CAMPUS BRIEFS: Thursday, April 23, 1998

Student overdoses on medicine, sources say According to the police officers, the student, who lives in the Modern Languages College House at 3941 Irving Street, overdosed on prescription drugs at around 9 p.m. and became severely sick. It was unclear when he lost consciousness. Officers in the Division of Public Safety's Special Services Division rushed the student to the emergency room of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at about 9:40 p.m., and were still at the hospital with the student as of late last night. According to a University Police officer, the student was unconscious but still alive at midnight. It was unclear who notified police of the situation or what the student's motivation in overdosing on the medication was. Several residents of Modern Languages House said they were unaware of the situation, and a security guard said she did not know anyone in the building was sick. If the incident is ruled a suicide attempt, it would represent the third suicide attempt by a Penn student in less than a week. Two Penn students recently attempted suicide, one last Thursday and one on Saturday. The last reported suicide of a University student was March 1997, when 26-year-old Wharton MBA student Elizabeth Kelsey killed herself by overdosing on medication. -- Maureen Tkacik Eight seniors named as honor award winners Senior Honor Awards letters arrived in eight mailboxes Saturday, informing recipients they'd been selected by their classmates to be honored on Ivy Day, May 16. The two most prestigious awards -- the Spoon and Hottel awards -- will be presented to Senior Class President Andy Kline, a Wharton senior, and College senior Rachel Ehrlich, who directs the University City Hospitality Coalition's soup kitchen at Hillel. Others receiving awards include: College senior Tal Golomb, Bowl Award; Wharton senior Meka Millstone, Harnwell; Wharton senior Jean-Pier Lespinasse, Cane; College senior Martha Speranza, Goddard; College senior Jason Judd, Spade; and College senior Bethany Rubin, Brownlee. The awards are presented on Ivy Day by the alumni who won them 25 years ago. Thus, the class of 1973 will present this year's awards. A majority of the senior class voted to place this year's Ivy Stone in the bookstore entrance at Sansom Common, Kline said. Although he said the retail site is not a "traditional" Ivy Stone site, he noted that the site will be highly visible. The Spoon, Bowl and Cane awards, the three highest honors presented to senior men, all derive from 19th-century contests between the freshman and sophomore classes. The Spade award gets its name from the practice of the recipient planting a twig of ivy next to the class's Ivy Stone. The four women's awards -- Hottel, Harnwell, Goddard and Brownlee -- are named after past Penn administrators. They were created in the mid-20th century. A committee of students, faculty members, and staff reviewed 120 nominations, selecting 15 candidates of each sex. Seniors then voted on the candidates, ranking their top four male and female choices. -- Binyamin Appelbaum New Hill furniture to be in place by this fall Contrary to his original announcement that replacing all of Hill House's 30-year-old furniture would take "no more than two years," Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said this week the furniture will in fact be completely in place by the end of the summer. Last month, University housing officials invited six Hill House residents to sample the new furnishings. Housing officials also decided recently to donate all of Hill's old furniture to a yet-to-be-determined charity upon the arrival of the new pieces. Redecorating Hill's rooms with new furniture and replacing the dormitory's unreliable hot water system are part of the University's larger 10-year residential renovation plan. Moneta has said he could not release the other parts of the plan. When the renovations were initially announced, Moneta, who oversees all dormitory maintenance and renovation, was unable to predict when the replacements would finally be complete. But he did confirm that the new boiler would be in place by the fall. Moneta announced recently, however, that the University will be able to allocate the estimated $300,000 to $400,000 needed to fund the project, and could install the new additions for this upcoming fall. "We got a clearer sense of our budget," he said. He added that the University "did a lot of juggling and reprioritizing" within its capital reserve fund in order to buy the furniture. -- Lauren La Cascia GAPSA elects next year's executive board Following in the footsteps of their undergraduate student government counterparts this spring, members of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly elected the group's executive board for the upcoming year last night. Current Vice Chairperson/Treasurer Doug Hagan, a first-year Wharton graduate student, was elected to the chairperson position formerly held by Engineering graduate student Sanjay Udani. Udani, who declined to run for re-election, will assume the "past chair" position. He cited the creation of a record number of graduate student groups as one of the main accomplishments of the past year. Hagan identified graduate student activism, on-campus housing, recreational facilities and the proposed vending regulations as priorities for his upcoming term. Also elected to the board were Education graduate student Deborah James as vice chairperson/treasurer and Law student Gaby DuBois as vice chairperson for special projects. Education graduate student Sandy Tilford and Engineering graduate student Angelos Keromytis were re-elected as vice chairpersons for student affairs and communications, respectively. Three board positions remain empty. Udani said they should be filled in the summer or the fall. -- Edward Sherwin