Issues untouched at U. forum

Campus leaders gathered to discuss "the Undiscussible" last night, but left without addressing any of the specific issues currently plaguing the University. The Sphinx Senior Society and the Office of the Vice Provost of University Life co-sponsored the forum to stimulate dialogue between members of the University community. The discussion was designed to respond to events that have taken place at the University over the past few years. These issues have brought the administration's treatment of internal "ideological conflict" under scrutiny from both within the University community and from outside. University alumnus Kevin Vaughan, executive director of the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission moderated the event. In his role at HRC, Vaughan has played a key role in resolving disputes between Philadelphia residents.Vaughan began by setting up guidelines for the discussion. Ironically, he asked that participants refrain from mentioning specific incidents and from making references to personal affiliation with campus groups. "We want to be entering this discussion not representing groups or organizations, but instead by representing ourselves as members of the Penn community," Vaughan said. The first issue on the agenda was the University administration's role in campus conflicts. "I would like to see the University refrain from getting involved with some of these issues after the initial conflict but before any investigation has been done," said College junior Patrick Ede, chairperson of the Performing Arts Council. "It would be nice to see student groups resolving their own problems." The forum also addressed the role of the media and student government in the development of campus issues. "There is a lot inherent in the media structure on this campus that causes more conflict," said Wharton junior Dan Debicella. "The Daily Pennsylvanian has a monopoly on this campus, and locks people into conflicting positions before they are able to discuss the issues amongst themselves." Dave Mestre, former chairperson of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, said the newspaper should act as an unbiased news source for the community. "A problem is figuring out where the paper becomes a third party in a conflict, when the paper stops monitoring and starts participating in campus conflicts," he said. The possibility of competing campus media outlets -- including a greater number of publications and increased support for UTV-13 -- were discussed as possible panaceas for a lack of multiple perspectives. "I think another big problem is that I recognize almost everyone in this room," Debicella said. "The same 10 percent of the students are always involved -- how can we get the other 90 percent to also get involved?" The question was unanswered by the members of the forum, but Associate VPUL Larry Moneta left the meeting feeling positive. "I don't mind starting with the leaders," Moneta said. "We had a great cross-section of groups tonight, and we're hoping they'll take what they learned tonight back to [their organizations]." College freshman Amy Stover said she wished more students had attended. "It's just too bad that it's not individual students taking an interest in these issues," she said.