Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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Courtney C. Smith President of the College

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FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION . . . It is sometimes said that there are two kinds of salaried Swarthmoreans, those whom it is fun to know and those whom it is prudent to avoid. The faculty, it is said, are fun. They read The New Yorker, play poker, enjoy an occasional beer. They throw parties, even invite students. But the Administration, like evil, like Collection, are to be avoided at all costs. They don't have homesg they don't even have Hrst names. They have offices and titles. They give teas. And, poor souls, not only do they enforce The Rules, but they actually believe in them! And if there is no truth to this picture, there is at least a partial explanation. The explanation is, of course, that our perception is limited. For while we see the Administration only at teas, in Collection, in the Deans' or the President's Oflice, we meet the Faculty in the class room, in their homes, at Mary Lyons. But the reality is that although there are just two areas of encounters, two frameworks, there are not just two kinds of salaried Swarthmoreans. There are as many kinds as there are members.

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To the Members of the Class of 1957: Classmates I would like to call you, for we both entered Swarthmore in September of 1953. For me they have been the four happiest years of my life. You are not likely to feel that strongly about your experience, but I hope, and suspect, a time will come when you will hold your four years at Swarthmore apart as something rather special. This Halcyon is to deal, I have been told, with changes in Swarthmore's students and faculty and plant. We have been aware of changes, of course. But those who welcomed us here Qand in a sense they go back many generationsj and those whom we in turn have welcomed and will welcome, know now, as we will come to know, how much we are really a part of a continuum. Time present and time past, T. S. Eliot says, Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present, Eliot goes on to say, All time is unredeemable. Would we want them redeemed, these four years? There have been moments of sadness, of tragedy even, that we could not have wished. And there have been problems all the while: these I think we did wish, for we knew that we couldn't learn the ropes Qon whatever level we want to think of themj without working on the knots. But I suspect what we'll remember best will be the good times, which were sometimes big times but oftener little times. Even the Halcyon won't bring all of them back to mind, but come back to the College and we'll talk over these old times whenever you think you're about to forget. COURTNEY C, SMITH President