Rodin takes turn at head of the class

Logan Hall Room 402 was just like any other Penn classroom yesterday afternoon. Students straggled in late, those in the back tried to catch a few winks and the ubiquitous crossword puzzle was making its appearance during the lecture of College 100, entitled "How Do You Know?" But there was one not-too-small difference: University President Judith Rodin was behind the podium. Delivering a lecture on the social importance of appearance from the perspective of evolutionary biology, Rodin was the last of five professors from various disciplines to address this class of 35 over the course of the semester. The professors, which included Math, English, Political Science and Biology experts, discussed how evidence can produce knowledge in their field. And yesterday, the topic of conversation had nothing to do with Penn politics. Instead, Rodin focused on her area of expertise -- science. Rodin, also a Psychology professor, began by talking about animals. "Female penguins know not to go for the first male penguin that comes by and honks," Rodin began, saying that females in all parts of the animal kingdom are attracted by color, size and strength. Babies also care about beauty Rodin said, citing studies proving that they gaze longer at faces judged by adults to be attractive. Even the bugs with their many eyes are not immune to such transgressions, as Rodin said that, "Females [bugs] prefer symmetrical males, even when hidden from view -- they found their smells attractive." Combined, this means that nature's consequences for adult humans are dire. "Women would be more responsive to symmetric men, and the men would exploit this," Rodin lectured, with her reading glasses perched on the edge of her nose. "Extremely symmetric males were less attentive to their partners, and they were more likely to cheat." People have begun relying more than ever on expensive solutions to attractiveness, including plastic surgery and designer clothes. But some still can't escape the stereotypes. "This time of year, we're bombarded by images of Santa Claus, who's fat," College junior Yaran Noti said during class. "You can infer certain personality types from that." College senior Matt Shuba offered another reason for concern over body types. "Attractive men make 6 percent more than unattractive men," he said, citing a study in the Philadelphia newspaper Metro. "Attractive women make 23 percent more than unattractive women." Rodin jested: "That's why I'm the highest paid university president." "It's really exciting to see the students so engaged," Rodin said after the lecture. "I was told that it wouldn't happen in a large class format. It's as good as I could have hoped for." College 100 began life several years ago as a General Honors seminar, but many students are finding its current lecture format quite rewarding. The other professors include Math Department Chairman Dennis DeTurck, English Professor Rebecca Bushnell, Biology Professor Ingrid Waldron, Psychology Professor Paul Rozin and Political Science Professor Ian Lustick.