7-year trend sees faculty, grad students leaving West Phila.

Grad students head downtown and profsGrad students head downtown and profsmove to suburbs, citing crime and schools Increasing numbers of graduate students and faculty members are choosing not to live in West Philadelphia, according to a University report and an organization of professors devoted to improving the local community. While 60 percent of the University's graduate students called University City home in 1988-89, that number dropped to only 25 percent in the spring of 1996, according to the Office of Off-Campus Living's 1995-96 annual report. The report, written by the office's assistant director, Michaela Farcas, details "a continuous move eastward of the graduate student population, with an increasing number crossing into Center City." The graduate population in Center City, Society Hill and the Art Museum area has shot up, from 25 percent of all grad students in 1988-89 to 41 percent last year. The vast majority of undergraduates still live in University City, with 81 percent of the undergraduate student body residing in the area last year. But like graduate students, faculty members have increasingly left the immediate campus area over the past few years. Crime convinced History Professor Drew Faust to move to the suburbs in 1990 after 22 years in the neighborhood. "We had a really serious crime take place in our house and there were house sitters in the house at the time who were seriously injured," Faust said. "After that, the whole situation never seemed the same. We had an eight-year-old child at the time and it made me worried. I did not want to deal with that fear anymore." Faust also bemoaned the area's lack of retail, transportation and cultural outlets. "It is ironic that the suburbs are much more convenient than West Philadelphia," she said. "I can get downtown on public transportation faster now than I could from West Philadelphia." Lynn Lees, a member of Faculty and Staff for Neighborhood Improvement, said more faculty are leaving West Philadelphia than are moving in, though her group does not collect precise statistics. One of the biggest reasons faculty have fled University City is a lack of good public schools in the area, according to Lees, chairperson of the History Department. Many professors move out of West Philadelphia when their children reach a certain grade, Lees said, adding that some simply "prefer a more suburban atmosphere." Schools were not a major issue among graduate students, who cited a host of other problems, including crime and unattractive, overpriced housing as reasons for living elsewhere. Second-year Wharton graduate student David Berdon said he never considered living in University City, due to the paucity of adequate housing. "I have a perception that living up there is like living in a dorm," Berdon said. "I mean, the buildings are about that attractive." But History graduate student Minna Ziskind said she likes her apartment at 41st and Spruce streets. "The best thing about [living in University City] is the proximity to campus," Ziskind said. "The area serves our needs well enough. It is a reasonable apartment at a reasonable price." Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman said last week that she hopes University and city initiatives will alleviate problems caused by the area's housing, retail and cultural facilities, economic development, public schools and crime. Scheman herself does not live in University City, due to concerns about her children's education. "I am a single mother with two kids and schools are important to me," Scheman said.