Year in Review 1998

DECEMBER Robert Barchi, chairperson of Neurology and Neuroscience in the Medical School, was chosen to take over for Interim Provost Michael Wachter, who will return to his faculty post at the Law School at the end of the year. Barchi officially takes over as Penn's chief academic officer in February. Barchi is a highly respected academic and researcher who will bring the stability of a permanent appointment to the job for the first time since before Chodorow began his five unsuccessful bids for major-college presidencies in late 1996. The aftershocks of the Vladimir Sled killing continued to make headlines, as well. Yvette Stewart -- one of three people convicted in the slaying of the University biochemist on Halloween night, 1996 -- received a reduced sentence from Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge James Lineberger. One week earlier, Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Temin was transferred from the criminal bench, in part because of controversy generated by what some called her lenient sentencing of Bridgette Black, another of Sled's convicted killers. The Philadelphia criminal courts also produced the acquittal of Keith Schofield, charged in the attempted carjacking of a Penn student in 1997. The prosecution had little evidence besides the student's identification of the defendant; two other witnesses said he was not the shooter. Campus safety remained at the forefront of student concerns, as Public Safety officials unveiled a list of proposals for late-night security in public buildings, including limiting access to and increasing security in buildings open 24 hours a day. Also, the test of high-tech hand scanner in Hamilton House -- formerly High Rise North -- began after several weeks of delays. The device is expected to become standard for residential buildings -- freeing up guards for foot patrols -- once bugs are worked out of the system. The election of a woman -- College junior Peggy Hanefors -- to the InterFraternity Council executive board also set a new precedent, as both the IFC and the Panhellenic council elected executive boards for the coming calendar year. And the year ended as it began, with calls for President Clinton's resignation in the face of possible impeachment by the House of Representatives for having misled the nation about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. -- Binyamin Appelbaum