'DP' ushers in 120th Board of Editors

With mixed emotions, the time has finally come for The Daily Pennsylvanian's 119th Board of Editors and Managers to officially retire after a year of late nights, little sleep and many Diet Coke cans from the vending machine.

Tomorrow night, at the DP's annual banquet, a new group of leaders will take the reins of Penn's independent student newspaper -- the 120th Board of Managers and Editors.

Although the 119th Board will no doubt enjoy its freedom from the Pink Palace -- the DP's windowless office at 4015 Walnut St. -- each member will look back on the past year with a certain amount of pride, having covered a plethora of top news stories.

In a year dominated by important and controversial stories -- notably University President Judith Rodin's decision to resign, the re-election of Mayor John Street and possible graduate student unionization -- the 119th Board accomplished many of its goals. For a third straight year, the DP won the coveted Associate Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award -- one of the nation's top college journalism honors.

Tomorrow's celebration will also include an address from keynote speaker Andrew Kirtzman, a former DP executive editor. Kirtzman is the author of a 1999 biography, Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City, and now works for WCBS in New York as a news anchor. Kirtzman came to WCBS from NY1, a local news network.

Rodin will also address the banquet's 200-plus attendees, as will incoming Executive Editor Chris George.

George, a Wharton junior from Whitehouse Station, N.J., previously served as design editor on the 119th Board. George will now be in charge of not only leading a rookie group of editors, but also taking over as president of the organization.

George, who as a design editor worked tirelessly to completely revamp the DP's layout, will undoubtedly bring his dedication and charming personality to the office of executive editor. George aims to "continue to meet and improve upon the high standards that were set by our predecessors.

"We'll have our share of big stories to cover, and we'll be aiming to cover them all thoroughly and fairly."

George, and his crew of editors, will focus their efforts on improving the DP's Web site -- dailypennsylvanian.com.

"I hope to make myself very available and visible to the Penn community," George said. "It is my personal goal to keep abreast of our readers' sentiment toward the DP and to respond to that sentiment with an open mind."

Flanking George this year will be Managing Editor Haley Shapley, a College sophomore from Bremerton, Wash.

Shapley faces the daunting task of leading 20 editors and hundreds of staffers and ensuring that daily publication of the DP goes smoothly -- and on time.

"I'd like to focus on increasing our feature coverage and I want to create more eye-catching front page story packages," Shapley said. "I really want to focus on accuracy in reporting in the next year."

Shapley, who hails from the copy department, believes that the DP has an "obligation to inform the community."

"I think the DP plays an integral role in keeping students, staff, community members and alumni up-to-date on what's going on around campus and in Philadelphia."

Wharton junior Saul Safdieh will head up the DP's business board, putting him in charge of running the corporation's daytime operations. Safdieh, like his predecessor, comes to the position after spending a year as finance manager.

Safdieh will now act as vice president of the corporation.

The DP's weekly arts and entertainment supplement, 34th Street Magazine, will be headed by College junior Alex Koppelman. Koppelman, who has served multiple terms as a section editor for the magazine, aims to revamp the publication -- both stylistically and visually.

Other members of the 120th Editorial Board are Eliot Sherman, Laura Sullivan, Garrett Young, Julia Barmeier, Michael Gertner, Danielle Ledford, David Burrick, Ryan Howard, Jeff Shafer, Ari Friedman, Phil Leff, Julia Zhou, Christopher Bellis, Evan Goldin, Stephanie Tsang, Michelle Sloane, Yona Silverman, Jen Klein, Matthew Jones and Lisa Fiorenzo.

Serving on the 120th Business Board are Safdieh, David Goldman, Monica Silvestre, Jay Adoue, Shawna Petersen and Steve Saviano.

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