But in the meantime, it is certainly highly appropriate for individuals or groups to advance proposals which may advance our understanding or develop plans which may improve our practice in these areas. I should certainly like to be helpful - either by participating, or keeping out of the way, of such enterprises. (2) In the meantime, as the chief administrative officer of the College, I ought to make as clear as I can at what point I am likely to conclude that the bounds of civility have been overstepped, and what I would be prepared to do if such an overstepping occurred. (Obviously I do not refer here to the occasional and individual transgressions that occur in any society. I assume that the College community has adequate judicial and disciplinar,y procedures to deal with them.) I do refer to occasions when individuals or groups, acting out of an authentic desire for authenticity or a perverse desire for perversity, or some mixture of motives and drives, undertake to deny to other members of the college community access to, or use of, college facilities to which they are entitled. I construe my job to be to ~ to it that ~ denial ~ ~ take place. I hope to be able to accomplish this responsibility through the kinds of transactions that are normal to civility, - that is, by discussion and persuasion. (3) But if these enterprises of mine fail, and functions of �- 8 " the College are obstructed, then I shall take what seem to me to be appropria1te steps, leading towards disciplinary action, up to and including suspension OJ' expulsion. I should say, too, that if those persons should there be any, God forbid - disrupting college functioning who are not led either by my persuasion or by the imminence of college disciplinary action into abandoning their obstruction, then I shall feel obliged to ask the police or the courts to intervene. I imagine this kind of ~\discussion is as distasteful to you as it is Be assured that I entertain no illusions. A college in which frustration is at such a high level that the most attractive recourse for serious, concerned people is disruption is not in a healthy condition. We must do everything we can to make the opportunities that civility offers for change, reform, even radical reform, a wholly reasonable recourse. Furthermore, let me say that having seen at close range the effects of both extended acquiescence in the obstructing of a college and the use of force to end the obstruction, I devoutly hope that Swarthmore experiences neither eventuality. to me. Whether a liberal arts college in the America of today can successfully foster both authenticity and civility I do not know. If any college can, I imagine that Swarthmore can. That, at any rate, is why I came here, and I imagine that these considerations, perhaps phrased more personally and persuasively, were among those that moved you. l.Je are embarked together on an experiment. I wish you and me and the College a successful voyage. � " COLLECTION SPEECH by President Robert D. Cross October 2, 1969 I am honored by this opportunity to speak at the First Collection at Swarthmore this year. It was a wise decision last year, I think, to change Collection from a required assembly to an occasion where members of the college community come together, not only in the expectation of fellowship, but on the hope that something worthwhile would transpire. ~, At the same time that I feel honored, I feel nervous. The Phoenix has been conducting a war of nerves with me. Last week I was ~di torially enjoined to deliver a major address. (Nothing they could have said would be more conducive to making me feel like a congenitally minor poet.) Then a week ago, a friendly reporter asked, 'What are you going to say that will bring the boys up from ML?" This was truly a stunning question to one like me who lived in Mar,y lyons for 7 years, and had by the end of that time come to realize that one of my duties was to make a weekly report to at least one of the student residents there about what was happening on the other side of the tracks. The Phoenix this past Tuesday reported I was indeed going to speak, then headed the remaining section of the article, which referred to subsequent Collection speakers under the hopeful term "better quality." To the Phoenix, I can only respond: (1) Paul Ylvisaker and Jean Cahn are remarkable people, and I don I t mind an invidious comparison with them:- (2) I don I t know whether the ML boys are here or not; it will be up to the Phoenix to carr,y the news up there. (3) MY own intention is to present a view of Swarthmore College; (whether it is a I~jor address" is for others to decide) I do not presume that my view will coincide with that of all others, though I hope to persuade at least a few dissenters; but that my main purpose is not to carve on stone a creed for the college, but to raise some issues that I hope can be muttered about, or discussed, or, hopefully, clarified as the year goes on. I invite any and all to meet with me in Commons after this talk to pursue the discussion. When I was introduced to many of the upperclassmen last Spring, I acknowledged that the last time I had spoken from this platform (in 1959) I had discussed what students who had finished Swarthmore faced, as they left the College, thereby immediately confronting the problems of old age. And I said last Spring, in the decade that I had been away from Swarthmore, I had come increasingly to wonder about the institution of a college; I had come to regard it as a gamble (but a gamble worth taking); and that I intended to spend as much of the summer thinking what sort of a gamble or game it was. Then, ten days ago, when I addressed an audience in the Meeting House, composed of 8 faculty and administrators, 45 upperclassmen helping with orientation, 360 freshmen, and 413,000 mosquitoes, I tried to suggest some of the purposes which had motivated the Founding Fathers of the College, and by implication, some part of the ethos which the past had recommended to the present and the future of the College. I'd now like to concentrate more directly on the present existential situation of the College. Because I need to save some of the ideas that have occurred to me for my inauguration speech �- 2 - next week,~ I propose to consider today what the internal relations - the domestic state o'f the College - seems to be and what it ought to be. Next week, I shall concentrate on our foreign relations, in short, with our society and our world. In making this distinction, I acknowledge IIEverything correlates,," as a i ts artificiality, and misleadingness. brilliant college book of a few years ago proclaimed. And the time has long since passed, if it ever existed, when a college, any more than this nation, could pretend t~t its department of health, education, and welfare could be conducted oblivious of what the department of state and department of defense (in more straightforward days, we called the latter departments of war and navy) were up to. But since it is primarily students and faculty here today, and since next week many alumni, Board members, and friends from the community will be here, I shall use the distinction, hopefully with appropriate reservations. I don't suppose that there has ever been a time when people generally agreed just what a college was or ought to be. Historians of the language, of the law, and of education instead make clear that there have always been pronounced variations, even within the same culture and the same period. And in the United states, one is tempted to paraphrase the late Bill Klem, the greatest of all baseball umpires, who, when questioned what his definition of a strike was, declared that a strike was what he called a strike. A liberal arts college in America, one might be led to conclude, has been what the man or men with the loudest voices declared was a liberal arts college. It is probably true that in our own time there has been a greater lack of agreement than at any other time, and at the same time less and less inclination to admit that there is any legitimate umpire to settle the dispute. I suspect these developments stem partly from the enormous increase in colleges, and the even greater number of people attending them, sending their children to them, or paying taxes to support them. It also results from the acceleration of social development - at a rate which would have staggered even Henry Adams which have rendered all previous definitions suspect and made all institutions seem anachronistic. And this at the very time that most people have retained a faith that education, even liberal education, may just be more important than ever. To sum up, our culture, with no clear tradition of what liberal arts education consists of, has simultaneously insisted that more and more of it be provided, at the same time that it has, more passionately than ever, disagreed on what liberal arts education should be, should so, should mean. In formulating my own conception of liberal arts education, I have been helped by trying to describe two models, two "ideal types ll ; I do not imagine that anyone, now or in the past, ever subscribed to every detail of these models, but I have tried to avoid constructing men of straw, from whom it would be too easy to knock the stuffing. But let me say here that after criticizing these models, I do not intend to present a wholly coherent one of m,y own, but simply to advance, later on, some notes towards a strategy of action appropriate to Swarthmore. �- 3 - The first model I shall, with some sense of risk, call the Establishment ,model. At its most glorious, it flourished during the late Middle Ages -and. the Renaissance; at its most banal, it still exists today, though as a paroqy of both premise and practice. Informing this model was the conviction that there was what can be called an encyclopedia of learning, comprising not only a swnma of what was known, but also tested methods for extending the boqy of knowledge, with respect both for the intrinsics~bject, and for the other areas of knowledge. It is an admirable convict~on. If, for convenience, specialization of knowledge and inquiry proved desirable, it would be specialization within an overarching conception of knowledge, and in the conviction that knowledge reached its fruition in being and doing. An educational in..;. stitution dominated by this conception would seek to initiate all comers into both the awareness of the grand schema, and the techniques by which knowledge could be advanced, at least in some area or discipline. Professors acquired a hearing by their ability both to outline the whole framework of knowledge, and to tell students how to develop specialized competences of their own. If the Ranaissance University constituted the apogee of this educational model, perhaps the old-time liberal arts college in the early 19th century illustrated the nadir. Students disenchanted with their college experience might find it illuminating to read Edward Gibbon's comments on Oxford in the 18th century, or Henry David Thoreau's account of his years at Harvard. Discontent with this model is not an invention of the contemporary generation. The second model was prefigured in Thoreau's participation in the first great romanticist revolution in western culture; we are, I think, nearly drowned by the in-flow of the second surge of romanticism today. In contrast to the belief that an encyclopedia of learning existed (at least in the mind of educated men), Thoreau believed that he would learn more by rowing up the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, or gazing intently through the ice of Walden Pond, or, perhaps most importantly, by looking into his own mind and soul, in the isolation of his own hut or of the town jail. Instead of disciplining himself to what his friend !Werson called the IIcorpse-cold n knowledge of Harvard and State Street, he preferred to instruct himself, listening to the discourse of neighboring farmers and itinerant Irish laborers, and reading only that which liberated him from the ' conventional wisdom of his times - such as the books of Eastern religion, and the literatur~ of contemporary English and German romantics. Like some students today, he could accept a college only if it helped him learn what he himself knew and thought; all that others knew and professed and believed in was obstruction and interference. He could echo Melville's complacent remark that the world of experience was his Yale College and his Harvard. In referring to these two types I do not mean either to lampoon them, nor to idealize them. I should hope that we could learn from them, and especially from their sense that the crucial aspect of the college lies in the quality of transaction between those who are gathered together in the artificial relationships that comprise a college. In the first �- 4,. model, the transaction was a flow of knowledge and skill from the learned professi~nal.>toward the young amateur; in the second, the student was uniquely active r if he did not regard the learned professor as irrelevant, he might be inclined to treat him as a simple resource, like books which Emerson declared were fit only for the inquirer's idle moments. As one modern romanticist would have it, students should come to college not to learn what a professoriat knows, but to find out what they themselves know, and f'eel,and believe. My notion of the college is one that presupposes a more qynamic interaction among students and teachers than either model stipulates. Both students and teachers are active, though not necessarily at the same time, nor in the same way. There is room and need, for both tradition and innovation. There is a responsibility to seek out not only the encyclopedia of learning as it has been perceived, however dimly, but to restore its coherence - or, what I think is much the same thing, - to sense its many-faceted relevance to all the activities of all of us as we are and as we would want to become, - as our society is now, and as we would want it to be in the future. For a college to realize such a notion, there are, I am afraid, no easy guides, no simple organizational charts. I do conf'ine myself to offering here some criteria, or notes tOl-lard the definition of an appropriate politics, or ethics, or tactics for an evolving liberal arts college of the kind I would admire. These criteria are directed not so much at defining the ultimate goal of the liberal arts college, as toward the conduct by which all of us at an institution which yearns to become one can advance that likelihood. Let me sum up a variety of suggestions under two main headings: authenticity and civility. Other terms, or broad categories might be equally appropriate, but these allow me to celebrate some important characteristics. By stressing two themes, I mean to give emphasis to their complementarity. Authenticity without civility may produce chaos; civility without authenticity is certain to mean stultification. By authenticity, I mean nothing more nor less than the achievement of true individuality. Certainly nothing is more dif'f'icult. The popular slogan of "doing your own thing," however admirable as an injunction, is no invitation to an easy, or unexamined life. Only the most romantic would assume that it means simply "doing what comes naturally." It is probably true that the steaqy development of contemporary mass culture has made the task steadily harder; yet it remains one of the most important responsibilities of liberal education to help the individual achieve true individuality, or authenticit,y. I certainly do not imply that for.ma1 education can hope to do the job alone, do it for everybody, or do it rapidly. But I am persuaded that it is one of' the supremely important jobs for liberal education to be concerned with. It is a sad fact, but a true one, that the roles we play in a college sometimes conspire to hamper the development of authenticity, �-5rather than to foster it. (Since I am a newcomer to the modern SWarthmore, I shall speak. mostly in general terms, making specific references to other places and-other rooms; if there are analogies to the Swarthmore you know, I imagine that you will be able to draw them.) To profess to be a teacher at a liberal arts college is an act of confidence, at times even bravado. For he must, given the role he has chosen to play, respond to the claims of both the art or science to which he is committed, and of the ~students with whom he must relate. Times may have changed, and hopefully changed in the right direction, but when I was a graduate student, I was given to understand that my aim in life was to be an historian. It seemed to me then, and still does, to be a most demanding profession. I took my cues from my professors, and other alreaQy-practicing historians. I attended many meetings of scholarly associations, and produced several scholarly papers, before I ever taught a class, or gave much thought to what teaching involved. Much of this was wholly proper, if seen as an emphasis for a phase of my training and not a whole preoccupation for a whole life. Surely, to be carefree or oblivious of the intellectual claims of one's discipline is not only irresponsible; it obviates the possibility of becoming the serious scholar that every teacher purports, or ought to purport to be. It was my good fortune to do my first substantial amount of teaching at Swarthmore, where I very swiftly came to realize both the intrinsic pleasure and the absolute necessity of establishing rapport with my students. This, too, is hard to accomplish authentically. Neither the student nor the professor benefits if in fact the professor, out of an excess of fellow-feeling or insecurity or responsiveness to the needs and interests of the student, becomes nothing more than a mirror to the student's glance. Emerson, in describing "The American Scholar," pointed to the best possible escape from the predicament I have sketched, by arguing that the scholar must above all else be a man, - one who stands on his own feet, and thinks rds own thoughts, and speaks his own mind. Anxious to respond wholeheartedly to the legitimate demands of his discipline, and also to the ambiance of his students, he must above all else find his own stance; he must, in short, be authentic. The task is, if anything, even more difficult for the student. He will be aided by great teachers, - defined as I have just done as men so committed to authenticity that they mean to reward or acclaim nothing less in their students. Every college I have known has been defaced by the spectacle of students - whether encouraged or not by faculty members is not in point here - who resolutely emulate a teacher, in his intellectual, social, or emotional style. Sadly enough the teachers emulated frequently are resolutely authentic themselves, yet somehow, in a manner perhaps obvious to members of the Psychology Department, convey to students the message that to respect is to emulate, or, if I may be explicit, to imitate, or to ape. A much more potent threat to the student comes from his peer-culture. It is devastatingly simple, and for much of one's psychological life profoundly reassuring to submerge oneself in the opinions, the preferences, �- 6" the behavior-patterns of one's peers. Usually, of course, one does not drown in the~ores of all one's peers, but rather in those of a select group, - ' those of one's precise age, one's own sex, one's dormitory, one's ethnic group, one's academic field. I do not wish to be misunderstood as advocating a hyper-individualism. It is right and proper, even healthy, to receive cues from one's fellow-students; to prefer the company of some to that of others; to unite in pursuit of goals that are common to a few other students, ,or common t~ all of them. What I hope for, what I think essential, is a self-conscious balancing of these legitimate claims with the steadfast pursuit of individual authenticity. Lest I assume the character of a common scold with admonitions for everyone but myself, may I add that the quest for authenticity is an important obligation for those whose chief task in a college is administrative. So long as we continue the curious custom of having a president in a college, it seems to me essential that he be more than a supremely other-directed man, however great his temptation to try to be all things to all men - or at least to all students, faculty, alumni, trustees, the foundations, the environing public, the government, and every other reference-group. Administrators need to cherish convictions of their own, need to know who they are (not just who is beating on them, or whom it might be pleasurable to beat on), and what they stand for. All those of you who encountered, if only briefly, Courtney Smith, the late President of SWarthmore College, recognized that you had met a man, a unique man, a man of authenticity. That is the kind of recognition all of us, - in administration, on the faculty, in the student boqy, should like to deserve. Complementary to the need for authenticity is the need in the College for civility. As with authenticity, it is both a goal and a precondition of liberal arts education. In a traditional society and in a traditional college, this point would not need to be argued. In a society like ours where tradition is not abandoned, but simply ignored, and in a college like Swarthmore where convention is more respected in poetry than anywhere else, the point may not be so obvious; but I think it is a persuasive one. All societies, and all colleges, have codes of conduct; some favor elaborately explicit, detailed, perhaps even written-down codes; others like Swarthmore, with a high regard for the wisdom and faith of the individual, have tended to promulgate relatively few hard-and-fast, and legible rules. The ultimate justification for civility, however it is sought, is not some abstract order - not some supernal calm - not some fastidious distaste for the dissidence of dissent - but rather the fostering of a climate in which it is plausible to hope that true authenticity, (among other goals) may flourish. Its pragmatic rationale is respect for the reasonable pursuit of authenticity of others. Its presupposition is that the reasonableness of others' enterprises may always be questioned, and that, if found to be in fact unreasonable, that they can be either rendered reasonable, or abated, promptly and reasonably. �- 7 - Last year,. on many college campuses and at Swarthmore"" after the occupation of the Admissions Office, there developed a widespread feeling that~here" ~as no longer any consensus on what constituted the legitimate demands of civility on a college campus. At Swarthmore, a student-faculty-administration-Board of Hanagers cOIlllllittee produced after thorough discussion a lengtny document outlining the arguments for what I call civility, and stipulating general ground-rules for dealing with occasions when it would seem to have broken down. The three student members on the committee ' a~ded concu~ring opinions which noted a measure of dissent from one part or another of the document. (Both the report and the special opinions are available, in the Library or the President's Office.) Subsequently last Spring the faculty approved, though not unanimously, the main report; the Board of Managers approved it in principle, though believing it might well be briefer and more explicit; the Student Council took no formal action on it. At the beginning of this new academic year, I feel obliged to make as clear as I can where I think the College stands in regard to this report, to the principles it enunciates, and the actions it suggests in the case of the breakdown of civility. (1) I believe the Report has served a useful purpose in advancing the College as a whole towards at least a partial consensus. I do not think it is likely to be fruitful to continue the search for fuller and more complete ratification of this document. On the other hand, I welcome continuing discussion of the issues, and continuing efforts not only to define the characteristics of a genuinely civil college community, but also to propose mechanisms by which felt grievances, which are frequently the provocation for breaches of community rules, can be received and relieved sympathetically and promptly. The Wise commission, concerned as it is with matters of governance, may make recommendations in these matters. But in the meantime, it is certainly highly appropriate for individuals or groups to advance proposals which may advance our understanding or develop plans which may improve our practice in these areas. I should certainly like to be helpful - either by participating, or keeping out of the way, of such enterprises. (2) In the meantime, as the chief administrative officer of the College, I ought to make as clear as I can at what point I am likely to conclude that the bounds of civility have been overstepped, and what I would be prepared to do if such an overstepping occurred. (Obviously I do not refer here to the occasional and individual transgressions that occur in any society. I assume that the College community has adequate judicial and disciplinar,y procedures to deal with them.) I do refer to occasions when individuals or groups, acting out of an authentic desire for authenticity or a perverse desire for perversity, or some mixture of motives and drives, undertake to deny to other members of the college community access to, or use of, college facilities to which they are entitled. I construe my job to be to ~ to it that ~ denial ~ ~ take place. I hope to be able to accomplish this responsibility through the kinds of transactions that are normal to civility, - that is, by discussion and persuasion. (3) But if these enterprises of mine fail, and functions of �- 8 " the College are obstructed, then I shall take what seem to me to be appropria1te steps, leading towards disciplinary action, up to and including suspension OJ' expulsion. I should say, too, that if those persons should there be any, God forbid - disrupting college functioning who are not led either by my persuasion or by the imminence of college disciplinary action into abandoning their obstruction, then I shall feel obliged to ask the police or the courts to intervene. I imagine this kind of ~\discussion is as distasteful to you as it is Be assured that I entertain no illusions. A college in which frustration is at such a high level that the most attractive recourse for serious, concerned people is disruption is not in a healthy condition. We must do everything we can to make the opportunities that civility offers for change, reform, even radical reform, a wholly reasonable recourse. Furthermore, let me say that having seen at close range the effects of both extended acquiescence in the obstructing of a college and the use of force to end the obstruction, I devoutly hope that Swarthmore experiences neither eventuality. to me. Whether a liberal arts college in the America of today can successfully foster both authenticity and civility I do not know. If any college can, I imagine that Swarthmore can. That, at any rate, is why I came here, and I imagine that these considerations, perhaps phrased more personally and persuasively, were among those that moved you. l.Je are embarked together on an experiment. I wish you and me and the College a successful voyage. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Collection Speech Description An account of the resource SASS file Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Robert Cross Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10/02/1969 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF President's Office http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/316cedfe210ec894d36ff3ce8f76deec.pdf 1b33e7b2ddd925d0180ed955f9251f62 PDF Text Text / September 1966 To: From: Alumni Interviewers Fred Hargadon, Dean of Admissions Well, the Class of 1970 has arrived and after a five-day orientation program they began classes on the 26th. I think they're great (naturally) and I am sorry that each of you could not be on hand to see them get their feet wet (quite literally true, as on the day they arrived we had a real Northeaster). Not only are they bright, but they seem unusually poised and good-looking. The physical education department, having run all of them through their tests, assures me that as a class they are also unusually healthier and wellfit. At any rate, more of the.m can swim. There are 269 of them, and their academic laurels include 19 National Merit Scholarships, 4 National Achievement Scholarships (these are awards by National Merit to exceptionally promising Negro students), and 2 Presidential Scholarships. There are 31 children of alumni in the class, and 14 Quakers. On the athletic side, 23 of the 147 men captained varsity squads in high school. (Additional statistics are appended.) Admissions Procedures. There have been no significant changes in the forms for this year. Both the application form and the interview report form seemed satisfactory. We did make a change in the procedure of the admissions committee, however. In the first place, rather than having the co.mmittee read summaries of each candidate's application, we asked them to read the full folder. We also had them read all of the folders with the exception of those where the application was clearly unrealistic. An additional significant change was having them read the folders before looking at the candidate's college board test results. In the ·past the results of these tests were prominently displayed on our summary cards and it seemed to us that there was too great a chance that a glance at the scores would predispose the reader toward the rest of the candidate'S application. Each member of the committee read about 125 folders, and, instead of grading the application for "acceptance" or "rejection," the reader wrote out comments on the folder, pointing out particular strengths or weaknesses, unusual qualities, and so forth. It was left to those of us in admissions, based on our overview of the entire applicant group with respect to the needs of the College, to put the class together. �-2- School and scholarshi¥ Committees. Last l" linter Joe Shane and I made a rat4~r hectic trtp 0 a week's length beginning in St.. Louis, through Denver, L.A., San Francisco, Portland, and ending in Seattle. We talked with alumni interested in forming School and Scholarship Commi ttees to aid us in the interviewing and recmi tment ef geed studerits. - The response was extremely good, and we are at present working out the fermal arrangements, necessary publications, and so forth. We have been unable to meve as quickly on this as I had heped, primarily because we have had to. shift out attention to the needs ef the newly fonned Academic Commission (discussed below). This past summer we have been involved largely in conferences having to de with a reappraisal of the College ~\in all of ·its aspects. And since the Admissions Office is the major repositery of educational data having to. do with secondary scheols, their curricula, their products, and the whole range of testing data, we shall be engaged in processing such data for the use ef the new Commissions. I 'nevertheless hope to get the School Cemmittees in these six cities off the ground this year, and to initiate such cemmittees in several other locations. '!heir three basic aims will be: (1) to improve and extend our communication with secondary scheels and prespective applicants; (2) to improve eur arrangements for the scheduling of alumni interviews, hopefully using a team method wherever feasible; and (3) to help ~s pinpoint outstanding candidates for the Swarthlrore National Scholarships. I will try my best to fully develop this program throughout the year, although right now I am not sure where the necessary time will come . from. Swarthmore Natienal Scholarships. These are explained in the latest edition of the catalogue.'ihBy replace the Open Schelarships (which were not only confUSing in their nomenclature, but which also became increaSingly the preserve of students who. lived clese enough to the College to come to campus tor the competition and interviews), and there will be a greater number of them. They will be awarded on a national basis and an Award Committee will held competitiens (interviews) wherever there are a sufficient number of potential National Scholarship candidates to warrant them. Yeu might want to review the criteria for these awards in the attached announcement. I hope you will make every effert to get us outstanding candidates for the.m. The Cellege. This promises to be one of the most provocative and exciting years in the College's recent histeT,Y. Late in the Spring Courtney Smith announced the establishment ef three Commissions to take a searching leok at all aspects of the College and to make recommendations concerning our role in higher education in the decade ahead. The full details are explained in the new (October) issue of the alumni magazine. Among the other fe8tures ef the Cellege which you will discuss with candidates, an explanation ef the Commissions should prove interesting to them. The McCabe Library is on its way up and the centractors (Turner Construction Company) are still eptimistic about having it ready for use by Septe. ober, 1967. Also, ground has been broken and r the foundations are being laid for the two new men's donnitories (Dana and Hallowell), the work also being done by Turner, and there is a slight chance that these will also be ready fer occupancy by next Fall. �-3In the middle of last March we moved the Admissions Office (without losing a folder) to our new location in the old dining room. Needle's s to say, the area has been completely renovated, and we have gained much in the way of office space and lounge facilities. The students think it looks like a bank (it does), but we are all used to i~ no~. Parents no longer are stacked up in the halls of Parrish, and the entire staff is appreciative of the more efficient arrangements of files, etc. Admissions Staff. Peggy MacLaren has moved out of admissions, and has6ecome Associate Dean of Students, wOTking with both Dean Lange and Dean Barr. Sh~ will continue her duties as Director of Financial Aid. John Shuchardt, who was with us for a year, is now with the Experiment in International Living. Two new Assistant Deans of Admission have been appointed: Edith Twombly, who graduated from Swarthmore in 1964, and Doug Thompson, who graduated in 1962. Edie, after leaving Swarthmore, received her M.Ed. from Harvard and taught last year at the International School in Frankfurt, Germany. Doug, who graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore, was working as a junior physicist with the Bartol Foundation here on campus. He also spent over two years with the Bartol Cosmic Ray Laboratories in Antartica and the South Pole. Doug will have primary responsibility for the recruitment of engineering students. Problem areas. A. Engineering applicants. This remains a critical area for us. We simply do not get a sufficient number of applicants who expect to major in engineering. Consequently, we are underenrolled in this division of the College. We are not interested in lowering the standards of admission for such candidates, nor can we afford to have candidates indicate engineering as their likely major if they are doing so because they believe it's more likely that they will be accepted for admission. We need good, solid, qualified engineering candidates sufficient in quantity, and sufficiently interested in "engineering in a liberal arts college" program, to enroll at least 30-35 freshmen engineers now, and 40 when we have completed the men's dormitories and increase the number of total men enrolled accordingly. Please do all you can to foster interest in our engineering program. We have sufficient scholarship funds, also. B. Negro male applicants. While we do not accept Negro students according to any quota system, we have made special efforts the past three years to increase the number of such students enrolled in the College, and have had the generous support of a grant from the Rockfeller Foundation. Our policy has been to accept the Negro stUdents on almost the same basis as all other students, expecting a certain minimum academic ability but also recognizing reasons for less than excellent academic achievement in the past. As far as Negro males go, we were �-4 ... taken to the cleaners this year. We enrolled only 3 out of the 12 we accepted (last year we enrolled 8 of I?). Our scholarship offers were more than competitive, but the social . status (in contrast to the academic status) of the Ivy League appa~ently clobbered us. Interestingly enough, many of those we lost were not only bright, but also athletic - the first such group of Negro scholar-athletes that we have had apply to us ever. Since these young men seemed to have the leadership qualities the Rockefeller grant sought to recruit and develop, it is, all the more disappointing to have lost them. We still have considerable · Rockefeller funds and I hope that you will devote whatever efforts you can toward helping us find (and enroll) such students. C. Scholar-Athletes. The philosophy of the College with regard to the proper role of an athletic program is well-known and need not be restated. As with all other major extra-curricular programs (e.g. music), we do seek students of good academic quality who have ability and interest in athletics. As With all other conceivable categories in admissions, it is necessary to have a sufficient number of qualified applicants from which to make selections each year. Our particular program should be attractive to those qualified students with athletic ability who are interested in an excellent education and participation in an amateur (but excellent) varsity sports program. Because of our small size, f ·reshman are eligible to play on the varsity in all sports. An increase in the number of applications from scholar-athletes is necessary to assure the continuation of our present athletic program as a vital part of the extra-curricular program of the College. I trust this need can be stated frankly without engendering false beliefs (or hopes) that the College is going "big time". It is not. Our only hope is to maintain a high quality applicant group in all respects. As amateurs, our record in varsity sports over the past few years is unusually good. With your help we should be able to attract scholar-athletes of high quality. D. Public Relations. We have noticed over the past year that many applicants mention (adversely) the write-ups about Swarthmore College in various guidebooks of college and universities. One in particular is a real problem: the Cass and Birnbaum Comparative Guide to Colleges, in which the authors give subjective interpretations of the various schools. The fact that neither of the authors has visited the College does not deter them from drawing all sorts of inferences from various statistics, old copies of the Phoenix, etc. We think that terms such as "extraordinarily intense pressure for academic achievement" are somewhat overdrawn, and statistics (e.g. those for academic attrition) are simply false. President Smith wrote them a four-page letter suggesting that their picture was somewhat less than accurate, included the correct data on a number of points (e.g. attrition, �-5numberof Fh.D's on the faculty)pnd invited them to visit the College themselves. There has never been any reply, although they were willing to make some corrections in a rather contentiou~ fashion in their second edition. Unfortunately, we have had candidates with excellent academic records and abilities who have withdrawn their applic~tions after reading this _ particular summary of the College. Our academic attrition in tne past five years has varied from 2.5% to 2.9%. The fact that 77% of the men and 83% of the women graduate in four years is of course attributable to a host of factors other than that of academic failure. The percentage who do graduate in four years is quite high for a college of this calibre, or any calibre, ~or that matter. And it is interesting to note that in a recen1A, study of all the National Merit Scholars since 1956, some 15% do not graduate in four years, although 95% eventually do. The problems of the subjective analysis are apparent in the following two excerpts from Cass and Birnbaum: Swarthmore: "Despi te the . ost c~reful selection during adm mission process, one out of every four students failsto graduate (an even higher figure was reported in the student newspaper in 1962)." (77% of the men and 83% of the women graduate in four years.) IIDespite a competitive student climate, only a small percentage of students fail to graduate". (71% of . the men, and 7CY/o of the women graduate in four years.) Pomona: I would not belabor this point if it were not for the accumulated mail on the subject from candidates who could do well at any college in the country. And I think you ought to be prepared to answer such inquiries yourself. Our program is as rigorous as any in the countr.y, but it has also been shown that we take in students of a wider variety of academic abilities and graduate a higher percentage of those students than similar colleges throughout the country. It would be particularly useful if Cass and Birnbaum could sit in on the Committee on Acade. ic Requirements and learn that many of those m who do fail out of Swarthmore do so not because they lack the ability (many of them have the best high school records) but rather because they don't do any work at all, have personal problems, and so forth. I would appreciate all you can do to allow the Admissions Office of Swarthmore to make the detenninations of whether a candidate II can do the work" here. Self-selection by students is probably the key factor in college admissions everywhere, and it is obvious that if they do not apply to Swarthmore we cannot accept them. And if only those who are first in their class, or who have ver.y high college board scores, apply, it will reinforce . the erroneous idea that we only accept such students. Otherwise wetre all healthy and ready to start allover again. W do need a selective increase in applications, as many of our applie cations look alike. If we are to maintain the diversity of the College, we need more diversity in the application group, particularly among the men! Many thanks for all you have done and will do on our behalf. �A App1ication~ . last year .Men: . 1,092 W6:men: '1 ,187 Total: 2,279 ~\ Acceptances sent out Men: WO. en: m Total: Enrolled Men: Women: Total: 147 122 269 247 201 448 The schools to which we lost the largest numberof those we accepted but who went elsewhere were: Harvard Yale Princeton 28 10 11 Radcliffe Wellesley Stanford 34 6 6 Negro Acceptances and Enrollment Of the l! male Negro applicants accepted only 3 enrolled. Of those who went elsewhere, 6 went to Harvard, 1 to Princeton, 1 to M.I.T., and 1 to Earlham. Of the 12 female Negro applicants accepted, 8 enrolled. or those who went elsewhere, 1 went to Radcliffe, 1 to Mount Holyoke, 1 to Cor.nell University, and 1 whose College we do not know. Two of the Negro men and two of the Negro women we did enroll are National Achievement Scholarship winners. �B Interviews for Applicants Acce£ted for Admission Enrolled Interviewed by Staff: Interviewed by Alumni: Interviewed waived: 309 119 20 185 76 7 268 448 Scholarship funds Offered: Accepted: $189,950 127,550 Loan Funds Offered: Accepted: $7,600 6,900 (This is for the freshman class alone.) Scholarship offers to Negro students (included in above figures): Offered: Accepted: $36,100 15,500 � / September 1966 To: From: Alumni Interviewers Fred Hargadon, Dean of Admissions Well, the Class of 1970 has arrived and after a five-day orientation program they began classes on the 26th. I think they're great (naturally) and I am sorry that each of you could not be on hand to see them get their feet wet (quite literally true, as on the day they arrived we had a real Northeaster). Not only are they bright, but they seem unusually poised and good-looking. The physical education department, having run all of them through their tests, assures me that as a class they are also unusually healthier and wellfit. At any rate, more of the.m can swim. There are 269 of them, and their academic laurels include 19 National Merit Scholarships, 4 National Achievement Scholarships (these are awards by National Merit to exceptionally promising Negro students), and 2 Presidential Scholarships. There are 31 children of alumni in the class, and 14 Quakers. On the athletic side, 23 of the 147 men captained varsity squads in high school. (Additional statistics are appended.) Admissions Procedures. There have been no significant changes in the forms for this year. Both the application form and the interview report form seemed satisfactory. We did make a change in the procedure of the admissions committee, however. In the first place, rather than having the co.mmittee read summaries of each candidate's application, we asked them to read the full folder. We also had them read all of the folders with the exception of those where the application was clearly unrealistic. An additional significant change was having them read the folders before looking at the candidate's college board test results. In the ·past the results of these tests were prominently displayed on our summary cards and it seemed to us that there was too great a chance that a glance at the scores would predispose the reader toward the rest of the candidate'S application. Each member of the committee read about 125 folders, and, instead of grading the application for "acceptance" or "rejection," the reader wrote out comments on the folder, pointing out particular strengths or weaknesses, unusual qualities, and so forth. It was left to those of us in admissions, based on our overview of the entire applicant group with respect to the needs of the College, to put the class together. �-2- School and scholarshi¥ Committees. Last l" linter Joe Shane and I made a rat4~r hectic trtp 0 a week's length beginning in St.. Louis, through Denver, L.A., San Francisco, Portland, and ending in Seattle. We talked with alumni interested in forming School and Scholarship Commi ttees to aid us in the interviewing and recmi tment ef geed studerits. - The response was extremely good, and we are at present working out the fermal arrangements, necessary publications, and so forth. We have been unable to meve as quickly on this as I had heped, primarily because we have had to. shift out attention to the needs ef the newly fonned Academic Commission (discussed below). This past summer we have been involved largely in conferences having to de with a reappraisal of the College ~\in all of ·its aspects. And since the Admissions Office is the major repositery of educational data having to. do with secondary scheols, their curricula, their products, and the whole range of testing data, we shall be engaged in processing such data for the use ef the new Commissions. I 'nevertheless hope to get the School Cemmittees in these six cities off the ground this year, and to initiate such cemmittees in several other locations. '!heir three basic aims will be: (1) to improve and extend our communication with secondary scheels and prespective applicants; (2) to improve eur arrangements for the scheduling of alumni interviews, hopefully using a team method wherever feasible; and (3) to help ~s pinpoint outstanding candidates for the Swarthlrore National Scholarships. I will try my best to fully develop this program throughout the year, although right now I am not sure where the necessary time will come . from. Swarthmore Natienal Scholarships. These are explained in the latest edition of the catalogue.'ihBy replace the Open Schelarships (which were not only confUSing in their nomenclature, but which also became increaSingly the preserve of students who. lived clese enough to the College to come to campus tor the competition and interviews), and there will be a greater number of them. They will be awarded on a national basis and an Award Committee will held competitiens (interviews) wherever there are a sufficient number of potential National Scholarship candidates to warrant them. Yeu might want to review the criteria for these awards in the attached announcement. I hope you will make every effert to get us outstanding candidates for the.m. The Cellege. This promises to be one of the most provocative and exciting years in the College's recent histeT,Y. Late in the Spring Courtney Smith announced the establishment ef three Commissions to take a searching leok at all aspects of the College and to make recommendations concerning our role in higher education in the decade ahead. The full details are explained in the new (October) issue of the alumni magazine. Among the other fe8tures ef the Cellege which you will discuss with candidates, an explanation ef the Commissions should prove interesting to them. The McCabe Library is on its way up and the centractors (Turner Construction Company) are still eptimistic about having it ready for use by Septe. ober, 1967. Also, ground has been broken and r the foundations are being laid for the two new men's donnitories (Dana and Hallowell), the work also being done by Turner, and there is a slight chance that these will also be ready fer occupancy by next Fall. �-3In the middle of last March we moved the Admissions Office (without losing a folder) to our new location in the old dining room. Needle's s to say, the area has been completely renovated, and we have gained much in the way of office space and lounge facilities. The students think it looks like a bank (it does), but we are all used to i~ no~. Parents no longer are stacked up in the halls of Parrish, and the entire staff is appreciative of the more efficient arrangements of files, etc. Admissions Staff. Peggy MacLaren has moved out of admissions, and has6ecome Associate Dean of Students, wOTking with both Dean Lange and Dean Barr. Sh~ will continue her duties as Director of Financial Aid. John Shuchardt, who was with us for a year, is now with the Experiment in International Living. Two new Assistant Deans of Admission have been appointed: Edith Twombly, who graduated from Swarthmore in 1964, and Doug Thompson, who graduated in 1962. Edie, after leaving Swarthmore, received her M.Ed. from Harvard and taught last year at the International School in Frankfurt, Germany. Doug, who graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore, was working as a junior physicist with the Bartol Foundation here on campus. He also spent over two years with the Bartol Cosmic Ray Laboratories in Antartica and the South Pole. Doug will have primary responsibility for the recruitment of engineering students. Problem areas. A. Engineering applicants. This remains a critical area for us. We simply do not get a sufficient number of applicants who expect to major in engineering. Consequently, we are underenrolled in this division of the College. We are not interested in lowering the standards of admission for such candidates, nor can we afford to have candidates indicate engineering as their likely major if they are doing so because they believe it's more likely that they will be accepted for admission. We need good, solid, qualified engineering candidates sufficient in quantity, and sufficiently interested in "engineering in a liberal arts college" program, to enroll at least 30-35 freshmen engineers now, and 40 when we have completed the men's dormitories and increase the number of total men enrolled accordingly. Please do all you can to foster interest in our engineering program. We have sufficient scholarship funds, also. B. Negro male applicants. While we do not accept Negro students according to any quota system, we have made special efforts the past three years to increase the number of such students enrolled in the College, and have had the generous support of a grant from the Rockfeller Foundation. Our policy has been to accept the Negro stUdents on almost the same basis as all other students, expecting a certain minimum academic ability but also recognizing reasons for less than excellent academic achievement in the past. As far as Negro males go, we were �-4 ... taken to the cleaners this year. We enrolled only 3 out of the 12 we accepted (last year we enrolled 8 of I?). Our scholarship offers were more than competitive, but the social . status (in contrast to the academic status) of the Ivy League appa~ently clobbered us. Interestingly enough, many of those we lost were not only bright, but also athletic - the first such group of Negro scholar-athletes that we have had apply to us ever. Since these young men seemed to have the leadership qualities the Rockefeller grant sought to recruit and develop, it is, all the more disappointing to have lost them. We still have considerable · Rockefeller funds and I hope that you will devote whatever efforts you can toward helping us find (and enroll) such students. C. Scholar-Athletes. The philosophy of the College with regard to the proper role of an athletic program is well-known and need not be restated. As with all other major extra-curricular programs (e.g. music), we do seek students of good academic quality who have ability and interest in athletics. As With all other conceivable categories in admissions, it is necessary to have a sufficient number of qualified applicants from which to make selections each year. Our particular program should be attractive to those qualified students with athletic ability who are interested in an excellent education and participation in an amateur (but excellent) varsity sports program. Because of our small size, f ·reshman are eligible to play on the varsity in all sports. An increase in the number of applications from scholar-athletes is necessary to assure the continuation of our present athletic program as a vital part of the extra-curricular program of the College. I trust this need can be stated frankly without engendering false beliefs (or hopes) that the College is going "big time". It is not. Our only hope is to maintain a high quality applicant group in all respects. As amateurs, our record in varsity sports over the past few years is unusually good. With your help we should be able to attract scholar-athletes of high quality. D. Public Relations. We have noticed over the past year that many applicants mention (adversely) the write-ups about Swarthmore College in various guidebooks of college and universities. One in particular is a real problem: the Cass and Birnbaum Comparative Guide to Colleges, in which the authors give subjective interpretations of the various schools. The fact that neither of the authors has visited the College does not deter them from drawing all sorts of inferences from various statistics, old copies of the Phoenix, etc. We think that terms such as "extraordinarily intense pressure for academic achievement" are somewhat overdrawn, and statistics (e.g. those for academic attrition) are simply false. President Smith wrote them a four-page letter suggesting that their picture was somewhat less than accurate, included the correct data on a number of points (e.g. attrition, �-5numberof Fh.D's on the faculty)pnd invited them to visit the College themselves. There has never been any reply, although they were willing to make some corrections in a rather contentiou~ fashion in their second edition. Unfortunately, we have had candidates with excellent academic records and abilities who have withdrawn their applic~tions after reading this _ particular summary of the College. Our academic attrition in tne past five years has varied from 2.5% to 2.9%. The fact that 77% of the men and 83% of the women graduate in four years is of course attributable to a host of factors other than that of academic failure. The percentage who do graduate in four years is quite high for a college of this calibre, or any calibre, ~or that matter. And it is interesting to note that in a recen1A, study of all the National Merit Scholars since 1956, some 15% do not graduate in four years, although 95% eventually do. The problems of the subjective analysis are apparent in the following two excerpts from Cass and Birnbaum: Swarthmore: "Despi te the . ost c~reful selection during adm mission process, one out of every four students failsto graduate (an even higher figure was reported in the student newspaper in 1962)." (77% of the men and 83% of the women graduate in four years.) IIDespite a competitive student climate, only a small percentage of students fail to graduate". (71% of . the men, and 7CY/o of the women graduate in four years.) Pomona: I would not belabor this point if it were not for the accumulated mail on the subject from candidates who could do well at any college in the country. And I think you ought to be prepared to answer such inquiries yourself. Our program is as rigorous as any in the countr.y, but it has also been shown that we take in students of a wider variety of academic abilities and graduate a higher percentage of those students than similar colleges throughout the country. It would be particularly useful if Cass and Birnbaum could sit in on the Committee on Acade. ic Requirements and learn that many of those m who do fail out of Swarthmore do so not because they lack the ability (many of them have the best high school records) but rather because they don't do any work at all, have personal problems, and so forth. I would appreciate all you can do to allow the Admissions Office of Swarthmore to make the detenninations of whether a candidate II can do the work" here. Self-selection by students is probably the key factor in college admissions everywhere, and it is obvious that if they do not apply to Swarthmore we cannot accept them. And if only those who are first in their class, or who have ver.y high college board scores, apply, it will reinforce . the erroneous idea that we only accept such students. Otherwise wetre all healthy and ready to start allover again. W do need a selective increase in applications, as many of our applie cations look alike. If we are to maintain the diversity of the College, we need more diversity in the application group, particularly among the men! Many thanks for all you have done and will do on our behalf. �A App1ication~ . last year .Men: . 1,092 W6:men: '1 ,187 Total: 2,279 ~\ Acceptances sent out Men: WO. en: m Total: Enrolled Men: Women: Total: 147 122 269 247 201 448 The schools to which we lost the largest numberof those we accepted but who went elsewhere were: Harvard Yale Princeton 28 10 11 Radcliffe Wellesley Stanford 34 6 6 Negro Acceptances and Enrollment Of the l! male Negro applicants accepted only 3 enrolled. Of those who went elsewhere, 6 went to Harvard, 1 to Princeton, 1 to M.I.T., and 1 to Earlham. Of the 12 female Negro applicants accepted, 8 enrolled. or those who went elsewhere, 1 went to Radcliffe, 1 to Mount Holyoke, 1 to Cor.nell University, and 1 whose College we do not know. Two of the Negro men and two of the Negro women we did enroll are National Achievement Scholarship winners. �B Interviews for Applicants Acce£ted for Admission Enrolled Interviewed by Staff: Interviewed by Alumni: Interviewed waived: 309 119 20 185 76 7 268 448 Scholarship funds Offered: Accepted: $189,950 127,550 Loan Funds Offered: Accepted: $7,600 6,900 (This is for the freshman class alone.) Scholarship offers to Negro students (included in above figures): Offered: Accepted: $36,100 15,500 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from Frederick Hargadon to Alumni Interviewers 09/1966] Description An account of the resource SASS file Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Frederick Hargadon Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 09/1966 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Black admissions Frederick Hargadon http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/65e17c30f5e62ab36e013e2287566134.jpg 464dcb6579021f0e062e11fe8b5370c7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Radical Radical Caucus Demands Description An account of the resource Black Cultural Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [none] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [n.d.] Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Student Body http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/07a13120e5d33239960c8efe057dd5af.pdf db29bbeb764074235b2a459cd2589956 PDF Text Text �� �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Notes taken during SASS and Cross press conference Fri March 13 Description An account of the resource Black Cultural Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [none] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 03/13/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF 1970 sit-in President's Office SASS http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/0e9c6e325500acc0fade855108b7597c.pdf 49dabf73d6cabc6caa710a7d5883f980 PDF Text Text .J-I) -/f 1t7 SASS , SW, rtlml.Orc-Afrn. Ameticnn Stlldmts' Society· a - . ", / ' / . ." ,~ ~~. . "1 7· .. . " Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081 , March 13, ,1970 ' , , . ,; ., Rober/t Cross , : Presi:d~nt of ,Swarthmore Cot'l,ege :. . ~ 1 resi,dent Cross: '." I " / ._, " , .' . .," , ' ,.. :l /" I.' SASS regrets that you ignored the detai led insistence of our Horeover, \"e re,ject the terms under which . , /.' . '! . letter of .Barch 11, 1970. , I ' Robinson House has been offered o The first requirement you mentioned \ is that the Cent~r ~e subject to general College.polici~s and reiul,. ations. A Black Cultural Center is necessary prec1 isely bec.a~se these ' policies and regulations have e.,xcluded· and/or subordina ted the interests of black p eople;; it is imperative , th a t nevI policies and r ,egulations, ones that are defined and implemented primarily through the black per; specti ve be found. Provided that the specifications outlined in our ---- .... " letter of Narch 11 are met in toto, a working group designed to i m ple..c. ' ~ • these criteria is acceptable to SASS. However, the distinction you have made beh/een determination of and determination , of access t 'o the center, breadth of partiin its acti vi ties, -and methods; of funding the center and its fact no distinction at all. ' The co~cepts of self- are crucial components of ' our pOSition, and if they ' are Swarthmore ,College, ( as is' seemingly 'indicated . ' , ~ake ;,!:·t 'o. exist' " . ' . he~e ," .~' this in a ~e~ dig~ " that it is •. .&/~~ ~cr.;, ' :' , ..1::' , . p·.u ppets in 'a black play wri ' tten',·· ~ed ', " .. ~le refuse ~~ ~ot possible for black people to be cast as black and \ old out to white people: .. . . .. for the~l~~k cOlllllluni t y. 1. . ;.<' ,. ' •. .'. . 2..", , j I,. " �SASS SU)(lrtiL?17orr; . Afro-AmeriaI1l Stuikllfs' SOcif~J' Swanblll<)Je College Swarthmore, PClwiy1vania 19081 We are calling a press confer ence to dispel the notion currently propagated throueh th~ media that the issue of a Black Cultural ~\ Center,operating according to the needs of the Black cocimunity of Swarthmore College is settled;and to inform you that the Black student co mmunity m:E: here,in a sincere effort to resolve these difficulties,s o that we might survive as spiritual,moral,intellectual and social bei ngs at white-defined,white-controlled,and white-dominated Swarthmore Co lleee,are occupying the good Pres ident's office until such time as the le g iti macy of our position is acknowledged in toto,or until we are confront ed with the threat of le gal ,forcible t~movalti.e. i ns titutionalized violence; our sit-in is peaceful,orderly and is reso rted to only after it is clear that the integrity of a philosophy of Black liberation is not repected at ~ white Swarthmore Co lIege .Our repeated attempts to plead rationally, has fallen on cold,ins ensitive ears;we move now only at the apex of frustr ation and disillusionment.We trust that the public will see that ours is a humane cause. 1)support of Black administra tors 2)support of most Black workers here 3)support of large part of Student body • . 4)we h ~ve moved outof the dormitories. �SASS S'wartlunorf, .(~fro-~ merimtl :~ SwarthJllore College 'n. . I ' . ,/ .~~:' I / 'Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081 Your let,t er "las conspicuous in its al sence of specifics with ,reference to financial allocations,and its ambiguity and power-oriented ~\ ' . I ' '~ euphemisms are once again indicC3;ti VEil of mpre attempts to avoid total , " commi ttment to' some semblance of black. ,potier and black liberation. The deadline ,is past. SASS ·1 ..... - I" .... 'j ,r I ." ) " / . . I ,) " , ,".' I r·- . , I, ",j i, I . " " ,: .~ .. " ,'1 , ! � .J-I) -/f 1t7 SASS , SW, rtlml.Orc-Afrn. Ameticnn Stlldmts' Society· a - . ", / ' / . ." ,~ ~~. . "1 7· .. . " Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081 , March 13, ,1970 ' , , . ,; ., Rober/t Cross , : Presi:d~nt of ,Swarthmore Cot'l,ege :. . ~ 1 resi,dent Cross: '." I " / ._, " , .' . .," , ' ,.. :l /" I.' SASS regrets that you ignored the detai led insistence of our Horeover, \"e re,ject the terms under which . , /.' . '! . letter of .Barch 11, 1970. , I ' Robinson House has been offered o The first requirement you mentioned \ is that the Cent~r ~e subject to general College.polici~s and reiul,. ations. A Black Cultural Center is necessary prec1 isely bec.a~se these ' policies and regulations have e.,xcluded· and/or subordina ted the interests of black p eople;; it is imperative , th a t nevI policies and r ,egulations, ones that are defined and implemented primarily through the black per; specti ve be found. Provided that the specifications outlined in our ---- .... " letter of Narch 11 are met in toto, a working group designed to i m ple..c. ' ~ • these criteria is acceptable to SASS. However, the distinction you have made beh/een determination of and determination , of access t 'o the center, breadth of partiin its acti vi ties, -and methods; of funding the center and its fact no distinction at all. ' The co~cepts of self- are crucial components of ' our pOSition, and if they ' are Swarthmore ,College, ( as is' seemingly 'indicated . ' , ~ake ;,!:·t 'o. exist' " . ' . he~e ," .~' this in a ~e~ dig~ " that it is •. .&/~~ ~cr.;, ' :' , ..1::' , . p·.u ppets in 'a black play wri ' tten',·· ~ed ', " .. ~le refuse ~~ ~ot possible for black people to be cast as black and \ old out to white people: .. . . .. for the~l~~k cOlllllluni t y. 1. . ;.<' ,. ' •. .'. . 2..", , j I,. " �SASS SU)(lrtiL?17orr; . Afro-AmeriaI1l Stuikllfs' SOcif~J' Swanblll<)Je College Swarthmore, PClwiy1vania 19081 We are calling a press confer ence to dispel the notion currently propagated throueh th~ media that the issue of a Black Cultural ~\ Center,operating according to the needs of the Black cocimunity of Swarthmore College is settled;and to inform you that the Black student co mmunity m:E: here,in a sincere effort to resolve these difficulties,s o that we might survive as spiritual,moral,intellectual and social bei ngs at white-defined,white-controlled,and white-dominated Swarthmore Co lleee,are occupying the good Pres ident's office until such time as the le g iti macy of our position is acknowledged in toto,or until we are confront ed with the threat of le gal ,forcible t~movalti.e. i ns titutionalized violence; our sit-in is peaceful,orderly and is reso rted to only after it is clear that the integrity of a philosophy of Black liberation is not repected at ~ white Swarthmore Co lIege .Our repeated attempts to plead rationally, has fallen on cold,ins ensitive ears;we move now only at the apex of frustr ation and disillusionment.We trust that the public will see that ours is a humane cause. 1)support of Black administra tors 2)support of most Black workers here 3)support of large part of Student body • . 4)we h ~ve moved outof the dormitories. �SASS S'wartlunorf, .(~fro-~ merimtl :~ SwarthJllore College 'n. . I ' . ,/ .~~:' I / 'Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081 Your let,t er "las conspicuous in its al sence of specifics with ,reference to financial allocations,and its ambiguity and power-oriented ~\ ' . I ' '~ euphemisms are once again indicC3;ti VEil of mpre attempts to avoid total , " commi ttment to' some semblance of black. ,potier and black liberation. The deadline ,is past. SASS ·1 ..... - I" .... 'j ,r I ." ) " / . . I ,) " , ,".' I r·- . , I, ",j i, I . " " ,: .~ .. " ,'1 , ! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from SASS to Robert Cross, 03/13/1970] Description An account of the resource Black Cultural Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 03/13/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF 1970 sit-in Black Cultural Center SASS http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/de58a225e176c328c42d593f1e451573.jpg 006013a1d7b8b3773da93cd63b7809b5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter from Mary Gatens to Robert Cross, 03/15/1970] Description An account of the resource Black Cultural Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mary Gatens Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 03/15/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG 1970 sit-in http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/cec03e328f658884a1e20b68492f9090.pdf 2a68cec86f70cd37389d8a2f4f5a6f1f PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Black cultural center demand marked by Swarthmore sit-in Description An account of the resource Black Cultural Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Martha Morris Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 03/14/1970 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF 1970 sit-in Black Cultural Center http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/5e32670df527f3162b56872aa7c09e58.jpg b3ca8a96ff647b0f35beb1a9fdee0b76 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Negro History Week Description An account of the resource SASS Material, 1968 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [02/1967] Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG SASS http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/2bea8bbb20816a07fd78c63d2cd5000a.jpg ef5bcc4a47b870dd76cd7994c6e13525 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Swarthmore College Calendar [12/1968 - 01/1969] Description An account of the resource SASS Material, 1968 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Swarthmore College] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [12/20/1968] Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG http://s3.amazonaws.com/sc-lib-ds-bl1969/original/f4217218f044c8a3963c99332f98dd76.jpg 3c4de8ac711983dfa69fa1d3a7bf2c9f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Friends Historical Library General Reference Files Description An account of the resource This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends Historical Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Courtney Smith's letter of resignation, 07/16/1968] Description An account of the resource SASS Material, 1968 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Courtney Smith Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 07/16/1968 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG President's Office