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(04/10/00 9:00am)
Alcohol monitors will be required to live in all IFC houses over Spring Fling. [NOTE: This article appeared in the annual joke issue.] Fraternity Spring Fling parties will be a lot tamer this year, according to Alcohol Coordinator Stephanie Ives. Ives announced yesterday that all 31 fraternities in the InterFraternity Council will have to house a live-in monitor for the duration of the Fling weekend to help prevent alcohol-related illnesses. She said that past attempts to curb alcohol abuse during Fling have failed because the administration has not done enough to regulate drinking among the Greeks. "We think fraternities need a little more supervision during this weekend," Ives said, adding that "hopefully it will benefit the entire University community." IFC President Andrew Mandelbaum, an Alpha Chi Rho brother, expressed concern over Ives' proposal. "It shows the University doesn't really trust us," the College junior said. "They're singling out the IFC." Mandelbaum also pointed out that, as Spring Fling is a mere four days away, it will be nearly impossible to find and hire monitors for all 31 IFC fraternities. But Ives has a solution for that problem as well, which would not require the University to hire any additional personnel -- relocating housekeeping staff to the fraternity houses for the weekend. "This will provide an opportunity for students to really get to know the people who work behind the scenes at Penn," Vice President for Facilities Services Omar Blaik said. "It's a very unique opportunity for all involved." University President Judith Rodin said yesterday she supports the decision, calling Ives' plan "resourceful" and "ingenious." "This may be just what we've been looking for," Rodin said yesterday. "We don't need to drive fraternities off campus, we just need to bring in a healthy dose of adult involvement." "Who cares anyhow," College senior and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Andrew Exum said. "No monitor can separate me from my bottle of Wild Turkey, even if I have to climb a mountain to escape them. Giddyup!" Penn Students Against Monitors said they were shocked by the announcement and will hold an unsupervised rally at an undisclosed fraternity house tomorrow.
(04/10/00 9:00am)
[NOTE: This article appeared in the annual joke issue.] In a first-of-its-kind move in Ivy League athletics, the Penn women's lacrosse team announced yesterday that it would be releasing a team calendar as a means of raising money to offset a budget shortfall. At a noon press conference held at Weightman Hall, first-year Quakers coach Karin Brower described the quandary faced by the team, which resulted from a lack of alumni donations and less-than-stellar sales of team gear at Penn basketball games. To compensate for an expected $500,000 shortfall, the Quakers will release the "Women of Penn Lacrosse: Chicks with Sticks" calendar, which will span the 2000-01 academic year and sell for $9.99 a pop, in selected area bookstores come August. "I do hope that this helps to make up some of our, um, recent losses," Penn goalie Christian Stover said. "Hopefully then I can stop betting on the games. "Between you and me," she whispered, "Bet on the over." The calendar also has possibilities on a larger scale. "I'm excited about the prospects for this calendar and the exposure that it will lend to the team," Brower said. "And if the men on Penn's campus are as lecherous as we think, we'll make up our budget deficit and then some in no time. Never mind the wonders it will do for recruiting?" Features of the calendar will include a page dedicated to each of the three sororities represented by the team, and freshman and sophomore class pull-outs. A coaches' spread is also expected, and a month will be dedicated to the team's tri-captains. "At first we thought this was a little bit exploitative, and the team was against the idea," said Quakers midfielder Emily Foote, a Daily Pennsylvanian sports reporter. "But we were assured that the photo spreads would be done tastefully. And besides, we do have those DP-types taking photos of us as we run around in short skirts at our games already." News and Notes Rumors abound that Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky will buy up all copies of the calendar to give to alumni and parents.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
Through the "Finding Philly" series, students sampled food from six Italian restaurants. There is an Italian saying: Appetite comes to those who eat. Eight residents of Harrison College House proved that to be true in a marathon tour of six Italian restaurants in a single evening. On Wednesday night, the sixth installment of the "Finding Philly" series kicked off when Art Casciato, dean of Harrison House, led a group of students to South Philadelphia's Italian neighborhood with the goal of eating six separate courses at six different restaurants, ranging from the "hole-in-the-wall" eatery to more high-profile establishments. Casciato said he had toyed with the idea of hitting six different restaurants in one night but had long feared that it would be a "logistical nightmare." At the first restaurant, the Desanka CafZ, the students whet their appetites on ravioli in brodo, or ravioli in broth. The group hurriedly swallowed up their soup, unaware that they would have to pace themselves as the evening progressed. After a quick walk, the second stop was made at Io e Tu, a more well-known restaurant in the area. Here three waiters, aware of the relay race the Harrison House members were running, brought antipasto to the still-hungry crowd. Roasted peppers, the famous Io e Tu marinated carrots, calamari and breaded portobello mushrooms in a tomato cream sauce were all offered to the hungry diners. On their way out of the restaurant, College sophomore Dyer Halpern asked Casciato, "Have we found Philly yet, Art?" The ready reply was, of course, "No." After all, four restaurants still remained. Next, Felicia's, in true Northern Italian fashion, served gnocchi in tomato sauce and thin spaghetti with pesto. The waiter offered wine to the group in a thick Italian accent. "I think it's barbaric not to have wine with dinner," Casciato joked with the students. He proceeded to order a bottle of Chianti. Casciato picked Ralph's for the meat course because it is the oldest family-owned Italian restaurant in the country. Its reputation did not disappoint. Veal parmesan, breaded flounder and grilled chicken in a lemon cream sauce satisfied those who were still hungry. By this point, it became obvious to Halpern and Engineering junior John Sinclair that what they had on their hands was a "battle of wills" -- a contest to see which one of them could actually eat all the food that would be served to them throughout the evening. Little Italy's Dante and Luigi's was the second-to-last stop, where the students had their salad course. It proved too much for Sinclair, however, who lost the eating contest when he could not finish his salad. Since Casciato found himself under budget, he opted to order another bottle of wine for the group. The waiter demonstrated his prowess by stretching the bottle's contents equally into each of the glasses, a feat met with great applause and shouting. The final stop was the renowned Victor CafZ at 13th and Dickinson streets, where the waiters are opera singers in training. After two arias -- one from I Pagliacci and the other from La Boheme -- and pistachio creme brulZe and canolis, the evening came to a close.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
More than 100 Penn women gathered on College Green for "Take Back the Night." Wearing blue and white T-shirts emblazoned with the words "End The Violence," a procession of women marched down Locust Walk yesterday, chanting "Women unite! Take back the night!" More than 100 women and a handful of men took part in "Take Back the Night," an annual event protesting sexual violence and other crimes against women. The night's activities included a rally, a march and a speak-out. Earlier in the evening, about 120 students gathered on College Green to hear Philadelphia group Sincerely Yours sing gospel with a message of peace and hope for victimized women. "It's a really emotional night," said College junior Nicole Plumez, a member of Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape, one of the co-sponsors of the event. College sophomore Ellie Lobovits, a member of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, which also co-sponsored the event, said the purpose of the event was to "give people space to tell their stories" and "to make people aware of how prevalent this issue is." During the rally, Penn Women's Center Director Elena DiLapi spoke to the audience about the "individual and collective pain" of victims of sexual violence." "Here at the University of Pennsylvania, there's a lot of psychological and physical abuse that goes on in relationships," she said. But she used a hat embroidered with the phrases "No Fear" and "Wounds Heal" as a prop to show that there is hope for survivors of sexual violence. DiLapi was followed by Lobovits, who gave a crowd-rousing speech in which she said women in this society have been deprived of their fundamental rights. "I am your sister, you are my sister and we are one," she said. "We live in a patriarchy where women are taught to be weak, passive and so skinny they cannot fight for themselves." "Six hundred and seventy thousand women per year are raped or assaulted," she continued. "The issue is silenced and pushed back." About 30 students chose to participate in the march that followed. With the Philadelphia Women's Bagpipe Corps trailing behind, the students chanted and sang down Hamilton Walk, Spruce Street and Locust Walk. Throughout the 30-minute march, College senior and STAAR member Alayne Freidel kept chanting into the loudspeaker to keep the marchers motivated. The marchers returned to College Green for the second portion of the rally, the survivor speak-out. Counselors were available to prepare survivors before they spoke. Both women and men spoke openly about their personal experiences with sexual abuse and rape as participants lit candles in support. Plumez emphasized the healing power of sharing personal experiences with others and "how much you can touch someone and how much you can help someone just by telling your story." The audience was clearly moved by the speakers. "I almost starting crying," Engineering junior Jen Orloff said.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
From Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates, it's a story that has played out many times in the business world: The little guy gets squashed by the big guy. And now, according to two Penn alumni, the University is wielding its big business power against their small Internet-based Penn apparel company. Joe Anderson and Jeff Belanoff, both physicians, started Ultimate Industries in January 1997 as a part-time venture. According to its two owners, Ultimate Industries has only sold about 100 shirts over the last three years and donates more than it sells. "Our motive wasn't to make gobs of money," Anderson said. But despite the company's stated purpose of broadening the selection of available Penn merchandise -- rather than just making a profit -- Anderson and Belanoff may soon be forced to shut down their company. Penn informed the owners in a letter dated February 15 that their license would not be renewed, retroactive to January 1. Although last month the company received a license extension to June 30 and a notice that Penn would reconsider if Ultimate Industries would resubmit its license application, the owners could be without a license in three months. "[Penn's] just taking a little company making barely nothing -- a couple of alumni nonetheless -- and squishing them for no apparent reason," Belanoff said. According to Associate Vice President for Business Development Lisa Prasad, Ultimate Industries' use of non-registered Penn insignias is the reason the company was originally denied renewal of its license. Anderson and Belanoff have been using the same logos since they were first granted a license by the University -- the standard split red and blue "P" along with several of their original designs. However, Prasad said Penn has "used a lot more scrutiny" this year in granting licenses, as University licenses are now granted by a committee in Business Services, whereas in the past they were controlled by the Center for Technology Transfer. Currently, 77 companies have Penn merchandising licenses. "[The CTT] didn't always look at the product samples for appropriateness," Prasad said. Prasad said several of Ultimate Industries' logos -- including a Quaker jumping through the "Q" in "Quakers" and a Ben Franklin look-alike in a football uniform leaning on a red and blue "P" -- do not fit University standards. She also said Ultimate Industries violated license regulations by including a registered trademark symbol next to these non-trademarked logos. According to Anderson, who graduated from the Engineering School in 1984, Penn's letter declining Ultimate Industries' license request did not give a reason for declining to renew the apparel company's license. "We asked, 'Why?' They didn't give us a reason," Anderson said. "I finally got a verbal answer a month later that they don't like what we're selling." Anderson and Belanoff, a 1983 College graduate, both expressed disdain for the way in which the University has treated them over this issue. They point to "legal gobblygook" in the February 15 letter and "hoops" they must now "jump through just to get reconsidered." "If the University renews us in good faith, I think that's a reasonable thing," Anderson said. "But, if not, I think it represents the fact that the University's basically now a corporation." Prasad said Penn hadn't had prior problems with Ultimate Industries.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
Undergraduate Assembly and class board election results were announced last night. Following an election with one of the largest voting turnouts in recent history, the Nominations and Elections Committee announced last night the results of this spring's student government elections. Fourteen incumbents were re-elected to the Undergraduate Assembly, which will next year include at least seven minority students -- far more than in recent years. About half a dozen Greeks were elected to the main undergraduate student government body. Until this past year, a majority of UA members had been affiliated with Greek organizations. The half-hour Fair Practices Code hearing -- at which candidates can bring campaign rule violation charges to the NEC's attention -- went smoothly, with only one appeal and one charge filed against the NEC itself. College junior Matthew Thornton, who ran against College junior Neerav Sheth for senior class treasurer, filed charges against the NEC for posting another student's picture on the Web next to his candidate statement, which he claimed may have confused voters. The NEC acknowledged the error and has decided to re-run elections for the position. The new election will likely be held from next Tuesday to Sunday, with results being announced the following Monday. Wharton freshman and UA candidate Christopher McLeester -- who had been automatically disqualified for not handing in his spending form -- appealed the charge by saying he was unclear about the rule since he did not attend a candidates meeting and did not see an e-mail explaining the NEC's regulations. The appeal was denied. UA results were then announced to the 63 students who ran for 25 available UA spots. Another eight will be offered to incoming freshmen in the fall. Half of the 16 College students elected were incumbents: juniors Alex Moskowitz and Michael Bassik, the UA's current treasurer and the highest vote-getter among UA candidates; sophomores Dana Hork and Rachel Mendelsohn; and freshmen Lara Bonner, David Levin, Molly Siems and Becky Tracy. The remaining eight newcomers were juniors Heather Germain and Ryan Little, sophomores Jed Gross and Kimberly Dobson and freshmen Arshad Hasan, Erin Kennedy, Seth Schreiberg and Aaron Short, the second-highest vote-getter. Four Engineering students were elected as well. Juniors Mo Saraiya and Michael Krouse were re-elected, along with newcomers sophomores Eric Chen and Dave Greene. All four of the Wharton representatives were incumbents -- junior Jon Glick, sophomore Dana Becker and freshmen Ethan Kay and Yale Cohen. Nursing and Wharton junior Kisimbi Thomas was elected as Nursing representative. He ran unopposed. The highest vote getters from each school's race -- Bassik, Saraiya, Becker and Thomas -- will receive a seat on the University Council. Gross and Little were elected to at-large seats. UA executive board positions will be elected at the UA's transition meeting on April 18. The candidates to succeed College senior Michael Silver as UA chair are expected to include Bassik, the current treasurer and former UA vice chairman; Krouse, who helped lead the UA's initiative to develop better relations with the United Minorities Council; and Hork, the chairwoman of the UA Communication Committee. Glick, a former UA treasurer, may also throw his hat into the ring. Class board winners were also announced last night. Ray Valerio will head the Senior Class Board as president. Mo Saraiya -- who is also a University Council representative and Engineering representative to the UA -- was re-elected vice president, and Tori Katz won the position of secretary. Roya Weiner was elected vice president for corporate sponsorship. School representatives elected were: Vanessa Freeman and Anne Berenbom for the College, Krista Pohl for Engineering, Richard Kinderman for Wharton and Kisimbi Thomas for Nursing. Ryan Miller, another newcomer to class boards, will serve as junior class president. Other elected Junior Class Board members were Stephanie Benedetto as vice president, Martina Trucco as secretary, Matthew McAllister as treasurer and Zachary Brown as vice president for corporate sponsorship. Holly Russell and Kimberly Colopinto will serve as College representatives. Wynter Duncanson and Carine Ildebrando, a Daily Pennsylvanian staff member, were elected as Engineering representative and Wharton representative, respectively. There were no candidates for Nursing representative to the Junior Class Board. Adam Zimbler and Emily Newman were re-elected sophomore class president and vice president, respectively. Katherine Smith was elected secretary and Albert Song won the position of treasurer. Santiago Rivera was re-elected vice president for corporate sponsorship. School representatives were Jeb Winton for the College, Dan Parry for Engineering, Caitlin Crowley for Nursing and Yale Cohen for Wharton.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
The buildings may be crumbling and supplies may be virtually non-existent. But Mayor John Street has another concern on his to-do list for the ailing Philadelphia public school system -- fashion. Last week, the mayor introduced a new plan that would require all students in the city's public school system to don uniforms. The proposal, which could affect all 259 district schools, is the latest step in Street's push to improve education in schools across the city. At Street's request, members of the school board -- who thanks to a 1998 state law can require school uniforms in all Philadelphia schools -- will be discussing the possibility of mandating uniforms for students at an Education Committee meeting today. Street has expressed strong support for uniforms, saying that they will improve discipline and order in the downtrodden, underfunded public school system. Issues regarding school uniforms are often hotly contested between parents, students and administrators. And although the principals of several West Philadelphia schools say they approve of Street's plan, they also foresee complications the policy could cause. Cheryl Hazzard, principal of the Lea School at 47th and Locust Streets, expressed her strong support for a system of uniforms in public schools. "I think that uniforms are a good idea. Who's going to fight in dress up clothes?" Hazzard asked. "Nobody's going to get their good clothes messed up." She has experienced the benefits of school uniforms first-hand, having worked at a public school where the majority of children wore the same outfit. The results were an increase in school spirit and less competition among students, Hazzard said. However, other local administrators are skeptical of the mayor's plan to bring uniforms into their schools. "I'm not sure I see the connection between uniforms and children's behavior," said March Neff, principal of Powelton Village's Powel Elementary School, which houses grades K-4. Neff has also worked at a school where the students were encouraged to wear a simple uniform, and said that she perceived no visible difference from Powel in terms of discipline. Although Neff said she would be receptive to the idea of uniforms, she added that the clothes would have to allow children to play and get messy -- meaning no skirts for girls. "There are so many more important things we need to be concerned about in this city about public education," Neff said. Both Powel and Lea -- which has students in grades K-8 -- have younger students, which, the principals say, decreases the need for uniforms. A standard dress code is especially helpful in a high school environment, where the pressure to wear designer labels is far more intense, they added. University City High School Assistant Principal Ethelyn Young said that she "would love to see uniforms throughout the school system." "It will cut down on the name calling and the low self-esteem," Young explained. "Some children cannot afford to wear the most up-to-date clothing." However, Young also said that while she supports the plan, it will be difficult to get high school students to agree to wear uniforms. "You'd have a large outcry," Young said. "You're going to have a fight on your hands in the high schools."
(04/07/00 9:00am)
Graduate students and minority groups were given space on the Walk. University President Judith Rodin announced plans yesterday to reinvigorate Locust Walk starting next fall, providing new spaces for academic, social and cultural programming in the heart of campus. The plans call for about a dozen campus organizations to get new homes and will spawn the creation of a cultural and performing arts center, a research hub for undergraduates, a graduate student center and common space for student religious groups. The proposal also includes a recommendation for a sorority house to be relocated to Locust Walk sometime in the near future. "This is a very student-centered outcome," Rodin said. "It has achieved my strong aspirations for animating Locust Walk, day and night and on weekends." But the plans do more than just concretely define the University's plans for developing Locust Walk as the academic and social heart of campus. They also resolve, in part, long-standing concerns regarding the allocation of a limited amount of space to a growing number of student groups. The plans also bring to an end months of debate as to what should be done with the former Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity houses and the recently purchased Christian Association building. "Having a number of spaces come available all at once, we suddenly realized we had the chance to change the dynamic of part of Locust Walk," Provost Robert Barchi said. The release of the plan culminates most of the work for the Locust Walk Advisory Committee -- a 12-person task force of students, faculty and staff chaired by Barchi -- that Rodin charged in February with determining how to best fill a number of recently vacated properties along the Walk. After narrowing a long list down to about 12 campus groups that needed centrally located space, the committee assigned locations based on shared interests and specific needs so that groups could take advantage of common resources and proximity. The committee submitted its final recommendations earlier this week to Rodin, who accepted all of the proposals in the plan. "It's a crazy-good mix of allocations," said UA Chairman Michael Silver, who sat on the committee. "It pleases so many disparate constituencies." Most of the spaces are expected to be ready in the fall. Renovations will begin over the summer to turn the CA building -- located at the corner of 36th Street and Locust Walk -- into a center for academic and cultural groups and a performing arts hub. The first floor will house La Casa Latina, the Pan-Asian American Community House and UMOJA, an umbrella organization for several African-American student groups. There are also plans to eventually house a performing arts hub in the building's ground floor, currently occupied by the Gold Standard restaurant. In addition to the space on the first floor, the organizations will share five new large conference rooms throughout the building, which will be assigned based on need. Representatives from all three of the minority student groups had independently lobbied the administration for space to establish their own cultural resource centers. But the decision to place such diverse groups under one roof has most of the leaders pleased with the outcome. "Being able to be with these different groups will facilitate interchange of ideas and dialogue," said College junior John Lin, who was part of a group of students that lobbied Rodin last fall for an Asian-American resource center. "This will not only serve Asian Americans, but the entire Penn community." Besides allocating space to UMOJA, the plan finally grants a permanent home for La Casa Latina, which is essentially swapping buildings with the Christian Association. Although La Casa Latina opened this September in the Westminster House at 3700 Chestnut Street, it was slated to be displaced by the CA at the end of the year. Penn granted the CA the space in the Westminster House in November for an undisclosed sum. At the time, Rodin promised La Casa Latina officials that they would receive equal or better space. "Most of the student leaders are happy," said Electrical Engineering Professor and La Casa Latina co-founder Jorge Santiago-Aviles, who also served on the Locust Walk committee. "They see that we might have traded a little bit of space for more accessibility and presence on campus." The available space on the ground floor will house additional rehearsal rooms and a new black-box theater. It will also hold offices for many campus performing arts groups, which will have access to a small auditorium on the second floor of the facility. More performing arts space will free up when the leases for the Gold Standard and the Palladium expire in 2002. Barchi indicated yesterday that Penn would reclaim much of the space the two restaurants currently use, though he said the committee wanted to keep some sort of food services operation in the building. "Now that the material arts are going into the Faculty Club, the thought of the performing arts going next door was very attractive," Rodin said. The second floor of the former CA building will also house a newly created Center for Academic Research and Fellowships. The center will advise students of undergraduate research opportunities, help with grant-writing and provide information and support for students interested in applying for post-graduate fellowships. Opening up a hub for undergraduate research has long been one of Barchi's goals as provost. The plans for Locust Walk also call for converting the first two floors of the Veranda -- the student center formed when Phi Sig vacated the house in the spring of 1998 -- into a graduate student center. Penn had previously been one of only two Ivy League schools without such a center for its 10,000 graduate students. The new building will provide meeting rooms for between 20 and 30 graduate academic groups, giving space for students to plan and host small colloquia and faculty seminars. But it will also be a center for graduate student social life. During the day, the building will have lounge space for graduate students to talk and do homework, and at night, it will be host to parties and other social activities. "It's a place for graduate students to hang out with each other, get to know one another," said Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Chairwoman Kendra Nicholson, another committee member. "That's the problem that we noted -- that there are 12 graduate schools and very rarely do we have the chance to interact." The ground floor of the facility, however, will provide shared space for student religious groups that do not have space, such as Muslims, and who congregate for daily prayer services. The Office of the Chaplain will coordinate the sessions. Finally, the plan officially confirmed what administrators had said before, that space in the former FIJI house at 3619 Locust Walk will be used for the Humanities Forum and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Rodin also said that down the road, she would seriously consider the recommendations calling for a sorority to move into the house currently occupied by the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life. There has not been a sorority on the Walk since Delta Delta Delta moved out of the Phi Kappa Sigma house in 1998. Rodin said she expects the VPUL's office to move into College Hall at some point in the future, though she would not provide any timetable.
(04/07/00 9:00am)
Sex: an unlikely subject to round out this year's Jesus Week. Last night, with topics ranging from sexual addiction to reform programs for homosexuals, sex topped the agenda in a 90-minute discussion with Theresa Latini, the executive director of One-by-One -- an organization that counsels homosexuals in conflict with their religious beliefs. Latini, whose talk marked the culmination of Jesus Week 2000, addressed about 40 students in Stiteler Hall. Latini, a self-described "former" homosexual, discussed religion as it pertains to both heterosexuals and homosexuals. She stressed the idea of "sexual brokenness" -- which she defined as "anything about our sexuality that falls outside of God's plan" -- as the basis for whatever problems Christians encounter. In fact, for Latini, homosexuality is "not primarily a sexual issue." "This is not a fundamental part of who [homosexuals] were created to be," she said. "Perhaps homosexuality is meeting legitimate needs in illegitimate ways." Heterosexuals, she argued, often use "illegitimate" means to fulfill a greater need as well. In one of the more controversial parts of her talk, Latini said such behavior -- which includes "lust, compulsive masturbation, voyeurism and promiscuity" -- is a "destructive consequence of sin" that plays into the idea of "sexual brokenness." Now, on the other hand, she said the pendulum has swung to celebrating homosexuality, which is not necessarily the answer either. Latini offered her controversial opinion about the causes of homosexuality. She said she saw little biological basis, but rather pointed toward experiences in early childhood, such as the "breakdown in the relationship with the same-sex parent." Latini grew up with a "homosexual orientation" and found difficulties when trying to reconcile her feelings with those of the ministry. But through a combination of support groups and one-on-one talks with a counselor, she said that she and others like her "began to experience significant change, not only in our identities, but also in our orientation." Latini then took questions from the audience, and she found herself challenged on many points. Most students found flaws in the environmental basis of homosexuality in which Latini believes. About Latini's talk, many students were somewhat critical, but by no means offended. "You can't be offended if she wants to share a change in her life," College freshman Jessica Rodriguez said. "I think everyone reacted with a willingness to listen at least." Perhaps, as College junior Nina Harris pointed out, the response was less charged because the discussion "wasn't really focused on homosexuality, but rather 'sexual brokenness.'"
(04/07/00 9:00am)
Terry Mattingly would be the first to admit that being both a hard-hitting journalist and a practicing Christian is not easy. Regardless, Mattingly, a professor of journalism at Regent University in Virginia, explained to a small crowd of Penn students and faculty members at the Kelly Writers House on Wednesday night that it is indeed possible to be both in America today. Mattingly, who was brought to campus by both the Writers House and the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, spoke for nearly an hour about the various problems facing Christians who aspire to cover religious topics for newspapers and magazines. Mattingly captivated the audience by beginning his talk with a personal anecdote about his experiences in a Charlotte church with a spirited and lively congregation in the 1980s. He said he was sitting alone in a pew during a church service, quietly taking notes on the event for a column he was writing, when suddenly the priest directed the question "Brother, are you with us?" specifically at him. This question, Mattingly noted, had been a common one in his career as a writer who focuses on religious issues. Mattingly has been writing weekly columns about religion for the Scripps Howard News Service for 13 years. Mattingly said he and many of his fellow religion columnists find it difficult to respond when frequently asked about their own religions while conducting interviews. "It is impossible to avoid the fact that religion is a controversial issue," said Mattingly, an Orthodox Christian. "Even if you are of the same church as the person you are interviewing, things can still be uncomfortable." He explained that when a Christian journalist is asked to what church he or she belongs, the best response is simply to, "tell them you take the subject [of religion] very seriously and that you want to get the facts straight." It is also essential, Mattingly continued, to have respect for the interviewee's religion and beliefs. "I would try to report unto others as I would want them to report unto me," he said. "Everything would improve if we take other people's faiths as seriously as we take our own." "To me, the moral of what he said is if you want to be a good journalist, you have to show the person you are interviewing that you understand him or her," said Omar Harb, a first-year post-doctoral student in Biology. For Mattingly, the focus of the public tends not to be on religion. "Everybody wants to write about spirituality, feelings and things that are touchy-feely, instead of religion. Oprah's hot, the Pope's not," he explained. Mattingly said the manner in which Christian journalists deal with conflicts is only half the problem, adding that he hopes others will also approach problems differently. "Christian journalists should not be judged as Christians," Mattingly added. "They should be prepared to be judged as journalists. "I'd feel a lot more comfortable letting myself get judged as a journalist and letting my priest and myself take care of the rest."
(04/07/00 9:00am)
Hosting Harvard, Penn and goalie Christian Stover aim for their fourth consecutive win. At the midpoint of its season, the Penn women's lacrosse team heads into Sunday's 1 p.m. Franklin Field match against Harvard with a three-game winning streak and a burgeoning sense of confidence. Goal production and team morale are both up considerably for the Quakers from this point a year ago, but it may just be the one thing that is on a downswing that is most responsible for Penn's (5-2, 1-2) success -- the number of goals allowed. Junior goaltender Christian Stover is the last line of defense for the Quakers, and the three-year starter has done an admirable job this spring. After posting a 13.52 goals-against-average in 1999, Stover has worked this figure down to an 8.71 average through seven games. "There's been a huge change defensively. I think Christian has done a great job, and I think Carey Sebastian, our goalie coach, has done a tremendous job with her," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "Christian understands now how to come out for the ball, and is always moving forward, which you need to do as a goalie. "She has improved so much -- not only since the fall, but since we started in February." Not one to take sole credit for her improved goal average, Stover mentioned a more coordinated, more aggressive team defense and an intense fall practice slate as reasons for her higher level of success in the cage. "I would say the entire defense is responsible for the change," Stover said. "I still think that my goals-against-average should go down, and that is because of my mistakes. But I think the reason why it has gone down so much is because of how we're playing as a unit more and helping each other out. When a girl comes in, we close on her so she can't get a shot off." Hard work and long hours are nothing new to the junior from Rowayton, Conn., who can be found spending her time in the fourth-floor studios of Meyerson Hall, feverishly working on projects for her Design of the Environment class. It is not unusual for Stover to spend upwards of five hours a day in the confines of Meyerson, leaving only for other classes, lacrosse practice and the occasional bout with sleep. But as the old adage says, that which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. "I think it's a toss-up between lacrosse and DOE for which takes up the most time," Stover said. "When I leave my house, everyone is always like, 'Where are you going, are you going to practice?' And I'm like, 'No, not today, it's our day off'; and they say, 'Oh, so studio then?'. "It's always one or the other, it's never anything else." A potential conflict for the Penn netminder may arise in three weeks when the two most important interests in her life collide head-on. Stover's final critique for her Architecture class gets underway just 90 minutes before the Quakers' game at Temple -- possibly leading her to arrive just minutes before gametime. Stover stepped into the limelight at Penn midway through her freshman year against this same Owls squad. The Quakers lost to No. 6 Temple, 13-4, in that game, but Stover rebounded to post two wins that season. "I think definitely my first game against Temple, when they were top-10 in the nation at that point, was one of the most exciting games. I just went in there and played, and had a blast," Stover said, also mentioning games against high school teammates now on Notre Dame and Dartmouth as collegiate highlights. Whether it's late nights in the studio, running in the snow in the winter or practicing with the other Quakers goalies, Stover is always hard at work. And easily scared, too. "The goalies play racquetball for hand-eye coordination, and a couple of days ago we were playing and I hit one off the wall and it skimmed right by her head," Penn senior goalie Melissa Rantz recounted. "She started screaming the highest high-pitch squeal you have ever heard. And she freaked out and was shaking the rest of the day and couldn't do anything. "But that doesn't happen on the field. It's the helmet thing -- it's like our guard, so when she's got her helmet on, she's fine." This spring, despite dividing her energies between class projects and dodging shots whizzing by her head, Stover has shown great focus. The junior's save percentage stands at 61 percent, up from 48 percent last spring. Against Harvard, Stover will be coming up against a familiar face -- Crimson keeper Keltie Donelan, a former high school teammate. "Keltie and I split time freshman year, and she definitely helped me out a lot when I was starting out," Stover said. "Last year she played in the game against us, and I really wanted to beat Harvard and to play better than she did. It's always fun when you have someone that you know on the other side -- you just kind of want to show them what you can do." Harvard fell, 12-2, to No. 11 Boston University on Wednesday, allowing 11 consecutive goals to end the game. Donelan saw 20 minutes of action to close the game, allowing four goals. This could be a fortuitous sign for Penn's leading scorers Traci Marabella (17 goals), Brooke Jenkins (15 goals) and Crissy Book (11 goals). The Crimson will be countering on offense with juniors Alli Harper and Lauren Corkery. Corkery scored two goals in the Crimson's 11-5 victory over Penn last year. "[Harper and Corkery] both have the ability to get in to get the shot off, and they're just tough competitors," Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "I think you're looking at a very different Penn team from last year, so I expect the game to be much tighter."
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Despite a tough loss to league power Princeton, the Quakers can still make waves at Yale and Brown. Even though losing to Princeton 6-3 last Saturday wasn't the most auspicious way to open its Ivy season, the Penn women's tennis team is still in contention for the Ancient Eight title. But whether the Quakers (8-9, 0-1 Ivy League) remain in the hunt depends on how they do this weekend when they head north to face Brown and Yale. Though neither Brown nor Yale is expected to be nearly as tough as the talented Tigers -- whose No. 1 player, freshman Kavitha Krishnamurthy, is ranked No. 20 in the nation -- beating these teams will be no easy task, as the Quakers learned last spring. When Penn faced the Bears and the Elis at home in a weekend last April, both matches were knotted at three-all after singles play. The Quakers moved on to sweep their opponents in doubles, though, and took both matches, 6-3, exemplifying the sort of intestinal fortitude necessary for Penn to win a championship. Penn's showdown against Princeton last Saturday was three-all after singles as well -- only there was no happy ending for Penn this time around. The Quakers fell hard in all three of their doubles matches, finishing the match down 6-3. "We've been working on doubles all week to make sure that doesn't happen again," Penn junior Lenka Beranova said. "From No. 1 to No. 3 [Princeton's doubles were] very aggressive and they were very prepared. We weren't being aggressive enough." To improve their doubles play, the Quakers have been concentrating on solidifying their serves and returns in practice this week. But Penn coach Michael Dowd emphasized that the most important thing the doubles teams can do this weekend is take control of the net. The Quakers feel they need to take more of the initiative when it comes to serve-and-volleying. "We have to work at not being afraid of the ball and going after it," Dowd said. In preparation for this weekend's matches, Penn junior Shubha Srinivasan also noted that the Quakers have been trying out new doubles combinations, working on being more consistent at having longer points in their singles matches. Having a healthy team this weekend will help too -- nearly half of the Quakers had the flu during Saturday's Princeton match. While the Quakers are healthy and ready to win, this weekend clearly does not mark the peak of their league schedule. Neither Brown nor Yale has an especially daunting record. The Bears are currently on a nine-match losing streak. At 1-11, they have not won a match since they played UMass in early February. In addition, Brown was edged 5-4 by Seton Hall, a team the Quakers breezed by, 8-1, on March 7. The Elis have a slightly more impressive record, as they currently are 9-7. Their most recent matches include a hard, 9-0 defeat to Cal-Irvine and a 6-3 win over Boston College -- a team the Quakers beat handily, 7-2, in March. Beranova believes that while Penn is not "expecting to blow [Brown and Yale] off the court" this weekend, the upcoming matches are definitely winnable. And despite the Quakers' loss to Princeton, the Ivies are far from over. "Just because you lose one match doesn't rule you out," Beranova said. "There are tough matches ahead of us, but there are also tough matches ahead of [Princeton]. It all depends on who's gonna take the challenge first and crush and destroy."
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The Red and Blue host Brown today, while Yale will come to Penn tomorrow. A 2-6 Ivy record last season and a loss to Princeton to open this season have left the Penn men's tennis team eager to get back on the right track in the Ancient Eight. Standing in its way this weekend are Brown (8-8, 0-0 Ivy) and Yale, which Penn will face at the Lott Courts today at 2 p.m. and tomorrow at noon, respectively. Last season, Penn managed one of its two Ivy victories by a 4-3 count at Brown, but was defeated by the Elis, 5-2, in New Haven, Conn. Penn (8-7, 0-1) is coming off a 5-2 loss to Princeton in its Ivy League opener last Saturday at home. The Tigers, who are currently ranked No. 66 in the nation, only dropped two singles victories to the Red and Blue. Penn was bested by a score of 8-6 in three close doubles matches, which have been a problem for Penn lately. The Red and Blue have been unable to win the close points, as they have claimed only one victory in nine doubles matches since returning from their spring break trip to Hawaii. The Quakers will look to make a strong singles showing and solve their doubles problems against Brown and Yale this weekend. "We're prepared," freshman Ryan Harwood said. "We've been training very hard, especially on our doubles game." Penn's singles players may have an easier road to travel this weekend against the Bears and the Elis, both of whom are closer to Penn in the rankings than the Tigers. The Orange and Black are expected to contend for the Ivy League title this season. Both of Penn's weekend opponents, however, are solid at the top of the lineup and could give Penn's front-line players trouble. Yale, coached by Alex Dorato, who is in his eighth year with the Elis, will send junior Greg Royce up against Penn's Fanda Stejskal at the No. 1 spot. Royce finished 16th last year in the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis League Tournament. First, though, Penn must deal with the Bears. Second-year Brown coach John Choboy's team will be playing in its first match since returning from an 0-4 trip to Florida two weeks ago. Stejskal and sophomore Brian Barki will face particularly stiff opposition from Choboy's top players. Barki will face sophomore Nick Malone, who finished 22nd in singles last year in the EITL Tournament. Stejskal will have to match up against freshman phenomenon Justin Natale. Natale, a certain contender for Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors, has already garnered the No. 65 ranking in the country. He has continually impressed for the Bears, with a tournament record that already includes a second-place finish in the Eastern Regional Championships and a first-place finish in the Farnsworth-Princeton Invitational. The effort to recover strong doubles play this weekend will be an arduous one for the top Quakers pair. Stejskal and doubles partner junior co-captain Eric Sobotka will face the brunt of the Brown doubles attack, taking the court against Natale and Malone. Yale will send sophomore Chris Shackelton and junior Scott Carlton up against Penn's top duo. After a 0-1 start, Penn's Ivy season could definitely use a jump-start. The Quakers must find a way to match up against two solid programs if they hope to get in the win column this weekend.
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Midfielder Adam Solow hopes for a happy homecoming as Penn heads to Dartmouth. Today, the Penn men's lacrosse team leaves for Hanover, N.H. Tomorrow, the Quakers (4-5, 0-4 Ivy League) will try to get off the Ivy schnide against Dartmouth (3-3, 0-0). And at least one of the Quakers will be on some very familiar turf. Junior midfielder Adam Solow transferred to Penn after a 1999 season in which he led the Big Green in goals and total points. "I didn't leave because of lacrosse at all," Solow said. "I just didn't like [Dartmouth], I wasn't happy there. It wasn't the team at all. They were my friends, and I felt bad leaving them, but it just wasn't for me." Solow may have been anxious to leave Dartmouth, but now he can't wait to get back. "Yeah, I'm real excited about this game," Solow said. "I don't want to say anything that [Dartmouth will] hear and get all pissed off about, but yeah, I'd like to go up there and play well. I'd like to beat them." Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale is a bit worried that Solow might get too excited. "Adam's normally a very intense kid anyways, and I'm sure he's going to be sky-high for this one, going back to play against a lot of his good friends," Van Arsdale said. "I hope he can be calm enough, actually. It's not a matter of trying to get somebody excited to play, it's going to be more the reverse with Adam. "I'm sure he'll perform well and want to do well in front of not just his former teammates but the other friends he has up there." While Solow still keeps in contact with "a couple of people" at Dartmouth, the Wynnewood, Pa., native and Lower Merion High School graduate is pleased as punch with his relocation to West Philadelphia. "Beating [Dartmouth] would be great," Solow said. "But just being here at Penn and meeting the people I've met here has been worth it already, and beating them would just be icing on the cake." The task of icing Solow's cake shouldn't be as tough for the Quakers as their first four league contests were. Traditionally, the Big Green have been a doormat in the highly competitive world of Ivy League lacrosse. Also, the Quakers hope that the momentum they picked up from a tough 10-4 loss to perennial national power Princeton will be enough to propel them past the Big Green in New Hampshire. "Obviously that's the hope, although there's never any guarantee," Van Arsdale said. "If we can just match the intensity that we demonstrated against Princeton for the entire game, with a little bit more execution and success offensively, then we should be OK on Saturday." Van Arsdale, though, cautioned that, since the game is the Big Green's Ivy League opener, the Dartmouth players will be geared up for this game as well. "[Dartmouth is] coming off of a very big win for them this past Sunday over Denver," Van Arsdale said. "And I think that they're excited about how they're playing right now. We're certainly getting an animal that's ready to play and is going to be very up for us, since this is their first league game." "They're certainly not a Princeton," junior midfielder Kevin Cadin said. "But they're also very capable defensively, and they have some good middies that can put the ball in the back of the net." Up until this season, Adam Solow was one of those "good middies," and he perhaps has a better perspective on the Big Green than any other Quaker. "They have a good defense; they're well-coached; they're sound on fundamentals," Solow said. "They're tough, and they'll play hard for 60 minutes." Solow also commented on what it was like to have been a member of the traditional Ivy cellar-dweller. "Yeah, they've been on the bottom for awhile," he said. "I don't know how hungry they are. I haven't been up there and talked to the guys. But when I was there, I know it was always an uphill climb every year." And while the Red and Blue's season has been anything but smooth going thus far, the Quakers are very happy that Solow's on their side. "Adam's meshed very well," Cadin said. "His style of play has really fit in with our team's style, so he's really had no problems. He understands the principles of our offense, and he's very easy going and easy to get along with off the field." The easy-going Solow seems to have found a more comfortable situation here in Philadelphia, and the Quakers would certainly be much more comfortable if they leave Hanover victorious tomorrow.
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The Red and Blue travel to face Dartmouth and harvard this weekend. Heading into this weekend, Penn baseball coach Bob Seddon isn't just thinking about Dartmouth and Harvard. He's thinking about Mother Nature as well. While, regardless of the weather, his Quakers (12-10, 3-1 Ivy League) will make the trip to New England this weekend to play two noon doubleheaders -- one tomorrow at Dartmouth (10-9, 3-1) and one at three-time defending champ Harvard (8-11, 3-1) -- their journey might be all for naught. According to National Weather Service reports, showers are expected in Hanover, N.H., tomorrow afternoon, while breezy rain is expected in Boston on Sunday. "Our chances of playing this weekend are not very good, as they look right now," Seddon said. "When you're a baseball coach, you watch [the Weather Channel] like a hawk." A lost weekend for Penn would have a two-fold effect -- not only would the Quakers lose some of the steam gained from their offensive explosion in their 33-13 win at La Salle on Wednesday, but Penn would also have to make the trip back up to New England at some later point in the season. "This is not a good thing," Seddon said. "We don't want to drive up there and get postponed the entire weekend and have to go back [to Dartmouth and Harvard] again. Financially, it's terrible for your budget. It's a very expensive trip?. I don't feel like driving on a wild goose chase." Assuming baseball is played this weekend, the Quakers will try and continue their Ivy success after sweeping a doubleheader with Yale and splitting one with Brown last weekend to open Ivy play. Penn will throw the same starting set at Harvard and Dartmouth that tied up the Elis and Bears. Sophomore Mike Mattern will start the first game tomorrow, and fellow sophomore Mark Lacerenza gets the ball in the nightcap. Sunday, Ben Krantz will face the Crimson to kick off the double-dip, and impressive freshman Ben Otero will take the mound for the second game. According to Seddon, freshman Andrew McCreery, who missed his start last weekend because of the flu, is still sick and will most likely only be used in relief. If Penn can turn in the kinds of pitching performances that it did last weekend, the Quakers will be in good shape. Out of all four starters, only Mattern gave up more than four runs while Otero went the distance on Sunday against the Bears for a complete-game victory. But, in addition to battling a veteran team in Dartmouth and the league champs in Harvard this weekend, the Quakers hurlers will also have to battle the cool and crisp New England air. "I don't think anyone will go nine [innings]," Seddon said. "You have to watch [the pitchers]. The weather up there is going to be cold." Tomorrow, Penn will face Dartmouth senior pitcher Conor Brooks for the first time ever in the opening game of the doubleheader. Brooks is the Big Green's No. 1 starter and one of the top pitchers in the Ivy League. The Quakers will most likely clash with freshman James Kelly in the second game. Dartmouth's offense has been hurt of late with the absence of senior first baseman Aaron Meyer, who hit .333 last year with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. "[We'll] be lucky enough to have [Meyer] get back for us," Seddon joked. "Dartmouth hasn't hit the ball that well. He's a big force for their team." Penn will also have its hands full with the Crimson, who have won the Ivies the last three years and are still a dangerous force. Telling is the fact that Harvard's pitchers have held opponents to a .749 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), whereas the Quakers have allowed much weaker foes to rack up an .836 OPS. And while the Crimson are not distinguished offensively -- their team OPS is .679, as opposed to the Quakers' .890 -- they have played tough non-conference competition, including three games at UCLA and one at Miami, ranked 16th and 24th respectively in the Baseball America NCAA top-25 poll. All four games were losses, but the fact remains that Harvard has played competitively with some of the best the country has to offer. "We've got some tough games coming up here," Seddon said. "The guys are loosey-goosey, and hopefully they're having a good time. That's the most important thing."
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The Penn men's golf team finished a respectable second in a large field of 29 teams at the George Washington Invitational this past weekend. Still, nobody had to tell freshman golfer Peyton Wallace that second place is the first loser. "We certainly expected to win," Wallace said. "The field wasn't as strong as it was in East Carolina [two weeks ago]." The Quakers were forced to play in poor conditions during the Sunday-Monday tournament. They were met with rain on Sunday and strong winds on both Sunday and Monday. "The holes that seemed easy in the practice round became extremely hard on Sunday," junior Kyle Moran said. The rain that came on Sunday soaked the fairways, which prevented the ball from rolling. In addition, the greens had been recently aerated, so the tiny holes on the green caused for a bumpy ride for the Quakers' putting. On Sunday, the Red and Blue shot a combined 313 behind the good play of Wallace, Endel Liias and Chad Perman. The three freshmen each fired an opening round of 78. Kyle Moran posted a 79, and Mike Russell put up an 85. The Quakers certainly finished stronger than they started. On day two of the tournament, the squad shot a combined score of 304. Moran led the team over the two days by posting a 74 on the second day. Russell had the best score of the day with a 73, and Wallace duplicated his first-round score of 78 on the second day of competition. Liias shot 79, and Chad Perman shot 81. The team finished in a tie with Providence and five shots in back of first-place Iona. "We could have played better, and if we played better, we would have won," Moran said. Although the Quakers can blame some of their errors on the conditions, Wallace believes the team should put the onus on its own shoulders. "We made some stupid mistakes. We couldn't make a lot of putts," Wallace said. "It's not our fault that the greens were like they were, but everybody else was putting on them." With the Ivy League Championship coming within two weeks, Penn coach Francis Vaughn seemed a little bit upset with his team's performance. "He was pretty unhappy," Wallace said. "He drove the van home fast and didn't say a whole lot." Another probable reason the Quakers came up a little short this weekend can be attributed to a lack of experience. Russell, Wallace and Liias were participating in the starting five for the first time ever. Throw freshman Chad Perman into the mix, and Penn was left with four relatively inexperienced players out of the five starters. If the Quakers hope to win the Ivies in two weeks, they most likely will need their senior captain Rob Goldfaden, as well as senior Rob Hunt and junior Todd Golditch to be in the lineup. The Quakers' underclassmen certainly do not lack talent, but just like Michigan State's basketball team showed Monday night, talent plus maturity equals championship. Hopefully for the Quakers, Vaughn will be able to solve the equation for success this weekend as the Quakers travel to Annapolis, Md., to play in the Navy Invitational.
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Progress never comes easily, especially for a first-year varsity program taking on established competition. The Penn women's golf team found this out firsthand last weekend, shooting a two-round combined score of 812 (404-408) en route to a bottom-of-the-barrel 17th-place finish at the William and Mary Invitational. The tournament took place Saturday and Sunday on the 5,862-yard, par-71 Blackheath Course at the Ford's Colony Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. "We're kind of disappointed with [our play in] the tournament," senior captain Natasha Miller said. "We placed last -- which we've done before -- but we feel like we haven't played to our full potential." James Madison won the 17-team, 36-hole competition with a two-day score of 616 (309-304). Host school William and Mary finished in second place with a total of 626 (313-313). The Quakers were competing in the toughest field of any tournament in their short history, a field that included national powers Yale, James Madison and Methodist College. Penn coach Francis Vaughn, who also coaches the men's golf team, has set the team's goals in terms of enjoyment and improvement, not scores and tournament finishes. But until this weekend's tournament, the Quakers had seen a steady improvement in their scores dating back to last fall. In last October's Rutgers Invitational, the Red and Blue carded back-to-back sub-400 rounds en route to a two-day score of 772 (391-381). This score was a drastic improvement over the 857 that the Quakers shot in the first tournament of the fall, the team's debut outing. After Rutgers, the team looked to keep building on its success, asserting that sub-400 rounds are a reasonable expectation for future tournaments. While they came short of reaching their goal at William and Mary, the Quakers still have a positive outlook. "It's a little setback, but we'll bounce back from it," Miller said. "We just need to regroup and work on the things that need to be worked on." The Quakers' final competition of the spring will be at the Ivy League Championships, to be held April 15 and 16 at Metedaconk National Golf Club in Jackson, N.J. Before the final tournament, though, the Quakers hope to iron out some of the kinks in their games -- especially long putting -- and generally regroup as a team. "We need to step up our practices and get the most out of our time at the Philadelphia Cricket Club," Miller said. "We want to go into the Ivies with a positive attitude." The Quakers should have the use of five team members at the Ivy Championships, something they have not had at their disposal all year. Having a fifth competitor should bode well for the Quakers' scores, because only the four best scores per day count toward the team total. "It's one thing if you have a bad day and you don't have to count your score," Miller said. "It's another thing if you have a bad day and every score has to count."
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Blending the academic and the absurd, Jed Rasula, a professor at York College in Canada, and Steven McCaffrey, a professor at Canada's Queens University, presented their co-edited publication, Imagining Language, on Tuesday night at the Kelly Writers House. The two took turns reading their poetry, describing the anthology's production and explaining their theories of language to the 25 Penn students, staff and Philadelphia residents in attendance. The anthology, which was released 1 1/2 years ago to widespread academic acclaim, is a collection of language experiments from the last 3,000 years. Rasula described the work as "a huge gathering of empirical data about language." Since its release, the anthology has become a popular tool for exploring language theory -- the relationship between language and meaning -- and for teaching language all across academia. The authors said their book's success can be attributed to the wide range of subjects it addresses. Indeed, the anthology combines sociology, linguistics, literature and phenomenology in an exhaustive examination of the way in which language has evolved over time. "There was a really positive response from inside the institution, largely because it resists being pigeon-holed," McCaffrey said. "This was a project that could not be aimed at any one constituency." But, despite the project's breadth and intellectual focus, the work is considered approachable by its readers -- as are its editors. In their readings and published works, both authors maintain a degree of playfulness. "The distinction between something either serious and world-building or something humorous is not such an important one in a lot of our work," Rasula said. "A lot of this reflects things that happen by accident with language, and that can be funny." Rasula said the notion for the project developed when he was working for Ripley's Believe It or Not -- a company best known for its wax museums around the world -- on extraordinary uses of language, which perhaps set a precedent for the tone the work would later take. Though the audience laughed occasionally and seemed to appreciate many of the authors' absurd examples, the presentation did not lose its academic focus. The lighthearted and amusing aspects of the presentation, such as the poems of meaningless mutterings and nasal noises, were generally illustrative of more theoretical and serious notions on language. McCaffrey said their work on imaginative languages is celebrated for encouraging a re-introduction to language, one that could soon bear serious academic fruit. "Randomness in language can precipitate a completely different, and sometimes more productive and enlightening, relationship with language," McCaffrey explained.
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Abuse survivors will speak on College Green tonight during the annual rally. The annual "Take Back the Night" rally will be held tonight, concluding a week-long series of events focused on violence and sexual abuse against women. The rally, part of a national program, will be held for the seventh time at Penn tonight, with a march across campus followed by a survivor speak-out on College Green. Since attendance hit an all-time low last year, organizers have tried to revamp this week's program with more activities, such as panel discussions and workshops, and more advertising, including a supplement in The Daily Pennsylvanian. The rally will begin at 6 p.m. with keynote speaker Elena DiLapi, director of the Penn Women's Center, speaking about violence against women. Organizer Craig Abbs, a research coordinator in the School of Social Work, said the goal of the event was to "raise awareness that this is a problem that is extremely common." He also said the issue is particularly relevant to college students. "College age students from ages 18 to 23 -- they are at the highest risk [of sexual violence]," he said. He also said that 30 percent of college women and 16 percent of college men are victims of some sort of sexual violence. The violence against women rally will be followed by a march and a discussion group. A separate rally will be held specifically against sexual violence, where Sally Brown, a local community activist, will be the keynote speaker. This will be followed by a speak-out, in which victims and survivors are invited to talk about their trauma and recovery. Professional crisis counselors will be present throughout the speak-out. "It is very intimidating to talk about something so personal," Abbs said. But he said he hoped "Take Back the Night" would create an environment in which women and victims of sexual violence could be comfortable sharing their experiences and receiving support. DiLapi said she hoped the rally would "create a campus that's intolerant of sexual violence." She also said that some of the topics addressed would be wife battering, dating violence, acquaintance rape, harassment and childhood sexual abuse. She said the speak-out "was created as a place for empowerment for survivors" and to "honor the courage of survivors." She added that she hoped both men and women would come out to show their support and relate their stories.
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Police officers, students and counselors joined together at Civic House last night for a panel discussion on sexual violence at Penn. The event was part of "Take Back the Night," a week-long series of programs and discussions designed to raise awareness of sexual violence against women. The six panelists in attendance included representatives of the Division of Public Safety, the Office of Student Conduct, Counseling and Psychological Services and the Penn Women's Center. Before an audience of 10 students and Penn staff members, the panel members discussed the roles of their individual organizations in preventing sexual violence at Penn and providing assistance for its victims. "We are totally victim-driven," said Patricia Brennan, interim director of the Special Services sector of the Division of Public Safety. She went on to describe the process by which victims of sexual violence can report a crime to one of Penn's support organizations, and she emphasized that they can receive confidentiality if they so desire. Kurt Conklin, the advisor of the campus group Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape, also stressed that Penn's support network is extensive. "We're really blessed at this university that there are so many resources for victims of crime," said Conklin, who works for Penn's Office of Health Education. However, much of the discussion focused on the fact that, for a variety of reasons, these support systems remain largely unused by Penn students since many incidents of sexual assault go unreported. "If you were to go by our office's statistics, there is no issue of sexual violence at Penn," OSC Director Michelle Goldfarb said. Several panel members emphasized that Penn's numbers are therefore not completely accurate, since it would be illogical to assume that such a large university could have so few incidents of sexual assault. "It is one of the most under-reported matters on campus? and because it's under-reported, it's also under-addressed," Goldfarb said. Panelists and audience members agreed that more needs to be done to encourage women to come forward when they have been assaulted. And they said the fact that women have been hesitant to report such crimes in the past has only added to the problem. "We need people to come forward and say to these victims, 'You're not alone here,'" Brennan said. She and the other panelists also emphasized the importance of reporting sexual crimes even if victims cannot provide proof to back up such claims. "It's hard to prove, and in our system it ought to be," Goldfarb said of sexual allegations. "But that doesn't mean there's no point in coming forward." Craig Abbs, an employee of Penn's School of Social Work who sat in on the discussion and organized this evening's "Take Back The Night" event, said it is important to support people who come forward to report a sexual crime. "We need to let victims know that regardless of whether or not there is any legal evidence to prove your case, you will always be believed," he said. And according to University Police Officer Stacy Livingston, who coordinates the department's free Rape Aggression Defense seminars, it is imperative that organizations continue to assist the Penn community. "Being a teenager in the year 2000 is nothing like it was for me in the 1970s," Livingston said. "But one thing remains the same: You're responsible for your own safety."
