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<p>The last large-scale “protest” at Swarthmore was in December 2000, when a large number of students staged a “sit-in” protest in the admissions office over the decision to discontinue football. Ironically, one of the leaders of that protest went on to become a Swarthmore adcom. I’m not sure college football qualifies as a “radical leftist” cause!</p>
<p>From reading the school newspaper, there have been three “issues” generating some noise on campus in the last few years. </p>
<p>The first was over “Digital Copyright” issues. Swarthmore students downloaded Diebold Corporation memos (legally) about flaws in their computer voting machines and posted the memos on the Swarthmore website. Diebold threated lawsuits to remove them and the issue became a bit of a “cause”.</p>
<p>The second was a “living wage campaign” for college employees, a trendy issue that’s been sweeping college campuses. This produced quite a bit of noise and ended up with a series of fireside chats with the President of the college in the Kohlberg coffee bar, student presentations to the Board of Managers, petitions, etc. Meanwhile, the Pres. adroitly prepared white papers for the students outlining the number of faculty positions and course offerings that would have to cut if the living wage proposal were enacted, in effect, turning a budget issue from theoretical to concrete. The Board ended up enacting a more modest set of wage increases.</p>
<p>The third is a student-led initiative on genocide in the Sudan. Specfically a fund to support African Union peacekeeping soldiers. This has generated quite a bit of interest on campus with big press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington with a keynote speech by a freshman Swattie whose family was killed in the Rwanda genocide. Following the press conference, Swatties fanned out on Capitol Hill to “lobby” the legislators from each of their home states. The student initiative has both Repubican and Democratic supporters in Congress and is not really a partisan issue.</p>
<p>There has been modest anti-war rhetoric on all college campuses in the last several years (including at Swarthmore). However, I don’t get the sense that this issue has gotten any real traction. It’s difficult to work up widespread “anti-Vietnam” style fevor in a post 9/11 world.</p>