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collectionELEFTHERIOS KOSTANSA Select Setof StudentsA RECORD 4,850 studentsapplied to the College foradmission to the Class of 2010,a 19 percent increase over2005–2006. Offers of admissionwere sent to 897 (18 percent)of the applicants, fromwhich a class of about 372arrived in late August.Of those admitted fromschools reporting class rank, 33percent are valedictorians orsalutatorians, 56 percent are inthe top 2 percent of their highschool class, and 91 percent arein the top decile. The Class of2010 comes from five continents,36 nations, and 47 U.S.states as well as the District ofColumbia. Sixty-three percentof those admitted were frompublic high schools, 21 percentfrom independent schools, 8percent from schools overseas,and 1 percent were homeschooled.Fifty-two percent ofaccepted students identifiedthemselves as domestic studentsof color: 21 percent asAsian American, 14 percent asAfrican American, 16 percent asLatino/a, and 1 percent asNative American/Hawaiian.According to the 2006Princeton Review survey of“America’s Best Value Colleges,”Swarthmore ranked ninthamong public and private collegesoffering the best educationfor the money.And, for the third year in arow, Swarthmore was ranked3rd among national liberal artscolleges by U.S. News and WorldReport, behind Williams andAmherst colleges. Of theseschools, Swarthmore is the onlyone to have remained in the topthree since the rankings werefirst published in 1983.Tuition, room and board,and other fees will rise to$43,532 in 2006–2007, but theCollege continues to meet alldemonstrated need with scholarships.More than half ofSwarthmore students receivedaid in 2005–2006, with theaverage aid award (scholarships,loans, and campus jobs)totaling $29,500.—Jeffrey LottMembers of the Class of 2010get to know each otherduring orientation in lateAugust.2010No Single Motivationfor TerrorLINKING THE RECENT CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAEL ANDHEZBOLLAH to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. administrationrepeated the message often used to justify U.S. involvement inIraq: that the “war on terror” presupposes the existence of a singleenemy united around a single cause—religiously motivated hostilityto freedom and the American way of life.Assistant Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Murer disagrees,maintaining that militant Islam is neither unified and cohesive inpurpose nor religious in nature.Co-editor—with Associate Professor of National SecurityAffairs at the Naval War College Derek S. Reveron—and contributorto the book Flashpoints in the War on Terrorism, published inAugust by Routledge, Murer says: “We found that insurgents whoare using Islam around the world are doing so to mark their differencesfrom the states they are opposing. They are primarily fightinglocal wars, asymmetrical wars of independence. Other than that,they have little connection with one another.”8: swarthmore college bulletin