SWASSIP

Anonymous asked…

When did Swassip turn into pc-machine? Not that I don’t agree with your points, but it seems much less like gossip than preaching. If that’s what you want your aim to be, then maybe you should name… frankly, it’s misleading.

Because takingbacksundayschool.tumblr.com seemed too long. (It’s currently unclaimed—any takers!?)

We’re not official. We’re not elected representatives. We’re biased. We’re not investigative journalists. We don’t adhere to The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. I like “political correctness”; it’s better than being stubbornly ignorant. See also: fuck off. :D

We pontificate because… it’s our blog. You read it. If you submit something we can’t expound on and proselytize about, we’re not doing it rite.

On our little hiatus, I was glad to not be involved in the hateful underbelly of our campus. I felt safer and more comfortable. Then I came back and remembered: I’m not. I just wasn’t exposed to it, and wasn’t interfacing with our community.

I want to remind all the people who have been hateful, whether they’ve made a mistake and whether or not the administration responds, there’s a faction of our campus who have been informed and find it unacceptable.

Meanwhile, please continue to submit about hate on campus. Feel free to submit something that isn’t about hate/ignorance on campus.

xoxo, swassipgrl

P.S. Oops, got preachy again.

Another incident of hate at a Swarthmore party; is there something racist, sexist, and homophobic in the water? Oh no wait, it’s just some of the asswipes who go here.

Yesterday, at Pub Nite, a guy (a visitor from another college) repeatedly waved a Confederate flag. His friends, unfazed and exhilarated, started multiple chants of “USA! USA!”

Multiple people approached him, telling him it was making them uncomfortable, that it was inappropriate, that this was a safe space, that it was an offensive symbol, and every time he and his friends would respond with variations on “Fuck off,” “Fuck you,” or, in one incident, “Fuck off, you giant slut.” His friends, a group of Swarthmore students, would also shove people away, throw their elbows into faces, etc.

Eventually, a group informed the PAs of the flag situation, and they intervened. Doubtless, this was a terrifying and unsafe situation to walk into, but they managed to get the name of his host and to get a photograph of the group.

The Senior Class Officers did not hear about this incident until after the fact, and you’ve probably received an e-mail about it by now.

This incident is upsetting in many ways, but I want specifically to call out the Swarthmore students involved in protecting the Confederate flag waver. This is not an appropriate symbol ever. This is not an appropriate symbol to wave at a party. Even if you buy into “it’s a symbol of Southern Pride!” bullshit, you should still be aware of the controversy around (i.e. it’s racist). If someone who is upset approaches you to ask you or your friend to stop, think. Stop. Be respectful of your community.

The Dean’s office has been notified, and we are all hoping some kind of action will be taken soon, especially with this recent onslaught of hate.

xoxo, swassipgrl

UPDATE: Read The Phoenix’s article and the Daily Gazette’s for more information.

Apparently, there was an instance of super homophobia at the “Not Another Gay Paces Party.”  From what I heard (third or fourthhand), two gentlemen were dancing together; Gentleman A had removed his glasses because … well, it’s Paces.  Another Man, not the dancing partner, started screaming “FAGGOT” at Gentleman A repeatedly and loudly.

Last time we heard about homophobes at a queer party, it was suggested that the offenders relocate to any other non-queer event on campus. This time, we at Swassip recommend a relocation to another planet where only hateful people like you live, Another Man.

Unacceptable.

xoxo, swassipgrl

UPDATE: Read Gentleman A’s article in the Phoenix: Why There Should be Broader Engagement with Queer Issues.

There’s some pretty prevalent and coded language we use here, at Swarthmore, about the women’s college in our Consortium. “If you see a large group of girls in high heels on the weekend, they’re probably from Bryn Mawr,” or “Bryn Mawr girls are easy,” or “Man, those Bryn Mawr girls have sex with people from Swarthmore a lot.”

All of these presumptions are harmful to Tri-Co relations and sure make Swarthmore students seem like a bunch of supercilious assholes. Bryn Mawr women and Haverford men come here for classes, for lectures, to visit friends, to visit somewhere outside of their two colleges, to go to Olde Club shows and frat parties. But also, um, sometimes people come here because we’re supercilious assholes also “easy”. And that’s totally cool with me.

I figure you were just trying to be cute, but it’s not working for you. Good luck on that giant wooden horse!

xoxo, swassipgrl

P.S. If you’re actually curious where these guys are from/hiding(?), ask your neighbor. IDGAF.

P.P.S. They keep coming back because they want to have sex with your neighbor.

Ok Kiddos. If that commenting shitshow was any indication,

1) You are not reading the actual posts.

2) We are going to need to very seriously consider whether commenting can be an actual thing.

3) The general population of this school needs to work out that suggesting sexual health testing to people is super not the same as suggesting they are carrying sex bugs. C’mon you guys.

4) As the comments veered in a direction very much out of keeping with the intentions of this blog (silliness! fun! venting!) We took down the post after initially correcting it.

Case closed.

I heard from a member of housing committee that at least one hall in every dorm will have gender neutral bathrooms next year.

Wow, okay, now that commenting is up and functioning in full, it’s become abundantly clear we need a clear (and visible) commenting policy. And clarification of our Rules of Submission.

Commenting Policy:

1. NO NAMES. No names ever! It is Swassip’s sworn duty to not ruin everyone’s Google-able futures by associating them with this horrible piece of trash.

2. Play nice, mostly. Please, feel free to debate the material or nature of these articles (within reason). Or even contact us if you feel we’ve posted a submission that wasn’t ours to tell. Do not use the comment section as a platform to drag someone’s name through the mud, you little hatemongerers.

3. Everything in moderation. Swassip reserves the right to monitor, edit, and remove any comments that violate these terms, or which violate some other code of human decency we’ve forgotten about. You’re a very creative bunch, I’m sure you’ll think of something… and then we’ll delete it.

ADDITIONALLY, 

We’ve recently had a few submissions in which multiple names were repeatedly featured. You can’t include names, you little goons. Never ever ever send us anyone’s name ever again. Personal vendettas are not something we’re interested in. We’re not a forum for cyber bullying, just cyber gossip. It’s a thin line, but we’re still trying to be responsible here.

That being said, we’ll respond in due time. Woof, I hate Mondays.

xoxo swassipgrl

UPDATE: Alright, didn’t see this coming, but we also don’t out people. Come on, Selena Gomez.

Q: Yo, is it lame to do a post promising more interesting content later this week?

A: Yes, what the fuck Swassip, it is your job to post interesting shit

Yeah well if you’ve been alive and around campus [READ: our target audience] in the past week, you’ve been barraged by ninjas, serenaded by the Mariachi band, reading Swatmemes compulsively, and had Patio Bar. And if you weren’t enjoying any or all of those things, you were whining about much they suck. If you are an alum, odds are you were writing tons of weird Swatmemes no one really gets or appreciates because wtf, man, you graduated.

hold your breath til saturday
xoxo, swassipgrl