The Year Review in 1997: MAY-AUGUST

Heated debate over the issue of regulating vending on and around campus took center stage, as the administration proposed a City Council ordinance while students finished up their final exams in May. But protests and heavy criticism from vendors, students and staff led City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell to hold off on introducing the ordinance, which would have relocated many area vendors. Penn officials later admitted that they hadn't fully thought out their public-relations strategy. Also, the Class of 1997's Commencement ceremony -- and speaker Bill Cosby -- came and went May 19, sweltering heat notwithstanding. "Eighteen years of school, and you think this is something special -- to sit in the sun and pass out," Cosby wryly noted. In June, Trustees gave the go-ahead for the $73 million first phase of the Sansom Common project, which will bring an upscale retail complex and luxury hotel to the 3600 block of Walnut Street. University President Judith Rodin celebrated the groundbreaking by donning a hard hat and carrying a shovel. Undeterred by a $52.50 ticket price, more than 50,000 people showed up to see U2 and 1997 Spring Fling veterans Fun Lovin' Criminals play Franklin Field June 8. The concert was, in addition to a major visual spectacle, a "great success" for the University, administrators said. Ticket sales netted the University between $100,000 and $200,000, according to February projections. Irvine Auditorium became the second building to close for renovations as part of the Perelman Quadrangle project. It is scheduled to reopen in May 1999. In July, Eden Jacobowitz -- who garnered national attention in 1993 when he faced racial-harassment charges for yelling, "Shut up, you water buffalo," to a group of African American women outside his high-rise window -- settled his 1996 lawsuit against the University accusing Penn of inflicting emotional distress and conspiring to bring charges against him. The University paid Jacobowitz nothing and his lawyer $10,000 in settling the suit. Provost Stanley Chodorow dropped to 0 and 3 in his known candidacies for top university posts, as he was named a finalist, then passed over for the presidency of the University of Arizona, which selected Lehigh University President Peter Likins instead. And the Athletic Department declined to renew the contract of Softball coach Linda Carothers, who headed the program since its inception 23 years ago. -- Maureen Tkacik