1999 Year in Review

March Alcohol-related tragedy rocked Penn's campus during the month, prompting a major re-evaluation of student drinking and the alcohol policy. The University mourned the loss of 1994 College graduate and Phi Gamma Delta brother Michael Tobin, who was found dead on the grounds of the FIJI fraternity house after an alumni dinner. Tobin, 26, an All-Ivy lacrosse player who was the team's captain his senior year, apparently fell down a flight of stairs outside of the Locust Walk house. There were large amounts of empty and half-filled containers of alcohol in the house, and friends said Tobin spent the previous day drinking with fraternity brothers before an annual FIJI alumni event. That same weekend the Pennsylvania State Police's Liquor Control Enforcement bureau busted off-campus parties of the Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi sororities and gave citations to approximately 30 underage students at the restaurants where the parties were being held. And yet another student was hospitalized for an alcohol-related illness. These incidents led University officials to temporarily ban alcohol at all registered undergraduate parties, prompting a huge and immediate reaction from the student body. Students responded with the largest student rally of the '90s on College Green -- but it was not the alcohol ban that was being protested, student leaders claimed; it was the administration's lack of consultation over the decision. Just hours after the rally, Provost Robert Barchi met with students and faculty for the first meeting of a newly created task force to examine the University's alcohol policy. Students rallied together again that month in support of the men's basketball team, whose 73-48 victory over Princeton gave the Quakers their first undisputed Ivy League championship since 1994-1995 and avenged February's painful defeat at the Palestra. The team traveled to Seattle for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Florida, 75-61, despite holding an 11-point lead. The annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of America's best graduate schools came out and rated the Law School, the Graduate School of Education and the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science lower than in the previous year. The Wharton School's graduate program and the Medical School both went up in rankings by one place. But despite the Medical School's success, the Penn Health System's financial woes were ever present. A leading investor service downgraded Penn's bond rating because of concerns that UPHS's deficit would affect the rest of the institution. And Penn announced that the Graduate School of Fine Arts, for years short on space, would take over Skinner Hall, the former home of the Faculty Club, in the summer of 2000. -- Dana Klinek