Changes on Campus
After a summer away from the rolling green lawn of the beach, you expect Swarthmore to seem a little different, but sometimes change arrives in the middle of the semester. With new technology in McCabe, new plates in Sharples, and new icons on the Student Dashboard, the Gazette would like to give a mid-semester update on some of the day-to-day changes at Swarthmore.
Along the counter from the circulation desk at McCabe Library a new computer and barcode scanner allows students to check out their own library books. The process is simple: first you scan your student ID and then the barcode of the book you want to check out. After that, write the return date in the yellow insert, and log out of the computer, so no one can check out books in your name. Other college and public libraries, including the library a Bryn Mawr, utilize self check out technology to minimize lines. DVD’s still must be taken to the circulation desk as their cases need to be unlocked before check-out. According to librarian Alison J. Masterpasqua the station opened on October 26, and had logged 24 checkouts as of November 12.
Students are quick to notice changes in the menu at Sharples, but what about the small wares? The old china has been disappearing, replaced by melamine plastic bowls. Melamine is a practical change: it’s less breakable, lighter for students carrying trays and the dish room staff, and cools faster after coming out of the dishwasher. The plates do have one drawback: they cannot be used in the microwave. However, the issue will be remedied by a stack of paper plates next to microwave that students can use instead. Director of Dining Services Linda McDougal says that the staff hopes to eventually turn all small wares into plastic.
Changes that began earlier in the semester include new washers and dryers in Willets and Dana dormitories. “This upgrade came at no expense to the college,” says Stuart Hain, Vice President for Facilities and Services, “In fact our laundry machine supplier, Caleco, replaces our washers and dryers about every five years.” Also, new handicapped accessible laundry facilities are available in the Worth J section laundry room.
On the technology front, Information and Technology Services introduced Swatfiles at the beginning of the semester. In 2008, as part of a campaign to refurbish communications at Swarthmore, ITS conducted a survey and discovered that 55% of students and 60% of staff felt it was extremely important to be able to send large files. Eric Bahren, Swarthmore’s Associate Chief Information Technology Officer, and the ITS team concluded a new venue for document sharing was needed. Swatfiles, based on the product Xythos which has been successfully implemented at other institutions, allows students to share documents of any size in a secure environment accessible via the Internet. Elizabeth Crow ‘10 described as “Blackboard meets Student Server meets Google Documents.” Julian Leland ’12, on the other hand, said “Although I’m excited by the promise it shows (fast, anywhere-accessible storage is always good), I have yet to be impressed by its implementation. The sharing function is especially confusing.”
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#1: 11/16/2009 at 5:42 a.m.
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— N | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#2: 11/16/2009 at 7:20 a.m.
does anyone know how safe melamine (or any other kind of plastic) tableware is?
can it be sterilized periodically?
is it safe to put hot food into the bowls?
— june. | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#3: 11/16/2009 at 10:22 a.m.
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— Andy Reid | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#4: 11/16/2009 at 2:19 p.m.
Sharples IS a cafeteria, and your classist fantasy is so bizarre I think you must be a troll.
The only issue with melamine is that it isn't microwave-safe! I'm concerned that swatties won't always remember that. Hopefully this problem can be fixed with big signs near the microwaves!!
— L | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore
#5: 11/16/2009 at 5:45 p.m.
I'd say even though it's been around for a very long time there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of evidence one way or the other for melamime's safety. Anyone who can find better sources feel free to post links.
Of course, the Sharples cups are polycarbonate which DOES have dangers according to some evidence, so how much worse can melamime be?
I like Corelle plates. They're ceramic but lighter and less fragile. Yay!
— Peter '11 | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#6: 11/16/2009 at 8:18 p.m.
While the new bowls appear to work better for ice cream and cereal, I personally am going to continue to use the ceramic plates as long as they are around. My decision is a combination of previously mentioned points--N is correct that it is much nicer to eat without the tray on ceramic plates, and I share June's concerns on the safety of plastic tableware. I hope Sharples will at least continue to make there be an option of non-plastic ware.
— Katherine | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#7: 11/16/2009 at 8:45 p.m.
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— BIll Belichick | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore
#8: 11/16/2009 at 8:59 p.m.
Why don't they put both out for a while and see what students choose and like/dislike?
— N | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#9: 11/16/2009 at 9:47 p.m.
Another plus for Corelle dishes is that they're microwave safe. I have no idea why they wouldn't purchase microwave-safe dishes. It seems so incredibly wasteful that after the ceramic dishes are gone, if you want to microwave something, you'll have to use a disposable bowl. I hope that the paper plates/bowls they provide will at least be biodegradable, but since the disposable cups aren't, it seems unlikely.
Dislike this change.
— J | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#10: 11/16/2009 at 11:42 p.m.
This article neglects to mention the worst part of the new, crappy plates: they are much more shallow than the old ceramic plates. Try piling a few pounds of pasta on the new ones, complete with sauce. You can't do it. It goes all over your damn tray.
— Travis | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#11: 11/16/2009 at 11:43 p.m.
Andy Reid, a good point. Might I also suggest that the new dishes hold less food, thus forcing you to walk more and waste less food... so you can lose weight and won't have a heart attack while throwing the challenge flag.
— Matt Stafford | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#12: 11/17/2009 at 9:42 a.m.
I think Matt Stafford makes a good point: perhaps these trays will act to push us towards more healthy behavior by forcing us to take less food. I certainly could benefit from that.
And thanks Bill Belichick for your confidence in me. Don't worry, my clock management skills are still worse than yours, and I can't punch it in on short situations.
— Andy Reid | Unregistered, Swarthmore
#13: 11/17/2009 at 8:06 p.m.
Maybe someone who has more time than I do could do research on the relationship of these particular melamine dishware and the release of formaldehyde into food. There have been concerns about this in the past, particularly in dishware made in China. Where is the Swat dishware made???
Here is a link copied below, but I don't know how reliable this site,is, so please verify it, and find out where the dishware is manufactured and what type of testing it has gone through.
The concern with ceramics is possible release of lead from ceramic dishware, again particularly when it is manufactured in China. Please let us know what you find out!
I assume that the dietary purchasing department verified all of this when buying the dishware, per independent testing verifying that there
is no lead or formadelhyde being ingested by the staff or students. Neither is good for health, in fact can be very detrimental.
http://www.coldtruth.com/2009/06/04/melamine-dishes
-bowls-cups-and-saucers-can-be-harmful-when-used-to-
serve-certain-food-according-to-health-officials/
— parent2 | Unregistered, Non-Swarthmore