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VOLUME 136, ISSUE 1
TODAY: Sunny with no chance of rain. High 84, Low 64 TOMORROW: Sunny and hot. High 90, Low 70.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Sweet ’16: New class arrives
Sorority approval process moves College’s most selective class moves in, begins orientation week activities forward amidst controversy Kappa Alpha Theta chapter to open its doors in spring semester By AMANDA EPSTEIN Assistant News Editor aepstei1@swarthmore.edu The student group Not Yet Sisters (NYS) can finally claim victory. After several meetings and presentations this summer with Swarthmore’s administration, the sorority will be conducting its intake in the spring of 2013. According to Satya Nelms, the campus advisor for the sorority, shortly after NYS was approved to “begin the exploration process for bringing a sorority to campus,” an extension committee was formed with Nelms, Tom Elverson, Myrt Westphal, the leadership of NYS and herself. At the end of last spring semester, the committee selected a sorority — Kappa Alpha Theta (“Theta”). According to Swarthmore’s records, Theta was one of the original sororities at the college. It was established in 1891 as the Alpha Beta Chapter and maintained a steady presence on campus until the 1933 abolishment of “women’s fraternities,” as they were called at the time. The ban on sororities was preceded by years’ worth of protests that claimed that sororities were too central to social life on campus, as well as accusations of their exclusion of Jewish women. Sororities’ pasts at the college have their advocates now working to prevent the level of exclusivity usually associated with such organizations from presenting itself in Swarthmore’s new chapter. “[President Chopp, Dean Braun and I] worked to create a written agreement between the sorority and the college that would uphold the values, ideals and culture of inclusivity and diversity that lay at the foundation of Swarthmore,” said Nelms. According to Dina Zingaro ’13, a member of NYS, the sorority’s intention is to include, not to exclude women. “The sorority on campus will create a haven for students to connect through common experience, to learn from one another and to contribute back to the communities on and off campus,” she said. Although Kappa Alpha Theta will not be opening its doors until the spring, represenSee SORORITY, page 5
LEAH LEE FOR THE PHOENIX
First-years Hang Le, Htet Moe and Klarissa Khor enjoy getting to know each other while waiting for their train to Philadelphia as part of International Student Orientation. The Class of 2016 includes just over 40 international students from more than 20 countries.
Experienced cast gears up for orientation play Production teaches diversity, relationships, misery poker By JEANNETTE LEOPOLD Living & Arts Writer jleopol1@swarthmore.edu Last year’s Orientation Play featured cast members throwing handfuls of condoms into the audience. Those lucky audience members who got to snag a couple (“Yeah, I’m gonna use this tonight! Heh”) were fortunate enough to get a little reminder of the Orientation Play whenever they saw those condoms in their wallets over the course of the next few months. The question is: Will you be an audience member this year? Will you be fortunate
enough to laugh your butt off for two hours and collect whatever lovable treat the actors have in store for you at the end? Or will you be spending Saturday night alone in your room organizing your notebooks and physics flashcards? Only time will tell. The play traditionally features the infamous “Admissions Mistake.” The idea is that all freshmen are terrified that they alone are the not-smart, not-talented, not-worthy-ofthis-wonderful-college student whose name got mixed up with some kid who published a dissertation on the links between Shakespeare’s soliloquies and the number of times Einstein combed his hair. The point of the play is that there is no admissions mistake, and that even if you were never a sky-diving champion, you still belong at Swarthmore. For better or for worse. This year’s play has an enthusiastic, very
experienced set of actors and directors. The play is co-directed by Elliot Weiser ’13 and Patrick Ross ’15. Weiser has years of experience, and is best known at Swarthmore for his particularly memorable performance in 2011’s George Bernard Shaw’s “Farfetched Fables”. Unfortunately, Weiser was unable to comment, since all of his free time is currently spent editing the Orientation script. Ross, who was recognized for his brilliant performance as a sometimes sad clown in senior Erica Sands’ Advanced Directing Workshop piece in the spring, said that “2016ers should come see the show for two reasons: one, it’s hilarious and you’ll love it, and two, it’ll teach you more about Swarthmore than you’ll learn anywhere else in orientation. We get into diversity, sexual harassment, misery See ORIENTATION PLAY, page 10
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NEWS LSE COMMITTEE IN PLANNING PROCESS
LIVING & ARTS “VISIONS OF ARCADIA” MUDDLED IN FOCUS
OPINIONS INHERIT THE WIND: OBAMA, THE ECONOMY
SPORTS Q&A WITH NEW ADA NNENNA AKOTAOBI
The Large Scale Event (LSE) Committee, which organized a popular performance by rapper Childish Gambino last semester, has already began brainstorming for next year’s concert. p. 4
A soon-to-close exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art presents dazzling art from multiple movements, but fails to cohesively express a true “vision of Arcadia”. The exhibit runs until September 3. p. 9
Columnist Danielle Charette challenges the President’s “inheritance” of the United States’ financial mess and calls for Obama to accept the shortcomings of his unsuccessful fiscal decisions. p. 13
Daniel Duncan interviews Swarthmore’s new associate athletic director, Nnenna Akotaobi, who hails from Grinnell College, where she was responsible for various diversity initiatives. p. 16
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