Minds over manners

Zhi Li could not believe his ears, after hearing a fellow Statistics classmate blatantly mock the instructor's foreign accent. But barely anyone noticed the utter lack of respect. "People kind of turned and looked at who actually did that, but they would never say anything," said Li, a College sophomore. The student's jest struck Li as extraordinarily rude. But apparently, such derision is nothing new at Penn, or in Philadelphia for that matter. According to Psychology Professor John Sabini, studies indicate that the more densely populated the city, the less likely it is that anyone will help, should that person drop his or her books crossing the street. How does the City of Brotherly Love rank? "Philly is pretty near the bottom," Sabini said. At Penn, rudeness runs the gamut from Locust Walk blow-offs to Steiny-D door slamming. Some students, however, think there's more to the student slights. "I don't think that people are genuinely nice," said College senior Shira Rudavsky. People "get caught up in themselves and don't really interact civilly with other people. They cocoon." Maybe the rushed pace of a city school invites a certain unfriendliness. Wharton freshman Joon Choi, from Louisville, Ky., noticed a big difference in public etiquette upon arriving at Penn. "If you're walking by someone, from where I'm from, it's kind of impolite to just walk by without at least making eye-contact," he said. In September, Choi greeted students he didn't know on Locust Walk but stopped the common courtesy when no one waved back. College sophomore Bryce Petty said impoliteness at Penn is, in part, Ivy League pretension. With their Palm Pilots, cell phones and discmen, students like to be immersed in their own little worlds. And while Penn students don't seem snooty to Yoshie Endo -- a native of Japan and its strict social codes -- she was taken aback by classroom decorum in America. "Students kind of ask very direct questions," the graduate student said. Endo was also surprised to find American students eating in class, slouching in their seats and challenging the teacher. However, over-politeness doesn't impress either. "Ingrained behavior is no good if it means nothing except fitting in and doing the right thing," Rudavsky said. College sophomore Juliana Bauer agreed, pointing out that Penn students want to look good. If that means apologizing for spilling a drop of coffee, they'll do it. And, sometimes, students seem to snub manners completely. Those in Bauer's Linguistics lecture last semester constantly chatted on their cell phones. When she asked that they stop, they were stunned. "They just kind of looked at me like, 'Whoa. Don't you realize? Everyone has already decided this professor isn't worth our time. We own this classroom,'" she said. These days, cell phones populate every campus venue -- from lecture halls to the Hall of Flags. And the attitudes of Penn students toward University employees leaves something to be desired. After all, who has time to make eye contact when Chem lab awaits? An employee of the Penn Bookstore cafe described an outburst by a student who received an old five dollar bill instead of a newly redesigned one. "He was here for five minutes telling [the employee] how ignorant she was," said another employee, who wished to remain anonymous. Still, he emphasized that cafe regulars were generally more polite. But Greta Adams, who staffs the front desk of Hamilton College House, has no complaints -- calling students quite cooperative. For the record, many students find Penn friendly. "The way I see it," Wharton and Engineering sophomore Daniel Marcus said, "there are some people who are generally rude people, but the majority are not."