in this issue
Turbulent Landscape
The Swarthmore community weathers the storm and continues to lead throughout the profound changes brought about by COVID-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.
Elisabetta Bianchi
features
Undaunted by the stealth and complexity of COVID-19, alumni bring their talent, energy, and compassion to the pandemic’s front lines.
by Amanda Loudin
In the wake of a national reckoning on race and justice, America grapples with its history and the way toward equity.
by Sherry L. Howard
Jumping through hoops: The K-12 school shift to learning (and living) remotely.
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
DIALOGUE
Bennett Lorber ’64, H’96
Tarzan MacMood ’20
Louise Bingham Bennett ’66
common good
Nusrat Rashid ’93
Christopher Leinberger ’72
Tayarisha Poe ’12
On the cover

Portraits of faculty, staff, and alumni in their masks. Photos by Laurence Kesterson.

class notes
spoken word
Daniel Laurison ’99
Dolores Robinson headshot
laurence kesterson
Recognizing her exemplary service to Swarthmore, the College presented the 2020 Suzanne P. Welsh Award to Delores Robinson, administrative assistant at the Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility.
dialogue
Editor’s Column

Our Common Humanity

Kids Playing on Beach and in the ocean
leandre k. jackson ’75
“Every photograph should seek to expose the depth of substance rooted in the subject’s reality,” says Leandre K. Jackson ’75. The image above, Three Boys, was created in Ghana during one of Jackson’s trips to Africa.
by

kate
campbell
Editor
“We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity,” wrote abolitionist Frances E.W. Harper, one of the first Black women to be published in the U.S., “and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul.”

When I first saw Leandre K. Jackson ’75’s photo of three boys playing by the water’s edge, it startled me with its quiet. Some of the most blissful moments of parenthood unfold while watching your children playing by the sea, so purposefully in tune with its beauty. But the edge of the ocean is dangerous — a wave could come; the water will get deep. Be careful. Come away from the waves! How perfectly this scene unintentionally captured the vulnerability of Black American children today, and the wound that has never healed in this country. In “Waves of Change,” we investigate a way forward during a moment of national reckoning on race, as we have witnessed death in real time and the rage that it brings forth when justice is left to float out into the wind, seemingly uncatchable. Swarthmore alumni who have committed their work, research, and lives to enacting real societal change tell us how to begin again as a country and how it starts by naming the crime of slavery.

As the world continues its war against a virus that seems to lurk in every corner, COVID-19 has now killed more than 170,000 Americans and infected about 5 million since March. In “A Virus Like No Other,” we learn what we knew would happen — Swarthmoreans arrived early to the battle and are working together in ways small and large to heal the suffering the pandemic has wrought.

In “Community Voices,” Bennett Lorber ’64, H’96, the Thomas M. Durant Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Temple University School of Medicine, offers embers of hope in this storm: Our common humanity is our saving grace. We can make it better, says Lorber. In this Bulletin, and around the world, Swarthmoreans continue to shine the light.

swarthmore college bulletin
Editor
Kate Campbell

Managing Editor
Elizabeth Slocum

Senior Editor
Ryan Dougherty

Class Notes Editor
Heidi Hormel

Designer
Phillip Stern ’84

Freelance Designer
Geneen Pintof

Photographer
Laurence Kesterson

Administrative Coordinator
Lauren McAloon

Editor Emerita
Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49

bulletin.swarthmore.edu
Email: bulletin@swarthmore.edu
Telephone: 610-328-8533

We welcome letters on articles covered in the magazine. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, clarity, and style. Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the official views or policies of the College. Read the full letters policy at bulletin.swarthmore.edu.

Send letters and story ideas to
bulletin@swarthmore.edu

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records@swarthmore.edu

The Swarthmore College Bulletin (ISSN 0888-2126), of which this is volume CXVIII, number II, is published in October, January, April, and July by Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081-1390. Periodicals postage paid at Philadelphia, PA and additional mailing offices. Permit No. 0530-620. Postmaster: Send address changes to Alumni Records, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081-1390.

©2021 Swarthmore College.

dialogue
Letters

Ethical Investments

In “Change-Makers” by Elizabeth Redden ’05 (spring 2020), Redden writes, “Morgan Simon ’04 wants you to know one thing about money: Investing it wisely can help bring about social change.” Tell that to Swarthmore College! The alumni profiled in the article are pioneers in ethical investing. Yet, ironically, if their own alma mater hired them to manage its endowment, it would bar them from making ethical investments.

In 1991, just one year after fully divesting from apartheid South Africa, the Board of Managers instituted a policy to manage the endowment based solely on financial returns, not “other social objectives.” This policy has been in place for nearly 30 years.

The Board has repeatedly used it to dismiss student-led divestment campaigns around fossil fuels, Israeli occupation, and the prison industrial complex. Such dismissals seem even more out of line with Swarthmore’s values as COVID-19 reveals the ways in which these unjust systems lead to disproportionate suffering.

dialogue
Bennett Lorber Portrait
laurence kesterson
“Each of us can make a difference by staying informed from reliable sources,” says Bennett Lorber ’64, H’96, the Thomas M. Durant Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Temple University School of Medicine.
community voices

Trust in science

Social responsibility is in our shared Swarthmore genome
by Bennett Lorber ’64, H’96
M

y father operated a movie theater in a small Pennsylvania town. One evening when I was a high school senior and had been accepted to attend Swarthmore, my father called home from the theater to say that he had met an alumnus who had come to see the current film. Dad had invited him to come to our home when the movie ended to meet me. The man turned out to be the writer James A. Michener ’29, H’54. I remember him telling me that my Swarthmore education would prepare me for anything. I doubt that he had considered something like COVID-19.

The world is turned upside down as a strange new virus that came from bats spreads around the globe; more than 170,000 Americans are dead. The preceding sentence could be a promo for a science-fiction film, but it is a frightening reality.

dialogue
Tarzan MacMood Portrait
laurence kesterson
“When I decided to attend Swarthmore, I was worried about what the experience would do to my relationship with Islam. I sought the Muslim Student Association, and that helped me to connect with a community of folks who shared my religious identity and interest in exploring Islam,” says Tarzan MacMood ’20, the recipient of a Roothbert Fund Scholarship, which recognizes students motivated by spiritual values.

studentwise: faith as a foundation

How the people of Swarthmore encouraged me to get back up after falling
by Tarzan MacMood ’20
I

attended public schools in Upper Darby and Philadelphia all my life.

Swarthmore was my first opportunity to study on campus with peers from all over the world.

It was also the first time I had the privilege to explore many disciplines that had been inaccessible to me. All of this, though exciting and eye-opening, was a challenge by every measure.

When I failed my very first college exam, I felt incompetent and alone. When I had to leave my a cappella group to focus on my studies, I wished I attended some other school that was not as rigorous.

dialogue
Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century Book Cover
behind the book

Visual Culture

by Tara Smith
Public art plays a role in defining place — and it’s also in some way defined by that place and its people.

While art connoisseurs might never group the Rocky Statue, Thomas Eakins’s 1875 painting The Gross Clinic, and the Barnes Foundation’s collection together, the stories of these iconic works intertwine to tell a larger story about Philadelphia’s reputation and self-perception. In Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century (Temple University Press, 2019), Laura Holzman ’06 examines “the messy process of public envisioning of place” and the ways that public dialogue shapes public meaning.

Around the year 2000, proposals to relocate these three “contested images” on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway became the focus of often-heated public conversations about visual culture and how to balance the city’s historic past with a more recently acquired negative image that leaders sought to shed in the new century.

Submit your publication for consideration: books@swarthmore.edu

HOT TYPE: New releases by Swarthmoreans

Eden Wales Freedman ’03

Reading Testimony,
Witnessing Trauma

University Press of Mississippi

Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma cover
Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma cover
Freedman’s timely examination of race, gender, and violence in American literature presents a reading theory of dual-witnessing as a means to overcome trauma. Analyzing works by Sojourner Truth, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, and others, Freedman explores the intersection of race and gender as written by and about African American women, encouraging collective witnessing between the narrator and reader.
Miguel Urquiola ’92

Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research
Harvard University Press

Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research cover
Markets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University Research cover
When it comes to research, higher education in America dominates on the global stage, but that hasn’t always been the case. Urquiola takes an economic look at American universities, arguing that a free-market approach to education has led to a greater demand for talented experts and students.
dialogue
global thinking

This Is Where
They Came From

The unique medical needs of refugees is her primary focus
by Heather Rigney Shumaker ’91
A single staff meeting changed the direction of Louise Bingham Bennett ’66’s career — and the lives of more than 2,000 refugees.

Bennett worked as a family doctor in Rochester, N.Y., for 25 years. One day in 2004, the medical director at her health clinic asked for volunteers to work with refugees. “I’ll do it!” Bennett said. “I raised my hand. I had no refugees in my practice at that time.”

sharing success and stories of swarthmore

common good

On The Web in a bubble
Sounds of summer

The Chester Children’s Chorus persevered, virtually, with its annual summer camp.

‘Structured Randomness’

A student-led study, guided by physicist Amy Graves, was published in the journal Soft Matter.

Model Athletes

Volleyball players Emma Morgan-Bennett ’20 and Mehra den Braven ’20 are nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year.

Enacting change

Shay Downey ’22 is the recipient of a Udall Scholarship, recognizing commitment to Native American nations and the environment.

New MMUF cohort

Seven students were selected for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program.

Congratulate
bit.ly/MMUFSwat
Purple flowers in bloom
Josh Coceano
Swarthmore will be quieter than usual this fall, as the College limits the number of students allowed to return to campus in response to COVID-19.
campus life
A Modified Approach
The pandemic continues to reshape Swarthmore’s approach to creating safe paths for teaching and learning in 2020.

In close consultation with the Facilities Planning Group, the College determined that it could accommodate approximately 900 students on campus this fall.

Typically, about 1,500 students live on campus. That 900 figure is based on factors such as the number of rooms available to house all students in single bedrooms, the ratio of students to bathrooms in the residence halls, necessary cleaning protocols, the College’s capacity to observe physical distancing in dining facilities, and the ability to reserve housing spaces in the event that students need to be quarantined and isolated.

common good

Writing Their Next Chapters: Six Faculty Members Retire From College

This spring, the Swarthmore community congratulated and bid farewell to six retiring faculty members, beloved professors representing the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. With a combined 213 years of service to Swarthmore, these teacher-scholars — including a former interim president — join the esteemed ranks of the College’s emeriti faculty.
Commencement
President Valerie Smith stands at a podium
Photos: laurence kesterson
In Scott Amphitheater this spring, President Valerie Smith prepares to be filmed for the prerecorded Commencement ceremony — the first in College history.

Together in Spirit

Marking a joyful milestone in a time of turbulence
by Elizabeth Slocum
T

he College’s 2020 Commencement looked vastly different from ceremonies of typical years, as COVID-19 forced the celebration to move online. But collaborative creativity, and a few significant surprises, helped provide a day of pomp and circumstance for Swarthmore’s 418 newest alumni.

Thousands tuned in on Sunday, May 24, for the virtual Commencement, which was prerecorded and shared via swarthmore.edu, Facebook, and YouTube. In addition to speeches by President Valerie Smith and retiring biology professor Sara Hiebert Burch ’79, the ceremony included the reading of graduates’ names, the conferral of degrees, and tribute videos and photos from the Class of 2020.

Anthony Fauci speaking at the virtual Commencement
Faculty sealing congratulatory letters
President Valerie Smith presents gift box to students
Top: Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was the surprise guest speaker at the virtual Commencement. Center: Faculty and staff contributed 6,000 congratulatory letters that were included in gift boxes given to the graduates. Bottom: Although most of the boxes were mailed, Smith presented four of them to students remaining on campus, including Yusuf Qaddura ’20.
common good

Masked & Unmasked

Syon Bhanot profile
laurence kesterson
Syon Bhanot, assistant professor of economics, helps clarify the behavior behind the choice — or refusal — to wear a mask.
Assistant Professor of Economics Syon Bhanot became a go-to authority this spring as media outlets including The New York Times and NPR tried to make sense of mask-wearing behaviors. A behavioral and public economist, Bhanot analyzed how cavalier attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic stemmed from psychological reactance, which can make people feel compelled to do the opposite of what they are told. (Read more thoughts from Bhanot on pg. 47.)
President Valerie Smith portrait
ACADEMY INDUCTEE: President Valerie Smith was elected this spring to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, joining the illustrious ranks of one of the nation’s oldest scholarly societies. “I’m deeply honored to accept this invitation to an organization that is committed to the work of strengthening the global community,” says Smith. “It is both humbling and exciting to be a part of this esteemed interdisciplinary group that is working tirelessly to advance our world and is unafraid to take on its greatest challenges.” Established in 1780, the Academy is a center for creative thinkers from every field and profession, including more than 250 Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. It honors excellence in scholarship and innovation, and connects leaders from around the world to explore society’s challenges, identify solutions, and promote nonpartisan recommendations that advance the public good.
common good
Ernie Prudente portrait
Ernie Prudente, a professor of physical education, was the winningest head baseball coach in Garnet history.
Marion Faber portrait
Marion Faber was the Scheuer Family Professor Emerita of Humanities and Professor Emerita of German.
Mark Heald portrait
Mark Heald, the Morris L. Clothier Professor Emeritus of Physics, was an expert on electromagnetism.
Stephen Golub portrait
Stephen Golub, Franklin and Betty Barr Professor of Economics, was a highly sought-after consultant to governments and international agencies.

In Memoriam:

Remembering Four Devoted Professors

The Swarthmore community mourned the loss of one current and three retired faculty members this spring and summer.

Ernie Prudente, a beloved longtime coach and professor emeritus of physical education, died April 14 at age 92.

After 27 years of service at the College, and an additional three decades in retirement consistently cheering on the Garnet from the stands, Prudente is remembered as a Swarthmore institution. The winningest head baseball coach in Garnet history, with 216 victories, Prudente also coached basketball for a time, assisted with coaching football, and invigorated the College’s intramural sports program.

common good
Judge Nusrat Rashid portrait
laurence kesterson
“People mistrust because they’ve been mistreated,” says Judge Nusrat Rashid ’93.
LIBERAL ARTS LIVES

Making History

Judge Nusrat Rashid ’93 is focused on inclusion
by Elizabeth Bryant ’13
nusrat Rashid ’93
Judge

When Judge Nusrat Rashid ’93 was elected to the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas in November, she achieved not one, but three landmark firsts.

“In the entire history of Delaware County, there has never been a Black woman elected to the trial court bench,” says Rashid. “I was not only the first Black woman to win, but the first Black woman to run.”

Rashid also made history as the first Muslim judge in the state of Pennsylvania, an honor she holds with equal magnitude “because my faith is inseparable from my race and my gender.”

The 2019 election win marked the first time any Democrat had been elected to the trial court bench in Delaware County; Rashid was one among four.

As an undergraduate at Swarthmore, Rashid interrogated the very legacies of judicial misconduct she seeks to address.

“People mistrust because they’ve been mistreated,” says Rashid, whose campaign centered on diversity, balance, and inclusion. “One of the main reasons I ran was to increase public confidence in the courts.”

With more than 20 years of experience as an attorney, and 10 years at her own private practice in Delaware County, it is not only Rashid’s track record that built a successful campaign, but also her commitment to the court’s original purpose: to serve the people justly.

common good
LIBERAL ARTS LIVES
Christopher Leinberger ’72
laurence kesterson
“The reason I push the envelope as much as I can is climate change,” says Christopher Leinberger ’72. “Seventy-three percent of greenhouse gases come from the built environment.”

WALK THIS WAY

He develops new strategies for American cities
by Debbie Goldberg

Christopher Leinberger ’72’s love affair with cities started when he was a young boy, taking the train with his mother from their Drexel Hill, Pa., home to visit his father working in Philadelphia. He was enthralled by the people, buildings, and hubbub.

In some ways, not much has changed for Leinberger, whose career has included work as a land-use strategist, real estate developer, professor, researcher, and author. His interest, however, goes beyond how and where we build homes.

“My entire career has been about understanding metropolitan development trends, how we’ve been building our cities and metro areas,” says Leinberger.

common good
LIBERAL ARTS LIVES
Photo of Tayarisha Poe
courtesy of Tayarisha Poe ’12
Tayarisha Poe ’12, who grew up in West Philadelphia, is drawing acclaim for Selah and the Spades, a film she wrote and directed that examines the social complexities of a prestigious boarding school.

Commanding Attention

She’s finding her audience — and listening to them, too
by Ryan Dougherty
“The most fascinating part of releasing a piece of narrative art into the world,” says filmmaker Tayarisha Poe ’12, “is that the meaning of it is no longer yours to decide, but the world’s.”

Poe, who studied film production and creative writing at Swarthmore, recognized that upon the April release of her directorial feature debut, Selah and the Spades. The story she set out to tell — of a boarding-school student who did whatever she wanted without worrying about the consequences — reached its audience fully realized. And then it became theirs to interpret.

“So many young people have been connecting with the film and delving into the meaning of the story in ways that I couldn’t have predicted,” says Poe, who delighted in the exchange.

A Virus
Like No
Other

Undaunted by the stealth and complexity of COVID-19, alumni bring their talent, energy, and compassion to the pandemic’s front lines
by Amanda Loudin

illustration by Ileana Soon

illustration of people holding onto virus with rope
Letter I Dropcapn a normal day, Keren Osman ’92 works with stem cells as a bone marrow transplant physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

When COVID-19 patients started appearing on the scene, much of the medical approach and focus was on the respiratory symptoms that accompany the disease. While these are proven to be a part of the impact from the coronavirus, physicians have since identified a host of other issues.

Osman is just one of hundreds of Swarthmore alumni helping to fight the disease. By bringing their expertise in health care, research, economic development, and mental health to those impacted by the coronavirus, alumni are making a difference in the current overwhelming climate of the pandemic.

“I had a conversation with one of my colleagues about a particular set of stem cells that were on the brink of approval for transplantation to treat a variety of illnesses,” Osman says. “We know that these cells help with inflammation and travel to the lungs first, so we wondered whether they might help with the inflammatory process we’re seeing in COVID patients.”

Leandre k. Jackson ’75

WAVES
of
CHANGE

In the wake of a national reckoning on race and justice, America grapples with its history and the way toward equity
by Sherry L. Howard
WHEN AN EXPRESSIONLESS white police officer was recorded pressing his knee into the neck of a Black man in Minneapolis during an arrest, the brutality of the act set off what would become an unprecedented national outcry against racism in policing and other institutions.

The death of George Floyd on Memorial Day, May 25, ignited a firestorm of demonstrations by thousands who disregarded their own safety to protest in the midst of a deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Unified by both empathy and rage, Americans of all races in big cities and small towns carried signs proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe,” the last plea for life from the lips of Floyd.

“It’s amazing to me that not only have we awakened to the terror of our history and the terror that we keep living because we denied it, but I’ve never seen a moment, historically, when we are talking about tearing down some of these institutions and rebuilding something completely new,” says Fania Davis ’69, a former civil rights trial attorney and former founding director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth.

Leandre k. Jackson ’75

WAVES
of
CHANGE

In the wake of a national reckoning on race and justice, America grapples with its history and the way toward equity
by Sherry L. Howard
WHEN AN EXPRESSIONLESS white police officer was recorded pressing his knee into the neck of a Black man in Minneapolis during an arrest, the brutality of the act set off what would become an unprecedented national outcry against racism in policing and other institutions.

The death of George Floyd on Memorial Day, May 25, ignited a firestorm of demonstrations by thousands who disregarded their own safety to protest in the midst of a deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Unified by both empathy and rage, Americans of all races in big cities and small towns carried signs proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe,” the last plea for life from the lips of Floyd.

“It’s amazing to me that not only have we awakened to the terror of our history and the terror that we keep living because we denied it, but I’ve never seen a moment, historically, when we are talking about tearing down some of these institutions and rebuilding something completely new,” says Fania Davis ’69, a former civil rights trial attorney and former founding director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth.

A New Landscape For Learning

Jumping through hoops: The K–12 school shift to learning (and living) remotely
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
Illustrated icons of learning
“I found it almost impossible to juggle the online teaching and support that I tried to do for my students and take care of a rambunctious 2-year-old,” says Marina Isakowitz ’09, an 11th-grade mathematics teacher in Philadelphia. “That gave me a lot of sympathy for my students.”
laurence kesterson
“I found it almost impossible to juggle the online teaching and support that I tried to do for my students and take care of a rambunctious 2-year-old,” says Marina Isakowitz ’09, an 11th-grade mathematics teacher in Philadelphia. “That gave me a lot of sympathy for my students.”
laurence kesterson

A New Landscape For Learning

Jumping through hoops: The K–12 school shift to learning (and living) remotely
by Elizabeth Redden ’05
Illustrated icons of learning

W

hen COVID-19 struck, causing schools across the country to shut their doors this spring, Charmaine Giles ’10, the principal of a charter elementary school in Camden, N.J., tried to replicate the rhythms of the school day for her young students as much as possible.

But instead of greeting them at the school gate and giving hugs, she interacted with students virtually from her South Philadelphia apartment, a two-story loft converted into living space out of an old bookbinding factory. The abrupt transition to remote teaching after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic meant educators had to think and act quickly.

Illustration of a voting machine

Come November

Four Swarthmoreans share an array of perspectives on perhaps the most anticipated election in American history
by Ryan Dougherty
illustrations by Phillip Stern ’84
W

ith polarization at an all-time high and control of both the White House and Congress on the line, November’s general election was already shaping up to be a fierce battle. But then came the COVID-19 pandemic and cases of police brutality that sparked protests across the country, galvanizing and roiling the nerves of Americans.

Here, an alumnus and three faculty members who have been closely monitoring the runup to November explore what could prove to be key factors of the election from social, economic, and historic vantage points.

basketball teammates celebrating
“None of our habits, none of our process goals were ever driven by wanting to win a game or a tournament,” says team captain Nate Shafer ’20.

Game Changer

How a coach’s singular approach shaped a team and a historic season
by Roy Greim ’14
W

ith one more win, the Swarthmore men’s basketball team would have spent the weekend after spring break in Fort Wayne, Ind., preparing for the quarter- and semifinal rounds of the NCAA Division III Tournament. The list of accomplishments from 2019–20 alone was long: the team was ranked first in Division III for the entire season with a sterling 28–1 record, a National Coach of the Year award for head coach Landry Kosmalski, National Rookie of the Year honors for Vinny DeAngelo ’23, and All-American status for team captains Zac O’Dell ’20 and Nate Shafer ’20.

Alumni brewers tap into the sustainability of sour beer

by Elizabeth Slocum
laurence kesterson
W

hen a sour beer is fermenting, something sweet happens: The brew pulls in wild yeast from the air, taking on the terroir of the region where it was made.

“It’s kind of magical,” says Christophe Gagne ’08, who developed a taste for sours shortly after Swarthmore and “fell in love with the microbiology of beer.”

These days, Gagne taps into that magic daily as president of Hermit Thrush Brewery, the craft beer company he co-founded in 2014 with college friend Avery Schwenk ’07.

Since setting up shop six years ago in Brattleboro, Vt., Hermit Thrush has extended its reach to eight East Coast states and Washington, D.C., while expanding its operations from a small brewery and tasting room to a 20,000-square-foot warehouse on the edge of town. More than 100 beer varieties — all sours — have been produced, each incorporating local yeast, hops, and fruit. And through it all, the beermaker has used biomass instead of fossil fuels, with an eventual goal for a zero-emissions brewhouse.

pint of beer

Alumni brewers tap into the sustainability of sour beer

by Elizabeth Slocum
laurence kesterson
W

hen a sour beer is fermenting, something sweet happens: The brew pulls in wild yeast from the air, taking on the terroir of the region where it was made.

“It’s kind of magical,” says Christophe Gagne ’08, who developed a taste for sours shortly after Swarthmore and “fell in love with the microbiology of beer.”

These days, Gagne taps into that magic daily as president of Hermit Thrush Brewery, the craft beer company he co-founded in 2014 with college friend Avery Schwenk ’07.

Since setting up shop six years ago in Brattleboro, Vt., Hermit Thrush has extended its reach to eight East Coast states and Washington, D.C., while expanding its operations from a small brewery and tasting room to a 20,000-square-foot warehouse on the edge of town. More than 100 beer varieties — all sours — have been produced, each incorporating local yeast, hops, and fruit. And through it all, the beermaker has used biomass instead of fossil fuels, with an eventual goal for a zero-emissions brewhouse.

Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation

Title: Swarthmore College Bulletin
Publication Number: 0530-620
Date of Filing: 8/26/20
No. of Issues Annually: 4
Mailing Address of Known Office of Publications and Headquarters Office:
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, Delaware County, PA 19081-1397
Publisher: Swarthmore College
Editor: Kate Campbell

Average No. of Copies of Each Issue Published During Preceding 12 Months:

A. Total No. Copies 26,125

B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation

1. Sales through Dealers and
Carriers, Street Vendors and
Counter Sales None
2. Mail Subscription 22,106

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 22,106
D. Free Distribution Outside the Mail, Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Complimentary and other Free Copies 1,640

E. Total Distribution 23,746
F. Copies Not Distributed 2,514
G. Total 26,260
H. Percent Paid 93%

Average No. of Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date:

A. Total No. Copies 26,000

B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation

1. Sales through Dealers and
Carriers, Street Vendors and
Counter Sales None
2. Mail Subscription 21,986

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 21,986
D. Free Distribution Outside the Mail, Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Complimentary and other Free Copies 1,555
E. Total Distribution 23,541
F. Copies Not Distributed 2,459
G. Total 26,000
H. Percent Paid 93%

Title: Swarthmore College Bulletin
Publication Number: 0530-620
Date of Filing: 8/26/20
No. of Issues Annually: 4
Mailing Address of Known Office of Publications and Headquarters Office:
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, Delaware County, PA 19081-1397
Publisher: Swarthmore College
Editor: Kate Campbell

Average No. of Copies of Each Issue Published During Preceding 12 Months:

A. Total No. Copies 26,125

B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation

1. Sales through Dealers and
Carriers, Street Vendors and
Counter Sales None
2. Mail Subscription 22,106

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 22,106
D. Free Distribution Outside the Mail, Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Complimentary and other Free Copies 1,640

E. Total Distribution 23,746
F. Copies Not Distributed 2,514
G. Total 26,260
H. Percent Paid 93%

Average No. of Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date:

A. Total No. Copies 26,000

B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation

1. Sales through Dealers and
Carriers, Street Vendors and
Counter Sales None
2. Mail Subscription 21,986

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 21,986
D. Free Distribution Outside the Mail, Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Complimentary and other Free Copies 1,555
E. Total Distribution 23,541
F. Copies Not Distributed 2,459
G. Total 26,000
H. Percent Paid 93%

Title: Swarthmore College Bulletin
Publication Number: 0530-620
Date of Filing: 8/26/20
No. of Issues Annually: 4
Mailing Address of Known Office of Publications and Headquarters Office:
500 College Ave.
Swarthmore, Delaware County, PA 19081-1397
Publisher: Swarthmore College
Editor: Kate Campbell

Average No. of Copies of Each Issue Published During Preceding 12 Months:

A. Total No. Copies 26,125

B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation

1. Sales through Dealers and
Carriers, Street Vendors and
Counter Sales None
2. Mail Subscription 22,106

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 22,106
D. Free Distribution Outside the Mail, Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Complimentary and other Free Copies 1,640
E. Total Distribution 23,746
F. Copies Not Distributed 2,514
G. Total 26,260
H. Percent Paid 93%

Average No. of Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date:

A. Total No. Copies 26,000

B. Paid and/or Requested Circulation

1. Sales through Dealers and
Carriers, Street Vendors and
Counter Sales None
2. Mail Subscription 21,986

C. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 21,986
D. Free Distribution Outside the Mail, Carrier or Other Means, Samples, Complimentary and other Free Copies 1,555
E. Total Distribution 23,541
F. Copies Not Distributed 2,459
G. Total 26,000
H. Percent Paid 93%

class notes
A treasury of alumni-related items

class notes

Alumni Events speech bubble

Garnet Gatherings

October
This year’s virtual Garnet Weekend alternative, Garnet Gatherings is a monthlong series of events for alumni and families. View the schedule and register for events.
swarthmore.edu/GarnetGatherings

SwatTalks

Hear from professors, students, and alumni excelling in their fields during these Alumni Council-sponsored virtual seminars. Recordings of past talks, and information about upcoming events, are available online.
bit.ly/SwatTalks

Keep Learning

The Office of Alumni & Parent Engagement provides opportunities to engage with the intellectual life of the College from the comfort of your own home.
swarthmore.edu/AlumniLearning

Ghazi Randhawa ’22 (left) and Jennifer Marks-Gold, assistant dean and director of international student programs
Laurence Kesterson
Ghazi Randhawa ’22 (left) and Jennifer Marks-Gold, assistant dean and director of international student programs, caught up with each other — at a safe physical distance — this summer on the porch of Parrish Hall.
in memoriam
Swarthmore campus

their light lives on

our friends will never be forgotten
expanded tributes at bulletin.swarthmore.edu
Ernest Courant ’40, H’88

Ernest, a distinguished scientist known as the “father of modern particle accelerators,” died April 21, 2020.

After receiving a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Rochester, Ernest worked on nuclear physics at the Montreal Laboratory, part of the Manhattan Project. He spent most of his career at Brookhaven Lab, during which he was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Enrico Fermi Award, given by the U.S. government in recognition of lifetime scientific achievement.

Jane Matthias Berryman ’45

Jane, a mother of four, died Sept. 1, 2019.

A retired assistant advertising director, Jane also attended the University of Wisconsin, Menasha.

Karl Hinrichs ’45

Karl, an engineering major at Swarthmore, died Oct. 3, 2018.

A father of four, Karl received a master’s in electrical engineering from Harvard and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Edward Page ’46

Edward, a marketer who graduated from Swarthmore Phi Beta Kappa as part of the officers’ training program, died June 22, 2020.

Ed attended Northwestern for graduate school in physics then began a long career in marketing, working primarily at Proctor & Gamble before starting the company Scott-Page. After retirement, Ed was an active leader of Business Executives for National Security, the Center for Positive Living, and the Sarasota (Fla.) Bay Club.

looking back

Amelia Himes Walker and two other women posing with a sign
Courtesy of Richard Talbott Walker
Amelia Himes Walker (center), Class of 1902, was among the Swarthmoreans who advocated for passage of the 19th Amendment.

This year marks a century since the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was adopted in August 1920.

It passed in no small part due to one of Swarthmore’s most famous alumni, Alice Paul, Class of 1905, but she didn’t do it alone.

Paul worked closely with former classmates Mabel Vernon, Class of 1906, and Amelia Himes Walker, Class of 1902, on the Silent Sentinels picketing Woodrow Wilson’s White House and other tactics.

spoken word
Daniel Laurison ’99
laurence kesterson
“When I got to Swarthmore in 1995 as one of only a very few out first-year students, I don’t think I would have believed how much has changed in 25 years in terms of protections for LGBT people,” says Assistant Professor of Sociology Daniel Laurison ’99.

Barriers to

Success

by Kate Campbell

This summer in a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlaws employment discrimination on the basis of sex must be interpreted to include protection of gay and transgender people. Assistant Professor of Sociology Daniel Laurison ’99 explains why this great step is only the first in a long road ahead for equity and inclusion in the workplace.

Why is this landmark ruling so critical?
I’ve been struggling a bit with how to answer this question, because there isn’t a lot to say beyond, “Yup, this is very good news for me as a queer and trans person, and for all LGBT people in the U.S.” It is good news, both because a lot of us were worried the Supreme Court would rule against us, and because employers shouldn’t get to fire people based on who we are.

How would you describe the moment in a historical context?
It comes at a time of so much upheaval and distress that it’s been a bit hard to focus on this particular bit of good news. So many people are sick and dying unnecessarily because of government mishandling of the pandemic, because for too many people the only options are doing work that is now far more dangerous than it used to be, or worrying about losing their homes and health care and so on — and in the midst of all the attention that is finally being paid to the endemic white-supremacist violence in our country, and efforts to change that.

Arrow

MOMENT IN TIME

On the cover of this issue, Swarthmore community members are photographed in masks. Here, they are represented without masks.
Top row: President Valerie Smith; new graduate Tarzan MacMood ’20; Richter Professor of Political Science Carol Nackenoff.
Middle row: Assistant Professor of Sociology Daniel Laurison ’99; Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nusrat Rashid ’93; Philadelphia mathematics teacher Marina Isakowitz ’09.
Bottom row: Henry C. and Charlotte Turner Professor of Educational Studies Lisa Smulyan ’76; Camden Charter School Principal Charmaine Giles ’10; Thomas M. Durant Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Temple University School of Medicine Bennett Lorber ’64, H’96.

On the Cover: President Valerie Smith
New graduate Tarzan MacMood ’20
Richter Professor of Political Science Carol Nackenoff
Assistant Professor of Sociology Daniel Laurison ’99
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nusrat Rashid ’93
Philadelphia mathematics teacher Marina Isakowitz ’09
Henry C. and Charlotte Turner Professor of Educational Studies Lisa Smulyan ’76
Camden Charter School Principal Charmaine Giles ’10
Thomas M. Durant Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Temple University School of Medicine Bennett Lorber ’64, H’96
LAURENCE KESTERSON

The President’s Fund for Racial Justice

Established by President Valerie Smith, this new fund supports College initiatives focused on transformative racial justice, improving the lives of Black and Brown people and other communities of color by addressing systemic racism through engaged scholarship.

Learn more and make a gift at

Laurence Kesterson

The President’s Fund for Racial Justice

Established by President Valerie Smith, this new fund supports College initiatives focused on transformative racial justice, improving the lives of Black and Brown people and other communities of color by addressing systemic racism through engaged scholarship.

Learn more and make a gift at

Laurence Kesterson
Thanks for reading our Summer+Fall 2020 issue!