Year in review 1998

JANUARY The Division of Public Safety opened a new chapter in its life as well by moving into a converted warehouse at 4040 Chestnut Street. The move enabled the division to consolidate all of its operations --Eincluding the University Police, Special Services and Security Services -- into one building and to utilize the latest crime-fighting technologies. They would need it, too, when 53-year-old Health System secretary Toby Laiken was the victim of a brutal assault in her office inside the Penn Tower on January 19. Larry Ray was arrested in February and charged with five offenses, including aggravated assault and burglary. Meanwhile, in the world of higher education, Princeton University announced plans to revolutionize its financial aid formulas by replacing many loans with grants. The move, targeted at middle-class families, forced other top institutions -- including Harvard and Yale universities, Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology --Eto follow suit in order to stay competitive. Penn's relatively low endowment has effectively blocked it from offering similar deals. Law Professor Lani Guinier, who in 1993 was nominated by her old friend, President Clinton, to the top civil rights post in the Department of Justice only to have her name withdrawn from consideration amidst a storm of controversy, announced her intention to leave Penn to take a position at Harvard, her alma mater. The NCAA officially approved Penn's plan to forfeit five of its six 1997 football victories because of defensive tackle Mitch Marrow's academic ineligibility. After nearly a decade of exterior and interior renovations, the 118-year-old Logan Hall reopened and welcomed back the College and several SAS departments. The $9.2 million interior improvements, begun two years earlier, marked the first step of the $83 million Perelman Quadrangle project, which will link Irvine Auditorium with College, Houston, Logan and Williams halls to form the University's new student center. And of course, Penn students heard for the very first time the names Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and Betty Currie, as news broke of Clinton's relationship with his intern and possible perjury. -- Ben Geldon