What's up with the Danawell hallways?
"Is it true that Danawell hallways are twisty so they're riotproof, or is that a total myth?"
The short answer: myth. Though an exceedingly popular myth, the winding corridors of sister dorms Dana and Hallowell were not designed with riots in mind, although the buildings were constructed during the tumultuous '60s. The builders' idea was to reduce noise; they implemented this by laying twelve-inch-thick walls filled with sand and making hallways with no one section longer than twelve feet, all in hope that noise would not travel as much as it did in their straighter counterparts.
Reference: http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/03/dbing/history/ David Michael Bing, '03, researched the history of various buildings of Swarthmore via Phoenix archives and other sources and compiled his findings on his website.
Wonder about anything else they tell you on the admissions office tour? Send the questions to dailygazette [at] swarthmore.edu.
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