Special Assistant of Presidential Initiatives Pam Shropshire talks about voter registration on campus.

MAKING MUSIC: Executive and Artistic Director of The Chester Children’s Chorus John Alston H’15 pg.46

It’s rare to see the College from this birds-eye view. Thanks to drone technology, it looks contained, ordered, and serene in the swirling — and so very green! — composition by video specialist Brandon Hodnett. This tranquility is not the reality at most college and university campuses today. Swarthmore is no exception. As you know, views here vary widely. Discourse and debates are ongoing around academic topics, wars, famine, and conflicts across the globe.

With the days to the November election slipping away, the national temperature continued to rise. In the midst of such discord, in this Bulletin issue, we wanted to talk … about talking.

In “I Think We Should Talk” (pg. 22), we turn to political science faculty and alumni who offer insight on this moment in American political history. They explain what is unique — and what is not — about a fractured citizenship and a fragile democracy. And importantly, they share their thoughts on what may help the country navigate more turbulence.

In something of a response, “Words to Live By” (pg. 34) opens the door for some of Swarthmore’s poets to weigh in on the power of the written word to help make sense of the world in times of crisis and confusion.

Looking Back (pg. 83) highlights the College’s long history with prose and verse as we showcase W. H. Auden H’64’s stately, and slightly forbidding, Underwood typewriter, part of the collection in McCabe Library’s Rare Book Room. Poetry is experiencing a peak in popularity on campus and among alumni.

We know we could not include every Swarthmore poet, but the voices shared represent a gleaming portion of the talent in this diverse and creative community.

Continuing the theme of communication, “Strength in Storytelling” (pg. 44) is a profile of Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro ’02 that examines the promise of investing in the power of local press.

Ending this fall edition on a note of hope, “Empowering Young Minds” (pg. 46) celebrates the vibrant Summer Learning Program of the Chester Children’s Chorus. CCC students explore the campus from the ground up and, with each new season, add their own stories and voices to Swarthmore’s ongoing conversation with the world.

I loved reading about my sister, Mary Potter Rowe ’57 [ “A Profound Impact” Spring/ Summer 2024].

— LINCOLN POTTER ’55 Lexington, Mass.

Ellen Starbird ’82 worked in USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health for more than 30 years before her retirement in 2023. She was director for the last nine years of her tenure.

The right and ability to make those very personal decisions is connected to being able to act on other choices and opportunities. I knew when I graduated from Swarthmore that I wanted to help more people be able to do that. I ultimately found my way to the Office of Population (now Office of Population and Reproductive Health) at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to work on policy issues in international family planning.

“I think there’s something special to be said about the day-to-day grind of being a student-athlete,” says Charisma Hasan ’24. “It seems almost impossible that people make it work, but it also somehow drives this fuel of ambition and desire to succeed in all of the other aspects of the student experience.”

Christopher GoGwilt ’83

The K-Effect: Romanization, Modernism, and the Timing and Spacing of Print Culture
Fordham University Press

The K-Effect shows how the roman alphabet has functioned as a standardizing global model for modern print culture. The first sustained cultural study of romanization, The K-Effect proposes an important new way to assess the multilingual and multi-script coordinates of modern print culture.

“Sometimes people are so polarized that, in the classroom, it has become more and more difficult to talk about charged political issues,” says Sara Koopman ’93.

Alex Anderson ’13 was a teenager when he fell in love with the potter’s wheel.

“It was mesmerizing and thrilling to me, transforming this ball of clay into whatever I wanted to see,” says Anderson, now a renowned ceramicist based in Los Angeles, fresh from his second solo exhibition at Sargent’s Daughters gallery, which ran from February to April of this year.

Since Swarthmore, Anderson has been assembling a ravishing body of ceramic work.

His complex, multilayered forms coated with vivid and shimmering glazes explore weighty topics like queerness and race.

But his clay creations also teeter on the edge of humor and whimsy. His works, from vessels to sculptural forms and paintings, incorporate cartoonish elements. A white rabbit has love hearts for ears. A lemon wearing red lipstick gazes into a pond like Narcissus.

Regardless of who wins the election, Keith Reeves ’88 believes the United States needs a unifying 100 days of reaching out across every sector of American life.

Professor of Political Science Keith Reeves ’88 grew up in Chester, Pa., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as a youth minister at Calvary Baptist Church while enrolled at nearby Crozer Theological Seminary from 1948 to 1951.

The historic church, about eight miles from Swarthmore’s campus, is where Reeves attends services each Sunday. King’s storied victories for civil rights permeate his thoughts about the future.

But politics in the U.S. today — and the lack of progress on criminal justice issues — have him worried.

“We want to ensure a diverse range of voices,” says Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro ’02, CEO and co-founder of the National Trust for Local News.

by Christine Buckley

Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro ’02, CEO and co-founder of the National Trust for Local News (NTLN), adored her outspoken grandmother and namesake.

In 1941, the then 17-year-old Elizabeth Morningstar of Saginaw, Mich., dropped out of school, married General Motors worker Herbert Hansen, and, within a year, gave birth to Herb Jr., the first of nine children.

A wry humorist, Betty Hansen began writing about her chaotic home — which she nicknamed Scotland Yard after the London police force’s “We Never Sleep” motto — for the Saginaw Daily News.

Her column earned instant popularity, chronicling the “muddy togetherness” of a Midwestern house where dresser drawers were always open, a toddler was always jumping on a bed, and someone was always dancing impatiently outside the bathroom door.

Bathed in light, Parrish Hall took center stage for Alumni Weekend celebrations.

The poet’s presence — in the pages of The Phoenix, in the Libraries’ Special Collections, as an occasional lecturer and esteemed visitor — lasted for decades. Auden joined the Swarthmore faculty as a lecturer in English, not as a creative writing instructor, and he rarely read his own poetry while in residence. He tended to break one of the cardinal laws of library usage while he was at Swarthmore: He wrote in library books. But the Libraries were fortunate that Auden usually wrote in his own books, like the copy of On This Island that he consulted while compiling a collection of his poetry.

That poem elicited the exasperated response “O God, what rubbish” from its author. One of the classes Auden taught was entitled Romanticism from Rousseau to Hitler, and the Libraries are fortunate to have his original typed notes, perhaps written using the typewriter (pictured here) that he left behind.

He amusingly wrote to Ursula Niebuhr, “My seminar on Romanticism starts tomorrow.

What do you see as the mission of GOTV?

One reason that creating this committee was a priority for President Valerie Smith in 2018 was that voter turnout among Swarthmore students was below that of some peer institutions. That was really surprising, because we tend to think of our students as activists. Part of what this committee can do is help students connect their activism to voting.

We’re focused on trying to reach young voters and get them to turn out. The last census showed us that Millennials and Generation Z make up about 44% of potential voters. They really do have power if they turn out. GOTV stresses that voting allows for the possibility of positive change, and that young people can lead the way.

What do you say to students who feel ambivalent about voting?

I understand where that comes from. Some people distrust the electoral system. They’re disillusioned with politics. They’re aware of the barriers that really target young people and communities of color, and they care deeply about social justice around the world. We’re in a presidential election cycle that can feel surreal or overwhelming. But I’m passionate about the opportunity, through voting, to move the agenda forward for the things people care about. There may not be an ideal candidate, but I ask them to consider who can help them see progress. Or maybe there’s an issue they want to focus on. We try to focus less on candidates and more on students’ ability to participate.

Student-faculty research is a centerpiece of the Swarthmore experience, fostering a sense of equity, responsibility, and confidence. Thanks to support from The Swarthmore Fund, students like Howard Wang ’26 have the opportunity to spend their summers in the lab, finding solutions to real-world issues. Howard’s research on the mechanics of the human thumb with Associate Professor of Engineering Joseph Towles, for instance, will help stroke survivors regain movement.

Your Swarthmore Fund gift helps undergrads do grad-level research.