CAMPUS BRIEFS: Wednesday, April 1, 1998

SEPTA, union getting nowhere in talks Both sides met yesterday for roughly 90 minutes to discuss changing grievance and arbitration procedures, but neither SEPTA nor its union reported any progress. And SEPTA spokesperson Stephan Rosenfeld said "nothing outstanding or memorable" happened in yesterday's talks. The negotiations at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel are an effort to avoid a possible city transit strike which would shut down buses, trolleys and subways and leave the system's 450,000 weekday passengers searching for other ways to get around the city. Regional rail lines would remain unaffected by a strike. TWU spokesperson Bruce Bodner, who called a strike "inevitable," said the issues discussed at yesterday's negotiations were insignificant, and said no progress was reached. "Overall these issues are not important? and they don't belong to this stage of the talks," Bodner said. "These issues should have been solved a long time ago rather than making the contract hinge on settling these kinds of disputes," he added. -- Lindsay Faber Conan O'Brien tickets sell out in record time If you don't already have a ticket to see late-night comedian Conan O'Brien speak on campus Monday, you have only one option: turn on the TV and watch a rerun of his show. To the surprise of members of the Social Planning and Events Committee and Connaissance, the SPEC group planning the event, the nearly 900 tickets set aside for general sale sold out in fewer than two days, according to Connaissance Co-Chairperson Jonathan Freedberg. O'Brien will speak at 8 p.m. in the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Auditorium April 6, and organizers had planned to sell the $3 general admission tickets on Locust Walk over a three-day period ending today. Instead, a mad rush of interested students snapped up 400 tickets -- all Connaissance had at the time -- in only 35 minutes Monday, and 463 tickets in only 25 minutes yesterday. Freedberg, a Wharton and Engineering junior, added that everyone who waited on line for a ticket was able to buy one. "We knew Conan was good, but we didn't know he was that good," Freedberg said, explaining that yesterday's sales revenue was the most ever in a single day for a SPEC event. He added that the remaining 25 tickets will be distributed on College Green Friday afternoon to some "lucky" students, but declined to say how he will determine which students will receive them. -- Edward Sherwin U. sends new lease to University Jewelers The negotiations between University Jewelers and Penn changed course again last Thursday, as Penn delivered another lease to the 62-year-old store. University Jewelers had refused to sign a previous lease, citing an unusual clause giving Penn the right to relocate the store again at any future time. University City Associates, Penn's for-profit real estate arm, has been negotiating a lease with University Jewelers for the former Metro Hair site in the 3401 Walnut Street complex. The store is currently located on the 3700 block of Walnut Street in the Penn Book Store building, which will be torn down this June to make way for a new Wharton School building. A new bookstore will open this summer in Sansom Common, the retail and hotel complex under construction on the 3600 block of Walnut. Both UCA General Manager John Greenwood and University Jewelers co-owner Lois Green refused to comment on whether the offending clause had been removed from the new lease. Both sides agreed that time is short, but neither would comment on any forthcoming deadlines for negotiations. -- Binyamin Appelbaum