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Intercultural Center Records
Notifications
Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Intercultural Center (IC) was founded in 1992 by students at Swarthmore College to promote systemic change toward a multicultural perspective across the institution and to foster community-building and collaboration among the many diverse groups within and outside of the college. It hosts programs and services that support the personal and intellectual development of Asian American, Latinx, multiracial, Native American, queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender), low-income, international and first-generation college students at Swarthmore College.
While organizing began around 1989, it was in 1992 that the IC officially opened and in 1993 that the first part-time staff person was hired. At the time of its founding it consisted of three groups: SAO (Swarthmore Asian Organization), Hispanics Organized for Latino Awareness (HOLA), and Action Les-B-Gay. They emphasized that they did not see the formation of the IC as solving the problems facing marginalized students on campus, but rather hoped that the IC would enact gradual changes that would "bring about a new consciousness" at Swarthmore.
See the folder entitled "Intergroup IC Records: Proposal for the establishment of the IC and IC Operating Manual" for a more complete history of the IC. See below for more detailed descriptions of SQU, HOLA, and SAO.
This collection contains documents related to the founding of the IC and its intergroup activities, as well as records specific to several of its constituent groups: HOLA (Hispanics Organized for Latino Awareness/Hispanic Organization for Latino Awareness), SAO (Swarthmore Asian Organization), SQU (Swarthmore Queer Union, known previously as Action Les-B-Gay), and NASA (Native American Student Association).
The documents in this collection range from 1989, the date of the earliest student organizing towards the creation of the IC, up to 2014. Most of the documents cover the years between 1990 and 2000. An important document is the 2010 Bridge Program Report compiled by the IC/BCC Coalition.
- 0
- Photographs from IC events
- 1
- IC Intergroup Records
- 2
- SQU Records
- 3
- HOLA Records
- 4
- SAO Records
- 5
- NASA Records
The SAO series is further divided into sub-series, which include: SAO Organizational Materials, SAO Publications, SAO Events, Conference Materials, Asian American Studies, News Articles/Newsletters on Asian Americans, Asian American student groups at other colleges, and Miscellaneous.
Organization
- Swarthmore College -- Students
- Swarthmore College. Intercultural Center
- Swarthmore College. Swarthmore Asian Organization
- Swarthmore College. Hispanic Organization for Latino Awareness
- Swarthmore College. Swarthmore Queer Union
- Swarthmore College. Native American Student Association
Subject
- Multicultural education
- Student movements
- Intercultural communication in education
- Education, Higher
- Asian American Students -- Pennsylvania
- Hispanic American students -- Pennsylvania
- Indian students -- Pennsylvania
- Lesbian students -- Pennsylvania
- Gay students -- Pennsylvania
- Bisexual college students -- Pennsylvania
- Transgender college students -- Pennsylvania
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2018 May
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright has not been assigned to Friends Historical Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in to the Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Friends Historical Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by reader.
Collection Inventory
Photographs date from 1999, 2001, 2005, 2011, and 2012-2013. Includes photographs from celebration of 10th anniversary of the Intercultural Center, the 2001 Diversity Week, international orientation of 2012 and the Han barbeque of 2012.
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IC/BCC Coalition: The Intercultural Center and Black Cultural Center coalition is a community of leaders from different groups within the IC and the BCC that are "all working toward the promotion of diversity programming and understanding both on campus and in the greater community." The IC/BCC coalition was especially involved in the 2010 push for a Bridge program, which resulted in the publication of the 2010 Bridge Program Report.
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Includes Resolution to Increase the number of Faculty of Color at Swarthmore
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Includes article on official opening of IC
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Includes dissertation on the evolution of Swarthmore's institutional mission, HOLA group materials, and Council of Educational Policy Report (1992)
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Includes resource guides on being Black at Swat, Latin@ at Swat, Queer and Questioining at Swat, International at Swat. Also includes 2 issues of CelebrASIAN (SAO Publication)
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Copy. The original can be found in RG6/Q006, BCC Records, Official Documents and Constitutions, 1971-1992.
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Includes CEP notes and correspondence regarding discussion of Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies
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Includes CDs (see #892-913).
Includes general information on and policies of the Intercultural Center, information on intern orientation and duties, policies for group briefings, notes from several meetings (1993, 2000), rules and responsibilities for use of Intercultural Center rooms, angeda from 1997 Deans' staff retreat.
Includes information on psychological services, peer support resources and sexual assault resources.
Includes MULTi's proposal to join Intercultural Center as core group; admissions reports of 2007-2008 and 2010-2011; and the 2008 and 2009 handbooks for academic advisors.
Includes several event flyers and "Helping Students: A faculty guide for assisting students in need."
IC Manual (revised Spring 2001); IC Forms and Rules/Regulations; IC Alumni Information; IC Programs, Services and Resources; IC Things To Do; Job Descriptions for All IC Staff; IC Leadership Institute; IC Focus Group Information
Exhibit in McCabe Library, curated by Sonya Chen '18
See also RG6/A Swarthmore College Publications for additional issues
A group for gay and lesbian students on campus had existed since at least the mid-1970s. In 1989, the group for gay and lesbian students was called AS IS (Alternative Sexualities Integrated at Swarthmore). In the spring of 1991, it changed its name to Action Les-B-Gay, and in 1993 it became the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Alliance (LGBA). In 1995, it became Swarthmore Queer Union (SQU), the name which is still in use today. The Gay and Lesbian Union seems to have been an umbrella term given to different groups for gay and lesbian students which together formed support, social, and activist functions on campus. Note: This history relies largely on Ali Roseberry-Polier's 2013 thesis, "Critical Politics in a Neoliberal Institution: Gay and Lesbian Organizing at Swarthmore College, 1988 – 1993."
The series includes documents associated with queer student activism on campus during the time span covered, including all the name changes.
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Also includes Timothy Stewart-Winter's letter concerning the materials he added to the collection, the bathroom graffiti and the LGBT organizational records
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A copy of this letter also exists in the folder "Intergroup IC Records, 1997-1998"
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Includes documentsand articles on gay and lesbian students and student groups at different universities across U.S., and documents on sexual assault on college campuses
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Includes correspondence
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Event posters and posters on community guidelines.
HOLA (Hispanics Organized for Latino Awareness) was a political, social, and education organization "open to all students with any Latin American, South American or Hispanic cultures". HOLA's name has since been changed to Enlace.
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Includes information on Latino/a alumni network, event flyers and coordinator correspondence, 1997 HOLA mission, and a budget proposal for 1996-1997.
SAO, the Swarthmore Asian Organization, was established in 1987 as a "support, social, and political group open to any Swarthmore student who identifies as Asian, Pacific Islander, Asian American, or Pacific Islander American." It currently is activie under the same name.
Includes SAO's constitution
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Includes Cooper event application, meeting minutes, APIA month planning notes, personal reflections
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Includes notes on and schedule for student of color pre-frosh weekend
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Includes talk on Ethnic Studies from Professor Ronald Takaki, a performance by a Chinese Folk Dance Company, and a lecture/reading series by David Ho and David Henry Hwang
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Includes correspondence related to hiring of Asian American studies prof in English department
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Includes correspondence with other IC groups and notes on coordinated meetings/events among IC groups
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on oversize poster paper
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Poster for Lunar New Year 2017 celebration.
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Includes Georgetown conference, Columbia conference, and 9th National Asian Pacific American Conference on Law and Public Policy, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association 1994 Convention
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Includes newsletters from Asian Americans United, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, Journal of Law and Social Change and pamphlet on institutional racism at Penn
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Includes Newsletters/Reports from Asian Law Caucus, American Friends Service Committee Asian/Pacific Network
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Includes Asian American Bar Association of Delaware Valley and Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, newsletter and memorandum
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Includes newsletters from Asian Americans for Equality and from Asian American Justice Watch
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ECASU stands for East Coast Asian Student Union
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LEAP stands for Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc.
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Includes correspondence and event posters.
NASA brought Sherman Alexie for an event funded by a Cooper grant.
Includes flyers, lists of publications, videos/documentaries and public radio programming, information on other Native American student associations and the Intercultural Center opening manual.
Includes flyers, Cooper grant planning, original charter, constitution of the Six Directions, the University of Pennsylvania's association for Native American students (formed 1992), etc.
POLS 099SR: U.S. Federal Indian Policy, a student-led discussion class, Spring 2017.
These artifacts are not stored with the Intercultural Center records, but are instead stored with RG6/W003: Swarthmore College Relics.
Banner with IC group logos: HOLA, SQU, and SAO.
Canvas sign with painted "Swarthmore Intercultural Center" painted in the center with student writing in markers saying what the IC has provided them.
Rectangular, grey plaque with white letters. White arrow directing viewers to the IC Lounge.
6 items. 1256a: 2010 (Deshi). 1256b: 2011 (FOTS). 1256c: 2011 (Rainbow). 1256d: 2013 (IC/BCC). 1256e: 2014. 1256f: 2015.
Material is canvas with "Swarthmore College for Immigrant Rights" painted on it.