To the Editor:
It was a pleasure to read the article about Gil Stott ("His Feet Are in the Real World," March 1998). Gil has obviously taught many people many things, both directly and by example, but I thought I'd pass along a story about the time he taught me something without realizing it himself.
Sometime during my stay at Swarthmore, I wrote a little piece for cello and piano in the style of Brahms, and Peter Rosenfeld '58 and I played it at one of the Sunday afternoon concerts in Bond. At the last moment, on a whim (although my subsequent career has made that whim seem prescient), I decided to palm the piece off as a late work by Brahms, the manuscript to which had recently been discovered just to see what would happen. Gil was in the audience, and after the concert he came up and told me how much he had enjoyed the piece and how it really showed what direction Brahms was moving in at the end of his life.
As he spoke I suddenly realized that I was now stuck with my little prank &endash; that I couldn't reveal the truth without possibly embarrassing Gil. And that's when I found out that I don't really like hoodwinking people. Some pranksters get off on duping and making fools of their victims, but I'm not one of them. (Anybody who doesn't figure out pretty quickly what's going on with PDQ Bach isn't getting his or her minimum daily requirement of irony.)
I've been feeling guilty about that ruse ever since, and I just can't stand it any longer. I am driven to confess, and I hope that after four decades, Gil will forgive me, especially because, unbeknownst to him, he was teaching me a lesson.
Peter Schickele '58
New York
To the Editor:
Gil Stott intervened when circumstances beyond my control jeopardized my future at Swarthmore.
I had been in his Ethics class (with his son Bill '75) and watched tears come to his eyes as he read Pericles' funeral speech. I had been to dinner with him and his lovely wife and had walked with him along the Crum.
But it wasn't until I walked into his office one afternoon and announced that I had decided to leave Swarthmore College that I took a fuller measure of the man.
He immediately telephoned the source of my trouble and, with a firmness and command that surprised me, reversed my apparent misfortune and saved me from a stupid act I would have regretted the rest of my life.
I'm sure he has his faults. Who is without faults? He is also one of the finest human beings I have ever known.
Mike Petrilla '73
Upper Darby, Pa.
To the Editor:
David Wright's ['69] fine tribute to Gilmore Stott stirred warm feelings in me. My respect, love, and appreciation for Dean Stott have grown as I have grown and as I have come to understand what is rare in the world and what is common. What he gave to me is rare.
I was the first in my family to attend college. Dean Stott affirmed me as a person when he encouraged me to come to Swarthmore during an interview during my senior year in high school. His incredibly soft, deep voice soothed me as I looked with trepidation at my future college experience.
I don't remember talking with Dean Stott much during my time at Swarthmore. But in the spring of my junior year, after we had tied Penn State in lacrosse, my roommate told me the following: Dean Stott, sitting in the stands next to my roommate, asked who had made the goal to tie the game. When given my name, he remarked something to the effect, "I knew he could do it!" That pronouncement, though not heard by me personally, has been an inspiration to me throughout my life. I have drawn on it in times of self-doubt.
William J. Boehmler '60
Wyomissing, Pa.
To the Editor:
There are many athletes at Swarthmore College who, for one reason or another, have decided not to compete. Some conclude that they cannot balance the rigors of academics and athletics. Others cite personal differences between the coaching staff and their own philos-ophies. In these cases it is in the best interest of the individual and the team for the athlete to remove himself or herself from competition.
However, in the Bulletin ("Postings," March 1998), J.T. Haskins cites a lack of competition at the Division III level as one reason for his departure from the varsity men's basketball team. I found his article to be insulting to the many athletes who compete on a daily basis while wearing the Garnet uniform. Certainly the level of talent in Division I is greater than that in Division III. However, I would argue that competition within the Centennial Conference is very strong, and a rigorous academic load provides constant challenge for the athletes. I find it ludicrous to think that the starting point guard for a winless men's basketball team would quit after seven games, citing a lack of competition and challenge.
I would ask that the Bulletin choose to celebrate those student-athletes who are competing on a daily basis and not the critics who would sit on the sidelines smugly believing that they are better. The real story lies in the heroics of a men's basketball team that, after losing its starting point guard and going 0-22 in the regular season, was victorious over Haverford College in the final contest.
Adrienne Shibles
Head Women's Basketball Coach
To the Editor:
J.T. Haskins' article about why he quit the basketball team perpetuates the notion that the Swarthmore student-athlete is not a valued member of the community. By publishing it the Bulletin promotes the idea that academics are the sole purpose of attending Swarthmore and that athletics are not a worthy endeavor.
What often seems to be overlooked in the discussions of athletics at Swarthmore is the importance in our education of what occurs on the playing field, court, or swimming pool. According to the Swarthmore Athletic Department, "athletics should teach the value of teamwork, commitment, perseverance, communication, and leadership." These characteristics are invaluable assets in a person's life. Mr. Haskins' overgeneralization that "regardless of whether or not we choose to participate in sports, all of us came to Swarthmore to get an education that will make our lives successful" dismisses the importance of what athletes learn during competition.
Swarthmore demands excellence from its deans, faculty members, and students; however, this attitude does not extend across the tracks to the playing fields and courts. The undervaluation of athletics at Swarthmore is represented by the publication of Mr. Haskins' article. For athletes and the College, remaining competitive should not be the goal; success should be. Until we, as a community, move beyond the idea that as long as we beat Haverford, everything else is OK, student-athletes will never truly excel.
Doug Rouse '98
Varsity Basketball Captain
To the Editor:
Although it is healthy that J.T. Haskins has dashed his dreams of playing in the NBA &endash; few of the players who starred in this year's Final Four will get drafted &endash; it is lamentable that for four months out of the year he cannot splurge two hours a day on honing the fundamentals of teamwork, lessons that will have as much impact on his success in business or politics as the analytical skills he nourishes in the classroom. I sincerely doubt that any of this nonsense would have been printed had it been by a student ditching the Philosophy Department because he found it beneath his intellect. The hubris!
On one point I can enthusiastically agree with Haskins: If he aspires to a life in politics, he needs to spend as much time as possible studying the trade. Such impolitic generalizations as "Division III athletics are perfect for a school like Swarthmore, where sports are viewed primarily as a release from the stresses of studying," or "The commitment necessary to be successful in Division I requires an enormous amount of time that Swarthmore students do not have because of the College's high academic standards" lead me to conclude that Mr. Haskins has either (1) not done his homework, or (2) needs to enlist the services of another speechwriter. To compete in Division I does not necessarily require a surplus of time as much as an unusually high level of talent.
And now for a little boorish egocentricity: Nearly every starter on Swarthmore's 1985 baseball team, which posted the best record in College history (26&endash;3) and won Swarthmore's only berth ever in the Division III World Series, was recruited by a Division I school. Like Mr. Haskins, we too found the tug of Swarthmore's educational strengths too mighty to pass up. We all graduated &endash; some with highest honors &endash; including two players who were offered professional contracts. During this period, which is beginning to look like the golden era of Swarthmore athletics, we had many football, lacrosse, and tennis players who threw over Division I scholarships for the rigors of a Swarthmore education.
Like Mr. Haskins I also hope that "athletics will continue to be a major part of life at Swarthmore." But to do so, Swarthmore must continue to pursue athletes who are talented, competitive, and have a firm grasp of the team concept.
Charles Green '85
Dallas, Texas
To the Editor:
I feel that I have an obligation to respond to a claim in the introduction to the article "Faces Like Mine" (December 1997) and in particular to my colleague and fellow alumnus Professor Richard Valelly's ['75] letter to the editor (March 1998). Although I agree with Rick's statement that "Western culture is not white," there is more to be said.
The original claim reads (in part) "the faculty is recognizing that to educate leaders for the next century, Swarthmore needs to help its students redefine and renegotiate the relationship of white, Western culture to the new international political, social, and cultural landscape."
Rick points out what is obvious to me but certainly not to all: that nonwhites have already shaped and will continue to shape the Western political, social, and cultural landscape in as many ways as whites. In fact in America today, I think it would be quite difficult to name any one group that has shaped the country any more or less than any other group. Though I most certainly applaud and agree with Rick's correction of the author's claim, I add the following to complete the discussion.
• In May 1998 there were no African-American chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies.
• One of 100 members of the Senate and fewer than 7 percent of the members of the House are African American. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was changed in 1982 to make it more difficult for courts to uphold drawing district lines so as to increase minority representation in Congress.
• As we move further into the technology age, we must note that no more than 3 percent of the American citizens earning a Ph.D. in mathematics in any given year have been African American &endash; ever. Similar statistics, some worse and some better, hold for almost every field of science.
• In 1996 A Profile of the Working Poor by the U.S. Department of Labor says that "although nearly three-fourths of the working poor were white workers, black and Hispanic workers continued to experience poverty rates that were more than twice the rates of whites."
So, is Western culture (or, more appropriately in this context, the Western political, social, and cultural landscape) white? No. Should we be quick to point this out to those who would say it, even while trying to make a point? Absolutely. However, there is a real danger, particularly in today's climate, to not also mention the issues inherent in the facts stated above in the same breath that we remind people, to paraphrase Rick, of the diversity we have always had in the "appreciation and production" of Western culture.
The full context of the claim was to point out the commitment Swarthmore College has made "to hire more faculty members of color and expand the curriculum" in its mission to "educate leaders for the next century." Given statistics like the preceding, and the fact that early in the 21st century whites will cease to be a majority over nonwhites in America, I believe this commitment to be not only important but crucial. It is my hope that the Swarthmore College Bulletin will continually revisit the issues addressed here.
Garikai Campbell '90
Swarthmore, Pa.
Campbell is a Minority Scholar in Residence in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Richard Valelly replies:
I agree with your points wholeheartedly and strongly. The claim in my letter was that Western culture is not &endash; and never was &endash; "white." I often find myself reacting strongly (as I did in my letter) when I detect what I think is an effort to assume away the rainbow character of Western culture. (An autobiographical note: This somewhat trigger-happy propensity of mine is due to my having spent many months in 1992 at the Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard.) But there is a suggestion in your letter that my point about the deep and inherent diversity of Western culture has a potential downside to it. I agree. It shouldn't have such a downside, but in our current political context, as your letter rightly implies, it does.
The downside is that pointing out the existence of a historic cultural diversity, as I do, may also inadvertently lend sanction to a standpat attitude about the educational, career, economic, and political representation outcomes you describe. It can even inadvertently bolster a standpat attitude about the character and degree of cultural diversity that exists today. I don't have any such complacent views about the issues you bring up, and I appreciate the opportunity to say so.
To the Editor:
Pete Beck's ['57] letter (March 1998) reflects sentiments frequently ex-pressed among nonwhites in this country. From his opening statement, "In a day when most Americans want to end racial barriers based on race and ethnicity," to his ending statement, "without rational, good-faith discussion, the College, the students, and the rest of us are doomed to be prisoners," Mr. Beck plods on narrow-minded, simplistic, and uninformed ground.
During the time that Mr. Beck attended Swarthmore, the presence of minorities on campus was minimal. Swarthmore was a campus where acknowledgment and appreciation of minorities' cultural backgrounds consisted of an occasional intellectual discussion followed by a field trip into Chester.
Mr. Beck's characterization of the Gospel Choir and other campus organizations as exclusionary or bigoted is not only insulting but displays his limited understanding of their origin. It's "just singing," as Mr. Beck puts it, so everyone who can sing should be able to participate.
The Gospel Choir has been an ambassador of Swarthmore College for more than 25 years, and most of the students in that choir had close ties to their cultural and ethnic backgrounds, grew up in predominantly black churches, and to a degree shared the common experience of being treated differently because of their skin color.
It is ironic that the finger is being pointed at minority organizations for creating the "race problem" and further dividing the races. There is an ongoing dichotomy: white America wanting to exclude nonwhites from its professional and social organizations, then openly resenting it when we form our own organizations to sustain us culturally, spiritually, socially, and economically. It's OK to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, German-American, or Italian-American day with public funds, but anything black, Hispanic, and so on is seen as further widening the gap between the races.
This country doesn't ever ask its white citizens to divorce themselves from their ethnic or cultural backgrounds in order to be an American. On the contrary, it has embraced those origins and takes pride in them. But nonwhite ethnic or cultural backgrounds are not valued on the same level.
W.T. Boykin Jr. '77
Teaneck, N.J.
To the Editor:
Professor Sarah Willie's article ("Does equality mean treating everyone the same?" March 1998) sets up straw men for opponents. Many Americans did not "erroneously assume that formal equality instantly created informal equality as well" in 1965. Americans know that there is more than one sort of equality &endash; for example, civil equality, equality of economic opportunity, and equality of economic condition. Americans disagree as to how many of these equalities are proper goals of the nation. Many Americans do not believe it is the proper place of government to enforce anything as vague as "informal equality."
Nor did the ethic of assimilation ever mean that "everyone was supposed to aspire to the same things," with no qualifications. American assimilation created a large core of common culture and values that encouraged an enormous variety of individual aspirations and cramped or destroyed the collective aspirations of many groups of Americans. Americans praised the result of unprecedented individual difference. The argument is not between difference and uniformity, but between two conceptions of difference.
Willie talks of "a national history of systematic oppression and imperialism." If she means that Americans are guilty of murder, rape, enslavement, and conquest, and that we have talked loudly of our virtues while committing crimes, I agree. If she thinks these are American traits rather than human sins, she is wrong. She is also willfully blind if she looks at America and cannot see that freedom is the touchstone of its history. At the very least, she should mention that this ideal (which should not be confused with equality) has something to do with our past.
I disagree with almost everything else Willie wrote. The letters of Pete Beck '57 and Rick Valelly '75 have in them much of what I would have said. I urge Willie to address the actual arguments of her opponents and to modulate her views of history to include both liberty and the lash.
David Randall '93
New York
To the Editor:
I am writing regarding "Q&A: Does Swarthmore have a drinking problem?" in your December 1997 issue.
In my experience it is easy for any student to sail through Swarthmore with a drinking problem without being challenged in any way about his or her behavior. Associate Dean Tedd Goundie's definition of problem drinking as that which "plays a role in ... vandalism ... and in ... misconduct &endash; including sexual misconduct and the rare fistfight," leaves out the more common and more damaging effects of alcohol consumption that I imagine are still rampant among Swarthmore students. I refer to the negative emotional, physical, and spiritual consequences of habitual social drinking.
The alcohol policy at Swarthmore appears strong on institutional controls, but there are some areas that clearly need more attention. Although the College is not responsible for the poor choices some students make regarding substance use and abuse, it is responsible for educating young people. A single orientation-week alcohol seminar is inadequate. Students need more information about addiction, more challenges to habitual drinking behavior, and more information and support about processes of recovery from addiction. It's not just the obvious instances of abuse that are harmful.
I am not suggesting that the College police drinking on campus, but that concerned groups of students, professors, and administrators come together to find ways to raise student awareness of the range of drinking behavior.
Jennifer M. Galloway '90
Philadelphia
To the Editor:
I would like to echo Maxine Frank Singer's ['52] words in the Back Pages article about Swarthmore as a training ground for women scientists. ("I can do it," March 1998) Like Singer I was a National Science Foundation Fellow, and I have gone on to a diverse and rewarding career in research. Half of my graduating class in chemistry, including the three top students, were women. The best chemistry students in three classes ahead of me were also women, whom I met in the dorm or studying in the Underhill Science Library.
These statistics crystallized for me several years ago while I was writing a remembrance of retiring Professor Peter Thompson, who was the chemistry professor who most encouraged me while I was at Swarthmore. I was startled to realize how unusual the support of the department had been at that time.
Questions abound in our profession about "doing science" in a competitive funding environment and being a woman in a male-dominated field, but these are not things I thought about in school. I was impelled by the excitement of science and my own curiosity. However, the fact that I never thought about gender and science until I worked for a company with a male-dominated engineering culture says that my educational roots were well nurtured at Swarthmore.
Anne M. Thompson '70
Greenbelt, Md.
To the Editor:
"Network News" (March 1998) provided several fascinating examples of students working alongside alumni in the externship program organized by the Alumni Council and the College's Office of Career Planning and Placement. I hope other Swarthmore graduates and parents are inspired to offer jobs or housing next year.
The reference to the Council "launching" the program, however, may be misleading. Although dormant until being revived in recent years, the original externship program was actually launched by Jed Rakoff '64 and his fellow Council members in the early 1970s.
Jack Riggs '64
President, Alumni Council
The Bulletin welcomes letters concerning the contents of the magazine or issues relating to the College. All letters must be signed and may be edited for clarity and space. Address your letters to: Editor, Swarthmore College Bulletin, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081-1397, or send by e-mail to bulletin@swarthmore.edu.