Year in Review, Year In Review, Year In Review 1995 OCTOBER

October is a month when the weather begins to get a little cooler and the leaves turn color. It is fall. And that is what happened to the Penn football team this month -- it fell to Columbia, 24-14. The longest winning streak in Division I-AA history came to an end at 24 games. October also saw the end of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, as the former football star was acquitted. Many University students and staff crowded into the Bowl Room of Houston Hall and around other televisions around campus to watch the verdict announcement with mixed emotions. The Institute of Advanced Science and Technology received a $10 million donation from Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos and will be renamed in his honor. This announcement came near the end of the month when University administrators were projecting a $2 million deficit in the budget this year. Concerned alumni raised allegations that University administrators were trying to censor The Pennsylvania Gazette, the University's award winning alumni magazine. The Gazette editor, Anthony Lyle, came under pressure to resign after 25 years of service. Oscar-winning film maker and conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone spoke to 1,500 students crowded into Irvine Auditorium. Although he was sick with the flu, Stone animatedly discussed his views of history and his upcoming movie Nixon. As October came to a close and a the November election day drew near, Mayor Ed Rendell and former state Sen. Joe Rocks, the Republican challenger, squared off in a debate featuring questions from a panel of journalists and students in the audience. An audit of the International Affairs Association revealed that the group misused $1,500 in Student Activities Council funds. The money was apparently spent for taxi rides, extra hotel rooms and personal phone calls. The University's new commissioner for public safety, Thomas Seamon, began his tenure by suspending three police officers for their alleged participation in two police brutality incidents in September. Freshmen who might have been getting homesick or needed a little extra cash from home were not receiving it this month, the Quadrangle mail room was plagued by problems. One hundred and eleven damaged pieces of mail were found unattended and 25 letters were delivered open. More than 1,000 Penn students took a cruise on the Internet in October in order to bring the alternative band Everclear to Penn's campus. Penn students beat out 35 other colleges by filling out a registration form on Ticketmaster's new World Wide Web site.