COLUMN: Shiny, Happy Penn

From Jordana Horn's "in Possibility," Fall '94 Allow me, then, to take you back to a conversation/ confrontation I had with a University Trustee over Alumni Weekend this past May. It may seem like ancient history, but there's always a purpose behind studying the classics? · The scene: Alumni Weekend. For those who have never attended, the campus is virtually plastered with smiles, strollers and the plastered. The May 13, 1994 issue of the DP broadcasts the headline, "Crime surge accompanies Penn Relays; Assault, shooting reported." But the sun continues to beam down on a perfect day for everyone, with the exception of said Trustee. When I approached him to introduce myself, he deliberately turned his back on me; after I approached him a second time, he eloquently described the DP as "crap" and "garbage." The reason behind his profound dissatisfaction was simple: "Look at the front page of your paper. I mean, that's just poor journalistic judgment. You always save the terrible stories for Alumni Weekend, when I'm trying to raise money. And you know who I'm trying to raise money for? You students! And how am I supposed to raise money when you put all bad news on the front page?" "I mean, all bad news on the front page? On Alumni Weekend? Really, that's just poor judgment on your part. But you're just a kid, and that's just irresponsible," he went on. But is it poor judgment, I asked, to say that students being pulled out of their cars and beaten in front of the Quad is newsworthy enough to be a front page story? "You don't care about news," he told me. "You care about sensationalism. These alumni don't want to hear about crime, and I don't want them to hear about crime, either." I assured him that, as students living in University City, we didn't want to hear about crime either -- and that no one was too happy about the fact that a pizza delivery man was held up with a gun to his head right in front of High Rise North at 9 p.m. during Penn Relays. But perhaps if he didn't want to hear about such things happening, he would take advantage of the fact that he was in a position to do something about it. "You don't care about any of this," he said. "I'm just trying to raise money here, and you have incredibly poor judgment. It's just stupid. You're just stupid. I have nothing more to say to you. Go away." · Last spring is far behind us, but the scene immediately came back into my mind as I was confronted by students, administrators and parents of University students (including my own) over our Welcome Back issue's lead story on Al-Moez Alimohammed's murder. "You ran a murder story on the front page of the Welcome Back issue? How could you? How tasteless." The irony of welcoming students back to the University with news of such a tragedy is evident, and incredibly disturbing. But more problematic was the idea that some seemed to be equally upset with the story's placement in a traditionally "happy" issue as they were with the facts of the story. As with alumni weekend/graduation issue's headlines on crime, it's clear that people simply don't want their festive occasions marred by unpleasant, if not terrifying, thoughts of crime literally in the University's own backyard. Surely, there is no direct correlation between last May's Penn Relays crime surge and Moez's murder, other than the fact that the University has somehow, in the heart of West Philadelphia, managed to inure itself to its surroundings -- provided, of course, that they do not momentarily intrude on the festivities of the day. But whether raising money or taking kids to college for the first time, a little reality check is in order. The news doesn't stop because there's a party, and we won't bury or not cover a story for the "greater good." And this is not out of a passion for sensationalism, but rather, out of the simple fact that the road to the greater good is not always as easy to reach as we would like it to be. There's a lot to celebrate about the University of Pennsylvania that readily expresses itself in red and blue balloons, toast on Franklin Field and nice hefty checks from alumni donors. But to continue celebrating, we need to come to terms with that which we would rather forget about. The moral of the stories, then, lies within this very human urge to remain the proverbially "comfortably numb." It is a moral that I hope the University will remember from the already-distant untimely death of Moez. It is all too easy to avert one's eyes from tragedy -- and to do so will insure that history will repeat itself. Jordana Horn is a senior Communications and English major from Short Hills, New Jersey, and Executive Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. in Possibility will appear alternate Tuesdays.