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(10/25/94 9:00am)
Associate Regional Science Professor Daniel Vining is upset about how he was portrayed in an article published in the October issue of Rolling Stone magazine. And he is not alone. Other professors have expressed similar objections to what they have described as the accusatory tone of the article entitled "Academia's Dirty Secret: Professors of Hate." The article focused on the research of individuals who have accepted money from the Pioneer Fund, an allegedly racist foundation that has been accused of espousing eugenics. According to the article, Vining ranks as the ninth largest recipient of fund money, having received a total of $197,750 between 1971 and 1992. Still, he said the article deliberately tried to make him look racist. "That was its purpose," Vining said. "[But] I don't think that I am a prejudiced man." Vining claims the story's author, Adam Miller, reported false information about his research and life in addition to describing events that never took place during an interview he had with Miller over the summer. According to Miller, Vining believes that IQ scores reflect intelligence and that intelligence is largely inherited. Vining said this is an inaccurate characterization. "I have never taken an IQ test myself so I don't know [what it reflects]," Vining said in an interview. "Academic intelligence maybe." Miller wrote that Vining has amounted evidence that more intelligent people have fewer children. Eugenicists believe that this is responsible for the progressive decrease in intelligence of the human population. "[Vining] proposes that lowering the birth rates of the United States' poor, who he suggests are less intelligent than the country's rich, would help reverse the theoretical slide of intelligence," Miller wrote. Vining does not acknowledge ever having stated this. In an interview last week, Miller said he acquired information about Vining's beliefs from a number of articles he has written on eugenics. "Daniel Vining is certainly free to deny having written the things he has written and deny having said the things he has said, but despite his denials, he has written them and said them," Miller added. Miller said that during the interview he handed Vining photographs from a Nazi eugenics film and an excerpt written by Garrett Hardin, a professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In a letter to Miller and the editor of Rolling Stone, Vining contends that none of this occurred. "[Miller] never showed me an 'excerpt' from Garrett Hardin's work," Vining wrote. "I would need my reading glasses to read it, anyway, and I never put them on in [his] presence." Vining added that he never saw or held any articles or photographs. Former Chairperson of the Regional Sciences Department Stephen Gale, one of Miller's sources of information about Vining, also said he was displeased with the article. Miller quoted Gale as saying "I'm not going to tell you whether Dan is a prejudiced man. He may be." "Those two comments were made very far apart and in very different contexts," Gale said. Gale also objected to how Miller presented his statement that Vining's stroke, which left him paralyzed, was "an act of God." "I rarely use an expression of that type," Gale said. "Even if it did sound like me, it was totally out of context. "I wouldn't have said that [Vining's stroke] was an act of retribution," he added. Other professors quoted in the article have also criticized Miller's journalistic integrity. "It is pretty obvious that Adam Miller was out to get us all, to make us look bad," said Michael Levin, a philosophy professor at the City College of New York. Levin said he has argued that there are racial differences in intelligence and that these differences are genetic. Another recipient of Pioneer Fund money, University of Delaware Educational Studies Professor Linda Gottfredson, expressed disgust at the way in which the article was written. "I thought it was particularly cruel when it dealt with Dr. Vining," Gottfredson said. "It is the most vicious piece I've seen written about Pioneer Fund grantees. "It shows a reckless disregard of truth," she added. Rolling Stone Publicity Director Maureen Coakley defended the magazine's standards. "We totally stand by our stories," Coakley said. "We wouldn't have printed it if it weren't true." Vining said he did not plan to accept further funding from the foundation and that he "would have rather not been involved with it." Still, this is not the first time that a faculty member has charged Rolling Stone with disregarding the accuracy of what it has written. In 1993, Microbiology Professor Hilary Koprowski sued the magazine for libel after it published an article suggesting that he was responsible for creating the AIDS virus. The magazine cites Koprowski's large-scale testing of an oral polio vaccine in Africa in the late 1950s as the cause of the disease's spread.
(08/04/94 9:00am)
Summer Times Staff Writer The crowd arrived with smiles, freshly laundered clothing and high expectations. They left with expressions of disbelief, mud-caked shoes and sweat dripping in all directions. So was the before and after sight at Monday's Lollapalooza festival at FDR Park in Philadelphia, an all-day affair featuring music, vendors of all types and exotic foods. And while the 45,000 people who flocked to the site couldn't possibly have expected to witness arguably the decade's best one-day showcase of music, they seemed chipper enough to respond to just about anything remotely entertaining. On Monday, however, they didn't need to search much further than the concert stages. Most bands present at the show, on both the main and second stages, captivated their audiences, leading fans into several mosh pits, crowd-surfing and general good humor. The opening bands, Japan's Boredoms and California's L7, were exciting enough to make the crowd forget the steady downpour of rain and the subsequent muddy terrain that were present for the first few hours of the afternoon. And second stage (read: less financially secure) bands drew much of the crowd away from the supposedly more established main stage artists. The most notable second stage band, Luscious Jackson, incessantly screamed into the microphones, "Nick! Shut up over there!" referring to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who were on the main stage. The shows best performances, however, belonged to the co-headliners: New York's Beastie Boys and Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins. The three members of the Beastie Boys, Mike Diamond (a.k.a. Mike D), Adam Horovitz (a.k.a. Ad Rock), and Adam Yauch (a.k.a MCA), gave the most energetic performance of the day. Parading around the stage with unabating fury, stamina and glee, the trio blasted its way through an hour-plus set which consisted mostly of songs from their recent album, Ill Communication and their 1992 multi-platinum smash, Check Your Head. Smashing Pumpkins soon followed, thanks to unbelievably reliable stage crews who changed stage equipment within an unprecedented fifteen minutes between bands; but the Pumpkins did nothing before one of the most emotional showcases in rock 'n roll history. The "illustrious" Courtney Love, as Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha called her, performed two songs from her band Hole's recent album, Live Through This. Love, the widow of the late Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, made her first Lollapalooza appearance and played one of only a few shows since the death of her husband. Further, her performance was un-announced -- not even the concert staff had an idea of what took place. In fact, one security guard was overheard saying, "Who the hell is this?" And that is why it was so remarkable -- she has apparently taken a great step in overcoming the grief of losing not only her husband, but also her friend and bandmate, Kristen Pfaff, who died last month. The crowd sensed this and seemed to appreciate the woman for her strength and courage. As the "Love"-ly songstress walked onto the stage, the crowd continued its meaningless between-band banter, not yet realizing who was about to perform. But when she addressed the crowd with "Hello. I'm Courtney. Could I play a few songs for you?", the crowd erupted into a frenzy –– most likely the largest cheer of the day. But then, as she stroked the first chords to the Hole song "Miss World," the crowd nearly fell silent, out of respect for the musician on stage, and for the one musician mostly responsible for Lollapalooza's longevity, Cobain himself. After two songs, Love asked for a moment of silence for her husband and then left the stage. When all was said and done, while people were dragging their exhausted feet and bodies to their cars, most people could be heard talking about Love, but could only say "wow" or "I can't believe Courtney Love played." But Love's performance wasn't the only Nirvana facet of the day. The cheers for Love were matched only by those that greeted Nirvana's hit "All Apologies" as it was played over the sound system just minutes before The Breeders were about to perform. As the opening notes pervaded the relatively silent park -- no bands were performing on either stage at that time -- a deafening scream filled the area and attendees didn't so much sing as scream along with Cobain, perhaps as an homage to the man that meant so much to modern rock and gave so much to his fans. And it was ironic that the song was played before The Breeders hit the stage –– they were the opening band on Nirvana's final tour last fall. But Kelley Deal, singer and guitarist for The Breeders said backstage at Lollapalooza that Cobain was not exactly glorious off the stage or away from the TV set. It appears his well-known heroin addiction was more severe than he led on to the fans. "He [was] always kind of pre-occupied -- He was a junkie," Deal said. "Junkies spend most of their time looking for drugs, doing drugs, and crashing." But Lollapalooza is certainly more than a Kurt Cobain remembrance. In actuality, the festival is what it claims to be –– a showcase of various forms of world culture, music and opinion. The problem is that the concert does not attract people from diverse walks of life -- it was overwhelmingly a suburban, white middle-class crowd which attended this show, just like every show in Lollapalooza's four-year existence. Still, the people who do show up are treated to a circus of fun. And the bands appear to have just as much, if not more, fun than the fans. "It's like band camp," said Deal who, somewhat modestly, stated that the tour in general was "fine." The food vendors ranged from Australian Barbeque to Chicken Jambalaya to simple pizza and hot dogs. Booths were set up to sell clothing from around the globe and one was even selling several types of bongs and other marijuana paraphernalia. The essence of Lollapalooza was best exemplified by a group of Tibetan monks, though. The group serves in the Dalai Lama's personal monastery and often tours with concerts, voicing complaints about Chinese oppression in Tibet. Still, Tenzen Jampa, one of the monks visiting the United States for the first time, "like[s] music of all forms, especially Beastie Boys," and thinks the band is "cool." Lollapalooza is, to an extent, a small-scale "travelling version of Woodstock," as Woodstock Producer John Roberts said yesterday, and well-worth the $30 ticket price. And, finally, it's just a fun way to kill time. And killing time is where music began.
(02/10/94 10:00am)
It was March 1993 and the women coaches at the University felt it was time to take action. "I think the women coaches have a number of issues they have been dealing with individually in their programs," Penn Senior Associate Athletic Director Carolyn Schlie-Femovich said. "[They] collectively got together and sent us a really clear message about what they felt was important. Definitely, salary equity was top on their list. They wanted to make sure they were compensated in an equitable fashion." Schlie-Femovich said, however, they did not threaten to sue. "I hope it wouldn't get to that point," she said. "But I think they're keeping our feet to the fire to make sure that we're moving as quickly as possible." Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 requires equal opportunities for the under-represented sex in academic programs with federal funding, which predominantly applies to women. "You achieve gender equity when the coach or athlete in one program would gladly trade places with a coach or athlete in a comparable other-sex program," Schlie-Femovich said. "So if it's a male tennis player, he would gladly trade places with a women's tennis player. If it's a female soccer player, she would trade places with a male soccer player." Taken word for word from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but limited to education, Section 901 of Title IX reads: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Litigation concerning women's intercollegiate athletics based on Title IX began in the late 1970s with little success. Athletic Departments successfully argued that because they do not directly get federal funding, the law should not apply to them. But after the Civil Rights Act of 1987, the courts took an institutional approach, ruling that all programs or activities within a university receiving Federal funds, regardless of whether or not the individual department directly receives those funds, comes under the jurisdiction of Title IX. The result has been a glut of cases springing up throughout the nation, with many universities settling disputes out of court. In May 1991, Brown University decided to drop its women's gymnastics and volleyball programs, along with men's golf and water polo. In April 1992, the two women's teams filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging gender discrimination in violation of Title IX. Brown decided to engage in a costly legal battle. In December, Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Pettine issued a preliminary injunction, ordering Brown to re-establish the two teams and not cut any other women's squads. Brown appealed, but the First Circuit court agreed with the ruling. The case will go to trial next month. Cornell University took the opposite approach, reinstating its women's gymnastics and fencing teams rather than spending a fortune in legal costs to defend itself against gender-based discrimination claims. The two cases, as well as many others, deal primarily with participation rates, defined as the male-to-female ratio of athletes compared to the percentage of men and women in the university's general population. At Penn, 57 percent of the student body is male and 43 percent female, while athletes are 68 percent male and 32 percent female. Of the 30 varsity sports, 16 are for men, 14 for women. The 11-percent disparity between the University as a whole and the athletic teams in itself is not a violation of Title IX. As long as the University shows growth in women's participation and a willingness to grant new teams to women displaying a genuine interest, the University is in compliance, Schlie-Femovich said. That was the case two years ago when women's soccer was promoted from club status to a varsity sport. Last month, the head coaching position, which had been part-time, was made full-time. "In women's soccer we had a demonstrated interest by the athletes," Schlie-Femovich said. "Over a period of years as a club program they showed their interest and commitment. We heard through admissions there was a lot of inquiry about women's soccer. We ultimately added it. By law, that's something we should have done." She added that if a university has shown a history of willingness to cooperate in making participation rate more reflective of the university's population, then they are in compliance with Title IX. "We're not equal on our numbers here at Penn, but we've shown that history, and we're certainly not turning anybody away," Schlie-Femovich said. Title IX also protects a women's team from being cut if the participation rate in all athletics for women is less than the percentage of women students at the university. "Because Cornell had fewer women's participation opportunities on the whole than they had for men, they agreed to put them back before it came to court," Schlie-Femovich said. "Brown went to court where they lost the case involving gymnastics, and then was told they had to restore the program. It's still being appealed, interestingly enough. That's why the participation opportunity seems to be a big catch point right now, a very hot topic." The hot topic at the University is salary equity, which is based on Title VII. As in any other workplace, many women coaches are concerned that their salaries may not be at the same level as their male counterparts -- even though they feel they perform the same work. Schlie-Femovich said the University is addressing the inequity issue. "We're in the midst of a thorough compensation review, addressing all of our full-time coaching positions to make sure that we have a system [which is] fair and equitable," she said. One setback in gender equity involving salaries occurred in January, when a federal appeals court refused to hear the sex discrimination case against former Penn women's basketball coach Marianne Stanley. Stanley sued the University of Southern California because the salary offered by USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett was below that of men's coach George Raveling. Stanley had a higher winning percentage than Raveling, but Raveling was being paid more and had several perks in addition to his base salary. Judge Arthur Alarcon ruled in favor of USC, citing "significant differences in job pressure, the level of responsibility, and in marketing and revenue-producing qualifications and performance." The ruling left many outraged. Penn women's basketball coach Julie Soriero said if expected revenue or fan attendance figures are not spelled out in the coaches' contracts, then they should be paid equal pay for equal work. "As a women's basketball coach, there is a reality out there that says we don't generate a billion dollars from our NCAA tournament, but then that should be a very clearly defined job expectation for men," she said. "If there's no actual spelled-out difference then they're doing the exact same work, [and] there shouldn't be a difference in their salaries." In addition to program cuts and salary disputes, scholarships and the disproportionate amount of spending on men have received a great deal of attention. But while those issues have received the bulk of the attention, coaches at the University and across the nation are fighting for other, less-obvious things as well. "[We] looked at things, like how we handled equipment, how we assigned fields, access to weight rooms, how trainers get assigned, secretarial support, and have been working on addressing a number of those issues to put us more in line with where we think we need to be," Schlie-Femovich said. She added that the Athletic Department has identified a special pool of dollars for women coaches to draw from for special recruiting needs if their dollars are not sufficient for their program. "There are some inequities that exist at Penn and I think the administration has made some attempt to examine them and in some cases to rectify them," Soriero said. "There are still inequities that exist, and there's probably still things that need to be changed." Schlie-Femovich said achieving gender equity is a difficult and complicated issue that is continually evolving. "Gender equity is something you're always working on and striving toward because we're in a very dynamic environment where things change constantly," Schlie-Femovich said. "I think we are certainly doing the right things to move us in the right direction."
(11/19/93 10:00am)
Tomorrow, Pennsylvania and Cornell will write a new chapter in their century-old history November 18, 1893 was a typical Philadelphia day. The rain drizzled and the cold could be felt down to one's bones. One would never expect this gloomy day in November would end up to be the first meeting of what would become a long lasting relationship that is still around today. For 100 years ago, at the Manheim Cricket Club in Germantown, in front of 4,000 people, the University of Pennsylvania and the Cornell University football teams battled on the gridiron for the first time. Tomorrow, 100 years and over 3,000 points later, the Quakers and the Big Red will wrap up a century of sports history at Franklin Field. But many aspects of the game have changed over the years. The football is no longer made of pigskin. The first half does not last 45 minutes and the second half 25 minutes. Touchdowns are no longer worth four points and field goals worth five. There are no leather helmets without face masks. The forward pass is now an integral aspect of any team's offense. But, throughout the history of this series, one element of the Penn-Cornell game that has transcended the years of wars and depressions, that has remained even after the formation of the Ivy League, is the spirit of traditional rivalry between these two teams. And, as the players take the field tomorrow, not only will this spirit be evident as the Quakers once again have to overcome the Big Red (the series stands with Penn on top, 55-39-5, yet is tied 37-37-4 since 1914) to record an undefeated season and an Ivy League championship, but the spirit of all of the past Penn-Cornell games, all of the memories and the ghosts of past players who once walked on the field, will also emerge. · It is difficult for today's Penn student to realize the magnanimous role that this University played in the history of football. College football had begun in 1873 with Harvard, Yale and Princeton leading the nation. Penn entered the realm of football three years later. By the time Penn played Cornell for the first time in 1893, the Quakers had established themselves as quite a football powerhouse. Penn took that first game 50-0 and won the next seven of the series until Cornell finally posted its first Quaker defeat in 1901. But the true tradition of the Penn-Cornell game did not come until game three of the series on November 28, 1895. That day the two teams met on what became the traditional yearly game day – Thanksgiving Day. From then on, Cornell came to Franklin Field almost every Thanksgiving until 1965. Yet, this holiday game arrangement was not set in stone. Before 1893, the Quakers had no set Thanksgiving Day opponent. But 1893 was the year of the "graduate dispute." Yale and Princeton had yet to develop professional schools, but Penn, as well as Harvard, began to drift towards the "graduate" ideal in the 1890's. There had not yet been rules set as to how many years a student could play football, so a university such as Penn attracted many players who had already played four years at another school. Princeton and Yale wanted to create regulations on player eligibility – and Penn did not. Thus, between 1895 and 1924, neither Princeton nor Yale could be persuaded to venture to Philadelphia to play the Quakers. In 1905, Harvard also took the same route as Princeton and Yale. Yet Cornell, who was very much interested in creating a graduate program in Ithaca, decided it would be a great idea to play Penn every fourth Thursday in November. Legend has it that this "contract" was never written out, but at the end of each game, each school's athletic directors would simply shake hands and say "see ya next year." And year after year (except for 1918, when Cornell suspended its football program during World War I), history was made. One of the first memorable games occurred in 1898. As usual, the weather that day was not at its best. As Penn's four-time All-American guard T. Truxton Hare once said, "It began to sleet, and finally it snowed. The field was covered with ice and snow. A howling gale was blowing down the field and the temperature fell far below the freezing point." But at halftime, the Quakers, being the home team, had a slight advantage – they could change into dry clothes. Penn triumphed 12-6. In 1902, the Quakers were touted as heavy underdogs, as they had already lost four other games that season. At halftime, Penn trailed by 11 points, but Cornell's team captain made a grave mistake in suggesting that the second half of the game be shortened by 10 minutes to lessen the pain that the Big Red would inflict on the Quakers. Penn not only refused the offer, but they stormed the field holding Cornell to only 15 yards in the second half while scoring two touchdowns to win the game 12-11. In 1938, the game ended in a 0-0 tie in what the Cornell Daily Sun called "the sleet, snow and slush of probably the coldest Thanksgiving Day that Old Philadelphia has ever experienced." From the late 1930's until the inception of the Ivy League in 1956, the Penn-Cornell game was the hottest ticket in town. During the George Munger coaching era, Penn led the nation in attendance in nine of these years, often packing almost 80,000 fans into Franklin Field. Anthony "Skip" Minisi (1944, 1946-7), Penn's two time all-American and Hall of Famer, looks back on his games against Cornell with great fondness. Minisi was the hero of Penn's 21-0 defeat over Cornell in 1947, capping off Penn's undefeated 7-0-1 season. "We were consistently in the top-10 when I played," Minisi said recently. "We played Michigan, Army, Navy, which were in the top five in those years, and we played Virginia, Duke. We played a national schedule. "We had excellent football teams and we were a big attraction in Philadelphia. We used to have 80,000 people in those stands. Then, professional football was really nothing and very few people went to pro-games. We were the only game in town." Penn All-American Bernie Lemonick (1948-50), the Master of Ceremonies for this weekend's festivities, remembers how the Quakers "would run out on the field and everybody would be singing and yelling and you could feel the goose bumps on the back of your neck. "It was a marvelous thing, not only for the University, but for the city. This was a religion for the people who came out and watched. I mean, Saturday was Franklin Field day," he said. Yet Lemonick, like Penn alumnus Francis "Reds" Bagnell, never had the pleasure of defeating the Big Red. "Circumstances are such that you lose games and you win games," Bagnell said. "You always like to [beat] one of your worthy opponents like Cornell. They had a great football team in the days that we played. The games were all close. It's unfortunate. I don't like to talk about it very much." But part of the reason why these players never posted a win over Cornell may have been because of the weather. In 1950, while the rest of the Northeast cancelled or postponed their games because of a baby hurricane, Penn and Cornell played on in 65-mile-an-hour winds. And while 12,000 fans still showed up, Penn faltered 13-6. But even though there was not a victory, Lemonick still remembers the excitement of playing in a nationally-televised game. "We had television that came in from New York," Lemonick said. "We were the only team in the United States that could be piped around the United States as a TV team. So we were known on the West Coast as we were known on the East Coast." "It was not unusual to play California and to walk down the street and be known by the people out there," Lemonick added. "I mean, we were not just locals, we were nationals." In 1956, the era of Penn's national football dominance came to a close with the creation of the Ivy League. But in 1959 came Penn's first Ivy League championship with its victory over Cornell. Penn was tied with Dartmouth for the Ivy title. In the last game of the season, the Quakers were losing 13-0 in the third quarter, but behind the arm of George Koval, Penn prevailed 28-13. "We had to beat Cornell the last game of the year to win the championship," said Koval, who is currently deputy vice provost for University life. "So it was the biggest game of the year at that point and personally, I had a half-decent day." The creation of the Ivy League caused national interest in the Penn-Cornell game to diminish, for better players chose athletic scholarship schools while at the same time professional football became more prominent. But while a televised Thanksgiving Day game became a remembrance of the past, the rivalry between the two teams carried on. Aside from the formation of the Ivies, another hallmark in the history of this great rivalry came in 1964. After playing the game for 71 years in the Quakers' "City of Brotherly Love," the Penn-Cornell game moved to Cornell's Schoellkopf Field. The loss of home field advantage greatly affected Penn, as it fell 33-0. At the same time, the matchup was no longer reserved for the last game of each team's season. Penn would travel to Ithaca in October of every even year, and Cornell would drive to Philadelphia in November of every odd year – an agreement which basically lasted until 1988. Watching a Penn-Cornell game while carving a turkey was a memory of the past. · For the next memorable Penn victory, one must skip quite a few years to 1986. Both teams entered Cornell's Schoellkopf Field for the season's final game tied atop the Ivy League standings with perfect 6-0 Ivy records. Penn fell behind early but captured the lead by the end of the first quarter. At the half, Penn had widened its lead to 17-7 and held on to win the game 31-21. The win gave Penn a 10-0 season, its first undefeated, untied season since 1904. In 1989, the two schools tried to re-create the Thanksgiving Day tradition when ESPN televised the match-up. But aside from the fact that the game had to be played at 10 a.m. so as not to interfere with other more nationally-important games, the Philadelphia weather once again showed its true colors as it snowed – and snowed hard. The game was played before a practically empty Franklin Field. But, tomorrow, the spirit, enthusiasm and atmosphere of the Penn-Cornell rivalry will once again envelope Franklin Field. Tomorrow, Penn will once again have to overcome Cornell to record a 10-0 season. And once again, tomorrow, as the The Franklin Field Illustrated wrote in 1932, "[Tomorrow] we feel that while we are encountering a stern foe on Franklin Field, we are also entertaining one of our best and oldest friends."
(11/17/93 10:00am)
With the possible exception of Greco-Roman wrestling, fencing is the world's most popular sport invented by the ancient Greeks. Bearing that in mind, a group of 21 individuals representing Penn will look to stab and jab its way to a successful season. The Penn men's fencing team had mixed results last season – while both the sabre and epee teams placed second in the NCAA tournament, the foil team was not quite so fortunate. This season the results should be similar, although the epee unit may not be as strong as last season. "The sabre team should be the best in the country," said senior captain Evan Glanz, a past all-American and all-Ivy competitor. "Other than that, we will have to see, especially with the epee group. Last season, the sabres and epees carried the team. This year, it will probably just be the sabres." Glanz, who was an all-American his first two years and missed last year by one point, does not intend to denigrate the epee crew, though. Senior Tamir Bloom is an all-American fighter who competes on the United States national fencing team. Freshman Alexandre Edelman won the under-19 fencing division at the California State Games and placed second at the Temple Open. Freshman Edward Cleaver placed in the 9-16 bracket at the Temple Open, which is a pre-season individual practice event. "Our sabre team looks to be our strength," Quaker coach Dave Micahnik said. "We're looking for some of our experience to filter down to our younger guys. We hope that the younger guys will gain some additional ability and experience to make our team more competitive." Last year's foil team featured two freshman, a junior and a senior, all of whom return to try and foil their opponents this season. They met with mixed results last season, but the added experience should help. "The foil team was not fantastic last year, but they should be better due to their added experience," Glanz said. "This team has an interesting mix of younger players and experienced veterans," Micahnik said. "There are a few freshman who will compete for positions on this team. After that, it will be up to the older guys to teach the younger ones how to be the best." Either way, the Penn team looks to compete for the Ivy League title. There is a power vacuum at the top of the league, and Penn looks to fill it. Traditionally, Columbia has been the powerhouse, with Penn, Princeton and Yale nipping at the Lions' heels. Neither Dartmouth nor Cornell field fencing units, so in the six-team league, it is virtually anybody's game, although Brown has never been close to winning a title. But the Quakers believe that the league is wide open because the Lion dynasty will be weaker because of graduation. "Columbia was great last year, but they lost half of their team," sophomore sabre George Kalmer said. "They are always tough, and so is Penn State, but both will be weaker because they lost some key team members." Coincidentally, the next competition for the Quakers will be at Penn State on November 20-21 in yet another preseason individual meet. Penn looks to the preseason meets as confidence-builders that will guide it through this season. Lofty personal goals abound on this team, which features a core of talented athletes. Kalmer was an all-American last season, and both he and Glanz look to continue their brilliant performances this season. "Personally, I want to be an all-American again," Glanz said. "I'd also like to go through the Ivy League season undefeated and be on the first team of the all-Ivy squad." But Glanz will not allow personal accolades, of which he has received many, obstruct the team's goals. His first concern is the success of the entire Penn squad. "This is probably not the best team Penn has ever fielded," Glanz said. "But we'll be competitive. When the foil and epee teams gain the much-needed experience, Penn will be in a position to dominate."
(11/11/93 10:00am)
The gangster, one of Hollywood's favorite cinematic subjects, has steadily evolved over the years into the modern-day "gangsta," film expert Todd Boyd told an Annenberg School audience Tuesday night. Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California, traced that evolution through film and music following a screening of the Hughes Brothers' film, Menace II Society. Since the 1912 filming of Musketeers of Pig Alley by D.W. Griffith and continuing through the 1930s with Scarface, Little Caesar and Public Enemy, Boyd said gangsters have been portrayed as whites who recently immigrated to the United States. With the production of Godfather I and II in the 1970s, this trend began to change, as Michael Corleone, the main character of those movies, becomes fully assimilated into American culture. Fundamental twists in the gangster trend began in 1988, with the production of Dennis Hopper's Colors, in which Hollywood introduced the African-American or Latino "gangsta," Boyd said. The increased attention given to inner-city gang life in Menace II Society – and in John Singleton's Boyz N The Hood – was accompanied by a parallel shift toward rap music by the mainstream, Boyd said. To illustrate this point, Boyd named artists such as Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and NWA, who rose to prominence on the pop charts with hard-edged lyrics and forceful rhythms centered on the violence and hopelessness of ghetto life. The "gangsta" lifestyle, a reflection of contemporary culture "operating at multiple levels," also reveals the importance of the "reality discourse" in American society, Boyd said. The explosion of television talk shows, which encourage the telling of personal narratives, is indicative of both the desire for authenticity and the blurring of the line between reality and fiction apparent in America today, he said. The "gangsta" influence is also felt in literature, Boyd said with a reference to Monster, a Los Angeles Crips gang member's autobiographical account. This "popular text" is linked to the new direction of movies and music with "gangsta" themes, he said. However, Boyd said he thinks that recently there has been an overall decrease in African-American creativity in that arena. "These [movies] are probably the highlight of the genre," he stated. "The problem is they came two years too late ? Hollywood likes to recycle this idea." Boyd also cited the redundancy of copycat musical groups trying to replicate the success of artists such as En Vogue and Boyz II Men as evidence for this view of variations on a theme. Following the screening – which was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Black Literature and Culture at the University – center director Houston Baker, Village Voice film critic Greg Tate and center staff member Ed Guerrero joined Boyd in a discussion of the issues the film raised.
(11/09/93 10:00am)
Ivy League students enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps must adhere to a military policy that excludes gay men, lesbians, and bi-sexuals from their organization. The same students must also adhere to Ivy League school policies which prohibit discrimination against minorities, including homosexuals. At issue for Ivy League ROTC units is how to resolve the direct conflict between the various schools' non-discriminatory policies and the military's ban on homosexuals. ROTC units have been unable to comply with non-discriminatory policies because U.S. military policy bans "persons who engage in homosexual conduct" from active duty. Following much campus debate, Ivy League schools – who have not already voted to discontinue their ROTC units – are reconsidering their current programs. But the decision administrators face is a tough one. Each school faces the dilemma of continuing to allow ROTC to violate non-discrimination policies or eliminating a program that provides student scholarships and the student body with additional diversity. Many administrators hoped President Bill Clinton would end the controversy by upholding his campaign promise to terminate the military's ban on homosexuals. But Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy has only complicated the situation. When coupled with inconsistent court decisions, the ROTC debate has mushroomed into a campus controversy. In recent years, 13 cases have been brought to court regarding the ban on homosexuals and none has produced a solution. If the courts had determined that the military's policy is unconstitutional, the ROTC debate would end. However, the courts have never agreed on the constitutionality of the military's policy. For example, Keith Meinhold, a petty officer who was discharged because of his sexual orientation, challenged the policy in a California court. Federal Judge Terry Hatter ruled the military's policy did not comply with the Constitution's equal protection clause and called for Meinhold's reinstatement. However, the case of Joe Steffan, a student who was discharged from the naval academy before he graduated because he was homosexual, ended with a very different verdict. In the Steffan case, Judge Oliver Gasch said the ban was a " rational measure" to prevent HIV transmission in the military. The final outcome of the case is still uncertain since Steffan has appealed the ruling to the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals. Thus divided, the court system has forced Ivy League administrators to grapple with the controversy. Some schools are currently considering discontinuing their programs and have formed special committees to report on the issue. In 1991, Dartmouth College's trustees voted to discontinue the program by April 1993 if the military did not change its policy. This date has since been pushed back to next April so the policies in Washington can be made more clear. Next spring, the trustees will decide if the military's policy meets their guidelines and will decide the fate of the program. "I know there have been conversations on campus about this issue," Associate Dean of Students Barbara Strohbehn said yesterday. "The program is existing as it was before and it is waiting for the decision of the trustees." At Columbia, the university removed ROTC in the 1960s in response to student demands during the Vietnam War, said Cathy Croft, executive director for campus programs. Although the school has not had a unit for decades, the ROTC would not be welcome at Columbia today. "Clearly we would not want any program that discriminates," Croft said. Cornell University has a particularly unique situation regarding ROTC. Cornell is a land grant college of New York and one of the requirements of state institutions is military instruction. Therefore, the college must have ROTC units. But Cornell policy prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of their sexual orientation. The school has tried to clearly distinguish between the school's policy and the military's policy in hopes of keeping both sides of the debate happy, Cornell administrators say. "I think we've tried to make it clear that we separate the policies of our university [from those of ROTC]," said Larry Palmer, vice president for academic programs and campus affairs. Palmer notes that the ROTC is accepted on campus with a "bit of discomfort." He also said university representatives wrote to the Department of Defense two years ago to inform the department of conflicts between state law, military policy, and school rules. ROTC leaders maintain that they are taking undeserved criticism for a policy that they had no part in formulating. They have said they are simply following the policy set down by the president of the United States. "We are not here to purposely discriminate," said Capt. Steve Jones, ROTC enrollment officer at Cornell. "But there is a Defense Department policy." "We have nothing to do with it," Dartmouth ROTC Sgt. Terry Damm agreed. "It's the president's policy and we obey it." Like Cornell, Princeton University has also decided not to terminate its ROTC program and therefore, its relationship with the military. In 1990, following the submission of a report by a special committee looking into the ROTC dilemma, Princeton President Harold Shapiro issued a statement to the Princeton community stating "that the presence of Army ROTC at Princeton is on balance a positive thing and should be preserved." The statement said Princeton needed to better define its relationship with ROTC. Associate Secretary Ann Haliday said Friday that the relationship between Princeton and ROTC is that ROTC is an outside organization and is not a part of Princeton University. "ROTC is considered a recruiting organization who discriminates based on sexual orientation," she said. "The special committee recommended that we make clear the distinction between the university and the outside organization ROTC." But University Assistant Director of Student Life Programming Robert Schoenberg is skeptical of this Princeton policy decision. "I wonder if it's true," he said. "Does ROTC pay Princeton rent? Does it pay for utilities in the buildings it inhabits? Does it pay for advertising? My suspicion is [Princeton] subsidizes ROTC on campus. It is certainly true here [at the University]." Some Princeton faculty members are also cynical of the relationship the school has with the organization. The Princeton faculty senate passed a resolution last Monday calling for the removal of the ROTC from Princeton by June 30, 1994 "unless all regulations restricting the speech of gay men, lesbians, and bi-sexuals are repealed..." Princeton alumni like Erik Markeset are also agitating to remove the unit from campus. When Markeset entered Princeton, the school did not offer an ROTC program. Markeset helped bring a unit to campus and commanded the unit in his senior year. As an officer on active duty, he earned a Meritorious Service Medal and two Commendation Medals. But now Markeset wants the unit discontinued at Princeton because the military discriminates against homosexuals. And as a gay man, Markeset has been agitating for a change in the military's policy. Critics of ROTC cite Markeset as an example that someone who is gay can perform the same duties as someone who is heterosexual. Harvard University is also in the process of reviewing its relationship with ROTC. But Harvard's program is unique because it does not exist on Harvard's campus. Students wanting to participate in ROTC must do so through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Harvard subsidizes MIT's program so that Harvard students may participate. But Harvard is in the process of deciding whether or not to withdraw its funding because the program at MIT does not adhere to Harvard's non-discrimination policy. A committee has been established at Harvard to "review the situation," said Harvard Dean of Students Fred Jewett. He said Harvard's president, Neil Rudenstine, will report to the faculty on the status of the program sometime this month. "We felt it would be wrong in the long run to continue to directly support something that countered university policy," Jewett said. "Should [Harvard] financially support the program is the question." He added that the university did not want to make a decision before the "situation in Washington is more clear." Even if the military implements the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and makes its language more understandable, some experts have said it is not a practical policy. Furthermore, experts have raised questions about Clinton's policy in regards to ROTC because it prevents a student from speaking freely in class. "If a student speaks about his sexual orientation in a class," Schoenberg said, "does that constitute 'telling?'" "The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy does not meet the criteria of non-discrimination," he added. So as Washington continues to struggle with a question that will affect almost every university and college across the country, students, administrators and faculty members will be focused on President Clinton as they play a waiting game that could determine the future of ROTC.
(04/15/93 9:00am)
Bell bottoms, platform shoes, polyester and music. That's what Quaker Notes will be serving up tonight to kick off Spring Fling. The Flinging Divas are bringing the 1970s back with style. The University's only all-female a capella singing group has been working overtime, road-tripping and performing at competitions. Recently recognized as one of the best a capella groups in the nation, they are still battling relative anonymity at home. "Our reputation has really been expanding across the country, but not at Penn," laments College Senior and Quaker Notes president Kate Spencer. "Even people who have heard of us and want to see us end up missing our shows." In February the Quaker Notes placed third in the Road to Carnegie Competition. The group competed against female a capella groups from across the United States, and with the honor came requests to perform as far away as the University of California at Berkeley. Flinging Divas promises to bring the group's wealth of talent back to the University stage. The Quaker Notes will open with a short set of 70s songs and then relinquish the stage to the Amherst DQ's and the Columbia Kingsmen. The University's 14-women a capella group will finish the evening with a full-length set of music ranging from the Supremes to Yes to the Eurythmics, featuring the Quaker Notes' signature strong baselines and soulful sound. Not even the lack of Student Activities Council funding has put a damper on "Flinging Divas." The Quaker Notes, who expect to break even on the performance, had to pay for costumes with their own money. According to musical director and College and Wharton senior Janice Kim, those costumes were part of the reason for the retro theme. "They wanted to wear 70's clothing," said Kim. Flinging Divas plays tonight only at 8:30 p.m. in the Christian Association.
(01/20/93 10:00am)
The University's Center for Veterinary Critical Care is regarded as one of the best in the nation, but even that may not be enough to save the financially strained unit. The University will find out in a few months if Gov. Robert Casey intends to fund Veterinary School operations for next year. So far, no state funds have been allocated for the Vet School in the 1993-1994 budget. State money would assure that the school -- and the center -- could stay open. The center treats sick animals like their human counterparts, combining a 24-hour emergency room with an intensive care unit and an anasthesia department. Center Co-Director Joan Hendricks said the decade-old unit's innovations in efficiency and service improvement have been copied by universities and hospitals across the country. "We're different because we provide immediate and 24-hour veterinary care," Hendricks said. "To me, there's no question that we're the leader. "We admit mostly dogs, about 80 percent," she added. "Some cats, but mostly dogs." The center saw about 9,000 barking, meowing, chirping patients last year and expects more in 1993, making it the busiest emergency vet facility in the country. Veterinary experts from across the country said yesterday that it would be bad news for the profession if the Vet School were forced to shut its doors. "If the Pennsylvania Vet School closed, it would be horrible," said Tufts University Critical Care Director John Rush. "From both a clinical and research aspect, Penn is at the top of its field." "Penn Vet is known throughout the world for its immediate care services," said Janet Altrich, chief of emergency/critical care at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California at Davis. "If Penn disappeared, it would be a huge loss to the teaching and clinical veterinary profession." Philadelphia veterinarians said they are just as worried about what might happen to the local animal population. "I would urge the governor to do everything in his power to keep [the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania] open," said Srinivasan Ramanathan, a local veterinarian. "It would be a great loss for the state and the city. Closing the center would be a real step backward." "The fact is, we're necessary," said VHUP Director Barry Stupine. "Certain animals could only live if they received the services that we offer here."
(12/01/92 10:00am)
From Mike Farber's "I Want My MTV," Fall '92 Now what? As you may have heard, Clinton was a good politician and made lots of promises to lots of people. One of his pledges was welfare reform. You've seen the commercial. Clinton, in jacket and tie, leaning on his desk. He peers into the camera with that earnest puppy-dog look. He speaks. "For so long, government has failed us, and one of its worst failures has been welfare. I have a plan to end welfare as we know it -- to break the cycle of welfare dependency. "We'll provide education, job training and child care, then those who are able must go to work, either in the private sector or in public service. "I know it can work. In my state we've moved 17,000 people from welfare rolls to payrolls. It's time to make welfare what it should be -- a second chance, not a way of life." Sounds appealing, doesn't it? Clinton did such a good job selling this plan that in 1988, when he was the failed governor of a small state, the United States Congress adopted some of it. And President Reagan signed it. This piece of legislation, the Family Support Act, was supported by conservatives and liberals alike. The legislative intent was to promote the principle of mutual obligation: society would help the poor, but the poor had to strive for independence. The goals of the Family Support Act were for the states to push 20 percent of recipients into education or job training, with many recipients -- such as women with children under age three -- excluded. The law also required states to guarantee child care to working women, and it strengthened enforcement of child support from absent parents. So what happened to the Family Support Act? Two things. George "What's domestic policy?" Bush was elected and the economy started its downward turn. The Family Support Act also forces states to put up part of the money, and the states are broke. In 1991, states used only $600 million of the $1 billion in federal money available to them for education and training, because so many did not appropriate the required matching money. So far, the results from the Family Support Act are encouraging. In California, single parents entering the education and job training program earned an average of $1,902 a year, compared with $1,631 for a similar group that did not receive the services. Clinton is acutely aware of the mixed signals a welfare reform proposal could send, considering the subject frequently carries racial overtones. When he made the formal announcement of his proposal, he made it in the South, surrounded by a racially-mixed group of mothers and their babies. Clinton emphasized that the people receiving welfare are also the ones most determined to reform the current system. He said, "The people on welfare are the people who dislike it most of all. Those people on welfare are dying for another alternative, willing to seize it, and they'd like to end the welfare system as we know it." Clinton's welfare reform plan greatly expands the Family Support Act. His first step under the new plan will be to spend the allotted money on the current Family Support Act. In addition, he will: · Limit federal welfare payments to two years. At the end of two years, or the end of recipient's training program, the person would be required to work. If no job was immediately available, the person would be required to perform community service in order to receive benefits. · Increase the amount welfare recipients are allowed to save without losing their benefits, from $1,000 to $10,000. · Index the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation. · Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to guarantee that no family with a working parent lives below the poverty line. · Create a national database to track those who avoid paying child support. Opposition to Clinton's plan comes from old-style liberals, unions and spendthrifts. A fishing adage helps explain the old-style liberals opposition. As the adage has it, there are two ways to help needy people: give them a fish -- or money, under the old-style plan -- or teach them to fish -- through job training and education, under Clinton's plan. Union opposition is based on the fear that "community service" will entail jobs already performed by union members. And spendthrifts are nervous because of the enormous start-up costs -- $6 billion a year for four years. These reservations, while legitimate, are secondary to the state of the current welfare system. The welfare system is sick. Under President Bush's domestic policies, the number of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) increased five times more than it had in the 12 preceding years combined. This burden on the system cannot continue. The only answer is reform. Clinton's plan offers a "tough-love" approach that provides opportunity for those that have been closed out of the American dream. Systemic overhaul is a daunting endeavor, but it must be done. Michael Farber is a third-year Law student from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "I Want My MTV" appears alternate Tuesdays.
(05/28/92 9:00am)
He may pack the sunscreen and rack up thousands of frequent flyer miles, but for Provost Michael Aiken, this trip is strictly business. The provost leaves today on a whirlwind two-week trip which will take him half way around the world to Korea. He will meet both with officials at other universities, and alumni and trustees from the University. "The purpose of the trip to Korea is two-fold," Executive Assistant to the Provost Linda Koons said Tuesday. "One is the exchange program, and the other is to meet with alumni there." While overseas, Aiken will visit Korea's Yonsei University and Seoul National University. He will also meet with the country's minister of education to explore the possibility of student and faculty exchange programs. But even half way around the world, Aiken will visit with many alumni during the course of his trek. He is scheduled to meet with the Korean ambassador to the United States, a University alum, and the president of Wang Computer in Korea, a College graduate as well. The trip will be complemented by additional stops in Hawaii, California and Washington to meet with other alumni. On the way to Korea, Aiken will stop in San Francisco to meet with both University alumni and trustees. The provost will then return via Hawaii and Seattle, where he will visit the Penn Alumni Club of Washington. According to Koons, Aiken prefers to stay on campus and tackle administrative tasks here, rather than travel. But she said administrators increasingly recognize the need for both international educational opportunities, and for strong alumni ties -- similar to peer schools such as Harvard and Princeton -- which can aid the University in several ways, most notably in the area of "development," or fund raising. Recently, for example, the provost visited St. Petersburg University in the newly-formed Commonwealth of Independent States, also to investigate the possibility of exchange programs. "I couldn't believe it," Koons said. "Two trips in the space of six weeks."
(04/16/92 9:00am)
Democratic presidential hopeful Jerry Brown spoke briefly outside City Hall yesterday evening, amidst supporters and demonstrators protesting the government's spending of tax dollars. The former California governor arrived at Dilworth Plaza just after 6 p.m. to cheers of "Jerry! Jerry!" from the partisan crowd. In a brief 10 minute speech, Brown told the crowd, "In the grass roots here we have to work harder . . . because the folks in Washington aren't working hard enough." Brown constantly stressed the theme of "we the people," as part of his campaign to "stop the power of the few." "If there's a job it ought to pay enough to support a family or it's not a real job," he said. Brown discussed his idea for revising the current complex tax code to one flat rate for all citizens. "[I will] make the tax code so simple and clear even an eighth grader could understand it," Brown announced. He added that he wants to protect Social Security and increase federal money for scholarships and work study programs. Brown also responded to allegations of inappropriate conduct at his house while he was governor of California. ABC News reported last week that drug use was prevalent at the Brown house, though they have not accused Brown specifically of using drugs. But Brown said yesterday that the witness ABC News quoted is lying. Brown spoke as part of a tax day rally that started at City Hall and ended at the 30th Street Post Office with other speakers and entertainment. Nearly 500 people marched up Market Street from City Hall to the Post Office in a procession that stretched almost a block. Rally organizer Barbara Smith, executive director of Jobs with Peace, said demonstrations are being held at post offices in over 75 cities "to educate the public about how our tax dollars are spent." "We want [the public] to know that almost 50 cents of every [tax] dollar is going to the military," Smith said. "If we can have jobs in the gulf," Smith added, "We can have jobs in the United States." Over one hundred groups and public officials endorsed the tax day march, Smith said, including Mayor Edward Rendell and almost all of City Council. Smith added that the march is also to show support for the "Save Our Cities, Save Our Children" national march on Washington, D.C. that will take place May 16. Brown led the parade for about half a block before leaving on another campaign trip. The ralliers then marched behind a banner proclaiming, "Save our City, Save our Children." During the 15 block walk to the post office, marchers chanted a number of phrases, ranging from "No housing, no peace" to "Hey hey, ho ho, George Bush has got to go." Many of the ralliers carried homemade signs that had a common theme of diverting tax dollars from defense spending to domestic needs, such as education and housing. "I'm very happy to be here to tell people, 'Don't pay for nuclear weapons and the bombing of Iraq,' " Philadelphia resident Sylvia Metzler said. Metzler, along with other members of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, wore a paper dove in her hat to symbolize peace. Among the tax ralliers were a number of Brown supporters who came just to hear the presidential candidate speak. "I came here to listen and learn," 1986 Engineering graduate Ollie Luba said. "I decided to come out on my own and figure it out." Luba said he is trying to decide between voting for Brown or Bill Clinton in the upcoming presidential primary.
(03/19/92 10:00am)
From Tim Farrell's "Speaking Strictly For Myself," Spring '92 I have a few close gay friends who financed their college educations with Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarships. When they graduated and went on active duty, I started collecting little hints and tips for them about how not to get caught. As is the case with most homosexuals, my gay ROTC friends didn't choose to be gay and, not being heavy political types, want only to serve out the time they owe and get out. Since I don't have to worry about getting caught, I do all the asking around on their behalf. I struck a goldmine of information while on a trip to California a couple of years ago. I was at a bar in San Francisco when I ran into three gay soldiers who were stationed at an Army base in the Northwest (I shouldn't say where). After chatting with them a bit, I asked them if they had any advice for my friends from school who were gay and going on active duty. One of them, who had been stationed at several bases in the Southeastern United States, reported nothing but horror stories about redneck homophobes and long, suffocating months of closeted existence broken only by an occasional, long-awaited trip to a gay club in Atlanta or Dallas. Two of them had been based in Germany before they were sent to the West Coast. They said Germany was tolerable as long as you were stationed at a larger base in the south, such as one near Frankfurt or Munich. Smaller bases in Europe, they said, were hell for gays -- isolated, gossipy and without a big city to disappear into. They said Berlin had a cool gay scene, with little risk of getting caught. They gave me the name of a club in southern Germany where all the gay American soldiers hang out. They cautioned, "Never park your car outside a gay bar -- C.I.D. [the Army's Criminal Investigation Division] copies down the license numbers and will use them to identify you." One of them was particularly helpful and gave me the name of his boyfriend, who it turned out was a colonel, a rather high rank in the Army. I called the colonel up and mentioned his friend's name and explained that I was a college student on the East Coast looking for information on behalf of a few friends of mine. We arranged to meet a week later. Sitting by the ocean eating pizza, I listened closely as the colonel delivered a two-hour synopsis of how to survive in the military as a homosexual. He dated his female co-workers every so often to temper suspicion; he traveled hours to distant cities when he wanted to go to a gay bar, rather than risk being seen at the local one. He advised, "The most dangerous time you have is when you first join a unit. You haven't proved your value to them. It's a very dangerous thing to switch units or switch chains of command. You don't always have protection when you leave your local gay network." "You have to watch yourself. I've gotten totally drunk on my leisure time and made an ass out of myself a few times and let too much information out, but luckily I tend to drink with friends." He warned me about the military's "plants," who go to the gay bars and take down the names of service people. "They're active duty -- usually they've been caught themselves for one reason or another, and they've made a deal with the military in order to stay in," the colonel continued. "They'll go around to all the bars and other gay establishments and write down all the names of the servicemen." "They'll sit in a bar like anyone else, you know, like they were looking to hook up, and then they'll eavesdrop on different conversations. I saw this one prick seduce this one fellow so he would talk. He got the guy's name, position, unit address -- whatever was needed, then he was gone." He explained that your vocation in the Army can make a big difference in how you're treated if you're gay. For example, the Army needs doctors and nurses, so homosexuality is often ignored in the medical ranks. "Jeez," he exclaimed in his Southern drawl, "Probably half the Nursing Corps is gay!" Finally, he warned me about my friends on ROTC scholarships. "Tell them they've got to be very careful. If the Army finds out they're gay, they'll kick them out and then sue them for their tuition. I don't know the stats, but I do know a number of folks who have gotten caught being gay, been sent to [military] jail, then sued for thousands of dollars." A Penn Navy ROTC student was recently involved in a similar case, although there was no jail term. · It's pretty pathetic that, in 1992, the military is still spending taxpayers' money on such an elaborate program of discrimination and harassment. Gay Penn friends of mine now on active duty feel like criminals. They have to live with the daily stress of the closet and the fear of getting caught. Two of them are extremely unhappy and they feel that a Penn education wasn't worth the four years of hell they're going through now. Sadly, Sheldon Hackney allows ROTC to remain, arguing that we're in a better bargaining position to change the Army's anti-gay policy if we allow them to stay. In my opinion, that's a weak non-decision, but if we accept it -- which unfortunately we must -- we should then ask: what is Penn doing in the meantime to help its gay ROTC alumni, while it deliberately violates its own non-discrimination policy waiting for national defense policy to change? The information I've casually sought out about being gay in the military and avoiding persecution is valuable. Penn should gather that kind of information, publish it and make it available to ROTC students. There should be some sort of anonymous, confidential hotline or counseling service available so that gay ROTC students can discuss their situations with sympathetic administrators who may be able to advise them. More importantly, the Law School should offer some legal information or advice on what to say and do when under military investigation for homosexuality, what rights one has, and whom to contact for legal representation if one is criminally charged by the armed forces. Penn should be reminded that it has a responsibility to its non-discrimination policy. Since the president chooses to disregard that policy by allowing ROTC to remain, at the very least the University should offer some support so that when gay ROTC students have to face their dilemma, they won't feel deserted by their alma mater. Tim Farrell is a senior American Civilization and Religious Studies major from Boston, Massachusetts. "Speaking Strictly For Myself" appears alternate Thursdays.
(11/11/91 10:00am)
In the past 59 years, only one elected incumbent who sought a second term, Jimmy Carter, has failed to win re-election. In addition, Bush has enjoyed the highest approval rating of any president (approximately 75 percent), and his handling of the Gulf War did little to hurt his rating. Clearly, Bush has the cards stacked in his favor. That is, all the cards but one. The economy. As the 1992 election draws nearer, George Bush is looking more and more like a Herbert Hoover than like a Ronald Reagan. Thanks to Senator Harris Wofford's decisive victory on November 5, the president finally got his wake up call. Bush is beatable. For the Democratic Party, the question is not how to beat Bush, but who to run against him. Since the Democrats who have so-far announced their candidacy are still relative unknowns, the nomination is still up for grabs. So far, there are six in the race and all have clarified personal plans in addressing the problems with the economy: · Jerry Brown: Formerly governor of California, Brown suggests expansion of trade with Eastern Europe and possibly a cut in payroll taxes. Bill Clinton: Currently the governor of Arkansas, Clinton encourages long-term investment and conversion from a "guns" to a "butter" economy. Tom Harkin: A senator from Iowa, Harkin wants "to scrap supply-side, trickle-down economics," and the "New Growth Agenda that he proposes strongly stresses infrastructure and labor, as well as education and health care. Bob Kerrey: A senator (and former governor) from Nebraska, Kerrey stresses investment and funding for new technologies. Paul Tsongas: Formerly a senator from Massachusetts, Tsongas wants to give the middle class a "long-term capital-gains tax cut." Douglas Wilder: The Virginia governor has proposed a three-part plan to cut $50 billion from the federal budget that resembles the approach he has taken to strengthen the economy in his home state. · One factor exists that could change the entire Democratic scene of course, the possible entrance into the race of New York Governor Mario Cuomo, one of the nation's most prominent Democrats. Cuomo's dilemma is deciding whether or not he wants to risk losing to Bush in 1992. If he does choose to enter the race, most experts believe he would win the nomination handily. With so many choices, you're probably feeling about as wishy-washy as Mario Cuomo. You're asking yourself, Who should I vote for when my state primary (or caucus) rolls around? Well, you should vote for Harkin or Kerrey. Harkin's rhetoric is powerful. He is the type of candidate who can rally the working people behind him because of his devotion to organized labor and public works. He has a record of accomplishments in the Senate, most significantly the Americans with Disabilities Act. While he was governor of Nebraska, Kerrey turned a $25 million deficit into a $49 million surplus, perhaps a sign that he is adept in dealing with economic troubles. He is also a hero of the Vietnam War, having recieved a Congressional Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart (he lost part of his leg). He has also taken strong stances on health care and agriculture. The fact that he is divorced could hurt him, but shouldn't. Clinton, who is more conservative than Harkin and Kerrey, has earned praise for his accomplishments in the realm of education. He is the senior governor in the nation, now serving his fifth term. But from an economic standpoint, Clinton is weak; Arkansas has the third lowest per capita income in the United States. If either of the midwesterners, Harkin or Kerrey, were to win the nomination, Clinton would be an excellent choice as a ticket-balancing running mate. Don't even think about voting for Douglas Wilder. He closed a $2.2 billion budget gap in Virginia without raising taxes, but in doing so he stripped about $150 million from aid to schools. Moreover, his 30 percent approval rating in his home state is the lowest of any governor in Virginia history. Paul Tsongas has built a following, but not enough to win him the nomination. He had cancer, and although there have been no signs of its return since his surgery five years ago, his health is still an issue. As for Jerry Brown, he should win California but not the whole thing. And what if Cuomo enters the race? Popular as he is, the man shouldn't be responsible for making Oval Office decisions when he can't even decide whether or not to run. Regardless of who captures the nomination, it is ultimately important that everybody get out and vote in 1992. As college students who will soon enter the proverbial "real world," we must be concerned about the pathetic American economy. We must put a president in office who will help find an answer. And George Bush, my friends, does not have the answer. Curt Soloff is a sophomore Communications major from Overland Park, Kansas. Who's The Weasel Now? has appeared on some Wednesdays.
(11/05/91 10:00am)
Across the city, all voters will vote for one council member representing their district and for all ten at-large candidates. Around the University, voters will choose a council member for the 3rd District as well as vote on the at-large candidates. The seven top vote-getters among the five Democrats and five Republican at-large candidates will take seats in the next City Council. Philadelphia's strong Democratic base traditionally elects all five nominated Democrats, leaving two spots for Republicans. The two incumbent Republicans, Thacher Longstreth and Joan Specter, have been campaigning fairly heavily in recent weeks in light of strong competition for their seats. Augusta Clark, Democrat Three-term City Council Member Augusta Clark is a long-time supporter of issues affecting children in Philadelphia. Juliet Sawyer, an assistant to Clark, said that the Council member, who has two children of her own, has put a lot of effort into education issues. She also strongly supports youth and homeless issues. Clark is also a proponent of reasonable budgets and is hesitant to raise new taxes, Sawyer said. Sawyer said that Clark supports cultural events and institutions. Clark has a wide array of professional and civic activities, including her participation as a board member of National Black Women's Political Congress, Franklin Institute,and Philadelphia Bar Association Foundation. She is also a founding member of Yorktown Civic Organization and the Vice-Chair of the Board for the Greater Philadelphia Center for Community Corrections. She holds a master's degree in Library Science from Drexel University as well as a law degree from Temple University Law School. David Cohen, Democrat An attorney, David Cohen has held public office intermittently since 1968, when he was elected Council member of the 8th District. The Democrat resigned three years later to pursue what would be an unsuccessful mayoral campaign. In 1979, he was elected Council Member-at-Large, a position that he still retains. As an incumbent, he enters Tuesday's elections with most of his concerns tied to what he described as "the financial viability of the city." Cohen said he fears that state control over city functions is expanding, which he fears could lead to curtailment of basic services, including "the most elementary health services." Cohen said he sees his main purpose as Councilman as "fighting against the minimization of urban government, which has reached a deplorable level." Also, Cohen said that he favors retaining the current method of garbage collection, rather than contracting out collection to private firms. He said that he was instrumental in changing the work rules that the trash collector's union now follows, which saves the city between $15 and $20 million per year. As for trash disposal contracts, Cohen said he is calling for renegotiation because they were signed "under duress." "[The government] was battered about by the fear that trash would pile up in the city," he said. David Cohen is a graduate of the University's School of Education and Law School. Happy Fernandez, Democrat Democratic City Council at-large candidate Happy Fernandez considers herself to be "progressive on social issues such as education, child-care, and housing and conservative on fiscal matters." She said that she feels her academic background coupled with her extensive community involvement make her qualified for a position on City Council. Fernandez, whose headquarters are located on 40th and Chestnut streets, is currently a professor in the School of Social Administration at Temple. She founded several educational organizations such as the Parents' Union for Public Schools, the National Coalition of Advocates for Students and the Council on Educational Priorities. And she has served on numerous committees dedicated to the improvement of education and child-care in Philadelphia. In addition, she has been active in the battle against drugs. Fernandez said that she believes it is important to focus on cleaning up neighborhoods in an attempt to battle the problems facing Philadelphia today. She received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, a master's in Teaching from Harvard University, a master's in History from the University, and a Doctorate in Urban Education from Temple University. James Kenney, Democrat James Kenney, a 33-year-old native Philadelphian, is running as a Democratic challenger for a City Council at-large street. Kenney has spent nearly all of his life in Philadelphia, and said he decided to run for City Council after realizing how many of his friends were leaving Philadelphia to live in other cities. He said he wants to "stem this tide of human and natural resources leaving our area." Kenney calls this problem the result of the "trickle down effect of the Reagan era." He added that he is particularly concerned about Philadelphia's fiscal difficulties. He charges that the current administration misused tax money, saying, "We have effectively disenfranchised the people who pay the bills . . . We have to give taxpayers the impression that they are getting something for their tax dollars." Philadelphia's tax revenue would be better spent on solving Philadelphia's societal problems, Kenney said. He expressed a particular concern about two predominant urban ailments -- homelessness and AIDS. Kenney also complained about the workings of the City Council itself. "The people who scream the loudest get their way," Kenney said. "The playing of the crowd by Council people has to stop -- politics is not a football game." Kenney received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from La Salle University. T. Longstreth, Republican Philadelphia Magazine's August "Best of Philly" issue called City Council at-large member Thacher Longstreth the city's "Most Ubiquitous Person." Despite his old-Philadelphia, WASPy appearance, Longstreth -- a 1941 Princeton University graduate -- has aligned himself with virtually every special-interest group in the city during his three non-consecutive terms in City Council. Longstreth has held the Presidencies of the Urban League, the United Negro College Fund, and the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and has been the Representative of Israel Bonds. On the local business front, Longstreth has most recently served as President and CEO of Chipa, Inc., a small consulting firm, and as Vice Chairman of Packquisition Corp. In City Council, Longstreth serves on the Appropriations, Economic Development and Commerce Committees. Longstreth's long resume overshadows the list of legislation he has pushed through City Council. He initiated a bill which would have provided tax credits for corporations that provide daycare which was not passed. He also initiated a long-range solid waste proposal which aims to save the city $400 million in twenty years. He serves on the Committee on Fiscal Stability and Intergovernmental Cooperation, which created PICA, the state's financial oversight board. Angel Ortiz, Democrat Incumbent Democratic City Council Member Angel Ortiz became interested in politics at the University of Puerto Rico in the early 1960s, where he vocally opposed the Vietnam War. He started his career in politics at Yale University's Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1971. Three years later, he moved to Philadelphia and was hired as the first Latino managing director of Community Legal Services, a city agency. In 1984, Ortiz was hired as the commissioner of the city's Department of Records. The following year, Ortiz was elected to a City Council at-large seat. If re-elected, Ortiz said that he would continue to focus on the problems of the working class. He said his concerns include stabilizing health services, reducing Philadelphia's homeless problem, improving public education, strengthening communication between the new mayor and the City Council and mitigating Philidelphia's fiscal crisis. With these goals, Ortiz describes himself as a proud liberal. "I feel that I am a progressive person and I feel that this is how others see me as well," Ortiz said. He received his bachelor's degree from Puerto Rico in Sociology and Political Science in 1964 and later earned a Masters in Urban Development at Occidental College in California. In 1975, Ortiz completed his formal education with an advanced degree from Columbia University. Diana Roca, Republican Having worked in the private sector for several years, Republican City Council at-large candidate Diana Roca said she knows about accountability, and calls this the key issue in her campaign. Roca said she can bring accountability, as well as business sense, to City Council. She said that not only does she want to see city government assume responsibility for the state of the city, but she said she also wants to see it run without corruption. She characterized herself as a populist who believes in providing affordable housing, holding the line on taxes, and bringing jobs to Philadelphia. Along with these goals, Roca said she wants to improve city services, increase the police force, and help bring businesses back to Philadelphia. "I want to get Philadelphia back on its feet," she said. The 33-year-old Roca is a professional interior designer in Philadelphia. She received her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Moore College, after receiving a bachelor's degree in political science from Rosemont College. Roca grew up in Puerto Rico, but has lived in Philadelphia for 16 years. Joan Specter, Republican Joan Specter is seeking her fourth consecutive term as an at-large member of City Council, in which she has served since 1979. Aggressive in pushing legislation, Specter's projects have included initiating the nation's first municipal parental leave policy, a hotel tax for visitors to the city, a bill to regulate city dumpsters, anti-discrimination legislation opening up private clubs to women, and the divestment of the city's pension fund from holdings in South Africa. Specter, wife of U.S. Senator Arlen Spector (R-Pa.), authored Philadelphia: A Strategy for the Future, a detailed financial plan which she released when she was running in the spring for the Republican nomination for mayor. In the plan, she detailed initiatives to amend the City Charter and privatize the Philadelphia Gas Works. Specter has said she aims to continue grappling with "the issues of municipal finance, health and welfare, education, public safety, public cleanliness, and government mismanagement." Active in local business as well as politics, the Council member founded Joan Specter Desserts, which she sold in 1988. In City Council, Specter currently serves on the Finance, Economic Development and Commerce Committees. Specter has attended Southern Connecticut University and Drexel University. She is currently taking graduate classes at the University.
(10/08/91 9:00am)
Over the past three years, latino students at the University have been battling for a Latin American Studies Department, a major and a minor. During those three years, the University has admitted fewer and fewer latino students, and of those who did come to the University, many left before graduating. But the School of Arts and Sciences Faculty Committee will vote on a proposal for a Latin American Studies minor in early December, and latino students say that approving the minor could make the University a more appealing place for hispanics. And Pam Urueta, president of Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos, said latinos she knew from her home in California refused to even consider the University because there are few latino courses offered. "When courses don't reflect our culture, we feel we are not very important to the University," College junior Urueta said. According to Romance Languages Assistant Professor Jorge Salessi, who helped write the proposal, the minor was approved by SAS's curriculum committee last week and must now be approved by the faculty committee in order to be implemented. "I am very happy the minor has been accepted by the curriculum committee," Salessi said. "This has been a project that has been accomplished collectively with students, faculty and administrators." Salessi said he has no idea if the minor will ultimately be approved, but that things seem positive. "The curriculum committee already approving the minor is a positive sign," Salessi said. According to Urueta, the University approving a new study abroad program in Oaxaca is another positive sign. The program is the first University-sponsored program in a Latin American country, and will begin this spring. "It will help to encourage the establishment of a minor and a department," Urueta said Students participating in the program will gain University credits in Latin American studies. According to Cedillo, if the minor is approved it will be an interdisciplinary study taking courses from the Romance Language Department and the History Department. If a Latin American Studies Department is approved in the future, the interdisciplinary program would be eliminated. Both Cedillo and Urueta expressed high hopes that a department will eventually be established. "If minor is established there will be a push for a major and a department," Cedillo said. "We will start small and gain momentum." But Urueta said there are barely enough classes to fill the minor this semester. Only six courses are being offered, one of which is a graduate course. Recruiting latino faculty to teach new Latin American courses could increase the possibility of establishing a major and a department, Cedillo said. Urueta said latinos are the most rapidly growing minority in the country and the University should realize its courses are not adequate. "Latinos are also important to the history of the United States," Cedillo said. "But we don't realize it because we haven't been taught about it." Salessi said he wrote the proposal with History Assistant Professor Dain Borges at the end of last semester after discussing it with students and the dean and vice dean of SAS. "We all pulled our resources together and decided that the students were needing and wanting a minor in Latin American studies," Salessi said. "And we have the resources to put together a minor."
(02/20/91 10:00am)
In a didactic and entertaining lecture, University of California at Berkeley Professor Ronald Takaki spoke last night on the importance of changing university curricula to include the contributions of minority groups in every field. Takaki, a pioneer in the field of diversifying education, discussed the issue of "re-visioning" the American college curriculum. A crowd of over 100 students, faculty and community members filled the DuBois College House Multi-Purpose Room for the 50-minute lecture. Takaki criticized the American education system for concentrating primarily on "dead white European males," while neglecting the contributions of virtually all minority groups. Takaki gave a model of a diversified education by condensing a full semester of information from one of his classes into a 20-minute history lesson of the past two-hundred years of the United States. His description of the industrial revolution from the invention of the cotton gin to the intercontinental railroad included the contributions of all minority groups in America which he said most "European white male" accounts of history ignore. Takaki then encouraged the University to model its curriculum changes on the recommendations of an innovative committee to diversify Berkeley's curriculum, of which he was the chairperson. Takaki said that over the next two years, Berkeley will create over 150 new classes across the entire university to include the contributions minority groups have made. Takaki added, during the question-and-answer period, that more affirmative action in graduate teaching programs is needed to "bring more minorities to faculties across the country." Many students at the lecture said it was informative. "I knew bits and pieces of the history he covered, but to see the totality of history . . . I was amazed," said College sophomore Niko Phillips. "The speech served to elucidate the transformation of American culture by its various components," said Wharton junior Jackson Pek.
