YEAR IN REVIEW: February

The University prepared for massive budget cuts when Gov. Robert Casey announced his plan to reduce the University's state funding by half. The move forced Senior Vice President Marna Whittington to go to Harrisburg to testify on behalf of the University and other state-funded schools. At the same time, a measles outbreak occurred in Philadelphia and caused the death of two nine-year-old girls. When seven students were diagnosed with the disease, the University quarantined them. The outbreak had an effect as far away as New Haven, Conn., as Yale University Athletic Department officials required all students to present proof of inoculation before entering Yale's Whitney Gymnasium for the Penn-Yale men's basketball game. Games held at the Palestra were either canceled or restricted to students who could provide proof of immunization. A New York Supreme Court judge sentenced former Wharton student Christopher Clemente to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of nine drug and weapons charges. He will not be eligible for parole for 16 years. President Hackney announced that the Castle would be turned into a living-learning community service program. The decision came after Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson recommended that the Locust Walk house be turned into a space "dedicated to service in the wider community." The Castle was vacated after the Psi Upsilon fraternity was kicked off campus indefinitely and the University assumed control of the landmark building in the edge of College Green. School of Arts and Sciences Dean Hugo Sonnenschein announced in February that he would leave the University to become the provost of Princeton University, making him the fifth dean to leave the post in the school's 16 year history. Sonnenschein became dean in 1987 after Michael Aiken moved up to the job of provost. The United Way came under fire for monopolizing the University's charitable giving campaign. When the issue was put to a vote among faculty and staff, the United Way got in more hot water when it used tactics which were against University policy to try to influence the vote. -- Margaret Kane

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