BY HANNA KOZLOWSKA

In print | Published February 4, 2010

Though Director of the Black Cultural Center Tim Sams has already left for another position at NYU Abu Dhabi, the college is waiting to hire a new dean of students before replacing Sams’ position.

After some students expressed concern about the future of the BCC, however, Acting Dean of Students Garikai Campbell ’90 sent an e-mail last week to several students involved with the BCC to address their uncertainties. “The college will indeed have a new director of the BCC,” he said in the e-mail.

Until a new dean of students is hired, Darryl Smaw, associate dean of multicultural affairs, will spend half of his time at the BCC acting as the interim director. Associate Dean for Student Life Myrt Westphal will take over Sams’ role as the dean for the class of 2010.

Sams, who was at the BCC for nearly 13 years, announced his decision to leave the college in December after a trip to Abu Dhabi over Thanksgiving break, where he received a job offer to be Associate Dean of Students.

Still, however, some students associated with the BCC have concerns about the transition.
“Half-time is not enough,” Charmaine Giles ’10 said, referring to half of Smaw’s time being committed to the BCC. Giles has been involved with the BCC since her freshman year.

“I wish they would fill the position faster,” said Romane Paul ’10, another student involved with the BCC.

Giles said that she thinks Sams’ departure will be particularly hard for first-years who have been receiving guidance and support from Sams and who are still getting acclimated to the college. “It’s like pulling a rug from underneath a baby who is just learning how to walk,” she said.

Though it is also a resource for the wider campus through coordinating programs such as the Blueprint education program, the BCC provides for many black students a sense of home and a safe place with family-like support. As Sams said, “We function well, because we function as a family.”

“At the beginning of every speech Dean Sams would say, ‘This [the BCC] is your house,’ ” Giles said. “It’s where we get support and love.”

While it may be harder for first-years to deal with the transition, Giles said that she would have liked to see Sams “graduate“ with the seniors, with whom he had developed a relationship over the period of four years. “I wouldn’t be the same student if it weren’t for him and the BCC,” she said.

As an admissions fellow, Giles claimed that many black students are attracted to Swarthmore primarily because of the BCC. “We got a lot of students [to apply] thanks to the BCC,” she said.

Paul Cato ’13, a programming intern at the BCC, said that it was “a blow” and “a shock” when he heard that Sams was leaving. Sams has been a particularly important person for Cato, who is epileptic and was sick throughout last semester. Cato described Sams in an e-mail as his “biggest advocate.”

“Quite literally I would not be back this semester were it not for him. He was amazing,” Cato said. “He has been the most important person in my life at Swarthmore thus far, and will probably be one of the most important people in my entire life.”

Sams acknowledged that the students could have and even “should have,” as Sams put it, been shocked about him leaving the position. While he admitted that it was tough and painful having to leave his students, Sams added that he has to stay distant. “[The students’] primary source of support is each other,” he said.

Sams deemed developing and encouraging student leadership as one of his most important roles at Swarthmore and said that he was confident about the abilities of the current student leaders.

“I may leave, but students still have people to push and support them,” he said, listing black faculty, members of the administration and members of the Dean’s Office.

“My role is to be a resource person, facilitator, to answer questions, plan programs, be an academic advisor,” Smaw said of his interim position.

Hiring a new person to replace Dean Sams might not be the only change in the BCC.

“The nature of the campus and the black community have changed,” said Maurice Eldridge ’61, vice president for college and community relations. “The community is different than it was 10 years ago. It is larger, it is not as monolithic, more diverse,” he said, referring to students of different ancestries.

Eldridge said that the best way to be supportive of the BCC and black students is to react to the changes in the structure, character and size of the community.

“The process, these conversations about changes will be as inclusive as possible,” he said, meaning that students would be involved in the replacement discussion.

The BCC was created in 1970, stemming out of student protests at the end of the 1960s. “The BCC came out not of consensus, mainstream concern. It came out of black students’ protests,” Sams said.

Sams underlined how important the BCC is for the campus as a whole.

“Swarthmore still acts as a predominantly white institution,” he said. “I lost sight of that because I love this place so much,” he said. He said he hoped his successor would take care of organizing more outreach to the wider campus.

Eldridge said that the BCC provides an opportunity for the whole campus to learn how to live in a diverse society.

Imaani Greene from the BCC conducted a year-long study on social life of black students last year. According to notes from the focus groups that were organized for the purpose of the study, “they [black students] are torn between white friendships and their desire to be a part of the black community. The two groups seem mutually exclusive.”

“I was shocked,” Sams said. “Students shouldn’t have to choose.”

Sams said that he views Abu Dhabi as a professional promotion but also as an opportunity for activism. “We [at NYU] want to explore social justice, using education as a tool,” he said.  “And I’ve always been an activist,” he said pointing to a photograph of him on the wall of his office taken many years ago at a rally.

When asked about what would he miss about Swarthmore, he said he would miss everything. “I love the place, the people, intellectual talent, commitment to social justice, resources. I will miss my colleagues,” he said.

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