Bulletin Informs Swat Community by Lena Sze In a meeting of Swarthmore's Student Labor Action Group (SLAG) sometime in March, the idea came up of putting together an informative and interesting newsletter to let the College community know the basics about staff issues and general developments surrounding and concerning staff in the College Long-Range Planning Process. This idea was received very well within SLAG because it seemed to be a novel approach in addressing a noticeable problem that has been hard for SLAG (and other student organizations) to combat- the apparent apathy of the ordinary student, in this case, regarding staff issues and concerns. As a member of SLAG, it seemed to me to be a tangible way in which the group could inform and bring to light conversations and problems people involved in staff issues (whether students, staff, administration or faculty) have been having to the larger campus community. Sometimes it is hard to gauge the reaction of people on a certain issue, people who do not know what developments have come about or what progress has been made without directly communicating with those people. Initially planned to be a newsletter for student distribution, it soon became a means by which everyone at the College (the people who otherwise might now know or care about staff issues) could have access to basic information about staff developments. Under the organization and leadership of Amy Dalton '98 and David Reese '99, SLAG collected articles from its members about the history of labor here at Swarthmore, the recent staff developments at Bryn Mawr from which much can be learned, the problems and developments about the staff grievance procedure, and short answers to frequently-asked questions about staff and labor on this campus. These articles are brief but compelling. They are not opinion pieces about what SLAG feels should be College policy. Instead, they simply provide information on current developments and debates that cannot be disputed and allow the reader to take that information and form an opinion of his or her own. It was impressive to see how quickly and well the Bulletin was put together. Within a span of a few weeks, all of the writing, organizing, and printing for the newsletter, or Bulletin, had been completed. The funding needed for printing 1000 copies of the finished Bulletin was graciously provided both by Empty The Shelters (ETS) and from the contributions of SLAG members themselves. On the morning of April 15, 1998, a few SLAG members distributed the Bulletin by personally handing it to staff, supervisors (for distribution), and via staff and faculty mailboxes, and through piles placed on tables near the Mail Room and the Admissions Office in Parrish. This was done with the aid of Kae Kalwaic, administrative assistant in the Program of Education who also helped by providing references and history as did other members of the Ad Hoc Committee of which Kalwaic is a member. The collaborative effort of students and staff on this one project is promising and perhaps indicative of what can be done about staff concerns if students and staff worked together more often. The reaction to the Bulletin has been overwhelmingly positive. Members of SLAG and others associated with the making of the Bulletin have heard praise of such an effort from staff and students and even from staff at Bryn Mawr. Although there has been much approval of the Bulletin from all sides, I think that SLAG hopes that the conversation topic of staff concerns and issues is now open to the whole College, that everyone is now exposed to such a topic, and that the related discussions will continue even after the last Bulletin has been taken from the piles in Parrish.

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