In the weeks after a fire consumed a rowhouse at 40th and Sansom streets, a variety of University organizations have sought to increase awareness of fire safety.
But until recently, publicizing University fire prevention strategies -- which University officials say are all up to code -- apparently did not top the agenda.
Penn is among a number of universities that had failed to submit fire-safety material to the Princeton Review for comparison with other schools.
The Princeton Review survey asks institutions to evaluate their level of preparedness in preventing or responding to a campus fire on a scale of 60 to 99. The results are published in the "Best 361 Colleges" each year.
Penn is listed on the Princeton Review Web site as having not responded to the annual fire-safety rating survey. As a result, the University received the lowest possible score of 60, flagged to signify that there was no reply.
However, Division of Public Safety officials say that Penn has answered the survey for the first time this year. Princeton Review has published the results for the past three years.
This year, Penn responded to the survey on March 1 -- too late to be included in the print edition of the Princeton Review's "Best 361 Colleges" for 2006. However, a DPS official said that the Princeton Review accepts survey results at any time and will update its Web site in light of them.
In the first year of the Princeton Review survey's publication, the official said, the University didn't know it existed.
The second year, the Princeton Review sent the survey to the wrong department at Penn. By the time the survey reached DPS, the early-February deadline for inclusion in the print edition of the organization's college guide had passed, and therefore officials didn't respond.
Of the eight Ivy League institutions, only Princeton and Cornell universities have responded to the survey, according to the Web site. Princeton received a score of 88, while Cornell received a 70.
Philadelphia-area colleges such as Temple and Drexel universities also didn't submit responses.
Ed Comeau, the center's director, said that because the Princeton Review survey is optional, some schools may choose not to participate.
Approximately 2,000 U.S. institutions receive the survey each year. Data indicating what percentage of institutions respond are not listed on the Princeton Review's Web site, nor could officials verify it.
While ratings are based on each college's self-evaluation, Sherry Kenyon, a Boulder, Colo.-based fire-safety coordinator who consults with the University of Colorado at Boulder, said fudging the numbers isn't a cause of concern.
Universities "wouldn't know how to get a top rating or not," she said. "It's not like you can study for this rating. It's not like the SATs."
At the University of Colorado at Boulder, students caught with candles, halogen lights and other prohibited items in their dorms must perform 10 hours of community service, which may involve painting fire hydrants for the Boulder City Fire Department.
The school earned a score of 93 in the survey, a high mark.
At Georgetown University, the site of an off-campus fire death in 2004, Department of Public Safety Director Darryl Harrison said the incident has led the school to increasingly concentrate their outreach on off-campus residents.
The school currently has a Princeton Review score of 89.
Meanwhile, many universities, including Penn, are increasing efforts to extend fire-safety education to off-campus residents.
DPS' Off-Campus Safety Coalition works with other organizations to conduct safety inspections, safety presentations and emergency exit drills for off-campus residents, officials said.
The March 3 fire at 4042 Sansom St. sent seven students to the hospital. All were treated for smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
