CAMPUS BRIEFS: Tuesday, September 29, 1998

Rodin to spend night in Hill House Thursday Rodin will arrive at Hill around 9 p.m., at which point students and staff in Hill House will serve her ethnic food dishes, said Sanjay Udani, a graduate assistant in Hill House. Each suite in the house will cook a different type of dish, of "international flavor," according to an e-mail sent to members of the house. Additionally, students are encouraged to dress in international garb. "She will be hanging out and getting to know firsthand what living in a college house is like," Baldino said. "She's going to try to visit every college house this year." Baldino added, however, that Rodin's busy schedule may prevent her from actually visiting all 12 of the college houses. Udani said that after she samples the homemade foods, the staff will walk Rodin around the house. She will stay in a guest apartment. Hill House Faculty Master Jim O'Donnell pointed out that Rodin has a personal connection with Hill, since she lived there as an undergraduate. O'Donnell said the students and staff will try to keep the event "as informal and low-key as possible so that [Rodin] will have a chance to get a feel for the place." -- Jeremy Reiss Congress' first home opens after renovation Congress Hall, a Federalist-style building immediately to the west of Independence Hall on 6th and Chestnut streets, reopened its doors yesterday after a 19-month renovation. Home to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives between 1790 and 1800 -- Philadelphia's time as the nation's capital -- the building's interior was last restored 35 years ago. In addition to its deterioration, the building had never been fully restored to its original 18th-century appearance. Yesterday, at a ceremony attended by Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, guests saw the Senate and House chambers as they appeared to the founding fathers more than 200 years ago. The Independence Hall Preservation Fund picked up the project's $400,000 tab. The hall is part of the Independence Mall National Park, administered by the National Park Service. In conjunction with the event, Fund President Arthur Klein announced that the endowment had ceased operations and will dispense its remaining assets. The fund had been created to allocate money toward the upkeep of the historical buildings along Independence Square, Klein said. But public interest in such an amorphous goal has been minimal. Donations have tended to only flow in for specific projects, like the Congress Hall restoration, Klein said. -- Binyamin Appelbaum Frosh recovers after alcohol-poisoning A male University freshman who was hospitalized early Friday morning for an alcohol-related illness has recovered, University Police officials said yesterday. The student, a resident of Ware College House in the Quadrangle, was taken by ambulance to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at about 12:10 a.m. The student had been vomiting repeatedly, police and witnesses said. Police said the student recalled drinking shots of vodka, but could not recall how many. HUP officials have not responded to repeated requests for comment yesterday and on Friday. The incident is at least the third alcohol-related hospitalization of a freshman in the past three weeks. All of the students have fully recovered. -- Ben Geldon