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(06/17/99 9:00am)
Penn Physics Professor Eugene Beier is one of many scientists now looking beneath the Earth's surface for answers to questions about the sky above. Beier, 59, is one of the creators of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory -- a Canada-based observatory dedicated to collecting information about subatomic particles called neutrinos -- that began collecting its first data last week. Electron neutrinos are emitted by the Sun during nuclear fusion and provide clues about the composition of our solar system's only star. The unique observatory is intended to detect neutrinos created in the Sun and the Earth's atmosphere in an effort to better understand the workings of the Sun and the universe in general, Beier said yesterday. SNO -- located 2,000 meters below the Earth's surface in a nickel mine in Sudbury, Ontario -- was created through the joint efforts of nearly 100 scientists from 11 universities and laboratories in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, according to a statement released last week. "How neutrinos behave? determines how heavy elements are produced in the galaxy," Beier said. "And that tells us something about the chemical evolution of the galaxy." Neutrinos created in the Sun travel to Earth, where they can be observed through their interactions with water. Although neutrino telescopes traditionally use purified water to study the particles, the SNO observatory is the first in the world to use heavy water instead, Beier said. According to Beier, the use of heavy water will allow scientists to distinguish between the several different types of neutrinos, only one of which comes from the Sun to the Earth. "What we're trying to do is understand the way the Sun loses its energy," Beier said. Beier worked on a similar project in Japan ten years ago that did not use heavy water. Beier said that distinguishing between different types of neutrinos is an important step in determining exactly what happens to the particles on their way from the Sun. "Neutrinos may be able to change into other types of neutrinos as they propagate through space," Beier said. Beier explained that, in the past, scientists have detected fewer neutrinos than they had predicted. "The neutrino emission by the sun as measured on Earth seems to be much smaller than what stellar evolution models predict," Beier said. But the new observatory should help scientists understand if those small numbers are due to the changing of neutrinos in space, Beier said. The project's creators have been developing the observatory since 1984. Construction began on the telescope in 1990, Beier said. "This is tremendously exciting," SNO Institute Director Art McDonald said in a statement released last week. "It is 15 years since the starts of the SNO project, and to see such clear examples of neutrino interactions within days of finally turning on was a real triumph for the entire SNO team." Beier, who has been a Penn professor since 1967, said that he has been interested in the interactions of neutrinos for his entire career. "Starting in the late '60s, all the most interesting questions were in studying neutrinos, at least as far as I was concerned," Beier said. Beier said past research indicates that "neutrinos contribute at least as much as stars or approximately as much as stars" to the mass of the universe. "So it's one of the steps in trying to understand what's in the universe," Beier said.
(06/17/99 9:00am)
Braves call up ex-Penn shortstop Mark DeRosa As of Tuesday, DeRosa had gone hitless in five at-bats since the promotion, but recorded two putouts and two assists in the field without an error. The Braves, who drafted DeRosa in the seventh round of the amateur baseball draft after his junior year at Penn, gave DeRosa his first major league opportunity last season. DeRosa was 1-for-3 with two runs scored in five games of action for Atlanta in 1998. Prior to his call-up last week, DeRosa was batting .256 with one home run and 27 RBI's for Richmond. -- Jason Bodnar Femovich leaves Penn to head Patriot League The Patriot League announced last week that Penn Senior Associate Athletics Director Carolyn Femovich was named its new Executive Director. Femovich will become the second female commissioner of the Patriot League, succeeding Constance H. Hurlbut, who resigned to become Director of Basketball Operations for the WNBA in January. Femovich has been affiliated with Penn for 17 years. She served as Associate Athletics Director before becoming Senior Associate Athletics Director in 1988. -- J.B. W. Tennis finishes year with No. 46 ranking Penn's women's tennis team ended the 1998-99 season ranked 46th in the nation, its highest ranking in the history of the program. The Quakers won 19 matches to set a team record and finished second in the Ivy League with a 7-1 record. In addition, Penn has not lost a home match since April 11, 1997. -- J.B. Maurice Greene breaks 100-meter world record ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Maurice Greene set a 100-meter world record yesterday of 9.79 seconds at an international track meet. Greene, who competed at the Penn Relays in April, broke the mark of 9.84 set in 1996 by Donovan Bailey of Canada. The record was set on a nearly windless evening during a special 100-meter invitational race in the stadium that will be the main venue for the 2004 Olympic Games. Greene's unofficial time was flashed as 9.78. The official time later was changed to 9.79.
(04/28/99 9:00am)
The Penn Relays are the exception to the rule. Most track meets in this country have to deal with paltry attendance. Not so in West Philly. "I think it's the greatest track meet in America," said Michael Johnson, who anchored the Nike International squad to victory in the 4x200-meter relay on Saturday. "The fans are very knowledgeable and it's great to look up and see a lot of people." The 105th Penn Relay Carnival set an all-time three-day attendance record of 96,358. Granted, a number of the fans may have made their way to track's oldest and loudest theater to see deep-seeded collegiate rivalries play themselves out. However, the lion's share of fannies in Franklin Field's historic seats came for other reasons. Many came to watch the world's best Olympic-level athletes make rare stateside appearances and another large contingent wanted to witness regional high school powers square off against the best America, Mexico, Canada, Ireland and a host of Caribbean countries have to offer. The record Thursday and Friday crowds, as well as the fourth-largest Saturday crowd in history, witnessed high school and elite events teemed with high drama. The marquee event for both the elite men and elite women was undoubtedly the 4x200. In both fields, the team from Nike International brought the 44,639 onlookers to their feet with a group of four superstars. The women's quartet circumnavigated the Penn track twice in 1:30.23. Marion Jones, the world's most famous female sprinter, turned in a scorching anchor leg of 21.2 seconds. Exuding confidence, Jones whipped the crowd into a frenzy. "It's so wonderful to come to a meet and perform in front of such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowd," Jones said. "Last year we had a similar result, but this year seems more special." The swoosh-emblazoned men's 4x200 squad was similarly excellent. Michael Johnson's stretch run elicited Saturday's most deafening cheers. The team from Adidas played spoiler in the 4x400 meters, defeating its rivals in a Nike-sponsored event. "This is their meet, and so when we come here people say, 'Oh, those guys are here.' They expect us just to show up," said Antonio Pettigrew, who ran Adidas' second leg. "But we just go out and do our job, which is to win." Pettigrew's squad logged the first-ever sub-3:00 time at the Penn Relays, 2:58.52. Their anchor, Jerome Young, came around in just under 44 seconds. Jamaican high schools had to deal with slightly less success than they've become accustomed to at the Relays. The most exciting American victory, and the one that elicited the most chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" from the rafters on 33rd Street was Northwestern High School's stirring win in the 4x400. The team from Hyattsville, Md., won with the third-fastest time in the Carnival's history, 3:10.35. Anchoring the squad, James Graham made it around the track in a mere 45.9. His powerful kick down the final straightaway stuck a knife through the patriotic fervor of the Caribbean-laden, green-black-and-gold flag-waving north stands. Not only did Northwestern beat Jamaica College and St. Iago for the title, but the team from Chester High School in Chester, Pa., also beat the Jamaicans, logging a blistering 3:14.18. Teams from the island have taken the title 11 times since 1985. "I felt confident because my team was doing the best that they can," Graham said. "We deserved to win the medal. It will strengthen us a lot, so we deserve it." There was some more humble Golden Krust patty to be eaten on Saturday. The 4x100-meter relay team from Potomac, Va., waved the Stars and Stripes proudly as they made their victory lap after besting St. Iago by .29 seconds with a time of 41.26. This is only the third American victory in this event since 1979. The hometown distance medley team from Archbishop Prendergast High School won the girls championship on Thursday evening and they owe their medals to the swift feet of Sheila Klick, anchor and miler. Her 4:53.5 final leg catapulted her team all the way from sixth to first. Klick was named the most outstanding girl's high school athlete. That honor on the boy's side went to Ricky Harris of Centreville, Va. He won the 400 meter hurdles with a Relay record time of 50.63, the sixth-best performance all-time by a U.S. highschooler. More impressively, Harris has a year left in school and his time is the fastest ever by an American high school junior. There are, of course, hundreds of other outstanding stories that deserve telling. There's no time for an exhaustive treatment, however -- the unrivaled Penn Relays defy description.
(04/08/99 9:00am)
A Volkswagen Beetle adorned with magnetic poetry was the first sign that Monday wasn't an ordinary afternoon on College Green. Elementary and middle school students running around playing "poetry tag" was another. Kelly Writers House, in conjunction with the Center for Community Partnerships and a volunteer group called the Goldsmith Coordinators, held a poetry day for local schools Monday to celebrate National Poetry Month. About 100 first, third and fourth grade students from Samuel Powel Elementary School, Charles Drew School, and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw Middle School had the chance to learn about poetry beyond the classroom as the "Poetry Bug," a Volkswagen making a national tour sponsored by Magnetic Poetry, made its first Philadelphia stop. "Instead of sitting in a classroom they can run around and play with words," said College senior Karyn Daley, an assistant at the Writers House. The sponsors of the event divided College Green into four stations at which the students took turns participating in poetry activities, including forming poems out of the magnetic words that covered the white Volkswagen Beetle. Penn's campus is only one of the stops the "Poetry Bug" will make. Two employees sporting white lab coats and calling themselves Emergency Metaphor Technicians are taking the bug on a tour of the Northeast and then to Canada. The EMTs also led many of the poetry activities with the students. After writing poems like, "The butterfly flew through the night," on the car, students then played poetry tag, a game in which they had to scream out an adjective and a noun before getting caught. At a third station, students sat down to listen to Puerto Rican poet Victor Hernandez Cruz, who read a few poems from his books Red Beans and Panoramas before helping the students write poems of their own. "I tried to read poems with strong images rather than conceptual poems," Cruz said. "These poems are better for this age group." The final event was called "Hodgy Podgy," in which students clapped their hands and took turns adding words to jointly create a poem. "So far my favorite thing was Hodgy Podgy," said Montanee Pornmukda, a Powel fourth grader. "We got to make up poems and they let us say wacky words." The students also received poetry tattoos, snacks and goodie bags as they left. The University Bookstore even donated enough picture books for every student who took part in the event. "This activity was a nice way to bind the community and the University," said Paula Benner, site coordinator of the Powel School. Other organizers pointed to the potential benefits for the youngsters themselves. "I think this event is a great way for the kids to have fun with language and fun with words," Kelly Writers House Director Kerry Sherin said. "I see them growing up to be undergraduate writers who will work with other kids."
(02/25/99 10:00am)
Randy Wright is far from the average Economics professor. With his long hair, a large gold cross dangling from his left ear and bulky black leather jacket draped over the back of his chair, Wright probably would be less conspicuous among his undergraduate students than with his professional colleagues. And one would hardly guess he is a consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland. Wright, 42, plays lead guitar in a faculty band called "The Contractions." The eight-member group started playing together two years ago for the Economics Department's graduate Skit Night and they had such "good fun" that they stuck with it. They performed last weekend in front of a packed Palladium crowd. Wright began playing guitar six nights a week in a neighborhood pub shortly after he graduated from high school in Canada. "Playing in bands is the only reason I went to college at all because I had nothing to do during the day," he said, in a serious tone, although he added that he also enrolled to please his father. Wright said that he -- like many of the students he met at the University of Manitoba -- went through four years of college without ever really doing much work. He chose economics as his major only because he got an A in the class, but the more economics classes he took, the more he began to like it. Wright decided to play the eternal student and attended the University of Minnesota, "because, coming from Winnipeg, it seemed like a nice warm place to live." There, he received a doctorate in macroeconomics. But don't let Wright's manner mislead you. Second-year Wharton doctoral student Brett Norwood was quick to assure that Wright commands "a fantastic knowledge of the subject." "He always has an intuitive feel for how [economics] applies to the world," Norwood said. After he received his degree, Wright spent three years teaching at Cornell University and then came to Penn, where he has been for the last 12 years. While he usually teaches graduate students, last semester Wright co-taught three sections of the introductory microeconomics lecture with two other professors. Wright said that he enjoyed teaching undergraduates. In the future Wright said he would like to devote half of his classes to undergraduates. Wright's easygoing nature has certainly carried over to his job as a professor as he likes taking his doctoral students out to the "pub" after class. He said he practically considers his advanced students as colleagues and enjoys spending time with them outside class. Wright's research is mostly in monetary theory -- the study of how exchange takes place, a topic he says is often neglected by economists. However, Wright does enjoy stepping outside of his main field now and then. A couple of years ago, he collaborated with then-graduate student Eric Smith to write a paper entitled "Why Auto Insurance is so Damned Expensive." Still, Wright said he loves Philadelphia -- he shares a house in Center City with his cat Clare -- because it "suits my lifestyle a lot," as he can walk or take a cab anywhere. "My driver's license expired like 10 years ago and I haven't got around to renewing it," Wright said.
(02/16/99 10:00am)
The card sports a picture of Benjamin Franklin, offers an introductory rate of 5.9 percent on purchases and cash advances and charges no annual fee. And you might have recently received a letter about it in your mailbox. At the start of the semester, University officials sent out a promotional letter -- co-signed by Interim Vice President for Business Services Marie Witt and Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum -- encouraging students, faculty and alumni to purchase the "Penn Visa" card, a project which is helping fund University programming with its substantial profits. As of now there are around 12,000 carriers of Penn Visa -- the only credit card endorsed by the University -- and 4,000 of them are current students. Penn Visa is issued by the MBNA America Bank -- a national bank based in Wilmington, Del. -- in the fall of 1997 through the combined efforts of three University departments: Business Services, the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life. Upon creation of the partnership in 1997, Penn received $4 million from MBNA and continues to take in approximately $200,000 annually from the program. The initial revenue from MBNA was used to fund the University's ongoing lighting project -- an attempt to improve campus safety through increased lighting in Hamilton Village, on Locust Walk and along smaller pathways on campus, according to Vice President for Facilities Services Omar Blaik. The $200,000 annual fee that the University receives from MBNA also goes to other programs that directly benefit students and alumni. The funding is divided between the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and the PennCard Center, according to Laurie Cousart, director of telecommunications and campus card services. Alumni Relations uses the funding to sponsor reunions and regional alumni events, said Director of Alumni Relations and Development Virginia Clark. When alumni invest in the Penn Visa, they reap the benefits of increased alumni programming, Clark said. Other fractions of the revenue are used toward the operating budget at the PennCard Center, according to Joy Williams, manager of campus card services. Cousart said one of the reasons the University decided to create the Penn Visa was because it could have "editorial control over all the marketing," which includes an annual mailing to encourage purchasing the card, a couple of telemarketing campaigns and promotions on Locust Walk. Frank explained that marketing the cards is successful because the prospective buyers are likely to be loyal to their institution and interested in supporting the project. MBNA has programs with approximately 500 universities and colleges in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, including Penn State University and Georgetown University, according to Peter Frank, MBNA director of media relations.
(02/12/99 10:00am)
A vote by the Ivy League school's Trustees may lead to the elimination of single-sex Greek houses. In a move that shocked Dartmouth College students, Dartmouth President James Wright said Tuesday that he wants to eliminate single-sex fraternities and sororities as part of a plan to overhaul the school's residential and social systems. Dartmouth's Board of Trustees announced last week that they intend to significantly change the social structure of the small Ivy League school. According to a statement released by the Trustees, the residential and social system should "be substantially coeducational and provide opportunities for greater interaction among all Dartmouth students," as well as foster "a greater choice and continuity in residential living." Though the statement never specifically mentions Greek life, both Wright and Dartmouth Trustees Chairperson Stephen Bosworth told The Dartmouth, the school's student newspaper, that the changes mean the end to the Greek system that inspired the 1978 film Animal House. But Jaime Paul, a Dartmouth junior who heads the council that oversees fraternities and sororities at the school, said last night that "it's not a set decision yet," and is, rather, Wright's vision for the Greek system. "Obviously since he's the president of the college it will influence things," she said. "But as of right now everything's up in the air." Student reaction to the announcement was strong and immediate. Approximately 1,000 students, mostly Greek members, marched to Wright's house late Wednesday night to protest the changes. And earlier that day, the fraternities and sororities voted to cancel their participation in the annual, tradition-laden Winter Carnival, which attracts thousands of alumni to campus for the Greek-organized festival. "We're making a pretty huge statement" in canceling the event, Paul said, adding that she thinks it will show the campus just how integral the Greek system is. Paul said the students at Dartmouth have come together to fight the possible change. "Right now, students are infuriated," she said. "They feel betrayed and I think they feel that they've lost control over something they've always had control over." Over the next several months, Dartmouth administrators plan to meet with groups of students to discuss the overhaul plans. Wright emphasized to The Dartmouth, however, that the discussions are not intended to be a "referendum" on the plans, and that the Trustees' decision is final. But according to Paul, Wright told her his statement was taken out of context. She said his referendum comment refers only to the redesign of the social system and does not imply that eliminating single-sex fraternities and sororities is set in stone. Jonathan Brant, executive vice president of the National Interfraternity Conference, said the news came as a "complete shock," and that he saw "no immediate warning" that the college's Trustees were planning such a change. The Indianapolis, Ind.-based NIC represents 67 national fraternities, with 5,500 chapters across the United States and Canada. All of the fraternities in the NIC are male-only. Brant said that he has heard of only about five colleges that have banned single-sex organizations during the past 30 years, calling such actions "pretty unusual." There are 25 single-sex fraternities and sororities and three coed groups at the Hanover, N.H., school, where 1,700 of the roughly 4,100 students are affiliated with Greek organizations. The changes to the residential system could begin as early as this fall, but it is still unclear when single-sex Greek houses would be eliminated.
(02/12/99 10:00am)
From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '99 From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '99Note: Today's Fien Print is correct within a 3.5 to 4 percent margin of error. In my so-called life, I find that I rarely do anything truly important, anything that makes or shapes world and public opinion. On Monday night, however, I got to make a genuine difference. OK. Fine. On Monday night I became 1/3000th of Bill Clinton's approval rating. Heaven bless the good people of the Gallup poll for letting me shape our president's self-worth. That's about all that matters to Gallup, you see. My education? Nope. My political leanings? Not so much. My presence as an informed young adult immersed in a legion of newsprint? You've gotta be kidding. No, the Gallup polling process, a "grueling" 15-minute list of socio-economic-politico-sexual queries, actually thrives on making the surprised samples act like morons. That may well be something for the ruling class to consider before they trust the findings as reported in USA Today or CNN. Or at least I sure felt like a fool. First question: Do you approve of Bill Clinton's job in office? Sure. Why not? I can be enlightened enough to differentiate between the liberal and the libido. I've read enough statistics to know that I'm comfortably in the majority on this one. Or at least a majority of people like me, young folks lured into a false sense of security by an easy first question. Then questions started getting odder. The personality-free voice began to ask me if I approved of several different countries. Just that broad. Nothing more specific. Foreign policies? Standards of living? Personal hygiene? Nah. Do I approve of Israel? Strongly approve. Canada? Just so they don't take away my second passport, yes. Mexico? Um, human rights violations and stuff -- slightly disapprove, I guess. China? Love the food, a little sketchy on the communism and treatment of Tibet, let's say I disapprove. Brazil? Huh?!? First he draws you in, then he pulls the rug out. I honestly don't know how I feel about Brazil. Odds are the Gallup people end up getting responses that range from ignorant to embarrassed far more often than those that range from intellectual to, well, correct. I, for example, just don't know if the United States has troops in Bosnia at this minute or if Americans serving with the United Nations peacekeeping forces count. For the last couple of days, I've been checking the news to see if I get humiliated via a story, "And 75 percent of American youths are too stupid to know where we hide our soldiers." Oops. Fortunately, the pollster allowed me to apologize for my obliviousness by confessing that my recent attention to the Bosnian crisis has been "not enough." The Gallup poll runs on the notion that the "average" people stand out after the goofballs have neutralized themselves. But some of the questions just beg for people to run screaming for eclecticism. Be honest, when somebody asks you for your favorite presidents from history, don't you desperately want to destroy their data by fighting for lost causes like Chester A. Arthur, who had the greatest handle-bar mustache of any chief executive, or Calvin Coolidge, who never said anything at all? When "Chris" the Gallup Man asked me this question, I had to stifle more creative urges -- Hayes! Harrison! Harding! -- to mutter names like Wilson, Lincoln, clichZs like that. But if the creative people would just give in to their darker urges? Hard to tell what might happen. People actually believe in these polls. Mostly, they believe in them because no matter what position you're trying to prop up, there's a question just confusing enough to put you in the majority. Among the 20 to 30 different questions about gun control and the NRA, for example, I'm sure that at least once I said that automatic firearms are a nifty idea. I was just that confused. And then "Chris" started asking me what jobs I felt homosexuals were qualified to hold. After I told him that I was cool with gay doctors, lawyers, priests and TV weathermen, he kept going, listing profession after profession as if he were praying that I would somehow get even more emphatic if he suggested "interior decorator, musical theater star or flight attendant." He stopped just short of that. And I was glad. Under enough duress, I'm not sure what crazy things I may have said. So now that I'm Gallup certified, you'll probably trust me more, right? I suspect roughly 65 percent of you will respond with the same answer I gave when "Chris" asked if I approved of the Gerald Ford presidency: You're kidding, right?
(02/12/99 10:00am)
Spending many lonely nights anxiously awaiting that special phone call? Rushing to the mailbox each day for a long-anticipated letter? For couples who are involved in a long-distance relationship, Valentine's Day may just be another reminder that they cannot be with the one they love this weekend. But help is on the way from 1992 Wharton graduate Trevor Shanski. The Canada native has written and published a series of three books about long-distance relationships, entitled: Loving Your Long Distance Relationship, Still Loving Your Long Distance Relationship and Loving Your Long Distance Relationship for Women. A fourth book is also on the way. Writing under the pseudonym of Stephen Blake, Shanski is hardly inexperienced with the subject matter. In high school and college, he had three girlfriends who lived an airplane's ride away. And when he looked for support, Shanski said he couldn't find any books to cure his lovesickness. "A family member told me, 'We're sick of listening to you complain. Why don't you just write your thoughts down?'" Shanski said. "It was very therapeutic." Instead of searching for an editor, Shanski decided to use his Wharton knowledge to create his own publishing company. Had he not used that entrepreneurial sense to start his own company, Shanski said he "still would have been sitting on a street corner outside of Random House with a manuscript in [his] hand." While long-distance relationships are often considered impossible feats to accomplish, Shanski takes on a different perspective. Trust, he said, should be an active part of any relationship -- whether long distance or not. The most difficult aspect of struggling through a long-distance relationship is, according to this author, trying to maintain a level of intimacy despite the distance. In his books, Shanski shares plenty of concrete ideas about how to keep a long-distance relationship going strong, including frequent communication, sending a significant other perfume-stained clothing and delaying major discussions until both parties can be together. He gives one piece of advice for students who will be missing someone on Valentine's Day. "There's people all over the world that understand what you're going through. Hold fast and have faith." College sophomore Kim Ling agrees with this theory, since her boyfriend goes to the University of California at San Diego. "I never get to touch him or smell him," Ling said. "We both have WebCam and that's pretty helpful." This weekend, Ling will have dinner with her boyfriend, but over the phone, of course. Then she plans to watch some "cheesy '80s movies" with friends. Shanski has sold over 20,000 copies of his books, the first of which was published in September 1996. He has been mentioned in over 100 print, radio and television interviews, including appearances in the Boston Herald and on the MSNBC cable news network.
(01/14/99 10:00am)
Although the Penn women's squash team did ring in the new year in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, they did not make the trip merely to party in the infamous Red Light District on the biggest night of the year. In an effort to bring the University its first women's national squash title in the program's 22 years, the Quakers took advantage of the winter break to travel to Holland and Germany for 12 days of intense squash training from December 30-January 10. The team (5-0, 3-0 Ivy League) visited Dusseldorf, Germany, for seven days and spent another three in Amsterdam in addition to two travel days. "We had a chance to forget about everything else and just concentrate on squash," junior Katie Patrick said. "We did not have the concerns that are typically a part of everyday life. When we are here on campus, we have classes and other distractions and it is hard to focus all your energy on squash. You always have the paper you have to write or something else in your life in the back of your mind." The Quakers divided its time between training on its own and playing in non-NCAA sanctioned matches. They competed against European club teams and were even fortunate enough to get an opportunity to play against some professional squash players on several occasions. The team not only spent time working directly on their squash games, but they also focused much of their attention on conditioning, a key factor that often is overlooked. "Some people got a little nagging injuries. There was a pulled muscle here and there, and someone had to sit out a day and rest it, but there was nothing serious that will keep anyone from playing any part of the season," Holleran said. "I just think it was a sign that they were working hard and giving their all everyday." Coach Holleran believes that this trip will help everyone start off the second half of the year strong so that the Quakers can pick up right where they left off when the semester ended. The second half of the season will be critical to the team's success as it faces its two toughest Ivy League rivals -- Princeton and Harvard. The Tigers and Crimson are also the only two teams ranked ahead of Penn in the nation. While the trip was intended to help the Quakers separate themselves from the distractions of everyday life in order to focus on squash, the team was also given some free time to have fun and explore the historic cities they visited. "I went in without any expectations because our last trip [to Canada] was really squash-oriented, and while this trip was squash-oriented also, we still had time to explore Amsterdam, see Dusseldorf," senior co-captain Lindsay Moss said. "We even took a day trip to Cologne, Germany." On a team that had minor difficulties bonding earlier this season, the trip was also an opportunity for the athletes to really get to know one another. Before this, the most time this group had ever spent together was two days. Holleran is not asking everyone on the team to be best friends, but the consensus seems to be that in order for this team to reach its full potential everyone must be on the same page supporting one another. "We played a lot of squash and did a lot of things that we could not have done over break otherwise," Moss said. "We had double practices and lots of fitness stuff. The first thing we did every morning was play squash, then we'd have some free time to relax, and then we'd come back and play some more squash." This trip was not only a unique cultural experience for the Quakers, but it was also the most intensive training the Quakers will go through all year. Every member of the team was able to get five matches in during the 10 days abroad, which Holleran hopes will have ready to go when the season reopens this weekend against Trinity. "It was a real luxury to have been able to take a trip to Europe that Penn paid for," Holleran said. "It was a nice opportunity that most of these girls would not have otherwise had."
(12/03/98 10:00am)
Key figures in the "water buffalo" affair revisit the issue, reopening old wounds. Though their offices are but a few yards apart from one another on the third floor of the 3401 Walnut Street complex, History Professors Alan Kors and Sheldon Hackney are engaged in a none-too-collegial war of words. In his recent book about the suppression of civil liberties on college campuses, Kors accuses Hackney, who served as Penn's president from 1981 to 1993, of upholding "double standards." Hackney indignantly labels Kors' work "polemical." At the heart of this exchange is the nearly six-year-old "water buffalo affair," a 1993 incident in which a Penn freshman was charged with violating the University's racial harassment policy for the allegedly racist comments he yelled at a group of African-American females. Though the charges against 1996 College graduate Eden Jacobowitz -- now a 24-year-old law student at New York's Fordham University -- were eventually dropped, the incident brought an onslaught of often-unfavorable media attention, placing Penn at the center of the heated national debate over political correctness. For four months, Hackney and Kors were on opposing sides of the often-fierce debate. As president of the University at the time, Hackney defended the prosecution of the water buffalo case; Kors served as Jacobowitz's advisor. The incident is again in the news because it serves as the focal anecdote in The Shadow University, a new book by Kors and Harvey Silverglate, a civil liberties attorney in Cambridge, Mass. The 415-page book -- published by The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc. -- alleges that colleges and universities have in recent years turned from promoting academic and personal freedom towards suppressing open expression and denying basic liberties to students and faculty. "It's important that people understand what's going on at universities," Kors said, emphasizing that students and parents should be made aware of schools' guidelines on free speech and judicial hearings. "Universities used to engage in that kind of public scrutiny rather than hide themselves from it." 'Shut up, you water buffalo' In the first chapter of The Shadow University, Kors paints a detailed portrait of the water buffalo case from beginning to end. He refers to press accounts, letters written between himself, Jacobowitz and University officials and his notes of meetings and verbal exchanges to support the chronology as he reports it. However, it is doubtful that the true course of events will ever be known. Many of the Penn officials involved in the affair -- including then-Judicial Inquiry Officer Robin Read, Director of Student Life Fran Walker and assistant to the president Steven Steinberg -- refused to comment directly on the book or the case. Additionally, many other administrators mentioned by Kors -- such as former Provost Michael Aiken, former University Police Chief John Kuprevich and former Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrison -- have since left their posts at Penn. The five women who pressed charges -- 1993 College graduate Colleen Bonnicklewis and 1994 College graduates Suzanne Jenkins, Ayanna Taylor, Nikki Taylor and Denita Thomas -- have also left the University and could not be reached for comment. What is undisputed, however, is that on the night of January 13, 1993, many residents of High Rise East -- including Jacobowitz -- shouted from the dorms' windows at 15 sisters of the African-American Delta Sigma Theta sorority, asking them to quiet down. The sisters were holding a Founder's Day celebration replete with singing and chanting. When more polite efforts failed, Jacobowitz -- who was working on an English paper at the time -- uttered his now-famous words: "Shut up, you water buffalo! If you want a party, there's a zoo a mile from here." Five of the women pressed racial harassment charges against Jacobowitz, alleging that his words had been meant as a slur against African Americans. Read, who has since left the JIO office and now works in Penn's Department of Academic Support Programs, offered Jacobowitz a plea bargain under which he would make a formal apology, receive a mark on his transcript and be sentence to residential probation. Believing that they were not being treated fairly by the University's closed judicial system, Jacobowitz and his advisor, Kors, took their case to a higher court: public opinion. The saga of the water buffalo affair made the front page of dozens of newspapers across the country, and opinions from television commentators and newspapers' editorial pages ran strongly against the University's position. "It was a searing time for me," said Hackney, then in the waning days of his presidency as he prepared to take over the National Endowment for the Humanities. "It was an embarrassing thing to have connected to the University name." Amid the growing media swarm on Penn's campus, the five women dropped all charges on May 24, 1993, only 10 days after a judiciary panel ruled that the case against Jacobowitz should proceed. They vowed to bring their own side of the case to the media, but never did so. Mixed Reviews In a review for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Carlin Romano blasted the book's treatment of Penn and the water buffalo affair. "The opening chapter brims with inside detail, one-sided tone and surly self-interest," Romano wrote. "They also offer long 'Get Even with Penn' passages, in which figures from ex-president Hackney to midlevel administrators draw Cs and Ds for seeing things differently from Kors." Not surprisingly, Jacobowitz was effusive in his praise of Kors' effort. "It's probably more accurate than I can even put together," the second-year law student said. "He remembered every terrible thing that happened." But, understandably, not everyone is so pleased with Kors' retelling of recent University history. "This is a polemic," said Hackney, who returned to Penn's History Department in 1997 after four years at the NEH. "I think it's not really intended to be the truth. It's the way Professor Kors wants you to see it." But Kors, while upholding the contents of his work as "true and documented," replied to Hackney with some fighting words of his own. "A lot of the book happened under the regimes of people like himself," he said. Kors reserves some of the most virulent criticism for Hackney, whom he accused of protecting allegedly offensive speech -- such as an Institute of Contemporary Art exhibit by sculptor Andres Serrano featuring a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine -- while prosecuting an innocent freshman for an innocuous comment aimed at loud nighttime revelers. Hackney, however, defended his tenure, pointing out that the president of the University is prohibited from getting involved in an ongoing student disciplinary matters. "During the spring of 1993, I was not in a position to intervene in judicial procedure," Hackney said. "Students are free to bring charges. The judicial inquiry officer pursued those as I think she felt required to do." Other Penn officials portrayed in an unfavorable light by Kors and Silverglate are merely choosing to ignore the work. "I haven't read it and I don't intend to read it," Read said. And Walker, who would not comment directly on the brief stint during which she advised Jacobowitz, was not surprised by her characterization as an unhelpful advisor who colluded with the prosecuting officials. "Obviously, there will always be a difference of opinion when one side is unhappy," she said. Out of the shadows Kors and Silverglate -- self-described best friends since their freshman year together at Princeton University in 1960 -- have been working together for 30 years to represent students charged with violations of campus speech rules. In such cases, Silverglate said he provides pro bono legal advice while Kors deals with college officials. Recently, the two civil libertarians said they had noticed a growing trend towards suppression of free speech. "About 15 years ago, we realized that the kinds of charges students faced were beginning to charge content, not the manner of speech," Silverglate said. "We found these codes at more and more schools. Innocence was not an excuse anymore." "Very often I'll speak at universities and I will talk about these issues," Kors said. "Administrators and faculty and staff will stand up and say 'this isn't happening here; you must be describing somewhere else.' And then, scores of students, one after the other, will stand up, across the spectrum, and say 'this is what's happening here'." Using documented source materials and court records from across the United States and Canada, Kors and Silverglate discuss the legal framework for the debate over free expression and due process, and many of the the involved issues, such as the confidentiality of student disciplinary proceedings. Other than Romano's negative review, reaction to The Shadow University in the national media has been largely positive, including favorable treatments in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Despite the relatively high number of Penn-related anecdotes recounted in the book, Kors emphasized that Penn is no worse than other schools around the country insofar as student rights are protected, and in fact has improved while others have worsened. Several other incidents recounted in the book occurred at Penn during Hackney's presidency, including the theft of an entire print run of The Daily Pennsylvanian by members of the Black Student League, the burning of an American flag by Communications Professor Carolyn Marvin and the racially motivated kidnapping of a white student by members of the Psi Upsilon fraternity in 1990. "The public perceived that Penn was unique, that Penn was somehow the most politically correct campus and that wasn't true," he said. "Penn was symptomatic of what was happening systematically in American universities; it's problem was that it was out there under public scrutiny." "And at Penn, things are more improved than at 99 percent of the campuses in this country," he added.
(11/20/98 10:00am)
From Lindsay Faber's, "From Russia With love," Fall '98 From Lindsay Faber's, "From Russia With love," Fall '98Do you know what a zhid is? I A zhid is not a nationality, but is instead a profession. Zhidy are the avaricious bloodsuckers who feed on the misfortunes and downfall of others. They attempt mercilessly to paralyze the indigenous people of the state. In Yiddish these people are called Yids; in French, juif; and in English, Jews. That's all news to me. I found this out recently when Communist Duma Deputy Albert Makashov lashed out with this series of despicable anti-Semitic remarks, and Communist leaders twisted and turned to avoid condemning him, blatantly skirting the issue of their support for anti-Semitism. At two public rallies last month, Makashov blamed Jews for Russia's economic collapse, and encouraged the masses to stake out the Jews and jail them. Parliament debated censuring Makashov last week, but the Communist Party blocked approval of that resolution. In not so many words, the Communists are showing support for Makashov's anti-Semitic remarks. Makashov continued to add wood to his fire by saying there are too few ethnic Russians -- and too many Jews -- holding high positions in the Russian government. He added, incidentally, that he advocates creating quotas which would limit the number of Jewish officeholders. Alarm bells went off in my head as this controversy stirred, and as the media took it to the highest level of coverage. Anti-Semitism was declared illegal in the new and democratic Russia, which works under a constitution which supports -- or so it says -- equality for all nationalities in the Russian Federation (Judaism is a nationality here). With the Communists still dominating the Duma, what could this mean for the future of Russian democracy? Russian Communists charge the West with trying to bring Russia to its knees by proposing capitalist experiments that have simply failed here. These same Communists regard Jews as the conduits of Western influence, and therefore blame Jews, in part, for the economic crisis that continues to ravage Russia. I am both Jewish and from the West. Apparently, I would also be considered a zhid if I lived in Russia. Although I have never been directly victimized by anti-Semitism here, I still feel at times -- and especially at these times -- like I am a target. I shiver with fright and disbelief as I walk past packs of skinheads on the streets, as the swastikas on their T-shirts and armbands glare out at me as constant reminders of the persecution Jews have endured in the past and will continue to face in the future. At a recent rally marking the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, one protestor's placard read, "Yeltsin surrendered Russia to be robbed by Zion." I would like to think that the new millennium could be a time of change and tolerance, but I am constantly reminded that rabid animals like Makashov, his Communist counterparts, skinheads and other anti-Semites still roam this planet, searching for something more "pure." Thousands of Russian Jews have already -- now and in the past -- emigrated to Israel, Canada or the United States, hoping to find a more distinct religious freedom. It is likely that another emigration spree will follow this recent explosion of anti-Semitism. What to do with these Communists who are still trying to flex their political muscles and grab Russia's reins? Russia's capitalist oligarchs have gone so far as to suggest that Communists be banned. While I am both disgusted and angry over the party's fascist behavior and Makashov's freedom to say his noxious comments over national television, I believe that a legal ban would just inflame, intensify and increase the frequency of such public behavior. Intolerance was the hallmark of the Soviet past; to encourage it again would be to repeat the same mistake twice. The very point behind Russia's new constitution, in fact, is that people do not have the right to ban other people. I do take comfort, however, in the evident ignorance of the Communist Party, because I think it has just committed a grave political mistake. The enigmatic statements made by left-wing leaders actually raise questions about whether the Communists are even aiming to win the support of the majority, or if they are instead looking for easier, more tyrannical ways to come to power. Perhaps they are scared of not having a shot at a democratic victory. Cowards. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov's favorite catch phrase these days is: "We are the party of the future." What kind of future party are we looking at exactly? It seems that we are looking directly into the past.
(11/03/98 10:00am)
From: David Kim's, "Aspirin for Your Postmodern Headache," Fall '98 From: David Kim's, "Aspirin for Your Postmodern Headache," Fall '98Who is Slobodan Milosevic? Who are the Basques, and what do they want? What are the colors of the Spanish flag? Who is the president of the People's Republic of China? Falter on any of these questions, and you are likely giving legitimacy to the notion across the Atlantic -- largely in northern and western Europe -- that Americans are oblivious to the rest of the world and culturally shallow. Taking into account certain ulterior motives for these unfavorable opinions, we should nevertheless ask ourselves how valid these criticisms are, and to what extent we should be worried about them. While Americans may not have grieved filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's recent death or particularly enjoy the films of Fellini, we can pat ourselves on the back for this: Van Damme films have a larger audience in Asia than they do here, and the Europeans indulge in anything having to do with David Hasselhoff (minus Knight Rider, of course) significantly more than we do. And we should by no means be ashamed for creating these things. After all, if the rest of the world is willing to buy our trash, why should we stop producing it? And to a certain extent, our ignorance of world affairs and history is somewhat understandable. America's geographical isolation from most of the world almost automatically makes it difficult to see the significance of the mass displacement of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo or of some separatist movement in remote regions of Spain and France. Yet there are some fundamental problems with this attitude that should be addressed. First, our close proximity to Canada, Mexico and Cuba hasn't heightened our awareness of these countries' histories and current affairs. Next, the fact that the source of our ignorance is understandable does not serve as justification for the situation's continued existence. We may not all be able to afford to keep up with the daily developments in world affairs. As humans interested in our own nature and potential, however, we do have a stake and an interest in the events taking place tens of thousands of miles away, whether terrible, wonderful or simply momentous. While working as a tour guide in Berlin, Germany, last year, I was nearly brought to frustrated tears when an American college student asked, pointing at the Brandenburg Gate, "Is that the Berlin Wall?" For those who don't immediately understand my frustration, consider a wall surrounding a city, effectively and often violently preventing East Berliners from crossing the border to West Berlin for almost 30 years. Now imagine confusing that wall with a large gate (acropolis style), under which 18-wheel trucks, buses and people are casually passing. I could only beat down my pride as two Brits on the tour snickered evilly. Finally, we have absolutely no right to contentedly accept our ignorance of the world minus America, as we lack even a basic knowledge of American current affairs and history. And no, Kenneth Starr and the entire travesty of politics, justice and the press do not count. In this month's issue of Harper's, Christopher Hitchens discusses the tragedy and intricacies of teaching history in our schools in his article, "Goodbye to all That. Why Americans are not taught History." In it, he cites a 1994 poll in which 68 percent of fourth graders across the country were unable to name one of the original 13 colonies, and only 10 percent of eighth graders could mention anything about the Constitutional Convention. This is no recent phenomenon. In a 1943 New York Times survey, a quarter of American college freshmen were unable to name the United States president during the civil war. A closer look into the American education system shows that most of our deficiencies begin in school. Many states require only minimal history during high school -- and some none at all. Too many of those that do stress history in their education attempt to do so through unclear, ambiguous conceptual frameworks such as "Outcome-Based Studies" or "Time, Continuity and Change." In theory, few of these sound convincing. In practice, even fewer have any substance or are intellectually accessible to the students (or to the teachers, in many cases). Perhaps a more obvious factor in the problem is that less than 19 percent of all high school and middle school teachers actually majored or minored in history, according to a 1994 study by the National Center for Education Standards. Allowing for a few exceptions, how can we expect these teachers with little or no history background to convey complicated events, factors and results in accurate yet appealing forms to largely uninterested children? Faced with this wholly depressing state of our education and with the vast majority of us Penn students having no plans to enter education as a career, what can we do? The obvious first step would be to correct the problem in ourselves. Indeed, as students at a prestigious university, we are some of the future movers and shakers of our country and the world. Armed with our Ivy League education, let us not perpetuate the (in many ways justified) notion that Americans are ignorant. We have the opportunity to raise the standard here in America, first by example, and then by our active involvement in an informed and concerned dialogue with our fellow Americans in our everyday conversations. After all, if we can't keep abreast of current events and history, how can we expect our children or the rest of the country to? So pick up a newspaper or a magazine -- and a well-written, well-informed one at that -- and get to know the rest of the world. It's a lot smaller than you may think.
(10/31/98 10:00am)
Corwynne Carruthers is an athlete from Canada who is now making his mark in the United States. Carruthers anchors the unit that will spend Saturday afternoon trying to stop Penn running back Jim Finn. The captain of the Yale football team and the Elis' starting nose guard, Carruthers will have his sights set on keeping the Ivy League's leading rusher under control. "Jim Finn -- he's a a big boy. He likes to pound it in there," Carruthers said. "We'll try to wrap him up, but he's a big dude." In last year's matchup at the Yale Bowl, Finn ran for 187 yards, but Carruthers and other members of the Yale defense have worked hard to prevent a repeat performance from Finn on Saturday. "About 15 of us stayed over the summer and worked with the strength coach," Carruthers said. Through these intense summer workouts, Carruthers has shaped his 6'2", 295-pound physique. He also believes that he is now more explosive and stronger coming off the line. Carruthers gives most of the credit for this improvement to Yale second-year defensive line coach and former Penn assistant Duane Brooks. "Duane Brooks made a world of difference," said Carruthers, who currently bench presses 480 pounds. "He's taught me so much about playing defensive line." Brooks is part of the staff hired by new Yale coach Jack Siedlecki in 1996. After the 1997 season, the new staff altered Yale tradition by not allowing the team to vote for next season's captain until spring practice. "[Siedlecki's] whole goal was to create more leaders on the team," Carruthers said. Carruthers received the most votes from his teammates and has emerged as the team leader on the defensive side of the ball. "[Carruthers] is the hardest working kid on the team," Siedlecki said. "He's helped us develop other leaders on the team. It's difficult for one guy to be the leader." While Carruthers' work ethic and leadership has inspired his teammates, his numbers may not impress many people. Although he has only made six solo tackles and recorded just one sack, Carruthers' play on the line has enabled other Yale defenders to make plays. "We want our nose guard to force doubles, so our linebackers will have more freedom to make tackles," Siedlecki said. This philosophy has worked for the Elis so far this season, as linebackers Peter Mazza and Scott Benton are on pace to surpass their tackle totals from last season by far. Mazza only had 39 tackles last year, but now leads the team with 56 and is on pace for 93 this season. Carruthers is a big reason for Yale's improvement from last season, and he believes that the football he played in high school in Toronto prepared him well for the Ivy League. Although Canadian football features some differences, like a 110-yard field, 12 players on each side and only three downs, the basic idea is still the same. "You still have to line up and hit somebody," Carruthers said. The Canadian brand of football may be similar to its American counterpart, but according to Carruthers, the school system is not quite the same. Although the Yale football program showed interest in Carruthers when he was at Crestwood Secondary School, he did not get accepted to Yale after his senior year. "The grading system in Canada is a little different, so it got messed up in the transfer," Carruthers said. Since he could not play in New Haven immediately, Carruthers attended the Kent School, a prep school in Connecticut. While his grades were similar to the ones he received in high school, Carruthers thinks that Yale was more likely to trust grades from a school in the United States. Nevertheless, his time at the Kent School allowed Carruthers to gain an extra year of football experience that he believes has helped him in his career at Yale. Currently, he is concentrating on the Ivy League title race, which has both Yale and Penn sitting atop the standings. Carruthers will be looking to keep Yale at the top by punishing Jim Finn and friends at Franklin Field.
(10/29/98 10:00am)
Corwynne Carruthers will be breathing down Matt Rader's neck. Corwynne Carruthers is an athlete from Canada who is now making his mark in the United States. Carruthers anchors the unit that will spend Saturday afternoon trying to stop Penn running back Jim Finn. The captain of the Yale football team and the Elis' starting nose guard, Carruthers will have his sights set on keeping the Ivy League's leading rusher under control. "Jim Finn -- he's a a big boy. He likes to pound it in there," Carruthers said. "We'll try to wrap him up, but he's a big dude." In last year's matchup at the Yale Bowl, Finn ran for 187 yards, but Carruthers and other members of the Yale defense have worked hard to prevent a repeat performance from Finn on Saturday. "About 15 of us stayed over the summer and worked with the strength coach," Carruthers said. Through these intense summer workouts, Carruthers has shaped his 6'2", 295-pound physique. He also believes that he is now more explosive and stronger coming off the line. Carruthers gives most of the credit for this improvement to Yale second-year defensive line coach and former Penn assistant Duane Brooks. "Duane Brooks made a world of difference," said Carruthers, who currently bench presses 480 pounds. "He's taught me so much about playing defensive line." Brooks is part of the staff hired by new Yale coach Jack Siedlecki in 1996. After the 1997 season, the new staff altered Yale tradition by not allowing the team to vote for next season's captain until spring practice. "[Siedlecki's] whole goal was to create more leaders on the team," Carruthers said. Carruthers received the most votes from his teammates and has emerged as the team leader on the defensive side of the ball. "[Carruthers] is the hardest working kid on the team," Siedlecki said. "He's helped us develop other leaders on the team. It's difficult for one guy to be the leader." While Carruthers' work ethic and leadership has inspired his teammates, his numbers may not impress many people. Although he has only made six solo tackles and recorded just one sack, Carruthers' play on the line has enabled other Yale defenders to make plays. "We want our nose guard to force doubles, so our linebackers will have more freedom to make tackles," Siedlecki said. This philosophy has worked for the Elis so far this season, as linebackers Peter Mazza and Scott Benton are on pace to surpass their tackle totals from last season by far. Mazza only had 39 tackles last year, but now leads the team with 56 and is on pace for 93 this season. Carruthers is a big reason for Yale's improvement from last season, and he believes that the football he played in high school in Toronto prepared him well for the Ivy League. Although Canadian football features some differences, like a 110-yard field, 12 players on each side and only three downs, the basic idea is still the same. "You still have to line up and hit somebody," Carruthers said. The Canadian brand of football may be similar to its American counterpart, but according to Carruthers, the school system is not quite the same. Although the Yale football program showed interest in Carruthers when he was at Crestwood Secondary School, he did not get accepted to Yale after his senior year. "The grading system in Canada is a little different, so it got messed up in the transfer," Carruthers said. Since he could not play in New Haven immediately, Carruthers attended the Kent School, a prep school in Connecticut. While his grades were similar to the ones he received in high school, Carruthers thinks that Yale was more likely to trust grades from a school in the United States. Nevertheless, his time at the Kent School allowed Carruthers to gain an extra year of football experience that he believes has helped him in his career at Yale. Currently, he is concentrating on the Ivy League title race, which has both Yale and Penn sitting atop the standings. Carruthers will be looking to keep Yale at the top by punishing Jim Finn and friends at Franklin Field.
(10/22/98 9:00am)
From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '98 From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '98It isn't often that you get the opportunity to watch an entire stadium of bemused athletes and fans. As Tony Bennett strode away from the mic Saturday night, Yankee Stadium erupted in cheers -- adulation coming from mouths which seconds earlier had been pursed with concern. What, the crowd seemed to wonder, have they done with our national anthem? From Daniel Fienberg's, "The Fien Print," Fall '98It isn't often that you get the opportunity to watch an entire stadium of bemused athletes and fans. As Tony Bennett strode away from the mic Saturday night, Yankee Stadium erupted in cheers -- adulation coming from mouths which seconds earlier had been pursed with concern. What, the crowd seemed to wonder, have they done with our national anthem?Bennett began comfortably, with the traditionally elongated, "Oh?" but rather than following, rhetorically, with "say can you see," he launched into "beautiful for spacious skies." To the best of anybody's memory, it was the first time that an American professional sporting event had begun with a national anthem which was not the "Star Spangled Banner." The Star Spangled Banner" has been the official anthem of the United States since 1931. Since that moment, there have only been four uncontested facts: Nobody understands it. Nobody really knows all the lyrics. Only 2 percent of the population can sing the darned song without dropping down two octaves for the final verse. And it makes a lot of people very proud. The story goes that an American critic complained that one of James Joyce's novels was incomprehensible jibberish. Joyce responded promptly by sending a critic the full text of Francis Scott Key's poem with the inscription, "And you think I don't make any sense." I've always found it a miracle that Key's poem made it past an editor. I guess its literal point is pretty simple: "Hey, look, even though lots of things blew up (you know, ramparts, bombs and stuff), our flag is still there/ Is our flag still there?/ Yep, it's still there, I told you in the first sentence/ God bless America." How many rhetorical questions does it take to make that point? How many inverted nouns and verbs does it take before things get very confusing? And when is the action in the poem taking place anyway? Once we get into the song, the pain just keeps coming. Is it "Whose broad stripes" or "Who's brought stripes?" "Perilous night" or "Peril-less fight?" "Rocket's red glare" or "Rockette's red hair?" I'm sure that all of you know all the lyrics, but how 'bout the guy sitting next to you? We don't even sing the good parts of Key's poem. After the little ditty at the beginning, Key's imagery gets darker and far more provocative. Yet it's hard to imagine school children singing, "Their blood has washed out of their foul footsteps' pollution/ No refuge could save the hireling and slave/ From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave." Not that all of those school children would have made it through the whole song anyway. There's something nervewracking about trying to hit that "free" in the final verse. Perhaps that's why many of the most famous renditions of the song had to be lip-synced. While we all have faith Whitney Houston and Jewel can hit those high notes, who really believes they can do it more than, say, five times outta 10? What are the odds that Tony Bennett copped out on "The Star Spangled Banana" just because he left his upper register in San Francisco? What is a national anthem supposed to do? Is it supposed to fill us with pride for something emblematic, as with England's "God Save the King/Queen/Miscellaneous Monarch?" Key's poem does that with the flag. Is it to highlight national identity, like "Oh Canada" ("The truth North strong and free")? I guess that's where the "land of the free and home of the brave" part comes in handy. Or is it to glorify military might, as with France's "La Marseillaise?" The difference there is that "La Marseillaise" is a peppy little number that people actually like to sing. It struck me, watching the World Cup this summer, that the French were the only team singing their anthem with vigor and pride. The Americans, who probably didn't know the words anyway, seemed less willing to join into our tune, which was once an old British drinking song. When Woodrow Wilson ordered that the "Star Spangled Banner" be played at certain events, he restricted its use to military and naval ceremonies. As an all-purpose fight song, then, it seems slightly inappropriate. The song was supposed to honor the faith of men and women who fought for the flag. Its bellicose nature is hardly conducive to large free-spirited public gatherings. In recent years, there have been letters written to the editors of virtually every paper in the country complaining about the lack of respect for our national anthem. Perhaps there are sentiments within the song which simply don't inspire the same amount of devotion in all people. Somehow, though, it seems easier to get into "America, the Beautiful." Everybody can sing it. It's hard not to get inspired by "fruited plains" and "spacious skies." Those seem like credentials for people to be proud of seeing, or proud of fighting for. And I guess that pride is what it's all about. Of course, I don't suspect we'll ever see a new national anthem, especially one so politically incorrect enough to mention both God and the crowning glory of brotherhood. But if Tony Bennett is ever in my neighborhood, and he ever wants to sing a duet of the national anthem, there's only one safe guarantee that I'll be able to sing along.
(10/15/98 9:00am)
The Head of the Charles Regatta is the world's most competitive fall-season regatta, the largest two-day regatta ever run and one of few events to unite over five different national teams outside of the World Championships. Penn will be there. This Sunday, five Penn crews will travel to Boston to participate in one of the few rowing events sponsored by such mainstream companies as J.Crew, AT&T; and Xerox. "All the best crews from the country are there, so it's very competitive," Penn lightweight coach Bruce Konopka said. "But the guys want to race against the best, so it's a good thing." The racing at the Charles occurs on an undulating, three-mile stretch of the river known for its navigational difficulty. At the regatta, as with most fall races, crews are started in 10-second intervals and ranked based on the total amount of time they take to complete the course. This is vastly different than races in the spring, where crews line up evenly and race head-to-head down a 2,000-meter course. Penn's lightweight men are entered in one event at the regatta, the championship lightweight eight. Besides facing every crew that placed in the top 10 at last year's national championships, Penn will go up against national teams from the Unites States, Spain, Canada and newcomer Bangladesh. "Our goal is to be solid," Konopka said. "We'd like to get down the course without hitting anyone or anything." It will be a generally young group of rowers who will participate in the notoriously frantic race, including three sophomores and three juniors. Three of the eight were in last year's varsity lineup. "Its exciting for a lot of the guys who haven't raced up there," Konopka said. "We've got some good competition this year; the guys are pushing each other to new levels." The lightweight team's heavyweight counterparts are entered in three events -- the championship eight, the championship four and the youth eight. In the championship eight -- the marquee event for Penn and for the regatta as a whole -- the Quakers will face off against virtually every team they will see this spring during national championships. They will also row against reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands, two-time defending world champion United States and perennial powerhouse Canada. Included in the American lineup is Penn senior Garrett Miller, a member of the U.S. eight during both of their world championships, who will resume rowing full-time with Penn after the regatta. "Our goal is to beat all the other collegiate crews," Penn coach Stan Bergman said. "We came in the top five last year, and we'd always like to improve from year to year." Penn will also race a four, made up of the four best athletes not competing in the eight, against a multitude of international crews, including two entries from Germany, one from Spain, one from Denmark and one from the U.S. While the youth eight -- made up of Penn's best freshmen -- will not face international competition, they will enter as the reigning champions of the event. In only their second race in a Penn uniform, Penn's freshmen are prepared to defend their title against the best crews the nation has to offer. Unlike the men, Penn's women are only entered in one event, the championship women's eight. The race features entries from two reunited U.S. Olympic lineups as well as national teams from Denmark, Canada and the U.S. "It's an extremely competitive event," Penn women's coach Barb Kirch said. "Our goal is to see how we stack up against a lot of the newer Big 10 programs and other beginning programs across the country because they'll all be entered in our event." The women have an unusually large number of returning athletes from last year's squad, including seven from last year's varsity eight and all four who competed in the team's first trip to the recently founded NCAA National Championships. In a surprising move, however, only two of those returning varsity athletes will row in the Charles, including just one from the four who competed at the NCAA championships. One freshman and two sophomores will step up from the rank of novice to help lead Penn. "Its a very big change," returning varsity athlete Rachel Jolley said "But the Head of the Charles is always fun and I'm looking forward to it." For all Penn crews, the Head of the Charles is a unique chance to test themselves against the country's best collegiate crews a full six months before more serious racing begins in the spring. It is also a chance to compete not only against the best in the country, but the best in the world.
(10/09/98 9:00am)
Unfortunately for residents of the Bronx, the times have certainly changed. The only granite anywhere near the Rams these days is Lombardi's headstone. While the legendary Lombardi now lives on only in the hearts of Packers fans, we Swamis were desperately in need of ol' Vince, or any living Vince for that matter, so we did what any logical Swami would do. We looked in the New York phone book. First, we packed up our carpets and headed to Lawnguyland. We stopped in Plainview, N.Y., to talk with Vince about Fordham football -- from an Italian point of view: Vince: "Wha – Whaddya want? This, this, this is the wrong number. This is not Vince Lombardi who ehe the coach over therea ofa the teama.? I have a lot of callahh who wisha for the team ova there. A lotta people tell me wanna looka for address ehe looka for to give me a calle.? Bud-a I heavanta made contac with nobody." Swamis:"Are you a Packers fan?" Vince: "No." Swamis: "Fordham?" Vince: "No." Swamis: "Will Penn beat Fordham?" Vince: "What's one question.? No, dis weekend, dis weekend, Ima gonna leave-a tomorrow, gon' goa Canada." Realizing that we weren't going to get any scores from Signore Lombardi and his friends in the Great White North this weekend, we continued undauntedly upstate to Syracuse. With the kind of lucky fate reserved only for Swamis, we hung a louie at Fordham Road and crossed our turbans. Lo and behold, two blocks later we stopped at a little white house on the corner, looked at the mailbox and saw "Lombardi" on it in big green and yellow letters. Fordham Rd.? Vince Lombardi? Too good to be true? We knocked on the door anyway. "Well I really don't get in too much to that [Fordham football] kind of stuff," Vince said. Apparently, Fordham football is just too painful for even the great Vince Lombardi to discuss. Ouch.
(07/30/98 9:00am)
Penn women's crew coach Barb Kirch heads to Austria with the U.S. Junior National team. Residents of High Rise North may have noticed a different group of students in the apartment building this summer. Instead of waking every morning and heading to class or summer jobs like most residents, these female students would get in a van and travel to the Schuylkill River for an intense workout. These athletes were working hard to become part of the United States Junior National women's rowing team, which, for the third straight year, is being coached by Penn women's crew coach Barb Kirch. A group of 40 girls under the age of 19 originally reported to Penn in hopes of making the national team. After weeks of training, the team competed at the U.S. Junior National Trials on Carnegie Lake in Princeton, N.J., on July 12. Among the athletes who had been training under Kirch, 14 will be the American representatives at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim, Austria next week. The team qualified two boats, an eight and a four, and will be sending two alternate rowers. Although Kirch worked with 40 of the best young rowers in the nations, only these two boats were able to qualify for the World Championships. "They had to meet a time standard," said Penn assistant women's crew coach Susan Hermann, who was also an assistant with the U.S. Junior team. "They couldn't just win the race." Although only a few rowers qualified to go to Austria, the other athletes who competed at the U.S. trials also had their season extended. Most of the other rowers competed at the CanAmMex Regatta in Cincinnati. The CanAmMex is a competition which features top rowers from Canada, the United States and Mexico. Despite not qualifying for the World team, most members of the original 40-member group gained valuable experience. The rowers were the best rowers in their age group in the nation, and a large percentage of them will be rowing for college teams in the fall. Two of them -- Catherine Magee and Lauren Plackter -- will be right back on the Schuylkill this season, as they will join Kirch -- who will begin her second year at Penn -- on the Quakers rowing team. While training took up a large portion of the summer, the athletes were able to step away from the boat for some fun once in while. "They went to the shore on a few of their days off. They went to the mall," Hermann said. "They would do anything they could to get away from the river." The rowers may not have spent all their time on the river, but it is on the river where they can do the most damage. And it is on the water in Austria where they hope to show this to the rest of the world.
(07/30/98 9:00am)
Matt Wurst, Commentary Among them are several well-known athletes, including Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Dan O'Brien, Michelle Kwan and Karch Kiraly. Several factors separate the Goodwill Games from the other international multi-sport competition that takes place every four years, the Olympics. Primarily, the Goodwill Games are funded by private enterprise. Media magnate Ted Turner and Time Warner have pumped millions of dollars into marketing and promotion schemes aimed mostly at the United States, as opposed to the international popularity of the Olympic Games. The athletes will be competing for something besides medals and nationalism. In all, the athletes will take home $5 million in prize money. In addition, many of the well-known athletes were paid hefty appearance fees to increase the notoriety and marketability of the Games. The organizers eliminated many of the less popular Olympic sports such as archery, rowing and tae kwon do, and added some of the events made popular by the 1996 Atlanta games such as women's soccer and beach volleyball. One of the most popular Olympic events, men's basketball, was also altered. While professional basketball players were permitted to enter, USA Basketball selects some of the best college players in the nation to represent the Stars and Stripes in the Goodwill Games. The U.S., led by Elton Brand of Duke, Khalid El-Amin of UConn and Andre Miller of Utah, took the gold medal for the first time since 1986, defeating Australia in the gold medal game. "It's our youth against everyone's experience," U.S. coach Clem Haskins said. "We faced older, very mature guys. We worked our butts off." Despite the absence of NBA players, the games drew 9,000 spectators a night to Madison Square Garden. While foreign nations such as Puerto Rico, Brazil and Australia had sizable support, the home team drew the largest and loudest cheers. In an era when fans are growing weary of the greed and selfishness of professional athletes, New Yorkers did not seem to mind the choice of the watching nation's best collegiate players rather than another Dream Team. United States dominance is another factor that makes the Goodwill Games a unique international competition. As of the first weekend of the Games, the U.S. had twice as many medals as any other country. Granted, American gold-medal-winning athletes like Johnson, who won two gold medals; Kersee, who struck gold in her final heptathlon; O'Brien, the decathlon winner; and Marion Jones, the fastest woman in the world, dominate every time they compete. The absence of top international athletes in other sports draws criticism. However, the Games are open to athletes from all nations. Therefore, the U.S. can hardly be blamed when foreign athletes, such as the premier female gymnasts, choose not to compete. The top foreign athletes who did compete, such as 100 meter world record holder Donovan Bailey of Canada and pole-vaulting Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine must shoulder the burden as well for not performing up to par. It is unfortunate that accusations of "home-cooking" tainted the spirit of goodwill. The multitude of American judges in gymnastics and figure skating stirred controversy again. "There's something not right here," Romanian gymnastics coach Octavian Belu said, threatening to withdraw from the competition. Regardless of who wins or loses, there is a guaranteed winner in the Goodwill Games. Most of the proceeds will go to aiding children's charities. Originally founded by Turner, the Games debuted in 1986 in Moscow as a response to the three consecutive Olympic boycotts in 1976, 1980 and 1984 during the height of the Cold War. With the end of the Cold War, Turner reshaped the mission of the Games to benefit charitable organizations. "We only had one cause up until now and we won that one," Turner said, speaking of the Cold War. "Now we need to get all of the problems with kids -- health care, education, hunger, child abuse -- straightened out." Despite the charitable motives, Turner is rumored to lose between $30 and $40 million by the time the Games end, which would bring the 12-year loss total to $150 million, leaving sponsors and organizers wondering how many more Goodwill Games will take place. Fan support, however, has not dwindled. In fact, the TV ratings are up 42 percent from the 1994 games. Turner and Time Warner have already made plans for the Goodwill Games of 2002.
