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How well do you know your alma mater? Give this the ol’ College try!

1. In 1992, what band of Swarthmore College students, led by Mario Vuksan ’93, became one of the top musical acts in Croatia?

2. Approximately how many books are in Friends Historical Library?

3. SWIL stands for what?

4. In 1948, President John Nason briefly suspended publication of The Phoenix after it printed an editorial about what groundbreaking treatise?

5. In 1907, wealthy Quaker Anna T. Jeanes offered Swarthmore her estate, rumored to be worth $1 million (more than $25 million in today’s dollars), if the College discontinued what?

Answer Key

1. Croatian Liberation Front. Their first song, “Croatia’s Gotta Be Free,” went to No. 2 on the Croatian music charts. The band—Vuksan, Van Curtis ’95, and Robert Greenawalt ’92, with Alexandra Cole Spadola ’94, Maya Newton ’94, and William Buttram—donated all profits to humanitarian and medical aid in Croatia.

2. 50,000. FHL is the world’s largest Quaker research library with 400 major manuscript collections, 9,000 volumes of original meeting records, and a vast collection of photographs and graphics in addition to its books and periodicals. FHL was established in 1871 as a gift of Quaker Anson Lapham; installed in a fireproof alcove of Parrish Hall, it survived the 1881 fire largely intact.

3. Swarthmore Warders of Imaginative Literature. Formed in 1978, it was a spiritual heir to the Canton of the Ivory Tower, Swarthmore’s dying chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism. The group is perhaps best known for running the annual Pterodactyl Hunt, an event originated by the Folk Dance Club. In 2007, SWIL changed its name to Psi Phi.

4. Kinsey Report volume I, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. More than 100 Swarthmore men contributed sexual histories, comprising about 2 percent of the total 5,000 included.

5. Intercollegiate sports. The Board of Managers decided to refuse the gift, stating: “We believe [intercollegiate athletics] liable to abuses ... but it would seem that if competitive games with other colleges are on the whole objectionable, they should be abolished for that reason, and not because of the tender of a sum of money.”

 

Know any fascinating Swarthmore trivia? Send your question/answer to quiz@swarthmore.edu. If we use it, we’ll send you a prize!