Olivia Natan | Phoenix Staff

Last Friday the BCC held its first open house to commemorate new renovations and to hold a barbeque that was previously cancelled.

BY LINDA HOU

In print | Published October 29, 2009

For over 20 years after graduating, Maurice Eldridge ’61 was unable to cope with his alma mater. As one of the few black students in what was then a predominantly white college, his experience left him uncomfortable with the school.

But in 1981, he returned to Swarthmore to embrace its changes, and today he is Vice President for College and Community Relations. He sees the Black Cultural Center, or BCC, as one of the driving forces behind these changes.

Last Friday, the BCC held its first open house since the center’s establishment. The event was in honor of renovations which expanded the handicap accessibility and the size of the building.

The BCC is both a haven for black students to study, socialize and thrive and a tool for spreading black culture to the greater campus. It hosts many events on campus, including the annual Kwanzaa celebration as well as guest lectures and performances. For many students, the BCC is their home away from home.

“The Black Cultural Center is wonderful,” SASS member Arielle Davis ’12 said. “If you want food, there’s the kitchen. If you want to chill, you can go to the gallery. If you want to study, you can go to the library.”

Still, the BCC is not perfect. Davis and others are concerned about the lack of integration of the BCC with the greater Swarthmore community.

“This center is the campus’ center. There are so many ways this place can be utilized. I really want people across campus to see it as a place where they can have their functions. We don’t want to be thought of as self-isolating,” assistant dean and BCC director Timothy E. Sams said.

From its inception the BCC has been a guiding force in confronting racism and discrimination. The organization began in 1969, when the college was concerned with its lack of black students. Though the college had increased its numbers in the past few decades, the number of black students per class dropped from 19 in the class of 1969 to eight in the class of 1972.

“When I was a student, others and I were interested in bringing more colored students to Swarthmore. We talked to admissions, and they said if we could recruit more qualified applicants, they’d look at them. [The protestors] felt like admissions should be doing more to recruit colored students, and the college should do more to support them,” Eldridge said.

The Swarthmore Afro-American Student Society, or SASS (now the Swarthmore African American Student Society), was dismayed by the lack of effort and sent a letter to then-President Courtney Smith outlining a plan for the admissions office to increase black student recruitment and admissions. It ended, “If you fail to issue a clear, unequivocal public acceptance of these non-negotiable demands by noon, Tuesday, January 7, 1969, the black students and SASS will be forced to do whatever is necessary to obtain acceptance.”

When no formal reply appeared, SASS took action.

On Jan. 9, a group of SASS members, led by then-chair Clinton Etheridge ’69, took over the admissions building and locked themselves inside. Supporters sent them food and mattresses through the windows, which the protestors covered with black paper and chains.

Classes were cancelled and both students and faculty met for discussion. About 900 students gathered and voted for endorsement of SASS’s requirements.

At 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, Smith stood before the students and spoke of the faculty’s disapproval of the protest.

“We have lost something precious at Swarthmore — the feeling that force and disruptiveness are just not our way,” Smith said. “I would be saddened to see the further acceptance of force as against the qualities of trust and tolerance and humility and anti-totalitarism and willingness to see the good in others — those qualities that have made and make Swarthmore especially ‘fine’ as an institution.”

Seven months earlier, Smith announced that he would resign as president of Swarthmore to become the president of the Markle Group. He had promised to stay until a new president was found, but never fulfilled his promise. On Jan. 16, Smith was on his way to Parrish Hall when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

The student protestors evacuated the admissions building as the whole campus grieved.

“The entire college community deeply mourns the death of our President, Courtney Smith. There is no question in our minds of blame or guilt; there is room only for sorrow, not for bitterness,” declared the Student Council that year.

The students’ requests were met, but more was to come.

In February of the next year, SASS, headed by Don Mizzel ’70, requested the formation of a Black Cultural Center.

The college agreed, and offered the use of the Lodges 5 and 6. SASS objected on grounds that the lodges were inadequate in size, location and structure for such a center.

On March 17, President Cross announced the plans for the Black Cultural Center to be set in the Robinson House. Over the years, as the campus grew, so did the BCC. From a home to SASS, the BCC now plays host to five more clubs relating to black culture.

“The black community of the college is now more diverse than people realize,” Eldridge said. “All of these differences have required the center to be more flexible in meeting the needs of the students, and groups like SASS, SOCA [Students of Caribbean Ancestry] and SASA [Swarthmore African Students Association] have been the engines to drive the changes.”

The structure of the BCC, though, did not change significantly until recently. It was only in early 2009 that the BCC was discovered to not meet the requirements of the American Disability Act.

During summer and the first few weeks of this college year, the BCC enlarged the rear of its building, making it more accessible than ever.

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