<p>Forget the “Quaker” thing. The school uses it as a subtle marketing device. The school’s principal objectives are to (a) make it as elite, prestigious, and selective as possible and (b) increase the size of its whopping endowment. Neither goal is particularly “Quaker” in nature. (Just imagine what George Fox would think of today’s Swarthmore; he’d probably view it as a High Church Episcopalian culture.) Plenty of alums and parents of current students will no doubt reply with all kinds of rants about Swarthmore having societal “values,” but this is no different from any other liberal arts college.</p>