EDITORIAL: Onward

The coming semester affords theThe coming semester affords theUniversity the new beginning itThe coming semester affords theUniversity the new beginning itsorely needs.The coming semester affords theUniversity the new beginning itsorely needs.________________________________ Leaving domestic indigestions and syndicated re-runs behind, they now look forward to a year of change. This time last year, Sheldon Hackney's behind was securely lodged in College Hall, water buffaloes were grazing placidly in Eden Jacobowitz's freshman mind, and Nobel Prize winner Maya Angelou was about to tell the nation that it stood on the pulse of a new morning. But in light of all that the University has been through in the past twelve months, it seems to us that perhaps the new morning has just begun. Change lies ahead, not just in six months when newly-elected University President Judith Rodin officially takes the helm, but in the more immediate future. In a few weeks, the much-heralded Commission on Strengthening the Community will tell the University how to fix itself and its nasty image problems. Living up to the lofty standards it set for itself will be no easy task. It is our hope that it will indeed strengthen the community – thereby succeeding where countless committees and commissions before it have failed. With the presidential search now over, the spotlight turns to the Provost Search Committee and its hunt for Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson's permanent successor. The way some people are talking now, it could very well be Lazerson himself. Hopefully we will also learn the truth behind former Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson's move to the Provost's Office, and the impact it will have on student life. Under Acting VPUL Valarie Swain-Cade McColloum, the VPUL office promises to be heavily revamped – will that mean a reduction in services, as many student leaders have claimed? And after nearly a semester of negotiations behind closed doors, the University's bid to buy the Philadelphia Civic Center has yet to get off the ground. The closing of the deal could start a new chapter in the oft-troubled relationship with the West Philadelphia community. None of these issues will be as definitively resolved as Penn's inevitable trouncing of Princeton in Ivy Hoops. But at the same time, each step taken in the next few weeks will help give the University a new direction.