There are 100 registered clubs and organizations at Swarthmore, in addition to many other unregistered groups. Among these are
the honor societies: Phi Beta Kappa for general
academia, Tau Beta Pi for
engineering, and Sigma Xi for science. There are also several religious organizations on campus, including the Muslim Students
Association, Swarthmore Christian Fellowship, Catholic Student Community, and the Swarthmore Protestant Community. There is also
the Swarthmore Young Friends, a Quaker organization, and Ruach, a Jewish group
associated with the Hillel Society.There are several well known ethnic/cultural organizations. The most famous of these is the Swarthmore African American
Students Society, formally the Swarthmore Afro-American Students Society. This organization, known as SASS, was deeply involved
in the American Civil Rights Movement.
Other notable organizations of the type include the Swarthmore Asian Association, the Swarthmore African Student Association
(SASA), and Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SCA). In addition, there is DESHI (South Asian), Enlace (Latino), Multi (multicultural), and Pansori
(Asian/Asian-American). Other
cultural groups on campus include Swarthmore Queer Union, the International Club, Russian Cultural Club, Native American Student
Organization (NASA), and ADVICE (a multicultural group; the name stands for "Advocating Diversity and Various Ideologies in a
Campus Environment").Swarthmore is also known as a center of social and political activism. Two
groups, the Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons, also known as the SCDC, and Why
War? were involved in a 2003 lawsuit and civil disobedience campaign against Diebold in connection with flawed e-voting machines. In addition to
the College Democrats and College Republicans, there is also a campus Amnesty International chapter, Students Against the Occupation, the Animal Rights Coalition,
Swarthmore Voices for Choice, Conscious Consumers, and the Swarthmore Living Wage and Democracy Campaign. Other groups include
the Queer-Straight Alliance, Earthlust (an environmentalist group), Feminist Majority, and the Swarthmore Political Action
Committee. Swarthmore's political landscape is generally considered fairly left-wing.There are several musical groups on campus. Music department sponsored ensembles include the College Orchestra (usually about
50 members), Chorus (usually around 80 members), Wind Ensemble, Gamelan, Jazz Band and the well-endowed Fetter Chamber Music
Program, which provides coaching for many student quartets, trios and other small ensembles. The most notable student-run groups
are Sixteen Feet (men's a
cappella and the college's oldest) and Mixed Company (coed a
cappella). Others include Oscar and Emily (jazz a cappella), Grapevine (women's a
cappella), Sticks and Stones (coed a cappella), Chaverim (Tri-college coed Jewish a cappella), and Essence of Soul (coed a
cappella). There is also a Gospel Choir.