One wants a student body full of joggers, bicyclists, campers, swimmers, golfers, tennis players. And my sense from my many years dealing with undergraduates is that the intercollegiate sports programs help via diverse channels to create that kind of student body. An administration communicates its values to its students through the programs it sponsors or neglects. And the college now proposes to signal a lack of esteem for competition, athletics and athletes. That is the kind of student body we'll get, no matter how many pious words are then uttered about the intramural program.
Diversity benefits everyone.
We will deprive the portion of the student body that remains from the many benefits they would receive from association with vigorous student athletes. Without placing too much emphasis on intercollegiate athletics, the fault at many schools, the solution is not to abandon programs but to develop sound ones and to increase the percentage who participate. Swarthmore's Social Responsibility. I also believe the retention of a diverse student body is a social responsibility of the college. Perhaps unique among American colleges, its Quaker tradition encourages its students to select socially meaningful careers and to assist the less fortunate in our society.