The Phoenix
The Official Campus Newspaper of Swarthmore College Since 1881 VOL. 136, ISSUE 7
TODAY: Mainly sunny skies. High 60, Low 43. TOMORROW: Clear skies, plenty of sun. High 58, Low 35.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
SWARTHMOREPHOENIX.COM
Garnet Field Hockey Soldiers On, Now in Playoff Contention
Drug Culture at Swarthmore Hard Drugs Not the Norm at Swat, Instances of Alcohol Abuse More Common By AMANDA EPSTEIN Assistant News Editor
No one’s ever contested the fact that there are drugs at Swarthmore. Or that there are several different kinds of drugs. It seems, however, that the drug culture may not be as big or as prevalent as many think, especially given the long-standing reputation the college has for being full of liberal, “hippie” students. Swarthmore of course sees a lot of alcohol — much like in most schools — and a decent amount of marijuana use. And while the presence of drugs like acid, mushrooms, ecstasy, LSD, and MDMA (among others) seems less visible, there is a general consensus among many staff and students that for all intents and purposes, there are no drugs like meth, cocaine or heroin. “There have been a variety of drugs on this campus, but I don’t think they’re as prevalent as they are in the outside world, at least in the social groups that I’ve been in,” said a student (Student 1), who preferred to remain anonymous. “I think Swarthmore uses drugs far less than the average college or university.” Alcohol Intervention and Education Specialist Tom Elverson, says his sense is that the presence of harder drugs on campus is minimal, compared to other schools similar to Swarthmore. Still, while the drug culture is certainly smaller, even by sheer numbers, another student, Student 2, says that apart from weed, LSD and mushrooms, there are a fair amount of experimental drugs like 2C-I, 2C-B, 4-ACO-DMT, and many others. These chemically engineered drugs are devised to produce the same effects as other more organic drugs. 4-ACODMT, for instance, also known as O-Acetylpsilocin, is a chemical drug alternative to psilocybin, which is a naturally occurring psychedelic in mushrooms. “The school is pretty hippie, it’s full of people that like to experiment,” Student 2 said. Student 3, who has sold mushrooms (a natural psychedelic) on campus, has seen this too. He was surprised at the rate at which he sold them. In under two weeks, he sold over an ounce, or almost 30 grams of “shrooms,” even considering that the suggested or most common dose is approximately 0.75-1.5 grams.
JULIA CARLETON/PHOENIX STAFF
Aarti Rao powers through the Gettysburg defense. The Garnet defeated the Bullets in a 3-2 (OT) victory from Clothier Field. Page 18.
Continued on Page 4
Swarthmore Christian Fellowship Allied With Controversial Christian Organization By SARAH COE-ODESS News Writer
When SUNY Buffalo sophomore Steven Jackson was forced to resign as treasurer of his school’s chapter of the Christian organization InterVarsity because of his homosexuality last December, controversy about the organization’s alleged anti-gay stance circulated throughout several universities and colleges. InterVarsity has remained under scrutiny for the past year and several colleges, such as Tufts University and SUNY Buffalo, have ceased funding for their local chapters. InterVarsity, whose press website features books such as “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality,” has 893 chapters on college campuses nationwide, including the Swarthmore Christian Fellowship (SCF). SCF, which is sponsored by the college, counts on InterVarsity for structure, leadership and resources and has an InterVarsity liaison for consultation and biblical guidance. In order to receive this help and guidance, though, SCF is required to adopt and stand by InterVarsity’s policies and beliefs. The controversy surrounding Jackson arose when, as part of the process of joining the leadership committee, he was asked to sign a declaration that said he agreed completely with InterVarsity’s doctrinal statement, which endorses “the unique divine inspiration, entire trustworthiness and authority of the Bible.” Jackson refused to sign because of the Bible’s implications about his
sexual orientation and was thus unable to join the committee. As last year’s SCF president, Andrew Cheng ’11, was openly gay, the Swarthmore group says that no such issues would arise within the chapter here. Nevertheless, Trevor Morse, SCF’s liaison to InterVarsity, acknowledged that tension does exist between InterVarsity’s positions and the existence of queer identities. “I don’t deny that the Bible makes challenging suggestions about many aspects of life, including sexuality,” Morse said. “We believe that it’s important to explore what the Bible says and wrestle with it together.” “The global church has done a really bad job of making the queer community feel like they can be a part of churches,” SCF Small Group Coordinator Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon ’13 said. “I think we are very focused on building strong relationships with people, and the fact that some members of SCF are queer helps create a welcoming environment.” SCF Large Group Coordinator Josh Satre ’13 also noted that SCF is open to people of any faith or sexual orientation. In fact, SCF’s website says, “We welcome all, regardless of background or belief, at all our activities, and seek to answer to questions that they may have.” Regardless of SCF’s openness to anyone interested, Queer + Allies Faith in Action (QFIA) was created because being queer and Christian was not addressed enough in existing Christian groups on campus.
“Queer + Allies Faith in Action was started in response to the acknowledgment that often faith communities fail to address the intersection of religious identity, sexual orientation and gender identity,” said a QFIA member who wished to remain anonymous. “These various identities were not being discussed together, outside of a couple of events during Coming Out Week. QFIA was created to establish a space for more sustained dialogue about what it means for religious communities to be welcoming and affirming of queer people.” The anonymous QFIA member noted that SCF has a positive influence on campus and that several students are involved in both student groups. “I have been working with several SCF members who have expressed interest in QFIA and with some members of SCF leadership who have expressed a desire to deepen the dialogue on what welcoming and affirming Christian community looks like,” the member said. Still, the fact that potential SCF members must confirm InterVarsity’s doctrine in writing in order to hold a leadership position poses a problem for some students on campus. The process to become involved in leadership is a simple one and involves upperclassmen’s recognition of first-years who have leadership qualities, an investment in fellowship and a respect for the mission statement. Continued on Page 3
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NEWS SWATTIES ABROAD: LIFE IN EL CHACO
LIVING & ARTS WOWED BY WARHOL: AN INDELIBLE EXCURSION
OPINIONS SWOOP (THERE IT IS): ADVICE FOR POTENTIALS
SPORTS VOLLEYBALL DISCOVERS WINNING WAYS
Swatties studying abroad in Argentina take the opportunity to experience life in El Chaco, a rural province in the South American country, while simultaneously helping out a local school. Page 4
Art columnist Zoe Wray reviews the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newest exhibition “Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists in 50 Years.” A must-see for city-bound Swatties in the coming week! Page 7
Fall break marks the start of swooping. Sean Bryant offers advice to freshmen and upperclassmen alike on how to professionally approach this delicate art and avoid misunderstandings. Page 15
The Garnet snap their first losing streak of the season with wins against Washington and Gettysburg, solidifying their place in the Centennial Conference playoff picture. Page 19
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix MARCUS MELLO, Editor in Chief MENGHAN JIN, Managing Editor The News Section KOBY LEVIN, Editor AMANDA EPSTEIN, Assistant Editor News Writers CHARLES HEPPER NEHMAT KAUR CHI ZHANG
DANIEL BLOCK SARAH COE-ODESS ANNA GONZALES PATRICK HAN The Living & Arts Section
STEVEN HAZEL, Editor ALLI SHULTES, Assistant Editor GABRIELA CAMPOVERDE, Columnist AKURE IMES, Columnist DEBORAH KRIEGER, Columnist BRAD LENOX, Columnist VIANCA MASUCCI, Columnist KIERAN REICHERT, Columnist LANIE SCHLESSINGER, Columnist DAVID TOLAND, Columnist ZOE WRAY, Columnist SAM ZHANG, Columnist ELIZABETH KRAMER, Artist RENU NADKARNI, Artist PRESTON COOPER, Puzzlemaster Living & Arts Writers TAYLOR HODGES AXEL KODAT
JEANNETTE LEOPOLD MAYRA TENORIO
ZHENGLONG ZHOU/PHOENIX STAFF
The Opinions Section
Web Content ERIC SHERMAN, Webmaster ALLEGRA POCINKI, Web Designer
PRESTON COOPER, Editor PATRICK AMMERMAN, Columnist TYLER BECKER, Columnist SEAN BRYANT, Columnist DANIELLE CHARETTE, Columnist AARON KROEBER, Columnist HARSHIL SAHAI, Columnist
Business Management ALLISON McKINNON, Circulation Manager AXEL KODAT, Social Media Coordinator CAMILA RYDER, Publicity Coordinator HARSHIL SAHAI, Business Manager
The Sports Section DANIEL DUNCAN, Editor ROY GREIM, Writer JENNI LU, Writer SCOOP RUXIN, Columniar JAMES IVEY, Columnist
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Social Justice Masks Cinematic Shortcomings in ‘Pariah’ | Page 8
CHANELLE SIMMONS / PHOENIX STAFF
News
Economy Affects Departmental Tenure Distribution
As a result of the economic downturn, departments no longer have fixed tenure lines. They are instead distributed as needed by the committee on educational policy. PAGE 3
Women Scientists at Swarthmore Prevail
Female Swatties in the natural sciences have been performing well, despite recent reports of stark gender disparities in the academic sciences. PAGE 5
Living & Arts
Students, Professors Examine Climate Change
A group of Swarthmore student activists and academics attended a Tufts University conference on climate change and learned that with global warming, there are many questions but no easy answers. PAGE 6
Symposium on the Righteous Mind
A new lecture series exploring Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Righteous Mind” kicks off with speeches by Professors Barry Schwartz, Timothy Burke, Richard Eldridge, Amanda Bayer and Richard Schuldenfrei, professor emeritus. PAGE 8
A Tale of Two Theses
Honors Theater majors Kari Olman and Sophia Naylor set great expectations for their projects in dramaturgy and playwriting. PAGE 9
Where Consignment Meets Affordability,
Convenience
Wellness is for Wimps
Dorm Dive: Sera Jeong
Opinons
This week, Gaby Campoverde takes us to Second Time Around in Center City where racks of cold weather clothing are waiting for customers to ravage them. PAGE 9 Showcasing The Phoenix’s former Dorm Dive writer, this week’s feature explores the clean comfort and class of a Pittinger single. PAGE 10
How Do Swatties Stack Up?
Does the Swarthmore experience live up to its hype? Visiting professors and transfer students offer crosscollege comparisons of classroom culture. PAGE 12
Bibliobabble: Pulitzer Prize 2011
Literature lover Lanie Schlessinger justifies the controversial selection of “A Visit From The Goon Squad” in a decision that favored innovative form over familiar storylines. PAGE 12
Dr. Beersnob: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Glass Brad Lenox advises beer enthusiasts to abandon fears of pretentious labels and embrace glassware, an easy solution to achieving better taste. PAGE 13
Rock ’n’ Roll vs. the Opera
David Toland is back again, this time retelling his experiences with performances by KISS and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. PAGE 13
Habit of Art: Monumental Decay
A visit to an abandoned dye factory in Northeastern Philadelphia inspires reflections on the present’s contribution to the past’s decay. PAGE 14
Columnist Sam Zhang challenges the effectiveness of Wellness groups on a campus that prizes survival over mental and physical health. PAGE 14
Staff Editorial
The Phoenix analyzes the rising cost of tuition in America at both public and private colleges, and recommends that government funding be redirected to education. PAGE 15
More Scientific Papers Retracted as Data Fabrication, Plagiarism Abound Patrick illuminates the fact that more and more published scientific papers are being retracted, and investigates why that is. PAGE 16
Spinning the Debate
Danielle reflects on watching the first Presidential Debate last week at a viewing party open to the whole campus, and how that affected her perspectives on it. PAGE 16
Sports Cutler’s Mentality Not the Problem
Do Jay Cutler’s attitude problems make him a bad quarterback? Jamie doesn’t think so. PAGE 18
Lockout? What Lockout?
Swarthmore Motherpuckers let people of all abilities play hockey and bond with friends in trips to a local ice rink. PAGE 20
News
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
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The Phoenix
Economy Affects Tenure Distribution
Swarthmore’s Departments No Longer Have Fixed Tenure Lines By DANIEL BLOCK News Writer
For a professor at Swarthmore, receiving tenure is a lengthy and complicated task. First, it involves teaching and researching in a tenure-track position for what is typically a six-year period. After that, candidates undergo a lengthy review process. A dossier of the candidate is prepared, which includes everything from letters by students who had the professor to extramural recommendations to the candidate’s published scholarship. Once compiled, the dossier is sent to the Committee on Promotion and Tenure. Finally, the committee evaluates the candidate, and makes a decision as to whether or not to grant tenure. In the past, a solid majority of recent candidates have received tenure. But it is by no means a guarantee. Yet, until recently, even if a candidate’s path to tenure was complex and its outcome uncertain, the balance of tenure in a department was not. A department could count on having the same number of tenure lines, or positions that are either tenured or tenure-track, year after year. So, for example, if a tenured professor of biology retired, the biology department could count on having at least one opening for a tenure-line position. That, however, has changed. To respond to the economic crisis, in 2008, the college created an ad hoc committee to try and determine what to do and respond to any budget decreases. “There was first a freeze placed on faculty hiring,” said college provost Thomas Stephenson, who served on the committee. Still, there was real concern that the college would have to look at cutting jobs. “Because we made the commitment not to reduce financial aid or lay off any employees as other schools were doing, we had to consider the possibility of eliminating up to three faculty positions through attrition. In the end, thankfully, we did not have to eliminate any positions.” said Rebecca Chopp, the college president, who took office in the midst of the downturn. While the committee may not have had to cut jobs, it still had to find room to reduce spending. One of the shifts that the committee made was from the system in which tenure lines were effectively fixed by departments to one in which they were doled out by the committee on educational policy. “We don’t automatically get a replacement,” explained Ann Renninger, chair of the department of educational studies. If a tenured faculty member leaves or retires, “it’s not the case that you then immediately get another tenure line.” In the old system, a department could more or less expect a tenure line to be replaced. In the new system, a department has to show why they need it and apply
ZHENGLONG ZHOU/PHOENIX STAFF
Adam Aviv, one of the computer science department’s new visiting assistant professors, works in his office.
to the committee on educational policy. “They need to put forth an argument,” said Renninger. Shifts in the endowment played a substantial role in causing this policy change. For the fifteen years prior to the economic crisis, the college endowment experienced substantial growth, meaning that fixed tenure lines were possible because the school could always just add new lines. “Now that’s not true,” said Chopp. While no tenure-line positions were cut, the rate at which they were added declined. During the fifteen-year period of endowment growth, the number of tenure-line positions gradually increased. “It crept up because the endowment was doing so spectacularly well,” said Stephenson. When that stopped, so did the growth in tenure lines. After the hiring freeze and the year thereafter, the college did manage to create and fill a couple of new tenure-line positions. But that has largely been the byproduct of fundraising. Before the recession, student growth, philanthropy, or the
endowment funded new tenure-line positions. “Right now,” said Chopp, “we have one way, and that’s philanthropy.” Stephenson agreed. “Absent fundraising,” he said, “it’s fixed.” The policy has mixed potential effects on departments and faculty. It does, as Renninger noted, increase the ability of a department to apply for tenure lines. But it also can complicate a department’s ability to hire tenure-track faculty when a tenured faculty member retires. And, according to Renninger, the policy has the potential to generate competition. “There is almost a kind of jockeying for tenure lines,” she said. Furthermore, there is also the possibility that the policy could lead to an increase in the number of part-time hires. This, according to Renninger, might be problematic because part-time hires are, by nature, less dedicated to the college and to research then full-time hires. “Knowing you have a tenure line allows you to count on faculty members for contributions,” she said. But, as Stephenson noted, part-time hires have
not changed in the past four years. At the same time, the policy has potential benefits that are not just economic. As Chopp pointed out, the policy has fostered inter-departmental communication and internal departmental reflection. “It was a legitimate way of thinking about how disciplines grow and change,” said Chopp, who further noted that the faculty found it has helped them learn about faculty in other departments, and were consulted for and during the policy overhaul. “Change is always difficult,” noted Chopp. “You really have to argue the case.” Plus, the shift in allocating tenure lines has not changed what the college is looking for in hiring and granting tenure to professors. “The big framework for it is how will they help our students,” said Chopp. And while the new policy may complicate life for the departments when it comes to receiving tenure lines, it has not changed their professors’ relationships with their profession, the college, or their students. As Renninger said, “this is a great place to teach.”
‘SCF’, continued from page 1 Hope Brinn ’15, a member of the Swarthmore Queer Union (SQU), finds SCF’s affiliation with InterVarsity questionable. “I have a number of friends in SCF, and they are some of the kindest, least judgmental people I know,” Brinn said. “That said, I am troubled to hear about their affiliation with InterVarsity. I find the statement of faith less problematic than some of the stances InterVarsity supports, such as the notion that homosexuality is preventable, which goes against the findings of scientific research. While I understand that no organization is perfect, I have a difficult time understanding why SCF would want to be a part of InterVarsity. What’s the benefit?” As another Small Group Coordinator Nathaniel Lo ’13 explained, though, standing by the mission statement that says the Bible is an authoritative document and agreeing with everything the Bible says are two separate ideas.
“There’s a difference between disagreeing with the Bible and not believing that the Bible is an authoritative document,” Lo said. “For our leaders, we want them to say that even though we have these questions, we believe that it is authoritative, regardless of what we believe.” Satre agreed that there were specific qualifications for SCF leaders. “If you have an organization that’s Jewish, you wouldn’t want to have a leader who’s not Jewish to sign a statement of faith,” he said, explaining why it is essential for leaders to agree with InterVarsity’s doctrine. Lo, Satre and Wiltshire-Gordon all agree that the most important quality in an SCF leader is someone whose primary identity is Christian. While members can have other identities, they should be overshadowed by their Christian faith. “Christianity is affected by one’s background, but your identity is still in Christ. Other things might in-
fluence that, but they don’t supersede that,” Satre said. “It’s because of this identity that we can discuss these issues.” Grappling with the balance between conflicting identities is something that Cheng, along with many other gay Christians, faced. Ultimately, though, Cheng was able to find a happy medium between the two, with the help of SCF. “There was definitely some internal conflict over my identity as a Christian and my identity as a gay man prior to and during my term as president of SCF,” Cheng said. “In the end, ‘reconciliation’ happened not when all the members of SCF finally found some common ground on which to stand regarding the traditional conflict between homosexuality and Christianity … but when I figured out that SCF’s role on campus should be to love our neighbors unconditionally. SCF showed me this kind of love and support, and I have no doubt that it will continue to do so for others.”
News
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
Swarthmore Goes To El Chaco
Swatties Take Part In Program to Help Rural Village in Argentina By CHARLIE HEPPER News Writer In the Fall of 2011, a group of Swarthmore students studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina took a 20-hour, 789-mile bus ride from the cosmopolitan capital to the rural northwestern town of Miraflores as part of the program’s recently launched Chaco Initiative. There they had the opportunity to directly experience, connect with, and make an impact upon a lifestyle that contrasted sharply with that which they had enjoyed in the capital. Associate Professor of History and Swarthmore in Buenos Aires Program Coordinator Diego Armus extolled the benefits of the Initiative as a means by which students can become “immersed in a very low-income area where they will not be passive spectators of the reality but instead act upon and learn from it.” Miraflores is located in Chaco, the second poorest province in the county where 49.3% of the population lives below the poverty line
and 17.5% of children aged 2 to 5 lack proper nutrition. “[The village] is a more than adequate social environment for students to live in a quotidian reality radically different from the one they experience in Buenos Aires, where modernity, metropolitan rush and intense academic work mark their lives,” Armus said. The focal point of the students’ visit to the village involved teaching workshops to students attending Secondary School Nº 168. These workshops covered a range of topics, including basic computer skills, English lessons, how to use a library, hygiene, and photography. In addition to the workshops, students also brought assorted supplies for the school, including bookshelves and books to start a small library and computers for teachers to use. Students also organized outdoor movie screenings for the community and got the chance to connect with the school’s teachers as well as local families, radio stations and political authorities. Zach Nacev ’13 elaborated on his own ex-
periences connecting with villagers and the impact his visit had on the students. “After the workshops were done we went out to dinner with some of the teachers from the school and one gave me a note and a gift from one of the students in the workshop. The gift was a statue of a bird that she told me her family made. The note told me that she loved the workshop and they were lucky to have us come to teach them. She also said that she liked school and wanted to be a math teacher when she grew up,” Nacev said. Nacev further commented on the value that his visit as an American held for the students; “I don’t want to overstate what it is we do in Chaco, but I think that the note and gift I got from that girl that I briefly taught a few words of English shows that American student visits are valuable to the students there in Chaco.” Michael Fleischmann ’13 regarded the immediacy and novelty of experience that the visit allowed him as the most enriching aspect of his work there. “For me the real thrust of the trip was going to a part of Argentina that
DIEGO ARMUS FOR THE PHOENIX
Zach Nacev teaches classroom full of Argentinian students in a rural school in Miraflores, Chaco.
I would otherwise not have visited. In that same vein, I took a lot of value in getting to meet the people there, who also were a group of people I would have never met otherwise.” Fleischmann further stated that the trip added greatly to his study abroad experience and has influenced him to continue his humanitarian work with other groups in the future. “I felt before the trip I had fallen into a rut in Buenos Aires and the trip really helped me to refresh my perspective on my semester abroad and also on life as a whole as well. It reminded me of the work I do with Pemon Health and motivated me to really get more involved with them again,” said Fleischmann. While the Chaco Initiative has proved popular with students and fostered many small but significant successes in Miraflores, there is still much more work that can be done there. Thus, the program is looking towards various on-campus funding sources so that it can continue to provide beneficial services for village students and to broaden experiences for students studying abroad. “It is necessary to find ways to improve the resources in the rural schools with the help of funding through the Swarthmore community,” Armus said. “Students who went to Miraflores, as well as Swarthmore in Buenos Aires staff and faculty, have already expressed their intention of establishing an ongoing relationship with these rural schools in hope of improving the education, livelihood, and resources available to this isolated community.” Senior Erin Curtis, who visited the village twice in the course of her two semesters spent in Argentina, personally witnessed the impact that the program’s work had on the students and believes that the program can continue to positively affect the community. “It was great to go back and see the library in use, and we hope to get more funding to be able to put more books on their shelves. I’d love to see the program continue in a way that truly benefits the Miraflores community. I think the partnership is a really valuable thing and can bring much needed resources to the students of the region,” said Curtis. The Chaco Initiative was started two years ago when students of Swarthmore in Buenos Aires proposed to enhance the highly urban experience of studying in the Argentinian capital with an opportunity to experience and positively affect the country’s less-developed rural areas. The program’s staff and faculty, many of whom had been heavily involved in Popular Education, a broad movement in Latin American countries encompassing formal and informal educational initiatives in poor regions, enthusiastically received this proposal. The Initiative’s work is done in conjunction with APAER, an unaffiliated Argentinian organization that seeks to solve problems of malnutrition, ill health, deteriorating school facilities, ecological damage, and lack of basic teaching supplies that plague the poorest provinces of the country. The organization provides students with basic needs such as clothing, footwear, and school supplies while supporting teachers in their pedagogical mission and children in their education.
‘Drugs’, continued from page 1 “I guess that rate would be normal in a city, but here I was surprised by how many kids just got word,” he said. “It was a lot of friends of friends, but I would also get random texts asking me for them. People were willing to pay a lot for an otherwise really rare product,” he said. Student 3 doesn’t think that this would work for just any drug, however. He thinks that it’s not just the school that is “hippie,” but that the drugs are as well. “[Swarthmore] isn’t a party-hard, let’s-snort-cocaine kind of school. The drugs that are here are the kind you would expect. We have more psychedelic, mind-bending drugs. I wanna say they’re hippie drugs,” he said, noting that they go hand-in-hand with the kind of intellectual, self-exploration that’s present in almost every other sphere of Swatties’ lives. “All drugs are to some extent part of some kind of intellectual exploration, but these almost emphasize that, whereas drugs like cocaine are more about wanting to have fun, feeling exhilaration.” Quite obviously, alcohol is one kind of drug people take to have fun on campus. Because it is so readily available, some think it lowers the need of finding other illicit substances with which to have fun, or feel good. “Booze will always be the most popular one. It is quite the most universal drug of choice,” said Student 1. According to Elverson, who counsels many students with drug problems, alcohol is by far the most common drug he deals with. “Most of the people I see have chronic alcohol issues. They resort to alcohol because they’re depressed, they’re
anxious, they had a fight with someone ... We also do have some students that are alcohol dependent, and that’s their primary issue,” he said. Elverson says that even though most of the students he talks to are referred from the Dean’s office, Worth, CAPS or RAs, a few students self-refer themselves to him with issues, and many try to seek help for their friends. “I’ve had to recommend that students be placed in treatment centers, some as close as Philadelphia, others as far as Boston,” he said, noting that this is not the majority of cases. “Most students can get support from me or an AA group off campus.” Still, due in part to its tolerant and open alcohol policy, the college is on the lower end of the spectrum around issues of hospitalizations, citations, court appearances and interventions, according to Elverson. This he gathered in 2007, after conducting a comparative study of colleges like Swarthmore in relation to their alcohol-related incidents (Guilford, Sarah Lawrence, Middlebury, Dickinson, and Franklin & Marshall included). “I don’t want to make light of it and say it’s no big deal though,” he said. “One case is one too many.” The biggest drug around which seems to be under debate is Adderall, or other prescription “study” drugs. Adderall, which is used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is often used by students without the disorder to be better able to concentrate and study more efficiently. Student 1, while acknowledging that Adderall does exist
on campus, thinks it is not as common of a study aide here as it is in other places. “I personally don’t know of anyone who’s overusing drugs like Adderall to study,” he said. “I’ve used it before, but I don’t have a prescription so it’s not like I have easy access to it.” While it is, in some ways, surprising that Adderall is not a more prevalent drug on Swarthmore’s campus (given the amount of work Swatties have and the stress they’re often under), Student 1 thinks the culture is so study-oriented that it’s unnecessary. “Sometimes you have nothing to do but study because no one is socializing, no one is partying. No one is doing anything because it’s study time across all of campus,” he said. Student 3 agrees. “I have this gut reaction against it. It’s like cheating,” he said. “It’s a power tool that you just use to solve a problem, and an assignment, especially at a place like this, should be a genuine, creative, personal production.” It is not a drug that Elverson or Director of Psychological Services David Ramirez see much of either. Most of the students that come by CAPS with concerns about Adderall are curious as to “whether it could be helpful with attention and concentration issues” rather than worried about possible misuse and abuse. Student 2, on the other hand, knows a good amount of people who use Adderall who are “providing it for themselves, bringing it in from home or from Philly.” And while there aren’t many deals on campus, “people are using it to study really hard.”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
News
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The Phoenix
Women Scientists at Swarthmore Prevail
1
By PATRICK HAN News Writer
suggested. Professor Crouch concurs, pointing out that “when a field has low representation of girls and women, that perpetuates itself because role modeling is very important to career In 2012, many of us like to think that we choices.” Both professors also recommend more have made tremendous strides in gender equal- comprehensive and robust family-leave policies ity in the professional and academic worlds, that that support the family lives of men and women overt, systematic discrimination based on sex alike. Professor Merz on the other hand prois a relic of the past. And we can indeed declare posed a system in which “the reviewing of pawith some confidence that much progress has pers and grant proposals [are] ‘double blind’,” been made in women’s education. According to a practical measure that could be implemented the National Center for Education Statistics, for immediately. “Currently the reviewers’ identiinstance, women today earn 57 percent of bach- ties are hidden from the person being reviewed. elors’ degrees, 63 percent of masters’ degrees I think it might improve things if the reviewers and a majority of doctorates. Swarthmore Pre- of a paper or proposal didn’t know who had subMed and Pre-Law Advisor Gigi Simeone cites mitted it.” similar statistics, noting that “over the past 16 Moreover, Vollmer emphasized how imporyears that I have been at Swarthmore, 100 per- tant it was for men in the sciences to be aware of cent of our applicants to veterinary school have academic gender disparities and in view of them, been women,” and that over the past six years, promote a welcoming environment for women the average percentage of Swarthmore women in the laboratories through mentoring and leadin our medical school applicant pool has been ership promotion. “When I was a grad student, 58 percent (the national there were few women in average has been just uneither [biochemistry or der half). In fact, there are microbiology], but even Overt sexism is not what then, microbiology had a growing concerns among education policy analysts of strong female will limit you. Find what tradition regarding an overall imleaders, such as past presibalance in higher educadents of the American you love and do it. tion in which men may Society for Microbiology. Rachel Merz actually be falling behind. I attribute that to strong “It has gotten dramatimale mentors who welProfessor of Biology cally better in the last 40 comed female students years,” concurs Professor into their microbiology Rachel Merz of the biollabs,” she argued. “Havogy department. “As an undergraduate I was the ing women in visible, authentic positions of only woman taking physics in my college. The power and leadership, where they have influfirst time I was in a biology course that had more ence on policy and hiring communicates to the women than men was in one that I was teach- community that women and men share in the ing here at Swarthmore. Now, in my own de- responsibilities.” Most importantly, she advises partment and in the areas I work most closely aspiring female scientists to “know, appreciate, there is near parity in gender numbers.” Biology and use the power of networking,” underscoring Professor Amy Vollmer concurs. “I meet post- their need for guidance under “strong mentors.” docs and grad students regularly when I travel to Fortunately for female scientists at Swarthmeetings and to give invited talks. If anything, I more, they can find strong mentors, networksee more women trainees and a growing number ing, and simple friendship within the plethoric of young female faculty.” myriad of student organizations on campus for Yet in spite of the optimistic evidence, em- women in science, including Expanding Your pirical and anecdotal, researchers at Yale pub- Horizons, Women in Computer Science and the lished a new study just three weeks ago conclud- Society of Women Engineers. The newest addiing that “Despite efforts to recruit and retain tion to the female scientist community is WITS, more women, a stark gender disparity persists or Women in the Sciences, founded by Alexanwithin academic science.” dra Werth ’16. “The most important thing for The study was simple: 127 professors in the women to feel comfortable in a science envibiology, chemistry and physics departments at ronment is to have mentors, to have friends, to six major research universities received a recent have people to study with, and I think it’s very graduate’s application for a laboratory manager difficult if you’re a minority in a huge pool of position, half of them from an applicant named people who aren’t like you,” Werth explained. “John” and the other half from a “Jennifer.” John “We have been talking about women’s issues received an average of 4 out of 7 from profes- and talking about ways we can on a bigger scale sors while Jennifer only earned an average of 3.3 help the female science community as a whole. and was less likely to be mentored or hired in Some of that could be through volunteering, their laboratories. The scientists concluded that becoming more educated, and reaching out to the bias most likely stemmed from cultural val- professors.” Yet WITS isn’t just about discussues regarding gender roles rather than conscious ing women’s issues in the context of the sciences. prejudice. Interestingly, female professors were It also provides a community and safe space for just as biased as their male counterparts. female scientists to connect to peers and menIn response to the study, MIT Biology Pro- tors of different scientific disciplines. “One of fessor Nancy Hopkins pointed out that “People my main focuses was encouraging interdiscitend to think that the problem has gone away, plinary events and activities … WITS isn’t just but alas, it hasn’t.” The disheartening, if not helping other women in the sciences but helping alarming, results of the study beg the question: everyone in the sciences. We’re planning to host what accounts for this gender gap in the first study breaks throughout the year and everyone place? Professor Merz highlights the stereotypes is invited, guys and girls.” of women, conscious and subconscious, held by “There is no one answer and there is no one the powers that be. “Since I don’t think there problem. It’s multifaceted,” Professor Vollmer is so much asymmetry in the entrance into the pointed out. Yet though the problems and sofield I would say that any asymmetry that still lutions remain complex and unclear, she is sure exists is due to prejudices still operating in hir- about one thing. “It’s certainly worth addressing ing and promotion and the activities by which and everyone should be concerned about it.” The those decisions are made — e.g. grant proposals benefits of a more gender-balanced academic and publication,” she said in an email. and professional workforce are many. Accord“My colleagues who have families would also ing to Professor Crouch, they include “equalpoint out that having children still impacts a ity of opportunity, taking full advantage of the woman more than a man at many levels,” Pro- talent pool, and broadening the perspective fessor Merz added. Professor Catherine Crouch and concerns of the profession with [those] of of the physics department agrees, pointing out a broader group of practitioners.” Others point that “women face particular challenges in both to tenets of difference feminism, the idea that pursuing a demanding, time-sensitive career men and women are psychologically different path and raising children.” She also cites more in many tangible ways and can contribute difsystematic and cultural reasons, underlining ferent virtues to a project. Vollmer, for instance, “cultural stereotypes that girls and women are hypothesizes that women in the workplace can not good at math and physics.” “change the dynamics from the stereotypic The question that inevitably follows then is dominant male competitiveness to a more colhow the gender inequality in opportunity and laborative, connected set of interactions.” outcome is to be confronted and overcome. Though there is still much work to be done Professor Vollmer sees many long-term solu- to close the gender gap in the sciences and acations by which the obstacles facing female scien- demia as a whole, we also ought to heed Profestists can be mitigated. “Recruit actively — place sor Merz’s words of advice. “Overt sexism is not qualified women in high profile positions. Men- what will limit you,” she declares. “Find what tor men and women through the ranks,” she you love and do it.”
ERIKA CANCIO-BELLO FOR THE PHOENIX
Week in Pictures
Despite midterms, Swatties find time to revel in tradition and festivals, including the Pterodactyl Hunt (1), the Chinese Society’s MidAutumn Festival (2) and Pizza & Parable (3). 3
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ERIKA CANCIO-BELLO FOR THE PHOENIX
PAGE 6
Living & Arts
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
Students, Professors Examine Climate Change Tufts Conference Brings Together Activists Across Multiple Disciplines By TAYLOR HODGES Living & Arts Writer
OUTSIDE the BUBBLE
By CAMI RYDER
If you're staying on campus over fall break, now is the chance to explore the many sides of Philadelphia. Visit museums like the PMA, the Barnes, the newly renovated Rodin Museum and the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. Check out cool neighborhoods, like South Street, Northern Liberties, UPenn, Chinatown and 49th Street. Explore the rich history of the city at Independence Hall, or take a trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary. For foodies, the city has many restaurants and awesome stops for food, including Reading Terminal Market, weekend farmers’ markets, and top restaurants. Or take in a concert at Philadelphia's many music venues, including the Electric Factory, the Trocadero, Union Transfer and World Cafe Live. COURTESY OF SWARTHMORE.EDU
Lee Smithey (left) and George Lakey (right), along with eight Swarthmore students, recently attended a conference at Tufts University focusing on climate change and activism.
Design Philadelphia October 10—14
COURTESY OF JUSTICEWITHPEACE.ORG
“I haven’t experienced such a danger- asserting that food shortages will only be ous time since the nuclear arms race in the solved when those who are in need are able late 1950s,” said Peace and Conflict Studies to assert that current models of food charity will be inherently ineffective. Professor George Lakey. “In a way,” said Zoe Cina-Sklar ’15, He was speaking about the precarious state of the Earth’s climate and he’s hardly “there seemed to be a lot of pessimism. A the first or only person to suggest a need lot of people had plans, but pointed out their pitfalls and perceived them as posfor alarm. The complicated issues surrounding cli- sible to fail.” “Conferences can be rather intense,” mate change and resource allotment were discussed at length this past weekend at said Smithey, “but by going there we got a climate justice conference held at Tufts to expose students to lots of ideas and acaUniversity outside Boston. Eight Swarth- demics they wouldn’t get otherwise.” Students encountered academics commore students, Lakey and Swarthmore sociology professor Lee Smithey attended the ing at the issues from every discipline. conference along with six others from Bryn Economists, sociologists, political scienMawr and Haverford. The conference, en- tists and a broad swath of natural scientists titled “Anticipating Climate Disruption: looked at the challenging environmental Sustaining Justice, Greening Peace” was a issues that face the planet. “In a sense,” said Onyekwuluje, “I do weekend of speeches and panels that ran from Thursday to Friday. Speakers came feel optimistic knowing that so many bright, amazfrom all across ingly talented the spectra people were of academia, I guess I’d just never thought coming up with but all spoke so many great to the same about that reality or stopped ideas.” point: current and thought, maybe we do Students enviroment a l said that parts practices are need more energy. of the confernot sustainable Kanayo Onyekwuluje ’13 ence someand something times made needs to be them feel that done. A panel held Saturday evening used en- problems were insurmountable, but that ergy consumption figures to show that the optimism prevailed. When asked about the conference’s opEarth is at its peak level of energy production and will not be able to support rising timism, Lakey asked, “Have you ever been levels of energy consumption. The speak- in a dappled grove where the sunlight just ers said that without significant investment comes through the tops of the trees? That’s in sources of renewable energy, there will what it was like. A little bit here, a bit there. soon not be enough to meet consumption It’s not all dark.” Ultimately, the students who attended needs and competition over resources will came away from the conference and feelbecome fierce. “That was the most shocking speech,” ing more informed about the climate issues said Kanayo Onyekwuluje ’13, a peace activists must confront. “Being tucked away in academia can and conflict studies minor. “I guess I’d just never thought about that reality or stopped sometimes make these issues feel very and thought, maybe we do need more en- intangible. Going to this conference really helped energize me and remind me ergy.” Another talk that struck with students why I find activism so important,” said examined the issue of food sovereignty, Onyekwuluje.
In its eighth year, the annual Design Philadelphia festival kicks off this week, with a myriad of events from Oct. 10 - 14. Celebrating the role of design in the history of Philadelphia, the annual event partners with The University of the Arts to bring together the design and art comCOURTESY OF DGUIDES.COM munity, offering events such as lectures, panel discussions, pop-up shops, and exhibits on the world of “automotive, product and interior design, graphic design, architecture, multimedia, and urban planning.” Some of the top events include Open Air, Infill Philadelphia: Soak It Up — which celebrates green design and the city’s stormwater management plan, the Ronaldus Shamask exhibit at the PMA’s Perelman Building, and even a tour of M.Night Shyamalan’s home. For more information, tickets and calendar of events, visit www.designphiladelphia.org.
The Satorialist in Philadelphia Saturday, October 13 from 5—7 p.m. Barnes Foundation
Calling all fashionistas and stylin’ guys: famed fashion blogger and street style photographer Scott Schuman, a.k.a. The Sartorialist, will be descending onto the City of Brotherly Love this weekend. Get out your Louboutins and your wildly printed pants, and leave the sweats in the dorm room. Schuman will be speaking at the Barnes Foundation about his new book, “The Sartorialist: Closer,” this Saturday, Oct. 13 from 5—7 p.m. Schuman will be joined by his equally stylish partner, French blogger Garance Doré, and will be selling and signing copies of his book. The event is free, but be sure to RSVP for the event by emailing rsvp@ skaibluemedia.com.
COURTESY OF FASHIONISTA.COM
Swarthmore Co-Op’s 75th Anniversary
Saturday, October 13
COURTES
Celebrate the Co-Op’s 75th anniversary this Saturday, Oct. 13! The fun-filled day will feature free samples, a makeyour-own caramel apples event, pumpkin painting, a bake-off, live music, and more! For more information, check out their website or just stop by this weekend. Y OF FOO DNET
WORK.CO
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
Living & Arts
PAGE 7
The Phoenix
Regards to Warhol
Swatties on Break: The Met’s Latest Exhibition Utterly Wows Hacked Super Mario Brothers. Pillow-shaped silver created in 1963-1964, offers a haunting once-repeated balloons. Velvet flowers. Dr. Scholl’s Corns. Cat litter. image of a figure hanging loosely, like a rag doll, out Urine as paint. Cellophane-wrapped candy. All this, of a demolished ambulance. Warhol thus heightened and a dizzying amount more, await visitors to “Re- both everyday objects and psychologically disquieting garding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years,” the Metro- subjects to the art realm. Another theme in the exhibition, called “Portraipolitan Museum of Art’s latest blockbuster exhibition which runs until December 31 — an end date which ture: Celebrity and Power,” presents both the Marilyn makes it an excellent adventure for Swatties to embark Monroe and Jackie Kennedy portraits for which Warhol enjoys iconic awareness in the American public on during fall, Thanksgiving or winter break. The exhibition is a mammoth endeavor, featuring psyche as well as lesser-known, but astoundingly proapproximately 145 works with 45 by Warhol and the found meditations on human representation. “Fidel rest by his contemporaries and those that he purport- Castro,” a 2001 gelatin silver print by Hiroshi Sugiedly influenced. The works span myriad mediums, moto, stands out as an extraordinarily profound piece. with the old standby of oil on canvas surprisingly The black-and-white print shows not the actual Fidel taking a backseat to more un- Castro, but the wax replica of him found in Madame conventional choices, includ- Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London. Nevertheless, the ing chocolate (in white, milk, depiction appears unequivocally lifelike. But it is the ZOE and dark), urine, metalized artist’s quote, included in the print’s accompanying polyester film, shopping bags, caption, that floors viewers and casts a life-changing WRAY and electronic game consoles. light on the artwork: “If this photograph now appears Aesthetic Apperceptions There are so many galleries lifelike to you, you had better reconsider what it means and so much to view and awe, to be alive here and now.” This quote embodies the prevailing spirit of the experience could be overwhelming; even though I didn’t stop and examine every artwork, it still took me Warhol. Throughout all his works, a vibrant vivacfour hours to walk through the entire show. But the ity pulses like a pounding heart, truly enlivening viewers as they engage with visit did not feel even close to them. Pleasant surprises and four hours, and I would have whimsy, discomfort and sostrolled among the art for at One loses any sense of time in briety, hilarity and adoration, least another two hours had I all breathe throughout the not realized that I had a bus COURTESY OF ALLPOSTERS.COM this exhibition because it is body of the exhibition. Just as to catch. One loses any sense that engaging and Warhol explored the Ameriof time in this exhibition becan culture he lived through cause it is that engaging and that provocative. instead of detaching himself that provocative. If anyone and flying above it into the harbored doubts before about ethereal, often inaccessible the Met’s ability to be competitive in the spheres of modern and contemporary heaven of the art world, he also tapped into the emoart, “Regarding Warhol” assuages those misgivings tions and life of the public. His works have become their own beings, containing all the tragedies and paswith incredible force. The show unfolds in five broad themes explored by sions that each individual carries in his heart. No matWarhol and other artists, starting at 1961 in Warhol’s ter how much art a viewer might feel like he has seen, career. While the exhibition jumps somewhat hap- I can promise that this exhibit will bring unexpected, hazardly from one theme to the next, without clearly enlightening moments. It embraces America’s suspiexplaining the timing of Warhol’s exploration of these cion of art-world snobbery by crafting an experience themes in his oeuvre, within each of the themes’ galler- that culminates in the antithesis of the typical pleaseies a fascinating dialogue reveals itself between Warhol do-not-touch, silence-please museum experience: the and other artists. The first theme, “Daily News: From last room contains Warhol’s 1966 “Silver Clouds,” metBanality to Disaster,” explores Warhol’s depiction of alized polyester film balloons shaped like rectangular staples of postwar American culture and the interac- pillows that are buoyed around the room with the help tion between art, culture, current events, and our emo- of a fan and viewers’ hands. Music from Velvet Undertional reactions to them. While the caption that intro- ground plays in the background. As each viewer enters duces this theme posits that Warhol’s featured works this final gallery, they immediately drop the burden of intimate “the darker side of American capitalism,” trying to “understand” the art; instead, they bounce COURTESY OF QUESTMAG.COM when seen side by side the works of other featured art- the Silver Clouds to and fro, and, seamlessly and beau- Warhol’s most iconic imagery adorns the walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. ists, it seems more apparent that Warhol was one of tifully, life and art merge. the few artists who actually embraced American culture and did not excoriate it with the typical art world elitism that drives droves of average Americans away October Break Options from art. Quotes like, “Buying is much more American than thinking, and I’m as American as they come,” as well as comparisons of his artworks to those of others, affirm this notion. For example, Warhol’s “Big CampACROSS 18. Decided 24. There’s one to joy bell’s Soup Can, 19 ¢ (Beef-Noodle)” oil on canvas el1. Film buff ’s heaven online 20. It’s big in Montana 25. Sheepish noise evates a mundane, mass-market product into fine art 5. Progressive think tank 21. Bovary title 26. Blackbeard’s cry subject matter. The more one looks at the painting, the 8. Aslan’s noise 22. AKAs more the image loses its prosaicism: the letters cease to 9. Marie of chemistry fame 23. Infamous bomber Enola ___ BY PRESTON COOPER compose words and transform into elegant arabesques 11. Lack of difficulty and sinuous forms. An adjacent Warhol, “Green Coca12. Little lizard Cola Bottles,” conveys a similar effect, suggesting that 13. Break option for those who Warhol does not disdain American culture, but rather live far away appreciates and welcomes it into the artist’s lexicon of 15. Fish, Cyg, or Swat subject matter. 16. New York City subway division Almost ludicrously, the curators here seem to be 17. Group who organizes an Austraining in vain to imbue the works included in this gust week theme with more gravity than they possess. One hi19. Panama and Sinai Peninsula 23. Break option for those who larious example is Robert Gober’s 1989 painted plaster live close by replica of a store-bought kitty litter bag, titled “Cat Lit27. Winter month on Hebrew ter.” With utterly no indication of how, the correspondcalendar ing caption speaks of the work carrying “darker conno28. Affirmatives tations…[it] is handmade in the studio to fastidiously 29. Annum replicate its store-bought model; in the process, it is 30. Of, in Otavalo imbued with an uncertain aura of foreboding, desire, or melancholy.” What in the world leads them to this DOWN conclusion, I could not find at all in the work; perhaps 1. Angers the “melancholy” comes from the artist’s realization 2. Circle of water that he pathetically just spent days painstakingly repli3. Bottled water brand cating a bag of pellets that catch cat excrement. 4. Supreme Court Justice Stephen In the next gallery, the theme shifts to more somber 5. Black bird tones. Warhol’s 1963 “Orange Disaster #5,” an acrylic 6. Monster of Arizona and silkscreen enamel on canvas, displays the same 7. Bug spray ingredient image of an electric chair in an empty execution cham9. The internet has quite a few of ber, repeated in rows and columns spanning eight feet this in height and six feet in width. The orange hue that 10. Still emotional tints the overall image infuses it with an almost surreal For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at 14. There’s a light in it, according mood that makes it all the more nightmarish and thus to Silverstein www.swarthmorephoenix.com under Multimedia. creepier. “Ambulance Disaster,” a silkscreen on linen
Living & Arts
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
Critiquing ‘The Righteous Mind’ Part One of Symposium Kicks Off With Examination of Moral Thinking By AXEL KODAT Living & Arts Writer
Students, professors and other members of the Swarthmore community gathered on Thursday for the first in a series of four symposia to discuss Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.” This week’s event, entitled “The Limits of Reason in Moral Thinking,” focused on Haidt’s central thesis that moral decisions are almost always driven by unconscious biases and intuitions, as opposed to reflective, rational thought. The thesis is represented through the central metaphor of an elephant and its rider, who is largely helpless to influence the reaction of the system as a whole; the elephant is intuition, the rider, reason. The symposium was moderated by coorganizer and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Richard Schuldenfrei. The panel featured Professor of History Tim Burke, McDowell Professor of Philosophy Richard Eldridge, Dorwin P. Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action Barry Schwartz of Psychology and Associate Professor of Economics Amanda Bayer. All, to varying degrees, offered objections or modifications to Haidt’s model. Professor Schwartz provided a general overview of Haidt’s argument — “Intuitions are primary and in addition when we decide to use our deliberative, rational tools we don’t use them very well … . Reason is a lawyer, defending your case, not a judge, deciding what your case should be” — and offered some questions to shape discussion: “Can moral reason be educated? What kind of education would be a moral education?” More generally, the process by which we learn and update intuitions is far from clear: “No 15-year-old drives a car effortlessly,” he remarked, “but six months later you’re driving a car, texting, and taking drugs all at one time.” In this same way, once effortful, slow, energyconsuming tasks, over time and accumulated experience, become automatic, fast, effortless — and in some way intuitive. How then, Schwartz asked, do we come to shape our intuitions? Following Schwartz, Eldridge started out with a question of his own: “Under what institutional arrangements are we more likely to be able to live under the authority of reason more effectively?” He questioned the novelty of several of Haidt’s findings, and went on to consider the actual implications of Haidt’s arguments: “What really follows from this about the nature of moral judgement as it is considered in moral philosophy? Not much.” Moral philosophy, according to Eldridge, is a forward-thinking method, seeking to strengthen and enrich the content of our rational moral conclusions, to strengthen
the lines of influence from reason to instinct and unconscious intuition; it simply does not follow from Haidt’s findings that this mission should be abandoned, or that its characteristic methods of investigation and reflection are doomed to fail. Bayer similarly objected to the claim that reason plays a consistent, unchangeable secondary role in moral judgement. While acknowledging the necessity of intuition and habit-building in the minutiae of everyday life, Bayer ultimately offered a more moderate approach, built off a revision of Haidt’s central metaphor. With intuition still the elephant, we have reason not as a mostly helpless rider but as a trainer: “When it’s showtime” the elephant performs, but there is still plenty of time off the busy stage of active moral decisionmaking for reflection and deliberative reconsideration of moral intuitions. The relationship between reason and intuition is no longer strictly one-directional; instead, there is an “intermittent flow of influence from reason to intuitions.” Tim Burke, meanwhile, offered a set of objections to Haidt’s thesis based on the empirical fact that the moral content and intuitions associated with various cultures shift drastically with space and time. Perhaps, he suggested, reason is less intuitionally or rationally shaped than it is determined, to a large extent, by institutional or cultural context. It is possible to revolt against or change institutions, but “institutions seem tied to a morality that is an emergent product and not directly tied to human rationality or human intuition.” Burke closed with another variation on the elephant metaphor: “Maybe there’s an elephant, and maybe there’s a rider, but sometimes maybe both of them are on a sled, hurtling down a hill on a moonlit night where they can barely see what’s ahead.” The presentation of each panel member’s was followed by a question and answer session. The series of symposia was sponsored by the Swarthmore College Institute for the Liberal Arts, a program initially recommended in the recent Strategic Planning document that aims to explore the continued role and relevance of the liberal arts model in contemporary society. Towards this end, it strives to support a flexible range of events intended to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and “curricular innovation,” among other broad aims. The final three symposia of the series will focus on other central elements of Haidt’s argument — “Moral Differences between Liberals and Conservatives,” “Morality and Evolution,” and “Religion and Social Cohesion” — and will be held over the course of the academic year, culminating in a public talk by Haidt on April 9.
JULIANA GUTIERREZ/PHOENIX STAFF
Professor Emeritus Richard Schuldenfrei and Professor Barry Schwartz pose questions during Tuesday’s panel.
Social Justice Masks Cinematic Shortcomings in ‘Pariah’
CHANELLE SIMMONS/PHOENIX STAFF
Dee Rees, director and writer of “Pariah,” answers questions following Friday night’s screening.
By IZZY KORNBLATT Living & Arts Writer
All teenagers have tough lives, but Alike (ah-lee-kay), the heroine of Dee Rees’s “Pariah,” has it exceptionally tough: she’s black, gay, pressured by and radically disconnected from her parents, disliked or at least lonely at school,and too afraid to actually get herself a girlfriend — indeed, the ingredients of her life seem, as the critic Colin Covert puts it, “like indie-film bingo.” And so it’s not exactly surprising that her recourse is writing poetry with the guidance of a gentle, inspirational English teacher, or that her poetry includes these lines: “My spirit takes journey / My spirit takes flight / and I am not running / I am choosing.” There’s no denying that “Pariah” is very dramatic. Alike begins the movie sure she’s a lesbian but unable to make any moves at a local club, despite the prodding of her best friend. The only character who doesn’t seem to know that she’s gay is her mother, who’s ostensibly conservative or something (judging by her violent outburst when she finally learns the truth). But from the start even she has suspicions, or at least concerns, and so her mother tries to make her become friends with a girl from church, but, well, you can imagine what that turns into… Then comes much catharsis and coming-to-terms with identities and spiritual journeying. To be fair, there is some grace here, and surely the intentions behind the movie are good. I feel very bad for anyone who’s ever been in a situation like Alike’s (reportedly “Pariah” is based on Rees’s own coming out story), and it’s hard not to be moved by Alike’s sadness and fury at being rejected by her parents or to laugh at an odd little sequence in which Alike buys a sex toy. But this is easy material: of course abuse and rejection are cathartic, of course sex toys are funny. Unfortunately, there’s just little to like here. The characters never seem like characters: everything they say is something that needs to be said for the plot to move forward, their distinguishing traits are all clichés (butch lesbian friend, hysterical mother, mischievous but kind little sister, annoyingly supportive English teacher mentor, sharp but loving policeman father, I mean, this is too easy), and frequently they do things without even the pretext of plausible motivation. At one point Alike lovingly does something (braid? unbraid?) to her mother’s hair, and there is much sweet talk, but not sweet talk in the we’re-disconnected-but-desperately-trying-tostill-be-a-family way that might make sense; rather, suddenly they act as if the family hasn’t just been wrenched apart. Later, Alike has her own violent outburst, but it, too, is totally unconvincing — she just isn’t the sort of person who would behave in such a way. Her character doesn’t ring true: she’s a puppet of
the writer/director, not someone we can identify with. And it isn’t just Alike. Every character is like this. Without true character there’s no way for the audience to “get into” a story: we’re constantly being reminded that we’re watching a movie and that movies aren’t real. This can’t be blamed on the actors, who do a fine job, considering the screenplay at hand: the problem is that they have nothing to work with. They have no characters to work with and so their performances ultimately don’t matter. In “Pariah,” things just kind of happen in a haphazard sort of way. There is no follow-up to the sex toy sequence. We learn that Alike’s mother feels alienated at work but never know why and two minutes later the subject’s dropped and forgotten. The father may be having an affair but that, too, is dropped. The trite poetry comes and goes throughout, always unconvincingly. Sometimes, when a Very Serious Moment is in order, Alike sits alone on a bus and stares solemnly out the window. And the cinematography, with its hyper-saturated colors and constant shift of focus from someone or, thing really close to the camera to something really far away, is distracting and makes it impossible to imagine the action occurring in 3D space: we never really know how characters are situated, where they are in relation to their surroundings. This may be an attempt to heighten the story’s tension, perhaps even to give us a character’s point of view, and good cinematography can do those things, but here the stylization is messy and, like the characterization, constantly calls attention to itself, pushing the audience away from the story. (It’s very artsy-looking, though, which may explain why it won the Sundance Film Festival’s Excellence in Cinematography award.) Certainly it’s hard to bring a story — particularly a high-stakes dramatic one — to life, but that’s the challenge of all fiction, and one of the chief standards by which it should be judged. By this standard many movies that address the social themes of “Pariah” — “Brokeback Mountain,” for instance — succeed beautifully, but not because we approve of those themes. And it’s by this same standard that “Pariah” fails: good storytelling has nothing at all to do with social justice. And yet I suspect the appeal of “Pariah” comes from conflating the two. The legendary movie critic Pauline Kael, reviewing the similarly weak “Dead Poets Society,” wrote that “the enthusiasts in the audience seem to be left applauding themselves for being sad, for being uplifted.” I think this is true here, too: “Pariah” is more concerned with congratulating its audience for supporting the oppressed than with depicting the subtleties and pains and joys of real life.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
Living & Arts
PAGE 9
The Phoenix
A Tale of Two Theses
Readings Set Great Expectations for Honors Performances By JEANNETTE LEOPOLD Living & Arts Writer
Kari Olmon’s dramaturgy thesis, whose first reading was this past Friday, and Sophia Naylor’s playwriting thesis, whose first reading was Tuesday, have a few qualities in common. They are both plays. They both have dialogue. Neither is entirely realistic. Beyond these weak ties, however, the first readings of these theses could not have been more different. A staged reading, as either student would be quick to say, is very different from a final production, but is an important step in the crafting of a fully fledged play because it provides an opportunity for the playwright to get a sense of how her piece works as a play. In a staged reading, the emphasis is on the written text, not on the directing,
acting or design. This sort of emphasis makes sense when the honors project is on the actual writing or crafting of a play and not on the play itself. However, it does mean that Naylor’s reading consisted of a group of Philadelphia actors sitting in a circle, reading from their scripts, and that in Olmon’s slightly more choreographed piece, the readers wore their own clothing, and not something that their character would wear. There is something nice about a staged reading type of theater. Because there is no movement (in Naylor’s case) or limited movement (as in Olmon’s), a stage manager reads aloud the stage directions as part of the text. Emily Melnick ’13, Olmon’s stage manager, read in a clear voice statements like “she flung herself at her mother,” and I could clearly see the actress doing so without said actress actually moving. It makes for very believable action and invests the audi-
ADRIANA OBIOLS/PHOENIX STAFF
Attendees of Sophia Naylor’s thesis reading for her play “All One!”, which comments on the death of humankind, gathered in Kohlberg 115 this past Tuesday evening.
ence more deeply into the stagecraft. In of the world, and magic soap.” Her play this type of theater, the audience member focuses not on the destruction of indimust engage his imagination, or he will viduals, as Olmon’s does, but on the destruction of the world and the death of be lost. Olmon’s play, “The Intense Fragility,” humankind. Tackling the end of the world for a is “adapted from the diary of Vaslav Nijinsky and the theater of Tennessee Wil- thesis project is a bold move, but Naylor liams,” Olmon wrote in her invitation obviously felt up for the task. In her play, three friends camp on the to her reading. Nijinsky (Samuel Swift Shuker-Haines ’14), a famous Russian plains of Ireland, complaining about havdancer of the early 20th century, lives on ing no batteries, about being tired, about one side of the stage with his wife and this and that. They are mirrored by two doctor. Tennessee Williams’ sister Rose fairies, who lament the imminent de(Danica Harvey ‘15) lives on the other struction of the earth and try to figure side of the stage with her mother and her out how to save it. Naylor’s staged reading was less staged doctors. Rose, 26 and mentally unstable, is ob- than Olmon’s due to time constraints; sessed with Nijinsky and reads his book the actors who read Naylor’s piece on nonstop. Her dream is to make love with Tuesday read it for the first time at six, him. Nijinsky, meanwhile, is unraveling, and for the second time at eight for the saying that he wants to be like God, say- official first reading. They did a fine job ing that God spoke to him, refusing to nevertheless; the bright enthusiasm and have sex. When Rose and Nijinsky finally lightness of Iris (Kate Kennedy) and the meet at the play’s end, in a surreal world plodding adorableness of Frederick (Jarthat is not quite Rose’s dream but certain- rod Markham) were particularly strong. Also strong in this piece was the witty ly not reality, Nijinsky refuses to sleep dialogue bewith her, but tween the does reveal three friends. her terrible Their scenes future. Naylor’s play was fantastical; light The staged Olmon’s was surreal. Both were were and fun, even reading is a when their draft, yet even very enjoyable and I left each topic of disin the draft Olmon’s su- ruminating about destruction — cussion was heat death. perb dramaof the mind, or of the earth. N a y l o r ’s turgy work is tendency toapparent. For wards dark those who are very familiar with Tennessee Williams humor was highlighted near the end of and Nijinsky, the play must be a brilliant- act one, when one of her sheep caught on ly intricate braid of their lives and works. fire and ran off a cliff to jump into the sea. “Only Sophia,” some audience memFor people like me, who have read “The Glass Menagerie” and had never heard of bers whispered to each other, “would Nijinsky, it is a play that shows what life write a play with a suicidal sheep.” Naylor’s play was fantastical; Olmon’s is like when lived on the verge of insanity. Perhaps that is the source of the title; was surreal. Both were very enjoyable, Rose and Nijinsky feel as though they and I left each ruminating about destruclive suspended in air, just above a black tion — of the mind, or of the earth. hole that could at any moment drag them Olmon’s final thesis reading will be completely away from humankind. In November 9-11. that way, their lives are both intense and very fragile. Naylor’s final thesis reading will be By contrast, Naylor’s “All One!” is, in November 16-18. her words, “a play about fairies, the end
Where Consignment Meets Affordability, Convenience Second Time Around is a consignment shop which is part of a national chain with 33 locations in 13 states. The shop is filled with womenswear and very little menswear. You can find anything from vintage, name brands, or accessories as well as new merchandise. Second Time Around Rating: 4 out of 5 1728 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19123 (215) 988-9903 www.secondtimearound.net
Mother Nature has obviously given us a reality check this week. Swat somehow went from a wondrous magical garden in the middle of nowhere to a blistering cold foggy swamp, still in the middle of nowhere. Let’s be real. You are not prepared. You thought those plaid shorts and that SWARTHMORE COLLEGE pullover would GABRIELA be enough for your 9:30 a.m. CAMPOVERDE class, but by the time you left McCabe at 1:30 a.m., you Smart Swat Shopping were wishing for a warm cup of Bavarian Wild Berry Black Tea and an electric blanket. However, here’s the problem. A sweater and a thick jacket cost about five times more than a tank top and a pair of jean shorts. But I am here to remind you of the beauty and affordability available from second-hand clothing. At Second Time Around in Center City, racks of clothing and accessories are ready to bundle you up. You are greeted by an abundant amount of cloth-
ing as soon as you enter. All racks are carefully categorized to facilitate the process of finding exactly what you need. Like any consignment store, you are required to go on a wild goose chase if you want to find something in your size that you actually like. Nevertheless, after noticing the wide selection, you are drawn in to search for more goods. Although the womenswear offers a large variety of merchandise, there is very little for men. It was quite disappointing to see that Second Time Around did not prove to have the same potential for a men’s section as it does for the women’s section. Additionally, the shoes section does very little to hold itself up. It might be the fact that the store is still buying for fall, but I was not impressed. Despite this, the designer and vintage section of the shop is a splendid couple of racks. To my surprise, there was a lot of variety and very little to complain about. I loved what I saw. Different brands like Marc by Marc Jacobs and Single are among vintage finds that are up to date with this season’s trends. This section is also in perfect proportion to the rest of the store. It is not too expansive to make this location unaffordable, or too small to keep you from finding a timeless piece. The sale section does not disappoint. It’s a hidden treasure in the back of the store. In comparison to the rest of Second Time Around, the prices are much lower, to say the least. A lot of the clothing here are not essentials. They are add-on’s to your wardrobe that you would spend money on if your have any left to spare. Anyone looking for something to cover up with for the cold weather ahead should not hesitate to visit this conveniently located consignment shop.
COURTESY OF STYLEHYBRID.COM
COURTESY OF UWISHUNU.COM
The exterior and interior of Philadelphia’s Second Time Around.
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
DORM DIVE
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By MAYRA TENORIO Living & Arts Writer
ittenger Residence Hall is a small dorm on the outskirts of campus. It is situated between Clothier Fields and the town of Swarthmore on a lawn nestled by tall trees, creating a more private and nearly secluded living environment. Despite its small size, the stone building evokes a sense of grandeur. There is a broad staircase that leads to the door, a fence adorned by pointed rocks encircles a small porch and the foundation is cut through by low arches that provide depth to the building.
Junior Sera Jeong lives in a single that is a real dorm” and she wishes it was “more moderate in size, and yet the painted white complete;” there is only one gender neutral walls and large window make her room ap- bathroom and no printer. Moreover, there pear bright and spacious. When asked about is no RA on her floor and no lounge, which her decorating process, Jeong said she “want- factor into having a quiet hall life. Jeong noted to create something comfortable to come ed that she tries to keep her door open but back to.” Although Jeong admits that deco- she is one of only two girls on her floor. “I rating her dorm during her first two years at have to drag people off campus to my room” Swarthmore was the least of her priorities, she explained. There are positives to having she has now implemented the style that has only one other female companion, Jeong always been hers into her single. “I like things explained: there is no waiting for a shower, to be comfortable but aesthetically pleasing no hogging of the mirror, and no hair in the as well,” Jeong said. Not only is this visible in drains. her clothing style but in every aspect of her Two years ago, Jeong began writing dorm. “Dorm Dive” for The Phoenix. She noticed Not wanting her space to “look like a Swat Style Snapshot was a popular newspadorm,”Jeong got rid of the standard wooden per feature because it was an interesting way bookshelf and chair found in every dorm on for students to learn about their fellow Swatcampus and brought in a large blue couch ties, and saw the same potential to generate that currently lies interest in a dormagainst the wall faccentered feature. ing the door and a The job itself, which peculiar chair made involves seeking out out of metal tubing students who might and a medicine ball. have interesting Most noticeable are rooms, was not an the glass objects easy logistic to get adorning the dorm. around. “I thought Wine glasses, tumit was pretty creepy” 2014 blers, vases and shot she admitted. glasses of all shapes Learning about Auckland, New Zealand and sizes are carethe interactions befully placed along tween roommates Pittenger her desk and winand discovering dowsill. Jeong exhow individual emplifies the glassinterests were rees’ functionality by flected in students’ noting they are obdorms made it all jects she can “use everyday but they [alone] worth while. One of Jeong’s own interests still look pretty”. The glasses reflect light in is art. On her wall are post cards portraying the room and also hold small flowers includ- paintings from a number of art museums ing pale pink roses and hydrangeas, Jeong’s she has visited, including Swarthmore’s very favorite. She admits not to be very fond of own. Her favorite postcard shows a painting posters and argues “flowers are the alterna- by Georgia O’Keefe. The piece depicts a cow tive.” skull with a pale colored rose. Jeong has been told her dorm is reminisUnlike many students who may enjoy livcent of a hospital room due to its brightness ing closer to campus, Jeong is not bothered and lack of “aggressive colors;” there are no by the distance between Pittenger and the primary colors nor neon shades, and there is center of campus. “I’m a morning person absolutely no red, making her dorm a poor … I enjoy the walk” she explained. Jeong study space. “I’ve made it so comfortable it’s also lived in Mary Lyons her freshman year, a problem” she said, admitting she gets the which she described as “the next town over.” urge to come to her dorm whenever she has Plus, walking in the sun, taking in the fresh any free time. air with the “trees flanking past” as Jeong Jeong did confess some disappointment said, can, in fact, be both functional and “aesin the lack of socializing that happens in thetically pleasing.” Pittenger. In her opinion, Pittenger is “not
Sera Jeong
PHOTOS BY MARTIN FROGER-SILVA/PHOENIX STAFF
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
Living & Arts
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The Phoenix
In fact, I am proud to be out and about. I am proud to have struggled and be struggling with myself and my parents to create my life.
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Living & Arts
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
How Do Swatties Stack Up?
Visiting Professors and Transfer Students Provide a Cross-College Comparison By ALLI SHULTES Assistant Living & Arts Editor According to Forbes, we’re attending the ninth best private college in the U.S., but if you ask US News and World Report, Swarthmore places six slots higher, rounding out the top three private liberal arts schools behind Williams and Amherst. College Prowler says our guys are a whole two letter grades more attractive than our gals. Urban Dictionary tells us that we do, occasionally, have fun in addition to our coursework, but when asked, we prefer to complain that we don’t. We’ve embodied these various perspectives to form our motto — sometimes said proudly, other times, whined — that anywhere else, it would’ve been an A. The rankings are contentious. Self-promotion is biased. Urban Dictionary entries are most likely written by admissions rejects. So how do we get a sense of how we really stack up as an institution? For those of us who have only ever called Swarthmore home, it’s difficult to know what exactly we’re missing while sitting in line during office hours or banging out twelve page papers on Friday nights. However, for professors and students who arrive from other colleges and universities, the experience can either stand up — or fall down — next to the institutions they forsook for our cozy arboretum home. Whereas academic differences become magnified when transitioning from a large research university, variations between private liberal arts colleges are often less discernible. Visiting Assistant Professor of Linguistics Nathan Sanders, who comes to Swarthmore from Williams College, reports no noticeable difference between the caliber of students at the two schools. While a greater percentage of Williams students are involved in sports, the student bodies at both institutions seem “equally committed, vibrant, diverse and active.” “I view the top three schools in the rankings [Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore] as basically equivalent academically,” Sanders said. “Whatever differences there are overall in rankings is just statistical noise — it’s insignificant, and it’s washed out by the students. If you get a good crop or bad crop of students in a class, that makes more of a difference than the rankings.” Visiting Assistant Professor of Phi-
The 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction decision was met with widespread concern regarding the committee’s criteria, opening up the question: do readers value bizarre literary innovation over genuine value in literature? Do we have to play on the page and make unorthodox stylistic choices to be great? Do we have to reinvent literature to keep it alive? Is the basic form of the novel no longer enough? These are questions that plague modern LANIE authors and critics alike, and they SCHLESSINGER are only exacerBibliobabble bated by the rapid growth of modern technology. Incorporating electronics, which are becoming increasingly present in everyday life, into literature seems to be an endless challenge. This all leaves us wondering: must we reinvent, modify and improve literature as rapidly as we do technology, or can elegant prose stand on its own? What brings these questions to mind is “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan, the Pulitzer board’s choice for the 2011 prize. The critical reception of Egan’s novel was overwhelmingly positive, and few claim that it is unworthy of its praise. Yet, these few unimpressed readers multiplied into thousands when the Pulitzer board chose “Goon Squad.” Though “Goon Squad” is undoubtedly beautifully written and captivatingly interesting, the many objections its Pulitzer raised are based upon a sturdy platform: why did the prize go to a choppy, unorthodox novel? Egan’s novel is so winding that, with thirteen different chapters darting back and forth between past, present, and future, it is often considered a collection of short stories, though Egan objects to that classification.
losophy Krista Thomason, who taught at Mount Holyoke before arriving on campus, also noted the comparable nature of the two liberal arts schools. Students at both institutions have been engaged and willing to participate in classroom discussions, although Thomason describes Swatties as being a little more eager than students at Holyoke. “Mount Holyoke is very proudly a member of the Seven Sisters — it’s really in the same genre as Swarthmore,” Thomason said. “They’re similar in a lot of ways. Liberal arts colleges do attract a particular type of student looking for a certain kind of experience … maybe that’s something more transformative, or traditional or [has to do with] learning for the sake of learning.” Potential engineering major Winnie Ngo ’15, a transfer student from Northwestern University, hasn’t had a difficult time transitioning to the coursework at Swarthmore; in fact, she says the amount of work assigned at the two institutions is comparable. The non-emphasis on grades and the collaborative nature of the work environment set Swarthmore apart from the more cut-throat setting of the preprofessional research university, a positive and negative, in Ngo’s opinion. “It took me awhile to admit I didn’t like [the atmosphere] at Northwestern … and I eventually got to a point where I realized I was never going to like it,” she said. “Overall, I love the academic and social environment Swat stands for …
but sometimes I wonder what everyone’s going to do when they graduate. At Northwestern, we’re super prepared for the work environment after graduation, and that can mean that we’re prepared to work with men that don’t like the idea of female engineers. There were minor cases of discrimination … here, reality is different than the environment we have.” Ngo noted that Swarthmore students seemed to cope with uncertainty surrounding post-graduation jobs and plans by refusing to think about the impending future. “People say that you can’t think about it here, that you just have to study what you’re interested in,” she said. “I feel like that’s a very defined example of how we are sheltered here.” Although it’s been a smooth transition to the school thus far, the loss of freshmen fall’s credit/no credit grading system is a hard-felt loss for Ngo and other transfer students. Exploring the course offerings of the college without the levying of grade-related worries adds stress to the approaching sophomore papers and plans for 2015-ers. New professors on campus also bear the weight of the would’ve-been-A mentality of the college. “We are strongly encouraged not to inflate,” said Lauren Farmer, Visiting Instructor of Political Science. “It’s good to hear that there’s a strong culture about not inflating grades, so students stand up on own merit — inevitably, Swatties do stand up on their own merit.” The pressure not to inflate comes from within the department and from the administration, according to Farmer. “The fact that standards are strongly reinforced adds to the reputation of the school,” she added. “It’s absolutely understood o n the
RENU NA DKAR NI/PH
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Pulitzer 2011
‘A Visit From the Goon Squad’ Tells a Tired Story in a Novel Way This unusual narrative structure makes for a fascinating read, but there is much consternation over whether it should be awarded such an esteemed prize. Especially pressing are concerns that it is only because of this unusual structure that the Pulitzer board adorned the novel with its stamp of approval. But before delving into the merits and shortcomings of “A Visit from the Goon Squad,” we might look at the novel’s competition. The other two finalists for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction were “The Privileges” by Jonathan Dee and “The Surrendered” by Chang-rae Lee. I so enjoyed reading “The Privileges” that it’s hard for me to imagine anyone claiming that it is not the most pleasant read of the three finalists. It revolves around a morally bankrupt couple, Adam and Cynthia, as they ungracefully navigate the challenges of adulthood. Adam works on Wall Street where he faces career stagnancy. He is more likable and kinder than Cynthia, but his lack of ethical integrity clearly shines through when he resorts to an elaborate system of theft to build the fantasy lifestyle Cynthia desires. Cynthia is a loathsome figure. She is cruel to the point that Dee risks snapping the reader back into reality wondering whether anyone would ever say what Cynthia did. She mocks men’s bodies in public, talks to her rapidly disappearing friends as if they are beneath
her, and most chillingly, scoffs at her own mother when she tries to be tender. The further removed from the middle class Adam and Cynthia become, the less morally they behave. Eventually, we meet their daughter, who is hopelessly spoiled and addicted to drugs. In this way, “The Privileges” becomes a heavy-handed metaphor for the evils of wealth. Dee does not hesitate to show readers how greatly he values family, nor does he associate healthy family life with the middle class. For this reason I am not surprised that the board did not choose “The Privileges.” In the heat of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Dee’s novel took on a far too political valence, though it does meet the sole guideline the Pulitzer board suggests: the winning novel should somehow deal with American life. The novel is achingly American. The other finalist was “The Surrendered” by Chang-rae Lee. Here we see something spectacular emerge: a novel that accomplishes a task done many times better than I have ever seen it done before. “The Surrendered” is a lengthy, depressing novel, but it is somehow genuinely uplifting without being campy, and intriguing without being forced. It is a beautiful tale in which the main character, June, orphaned by the Korean War, is near death in her battle against cancer. The novel moves around in time throughout its 500-
outside, that a B-something at Swat means top-notch work.” If there’s a system of reinforcement for curve-breaking at the college, Sanders hasn’t been informed. “No one’s said anything about how to attack it, or how to structure the grading,” he said. “I think that’s something Swat could potentially work on — directly addressing the problem.” At Williams College, professors are sent reminders at the beginning of each semester with a target average for the class. Introductory-level classes typically have a target average of 3.2, whereas high-level senior seminars have targets of 3.5, according to Sanders. Under this system, grades have slowly been declining towards the target numbers. Assessing grade inflation at a school like Swarthmore, which doesn’t calculate GPAs, can prove challenging. The lack of emphasis on the grades themselves tends to push talk of inflation under the table; however, Sanders noted that for graduate schools looking at students from similar institutions, A’s across the board makes transcript comparison futile. Systems like Williams’, which explicitly attack the problem, allow top students to rise more visibly from a pack of almost equally qualified learners. Jeannette Leopold ’13, who transferred from Haverford College before her junior year, said she hasn’t noticed a difference in grades within the Tri-Co. The Honors theater major, who has also studied at Bryn Mawr, actually noticed an improvement in her grades after transferring to Swarthmore in 2011, although she noted this could have been a result of settling into the college routine. “The ‘everywhere else it would’ve been an A’ is talking about schools outside the top elite colleges,” she said of Swarthmore’s unofficial motto. “It definitely doesn’t apply to Haverford, and I don’t think it applies to Bryn Mawr, either.” While the breakdown of letter grades at the College remains ambiguous, there is one B that Ngo feels the rankings got right: campus attractiveness. “There’s just less options than at Northwestern,” she shared with a smile. “I heard from friends before coming here that guys have it worse. Everyone’s still new to me, so I’m still like, ‘oh, hey’ — and I guess the opposite is true, too: there’s still a lot of people I haven’t gotten to know.”
plus pages, all the while illustrating June’s strength above all else. As June sets out to find her long-lost son, Nicholas, she repeatedly demonstrates her ability to overcome. I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with June and even caught myself trying to behave more like her, thinking, “June would not be crying over this paper that is due tomorrow” or “June would not whine about the weather. She would put on a coat and be silent.” The novel also tells the story of Nicholas’s father, Hector, for whom growing older is equivalent to growing worse. He is an alcoholic, but that ranks low among his many challenges in life. By dealing with time and its effect on the characters in the novel, we see an important similarity emerge between “The Surrendered,” “Goon Squad. and “The Privileges.” All three novels wash over wide spans of time – more time than is represented in an ordinary novel – but which does it best? It is here that we once again meet “A Visit from the Goon Squad.” Perhaps this helps to illustrate why the board selected Egan’s novel to be the winner. Held up against “The Privileges” and “The Surrendered,” the narrative structure in “Goon Squad” becomes a novel way to tell a tired story. Though the other two finalists do not read as tired stories, they do follow a natural form that readers have seen before. “Goon Squad” reinvents this form in an obvious, aggressive, but not cheap way. The board did not choose this finalist because Egan’s modern structure drew them in; they chose this finalist because it is this narrative structure that best tells the story of time wearing on its passing residents. Egan’s novel is a literary experiment, a successful one. It deserves the reputation for genius that both critics and lay-readers grant it.
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Dr. Beersnob: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Glass Every beer drinker has a “moment” at some point or another – the one beer that absolutely floored you, packed with smells and flavors that suddenly opened up your eyes and taste buds. With websites like BeerAdvocate, Rate Beer, and a host of blogs making tons of information available at a click, it’s easy to become intoxicated (I had to do it) with a sudden rush of knowledge. You start by talking up the style or brewery you “discovered” at every subsequent drinking occasion, even if BRAD you have no clue what IPA even LENOX stands for, for example. Brew’s Clues There is nothing wrong with this enthusiasm – the social element of the craft beer movement is what makes it so special – but trying to introduce friends to new, tasty beer can quickly turn into pedantic snobbery. If this sounds harsh, it’s because I’m speaking as someone who has regrettably been a snob himself and, post-reformation, I’ve seen my fair share of knowledgeable people act in very un-cool ways to more casual hobbyists. When people start turning knowledge and experience into a way to judge, mock and put-down those less enthusiastic beer drinkers, its not only bad for personal relationships but for the craft beer community as a whole. However, this column isn’t some strangely penitent warning against snobbery, it’s something that tends to be overemphasized about craft beer nuts and understandably dismissed by everyone else – glassware. Glassware is the symbol of beer snobbery par excellence, but don’t let the bearded asshole down the bartop ruin it for everyone.
What you drink your beer from is an essential part of appreciating the entire holistic experience, but because it’s also such a visible element, people who learn more about glassware tend to bring it up in conversation more than most care for. Some people will brag about drinking say, Duvel, out of only Duvel-branded, oversized tulips (a bell-shaped glass with a flared mouth), others will never use more than a coozy. The truth falls somewhere in between. Beer actually does taste different when had at a bar compared to from a bottle due to a combination of differences in how its served and consumed. We’ve all heard this phrase before: “I would only drink that beer on draft.” Or, “Kegged Heineken is a totally different thing.” There is some truth to this, though the person saying it may be doing so in order to sound experienced. First and foremost is carbonation. Beer must overcome fluid dynamics and the forces of gravity to make it from keg to glass, so brewers tend to up the carbonation on draft versions of beer – having a pint from a keg will tend to have a bit more carbonation than the home-sized version. The extra carbonation changes the way your palate responds to the beer. CO2 bubbles act as “scrubbers,” cleaning out the lingering flavors in your mouth, and generally change the way the beer’s flavors taste. However, the difference in carbonation is minor at most, but what most people, consciously or unconsciously notice comes down to the glass. For many beers, like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, most smaller bars that list it will probably only serve it in bottles. When people go out for a beer, the very simple fact that it had
been served on draft may be an eye and taste opening experience. In order to get the best and fullest flavors out of any beer it must be poured in a glass first – no matter what bloggers or pundits may argue, this reason reigns. Like most things sudsy, this is not a hard and fast rule and can (no pun intended) apply to any and all containers – from brandy snifter to a novelty mug or ceramic bierstein – and should be ignored when the situation makes having glass ridiculous. Packing a glass for the poolside or for a fall camp out is absolutely absurd. Also, never show up to a cook-out with a bomber of Imperial Stout and a personal glass. But why does having a glass matter? The most important difference between drinking from a glass and a bottle is that with a glass, which always has a much larger mouth than the small quarter-sized neck of a bottle, you are able to involve your sense of smell. Garrett Oliver, the head brew master of Brooklyn Brewery and editor/compiler of the Oxford Companion to Brew, loves to cite how many neurons are dedicated to smell that are cut out when the beer isn’t allowed to breath. The aroma of beer actually activates salivary glands before the glass even reaches your mouth – so when drinking from a bottle you’re essentially watching a movie with its color or soundtrack missing. Moreover, certain glasses are designed in order to affect the way beer changes temperature over the course of a drink. Some beers, like pilsners, bocks and Märzen are meant to be served on the cold side, and pilsner glasses are designed with thick sides to keep your hands from warming the beer too quickly. Because cold liquids actually deaden your taste buds, some people find that beer becomes
more nuanced and complex as it warms, and many beers are designed to be served at rather warm temperatures. Additionally, tall, thin glasses retain carbonation while deep, shallow glasses create huge bouquets and large aromatic heads. Bottle conditioned beer, which includes many Belgian and Belgian-style beers, has fermented a second time in the bottle and needs to be decanted in order to release the entire spectrum of its flavors. By pouring off a third of the beer into a glass you taste the beer at its coldest and, because the yeast has settled on the bottom, at its most clear. The secondthird will be warmer, less carbonated and mixed with the yeast flavors. Finally, on an aesthetic level, you miss out on the entire visual elements of beer when it’s locked inside brown glass. The way a beer looks primes your expectations and taste buds – a dark, brown beer immediately suggests a different range of flavors than a straw-yellow or cloudy copper beer. For those times you want to settle down to a good beer in the comfort of your couch or dinner table, it is easy to get enough glasses to cover almost any type of beer you could think to buy. A pint glass or mug, with a wide mouth and thick sides, covers everything from stouts to IPAs to brown and pale ales. If you’re serious about German beer, whether hefeweizens or dopplebocks, invest in a tall, thin pilsner or weizen glass. Finally, to round out our trio of essentials, you need one “specialty” glass, which should be a straight-sided goblet, curved brandy snifter or thin-stemmed and hourglass shaped tulip glass. This is what you drink high-alcohol, big flavored Belgian tripels, American Imperial IPAs and Russian Imperial stouts out of. Anything more is gravy.
Rock ’n’ Roll vs. the Opera Diverse Interests Propel a Family to KISS and ‘La Boheme’
David Toland is an EVS Technician whose new column, Can You Dig It?, details his experiences at Swarthmore, in the US Army, and with his three children: a daughter, Hunter, 11; and two sons, Noah, 13, and David, 12. Driven by an enjoyment of poetry and digital story-telling fostered in Learning for Life, David is writing to share his life experiences with the Swarthmore community. This article is dedicated to the thousands of people reading this paper and music fans around the world - “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.” The rock band KISS was formed before I was even born. When I was a little DAVID kid, I remember TOLAND painting Can You Dig It? my face up and playing with KISS action figures. Three years ago my two sons, Noah and David, saw on television that Kiss was coming to Philadelphia. I bought the three of us tickets to the show. My whole life I was a huge KISS fan, but never saw them in concert. You can imagine that going to see KISS for the first time with my sons was very special. KISS has been awarded 28 gold albums, which is more than any other American rock band to date. They have
also sold over 40 million albums in their illustrious career. All of their achievements have landed them a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the night of the concert, my two sons and I got all painted up and were ready to rock the night away. It must have been funny to see us driving on I-95 in my Mercedes looking like the members of KISS. The people driving all around us were doing double-takes. We got to the show and it was amazing! The band was still rocking like they were twenty years old. At one point, Gene Simmons, the one who dresses like a demon, went flying through the air to the top of the stadium. He sang a song above the crowd while blood was pouring out of his mouth. It was out of control. The entire show was unbelievable and was everything I expected. This show would be hard to top. At the time my fellow Swattie and I, Suzanne Winter (Class of 2010), were working on a poetry chat book. As soon as I got home from the concert, I wrote this poem. It sums up the Kiss concert and I would like to share it with you (see insert). Let’s get back to the fight. A few days ago, the Opera Company of Philadelphia offered a free performance of the Puccini opera, “La Boheme.” My three kids, my girlfriend Jess, and I went to see it. I never thought that I would ever go to an opera, so be-
fore we went I did some research. It was performed in Italian, so I wanted to read the story to have some clue of what was going on. The opera dates back to 1896, so it stood the test of time. I have to say that I enjoyed it. The talent of the singers was unbelievable. I did not know what they were saying, but I knew what was going on because I researched the story. If you have not been to the opera, I would recommend La Boheme. For the record, my girlfriend, Jess, does not like the rock band KISS. My two sons, Noah and David, did not care much for the opera but my daughter, Hunter; (a.k.a. Babygirl) really enjoyed it. I guess it is time for me to give you my conclusion on who won the fight between Rock n Roll and the Opera. I respect both of the performances. However, in my opinion, “You Want The Best You Got The Best — The Hottest Band In The Land … KISS.”
COURTESY OF DAVID TOLAND
Toland’s son dresses up as the drummer in KISS before the concert.
A Different World Fire, explosion, destruction, some call it a night out, We call it a way of life. Smoke, blinding lights, rambunctious crowds, some call it torture, We call it therapy. Silver spikes, phantom like make-up, black leather, some call it Halloween, We call it just another day. Ears popping, head throbbing, heart racing, some call it a problem, We call it just another KISS show.
Living & Arts
PAGE 14
The Phoenix
Monumental Decay This past Saturday morning brought with it the stifling realization of yet another weekend at Swarthmore. That isn’t to say that I generally consider weekends at Swat a bad thing, but after five or six spent and forgotten, I was ready for a change. But what should I do? I extended my feelers, hoping to make contact with a friend with plans already in progress that I could simply plug myself into. This project is a familiar one, and thus I have preferred avenues to go through. My first choice proved successful: a couple of my friends were heading into Philly to check out “this abandoned warehouse-cum-art-gallery-or-studio-space.” Given the exceedingly vague and intriguing description, not to mention the off-campus allure of Philadelphia, I politely asked if I could tag along. They yielded, and we set forth. Globe Dye Works is a formerly abandoned dye factory in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Philly, just minutes away from my birthplace in Port Richmond. The building itself is primarily red brick and, though considerably scratched KIERAN and marred by its one-hundredREICHERT fifty-year existence, stands stout among the rowhomes that surHabit of Art round it. Upon entering, the rustic aesthetic overwhelms: the unfinished walls and ubiquitous iron oxide remind you of the utilitarian designs that have since faded into chic obscurity. Throughout the open floor plan, various sculptures occupy various repurposed spaces. There is a group of vinyl busts arranged in a semicircle meant to evoke prisoners at Guantánamo Bay next to a giant vat that would have contained dye a hundred years ago, and a polyhedric speaker installation in an out of the way storeroom. In many of the spaces, the building’s aesthetic merges with that of the sculpture, giving the impression that the sculpture has been there as long as the building. For the most part, however, the installations look and are ostensibly meant to look out of place in their newness amid the general state of decay and obsolescence. One piece stands out rather notably. Towards the back of the factory, the farthest point from the gallery’s entrance, there is an open-air space that appears to be some kind of derelict courtyard. Fauna has sprung up in the uneven dilapidation, splashing a wet green on the dry red-brownness of the building. Within this courtyard is what appears to be, on first glance, some sort of truss. It is the kind of structure that looks more like an architect’s scale model than a sculpture, with its uniform dimensions and regular geometry - or, what was once regular geometry. The truss has lost shape; its horizontal plane has twisted and shirked support beams so that it now looks like a bridge in the cyclonic
grip of a tornado. A middle-aged man approaches me as I take in the piece, and soon begins to explain the story behind what is obviously one of his favorites. Apparently, the artist, a Utahan, used a special density fiberboard that deforms with moisture and changing temperatures, effectively creating a structure that deforms - or decays - with time. The man, who is another artist with work on display, tells me of the structure’s uniform shape and perfect construction when it was brought in some weeks earlier, and I am newly rapt by the truss. I am enthralled by the idea of exhibiting a decaying sculpture in a gallery that is already far along in its own process of deterioration, and I absorb it as long as I can. The striking juxtaposition that the Utahan has created is stunning, and furthermore, quite provocative. The contrast in scale between the sculpture and old factory brought to mind another contrast, this one at once more and less physical, but certainly more Swarthmore. Often when I walk down Magill walk, I feel that I’m in the presence of giants. The trees line each side, and Clothier Hall, Parrish, and McCabe feel like fortresses overlooking a medieval bailey, through which I meekly walk to another meal at Sharples. Though the image is anachronistic and ephemeral, I think it is representative of a larger train of thought. I walk through a valley lined by monuments to academia, tradition, and intellect each and every day. For me, an English Literature major and aspirant writer, the face that appears on these monuments is that of Jonathan Franzen ’81. His fiction and nonfiction writings stack up to a body of work that looms over me like the régime of oak trees on Magill, especially since I’m writing my thesis on “Freedom” this fall. There is a motto, which I encountered in Jeffrey Eugenides’ “The Marriage Plot” but has much deeper roots, that says that we, as the rising generation of youth, must kill our fathers. No, I’m not speaking of patricide, Oedipal or otherwise, nor of killing Jonathan Franzen, but rather of knocking down idols and traditions in order to find truth. Similarly, Ezra Pound’s modernist motto was “make it new,” something that he and the modernist hordes strived to accomplish throughout the twentieth century. Let’s bring decay back into the equation. Seeing as these monuments, be them artistic or scientific or simply monumental, were erected many years, decades, or centuries ago, are they not decaying with age? Each passing moment must pile atop any intellectual achievement, bringing the weight of time, gravity, and new contexts down upon the monument, and perhaps even forcing cracks to crawl down the edifice. This thought knocks the awe and intimidation out of me in my daily ambling, and propels me to find and attack these splintering obelisks.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
Wellness is for Wimps Focusing more on wellness at Swarthmore is a crappy idea. Everyone who comes here gets frustrated, sooner or later. Frustration may not be the defining theme for everybody’s experience here, but learning to channel it is definitely on the curriculum. Why should we get institutional support at all? If the point is for us to learn to deal with obstacles, and in doing so to learn the “knowledge, insight, skills, and experience to become leaders for the common good,” as it says on the Swarthmore website, we had better be able to survive this experience if we are to become leaders in the world at large. I suggest we take away every source of wellness. In fact, let’s institute groups dedicated to “uneasiness.” The Uneasiness Group focuses on creating subtle psychological pressures to frustrate and break us. Systematically put one-off errors into SAM students’ CS labs when they’re sleeping, ZHANG whisper “you’re going to fail” through intercoms throughout the day, etc. Vowel Movements This group will be a break-off of the unofficial Uneasiness Working Group that’s been operating out of the Dean’s Office. It’ll be a fresh relief from their tired old pranks, such as stopping the Clothier bell tower from ringing randomly in the fall (“to simulate entering the eternity of hell”). Instead, we can make use of psychological studies that say randomness is radically more uncomfortable. Ring it, then don’t ring it. Stop it mid-ring, for no reason at all. Go entire nights where the bell is ringing nonstop, and why stop there? The Uneasiness Group will use science to inform our initiatives. The psychology department has suggested that we secretly install video cameras on every hall and observe how people’s behavior changes. Sometimes I question the deans’ commitment,when they say things like, “If we make students any more uncomfortable, someone will die.” You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and you can’t make a Barack Obama without breaking a few failures. I know all this can seem bewildering sometimes, and I’m not trying to overwhelm you, or make your experience unpleasant. I’m just trying to make sure you squeeze as much education as possible out of your tuition. It’s like working out with weights on. If you can run a mile in eight minutes with an orangutan that is exactly your body weight on your back, then you should be able to run the mile in four minutes without it. Those of you on the working group who say I’m making this break-off group because I am a bad listener and can’t take criticism, all I’ve got to say to that is this: Yeah, yeah, whatever. In my Uneasiness Group there won’t be any accusations of immaturity. Go ahead, suggest it, I know you’re thinking it. I’m thinking it too. No idea is off-limits. Let’s hide in the trees and spook the parents. Punch a spec or two. The intense discomfort of the situation would be enough to send most of my friends back to their rooms for a week—but not me, I’m a leader. I’m going to be president. Of China. But first, I need to get a job at McCabe.
Need Advice? Ask Nestor! Dear Swatties:
COURTESY OF VSCARPELLINO.BLOGSPOT.COM
Globe Dye Works in Northeastern Philadelphia is now the cite of rennovated art studios.
COURTESY OF FRANKFORDGAZETTE.COM
COURTESY OF CATAGENESIS.BLOGSPOT.COM
Just a reminder to send your troubles to dearnestor@ swarthmorephoenix.com to receive advice from your friendly campus advice columnist! In my day-to-day life, I have loved helping my co-workers, fellow students, friends and family overcome the many bumps in each of their respective roads. However, what I have struggled with is not being able to advise those whom I share very little to no contact with on campus and beyond. As a result, I am thrilled to finally make my wish of helping all of you who I do not know a reality. This will work by you submitting an anecdote to “Nestor” describing a relationship, friendship, family, sex, academic, career or general life issue that you would like advice on. You can submit the anecdote electronically by emailing dearnestor@swarthmorephoenix.com. If you prefer to submit by hand, you can also turn the submission into The Phoenix via campus mail. Let me stress that if you decide to send an email, your comments will be ANONYMOUS. ANONYMOUS!!!! ANONYMOUS!!!! I want to conclude by saying that I do not think of myself as a relationship, friendship, family, sex, academic, career or life advice guru. However, I have experience working with friends, family, students and psychologists dealing with a number of different social issues. Whether these conflicts, dilemmas or inquiries were considered common or uncommon, I have gathered ways that I find work best to tackle the obstacles faced in our day-to-day lives. I want to stress that my advice is subjective, and stemming from my own experience. Oftentimes, there is no “right” way to deal with an issue; there could be multiple ways. I am looking forward to listening to and advising you on issues that you encounter in your lives. My first column will run in next week’s edition -- be sure to check it out! Best, Nestor
Opinions
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
PAGE 15
The Phoenix
As State Funding Falls, Tuition Soars
The Government Should Prioritize Slowing the Rise of the Cost of Education Staff Editorial In the first presidential debate of the general election cycle, the candidates’ discussion of the American education system was a welcome departure from the usual haggling over the best way to get the economy moving again. In reality, addressing the rising cost of a college education in America is one of the ways we can pursue economic strength in the long run. If President Obama and Governor Romney are serious about creating lasting economic stability, they should continue talking about how to reform education to make it more profitable for all. According to the New York Times, the cost of a college education has multiplied by a factor of five and a half since 1985, whereas the prices of regular consumer goods have roughly doubled. Therefore, five-figure annual tuition costs today are a result of more than just inflation. US News & World Report finds that among public schools, which educate three-quarters of college students in America today, the number one cause of rising tuition is a reduction in state subsidies. Why do state governments cut education funding? When budgets are squeezed, public universities are often the first programs to get the axe, because they have the ability to raise revenue on their own, through tuition hikes. This is a luxury that other programs such as Medicaid do not possess. Finances have pressured states more and more recently for a variety of reasons, but an important one is public-sector pensions. With the rising number of baby-boomers hitting retirement, pension payouts go up, and funding for state schools goes down. It is up to public universities to make up for the budget shortfall with tuition increases. A heavy tuition burden, especially at public schools, means that many students who would otherwise attend college cannot because of affordability. State governments have adopted the wrong attitude toward budget distribution. In America we spend far more money helping out the old than the young. 41% of the federal FY2011 budget went to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while education at all levels netted only 2%. It is important to care for our seniors as well as our students, but the distribution of spending should be more equal. Moreover, education is not just another program to spend money on; it is an investment in the future. A better-educated population earns a higher annual income and will be able to save more for retirement, thus reducing dependency on government programs for seniors. Furthermore, an educated population will acquire more jobs that emphasize skilled labor, thus increasing overall job satisfaction and encouraging people to work longer. It’s impossible for a government to pay for everything, of course, but the
long-term benefits of spending money on education should make it one of our top priorities. For private schools such as Swarthmore, rising tuition stems from different causes. In its examination of education costs, US News & World Report found that private schools must compete with one another for the top prospective students and professors: students by providing superior facilities and services, and professors by providing the best benefit packages and resources to follow academic pursuits. A school which does not play this competition game will fall behind. Some rising education costs among both public and private schools have been attributed to increased spending on other services, such as psychological counseling. In addition, administrative and maintenance costs have gone up as well, for various reasons.
These expenses, coupled with the aforementioned competition for students and professors, would be difficult to defray by any action Swarthmore can take as an institution. However, slowing the growth of public and private tuition in the long run is not impossible, but it requires a large-scale solution: increase state and federal funding for public universities. For obvious reasons this will help public schools. But it will help private schools as well, because a better-educated workforce includes better-educated professors. If the world has more professors with terminal degrees in their respective fields, the type of professor Swarthmore and other top private schools seek, then competition for these elite educators may not be quite so intense. An investment in education helps everyone, and it is high time political dialogue shifted in that direction.
Courtesy of the New York Times
Swoop! (There It Is) Newsflash: It’s almost fall break! Let the cheers be heard from ML to DU to Worth! Now, along with a much-needed relaxation period for most of us, fall break also means the start of swooping. Ah, yes — swooping: Swarthmore’s favorite pasttime. The act of upperclassmen shamelessly SEAN preying on the BRYANT young freshmen. It is an art Real Talk With Slam form that many men and women seem to have perfected throughout the years. It’s beautiful, really. I will break down this article and address two groups of people: freshmen and upperclassmen. Freshmen: Embrace the swoop. Love the swoop. Tell only very close friends about the swoop. But do not thirst for the swoop. This is where you will get yourself in trouble. You don’t want to be that freshman who ends up following that senior/junior around just because they said hi to you after they bumped into you. It’s not cute. Not to mention your swoopworthy potential will decrease exponentially. Doubt me? I’ve seen it happen every
year and someone ends up crying on the steps of some building wondering why he or she is “forever alone.” It’s hard out in these streets sometimes. So what’s my advice? My advice is, “Don’t make it harder on yourself. Control what you can control and don’t worry about the rest.” Anyway, back to swooping. Freshmen, know who you are getting swooped by. Know whether the reputation is a good one and whether or not you will be tossed to the side like a dirty banana peel in Mario Kart. It’s important. There are some genuinely nice and awesome people who are worthy of all the praises on this campus, but trust me, there are definitely people who deserve anything but all the praises. If you don’t do your research, that’s on you, boo. Don’t be fooled by the looks (or lack thereof) and really think about who you decide to sleep with. Word on this campus spreads like a California wildfire — and if you don’t believe me, let my tale be a cautionary tale for all young and innocent freshmen. I can’t stress enough the importance of your name. It’s important. Hold on to it. Don’t let the opportunity of someone slandering your name arise. Swooping can be a great thing for all parties involved or it could be “drama” on top of “drama” with a side of
“drama” all washed down with a nice cold while you’re eating your Caribbean bar and the friends of the person you got with glass of “drama.” Juniors & Seniors: Be careful who you gives you death glares even Stevie Wonder swoop on. These are freshmen. They are can see, you’ll realize the sex wasn’t even young, naive and impressionable. Know worth it. Not to mention, let’s keep one this. Be cognizant of the fact that they may thing in perspective. You’re upperclassmen! The fact that think one thing you’re older makes and you may think you that much another. They may Freshmen, know who more desirable. think that you two Thou shalt not feel are dating and you you are getting swooped by. the need to swoop! may think that Know whether the reputation Let the freshmen hooking up with try and get on your them two weekends is a good one and whether level before you in a row is no big or not you will be tossed even start to make deal at all (which to the side like a dirty bamoves. There is it isn’t). Next thing an unattainabilyou know, you nana peel in Mario Kart. ity factor that rebring back someally makes you look one else and you that much better. have an entire table of freshmen plotting your demise because Don’t let these younglings mess up your they have nothing better to do during flow. Never. Exude that upperclassmen pass/fail. I say to you the same thing I said aura that you know you have. A wise man to the freshmen: know who you’re about once said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” to hook up with. It’s easy to get wrapped And here, swooping freshmen who may up in the idea of getting with a new not be worth it is definitely small stuff. If Swarthmore cutie. But remember, that the freshman is totally worth it, then by all new Swarthmore cutie can easily be that means, go forth and claim that booty. But new Swarthmore crazy and at that point, if not, let it go.
Opinions
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
More Scientific Papers Retracted as Data Fabrication, Plagiarism Abound One of the longstanding merits of scientific disciplines is that when a mistake is made or a study yields a fluke result, another researcher can easily correct the mistake. Because the scientific method emphasizes replicability, the scientific literature can self-correct. Scientists are trained to be skeptical of results that have not been replicated by other studies and to question findings not consistent with existing literature. Prior to publication, a paper must make it past scrupulous editorial boards PATRICK and peer reviewers in order to AMMERMAN make it into any Popular major journal. Science To the credit of this rigorous bureaucracy, and to the strict standards of the scientific method, the number of retracted papers has historically been very low. At the beginning of the 2000’s, there were only about 30 retraction notices on an annual basis. But as the decade continued, this number began to change on a large scale grow drastically: in 2011, the online database Web of Science had more than 400 retraction notices, which is an increase disproportionate to the additional number of papers published over that time span. As this trend became apparent, the scientific community applauded the increased number of retractions. Many believed the scientific community was getting better at weeding out fraudulent papers — that the self-correcting mechanisms of the scientific community were hard at work debunking bad results. An article published last year in the popular scientific journal Nature first called mainstream attention to the increase in retractions, casting doubt on whether the trend of increasing retractions should be celebrated or not. He viewed the root cause to be not a better system for seeking out fraudulent papers, but a culture shift where scientists were more willing to submit data
for publication that may be erroneous or even false. The author especially focuses on the difficulties of discussing retractions within the scientific community. A retraction not only removes a paper from the existing literature, but is a huge embarrassment to the paper’s author and to the journal that published it. With scientists and editors often unwilling to discuss why retracted papers get written and published in the first place, it becomes much harder to understand why the number of retracted papers are on the rise — something that has continually challenged scientific ethicists who study this trend. Unwillingness to discuss retractions also makes it difficult to discern whether papers are incorrect due to “honest mistakes” or whether intentional fraud has taken place. While many critics have been optimistic that honest mistakes are largely to blame, a recent study of publications in the biomedical and life sciences showed something totally different. Two scientists reviewed a total of 2,047 papers published over the past 10 years. Their analysis was unique because it went beyond the papers themselves and instead examined the publication histories of the authors, looking at information on watchdog websites, the news media, and other public records. This study even led to the retractions of 118 papers to be reclassified from error to fraud. The finding from this paper showed that, contrary to previous beliefs, suspected misconduct was the number one cause of paper retraction, accounting for over three-quarters of all cases. Of these, the most common reason for the misconduct by far was suspected fraud — the deliberate manipulation or falsification of figures and data. Other causes of misconduct include plagiarism and republication of previously published work. To take a step back, instances of fraudulent and plagiarized papers are still very uncommon in the scientific community. We’re only talking about 400 papers be-
ing retracted annually for any reason, compared with the 27,000 per week that are published. And the problem is more widespread in some fields than others — the biomedical sciences has had a serious problem with fraudulent papers entering the literature, while no other field seems to have as persistent a problem with retracted papers. However, just because the number of instances is small does not make the problem insignificant, or one that can be put off until later. Many critics of the way retractions are currently handled note that many papers do not note why the decision to retract was made the reason for the retraction. Some will not even specify if there have been claims of fraud or plagiarism, or whether it was just an honest statistical mistake that was made. Even when a paper is retracted, it is not gone from printed copies or large, online databases. Websites like Web of Knowledge will “red flag” a retracted paper so that users can see are aware of the demerit, but previous studies have shown that it can be a slow process for other scientists to stop using retracted studies as citations for their own papers, and in some cases, the retracted paper can continue to be cited frequently even after it has been flagged for containing a serious issue. Although it is supposedly taken out of the literature, bad research can continue to have an influence even after there has been a retraction. And of course, there are those few scientists who stand out for having committed fraud on so many occasions that they have built their entire careers around it. The most infamous of these is the anesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii, who was found earlier this year to have fabricated data in at least 172 scientific papers. All these papers were eventually retracted on the grounds of fraud. The rise in prevalence of bad scientific practices is likely the effects of a number of factors. Certainly a change in the scientific culture cannot be ignored. Scientists are
under more pressure than ever to bring in grant money for their institution, especially as universities and research facilities invest more money in new research buildings and equipment. Scientists are under more pressure than ever to publish and publish often. The increase in publishing is also overwhelming for scientific journals, as they have more and more material to evaluate. Not only are scientists with long histories of scientific research publishing more, but a new wave of researchers in countries around the world create even more of a workload. The governments of countries such as China, South Korea and Turkey even offer cash rewards to scientists who get published in big-name journals, increasing the volume of submissions sent to these journals, even though only a few of these will be published. Online databases themselves are teeming with information and are still learning how to manage thousands of new publications and citations each week. Keeping content updated is quite a task for even the biggest of online databases, as it entails including keeping tabs on papers with errors that have been corrected, papers that have been retracted and papers that cite retracted papers. is quite a task for even the biggest of online databases. It will take a concerted effort by scientists and their publishers to remove the temptations of publishing fraudulent work before this problem becomes too severe. It may require not only a change in the culture of research in the sciences, but also a change in the demands of institutions and governments that currently reward scientists who publish often and punish those who put more time into their papers before sending them off to a publisher. Yet, all in the scientific community will feel the problems associated with fraud if it is allowed to increase unchecked. Scientists should feel urgency to begin addressing issues of fraud head on and to reverse this trend before it permeates any more into the scientific community.
Spinning the Debate
Watching the Candidates Square Off at Swat Can Skew the Takeaway Last Wednesday, Mitt Romney cantered into Swarthmore College, albeit virtually on CNN. The Swarthmore Democrats, Swarthmore Conservatives, Students for Obama, and other clubs convened for reactions that were certainly rowdier than the silent auditorium at the University of Colorado. Besides the general civic good-cheer that came with sharing a national event with students of different political DANIELLE stripes, watching the debate as a campus brought forth its own speCHARETTE cial effect, or what I’d like to dub The Nascent Neoliberal the “Swarthmore spin.” Sure, I’m a political person who interprets the news through a more conservative beat on life, but it wasn’t until later in the night, when I tuned into the Internet’s Twittering masses, that I came to realize what a knockout many Americans believed Romney truly scored. I thought Romney performed well, staying both confident and succinct. Nonetheless, viewing the debate alongside a mostly progressive audience made me far more cynical of Romney’s chances than the average Fox News commentator, who looked to be resisting backflips. James Taranto, author of the Wall Street Journal’s satirical Best of the Web column, often cites his so-called “Taranto principle.” That is, American liberals are more insulated within their own cultural and political institutions than conservatives are. By concentrating themselves in the same elite zip codes, universities and think tanks, they risk a dangerous echo chamber. Politicians on the left are lulled into following the advice of the liberal media, without anticipating the hearty objections of red America. The iconic example is Senator John Kerry, whom the friendly press encouraged to trumpet his Vietnam heroism. Kerry’s false military bravado prompted the “Swiftboat” backlash against his inflated war record, but the situation might have been avoided had he
not been spoiled into complacency by the left-leaning press. The Swarthmore spin, I suspect, is analogous to Taranto’s observations in that our reputation for all-things-progressive woos us into finding politicians like Barack Obama more persuasive than his rhetoric alone deserves. I thought the first 10 minutes or so of the debate were mostly a draw, as the two men spent too much time sparring over Romney’s hypothetical tax plans instead of Obama’s real, actualized spending policies. As a quasi-libertarian, I admit to being mildly irked when Romney praised federal regulation as “essential” and elaborated, “You can’t have a free market work if you don’t have regulation.” I was too wrapped up in my own Hayekian sympathies — and my friends’ penchant for poking fun at Romney’s facial expressions — that I overlooked the politically artful move Romney was staging. For months, the president has set Romney up as some sort of anarcho-capitalist strawman, and here the governor was presenting himself as a reasonable human being who understands some government is essential. Many Swatties, of course, dismissed Romney’s tack to the center as pure hypocrisy, not heeding the plausible appeal he was making to the American appreciation for small but existent government. Among all the Mitt-mockers, I almost missed the debate’s mood-shift, around the same time that moderator Jim Lehrer made clear he’d exert about as much command over the candidates as an overwhelmed substitute teacher in a middle school classroom. As Romney got into his groove, he even said of the debate, in his 1950’s gee-whiz speaking style, “It’s fun, isn’t it?” Meanwhile, Obama looked peeved and taken aback. The last time anyone’s really asked him tough questions to his face may have been the Joe the Plumber kerfuffle, circa 2008. By the second half of the debate, Obama stopped speaking
normal sentences in favor of an anxious long-windedness. The portion, around the 21st minute in the transcript, when Obama jumps from ExxonMobil to corporate jets to Romney’s corporate tax rate proposal to a teacher in Las Vegas, is a case in point. These were hackneyed rebuttals, when the president remembered to challenge Romney at all. All the same, our Swarthmore audience cheered on Obama’s so-so comebacks and booed through Romney’s emotional appeal to our Constitution and Creator. Rewatching last Wednesday’s video, I found Romney’s talk of God and the Founding Fathers deeply moving, yet at the time, he earned loud snickers and eye-rolls from Swat viewers. Yes, Romney’s reminder of our “endowed” rights was conservative, old-fashioned, rightwing, patriotic and breezy. But Americans love that stuff. It’s true, you could argue many Americans are shamefully ill-informed, but I suspect the average citizen also still has an instinct that the Constitution is a pretty profound document. I’m fairly supportive of Mitt Romney, and it’s no secret that I have major qualms with the Obama Administration. But I exited the debate thinking it was mostly a draw between the two men. Not until seeing CNN’s immediate poll showing 67 percent of viewers declaring Romney the victor did I reconsider the Swarthmore auditorium’s effect on my perception. The following day, the most consistent criticism I heard from students was that they liked what Obama was saying but worried that he didn’t say it well. This is an ironic inversion of 2008. Four years ago, candidate Obama was all about tone and optics. Perfectly articulated speeches, well-creased slacks, Roman columns, excellent website, adorable daughters and fawning crowds won the day. Maybe last week he won “on substance” while stumbling on his words. Or maybe we’re just spinning.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
Opinions
PAGE 17
The Phoenix
MEET the candidates Student Council did not fill the Educational Policy Representative position during the Fall Emergency Elections, because no candidate received a plurality of votes; more votes were cast for “No Preference” than for one of the candidates. The election will therefore be held again. You can vote on Moodle under the course “Swarthmore Student Council” and the topic “Educational Policy Representative Fall 2012.” Voting will close at 9 p.m. tonight.
For Educational Policy Representative: Thank you for considering my candidacy for Educational Policy Representative! A few quick words about me: I’m a sophomore from New York City and a prospective Biology/Environmental Studies major. I’m a co-facilitator of Earthlust, and I love playing the violin in Swat’s orchestra and chamber music ensembles. I am currently leading a student-run effort to revise and expand the Environmental Studies Program to hire tenure-track ENVS professors and to offer our firstever ENVS major. We’ve talked with other students, presented to the ENVS faculty committee, and look forward to meeting with President Chopp and Provost Stephenson next week. Like many of us, I was drawn to Swarthmore because of its unparalleled commitment to applying academics toward social change. Our community of students, staff BEN GOLOFF ’15 and faculty prides itself in responding to our most pressing issues of global injustice and in being at the forefront of critically rethinking established paradigms. From our vibrant group of activist student clubs to the Lang Center’s community-based learning courses, Swarthmore has in some ways already succeeded in realizing this creative vision. We must highlight these strengths and ensure their continued vitality. But Swarthmore lags critically behind our peer institutions in probing and reassessing the old barriers wedged between traditional academic disciplines. While we have a solid array of interdisciplinary “programs,”few offer a major and virtually none possess the authority to hire tenure-track faculty. Most programs cannot offer a regular suite of courses because participating professors’ primarily responsibility is to support their disciplinary home department. As Educational Policy Representative, my first priority will be to work with students, faculty, and the administration toward abandoning our antiquated exclusive emphasis on traditional, disciplinary “departments.”In addition to ensuring that our traditional departments receive the resources they need to continue their record of excellence, we must breathe new life, autonomy and authority into our most innovative, cross-disciplinary programs, from Gender and Sexuality to Peace and Conflict Studies.This means revising the definition of a “program” to include the full tenure-track hiring authority of a “department,” generating new cross-listed courses, sharing resources between and across programs and departments, and amplifying opportunities for fieldwork, community action, and extra-Swarthmore collaboration. Traditional departments like Chemistry, Economics, History, and Philosophy will only gain from the wealth of new courses and perspectives ushered in by these steps. I believe that amidst all the complexity of the 21st century, there is nothing more crucial than synthesizing discourse across disciplines and applying new ideas toward creating solutions for real-world problems.I hope you will join me in pushing Swarthmore to embrace this approach through immediate curricular action.
LETTER, OP-ED & COMMENT POLICY Letters, opinion pieces and online comments represent the views of their writers and not those of The Phoenix staff or Editorial Board. The Phoenix reserves the right to edit all pieces submitted for print publication for content, length and clarity. The Phoenix also reserves the right to withhold any letters, op-eds or comments from publication. All comments posted online and all op-eds and letters must be signed and should include the writer’s full name. Letters are a minimum of 250 words and may not exceed 500 words. Opeds are a minimum of 500 words and may not exceed 750. Letters and opeds must be submitted by 10 p.m. on Monday, and The Phoenix reserves the right to withhold letters and opeds received after that time from publication. Letters may be signed by a maximum of five individuals. Op-eds may be signed by a maximum of two individuals. The Phoenix will not accept pieces exclusively attributed to groups, although individual writers
may request that their group affiliation be included. While The Phoenix does not accept anonymous submissions, letters and op-eds may be published without the writer’s name in exceptional circumstances and at the sole discretion of the Editorial Board. An editorial represents the opinions of the members of the Opinions Board: Marcus Mello, Menghan Jin and Preston Cooper. Please submit letters to: letters@swarthmorephoenix.com or The Phoenix Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue Swarthmore, PA 19081 Please report corrections to: corrections@swarthmorephoenix. com Letters, corrections and news tips may also be submitted online to the paper by clicking “Contact” on the Phoenix website.
Thank you for reading this. My name is Rachel Stein, and I am hoping that you will grant me the privilege of being your Educational Policy Representative. I am a sophomore from suburban Chicago. But far RACHEL STEIN ’15 more importantly to you, if elected, I am eager and able to make this position a top priority. Besides being a SAM, I am currently not involved in clubs or sports. Therefore, I have the time to commit to this position, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to do so. I would like to work on your behalf to make Swarthmore more student-oriented and “user-friendly”. Despite my class year, I think that I am well qualified for this position. I have been fortunate enough to grow up with professors for parents, uncles, and a grandfather. I spent days off of school in the back of my parents’ classes, and Friday night dinners with university faculty, visiting speakers, and graduate students. From these experiences, I gained not only a great deal of knowledge about higher education around the world from the perspectives of faculty and administrators, but also a fascination with educational policies. And in addition to watching, I was lucky enough to work with the new principal of the Sunday school where I taught for two years, to create and modify their policies. As I sat down to write this, the following reforms came to mind. These are far from the only changes that I would push for. More important than what I think should be addressed, I want to push for the educational changes that you, the student body, want to see. Rather than specific topics, I hope that the suggestions below will illustrate the thoughtful approach that I wish to bring to the position. Online teacher evaluations All courses should have evaluations available online from previous semesters and years. This would be useful to all of us and would not be hard to do. For example, before Northwestern University’s returning students can register for classes they must complete their teacher evaluations on their equivalent of MySwarthmore. There, students can also easily access every single evaluation, for every instructor. My vague understanding is that we, as Swarthmore students, could technically request to see teacher evaluations, but let’s be realistic, how many people would want to do that, let alone for every class that they are considering? I agree that student evaluations can be misleading,
unfair, and that nothing will replace you attending the class. However as a SAM, I find that it is not uncommon, especially for freshmen, to look at Rate My Professor. That site is biased by a few students with strong feelings, and so is far less accurate than reviews accumulated from many students. Further, the evaluations tell about many aspects of the course and instructor –teaching style, accessibility during office hours etc.- helping students consider the courses in the context of their own learning styles. Writing a thesis should count as a W course in all disciplines First, I would like to make it clear that I have no personal stake in this; I took four W courses my freshman year. I am also aware that several thesis/capstone classes are W courses, however many, such as philosophy, education, and political science, are not. I realize too that making capstone classes W courses may encourage some students to put off fulfilling the requirement. However, writing a thesis encapsulates the heart of what a W course is intended to be, namely focusing on the process of writing and revision. Many students’ theses will be used to judge them in applying to graduate schools or jobs, so they have strong encouragement to make their theses the best they can be. Therefore, it seems foolish to have them divert some of their scarce time and energy to take a class that they often have no interest in and put in as little effort as possible. It is also not fair to the W class and its professor to have an unwilling and disinterested student. I am hoping that you will vote for me because, as you read this, you gained a sense that I am genuinely invested in learning about and trying to improve Swarthmore’s educational policies. But even if you decide not to vote for me, I hope that you will consider my proposals. Whether or not I am elected, I would love to hear your thoughts about what I said and more. For a college underclassman, I have a unique perspective on academia, but I am not foolish enough to think that I know all.
COURTESY OF ADDICTINGINFO.COM
Sports
PAGE 18
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
Garnet Escape Close Calls Match Win Total From Last Season
Cutler’s Mentality Not the Problem Two years ago, Jay Cutler pulled out of the NFC Championship game with a sprained MCL. Cutler was withdrawn from the biggest game of his career after a dismal first half against the Packers, having had shown little hope of improving. But because Cutler is such a polarising figure, his withdrawal was seen by many as a sign of weakness and a failing of character. Cutler doesn’t give himself the best press, but why is it that he should be so disliked across the spectrum of football fandom? JAMES Ok, so Cutler has a bit of an attitude problem. While IVEY at dinner with John Elway, Out of Left Field he spent most of the time watching the television over Elway’s shoulder and paying very little attention to the multiple Super Bowl winning quarterback sitting in front of him trying to give him advice. Cutler bumping his own offensive tackle after being sacked shows a lack of cool in the moment. A lot was made of the incident, but in Cutler’s defense he does get sacked an awful lot, so someone is not doing their job in the offensive line. But in the middle of the game, you do not openly confront your offensive line, you can talk to them or you can go back to the bench, just keep your cool on the field. It’s not a lot to ask. But sometimes tension does boil over, and Cutler always seems to be caught in public with his pants down in situations like that with J’Marcus Webb. Cutler, while on media probation, proceeded to have a sideline issue with his offensive coordinator Mike Tice, in which he showed both a lack of respect for his coach and his temper when things aren’t going his way.
If you went to work every day and got slapped in the face by the guy who sits in the cubicle opposite, how long would it be before you ... taught him/her a lesson in payback?
JULIA CARLETON/PHOENIX STAFF
Above, Aarti Rao advances through the Gettysburg defense. Below, Katie Teleky gets tripped up by a defender.
By DAN DUNCAN Sports Editor With two hard-fought wins, Swarthmore field hockey is finding itself in playoff contention for the first time in years. Victories against Washington (3-2) and Gettysburg (3-2, OT) give the Garnet a 3-3 record in Centennial Conference play. It seemed the team had waited until the last minute to strike against Washington, coming from behind to score the winning goal in the waning minutes of the match. But that was merely a setup for last Saturday, when the Garnet waited even longer to net the game-winner against Gettysburg. The game was closely fought the entire way through, as each team finished with the same number of shots in regulation. In the first half, the Garnet were dominated in possession, but a strong defensive effort kept the Bullets off the scoreboard for the majority of the time. Goalkeeper Gabby Capone ’14 led that effort, diving left and right to stop the Bullets time and time again over the course of a flurry of shots about halfway through the period. On the offensive end, the Garnet made the most of their opportunities, getting quality shots on goal with each possession. Erin Gluck ’16 struck first in the game, putting a pass from Abby Lauder ’15 in the back of the net in the 14th minute. Despite this, the teams went into halftime tied at one goal apiece. Going into the break, Nia Jones ’14 said, “Half-time was a time for us to really take a breath and realize that we were not only playing with them...we just had to not let up and leave everything on the field in the second half. “ Gluck added that, “We tried to, instead of playing for 35 minutes, think about playing each five minutes and trying to control the play and score in that five minutes.” That new focus worked--it was a different game in the second half, but with the same results. While Swarthmore was outshot in the first half, the Garnet held onto possession longer and outshot Gettysburg in the second. Gluck struck again in the 44th minute, rebounding off of a shot from Sophia Agathis ’13. The Garnet nearly had another soon after, when a shot beat the Gettysburg goalkeeper but was swatted away by a quick-thinking defender. The Bullets knotted the score with 18 minutes to go, and al-
though both teams created some scoring chances, neither could get the ball in the net. The game went into overtime with the score tied 2-2. In overtime, Gettysburg got the first shot, but Capone was there for a game-preserving save. Just seconds later, Jones ran through the entire Gettysburg defense, dishing the ball to Gluck, who completed her hat trick with the sudden-death game-winner. For her offensive outburst, Gluck earned Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. She is just one of several freshman to make an immediate impact this year. “The freshmen have been key for us this year. They step up in big situations and they work incredibly hard,” said Agathis. Jones agreed, adding, “They all work so hard during practice and it is definitely evident in the way they play during games.” The win has huge playoff implications for Swarthmore, which finds itself in contention with just four games to go in conference play. According to Agathis, “If we win the remaining 4 games we’re automatically in the playoffs. If we go 3-1 our chances are a little less, but it is very much still possible.” That may sound like a tall order, but as Jones pointed out, the win against Gettysburg puts them in a better position than they were before. The Garnet can expect close matches for the rest of the season, which seems to be no problem for this team. Throughout the season, Swarthmore has demonstrated a gritty calmness to come out on top of several close games, not least of which were the last two. Jones explained, “I think the teams mentality has been very positive in close games like that. Of course, it can be nerve-racking, but we know what needs to be done in order to win, and we know that we are capable of doing it.” This is a departure from the past for this team, according to Gluck: “Our team in the past from what I have been told struggled when we were down in a game but this year we seem to have a better mentality in such close games.” The improvement in mentality has shown in the team’s play, as the Garnet’s 8-5 record already matches the team’s total number of wins from last year. Fall Break will prove to be no break for the Garnet, who have road games against McDaniel and Muhlenberg while the campus rests. The next home game will come against Bryn Mawr on October 24.
However, is this mentality issue really a bad thing? Is Cutler really to blame? If you went to work every day and got slapped in the face by the guy who sits in the cubicle opposite you, how long would it be before you jumped over the divider and taught him/her a lesson in payback? If someone was purposefully rude to you in every conversation would you do as Jesus preached and turn the other cheek? I doubt it, most people are not Tim Tebow (that is why he is so special). Most people would come back with a rushed and poorly-worded retort along the lines of “Yo mama is so fat that she should be playing offensive tackle for the Bears.” Cutler has been put into an uncomfortable position. Carson Palmer complained that he was sacked too often and refused to play for the Bengals because he feared for his health. Eventually, he was traded to the Raiders and has successfully restarted his career with better protection. Cutler has never refused to play for the Bears; he may have stepped out of the NFC Championship game, but he hasn’t refused to play for a season and he doesn’t threaten the owner that he will run out his contract on the training field. Cutler wants to win too much to sit out of a game or a season. He still thinks that despite all the sacks that the Bears can win. It would just be nice for him if he didn’t have to pick himself up off the ground after every second play. Is that so much to ask? Cutler’s personality is reflected in his way of playing. The gunslinger mentality comes with an attitude problem. All Cutler wants to do is throw deep balls from the safety of the pocket, he will scramble if he needs to and he is a good scrambler. The chief problem for him, though, is that when he is winning he is over-confident and when he is losing, it is generally because he is being sacked a lot, an uncomfortable position at best. But isn’t that the type of personality that most professional athletes have. It is the type of personality that drives them to succeed in the first place. Cutler wants to win. Cutler wants to be a great quarterback. And he will do it his way.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
Sports
PAGE 19
The Phoenix
Volleyball Rediscovers Winning Ways
Take Two Conference Matches to Stay In Playoff Contention By ROY GREIM SportsWriter
The Swarthmore College women’s volleyball team halted its two-match losing streak last week, going 2-1 in three matches while picking up crucial conference victories over Washington College and Gettysburg. After rattling off nine straight wins between September 2 and September 22, the Garnet matched its best start in program history when it began 10-1 in 2010 and seemed nearly unbeatable, having won 27 consecutive sets during its streak. A 3-1 loss to conference foe Franklin and Marshall on September 26 and a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Johns Hopkins three days later, however, were definite setbacks for the Garnet, which is vying for position atop the Centennial Conference standings. “It was kind of demoralizing for us because we were having a really impressive season coming into the game against F&M,” setter and team captain Allie Coleman ’13 said. “The only team we had lost to [Juniata] was ranked in the top ten in the nation at the time, and then to lose two matches in one week against beatable opponents is always tough to handle.” After playing its last two matches on the road, the team returned to action at Tarble Pavilion last Tuesday with a conference match against the Washington College Shorewomen. The first set was evenly matched until the score hit elevens, after which the Garnet won five straight points to pull ahead 16-11. After a timeout, Washington battled back, taking the next four points to pull within one. The teams traded points, but at 20-20, errors from the Garnet and two kills from Washington’s Kristin Lee gave the visiting team the first set 25-21. The next set, however, belonged entirely to the Garnet, which took it 25-9 behind 11 kills from the team and three
consecutive service aces from middle blocker Brone Lobichusky ’14, who finished the match with seven and an impressive .357 hitting percentage. The third and fourth sets, which went 25-15 in favor of the home side, followed with much of the same consistent play that brought the Garnet success during its winning streak. “Beating Washington was vital,” Coleman said. “It was a good test of our ability to recover and get back on the right track. We really struggled in the first set, but then we got some of our confidence back in the second set and started really swinging and playing aggressively.” Against Washington, outside hitter Kat Montemurro ’15 earned her seventh double-double of the season, picking up a team-leading 25 digs and 11 kills. In the front row, Zahra Ahmed ’15 performed well on both sides of the ball, collecting nine kills and four block assists while recording a hitting percentage of .286. On Saturday afternoon, the Garnet hosted a tri-match as it welcomed Gettysburg Bullets and Moravian College to Tarble Pavilion. Swarthmore faced off first against the Bullets, who are another one of the conference’s top teams. Last year, they made it to the Centennial Conference championships against Johns Hopkins as the third-seeded team, where they fell in four sets. Gettysburg took the first five points of the opening set and never looked back as it led the entire way en route to a 25-21 win, helped by nine errors from the Garnet. Down one set, Swarthmore raced out to a 13-4 lead in the second frame behind nine kills from its front row. A Gettysburg timeout did little to stop the bleeding, as the Garnet continued to hammer away with kills from Montemurro, Lobichusky, Coleman and outside hitter Danielle Sullivan ’14, taking the second set decisively, 25-13. The team finished the set with 16 total kills and a .378 hitting percentage. Inconsistent play, however, plagued the squad as it dropped the next set to the Bullets 22-25 behind eight errors and a .091 percentage. Facing elimination in the fourth, the Garnet returned to form, pulling ahead early and then coasting to an easy win as it took the set 25-12. “One thing that I noticed on our side was that when we
started a set our really well, as a team we had a lot of confidence and we played well and weren’t afraid to take risks,” Coleman said. “When we were really at the top of our game, Gettysburg just wasn’t able to handle what we were throwing at them.” The back and forth play set up a dramatic fifth set which had significant implications in the Centennial Conference standings. The winner would be fourth behind Johns Hopkins, Haverford, and F&M, who are all currently tied for first, while the loser would be in the fifth, right on the bubble of qualifying for the postseason. Although several matches remain to be played, every Centennial match is significant in such a competitive conference. “Every win at every point in Conference is crucial,” Lobichusky said. “We want to treat every team the same - as an opponent that could possibly knock us out of playoffs” Gettysburg served to open the set and claimed the first point after an attack error from Coleman, but the Garnet recovered quickly, earning serve after kill by middle blocker Chastity Hopkins ’15. Early on, neither team was able to increase its lead beyond one point until the Bullets took two straight points at nine apiece to lead 11-9. A Swarthmore timeout refocused the Garnet, which evened things up after two consecutive kills from Montemurro. Gettysburg’s attempt to refocus with a timeout of its own was unsuccessful as the home team took the next three behind kills from Lobichusky and Ahmed, and a service ace from Coleman. At 14-11, the Garnet had several opportunities to close out the match, but the Bullets refused to concede, taking four straight points and earning a game point of their own. After some adjustments, Swarthmore was able to pull even and earn several more game point choices, but to no avail. Finally, with at 20-19, the team pulled off the dramatic comeback win with a service ace from setter Samantha DuBois ’16 that rolled off the net. “The moment right before the ball fell when it hit the tape felt like the longest second, but it was probably only a nanosecond of time,” Lobichusky said. Montemurro finished the match with another doubledouble, picking up 25 kills and 19 digs. Lobichusky and Ahmed also finished in double figures for kills, earning 10 and 11 and respectively, while libero Madison Heppe ’16, who is having a strong first-year campaign so far, led the team with 35 digs. The second match of the day against the Moravian Greyhounds was nearly as close as the first, with two of the four sets going into extra points. Unfortunately for the Garnet, however, the result was different as it dropped the match by a score of 28-26, 23-25, 29-27, 25-23. “I think we were a little physically and mentally drained after the long match against Gettysburg,” Coleman said. “I would love to get the chance to play Moravian again because I really think we could beat them next time. We have traded matches back and forth with them over the years that I’ve been here, and any given day it seems to be able to go either way.” The team will hope to refocus and continue its winning ways in conference as it travels to McDaniel on the 13th to take on the Green Terror over fall break. That match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
We want to treat every team the same — as an opponent that could possibly knock us out of the playoffs. Brone Lobichusky ‘14
GARNET ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Stephanie Chia SR., TENNIS, PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.
Favorite career moment:
Before this weekend I had never gotten a set off a Hopkins player, so the win was very exciting.
Her season goal:
Just to keep working on expanding my game. Hopefully I’ll finally learn how to volley. Favorite surface: Hard court.
JULIA CARLTON/PHOENIX STAFF
Libero Madison Heppe gets the ball in position for a kill.
DAN DUNCAN/PHOENIX STAFF
Favorite Swarthmore tradition: My new favorite tradition: Pterodactyl Hunt!
Sports
PAGE 20
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
The Phoenix
GERARDO LIMON FOR THE PHOENIX
The Motherpuckers, one of Swarthmore’s most tightly knit intramural organizations, have a diverse and enthusiastic group of students.
By SCOOP RUXIN Sports Writer Tonight, October 11, 2012, is supposed to be the opening night for the National Hockey League season. Unfortunately, the league has been in a lockout since its collective bargaining agreement expired on September 15, meaning that there will be no hockey tonight — at least not at the Wells Fargo Center. However, Swarthmore hockey diehards are not out of luck. At 9:40 p.m. at Parrish Circle, the Swarthmore Motherpuckers will congregate, as they do twice a week, and drive to a local rink to play ice hockey. The Motherpuckers are, without a doubt, one of Swarthmore’s most tightly knit intramural sports teams. They are open to all, describing themselves on their website as, “the place where anyone in any skill level can come and have an amazing time with friends and Swat”, and the club does, in fact, attract players of all skill levels. According to team member Tony Lee ’15, “students of all skill levels, from [those] not sure how to skate to club hockey players, are welcome.” This message of inclusivity has helped the team attract a large roster: 46 players are listed on the club’s website. Further demonstrating the diversity of experience of the team are the hometowns of the players. Ice hockey is, for the most part, a regional sport in the United States, with players concentrated in New England and the Upper Midwest. Internationally, top nations include Canada, Russia and its former satellite republics. While some Motherpuckers do hail from these hockey hotbeds, others are from places such as Beijing,
Lockout? What Lockout? The NHL May Be on Hold, But the Motherpuckers Are Still Skating
China and Cupertino, California — places that are not known for their hockey prowess. The Motherpuckers are able to attract such a diverse group of players while maintaining a high caliber of play by splitting participants into “A” and “B” lines. According to Atish Agarwala ’13, “the intensity on the A line picks up from time to time, but we always have a B line for players new to the game to play comfortably.” Splitting the lines in this fashion allows the club to create a competitive atmosphere for stronger, more experienced players, while ensuring that players new to the game have a safe and supportive playing environment. Ice time is difficult to come by. Consequentially, the Motherpuckers are forced to play late into the night, with ice time ending at 11:45 p.m. Perhaps it is these late nights that have helped build the chemistry of the Motherpuckers. Agarwala and Lee both raved about the team’s closeness, with Agarwala
citing, “the chance to get to meet a whole bunch of great people and really build a community on and off the ice” as one of his favorite parts of being a member of the club. Lee was also a fan of the team’s late night eating habits, adding that, “postPuckers Tom Jones trips are always memorable.” Being a Motherpucker does not end with graduation. Alumni participate in Motherpucker practices frequently. Agarwala fondly remembered one of these games from this past spring, in an anecdote that further illustrates the deep bonds formed by team members. “It was the last [Motherpucker game] for Jonathan Hui ’12, who had helped run the club for three years and was the best friend I’ve ever made at Puckers. We also had some other alumni from my time in [Motherpuckers] come down. We ended up playing seniors and alumni vs. underclassmen, and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we presented Hui with a custom jersey that we had all chipped in to buy for him.” Of course, just because the team is tightly knit does not mean that they are above getting a little competitive with one another. Agarwala describes the van rides as being “always filled with people excitedly chattering away — with a healthy dose of trash talk, of course.” The balance between an intense competitive spirit among the experienced players and a spirit of inclusiveness that welcomes first timers has helped transform the Motherpuckers into one of the most successful clubs at the College. Of course, there is one other factor that doesn’t hurt: ice time is not inexpensive, and as Lee put it, “free hockey is also almost unheard of.” So, hockey fans, if the NHL lockout is making you miss your hockey fix, remember that the College has its own hockey program. It is open to everyone, and to date, it has never had a lockout.
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