Year in review 1998-JUNE/AUGUST

It was a big season for retail. The new 50,000-square-foot Penn Bookstore opened as the anchor tenant of the $90 million Sansom Common hotel-and-retail complex. Down Walnut Street, the Eat at Joe's diner opened after months of delays -- but without staying open 24 hours as had been originally promised. Around the city, a SEPTA strike crippled Philadelphia for 40 days beginning June 1 before the Transit Workers Union and SEPTA management finally came to an agreement. Buses, subways and trolleys were grounded, increasing automobile congestion to the point where many drivers were pulling their hair out. Regional rail lines were not affected by the labor dispute. The investigation into the May murder of Wharton graduate student Shannon Schieber continued, as the Philadelphia Police asked the public for help in their stalled murder inquiry. The University announced its intentions to help fund a new University City public school. The city will pay for construction, but Penn will donate the land and contribute $700,000 a year. The school, scheduled to open in 2001, will also serve as a training ground for the Graduate School of Education. Community reaction to the plan could be described as cautiously optimistic. The Wharton School announced a controversial new policy to keep non-Wharton students out of its public computer facilities, citing concerns over security and overcrowding. July was a mixed month for the University's Health System, which garnered "Honor Roll" status from U.S. News & World Report but saw its financial outlook downgraded in the wake of mounting debt and the city's overall health care crisis. Chemical Engineering Professor Eduardo Glandt was named interim dean of the Engineering School, replacing Gregory Farrington, who became president of Lehigh University. In August, the city ordinance limiting University City vending to designated areas finally went into effect as the University constructed its five fresh air food plazas. The Pennsylvania Book Center and STA Travel, the only two retail establishments remaining in University Plaza, were given extensions on their current leases while they attempted to relocate, as each has since done. The old Bookstore building at 38th Street and Locust Walk is slated to be turned into a six-story, $120 million Wharton School facility. Also in July, Bridgette Black, the confessed killer of University biochemist Vladimir Sled, was sentenced to five to 12 years in jail, a decision that surprised many people who thought she deserved more time for the third-degree murder conviction. Penn mourned the death of College and Wharton senior Shalini Narwani of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was found dead in her Center City apartment on June 9. And the University got its highest ranking ever in U.S. News & World Report's annual listing of the nation's best colleges -- sixth place overall and fourth in the Ivy League. Penn jumped from its 1997 seventh-place slot to a three-way tie for sixth along with Cornell and Duke universities. -- Naomi Blivaiss and Edward Sherwin