The Year in Review 1997: FEBRUARY

While his staff maintained he was fundraising in Florida, Chodorow wound up in Berkeley, Calif., for an interview as one of four finalists for the chancellorship of University of California at Los Angeles. The University's long-awaited benefits redesign was released, angering employees with cuts in health care and tuition benefits. Part-time workers, who had fought for benefits for several years, were not included in the package. February was also a big month in the area of crime and punishment. Christopher Jones pleaded guilty to attempted murder and 12 other counts pertaining to his role in the November 1996 shooting of then-College senior Patrick Leroy. A week later two more suspects, Christopher Crawford and Albert Bandy, pleaded guilty to all charges in a six-incident crime spree that ended with Crawford shooting Leroy. Bridget Black, who allegedly stabbed University researcher Vladimir Sled to death on Halloween night, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, robbery, theft and related charges. A second suspect in the case, Yvette Stewart -- who allegedly drove the getaway vehicle -- also pleaded not guilty. The Undergraduate Assembly voted to remove its "gag rule" so that candidates in the UA's March elections would be allowed to be quoted or featured in campus publications. Dining Services announced that it would offer weekend meals beginning in the fall of 1997 and Residence Life announced it would increase dorm room rent by two percent, leaving Penn with the most expensive room and board fees in the Ivy League two years in a row. But fewer students seemed interested in paying Ivy League room and board. Admissions officers announced that total applications at Penn and across the Ivy League declined in 1997, although early decision applications rose at Ivy League schools. --Dina Bass