Recent crimes could affect U. applications

News of the shooting of College senior Patrick Leroy and the increase of violence on and around campus has reached far beyond the University community. The recent crimes, covered in Saturday's New York Times, in addition to extensive coverage by Philadelphia newspapers, have left many students and faculty concerned about how the news may affect admissions for the fall. Engineering senior Paul Wilder, who coordinates tour guides for Kite and Key, said the rash of violence has the potential to hurt applications. "We have to fess up to what has happened," said Wilder, who added that he has received responses from people across the country. "We don't know how much it hurts but there's a pretty safe bet that we won't see an increase," Wilder said, noting that the University's drop in ranking also has the potential to affect the number of applicants in the fall. Alumni Council on Admissions employee Ricki Gerver said she has also received numerous questions from parents about the shooting. "But they are still calling for interviews," she added. "I don't think [the violence] will affect admissions in the long term but a couple may drop out of the race." Director of the Alumni Council on Admissions Harriet Joseph said she does not expect to see any changes in admissions numbers. "It's all over," she said. "In Penn State's lovely Happy Valley, someone is shot on the green [and] it happens at Yale and Columbia." Wilder said he may lose a few tour guides who no longer feel they can tell prospective students that Penn is a safe environment. "I don't know how many want to go through the stress of explaining [the shooting] over and over again," Wilder said. College sophomore Monica Schaul, a Kite and Key tour guide, said that, at first, she did not want to lead a tour of prospective freshmen Friday afternoon. "I received many questions about safety," she said, adding that she sat the group down and discussed what happened and the safety measures the University is taking. Despite efforts to calm their fears, many prospective students said they were concerned about safety at Penn. "I expect there to be violence since this is an urban campus, but this is startling," said high school senior John Druckman, who visited the University from New York Thursday. High school senior John Lang, of Syracuse, N.Y., said if he had to choose between a "safe liberal arts school" or Penn he would select the former. Parents who visited the University late last week were also taken aback by the increase in violence. "I'd honestly prefer her to be in a nice, suburban, country school," said Susan Cardillo, a Westchester County resident, of her daughter Maren. But Maren Cardillo, a high school senior, said she is not concerned and wants to attend a city school in spite of the possibility of crime. Officials from the Admissions Office did not respond to repeated attempts to contact them.