The Official Campus Newspaper of Swarthmore College Since 1881 VOL. 137, ISSUE 8
The Phoenix THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
TODAY: Partly cloudy. Chance of snow: 30%. High 37, Low 28. TOMORROW: Partly cloudy with wind. Chance of rain: 10%. High 43, Low 29.
SWARTHMOREPHOENIX.COM
History Speaks By AMANDA EPSTEIN News Editor
ZHENGLONG ZHOU / THE PHOENIX
The Clothesline Project honors survivors of sexual assault. Red shirts indicate sexual assault and rape, yellow: domestic violence, white death due to sexual violence, blue sexual abuse and incest, and purple sexual violence due to gender or sexual identity.
College Reacts to New Sexual Assault Legislation By DAN BLOCK Assistant News Editor
After months of debate and negotiations, Congress recently reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA. First signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994, the legislation toughened provisions against perpetrators of sexual assault and sought to improve the services available to survivors. But this time, the bill included a new provision, the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE). First introduced by Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey in 2010, the act aimed to combat sexual violence and harassment on college campuses. Now signed into law, it will require colleges and universities to inform survivors of their options, direct them to where they can find support, appeal decisions, and do a more thorough job communicating sexual misconduct policies to the student body. Swarthmore, like all institutions of higher education, falls under SaVE’s jurisdiction. According to Sharmaine LaMar, the assistant vice president for risk management and legal affairs and Title IX coordinator, the school will make modifications to its sexual misconduct policy accordingly. “Each year, towards the end of the spring semester, we review the sexual misconduct policy,” said LaMar. “This year, we will do so with this important and valuable legislation in hand in order to help us identify which modifications should be made to improve our programs and processes.” While LaMar does not know specifically what that will entail until the review takes place, she said the aim would not simply be to meet all of the law’s requirements. “We don’t just want to comply with the law. We want to do what’s absolutely best for the community. And in my mind, that means sometimes going beyond,” she said. Indeed, it appears that Swarthmore is, by and large, already in compliance with
the law’s requirements. The school, for current wheel of resources, which depicts example, already hosts a sexual assault the various people and groups students prevention workshop for all incoming stu- may go to when dealing with an incident dents during orientation week, fulfilling of sexual assault, could be overwhelming. “Some have looked at it and given us the one stipulation. Still the law will undoubtedly help the feedback that it might offer too many avcollege as it tweaks its policy. “Our goal as enues of choice when someone is looking a college is to provide a safety net for stu- at it. It would be helpful to have a Q and A dents to be able to not just come forward on the web.” More broadly, there is hope that the but get support,” said Beth Kotarski, the director of Worth Health Center and a Sexual legislation can help curb sexual violence Advisors & Resource Team (SMART) advi- at college campuses nationwide. While sor. “The law asks colleges to pay attention LaMar said she could not speak for other campuses, she felt that anything that gets to the fact that they’re doing that.” “I think it will bring investigations more college campuses to examine themselves and “gives them into light,” said the opportunity to Lisa Sendrow ’13, sit down and rea SMART member. flect about how and Sendrow spent her whether their polisummer interncies are working is a ship at the National good thing.” Organization for For some, like Women two years Sendrow, the law has ago lobbying for the its faults. “It was put law’s passage. “We into VAWA, and this wanted to find ways is something that to prevent sexual asdoesn’t just affect sault on campuses,” women, it affects all she said. genders,” she said, She hoped that though Sendrow beby providing legal protection and increasing awareness, SaVE lieves Swarthmore does a better job of bemight create a climate in which survivors ing “inclusive of all genders.” But on the whole, it is widely regarded and others felt more comfortable discussing issues of sexual violence. Currently, ac- as positive. Kotarski expressed personal cording to Sendrow, cases of sexual assault enthusiasm. “It was very exciting to see the at Swarthmore are highly underreported. law pass,” said Kotarski, whose background Thus, any legislation that makes talking is in women’s health. “The length of my 30 about it easier is welcome. “I think it’s really year career has been focused on legislation going to be a way for students to feel more and trying to be a member of the healthcare comfortable talking about being sexually community that lobbies for legislation.” For Sendrow, it is more than just a set assaulted on campus, just because there’s so of stipulations and regulations. “The cammany legal protections,” Sendrow said. Even beyond the legislation, the college pus SaVE act is not only a way to take legal is already planning to make changes to how provisions,” she said. “It’s also how we can it handles sexual misconduct. “One of the help the students now, provide them with things we are going to look at is our web re- resources and help them feel safe around sources,” said Kotarski. She added that the their campuses.” INSIDE THIS ISSUE
“[SaVE is] how we can help students now, provide them with resources and help them feel safe around their campuses.” Lisa Sendrow ’13
A symposium titled “Memory, Oral History, and Documentary Filmmaking in Latin America” will be co-hosted by Swarthmore and the University of Pennsylvania today and tomorrow. Organized by Swarthmore history professor Diego Armus and history professor and director of the Latin American Studies Program at Penn, Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, the twoday event will feature Latin American scholars from as close as Pennsylvania and as far as Buenos Aires, Argentina. The program will begin today at Swarthmore, where the documentary “La Palabra en el Bosque” will be screened and Jeff Gould, its producer, will hold a discussion. Tomorrow morning and afternoon, two events dealing with deportation and an Argentine working class community respectively will be held at Penn. Armus, who is teaching a research seminar titled “Between Oral History and Memory,” paired up with FarnsworthAlvear, who is teaching a graduate course on the subject, to create a symposium that could be used as teaching resources. “Paper presenters are graduates working on their dissertations and scholars with a long trajectory in the field of Latin American oral history and memory,” Armus said. “ I used oral history when working on my previous books and I continue to do it in my current research on the history of smoking in Buenos Aires ... My colleague Ann Farnsworth-Alvear at UPenn uses oral history in her work on modern Colombia.” Gould has also practiced oral history for some time. Following his invitation to speak as a historian, he suggested showing and discussing his film, and therefore including documentary filmmaking into the symposium. “There are not many academic historians who directly create, rather than advise, documentary films,” he said in an e-mail. “My experience hopefully provides a useful reference point for the workshop, particularly as regards film and the politics of memory.” The film, which deals with human rights violations, social utopia and religiosity, is being screened at an appropriate time with the recent election of the Argentine Pope. “Pope Francis is relevant to the film in particular because of his complex and contradictory relationship to Liberation Theology, on the one hand, and the human rights tragedy of Argentina during the late 1970s, on the other,” Gould said. “Certainly the politics of memory with relationship to the church and the military dictatorship is an important topic for the workshop.” The screening will begin at 4 p.m. today in Science Center 101. Tomorrow at the University of Pennsylvania from 9:30–11:30 a.m., the film “The Beginning of My End” will be screened, followed by a talk about deportation in the United States. From 2–4 p.m., scholars will give a talk titled “Collecting and Preserving the Past in an Argentine Working Class Community: Luis Gurruciaga and the 1871 Museo de Berisso.” Both events at the Penn will be held in College Hall 208.
NEWS
LIVING
OPINIONS
SPORTS
The college presented the final draft of its master plan the day before spring break, detailing the many renovations and new buildings it could entail.
Mayra takes a look at what is both the most visited and the loneliest room on campus: Ian Lukaszewicz’s single in Phi Psi.
Preston analyzes the political and legal issues surrounding the two same-sex marriage cases the Supreme Court will hear next week, and the landmark decision sure to come.
After dominating opponents in early season play thus far, the Garnet get slowed down by a tough, nationallyranked Amherst squad.
Campus Master Plan Enters Final Stages
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Dorm Dive: Quiet Phi Psi Living
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Supreme Court Takes on Same-Sex Marriage
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Women’s Lacrosse Builds on Success
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THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
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CORRECTIONS: An article in our March 7, 2013 issue entitled “Students Create Satirical Newspaper” failed to attribute a statement to its source. The sentence “Similarly, a small staff of current students seeks to provide a humorous and thoughtprovoking look into campus life and community” should have been attributed either to the Scallion webpage or to the Scallion’s two editors, Jacob Oet ’16 and Cara Ehlenfeldt ’16. We apologize. You can check out the Scallion’s webpage at: http://swatscallion.weebly.com and new issues will be available at: Kohlberg, the Science Center, Parrish, and Sharples. Their email is swatscallion@gmail.com. An article titled “Jean Genet’s “The Maids”: A Swarthmore Acting Thesis” erroneously lists Alexandra Huber-Weiss as playing the part of Madame. While Huber-Weiss was responsible for the production’s costumes, the maid’s employer was played by Meryl Sands ’13.
The Clothesline Project hangs T-shirts on Parrish Beach to raise awareness about sexual violence, both on and off campus.
ZHENGLONG ZHOU / THE PHOENIX
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
News
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The Phoenix
Campus Master Plan Enters Final Stages By COLE GRAHAM News Writer
Imagine walking out of a spacious biology lab through a second story glass walkway into a new and improved engineering building. Or, perhaps, eating a Sharples meal at an outdoor table and then doing yoga in a new wellness center by the Field House. Future Swarthmore students could have all of these experiences and many more, according to the final draft of the Campus Master Plan on Thursday March 7. The plan focused on four aspects of the campus that will see changes in the coming years: Entry and Arrival, Student Life, Athletics and Academics. Not all of the proposals shown at the unveiling forum will necessarily take place, however. “We’re going to have to make choices based on where opportunities for funding are,” said Provost Thomas Stephenson, who co-chaired the Master Plan Advisory Committee. He also noted the helpfulness of Eugene Lang’s ’38 $50 million donation this past fall with regard to getting started on the Science Center and Hicks Hall renovations and additions. Proposed changes in entry and arrival would focus on more clearly directing visitors towards campus and improving the general arrival experience. Efforts would be aimed towards refining signage at the Chester Road and College Avenue intersection to direct visitors to a slightly larger and greener Benjamin West parking lot. As the primary entry point, Ben West would allow visitors to see Parrish Hall from a lower point on Magill Walk, a vista that many find inspiring. Changes in buildings affecting student life revolved heavily around the need to accommodate a potentially rising student population more efficiently. “Historically, Swarthmore has grown over time,” Stephenson. “Right now we’re really maxed out in terms of student beds.” Proposed additions to Willets, Palmer, Pittinger, Roberts, Dana, and Hallowell could see an increase of up to 200 beds while a new
JULIA CARLETON/THE PHOENIX
The meeting that unveiled the final master plan took place on March 7 and drew many members of the community.
complex next to Mary Lyons could add up to 60. The new complex at Mary Lyons would be comprised of suite-like rooms in order to attract upperclassmen, hopefully creating a more class-diverse setting at what is traditionally a heavily underclassmen-populated dorm. The plan proposed renovations to Clothier Hall, which included getting rid of the current mezzanine level. Efforts would also be made to increase seating options in Sharples, among them an outdoor seating area. Changes would also be implemented to increase parking options by eliminating spots around Fraternity Row and building a garage where the Faulkner tennis courts are currently located. The courts would be relocated to Cunningham Fields as part of the extensive athletics renovations proposed in the plan. Beyond the addition of six new tennis courts, Cunningham Fields could also be renovated into three regulation size soccer fields,
one of which might be surfaced with artificial turf. Furthermore, the Field House could see incremental renovations over the years with the inclusion of a two to three story building for additional office space and higher entry point for those visiting Clothier Field. The plan also proposed a new, three level wellness center where the squash currents are currently located. Perhaps the most extensive renovations and additions proposed by the plan were those involving academic life on campus. McCabe Library could see expansions on both south and north sides with a focus on creating more translucency, that is, adding more and larger windows. The plan also proposed the option of a possible rooftop terrace on the southern renovations. The performing arts buildings could also see some revamping with plans for a defined plaza area between the Lang Music Building, the Lang Performing Arts Center, and Martin Hall.
Propositions for a lobby area in the Lang Music Building with a view of the Crum Woods have also been made. The north end of campus could see the most substantial changes, however, with proposals to add a new building with a focus on Biology where the Dupont Parking Lot is currently located. In addition to revamping the Science Center, the plan proposed renovations and additions to Hicks Hall and renovations to Papazian Hall. The buildings would be joined to form an even larger Science Center complex with second and third level halls connecting the current Science Center to the new biology building, which in turn would be connected to the renovated Hicks and Papazian Halls. Martin Hall would be refitted to house more humanities departments, which could open up Beardsley Hall to accommodate a new art gallery. One of the key focuses of the Campus Master Plan was how to build and expand with an eye to sustainability, and many of the proposals contain an element of environmental consciousness. The parking garage at the Faulkner Courts could be home to a green roof that,would be more aesthetically pleasing than bare concrete and would create a space for a student vegetable garden. The natural, east-west orientation of the campus means buildings get a good southern exposure, which facilitates energy efficiency. Students need not worry about construction disrupting campus life anytime too soon either. Although administrators are in the process of finding an architect for the Science Center and Hicks Hall renovations, ground-breaking still appears to be a ways away. “We could see something certainly within eighteen months,” said Stu Hain, vice president for facilities and services and co-chair of the Campus Master Plan Advisory Committtee. Hain also recalled the intricacies of renovating the Science Center early in the previous decade, a process which was completed in nine separate phases. “I don’t think any of this will be as complex,” he said.
Women’s Resource Center Hosts Week of Events
By SARAH COE-ODESS News Writer In celebration of March’s nationally recognized Women’s History Month, the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) decided to organize its own week to recognize women’s rights and issues. Running from Friday, March 22 to Thursday, March 28, the week consists of 12 events that focus on various topics regarding women— ranging from faculty panels about women in transnational media to student spoken word to a women’s luncheon. While WRC board member Kassandra Sparks ’15 and WRC intern Sabrina Singh ’15 are in charge of the weeklong event, 10 different student groups on campus are responsible for running their own respective events. “Last semester, we were talking about what large-scale event the WRC could do,” Singh said. “A housesitter had the idea of a women’s weekend, commemorating the idea of women in March. Another housesitter had the idea to reach out to other groups and see what they think as well. You expect the WRC to talk about women’s issues, but we wanted to hear what other student groups outside of the WRC
COURTESY OF IRIS FANG
Spoken word artists Franny Choi and Fatimah Asghar will perform on Saturday in the Lang Music Building.
think and feel about women’s issues.” These student groups, which include political, religious and ethnic groups on campus, had the opportunity to organize whatever event they wanted, as long as it related to women. “People involved in the WRC would be interested in women’s issues anyway,” Singh said, “but reaching out to the groups outside of the WRC is important, because it doesn’t just broaden our understanding of women’s issues but shows that women’s issues pertain to everyone, to religion, to transnationalism, to different racial and sexual identities. We thought feminism was a good base to link different groups on campus.” Sparks also felt that involving various student groups would help change the perception of feminism on campus. “I’ve been surprised by how many Swat students find it radical and only for a specific kind of person,” Sparks said. “We were interested in finding an event that would involve everyone on campus.” Sparks added that she hoped everyone would have a friend involved, which would increase awareness of the event and consequently make more people attend them. Another benefit of the event, as expressed by Singh, Sparks and Anushka Mehta ’15, a board member of the Middle Eastern Cultural Society, is the opportunity for different student groups to come together and form one cohesive event. “I think it was important for [the WRC] to reach out to different groups to remind the community that being a woman speaks to all groups on campus and can be a uniting factor and a way for everyone to engage with one topic,” said Mehta. “It’s also a really cool way for all the groups to work and coordinate with other groups, and to overlap in discussion, because there aren’t many forums for this to take
place,” Mehta, who is hosting an event named “Confessionals,” continued. Not only does the week indicate an opportunity for student groups to focus on the general topic of women, but Swarthmore Democrats and Swarthmore Conservatives also decided to come together and create a joint event. “Danielle Charette [of Swat Conservatives] and I decided to have our groups co-host an event on women in politics as a way to reach people who want to get more involved with US politics, want to learn more about strong female political figures and want to see how women’s issues are being dealt with today,” said Swarthmore Democrats President Susana Medeiros ’14. For several other student groups, their respective events are an opportunity to share topics related to women that are relevant to the group. “We’re interested in looking at the media as a transnational arena and asking how women have been engaging in the arena and how that engagement shapes the representation in politics,” i20 Public Relations Officer Chayanon Ruamcharoen ’15 said. “I think this is a good opportunity for i20 to be more ‘political.’ I think it’s a good opportunity for i20 to bring in national and transnational perspectives that were missing.” Abigail Holtzman ’16, who is collaborating with Swarthmore Hillel to organize “Women and Water: Change and Continuity in the Jewish Tradition,” sees her event as a time to share an aspect of her life that holds large significance to her. “To me, story-telling is an important part of any holiday, because it involves sharing with other people,” she said. “Story-telling emphasizes changes and continuity at the same time. A lot of religion is about story-telling and traditions but also adapting.”
Women’s Week creators Singh and Sparks’ own event does not involve the focus of women in different religious, political, or ethnic groups; rather, it celebrates the Swarthmore alumnae and their accomplishments. Both expressed that they hope their event can inspire Swarthmore students and allow both students of all genders to recognize the accomplishments that Swarthmore graduates have made. Regardless of the individual purposes of each groups’ goals for their individual events, everyone involved shares a common goal of conveying the importance of women’s issues and focusing on the prevalence of women in society. “I think one problem is that women’s issues are relegated as ‘women’s issues,’ not mainstream or relevant to the overall population,” Singh said. “Since woman-identifying people are part of the world’s population, it should not be relegated to the corner. It’s equally important to realize women’s issues are relevant to the whole population.” Mehta expressed the hope that people will have the opportunity to define womanhood and share their own experiences of what it means to be a woman, while Enlace President Dilcia Mercedes ’15 stated that she hoped the week would portray women as stronger than some people may perceive them. “Women are still not thought of as the pioneers and leaders of important achievements for our society when in fact they put in a lot of work,” she said. “This week will help us display all of the roles we take on, and it will just give people the space for people to look at the women in their lives more closely and appreciate them for all of what they are.” The event kicks off this Friday at 4 p.m. with MECS’ event Confessionals. More details on each event can be found at http://wrcwomensweek.wordpress.com/.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
The Phoenix
Students Seek to Combat Microaggressions By ANNA GONZALES Assistant News Editor
An upcoming workshop hosted by White Students Confronting Racism (WSCR) will address issues of racial microaggressions and connect individual occurrences of racism to structures of institutionalized racism, as well as to white supremacy. According to Maddie Reichman ‘13, a member of WSCR, the main goal of the workshop is to educate people about microaggressions, which Reichman defined as seemingly everyday, subtle comments or non-verbal actions that convey racism and an imbalanced racial power dynamic. These microaggressions serve to oppress marginalized identities, Reichman explained. The workshop will analyze microaggressions in a political fashion, conveying to attendees the larger, institutional significance of these instances of racism. “We’re trying to situate racial microaggressions in the context of racial hierarchies, and to elevate the perception of these as beyond individual acts,” said Mike Lumetta ‘15, another member of WSCR. Because instances of racial microaggressions are extremely subtle, they tend to be ignored by or are imperceptible to the perpetrator, something which the workshop will address. For this reason, Reichman explained, WSCR members hope that many white students will attend the workshop. “White people tend not to have to recognize racial microaggresions a lot, and part of our workshop will be trying to raise consciousness of that,” Reichman said. Because of the pervasive nature of microaggresions, the workshop will also be open to faculty, staff, and administrators on campus. “These things happen in the classroom and in every area of Swarthmore life, so we think it’s important to engage the adults on this campus too, and not just keep it to a student conversation,” Reichman said. WSCR as an organization is dedicated to the idea of white students teaching others about racism, so that the burden of education does not fall solely upon people of color. Reichman said that the group, which consists of a core of about four members, joined by 10 to 15 other students during each discussion, focuses on consciousness-raising and upon unpacking privilege. Students in the group also examine how their lives are structured by white supremacy, and attempt to intervene and fight this, challenging their own racism and that which they see around them at Swarthmore. Reichman became involved with the group after a workshop on white privilege during her freshman year. “I hadn’t interrogated myself and my own white privilege up until that point, and so the group seemed challenging to me,” Reichman said. By sophomore year, her involvement with the group crystallized as she became more aware of the way racism and white supremacy functioned, both in her life and at Swarthmore. Lumetta, meanwhile, attended several meetings during his freshman year, and was attracted by what he saw as important work analyzing the structural bases of racism. The idea for the workshop grew out of a student-run reading group for the Introduction to Ethnic Studies course last semester, which addressed topics that included microaggressions, Reichman said. She added that the recent discussions on social culture and Greek life on campus had highlighted the importance of discussing microaggressions, though the idea for a workshop specifically addressing these everyday, subtle instances of racism had been discussed before the social culture and Greek life discussions began. WSCR also worked informally with Achieving Black and Latino Leadership in Excellence (ABLLE) and other students to plan and execute the workshop. Though WSCR is not connected to the recent Swat (Micro)Aggressions blog in any way, Reichman and Lumetta see the site as a positive addition to campus discussion and as helpful for the workshop. According to the About section of the site, which is maintained by an anonymous group of students, “the purpose of this blog is to gather and publicize the numerous instances of discrimination and oppression against marginalized groups that take place on the supposedly utopian campus of Swarthmore College.” The blog’s creators said via email that the idea to create Swat (Micro)aggressions came from a similar site started by Oberlin College students. Oberlin has appeared in the pages of national
COURTESY OF SWATMICROAGGRESSIONS.TUMBLR.COM
The (Micro)Aggressions blog features this picture, which depicts an incident of hate speech last year. The writing says “Kill ‘em all,” referring to queer students on campus.
news lately, after a series of hateful events culminating in someone reportedly dressed in Ku Klux Klan attire standing by the African Heritage House. Oberlin students have used their own microaggressions blog to document events on campus. “They, like Swarthmore, are notoriously liberal and ‘utopian’ in existence, so these hateful acts are often brushed under the rug,” said Swat (Micro)aggressions creators in an e-mail. The blog seeks to subvert the notion that Swarthmore is an isolated, largely flawless environment. “It’s clear that hateful acts occur on the Swarthmore campus and that we aren’t as utopian as we seem,” the creators said. “We had a string of hate speech incidents last year that ended up with violent threats. In the past month or so, there have been three separate incidents of students urinating on the Intercultural Center. Additionally, there are the day to day microaggressions that marginalized students experience every day on this campus.” Anyone can submit a post to the blog or ask the site’s creators a question, and the content includes accounts of verbal and physical microand macroaggression, as well as screenshots of social media posts from sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The blog’s moderators also respond to criticism submitted by viewers of the site. So far, the creators said they have received about 50 submissions, and have rejected 5 or 6 (the site does not accept posts which are off-topic or deemed especially hateful, the creators said). “I think it’s a positive thing,” Reichman said of the site. “If you just hear a microaggressive comment in passing, sometimes you feel helpless, because you can’t really engage. It helps to be able to record that on the blog, and in the workshop it’ll be helpful in thinking about what actually gets said here at Swarthmore.” Reichman hopes that the workshop will discuss microaggressions not in a general way, as comments which might be made, but in a concrete fashion by discussing what has been overheard at Swarthmore. Lumetta echoed this idea of having a record of comments. “As white people, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that these things actually happen,” Lumetta said. He added that he appreciate the blog’s recent addition of parentheses around “micro” in the title “microaggressions.” “I think it’s important to distinguish between microaggressions and straight up aggressions,” Lumetta said. Critics of the site have accusaed the site taking comments out of context, failing to facilitate productive discussion and propagating “abusive call-out culture.” “I understand where those responses are coming from and it is possible that some comments are taken out of context— we don’t hear the context,” the blog’s moderators said. However, they explained, there are episodes which are clearly not out of context--”for instance, the very clear aggressions like the abuse of a black male on campus by a white male, and the repeated urination on the Intercultural Center.” So, the
creators explained, while there may be some decontextualized posts, these still contribute to productive discussion. The blog’s creators see themselves as attempting to educate and create constructive discussions, and they said they were open to suggestions. “We try very hard to be respectful of people’s understanding of racism and work to educate. We don’t shut down conversation… we rationally and reasonably explain why we disagree. We welcome follow-up questions and are happy to engage in discussion, and are willing to make concessions when we’ve made a mistake,” the creators explained. They cited the many changes to the blog, per reader request, and the thoughtful answers to numerous questions, as evidence of this. Some students have mocked the site, especially after the blog posted about a student quoting lyrics from an A$AP Rocky song. While the creators said that they had re-
ceived much support for the blog via Tumblr and Facebook, they were aware that some students did not take the site seriously. “There is definitely a perception that the blog is a big joke on campus,” the creators said. “We’re okay with that though. The fact that there is this perception about students trying to confront prejudice and oppression only illuminates the fact that cultural and structural changes are necessary.” Additionally, the creators see this response as indicative of the fact that many students read the website. Ultimately, the blog and the WSCR workshop have similar goals of educating students about various forms of discrimination, raising consciousness, and creating awareness. “Hopefully, people will begin to understand that Swarthmore is not perfect and that it takes work to create an intentionally inclusive community,” said the (Micro)Aggressions creators. Ideally, they concluded, this realization will lead to serious structural and cultural reforms on campus.
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The Phoenix
BIG BOI OF OUTKAST TO HEADLINE LSE By Brennan Klein I’m pleased to announce that Big Boi will headline this year’s Large Scale Event on April 6th in the Lamb Miller Fieldhouse. Opening for the Grammy-winning hip hop artist will be the New York natives, EMEFE. We’re hoping that the pairing of these two acts in this year’s show provides a balance between an incredible live music experience with a famous artist and a seamless blend of hip hop, rock, and funk. I genuinely hope you share my excitement. I’ve been involved in the LSE Committee for several years now, and never before have I seen such a successful campaign pulled together in this short of time. While literally working since June to book this show, the committee was hit with blow after blow after blow by some ethereal higher being, who, for the sake of this article, we will call the Supreme Fascist (see the wikipedia page on mathematician Paul Erdös). Now, whenever progress would be made with plans for LSE--whether it be with an artist, a venue, a date, you name it — this Supreme Fascist would ball up all of that intangible progress in his callous hands and gently pet that misty, airy ball until, “Oh I’m sorry, you wanted those plans?” The Supreme Fascist’s hands are stained with the blood of good ideas (I’m getting some weird Of Mice and Men imagery here). But those days are over. The Supreme Fascist, it turns out, has a soft spot for peppy, dedicated, hardworking Swarthmore College employees. That’s right; Rachel Head, Dean of Housing, Being-a-Boss, and other Wizarding Affairs, saved the day. She, along with Satya Nelms and many others in the Dean’s Office, as well as Susan Smythe from Facilities & Services, stepped into what looked like a possible cancellation of LSE 2013 and turned the whole thing around. Because once LSE gets cancelled, who’s to stop the Supreme Fascist from cancelling Christmas? Or summer vacation? Or Game of Thrones Season 3. Long story short, if it weren’t for the dogged determination and incredible organizational skills of the staff from Dean’s Office, the President’s Office, the Athletics Department, and Facilities & Services, it’s safe to say that this school and most of eastern Pennsylvania would have burned down (angry sophomores who got placed into Strath Haven and a cancelled LSE? I don’t even...). One final order of business is an apology. I had personally kept pushing the idea that the student body would vote on the opener of LSE this year, but clearly this didn’t happen. Though I hope that students involved in LSE in the future will continue to try to incorporate student voting in the planning process, this became impossible this year. There simply was not enough money for the kind of opener that would generate mas-
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sive appeal to the voting students. But out of this budgeting problem, we were able to book EMEFE, an incredibly talented band that has a substantial student following here at Swarthmore. Expect more information about the band as we get closer to the show. And expect these guys to make it big in the music scene very soon. Okay, I’m done. Thanks for the patience, frustration, suggestions, and help that you all have had this year in planning this show. A campus-wide email will be sent out soon with information about ticketing. We are excited to deliver a terrific Worthstock to you, and again, if you have anything to say to the LSE Committee in the form of complaints, comments, or suggestions for Worthstock, send them to swarthmorelse@ gmail.com. Worthstock will be on May 5th in Paces. I mean, Worth Courtyard. And now, here’s stuff I didn’t write (courtesy of Big Boi and The Redding Group): A 20-year career as a Hip Hop artist is rare. A 20-year career as a Hip Hop artist who gets better with every album is unheard of. But in the case of Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, it’s no surprise. As one half of Outkast with his partner in rhyme Andre 3000, Big Boi blazed trails and broke blueprints with three certified classics; 1994’s Southerplayalisticadilacmuzik, 1996’s ATLiens and 1998’s Aquemini. The duo then brought in the new millenium by selling four million copies of their genre-defying fourth studio album Stankonia only to follow it up with the diamond-selling opus Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
Now, nearly a decade later Big Boi continues to break ground on his own with his second solo album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. The follow up to 2010’s critically-acclaimed Luscious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, Vicious Lies... seeks to bring the truth in an era where anything but is accepted as the real. “I borrowed the title from my Grandmother who passed away,” explains Big. “She beat cancer twice and the family said she needed to make a movie about her life. She said she would write a book instead and call it Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors because she was going to tell it how it is. So to me the title is a search for the undisputed truth. We’re living in the information age with everything at your fingertips. But at same time, with social media you can take something and it will spread whether if it’s true or not.” Describing the album as “one-half Outkast, one whole of me,” Big Boi takes sole possession of the wheel behind the Cadillac that is the Outkast legacy and cruises into unchartered territory with his thirst to expand the rules of music serving as the navigation. The rap veteran known as General Patton shows off his rank on the lyrical exercise “The Thickets” and later leads the charge on “In the A” featuring fellow Atlanta troops T.I. and Ludacris. Futuristic funk is explored on the digital jams “Objectum Sexuality” and “CPU,” both featuring indie pop duo Phantogram. Then Big opens up the soul basket and talks about the gain and
Illustration by RENU NADKARNI
pain of relationships on “She Hates Me” featuring Kid Cudi. Even while being established with six Grammy Awards and 25 million records sold worldwide Big Boi proves that he can still spar with the new jacks when he recruits A$AP Rocky for the Organized Noize-produced “Lines” and sprint with the current stars on the adrenaline-pumping “Shoes For Running” featuring B.o.B. Also a master of melody, Big displays his “funk throat” on the playful “Raspberries” featuring long time collaborator Scar and bounces over in-house producers The Flush’s pulsating pianos on the lead single “Mama Told Me” featuring Kelly Rowland. Keeping the Outkast artistic tradition alive, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors’ album art is presented as a pocket-sized art gallery with customized paintings to accompany each track. The Rolling Stoneesque logo with the clinched teeth featured on the CD represents how in these times you have to be careful about what you say. Big has made a name for himself being selective with his words, which is why each one he says to this day means something special. “Today’s trend is that you come in, get hot and disappear,” says the living legend. “You’re not supposed to come out, get hot, do the biggest album ever and then keep cruising to where it’s undeniable. If you don’t like this album, you don’t like music.” Brennan Klein ’14 is Chairman of the LSE Committee.
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Living & Arts
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
The Phoenix
DORM DIVE
Quiet Phi Psi Living By MAYRA TENORIO Living & Arts Writer Ian Lukaszewicz’s room sits on top of one of the most visited spaces on campus. The second year student and Economics major is this year’s Phi Psi brother chosen to live in the fraternity’s house. Each year, “[the room] typically goes to the brother with the lowest lottery number,” explained Lukaszewicz. A large staircase directly in front of the door leads up to his spacious room. A large queen bed rests against the wall to the right of the door adjacent to one of his dressers. To the right, a sleek plasma TV strategically faces a black futon and rectangular table that lie against the left wall. Posters, stickers, clothing items, and other Philadelphia Eagles paraphernalia are notably displayed throughout his room. “I’m a big Eagles fan,” admitted Lukaszewicz.The rest of his decorations are “cliché college stuff ” like movie posters and flags. He did point out, “I found a plastic sword” laying downstairs in the main room. “I get all the treasures that are left behind,” he said. Most distinct are Lukaszewicz’s lacrosse artifacts. Over his desk is a Swarthmore lacrosse team jersey that has been hanging “[in the room] for a couple of years” and propped over the door is his freshman year lacrosse stick with which he scored his first points. Lukaszewicz said his pennies and sports hats are the the items most representative of who is is. “[It is] stereotypical of being a lacrosse guy,” he acknowledged, truthfully noting that also the video games, TV, and Eagles fan artifacts are “[all] really me.” A sliding door that opens up to a balcony is also the left wall to Lukaszewicz’s room. The balcony oversees the large main
MARTIN FROGER SILVA/THE PHOENIX
room on the first floor of the Phi Psi house and stores the sound system for the entire house on Saturday nights. “[It is a] good addition for the room to have” he mentioned. The balcony, which is is decorated with colored string lights, oversees the grand space of the main floor. There are two large tables, three couches, and a vending machine from which the brothers make “10 percent of the profit”. The downfall to the large first floor Lukaszewicz noted is that “there is no basement space like in the DU house.” Nevertheless, there is small lounge tucked away behind wooden doors in the basement that is “just a place for [the brothers] to hangout” Lukaszewicz noted. The area is quite cozy, furnished with red couches, tables, and a plasma TV. Lukaszewicz added, “People are allowed in here as long as they’re with a brother.” In fact, most brothers come out to the house on Thursdays and Saturdays. Since there are limited keys for the house, every brother has a code to a box placed by the door that holds a copy to the key. Lukaszewicz admits that he’s usually alone in the house. “I don’t mind it,” he said, “but I don’t like it [either].” Yet. he admitted that it is nice being able to “nap before lacrosse practice [without disruptions].” A normal day in house for Lukaszewicz involves playing video games, listening to music and going downstairs to do homework on the couches. He added, “[being alone] can compel you to do something stupid,” so he stays away from that. He did recall his favorite memory in the house this year. He celebrated his birthday and it was “nice to have a nice big room where my friends could come” he said, noting “we didn’t have to find a lounge” like students living in dorms must do. The lack of hall life has been the biggest adjustment for Lukaszewicz. Thus, he has decided to be an RA next year. According to Lukaszewicz, it is something he always wanted to do. He is excited to be an RA in Worth next year where “everyone will be my own age,” he explained. Furthermore, sleeping becomes a problem on Saturday nights and he admits, having his room in a place that is accessible to many people during events is “something to worry about” but it has not “been a problem yet.” While the brothers clean after events as a group, Lukaszewicz takes care of his room, the personal bathroom inside the room, and the garbage. “Believe it or not, I vacuum,” he said. While having to clean may appear as a burden for many, Lukaszewicz believes “it’s good and creates independence,” preparing him for when “I am not at Swarthmore anymore.” When asked how his friends and brothers would describe him he responded, “hopefully funny, laid back, [but] responsible.” He took upon the responsibility of taking care for the house as if it was his own. There are even “family pictures” found throughout his room and the house of the brothers hanging out. Lukaszewicz mentioned he has some idea of which brother will get the room next year and is excited to “give him guidance.” Having older fellow brothers take you under their wing is what Lukaszewicz prizes about Phi Psi. “It’s been a fun experience living here,” Lukaszewicz said, adding that “everyone is always welcome.”
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
Living & Arts The Phoenix
DISCLOSURE: Proper Garage, Boiled Down By TAYLOR HODGES Living & Arts Writer
Dance-pop duo Disclosure clearly knows what they’re doing. The pair has successfully integrated the tropes of the UK’s underground dance music into poppier structures, allowing the band to break into the UK’s top-40 charts and set them on the precipice U.S. of omnipresence. But as the electronic production duo brought their live act to Philadelphia’s Union Transfer this past Tuesday, at some point the jackin’ beats, sunshine synths and whirlwind diva vocals failed to coalesce into a display of the fresh-faced duo’s wunderkind prowess, and instead fell flat. Disclosure’s two members, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, are both young enough to have scored fake IDs and started going out in the UK when dubstep was still a dark, underground phenomenon and Joy Orbison had yet to release “Hyph Myngo,” the track that eventually inspired the eldest Lawrence to start producing. Since then, they’ve become students of dance music, appropriating its textures into songs that make it clear they are well-steeped in the work of their predecessors, but without enough original spin on the sound to yet grant them the status of dance music auteurs. Often electronic music artists who rise to prominence within similar storms of hype are known for referencing tropes of electronic music. James Blake twisted dubstep’s sub-bass architecture for his own purposes, creating dance floor material and wub-wub infected singer-songwriter fare that always felt wholly his own. Joy Orbison rose to ubiquity with his stomper “Hyph Mngo,” which sounded like the last rites of rave. Subsequent tracks up to his collaborations with Boddika have all retained his trademark blend of dubstep’s laser precise lower end programming with a distinctively ear-wormy vocal cry. Disclosure have the chord stabs and jackin’ hi-hat rhythms of classic UK garage as well as the laid-back 4/4 thump and
Photos by Taylor Hodges
bump of old school New Jersey house, but don’t do enough to put their own spin on the genre, other than taking these sounds and serving them up with enough tame mediocrity and a poppy vocal to pitch to the masses. The duos live set, too, references many of the best of recent electronic acts and is well-executed, but fails to do anything remarkable. The Howards play their beats on a laptop running Ableton and the brothers borrow the live toms and cowbells of SBTRKT’s live show and the younger Howard steps away from his table of gear to play live bass like Amon Tobin. The boys strung together all of their small back catalogue along with unreleased cuts from their new album. Their new tracks weren’t at all bad, but a Disclosure concert is basically a pop show and a the best pop concert is a hit parade; a slog of unreleased beats and melodies may have stirred the party-ready masses on Union Transfer’s main floor, but didn’t make for an interesting show. The set was anchored by Disclosure’s three best and most popular songs, “White Noise,” “Latch,” and their remix of Jessie Ware’s “Running.” Each song succeeds where most of the duo’s other material fails to entertain because each features a commanding, and more importantly—catchy, vocal, the pop element that has been integral to getting the group’s songs onto radio waves and pop charts. The duo ended their set with “Latch,” their biggest single, looping the opening vocal cry into and whipping the audience into a frenzy of anticipation. The song’s into was lived into a lively edit of ravier textures before settling into a faithful reproduction of the original track the that audience knew and loved. The crowd divided as some wanted to dance out the last song of the set while others wanted to just sing along with every word. As Disclosure is at the forefront of a small emerging group of artists producing traditonal house with a pop appeal, its unsurprising that by the end, everyone seemed to be doing both.
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Living & Arts
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
The Phoenix
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again! Film Symposium Preview A Journey Through Art History in Boston
Like many of the first cities of the American colonies, Boston is rich with history even as it retains a young, vibrant population by virtue of its reputation as a preeminent college town. This wide range in historical representation extends to its visual arts scene. In three days, I visited three major art institutions in Boston (the Harvard Art Museums were closed for renovations): the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), the Museum of Fine Arts ZOË (MFA), and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. WRAY Each museum was completeAesthetic ly unique in just about every Apperceptions aspect, from the kind of art it exhibited to the building in which it was presented. Visiting one museum each day, I got to see a completely different wing of the large art museum that is Boston. Day One: Institute of Contemporary Art Of my three excursions to Boston’s great art houses, my least favorite by far was my experience at the ICA. It resides on Boston’s waterfront, an exceedingly sleepy area of the city’s eastern tip. The building itself, which was renovated and opened with major fanfare in 2006, did not impress me that much in terms of its artistic quality as a work of contemporary architecture. In its overtly fervent effort to be able to have majestic photographs of the building as it resides perched before the Boston Harbor, it ignored its façade opposite that facing the waterfront, giving all who approach it from the land instead of the water an eyesore of a big grey box. On the side that does sit before the harbor hangs a dramatically projected cantilever of the institute’s top floor, but with this single cantilever and no counterpoint offered to it in any other part of the building, it looks strangely out of place and loses any potential expressive effect. Admittedly, the view of the harbor that the large rectangular window provided proved to be incredibly magnificent, but if a building relies on its surroundings for almost all of its beauty, that can’t say much for the building itself. All of the art in the ICA resided on its fourth floor (not much bang for its buck, considering student admission costs $10), and what little was on display contained few surprises. The one piece on view that really interested me was a five-channel video installation made in 2008 called “The End” by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson. The installation is set up so that viewers walk into a large black room with five large video screens covering the walls and enveloping the viewers in the moving image on all four sides. The videos each show the same two men dressed like fur traders — complete with raccoon-tail hats — situated in various locales within the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In each video they hold different instruments: in one, there is a piano; in another, there is a drum set and an acoustic guitar; in a third, one of the men plays an electric guitar; in a fourth one plays a drum set and an electric guitar; and in the fifth it pairs an acoustic guitar with a banjo. Each movie begins to play at different times, one by one, like individual instruments entering into an orchestral piece. At first, the videos sound like they are separate, mutually exclusive “music videos” of sorts, with the men playing quaint little folk tunes. But as the music progresses, suddenly all the videos are in synchrony, and the same two men in each video play in one collective band producing one overall song. The videos last 36 minutes, but the amazement that overtook everyone, including myself, made time dissolve before this simple, unlikely symphony. The ingenuity of the video almost makes it worthwhile to visit the ICA. Day Two: The MFA The MFA, located near the Fenway on Huntington Avenue, is a behemoth of an edifice, containing over 450,000 works of art from just about every art historical period and geographic location. I spent most of my time in the Ancient Near Eastern art section, which was quite impressive in what it revealed about a culture that never ceases to amaze me. On this particular encounter with the long-gone civilization it occurred to me that the nations of this era mastered elegant yet complex design in the various objects they created for religious rituals and daily life. One particularly intriguing example was a silver
drinking cup in the shape of a fist, made by the Hittites around 1400-1380 B.C. The cup was made in the shape of a fist most likely to represent the Hittite hieroglyph that signifies strength, possibly with the idea that the drinker of the cup would gain some. I love that its creator did not just make a cup in a conventional shape and then carve a fist into it, but actually made the cup a fist, then manufactured it in a way to still be functional as a drinking cup. It’s a brilliant, surprisingly sophisticated design choice for a culture as ancient as the Hittites, especially since ancient cultures seem so rudimentary in other ways due to their relative lack of technological advancement. Of course, the MFA contains more than just ancient art, including several quite famous artworks as well as not as famous but equally incredible ones. Long story short, if you ever find yourself in Boston, you would certainly be remiss to pass up the opportunity at paying this mammoth of the art world a visit. Day Three: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Gardner Museum is truly one of a kind in the world. The only place that barely approaches it in similarity is the Barnes Foundation, but even this comparison does not do the Gardner justice. Isabella Stewart Gardner was a wealthy socialite who traveled around the world and founded her own museum, open to the public, in 1903. She had the building in which the collection is housed custombuilt in the style of a Venetian palazzo, making it feel when one enters the museum as if they have truly entered into another world. Every room in the museum has a unique arrangement of art objects. No room is specifically organized by culture or historical epoch; instead, artworks of all mediums, times and places are grouped together to create artistic ensembles that reveal the aesthetic qualities of each individual piece that probably would not be revealed if they were organized in the typical museum layout. Words really cannot describe how stupendous the experience of visiting this place is, it is that original and different from any other art collection on earth. And the fact that it lives here, in the United States, makes it even more wonderful for its accessibility, since so much of the world’s greatest art can only be found in Europe. The best painting in the museum, in my opinion, is Christ Carrying the Cross, an oil on wood work completed circa 1505-1510 by an artist in the circle of Giovanni Bellini. It captured me because even though it obviously has a religious purpose, it is emotionally stirring in a way that transcends religious piety. Its unique cropping of the cross and Christ gives a close-up view on his face to the exclusion of additional figures or landscape. The fact that it shows Christ crying, instead of merely in intense pain, makes viewers stand still.The pain that Christ experiences is surprisingly more amplified with this depiction of the Crucifixion than the typical representation of the iconic event, in which we see Christ’s entire body along with mourners at the foot of the cross. This is the most powerful depiction of the Crucifixion that I’ve ever seen because looking at it makes you feel as if it is only you and Christ alone in the world, sharing this private moment right before he is about to be hung up to die in a way that will consume hours of unfathomable pain. The intimacy and aloneness with Christ is further emphasized by the black background and the fact that Christ appears to be in motion. It seems as if he is about to walk out of the frame; but then he slightly slows his step just to be able to look at you and share your gaze for one significant moment before he leaves to commit an act of courage that surpasses the capacity of any human. Stepping out of my time machine and returning back to the real world (or at least as close as Swarthmore can be to the real world) only made me nostalgic for what I had the great fortune of seeing in Boston. I can promise any art lover that a pilgrimage to Boston is worth every penny, because there is nowhere else one can dwell in the world of Ancient China directly juxtaposed with the discourse of John Singer Sargent and still have time to visually hop over to the Old Kingdom of Egypt in the same hour.
Visualizing Media Futures By TAYLOR HODGES Living & Arts Assistant Editor
This Thursday and Friday, the Film and and Media Studies department will present a series of lectures, conversations, and demonstrations investigating the future of visual media influence through advances in technology. The Visualizing Media Futures Symposium will bring six presenters to speak on throughout the day Friday, bookended by two keynote speeches. The first will open the symposium Thursday evening as David Linde ’92, former President of Focus Features and Chairman of Universal Pictures will be giving a talk on the changing face of the Hollywood film. In light of his role as executive producer on films like “Biutiful”, “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”. Linde will also talk about his focus on global filmmaking and the future of these sorts of global films. The second keynote, a Friday afternoon lecture by media professor Holly Willis, will explore how media artists are using new technologies and techniques to promote alternate forms of learning and education through the media arts. “We’ve assembled a lineup of pretty amazing, innovative thinkers who will talk about intersections of media and technology,” said film and media studies professor Patricia White. “David Linde in particular is someone we’ve wanted to have speak for a long time.” White, who organized the symposium along with film and media professor Bob Rehak, said she thought the symposium would be an important venue for conversation on how consumption of film has changed the past few decades and how this change will continue to affect film itself as the production, distribution, and exposition technologies continue to change. “It’s important to question how these new technologies are going to transform how we see film as you can’t really separate cinema and from new innovations in media.” The first of a planned annual symposium series on the intersection of emerging technology and visual media, the symposium is what Rehak hopes will be the first steps into asking the important questions about the changing academic field of media studies. “I think of this initial foray as a look at different aspects of media practices,” Rehak said. “Our current conceptions of cinema only focus on the traditional model of
a communal experience of sitting in a dark room watching a single projected image. We thought the symposium would branch out into ideas of how media is primarily viewed today: by individuals across a variety of platforms and smaller screens.” The symposium comes at a time that the Film and Media Studies Department is seeking to redefine its own identity and emphasize the “Media Studies” half of its title. “Over the last years we’ve introduced several courses like ‘TV and New Media’, and ‘Experimental Animation’ all of which branched out our definition as a department from one focused solely on film,” said Rehak said. “The symposium is also an attempt to gain a little clarity for our own identity as a department.” Around the time that Swarthmore’s Strategic Plan was released and the college was planning to subtly redefine its identity as a whole, White was contacted by John Davis ’92, president of the Center for New Cinema in Seattle. “He was just interested as an alum in new directions for the college and particularly for the [Film and Media Studies] Department. Was Swarthmore the kind of place where a lab with new technology could exist and could be worked with by bright, talented undergrads? Could you think of Swarthmore as a place where you could imagine, on a small scale, the kind of technological research being done at a large university like MIT.?” Davis brought in Shawn Brixey, Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington in Seattle, and the two collaborated with Rehak and White to put together a program they thought would answer the important questions about the intersection between media and technology. Because of the program’s interdisciplinary nature, its organizers think that it successfully presents something for those interested in any discipline. “First and foremost I would want it to be fun and interesting,” Rehak said. “There’s pleasure in listening to people very interested in their work and doing very fascinating work talk about their it. But I would also think people should think about ways that their institutions, academic and otherwise, are using media and so I think there’s something here for everyone.”
Illustration by YENNY CHEUNG
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
Opinions
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The Phoenix
Supreme Court to Hear Same-Sex Marriage Cases For both supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage, next week will mark a historic event: the Supreme Court will hear two cases relating to the laws and amendments that seek to limit same-sex marriage and whether liberties protected by the Constitution grant same-sex couples the right to get married. Whether such laws as the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 are constitutional or not are the issues that the high court will grapple with. But the rulings will not simply decide whether same-sex couples have the right to marriage or not; indeed, there are many ways the court could rule. However, any finding the PRESTON court makes is bound to be historic. COOPER On Monday, the Court Inside will hear the case HolCapitol Hill lingsworth v. Perry, which challenges the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8. Passed in 2008, Prop 8 overturned a California Supreme Court decision which granted gay couples the right to marry. The case will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Prop 8, and the ruling could possibly have implications for states other than California. On Tuesday, the Court will hear United States v. Windsor, which challenges the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages, even if such marriages have been legalized by individual states. United States v. Windsor: The No-Brainer Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer of New York City were married in Toronto in 2007, before the state of New York legalized marriage for same-sex couples. Under the Defense of Marriage Act, their union was not recognized by the federal government and thus none of the protections granted heterosexual couples were extended to them. As a result, when Spyer died in 2009, Windsor was left to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes — a levy she would not have been required to pay had her marriage been recognized by the federal government. Windsor sued, challenging the constitutionality of DOMA. In 2012, a District Court in New York sided with her, declaring DOMA unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment. The Amendment states that “no person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The $363,000 levy, the Court found, was an unconstitutional deprivation of property. It ordered the federal government to grant Windsor a refund. A Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision, paving the way for the case to go to the Supreme Court. The reason that Windsor is truly unique is that the Justice Department will not defend DOMA at the Supreme Court. Normally, the Solicitor General defends the federal government when an act of Congress is challenged at the high court. However, President Obama, citing doubts about the constitutionality of DOMA, directed his Justice Department to not defend the law. In fact, Solicitor General Donald Verilli will actually make a brief appearance opposing the law. In place of Verilli, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives appointed former Solicitor General Paul Clement to defend the constitutionality of DOMA before the Court. Attorney General Eric Holder also stated that the Department of Justice had determined that laws classifying people based on sexual orientation — such as DOMA — should be subject to a higher level of scrutiny. Usually, such laws are part of a “non-suspect” class of laws, meaning that the Court needs only to determine whether the government has a legitimate reason for the law. Higher levels of scrutiny, usually reserved for laws that classify people based on gender or race, mean that the classification of people based on a certain characteristic or identity must be shown to further a specific government interest. Looking at DOMA with heightened scrutiny, there-
fore, dramatically reduces the chance that the Court will uphold the law. The Court of Appeals that heard Windsor held that DOMA should be subject to an intermediate level of scrutiny. It is yet to be seen whether the Supreme Court will follow the lower court’s example. It would be the first time that the Supreme Court looked at laws concerning sexual orientation with a higher level of scrutiny. If the Court does look at DOMA with a heightened level of scrutiny, the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause could be applied as an argument against the law, adding to the already-existing Fifth Amendment basis for overturning it. If not swayed by these arguments, the court’s more conservative justices might find that DOMA violates the Tenth Amendment, which states that powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people. Since the Constitution does not give the federal government the right to regulate the institution of marriage, a Tenth Amendment argument could be used to label DOMA as an unconstitutional government intrusion on states’ rights. Besides this particular line of argument, the constitutional arguments supporting DOMA are very slim. Given the Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment and Tenth Amendment arguments against the law, along with the fact that two lower courts have already found it unconstitutional, it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will allow the law to stand. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if the decision were 9-0. Therefore, same-sex couples in the nine states that have legalized same-sex marriage can soon look forward to enjoying federal rights and benefits. No matter the finding, though, the decision in Windsor will not grant or categorically deny same-sex couples in other states the right to marry. That issue will be settled by the other case to be heard by the Court: Hollingsworth v. Perry. Hollingsworth v. Perry: Three Possible Outcomes After the California Supreme Court issued a ruling that granted same-sex couples the right to marry, opponents of same-sex marriage started a ballot initiative, known as Proposition 8, in order to enshrine a ban on same-sex marriages in the state constitution. In November 2008, the proposition narrowly passed, with 52 percent of California voters supporting it. By that time, 18,000 same-sex couples in California had already been married. Several plaintiffs, including Kristin Perry of Alameda County, sued the state government on the grounds that Prop 8 was unconstitutional. Perry and her partner, Sandra Stier, were denied a marriage license, and sued on the grounds that the government cannot take away a right once it has been granted. Indeed, before the passage of Prop 8, 18,000 same-sex couples were wedded in California. While a court ruled that the government could not annul those marriages, it did, Perry and her lawyers argued, unfairly deny her a right she had previously been given. Like the Department of Justice and DOMA, California Attorney General Kamala Harris said that she would not defend the proposition in court. Consecutive California Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, despite being named as defendants in the case, both said that they did not support Prop 8. This left Dennis Hollingsworth, leader of the anti same-sex marriage group protectmarriage.com (which started Prop 8 as a ballot initiative), as the primary defendant in the case. Under Judge Vaughn Walker, a District Court in California ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional. One of the main issues in contention during the trial was whether gays and lesbians constitute an “identifiable class” of people, similar to a racial group, or whether they should simply be identified as people who all exhibited a certain behavior. Should they be an identifiable class, as the plaintiffs argued, Prop 8 would be subject to heightened scrutiny by the court, increasing its chances of
COURTESY OF NEW YORK MAGAZINE
Edith Windsor, left, petitioner of United States v. Windsor, with Theya Spyer, her late wife.
being struck down. After a contentious trial (which inspired the play “8” starring George Clooney), Judge Walker declared Prop 8 unconstitutional and stated in his opinion that laws classifying people based on sexual orientation should be subject to the strictest level of scrutiny. The Court of Appeals later affirmed Walker’s decision on the grounds that it is unconstitutional to give a right and then take it away, citing the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Such an action was different, the court said, from never extending that right to people in the first place. Therefore, had the right to marry not already been granted to same-sex couples, the court probably would have upheld Prop 8. Additionally, in a blow to ardent supporters of same-sex marriage, the court found that it could not rule on the broader constitutional question of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry nationwide, citing lack of jurisdiction. This ruling allowed Dennis Hollingsworth to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. While United States v. Windsor is a more clear-cut case with a fairly predictable outcome, Hollingsworth v. Perry is more complicated — and more controversial. In this case, it will be more difficult for the justices to rule in favor of same-sex marriage supporters, since they would be granting same-sex couples the right to marry in a place where same-sex marriage does not already exist, while in Windsor an affirmative decision would only grant federal recognition of already-existing marriages. There are three possible ways that the Supreme Court could rule in Hollingsworth. They could reverse the lower court’s decision and declare Prop 8 unconstitutional. They could affirm the lower court’s decision on narrow grounds, overturning Prop 8 and granting the right to same-sex marriage in California only. Or they could affirm on wider grounds, doing anything from overturning other states’ constitutional amendments defining marriage as between one man and one woman, to calling for the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide. The Swing Votes While it is most likely that the Supreme Court will follow the lower court’s example and affirm the Hollingsworth v. Perry decision on narrow grounds, overturning Prop 8 but not extending same-sex marriage rights to other places, there is precedent for a sweeping decision. In the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law banning sodomy, and by extension struck down similar laws in other states across the nation. In her concurrence, then-Justice Sandra Day O’Connor noted that she voted to strike down the law because it was not equal in application and intended to discriminate against homosexuals. Should the court follow the Lawrence precedent, it might invalidate other states’
constitutional amendments restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. Four of the justices on the Supreme Court — Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor — will almost certainly vote to uphold the lower court’s ruling and strike down Prop 8. While conservative justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are more likely to vote against overturning Prop 8, there are two potential swing votes, meaning the outcome is up in the air. Chief Justice John Roberts, though generally seen as more conservative, has defected on some occasions, most notably last year in the Court decision upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare. He believes in a wide application of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, opposing the use of race to determine what school a child should attend, regardless of whether the intention is segregation or integration. Roberts might also apply to equal protection clause to the same-sex marriage issue and use those grounds to find Prop 8 unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy is the other swing vote. While also seen as a more conservative justice, he, like Roberts, believes in the wide application of the equal protection clause and the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, both of which may be used as evidence of the unconstitutionality of Prop 8. In addition, Kennedy has a relatively strong record on LGBT rights. He wrote the majority opinions in Lawrence v. Texas, striking down state bans on sodomy, and in Romer v. Evans, which invalidated a Colorado statute banning the recognition of LGBT people as a “protected class” when it comes to fighting discrimination. One of the lawyers opposing Prop 8 in Hollingsworth, David Boies, stated in a recent interview with the USA Today that he fears that the age of the Supreme Court justices will be an inhibiting factor from a fair decision on the case, since older people have lived in times where the prevailing attitude is hostility towards LGBT people. Similarly, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who recently announced his support for same-sex marriage, noted in an op-ed that the issue has become more of a generational one than a partisan one, with younger people overwhelmingly supporting samesex marriage regardless of party. A recent ABC News poll estimated nationwide support for same-sex marriage at 58 percent, the highest level in history. No other issue has undergone such a cataclysmic shift in public opinion in so short a span of time. The Court’s ruling, too, is sure to be a landmark, even if it follows the expected route of affirming Windsor, and Hollingsworth on narrow grounds. It is a reminder of the power of our judiciary system and its duty to protect the Constitution — and by extension, the liberties of the American people.
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Opinions
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
The Phoenix
Stranger in a Strange Land In my last column, I related the confusing experience of being born and raised in China as an ethnic Korean and then immigrating to the U.S. at age seven. I belonged to one of the largest of the 56 state-recognized ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China known as “Chaoxianzu,” or ethnic Koreans. In fact, growing up as an expatriate in a foreign country is becoming increasingly commonplace in an increasingly globalized world. With the advent of new technologies and the mobility it allows, hundreds of thousands of people in Asia and around the world have immigrated to countries that they would not have been able to even visit a century ago. Meiri Anto, a fellow freshman at SwarthPATRICK more, is also part ChaHAN oxianzu, as well as part Manchu, and also spent Asian most of her childhood Persuasion in mainland China. Born in Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku in Japan to selfidentified Chinese parents, she would “bounce” back and forth between China and Japan due to her parents’ work, spending months at a time going to school in each country. In 2001, Anto immigrated to Fremont, California, with her parents and younger brother. Though there was a sizable AsianAmerican community in Fremont, she moved to Menlo Park in the Bay Area two years later and then Mountain View in the tenth grade, both of which were predominantly white. “I felt like it was very racially self-segregated,” she recounts. Throughout all the dramatically different places that she has called home, Anto has found that it has been difficult to completely “fit in” to any one of the cultures that have shaped who she is today. The first challenge Anto expressed in growing up in a foreign country was the linguistic barrier. “It was really confusing,” she explained. “As a kid, you pick up and forget languages really quickly so every time I moved I had to make a shift in language. My parents only spoke to me in Chinese so every time I was in China for six months I would forget Japanese.” She even had two surnames, her Chinese family name, Lu, and an unrelated Japanese surname, Anto, in honor of her mother’s hometown. Yet language wasn’t the only hurdle she had to overcome. In addition to “a lot of cultural differences,” the feeling of social alienation was perhaps the most painful part of growing up for her as a foreigner in a foreign land. “Even when I moved here I was definitely an outsider. I didn’t have this experience of having childhood friends I’ve known since I was in diapers.” When asked, “Are you Chinese or Japanese?” while growing up in Japan, Anto would answer, “I’m both.” Because she spent equal time in both countries at the time, her answer would depend on the question, “What did I feel like?” But when she asked her parents how she should respond, they said, “Of course you say you’re Chinese. We’re Chinese.” Though Anto’s parents identified clearly with China in terms of culture, language, and nationality, it wasn’t so simple for her. “It depended on the time but my parents always put priority on my Chinese heritage so we always spoke Chinese around the house . . . I didn’t feel like that for a while until I forgot my Japanese.” Her groups of friends in Chinese and Japanese schools made things even more complicated. “Socially, I felt like I was nothing because I didn’t fully fit into either.”
Living their lives as “permanent immigrants” in Japan, Anto’s parents were naturally very conscious about their cultural identity and that of their daughter. “My parents purposely rejected Japanese culture. Even when they went to America they were very protective of their own identities. They were quite insular about it.” Perhaps her parents had good reason to be so guarded. “I think the reason they decided to become Japanese citizens was because having a Japanese passport made it much easier to travel. But they didn’t have a very good time in Japanese society.” If you know anyone with Chinese, Japanese, or even Korean heritage, you’ve probably heard something about the deep-seated tensions between different East Asian nationalities. “Chinese and Japanese people have a long, awkward history,” Anto explained candidly. As a result, her parents were not treated as equals in Japanese society, even when everyone in the family obtained Japanese citizenship. “In the workplace they faced discrimination. Even though eventually they spoke Japanese as well as any Japanese person, when people found out they were Chinese there was subtle discrimination.” Confronted with prejudice based on race as well as gender in a rather socially conservative society, her parents made the decision to emigrate to the United States with their family when Anto was seven years old. “The biggest reason my parents left was because they don’t treat working mothers very well; there’s a stigma against it.” Anto demonstrates, however, that growing up as a minority immigrant is not the same in every country. She explains that her childhood experience in America was fundamentally different from that of Japan. “Growing up in America also threw away a lot of assumptions my parents had with Chinese values.” Being a minority in two countries gave her and her family a unique outsider’s perspective on cultural norms that can so easily be taken for granted by native-born citizens. “There was a lot of questioning both ways and I think it helped me become a better thinker in terms of deciding what kind of values I wanted for myself.” Her unique cultural insights and experiences contribute to the free marketplace of ideas that gives the United States a unique place in the world, illustrating why being a land of immigrants has strengthened and enriched the polychromatic fabric of American society, not weakened it. In fact, it seems what Henry David Thoreau termed the “tyranny of the majority” on a minority arises most easily — and viciously — in more culturally uniform, homogeneous societies, as evidenced by ancient Greek city-states and the Jim Crow South. The dynamic and often violent interaction of cultural and ideological perspectives in a nation as large and diverse as the United States has placed our country at the forefront of complex racial issues. In the words of James Madison in Federalist 10, “The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it . . . and the smaller the number of individuals composing a majority . . . the more easily will they concert and execute their plans of oppression.” Nonetheless, Anto suffers no illusions of the U.S. as some idyllic utopia of perfect racial harmony. “There were a lot of stereotypes about Asians that I had to find out through people making fun of me. I didn’t know that was a thing.” One such one was, “You’re Asian, so you must be good at math.” She relates one instance of prejudice that she en-
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 opeds 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. Op-eds are a minimum of 500 words and may not exceed 750. Letters and op-eds must be submitted by 10 p.m. on Monday, and The Phoenix reserves the right to withhold letters and op-eds 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
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countered at a young age. “I remember there was this one time they made fun of me for being Asian. They said, ‘I don’t want to hang out with you because you’re Asian.’ They were Hispanic, black, and Indian. You’re not the mainstream either; how do you have the right to make fun of me? It got me to think how little kids institutionalize the way we think.” Most modern developmental psychologists agree that one’s childhood experiences during what Freud terms the “formative years,” or the first five years of one’s life, yield a powerful impact on
shaping identity later on in life. Perhaps the only way to permanently dislodge racial prejudice from our collective consciousness it to teach against our prejudicial instincts at an early age. And more importantly, because open mindedness to diversity cannot be simply transferred from parent to child like a gene, we ought to surround our children with peers that come from different ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, to ensure that they will be properly equipped to address racism when it arises as they grow up and inherit a discriminatory world.
Sports
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
PAGE 11
The Phoenix
Free Agency Making Waves in NFL My favorite part of the football season is when Fulham beat Tottenham at White Hart Lane for the first time in ten years, but in second place comes the summer transfer window. It’s not that I don’t like watching football— if I didn’t have to study I would probably do nothing else, but there is something so romantic about the transfer window: the hope for a new season, the possibilities in the transfer market, and so on. Learning of the acquisition of a big name player to come play in your small stadium is the greatest of all news. And this love of possibilities translates to the period of free agency in American Football, too. Great questions finally have answers JAMES and we begin to IVEY learn who will be starting for Out of Left Field each team in September. It’s been one week and there has already been plenty going on. This is what general managers had been waiting for. The most interesting turn of events was the complete dissolution of the Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens team, just so they could keep Joe Flacco. It really has been a series of unfortunate events for John Harbaugh, as his winning team has been decimated. It all starts with Flacco getting the most lucrative contract in the history of football in the same year that the cap rose by only $2.4m. Flacco did win a Super Bowl, but the amount of money being thrown at him makes no sense. A six-year deal that will pay him $120.6m is absolutely ridiculous. Given that Flacco wasn’t in the running to be MVP last season on his way to a Super Bowl shows how much money is being wasted on him. Clearly, the Ravens were desperate to sign him up on a long contract and to not lose him to anyone else, but who else could he go to? He just won a Super Bowl in Baltimore. Would he throw that away to move to St. Louis or to Cleveland? I highly doubt that. Instead of calling his bluff, the Ravens buckled, and tied themselves to an inconsistent quarterback who sometimes makes Jake Locker look like a Pro Bowl candidate.
The deal looks even worse when you realise how many pieces the Ravens lost. Paying so much to one player made them ineffective at resigning their own players and new ones in the free agent market. Having to trade Boldin to the 49ers for a sixth round pick is not smart business unless you are desperate to shed a contract. Losing Ray Lewis to retirement, Ellerbe to Miami, Kruger to Cleveland, and not knowing whether Reed will come back means that the Ravens’ defence, which was key to winning last year, has now lost its playmakers and needs to be rebuilt. All for Joe Flacco. Is it worth it? The answer, in time, will be a resounding no. The Broncos have been pretty active, with their acquisition of Welker and then their cutting of Dumerville. Considering how good the Broncos were last season, they seem to be better now, at least on paper. Welker gives another pair of safe hands for Manning to throw to and is a marked improvement on the short route, given Manning’s tendency to get the ball away quickly. The whole Elvis Dumerville scandal is a strange one but it shows that John Elway is pretty much the Lord and Saviour in Denver. Elway’s word is law. He is showing some powerful leadership from the front office and it seems to be paying off. He gambled last season with Peyton and that worked out brilliantly. This time round he told Dumerville he needed to take a pay cut ($4m paycut) and Dumerville apparently agreed to it before his agent messed up the paper work. Elway speaks and everyone rushes to obey his command. The NFC East seems to be transition-
ing from the most competitive division — because the teams were of a generally good quality — to a competitive division because all the teams are losing so much. The Giants are beginning to realise they can’t keep both Cruz and Nicks, the Eagles have started rebuilding mode under Kelly, and both the Cowboys and the Redskins are taking massive hits to their spending because of penalties handed out by the league for front loading contracts. All of these teams are trying to either lower wages or just cut players as they attempt to gain some sort of balance in their new environments. For once, Dan Snyder can’t make a huge free agent
acquisition that will cripple the team for years, though only because the team can’t sign anyone at all. It looks like it is going to be a relatively unexciting year in the NFC East as the Redskins win the division purely because their rookie pairing of RGIII and Morris costs a pittance. And before I finish, I want to remember the greatest tragedy of this off-season. This year there was a great injustice done to one player who had worked so hard for his team, had given them his all, and in return was simply cast aside despite his great talents. His name is Ryan Fitzpatrick. The greatest quarterback that ever was any good.
Garnet Athlete of the Week
CORINNE SOMMI JUNIOR., LACROSSE, DARIEN, CONN.
What She’s Done: Scored eight goals during spring break competition to help the Garnet to a 4-0 start to the season. Favorite Career Moment: Making the conference playoffs last year, that was the first time the Swarthmore Women’s lacrosse team has ever made it into the semifinals. Season Goals: My goals for the season are to upset a strong team in the conference like Gettysburg or F&M and to advance further in the conference playoffs. Best Part of Spring Break: The beautiful weather, and our van rides with assistant coach Anita. Least Favorite Animal: Spiders. Terrified of them. COURTESY OF FEMALEFAN.COM
Ryan Fitzpatrick, who — according to Jamie — is the greatest quarterback that was ever good.
DAN DUNCAN / THE PHOENIX
Sports
PAGE 12
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
The Phoenix
JUSTIN TORAN-BURRELL / THE PHOENIX
Left, Ramsey Walker ‘13 delivers a pitch in Wednesday 14-6 win over PSU-Brandywine. He picked up the win after four scoreless innings of relief. Right, Tim Kwilos ‘13 awaits a pitch. Kwilos finished the day with four hits and four RBIs, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning.
Women’s Lacrosse Looks to Build on Success By SCOOP RUXIN Sports Writer The Swarthmore women’s lacrosse team blew through its early season schedule, dispatching its first four opponents, Eastern, Drew, Rochester and Widener by a combined score of 50-18. The team is satisfied with its strong start; in the words of midfielder Annalise Penikis ’13, “It has been great that everyone has gotten a chance to play and get comfortable in games.” However, the team recognizes that much tougher tests lie ahead. The first such test came on Tuesday night, when Swarthmore lost narrowly to twelfth-ranked Amherst College, 11-8. Swarthmore was led offensively by Penikis (2 goals and 2 assists) and Elyse Tierney ’15 (3 goals). Despite the loss, the team’s strong performance was a signal that the team will be prepared for the gauntlet that is the Centennial Conference schedule. The conference is one of the premier lacrosse conferences in NCAA Division III, and the Garnet recognize that they will need to bring their best effort every game if they hope to match or improve upon last season’s 5-4 Conference record and playoff berth. While Franklin and Marshall and Gettysburg stand out as national powerhouses, midfielder Corinne Sommi ’14 stressed that “every game in our conference will be a key game.” “We are no longer the underdogs,” Sommi continued, adding, “We need to prove that our success [last year] was not just luck and that we are a program on the rise.” While upsetting Franklin and Marshall and Gettysburg would be impressive achievements, defender Caroline Murphy ’14 noted that “a few teams in the conference are very evenly matched,” particularly Ursinus, Dickinson and Washington College. As Swarthmore strives to qualify for the playoffs for a second consecutive year, winning these games will be “extremely important,” in Murphy’s words. Whether or not the team has faced strong opponents thus far, it has opened the season focused and driven. Head Coach Karen Borbee attributed the team’s success thus far to “a solid group of returning players from last year,” noting that “they have really helped the new players to feel comfortable.”
Swarthmore’s prolific offensive attack has been led by Penikis. With 14 goals and 10 assists through the first four games, she has played a role in almost half of the team’s scoring thus far. Also contributing offensively have been Sommi (12 points), Sara Lentricchia ’15 (8) and Tierney (5). Sommi came up particularly big in Swarthmore’s lone closely contested contest thus far, a 9-8 victory against Drew, by scoring the game-winning goal on a breakaway with just under five minutes remaining. Swarthmore’s defensive has been just as stifling as the offense has been prolific. Borbee lauded the team’s “strong defensive play” in the first four games. The team’s defense has been anchored by goalkeeper Michelle Ammerman ’14, who has 13 saves and is allowing just 4.40 goals per game. Freshmen Connie Bowen and Christine McGinn have also seen considerable time between the pipes, with Bowen picking up her first college win. Murphy has been the team’s defensive leader, collecting a team-leading 13 ground balls and causing 6 turnovers. Also contributing on the defensive end have been Tierney (6 gb, 6 ct), Lentricchia (3 gb, 1 ct), Catie Meador ’13 and Samantha Reichard ’15. The team’s early games have been particularly helpful for the Garnet’s young players, who have had the opportunity to be eased into game action during some of the lopsided affair. The variety of people who have played has helped Swarthmore “work out the kinks” and develop “teamwork and patience,” in Murphy’s words. The relatively even playing time has helped every player on the team to remain focused and motivated, something Penikis emphasized as being particularly important: “I think our team has a lot of drive this year. Every person on our team wants to work hard to get better, which has definitely contributed to our success.” After taking on Cabrini tonight (7 p.m. at Clothier field), Swarthmore opens its Conference season at home against Ursinus on Saturday night (7 p.m.). Defeating the Bears will be critical to Swarthmore’s dual goals of, in Penikis’s words, “to make playoffs again this year” and to either “win the conference” or “get an at-large bid” to the NCAA championships.
Baseball Surges During Spring Break Trip By DAN DUNCAN Sports Editor It’s a good thing the Swarthmore baseball team traveled to Florida for spring break. With the local weather the way it has been, the team might never have gotten a game in. Rain on Monday and Tuesday postponed the scheduled games at and against Penn State-Brandywine. Monday’s game was rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon. It was nothing but sunshine in Florida, though, where the Garnet competed in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Playing a grueling nine-game slate, Swarthmore came away with a 6-3 record to climb over .500 for the first time all season, with a record of 6-5. The team showed continuing improvement throughout the trip, particularly in the pitching. What appeared to be a liability in an early season loss to Arcadia has proven to be a strength, as the Garnet rode quality starts to three wins in a row, shutting out Juniata 11-0 and sweeping Rhode Island College in a doubleheader. The starting pitching was solid in recent losses as well: Oscar Leong ’16 threw five shutout innings in an eventual 8-3 loss to New Jersey City, while Nathan Booth ’16 allowed three runs in five innings in a 4-3 loss to Juniata. Upperclassmen have pitched well, too — Luke Alventosa ’15 allowed one run on just four hits in a complete game effort against Rhode Island, while Ramsey Walker ’13 had a complete game of his own, allowing three runs in the nightcap. Travel helped awaken Swarthmore’s bats, as an offense that had scored just two runs in its first two games exploded for 43 in the first four games of the trip. Rory McTear ’13 has been on a tear, leading the team with a .462 batting average and .548 on base percentage. He isn’t the only one, either. During the trip, eight players had a batting average over .300. Tim Kwilos ’13 and Nicko Burnett ’14 have provided the big guns, slugging a home run each and knocking in eight and seven runs, respectively. Kwilos said the team improved rapidly as it shook off the early-season jitters. “We are a young team with a lot of guys trying to either win a starting spot or find their roles within the lineup, so people really viewed
this trip as an opportunity to show what they had and how they could contribute. So as guys settled in, we’ve seen everyone take a good step forward and we saw much more consistent play by the end of the trip.” McTear emphasized that the Garnet were playing better as the trip went on. “Our two wins over Rhode Island College on the last day of the trip were the best we have played all year. We got two stellar pitching performances and got contributions at the plate from lots of guys, especially Danny McMahon ’15, Cody Ruben ’14, and John Lim ’16.” Lim, along with Leong and Booth, has adjusted well to the college game. The second baseman/catcher has hit .391 with five RBIs so far in his first season. McTear pointed out that all of the freshmen pitchers have been doing well, saying that “all [have] thrown some quality innings and haven’t been afraid to challenge hitters.” Kwilos said it was especially important this year that the younger players perform well, and was impressed that they had thus far. “We have been preaching all year that we need everyone, regardless of age, to contribute this year if we are going to be successful, and I think the freshmen understand that.” There is still a week left on the nonconference schedule, but it is never too early to think about the upcoming Centennial Conference season, which begins with a doubleheader at home against Dickinson on March 30. Both Kwilos and McTear thought the spring break games provided a strong preparation for the always competitive slate. Each player emphasized, in Kwilos’ words, “what a grind the season is” and how “we need to be ready for quick turnarounds each week.” McTear added that many games “allowed for all of the players to get multiple opportunities to play.” At the same time, Kwilos pointed out that the game is the same regardless of opponent. “I think it was more important for us to focus on our play as a team and take steps forward as a group ...We know we’ll need a consistently high level of play to have success.” Following Thursday’s game at Cairn, the next Garnet home game is a doubleheader against Oneonta State on Saturday. The first game is scheduled for 12 p.m., while the next will follow at 3 p.m.