COLUMN: Casting blame

From Adam Mark's, "Mark My Words," Fall '96 From Adam Mark's, "Mark My Words," Fall '96Initial efforts - or lack thereof - to theFrom Adam Mark's, "Mark My Words," Fall '96Initial efforts - or lack thereof - to thecontrary, administrators have redeemedFrom Adam Mark's, "Mark My Words," Fall '96Initial efforts - or lack thereof - to thecontrary, administrators have redeemedthemselves with new safety initiatives. From Adam Mark's, "Mark My Words," Fall '96Initial efforts - or lack thereof - to thecontrary, administrators have redeemedthemselves with new safety initiatives. Blaming administrators has become fashionable lately. And easy. When the president and her inner circle all but ignored a crime wave until a student was shot and the frightened campus erupted in anger, they were rightly criticized. Who else could we have blamed? Pat Leroy? Hardly. Each other? Unlikely. True, nine out of 10 administrators are far removed from the problem, for a number of reasons. First, most of them retreat to posh homes in the suburbs by nightfall. Carol Scheman, vice president for government, community and public affairs, for example, lives in a half-million dollar house on the Main Line. Second, administrators are more jaded than students. They've seen a lot more crime in their time than we have, and they are more resigned to living and coping with it. Third, they understand better than we do that solutions to crime take time, and that red tape in the process is inevitable. But most students are hypocritical and complacent, too. The same students who demand a police officer on every street corner -- to chase away everyone but students -- cry foul when police crack down on underage drinking and disorderly block parties. The same students who demand that administrators protect them from crime shun their efforts to protect us from alcohol, which almost killed six students this semester alone. If students want to be treated like grown-ups only on their own terms, the administration will always be the bad guy. In all fairness, students' response to the recent crime wave -- until Leroy was shot -- was as languid as the administration's. While we were being mugged left and right in September, we didn't circulate petitions or protest on College Green until it was almost too late. We didn't call meetings or approach the administration until we absolutely had to. Administrators didn't take it upon themselves to talk openly about crime and seek solutions until they found themselves on the evening news, but neither did we. Crime is unpredictable; we usually can't see it coming. When it does descend on us, it exposes our weaknesses and forces us to change our ways. But could we have predicted a student would be shot? I would venture to say yes. In the wake of countless robberies at gunpoint, it was only a matter of time before some criminal pulled the trigger. Just two days before Leroy was shot, I wrote in this space, "Only crisis can provoke action." Many students, familiar with the ways of the University, felt the same. Until recently, Rodin thought her administration was adequately handling the crime problem. She now admits Penn must do more, and she's putting its money where her mouth is. I felt more secure than ever walking off campus Saturday night, since the streets were speckled with Spectaguards. I'm relieved to know University Police has begun enforcing the city's teen curfew. I'm glad the administration will financially support PennWatch next year. I'm delighted the administration procured the assistance of city and transit police. Even though most administrators are too afraid or too spoiled to live in West Philadelphia themselves -- and I don't blame them -- they do care about our safety. They just have a hard time communicating this fact from their homes in Gladwyne or Bryn Mawr, especially when they implore us to live in West Philadelphia. Rodin gets great mileage out of the line, "I live in the Penn community." You can't argue with that, unless you consider Eisenlohr big enough to warrant its own ZIP code. Rodin does leave her house and see the neighborhood, if not that frequently. She understands our predicament better than any other upper-level administrator, although she's got iron gates and an occasional police detail. In the wake of the crime crisis, the administration has worked overtime to implement solutions and calm the nerves of frightened parents and students. Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, Vice Provost for University Life, developed carpal tunnel syndrome after personally responding to hundreds of e-mail messages. She lost a lot of sleep and wore splints on both of her arms last week. Other administrators, including Managing Director of Public Safety Thomas Seamon and Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush, have worked tirelessly with students to hammer out creative solutions. No one wants crime. No one wants to live in a filthy neighborhood. While parading before the press brings immediate attention and quick fixes, students should turn to more constructive approaches. Here are some ideas: Join PennWatch. Join the Spruce Hill Community Association. Contact administrators and share your ideas with them. Contact City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and Mayor Ed Rendell and press them to do more for Penn. Clean up the trash in front of your house and call on your landlords to do the same. Pick up the phone and report suspicious activity to the police. Go out of your way to support local businesses, like Campus Epicurean, the new restaurant at 43rd and Spruce streets. Stop and talk to some Penn cops, and say thank you. Tell them you're on their side. It's the least we can do.