GUEST COLUMN: "Blazing A New Path in the Community

From the photo of a "West Philadelphian" to the confiscation of 14,200 copies of the DP last April, the West Philadelphian and African-American communities often come into conflict with the DP. The staff of the DP, though, instead of enduring the firefight from the relative safety of their windowless fortress on Walnut, is choosing to venture out in the community and make a concerted effort to improve their relationship with those they alienated. Starting in the spring of 1994, the DP opened its doors to West Philadelphia. The paper invited students from West Philadelphia's Turner Middle School into the DP offices to learn the intricacies of journalism and work with the resources of a major college daily. This program originally began with a journalism class taught at Turner Middle School by three students in Professor Michael Zuckerman's History 443 class. They petitioned their friend -- then DP Executive Editor Steve Glass -- to help their journalism class. Glass, who worked at Turner with Professor Frank Johnston's Anthropology 210 class, already had dreams of using the DP facilities to help the Turner students write a readable nutrition textbook. Since Glass was thinking along similar lines, he became involved in his friends' journalism program. In the spring semester of 1994, Glass invited the journalism class into the DP to take advantage of the significant desktop publishing resources the DP possesses. The program sparked significant interest among both the DP staff and Turner's general student body. In the Spring of 1994, as Steve Glass worked with the Turner students, Scott Gallin and Josh Tyrangiel, DP editors in Drs. Ira Harkavy and Lee Benson's History 214 course, wrote a paper studying the DP's role at the University and in the West Philadelphia community. This paper, in conjunction with discussion in the History 214 class, prompted Marc Saiontz, the DP business manager, to conceive the idea of a DP West Philadelphia supplement written by West Philadelphia students, and circulated throughout the community. On Saturday, October 15, students from the Shaw Middle School and University City High School arrived at the DP offices at 9:00 a.m., where they were introduced to the DP and its facilities. These students will return for five more sessions, each with a detailed curriculum covering everything from layout to writing to ad procurement, and each planned with a basic goal in mind: the production of a four page newspaper. This newspaper, written entirely by the students, will be featured as a center spread in a future issue of the DP, and the DP will also produce twenty thousand copies of the paper for the students to take to their respective schools. From the conflict of past years, this program has emerged as a phoenix of cooperation. It is an example of what university students can do to aid the surrounding community, having a real, tangible effect on the children of the inner city. This program indicates the DP's very real attempt to end the conflicts of the past, and foster community between neighbors. It signals an attempt by the DP to evoke systemic, structural change rather than one-time "Mother Theresa" volunteer work. Indeed, the program will serve as a training ground for middle and high school journalists interested in starting newspapers back at their schools. The University, as well, despite its location in the western part of the city, has never enjoyed particularly good relations with the community of West Philadelphia. From the controversy surrounding the construction of the Science Center to recent conflicts over security issues, the West Philadelphia community has often clashed with the University. Reaching out to West Philadelphia through community service provides one avenue by which the University can help create community out of dissension and conflict. The University this year approaches a critical juncture as the new administration develops new plans for Penn. President Rodin and Provost Chodorow have an opportunity and an obligation, to fundamentally alter the way in which the University deals with West Philadelphia. We can no longer stand idly by, stockpiling our police force, building more walls, and buying more property. Instead, we must begin to play a greater role in our community. The new undergraduate plan for education must embrace this notion of academically based community service for the University to remain a viable institution in the twenty-first century. No longer can universities simply support the status quo, instead they must expand their frontiers and produce knowledge with the intention of aiding our crumbling society. Penn has a historic opportunity to take a leading role in becoming a truly cosmopolitan university. Community service -- especially in West Philadelphia -- would enhance the undergraduate education at Penn, giving students the opportunity to apply their knowledge to the real world, so that their work can make a difference to others. I encourage every club at the University to offer their special skills to the students of West Philadelphia and work towards solving the problems of the city. The DP is contributing to a positive movement. We have an opportunity to help that movement grow, improving undergraduate education and contributing to a better West Philadelphia. Matthew Kabaker is a College freshman from Highland Park, Illinois and a general assignment reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.