The Official Campus Newspaper of Swarthmore College Since 1881 VOL. 137, ISSUE 2
The Phoenix THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013
TODAY: Partly cloudy, no rain. High 46, Low 23. TOMORROW: Mostly cloudy. High 32, Low 16.
SWARTHMOREPHOENIX.COM
Learning How To Think ... About Majors
COURTESY OF THE PLANNING COMMITTEE
Swarthmore Moves Ahead with Master Plan
Pictured above, a plan submitted by architects suggests the expansion of both sides of Willets that would add 75 beds and create a Willets courtyard.
By DAN BLOCK Assistant News Editor It does not require particularly close examination to notice that some spaces on campus are overcrowded. At the peak of lunch and dinner, navigating Sharples becomes chaotic. High housing lottery numbers can inspire nightmares. Some facilities are operating at overcapacity, and others are in need of renovation. In response to the mounting need for improved facilities, the college is in the process of drafting a master plan that will expand and revamp a variety of student spaces. The plan, for example, calls for the addition of roughly 200 beds, a renovation of athletic spaces, and additional eating space in Sharples. But how these changes should be executed is still being discussed. “Things are very open at this stage,” said Randall Exon, an art professor and member of the master plan’s steering committee. “There’s nothing written in stone.” Stu Hain, the Vice-President for Facilities and Services and another member of the master plan’s steering committee, agreed. “We’re still not finished,” he said. As part of the process for determining how student spaces should be altered, the committee held a forum on January 24th in which a planning firm hired by the school
presented a variety of proposals. Sugges- what we hear from students,” he said. tions for expanding dorm space were parIn addition, attendees expressed worry ticularly diverse. They included expanding about the potential removal of Upper TarWillets, constructing a suite-style dorm be- ble from Clothier Hall, prompting commithind Mary Lyons, building new dorms by tee members to assure students that new Wharton, Sharples, and Palmer, Pittenger space for dancing and other activities would and Roberts, and connecting Dana and be included to account for that loss. “Some Hallowell with new housing where the trail- students have real concerns about that beers currently are. During the presentation, cause that serves a community need in a community members had the opportunity really specific way, so we will weigh that,” to comment and make suggestions. Hain said. “The very purpose of There was also the forum is to collect worry among student input on the various opThings are very open athletes that the plan tions,” said Paula Dale, did not go far enough the Executive Assistant for at this stage. Nothing in renovating athletic Facilities and Services and facilities. But Dale emis written in stone. the campus master plan phasized that sports Randall Exon project manager. were carefully considFew students and facered in the process. Art Professor ulty attended, but those “The campus master who did were active in planning team has met making comments. Students, for example, with athletics on more than one occasion voiced concerns that adding onto Willets and gotten their wish list and their names,” would make an already very social dorm she said. more rowdy, or that building by Sharples Hain agreed, emphasizing that they would risk putting students too close to the would take their concerns into effect. “They fire horn. People also wondered why suite- raised important issues,” he said. style housing had to be so far from campus, However, because of limited attendance, which, according to Hain, may affect the it is difficult for the committee to determine committee’s decision to build there. “How if comments are representative of how the we carry that forward will be informed by campus feels. Indeed, sometimes, the comContinued on Page 3
By ALLI SHULTES Living & Arts Editor In 1999, a professor of art history at the college delivered an address titled “The Usefulness of Uselessness.” Her argument has since become the academic credo on campus; the idea that the pursuit of interests, no matter how disparate or “useless” they may appear to be, will somehow come in handy ten years down the line “The Usefulness of Uselessness” may no longer be suited to economic and political realities outside the bubble. Over $50,000 per year is a high price to pay for academic indulgence without hope of job security, and professors and students on campus are beginning to push against the standard rebuttal to questions of utility (“we’re teaching you how to think”). For professor of history Timothy Burke, the issue of usefulness is a question of institutional concern before its application to individual departments. “We have an official institutional ideology that there shouldn’t be — in the simple sense of the word — useful majors,” Burke said. “And that’s increasingly in tension with one part of the national dialogue where you’ve got one group of people saying college costs a lot and the cost is only justified if it trains young people to do something specific that has specific value.” Burke is currently working on an essay discussing the value of a liberal arts college through the lens of obliquity, as described by economist John Kaye. According to Kaye, one’s goals are best achieved indirectly. Aiming directly for what one desires — as, for instance, with happiness — rarely brings the desired result. The educational equivalent to Kaye’s principle is seen between liberal arts colleges and other forms of education — trade, technical and pre-professional schools — that cultivate a skill set specific to a certain career. In Burke’s opinion, the volatile nature of the modern marketplace leaves individuals with a limited toolbox at a disadvantage. Rapid change favors the flexible — theoretically, those that know how to think, as Swarthmore students are often told they are taught. But is this logical rhetoric? Professor of psychology Barry Schwartz doesn’t buy it. “The argument that a liberal arts education makes you flexible, that it prepares you for the modern world, is wishful thinking,” he said. “Smart people are adaptable. Liberal arts schools [don’t teach that]... our students come in smart and curious, and we do our best not to knock it out of them.” Intelligence and curiosity, however, only take you so far: majors matter. For students seeking employment right after college, certain positions require foundational knowledge that can only come from immersion in a particular area of study. Schwartz sees this as being more true for Continued on Page 7
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NEWS LSE COMMITTEE WORKS TO BOOK SOLANGE
LIVING & ARTS SEPTA TO SEX: PHILLY’S SEXIEST OFFERING
Two months after announcing that Macklemore would be performing at this spring’s LSE, the committee is hoping that Solange headline the performance instead. Page 3
Vianca Masucci reveals Philadelphia’s top resources for sex education, kink groups, LGBT nightlife and sexy literature. Page 7
OPINIONS STAFF EDITORIAL The Phoenix argues that students have a responsibility to be more engaged with the campus Master Plan, but the administration must also endeavor to better demonstrate its importance. Page 16
SPORTS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SUFFERS SETBACK The first place women’s basketball team falls to Gettysburg, but maintains their lead in the conference standings. Page 16