CAMPUS BRIEFS: Monday, February 23, 1998

Ordinance opponents stage vending protest Vending and consumer groups, faculty and staff members and students have accused University officials of reneging on promises they made during negotiations over the ordinance. Penn Consumer Alliance spokesperson Matthew Ruben, one of the organizers of the protest, said University officials' actions during the vending ordinance controversy were "enough to make you lose your lunch." Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell introduced a version of the ordinance to City Council on February 12. The ordinance, if passed, would ban vending on many campus streets and sidewalks. Two ad hoc groups, the PCA and the University City Vendors Alliance, have fought over the contents of the ordinance since last May, when Penn administrators submitted their first proposal to Blackwell. The consumer and vendor groups have sought to make the ordinance less restrictive. The groups protested outside the Trustees meetings all day, with the majority of the protest taking place outside the Steinberg Conference Center at 38th and Spruce streets where the Trustees where having lunch from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. The protesters then followed the Trustees as they walked to the Faculty Club at 36th and Walnut streets for their main meeting. After Trustee Adele Schaeffer of the External Affairs Committee said the ordinance was out of the University's hands and in City Council's, the protesters left. Representatives from PCA and UCVA had presented their position to the External Affairs Committee at its meeting Thursday. -- Seth Grossman