Students, U. officials talk over area issues

Hoping to engage in dialogue between different parts of the University and the surrounding community, about a dozen students and University officials met last night to discuss issues that relate to them all. The event -- co-sponsored by Civic House, the Office of Community and City Relations and the Undergraduate Assembly -- sought to provide a venue for informal communication between administrators, students and area residents to brainstorm ways those constituents can work together. Though organizers were hoping to have representatives from the community as well, there were few if any in attendance. The symposium addressed three major issues -- housing, safety and retail development -- and aimed to discover "how the University communicates with the community and how the students [can] play a role in bettering this," said College junior Mike Silver, co-chairperson of the UA's West Philadelphia Committee. The meeting's coordinators hoped to make last night's symposium the first in a series of meetings which would continue discussion and cooperation among University and community parties. Many participants stressed the need to improve students' perception of West Philadelphia. "I think the problem for a lot of students is that they just don't go out enough because they're afraid," said College senior Hillary Aisenstein, a non-UA member of the West Philadelphia Committee. "And because they don't go out, they don't see that things aren't that bad." The Penn Shuttle service, the community service project "Into the Streets" and campus maps that don't go past 43rd Street are all examples which contribute to students' perceptions of an unsafe and unclean area beyond Penn's campus, several attendees said. While the participants admitted the need for these projects and initiatives, they said that the projects still project the belief that the area outside Penn is a veritable "ghetto." As a way of remedying those negative stereotypes, officials suggested giving incoming students the chance to participate in more comprehensive tours of the area and stressing the community as a part of Penn during the admissions process. "If you had an opportunity to go out and see the riches of the neighborhood in the very beginning, I wonder if that would change people's perspectives," said Glenn Bryan, Penn's director of community relations. Another important concern addressed by the symposium is the state of student off-campus living and relations with University City landlords. Diane-Louise Wormley, Penn's managing director of community housing, explained that students who want to live close to campus usually don't care about the quality of the landlord -- or even the house. "If [landlords] know that they are going to have Penn students falling over themselves to pay $650 for a hole, I can't do a thing," Wormley said. Officials are currently working on a legal services project that will provide funding to have an attorney on retainer when students have a "landlord issue that can't be taken care of any other way," Wormley said. The participants also discussed safety issues and several stressed the need for students to take responsibility for their own safety, in addition to relying on the University's security measures. While University Police Lt. Tom Messner noted that "crime has taken a nose dive" recently, he added that many students are "repeat victims" who don't learn to take care of themselves after one criminal incident.

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