EDITORIAL: A limited number of seats

With speakers like Hillary Clinton coming to campus, officials need to address the current lack of adequate facilities. Although the speech is part of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women's 10th anniversary celebration, more students should have the opportunity to see Clinton speak. However, this is a recurring problem which University officials will have to deal with now that Penn does not have a large auditorium on campus for guest speakers. Before its closing for renovation, Irvine Auditorium held close to 1,800 people. And for popular events such as Billy Joel's April 1996 lecture, the place was packed to the rafters. But when Irvine re-opens as part of the Perelman Quadrangle in December 1998, it will barely seat 1,250 people. And while the Palestra holds about 8,700, the facility has proven itself not to be a viable option. During Convocation this year, students and faculty complained of stifling heat and bad acoustics during the ceremony. Administrators need to start grappling with this space issue now. There is the option of providing closed-circuit viewing of an event at another location if there are not enough seats available. But televising speeches at other sites should be used only as a stop-gap measure until a permanent solution is found. Zellerbach Theatre and Irvine Auditorium are fine places to hold campus events that will probably fill the facilities to their capacities. However, there are 20,000 students on Penn's campus. And if 10 percent of the student population decides they want to hear James Earl Jones say, "Luke, I am your father," there would be no adequate place on campus to hold the event.