One classical thing that every student will eventually experience when entering college is getting lost on campus. And on Swarthmore’s sprawling 425 acres, this is no joke, and sooner or later, it will happen to you too. At Swarthmore, I got lost right on the first week during orientation, which I blame on a phenomenon called The Mega Donor Buildings Phenomenon (I made that term up).
Swarthmore is not different from other colleges and universities which have one massive donor that has made up a big chunk of the school’s donations. For Swat, the donations have come from the Lang family. Born to immigrant parents, Eugene Lang ‘38 was an American businessman who got a scholarship from Swarthmore when he was 15. He found success by developing ATM machines and barcodes. Although he started his own college in New York and was known for his many donations to other schools, his largest donations went to his alma mater, Swarthmore. Because of his generosity, today there are four buildings on campus, all of which carry the Lang name. So, in your first week here, when you are going from place to place, you may get confused and lost as you navigate the Lang campus. The four Lang buildings are the Lang Performing Arts Center (LPAC), the Lang Music Building, the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, and Singer Hall.
The first one is the most important since you will be attending a lot of events in the Pearson Hall Theater during orientation. LPAC stands for Lang Performing Arts Center. Home to our English, theater, and dance departments, this building has a 650-seat performance hall, a black box theater, several dance studios, along with the English department upstairs. Keep this name in mind since this will probably be your most attended Lang building, both your first week and throughout the semester if you enjoy student performances and free food, as I do (there is always so much free food at LPAC that sometimes I wonder why I am on a meal plan at all).
The second one, Lang Music Building, although separate from LPAC, is actually connected to it with a bridge near the dance studios, which is the more convenient path since currently there is massive construction in front of Lang Music where they are renovating Martin Hall. Lang Music is, you guessed it, home to our music department. But on top of that it has dozens of practice rooms with pianos, a concert hall, and my favorite library on campus, the Underhill Library. Underhill is my favorite because it has a glass wall that overlooks the Crum Woods along with the comfiest chairs on campus.
The Lang Center’s full name is The Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. Founded in 2001, this place is for all students transforming their passion for change into action. It’s not just for academic pursuits; it’s a place where students can apply for funding for projects that deal with real-world issues they care about. The highlight of the center is its Social Innovation Lab, where creativity and social impact come together. I love the Lang Center for its super welcoming vibe, it’s an amazing place for those students who are looking to make a difference in the world.
Finally, the last building donated by Lang is called Singer Hall. Unlike the previous three, this one is actually named after Maxine Frank Singer ‘52, and it is one of only few science buildings on American college campuses named after a woman. Singer is the newest academic building on campus and houses our Engineering, Biology and Psychology departments. Fun fact about the engineering major at Swarthmore: it was added to our curriculum in 1871, less than ten years after our founding, and it’s the most popular major for the incoming class of 2028. Walking into Singer, you will see lots of laboratory spaces for Engineering and Biology students, and up on the roof, there is even a botanical garden that is used for plant biology classes.
This was a quick summary of the four buildings on our campus that are donated by Lang. Although getting lost on campus is a canon event and cannot be prevented, I hope that with this guide, you won’t get lost on campus at least until the first week of classes.
