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(09/01/95 9:00am)
A Dental student was accidentally shot.A Dental student was accidentally shot.Three others died in one week. Four University students died in unrelated incidents this summer. Second-year Dental student Alexander Orig died August 8 after he was accidentally shot by a customs security officer at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines, according to Dental School Student Affairs Director Barb Helpin. College sophomore Emily Sachs died May 24 as a result of a heart attack triggered by an asthma attack. Joseph Walters, a 40-year-old part-time student in the Computer Information Science masters program in the School of Engineering, died May 29, also of a heart attack. And Bioengineering doctoral candidate John Marshall died on May 26 of natural causes. Orig, 22, was returning home from a vacation in the city of Manila in the Philippines with his family. Before he could depart on a flight back to the United States, however, he had to go through the airport's customs area, Helpin said. There, a security officer who was reloading his gun accidentally fired and fatally wounded Orig, she said. Orig is survived by his parents and one brother. Sachs was visiting friends on campus May 23 when she experienced an asthma attack, according to Assistant Vice Provost for University Life Barbara Cassel. Sachs had asked her friends to take her to the emergency room, where she was admitted and put on a respirator. During the course of the night, she suffered a cardiac arrest and could not be resuscitated. Her mother, Jo-Ann Sachs, said she cannot figure out why this happened. "I sent her off?perfectly healthy," she said in late May. "And then she died the next day. There was nothing wrong with her except asthma." Sachs was diagnosed with asthma at the age of two. But her friend College sophomore Marla Snyder, who described Sachs as "by far the most genuine human being I think I have ever met," said she never let her condition get in her way. "She accomplished more in 19 years than any of us could expect to accomplish in a lifetime," Snyder said. She said Sachs was always referred to as "little Em" because she was only five feet tall. "But she was definitely not small in spirit," she added. Snyder said she had never been as close with anyone as she was with Sachs. They often referred to each other as sisters, she said. The two were planning to live together next year. "We couldn't wait to decorate and hold dinner parties," Snyder said. Sachs, who was a member of the Chi Omega sorority, was an accomplished dancer and singer. She won both the Miss Dance Pennsylvania title and the Miss Teen Dance New York City title. "She was determined to be on Broadway," Snyder said. "And she would have been." Sachs's family set up a memorial fund at her temple. Contributions in her memory can be sent to the Har Zion Temple at the following address: 491 Bellvue Avenue, Trenton N. J., 08618. Walters was found dead in his hotel room in Cambridge, Mass., where he was attending a class for his job. He was a senior systems programmer. Marshall had taken a medical leave from the University last fall. Cassel said she did not know what his illness was. A memorial service for Orig will be held at 3 p.m. September 9 at the Newman Center Chapel.
(06/01/95 9:00am)
Three University students have died this week in unrelated incidents. College sophomore Emily Sachs died as a result of a heart attack triggered by an asthma attack early last Wednesday morning. Joseph Walters, a 40-year-old part-time student in the Computer Information Science masters program in the School of Engineering, also died after experiencing a cardiac arrest on Monday. And John Marshall, a PhD candidate in Bioengineering in the School of Engineering, died on Friday of natural causes. Sachs was visiting some friends on campus last Tuesday when she experienced an asthma attack, according to Assistant Vice Provost for University Life Barbara Cassel. Sachs had asked her friends to take her to the emergency room, where she was admitted and put on a respirator. During the course of the night, she suffered a cardiac arrest and could not be resuscitated. Her mother, Jo-Ann Sachs, said she is still trying to figure out why this happened. "I sent her off at a quarter to four last Tuesday perfectly healthy," she said. "And then she died the next day. There was nothing wrong with her except asthma." Walters was found dead in his hotel room in Cambridge, Massachusetts last Monday, where he was attending a class for his job. He was a senior systems programmer. Marshall had taken a medical leave from the University last fall. Cassel said she did not know what his illness was. Sachs was diagnosed with asthma at the age of two. But friends said she never let it get in her way. College sophomore Marla Snyder, who described her as "by far the most genuine human being I think I have ever met," said she never let her condition affect her life. "She accomplished more in 19 years than any of us could expect to accomplish in a lifetime," Snyder said. She said Sachs was always referred to as 'little Em' because she was only five feet tall. "But she was definitely not small in spirit," she added. Snyder said she had never been as close with anyone as she was with Sachs, adding that they often referred to each other as sisters. The two were planning to live together next year. "We couldn't wait to decorate and hold dinner parties," Snyder said. "Our house was going to be constantly open for permanent socialization." She said she will always remember Sachs's laugh, adding that "she made every situation light up with her laugh. "She was always giggling no matter what," Snyder added. "She had the cutest laugh. She had a very playful soul to her." Class of 1995 graduate Tracy Layland also remembered Sachs's joviality. "She was so happy," she said. "She made everyone else happy she was around. Layland described the first time she met Sachs. "I have this memory of talking to her before the beginning of her freshman year and she was so excited and loved Penn so much," Layland said. Sachs, who was a member of the Chi Omega sorority, was an accomplished dancer and singer. She won both the Miss Dance Pennsylvania title and the Miss Teen Dance New York City title. "To her, that was her greatest accomplishment, winning Miss Dance New York City," Snyder said. "She was determined to be on Broadway. And she would have been." Layland, who was in the Arts House Dance Company with Sachs, agreed that she was tremendously talented. "As a dancer she was just amazing," she said. "Probably one of the best dancers if not the best dancer we ever had." Sachs was scheduled to direct the dance program at a camp this summer. Services were held for Sachs on Friday at the Har Zion Temple in Trenton, New Jersey. So many people attended that it was standing room only. Sachs's family set up a memorial fund at the temple, where contributions in her memory can be sent. The address is 491 Bellvue Avenue, Trenton New Jersey 08618. Sachs is survived by her parents Jo-Ann and James and her 15-year-old brother Andrew. Services for Walters were held Saturday at the Wilde Funeral Home in Parksberg, Pennsylvania. He is survived by his wife Nicki and his three children. A memorial service for Marshall was held at his home in Haddon Heights, New Jersey on Tuesday.
(04/26/95 9:00am)
From Marc Teillon's "The Public Pillory," Fall '95 From Marc Teillon's "The Public Pillory," Fall '95The knights in Hollywood are riding again. They've done their best to rid the countryside of love, family and patriotism, but there is one dragon that still is terrorizing the populace with repressive rules and a ridiculous reliance on faith. And while the directors and screen writers sit at their Round Table and tell tales of glorious exploits and wonderful deeds of arms, they know they will eventually have to meet the beast head on. Sir Miramax with his Disney squire is the most recent knight to do battle with the monolithic monster called the Roman Catholic Church. The movie starts with a young priest sermonizing about unchanging truths and the sanctity of eternal doctrine. Then the film proceeds to show every priest in a negative light. The two main clergymen each have a bout with the celibacy oath they took when ordained. One finds himself sexually liberated as he sails the high seas from bath house to gay bar. The other young priest has an affair with his housekeeper-concubine. After the one priest is caught sodomizing a random partner in a police sweep, his colleague implores him to celebrate the next mass with him, despite his community disgrace. Priest ends with one priest defending the other in front of the congregation. He blames the Catholic Church for its teachings on sexual morality and questions, in graphic language, why the Church is so concerned about the placement of one's sexual organ while greater travesties such as war and famine seem to escape the Vatican's attention. Jim McGovern, though claiming to be a Catholic, must be confused about the nature of priesthood. One does have to take a vow of chastity to be ordained, but nobody forces anyone to become a priest. Young men are not held against their will in the seminary. The Cardinals and Bishops are not holding a gun to the proteges' heads to force them to pray to their Father and spend hour after hour pouring over the Bible and theological texts. Most men become priests because they were called to the profession by God. And as they join the order of the priesthood, they have rules they have to follow, one of them being celibacy. But McGovern and the rest of the Hollywood ilk find such a rule out dated. The Church isn't keeping up with the times. Their rules may have been applicable to the medieval manor but this is the '90s. McGovern can't understand that individuals may exist who are able to honor such a stringent code of conduct as a life of chastity. It seems that as far as Hollywood is concerned, everyone should be having sex, and the Catholic Church is the evil villain preventing priests from enjoying such a pleasure. Miramax must have felt a moral duty to crucify the Catholic Church by exposing the oppressive tendencies of its rules and regulations. Michael Eisner of Disney did his best Pilate imitation by disavowing any relationship with Priest (Disney owns Miramax), and washed his hands of any responsibility a CEO should have. But what does one expect from Hollywood? The "progressive" people running Tinsel Town have done their best to trounce every other value individuals hold dear in this country. They relegate love to five-minute romps with Sharon Stone in an elevator. They compare family to incarceration in movies like Paper Moon. They glorify reckless and dangerous lifestyles. They blame society in teen-exploitation films for the crimes plaguing America. And they do all this with the audacious claim that they are the ones actually helping the country move forward. They are the knights protecting the damsels from distress. They are the ones protecting the First Amendment from the censor. They are the ones fighting for honor, courage and decency. But despite the delusions the rot in Hollywood are under, they are not pure of heart like Galahad. They are, in fact, the ones who should be smote from the helm and stricken from their horse. Hollywood has done everything in its power to trash traditional values, especially those professed by the Catholic Church. National boycotts of Miramax and Disney may stop the these two companies from producing the likes of Priest ever again, but as long as Hollywood rears its ugly head, the values many Americans hold dear will constantly be in danger. Tinsel Town hates traditional values and feels the cultural revolution going on in this country is for the betterment of mankind. They find it necessary to weaken the symbols of traditional norms and values in order to allow their own symbols to be ingrained in the minds of the masses. The Catholic Church is just one of the many symbols that Hollywood has been trying to replace. In the end, Miramax did nothing to further the debate over priests' celibacy in their latest flick. Instead, they have sounded the tocsin to all Catholics and anyone else who believes in order over chaos and spirituality over depravity. The proper response to this clarion call to action is to stop subsidizing Hollywood and put the McGovern ilk in the only place it belongs -- locked in the public pillory for a few days to let Catholics really show their disdain with rotten eggs and decaying fruit. Until that time, the errant knights of the silver screen will continue to besiege Catholicism and any other religion it finds burdened with rules of conduct and discipline, and the Roman Catholic Church will remain the one being pilloried.
(03/24/95 10:00am)
To the Editor: I realized finally that I should address Mr. Teillon's views on the grounds of the more serious issue of why it's essential to have gay and lesbian awareness. If his column does one thing, it is to reaffirm the necessity of having B-GLAD: To correct misconceptions; address homophobic panic and fear; increase visibility and recognition of the common humanity of gays and lesbians; and point out how discrimination and hatred (such as that manifest in the views of Marc Teillon) hurt gay and lesbian people every day of our lives. (Teillon's obsession with percentages seems particularly odd: Do human rights need the statistical buttressing of 10 percent or .00001 percent? Should numbers define humanity and human rights be contingent upon population size?) The point of B-GLAD is not to show straight homo-panicked/titillated boys our "fetishes" (although the pornography industry suggests that that's where a lot of their money goes, and, as we all know, straight people have their fetishes too), but rather to show that we exist, that we need social, political and legal equality, and freedom from violence. In short, we have B-GLAD because the persons represented by that acronym do not have protection from the fear or threat of being legislated against, publicly denigrated, bashed, or even killed by boys in khaki with hate on their minds and years of "facts" and accumulated "wisdom" at their phobic fingertips. There are lots of people who will support the things that Teillon says. B-GLAD allows those of us who actually live BLG lives to tell others who we are. Teillon's suggestion that we are eager to parade our perversion on Locust Walk would seem funny if the stakes weren't so high. Straight people "parade" their heterosexuality on Locust Walk everyday. In fact, it is so normative to Teillon that he doesn't even notice it. Straight people hug and kiss and flirt, yet a young lesbian friend of mine told me she is afraid, literally, to wear her freedom rings (look it up) on Locust Walk. What I care about, and one of the realities B-GLAD addresses, is the fact that gay and lesbian teens are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens, and that 30 percent of teen suicides are likely to be gay or lesbian (look it up: Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, 1989), and that public schools are often legislatively prohibited, at the risk of losing public funding, from discussing homosexuality in health classes. Most people who arrive on Penn's campus have as little understanding of homosexuality, if not necessarily as much hatred, as Marc Teillon. That's why we have B-GLAD. And we have B-GLAD because hate like Teillon's is not only expressed in the relatively harmless forum of the DP, but in the courts, streets, homes, fraternities, sororities and classrooms we all live in. Understanding will only happen if we both see and listen to each other. I wore jeans on Wednesday when Marc Teillon proudly sported his khakis, but I am a lesbian every day of my life, and have to live -- and will live -- on the same campus as he does. Julie Crawford English graduate student n To the Editor: Once again Marc Teillon has exhibited his homophopbia and outright ignorance in his column, "B-GLAD It's Only Two Weeks." In his article he asserts that the bi-sexual, gay and lesbian awareness days are an attempt to, "legitimize bedroom behavior." He reasons that since heterosexuals do not "parade" their sexuality, neither should homosexuals. However, the difference is that homosexuals are an oppressed minority descriminated against by most of society. Those students participating in the B-GLAD events are simply showing that they are proud of who and what they are despite what people like Marc Teillon consider "normal." It is not clear what Mr. Teillons criticism of statistics adds to his argument. Whether it be 5 percent or 10 percent of the poulation, it is obvious that millions of homosexuals do exist in society. His far-fetched attempt to compare two consenting adult homosexuals to bestiality and pederasty further weakons his argument. In fact, Marc Teillon's entire column is an assortment of insults designed to legitimize his homophobia. Hopefully the B-GLAD awareness days will accomplish what they are truly meant for: To force students to open their minds and accept Penn's bi-sexual and homosexual community. Brian Lesser College '96 n To the Editor: In his column on March 15, Marc Teillon cites "popularly published data" to the effect that only one to three percent of the U.S. population is homosexual, and endorses the view that this small percentage makes lesbian and gay Americans "more an eccentricity than a minority." Apparently he believes that a group which makes up less than, say, five percent of the population does not merit civil rights. What about Native Americans, at less than 1 percent? Pediatricians, at just over a hundredth of a percent? Or College juniors named Teillon, surely a vanishingly small proportion, and therefore utterly ineligible for constitutional protection? The issue is obviously not categories or numbers, but basic humanity. Teillon is right to reject the argument that homosexuality is "natural" because it has existed since antiquity, or exists among animals; the same could be said of murder or infanticide. But the tired analogy with bestiality is just silly, and reference to Spartan pederasty is disingenuous at best considering that heterosexual child abuse is so widespread. The fact that the small organization NAMBLA advocates consensual sex between men and boys is an embarrassment to most gay men; if they are responsible for its views, then Teillon is responsible for the actions of his fellow heterosexual Adolf Hitler. Teillon even contradicts himself when he hides behind "the norms and values handed down from generation to generation" in defense of his bigotry; this is precisely the sort of pseudo-reasoning that has been used to defend slavery and many other ancient traditions. Finally, the implication that straight people at Penn do not "parade [their sexuality] around Locust Walk" is stunningly obtuse: Has Teillon never seen a man and woman holding hands or kissing on campus? How would he react to two women or two men doing the same thing? Heterosexuality is ubiquitous, and every day is "Straight Awareness Day." The fight for gay rights is simply for the freedoms that everyone else takes for granted; why does Teillon find this so objectionable? Gene Buckley Linguistics Assistant Professor n To the Editor: Marc Teillon's article on B-GLAD is a typical example of homophobic propoganda. While the article begins as a focused condemnation of a two-week event promoted by Penn's lesbian, gay, and bisexual groups, it quickly escalates to a wholesale attack on the moral permissibility of homosexual sexual behaviors. It is not my intention to defend B-GLAD; however, I am concerned about Mr. Teillon's alarmingly hostile and ill-reasoned discussion on this issue of moral permissibility. Mr. Teillon's discussion ignores the reasonableness of the following moral principle: Non-violent sexual activity between consenting adults is permissible. Mr. Teillon obviously does not accept this principle. As far as I can tell, he gives two real reasons in his article to reject this principle and morally permit only "straight" sexual activity: (1) The historical fact that "Homosexuality occurs all over the globe, in every culture, in every race," does not mean that homosexual sexual activity is permissible, since other sexual activities such as bestiality and adult-child intercourse also occur historically and cross-culturally, but are not morally permitted; (2) even if homosexuality is "instinctive" or "natural," humans can exhibit self-control, and homosexuals and bisexuals should refrain from homosexual sexual activity because traditional norms morally prohibit it. Let us briefly examine these reasons. First, the moral principle that non-violent sexual activity between consenting adults be permitted does not morally permit bestiality, nor does it permit adult-child intercourse. We can consistently morally prohibit bestiality and adult-child intercourse at the same time as we morally permit non-violent, consensual homosexual sex between adults. So much for (1). Secondly, Mr. Teillon rightly points out that humans can exercise self-control over their instincts. The problem with (2) is not that. The problem with (2) is the rationale Mr. Teillon gives for saying that such self-control should be exercised when it comes to homosexual sexual desire, but not heterosexual sexual desire. The only reason I can see offhand for agreeing to such a restriction is to cause sexual frustration and lifelong unhappiness for those adults who desire to engage in consensual, non-violent homosexual sexual activity. But that is absurd: For similar reasons, we could place the same restriction on heterosexual sexual desire. The reason that Mr. Teillon in fact offers is unconvincing. He says that homosexual sexual activity should be morally prohibited because of traditional norms that prohibit it. He reasons that these norms should not be cast aside just because we do not know what causes sexual desires of different types. I agree with this last piece of reasoning. What "causes" the desire for homosexual or heterosexual sex, and what percent of the population is homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual, is irrelevant as far as the moral issue of placing restricitions on sexual behavior goes. The move to revise the "traditional" norms need not be based on such considerations. We can simply reflect, as free and benevolent persons, on the reasons we might have to restrict homosexual but not heterosexual sex. But we find no such reasons. No one, and especially not Mr. Teillon, has given any convincing reason to reject the moral principle that non-violent sexual activity between consenting adults is permissible. So let's not reject it. David Mendes Philosophy graduate student
(03/22/95 10:00am)
From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?," Fall '95 From Lee Bailey's "The Immaculate Perception?," Fall '95The Old Testament's Book of Ecclesiastes describes the nature of life: "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh?" While most would not contest this seemingly truistic observation, many have difficulty acknowledging that they are actually part of a generation -- one which is coming, and inevitably one which will pass away. Until now we have just been the children of the Baby Boomers, but no longer is it so. While many a twentysomething experiences disbelief when confronted with the prospect of being part of "a generation," but convincing evidence arises in the answers to a few simple questions. What have we enjoyed thus far in our short but dynamic lifetimes? Look to the inevitable emergence of those '80s music anthologies. While many in Generation Y enjoy the latest performers, few seem to be capable of relinquishing Belinda Carlisle, Air Supply, and -- in a limited number of alarming cases -- Tiffany. As further substantiation for those who still doubt, I offer the latest supernova in University party trends -- the 80s theme party. Sartorial sense is tossed out as students rummage resale shops in a crazed quest for one of those triple-layered, acid-washed, ruffled denim skirts, complete with fingerless pink lace gloves. For men, horizontally striped Izods are a special treat, while some old Lee jeans will do. What is more revealing than the fact that "kids today," having graduated from the little league to the Ivy League, rejuvenate their tired souls with the Bangles and OshKoshB'Gosh? A second sign of this "generationalizaton" comes in recent box office offerings. What has been America's number one film in past weeks? The Brady Bunch, of course. The distributors of this motion picture struck double gold, spryly counting on an audience of original viewers as well as those long addicted to the syndicated reruns. The popularity of this air-headed by-product of pop culture is also an indicator that Generation Y has yet to formulate its own identity and instead relies on that of slightly older Americans. Nevertheless, if people are spending seven dollars to watch the groovy Bradys all over again, then the nostalgia is undeniable. Even if one refuses to admit that he has grown older, he can simply look to the child stars within his peerage, like Cindy Brady. Her real life counterpart overdosed on drugs several years ago. "Whatever happened to Punky Brewster?" he ponders. Well, that talentless little girl (deservedly) has no career and at one point underwent breast reduction surgery. "OK, so what about those kids on Diff'rent Strokes?" Incarcerated, every one. Even The Facts of Life's caustic Jo has been dumped. The last time I saw her was as a schizophrenic teen in a forgettable TV movie when I was in the ninth grade. It unquestionably remains that, like its own celebrities, Generation Y has matured into adulthood, and that raises some questions of a more serious nature. Running a nation is not an easy task -- even some Rhodes Scholars can't seem to manage it. Given this truth, one wonders what Generations X and Y plan for their future and that of their children. The answer, if one examines voting statistics, is absolutely nothing. Younger Americans have recently displayed a distaste for politics and apathy towards the polls. While such traits are not apparent in all of that population, they are certainly attributable to a significant majority. Many defend themselves with the proclamation that "I'm sick of it all," seeming to be disgusted with the "system" in general. Others are quick to mention that there is a while before they need be concerned with such burdensome worries as fiscal solvency and other more abstract dilemmas such as the lack of a cogent national morality. However, the fact remains that change starts early and is not easily executed. While it is true that young adults are not the most powerful group in the status quo, this should translate into a desire for today to serve as a time for cogitation and the garnering of experience. Young people must keep abreast of that which happens about them, as well as plan for the future. This message is an increasingly important one, but it is not a tirade. All that need be made clear is that Generation Y can have its fun and relive its short past, but must also take heed, for with age comes responsibility. Even those who do take care ought to inspire others to follow suit. Another generation cometh -- make it a good one.
(03/21/95 10:00am)
People from all walks of life crammed into a Center City auditorium Thursday to hear a panel discussion about the impact of welfare reform on women, children and families. "My life is part of the struggle for justice in America," Temple University professor Alma Quigley said. "A 40-year struggle against white male domination in a patriarchal system. We ain't goin' back." The panel members were introduced by Connie Smith, a self-proclaimed success story. Although she is currently a social worker with a degree from Temple University, she is also a former welfare recipient. Quigley, one of the panelists, vehemently expressed opposition to restricting payments and services to unemployed people. Most people on the panel spoke out against the welfare "restrictions" that the Personal Responsibility Act, being proposed in Congress, would mandate. These child exclusion laws, called "family caps," would prevent children born to unwed teens from receiving benefits until the parent reaches age 18. And entire families would be excluded from welfare benefits if they contained any adult who received welfare for a total of 60 months. Quigley feels welfare reform is critical, but she feels that assistance programs for women and children must be increased rather than cut back. Quigley's speech concluded with a parody of the Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" slogan. "Where are the jobs?" she asked. "Where are the jobs? Show us some jobs!" Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes, whose district includes the University, was also present to discuss what he views as faults in the proposed reforms. While the proposals threaten cuts in juvenile probation, the construction of three new prisons has been promised. And although corporate tax cuts are proposed, there are no new plans for summer youth jobs, he said. Hughes also expressed concern that women's medical service funding will be directed towards "life-line," a program known to deter women from having abortions through what he considers "harassment." Another issue discussed was the necessity of welfare recipients to votes for candidates who support welfare rights. "Everyone must register to vote, get others to vote and stop sitting on your hands," Hughes said. "You are the fundamental part of this."
(03/01/95 10:00am)
Growing up in West Philadelphia, Glenn Bryan snuck into the University's gyms to play basketball. Today, as Director of the University's Office of Community Relations, Bryan coordinates a Saturday morning program that opens up Hutchinson Gymnasium to neighborhood students. "It's an exposure to Penn they normally would not have, which is the reality," Bryan said. Local youth groups take advantage of the Community Sports Saturday program to play basketball and volleyball games on Hutchinson's open courts. "They were really surprised the University opened up the gym for us," said Patricia Little, a member of Young Life Urban Philadelphia. "The kids seemed to be really excited about it." Young Life, a Christian group of West Philadelphia high school students, took part in the program last weekend. Community Sports Saturday began last year and picked up again when classes started in September. According to Bryan, the University intends "to continue the program and maybe expand it." Bryan and community leaders have discussed adding an educational component to the program. "We want them to get more of an exposure to the resources and activities of the University," he said. The program is supposed to inspire area students to graduate high school and go to college. An expanded program might involve recruiting University students to tutor participants and talk with them about college life, Bryan explained. Bryan said he will involve some future Community Sports Saturday participants in the Communiversity Days on campus. These days, currently being planned, will bring local teens to campus to experience a day at the University. The University last week also entered into a "developing partnership" with area community centers and Philadelphia's Office of Recreation to work together on the upcoming Communiversity Days program.
(02/23/95 10:00am)
Creating a tangible sense of community between the University and its West Philadelphia neighbors has been a top priority of students, faculty, staff and administrators for years. With the introduction of "Communiversity Days" on March 22, this elusive goal may finally become reality. Carol Scheman, vice president for government, community and public affairs, said she is working with Glenn Bryan, director of the Office of Community Relations, to plan a monthly program that allows high school students residing in the University City area to get a glimpse of day-to-day campus life. "[Communiversity Days] are intended to hook together small groups of young people -- as in ninth- and tenth-graders in the community -- for a very personal experience day on the campus," Scheman said. Beginning March 22, high schoolers will come to campus in groups of no more than a dozen to get to know individual University students better. The high schoolers will participate in the same activities that University students do each day -- such as eating meals in dining halls, going to classes, seeing a basketball practice or performance at the Annenberg Center, visiting the University Museum and spending time at The Daily Pennsylvanian to learn how a newspaper is produced. Communiversity Days will also permit neighborhood kids to get a first-hand look inside University buildings. Some have lived just blocks away from campus since birth but have never set foot in a classroom, library, dormitory room or laboratory. "I want these kids to be able to imagine going to Penn -- whether they choose to go to Penn or somewhere else [for college]," Scheman said. "They can learn that they're not that different from you guys." University President Judith Rodin said she is also excited about the introduction of Communiversity Days. "I think they're wonderful," she said. "It's a great way to open the University to the community. "When we talk about the community, it's often been what Penn is doing out in West Philadelphia," Rodin added. "[But] community means interaction between the University and the community [at-large]." Scheman added that Communiversity Days will only continue to evolve with extensive student input. Her office will function as a "dating agency," making connections between high schoolers who want to spend time on campus and University students -- in Greek groups, the Undergraduate Assembly or floors of campus residences -- who want to act as their mentors. "The abstract idea was kind of nice, but it is the students' enthusiasm [that] will make it go," Scheman said, referring to Communiversity Days. "If it's going to be something that catches on, it's going to be because there's going to be some real enthusiasm across the student body." Bryan, who grew up in West Philadelphia, is a University alumnus. He said last night that he was exposed to the opportunities available on campus as a youth, when he participated in the Upward Bound program. He characterized Communiversity Days as a "work in progress," saying that evaluation of the program's effectiveness by members of the University and West Philadelphia communities will occur consistently throughout its duration. "The wonderful part about this is that it's an institutional effort driven by students," Bryan said. "[The Office of Community Relations] is just providing support and coordination. "It's all of us working together regarding one particular project, something that we'd like to do more of and run as a theme throughout more of what we do," he added.
(02/22/95 10:00am)
Nevertheless, it is remarkable that the university is rarely credited for its many community service activities. There is, in fact, an enormous array of activities going on every day involving virtually every part of the university. These activities are part of volunteer service--by staff, facult, or students; part of academic or research programs; or represent the involvement of the "corporate" function of the university. Those who work with "us" in our communities are invariably enthusiastic about that interaction, but often still conclude that "Penn itself just isn't there." While what we do and who we are in our communities occurs all over the institution and involves many different individuals with divergent agendas, neither is our "community" by any means homogeneous. One of the factors that makes our city an exciting place to live is its diversity. There are many different groups, some of which--like those of us within the university, work together in coalition; others of which have conflicting or competing agendas. In fact, there is no single community--there are many communities. These communities have many legitimate spokespeople, many varied and legitimate agendas. They can do make enormous demands on the institution. While many of these demands on the may be legitimate and reasonable , they can also be substantial, and require a careful consideration about how the university decides to expend resources. Our various communities can and do approach the university in coalitions to ask for the cooperative interactions. Our various communities also can and do appraoch the university with conflicting requests and expectations. For all these reasons it is essential for the university to develop a comprehensive sense of what is going on at this complex institution. It requires genuine, substantive interactions with many community groups and individual spokespeople, whether they are elected or appointed officials, community leaders, or individual neighbors, to define and to agree upon the nature and scope of various community interactions. Members of the Penn community carry out, in cooperation with our many communities, a variety of programs and activities. These include, but are not limited to the DP's work with the Shaw Middle School and University City High School to produce the recent student newspaper, "Class Act." To illustrate this point further, let me cite some additional activities at the Shaw Middle School, one of a number of West Philadelphia public school sites which both volunteer and academic service have been combined. Student volunteers have been helping to staff a WEPIC Evening Community School and have been involved in Shaw Community Council cleanup activities. Penn staff members are involved in a career mentoring program with tweny-one Shaw students. Shaw teachers ans students are working with Penn faculty and students on environmental imporvement activities. Robert Giegengack, Professor of Geology and Director of Penn's Institute of Environmental Science, is teaching a seminar on Urban Health which involves Penn undergraduates and Shaw students in cooperative research and health promotion activites. These programs build upon "Keeping Teens Healthy" in which the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Social Work have provided health counseling, education and referral fro Shaw students and their families since 1992. We also work closely with our communities as a "corporate" entity on such initiatives as:
(01/30/95 10:00am)
But when those skeptics set foot in his mother's ''urban boys town,'' leaving behind the violence of their gangs for a sanctuary of peace, they began to appreciate the young turk's message. ''I found that we had a lot more in common,'' says Curtis Jones Jr., a ''card-carrying'' gang member who first heard Fattah speak at an anti-gang conference in the early 1970s. ''We started doing youth organizing together and I discovered a brilliant individual. He was a good person out of choice -- not of weakness.'' At 38, Fattah is the area's newest congressional Democrat and the city's highest-ranking black political figure. In many ways, his upbringing in the House of Umoja -- a cramped Philadelphia row house that in 25 years has grown to include an entire city block -- has made him who he is today. Fattah gives his mother, Falaka, the credit for being the source of ''99.9 percent'' of the activist spirit he inherited. Born Frances Ellen Brown and married Frances Ellen Davenport, Mrs. Fattah was widowed when her husband suffered a fatal heart attack while her six children were young. Through local Black Power movement activities, she met her second husband, David Fattah, and changed her name and those of her sons. She remains a practicing Episcopalian. Soon after, she discovered one of her teen-age sons was a key member of the Clymer Street gang in South Philadelphia, where the family previously lived. The only way she felt 16-year-old Robin could weaken his ties to the gang family was to make it a part of her own. So in 1968, after consultation with her husband and sons, Mrs. Fattah opened their home to wayward youngsters. ''My motivation was to save Robin's life. That was it,'' she says. ''And if I had to have the other kids in here to do it, that was it.'' Chaka's life, however, also was at stake. ''All our lives, the gangs existed in our neighborhood,'' recalls Michael Joynes, a lifelong friend who knew Chaka when the youngster lived near Clymer Street. ''A number of those members were people who we idolized. In fact, Chaka used to call himself little Rob; he wanted to be just like him.'' The idea behind House of Umoja (Swahili for ''unity'') was to make the youngsters more loyal to an extended family than to their gangs. The entire first floor was cleared of furniture, becoming a barracks-type bedroom for some 15 members who enthusiastically accepted the invitation. ''She was everybody's mother and she dispensed justice equally,'' said Jones, who lived at Umoja intermittently in 1973 and 1974 and now heads up the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp., which fosters development. The boys came up with their own rules: no fighting and no girls. The teens resolved disputes through large group discussions. For Fattah, discussions with tough-tongued peers ''helped sharpen my debate skills because there was always a great variety of opinions about every subject under the sun.'' Mrs. Fattah says young Chaka ''was like a sponge. It excited him.'' At age 14, he and a friend persuaded First Pennsylvania Bank to turn over 10 vacant buildings on the block for expansion purposes. From 1972 to 1974, Fattah helped run gang conferences in Philadelphia, addressing crowds of teen-agers from across the city. In 1976, he organized the Black Youths Olympics between Philadelphia and Boston. One year later he expanded it to include 10 cities. The snowball was rolling. Fattah graduated from the Community College of Philadelphia and received his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the state House at 25, the youngest person ever elected to the General Assembly at that time. In 1987, at age 30, he was elected to the state Senate. And last year, at age 37, Fattah was one of the few Democratic freshmen to make it to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating longtime city Democrat and first-term Congressman Lucien Blackwell. He represents a district that made former Rep. Bill Gray a national figure. ''I don't know why he's racing so hard, but he's impatient,'' says Mrs. Fattah. ''He's got too much he wants to get done, too many ideas. He doesn't have time for the trappings that go along with power. He's got a fire in his belly.'' Joynes, chief of staff for state Sen. Roxanne Jones, claims to understand his friend's lifelong passion. ''The shaping of the House of Umoja made Chaka Fattah,'' says Joynes. ''The belief in the faith and visions that his mother had in saving a dying species, which was the young, Afro-American male, really spilled over to Chaka.'' For Fattah, politics has been a natural progression, an extension of his commitment to the community, he says. ''I've had a very diverse, very exciting third of my life so far,'' the 38-year-old says, adding with a laugh, ''I plan to be around for a while.''
(01/30/95 10:00am)
High school students solved the world's problems and created a lasting peace last weekend. At least in theory, anyway. The University's 11th annual Ivy League Model United Nations Conference drew more than 1,000 students from 52 high schools around the country. They met to discuss possible solutions to the problems facing society -- from nuclear proliferation to the conflict in Chechnya. The participating schools were assigned to research countries around the world, and each student assumed the role of ambassador. Opening ceremonies were held last Thursday night, beginning with keynote speaker Eviatar Manor, the consul general of Israel. Manor spoke of the problems facing Israel in the aftermath of the Cold War and Persian Gulf conflict, and his hope for eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace. Manor charged the students to "turn the world into a safer place, not one of conflict or death." College junior Nadav Shelef, the secretary-general of ILMUNC, and Engineering sophomore and Conference Affairs Director Rajeev Shah also spoke at the conference. They, along with 150 students at the convention, are active in the International Affairs Association, the University organization hosting the conference. Following the opening ceremonies, the "ambassadors" went directly into committee meetings. These meetings, modeled after actual U.N. committees, encouraged students to debate with one another using parliamentary procedure. Students drafted and voted upon proposals at special plenary sessions. In addition, students attended regional summits, where they attempted to settle disputes with neighboring countries. The ambassadors took a break from the work on Saturday night to attend a variety show and a performance by Without a Net, a campus improvisational comedy group. A "Delegate Dance" was held on Sunday. As part of the "Penn Program," about 60 high school students also visited the University campus and took tours conducted by Kite and Key. Admissions Regional Director William McCumber was available to answer questions. In order to aid those schools that could not afford the conference fees, the IAA distributed money to a number of schools, mostly in the Philadelphia area. According to Shelef, the goal of the conference was to show the high school students that "peace [can be] maintained, strengthened and expanded." Shah also said the conference worked to improve communication skills. "Our goal is to promote negotiation and consensus- building skills among the students who participate in our conference," he said. Many students said they found the convention fascinating. "I had a basic interest in what went on [at the conference]," said Fritz Porter, a student from Lawrenceville High School in New Jersey and a Chilean delegate. "I got a feel for what goes on [at the U.N.]." The weekend culminated in an award presentation for the best delegation and the most effective members of each committee. The overall award went to the Czech Republic role, played by Richland Northeast High School of Columbia, South Carolina. The ILMUNC, which is the largest model U.N. conference for high school students in the nation, was held at the Wyndham-Franklin Plaza Hotel in Center City.
(12/01/94 10:00am)
Intelligence is genetically predetermined, according to the bestselling book The Bell Curve by Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein. But last night, the Philadelphia International Socialist Organization discussed inaccuracies and societal implications in the book at an open forum in Houston Hall. "You don't have to be a scientist to know that this book is wrong," said Katherine Dwyer, regional organizer of the New York Branch of the ISO. Based on data provided by alleged eugenicists, Herrnstein and Murray conclude that IQ test results determine social standing, according to Dwyer. "The social inequities are conspicuously missing from the authors' consideration on issues of differences of IQ," said College freshman David Aaron. Dwyer agreed: "We don't live in a society that is separated by IQ, but by social class." While some audience members seriously considered the possible mainstream social ramifications of the ideas promoted by this book, others did not think the theories would have a definite impact on society. "I don't think anyone has taken this book seriously," said Temple University sophomore Ken Reinholz. "I think that saying this book is going to encourage racists to take up the cause is like saying rock lyrics make teens commit suicide." According to Dwyer, the book also asserts that society's problems are at least partly caused by unintelligent blacks and poor whites. Halfway through the meeting, a heated debate occurred concerning these racial identities. "It's playing off of racial stereotypes that people have," said Dwyer. "This book makes racism, white supremacy and fascism seem okay." The audience also discussed the new political orientation of the U.S. Congress and the "vicious cycle" of poverty. "If society is supporting the kind of ideas the Bell Curve promotes, how do you create effective resistance?" asked School of Arts and Sciences graduate student Karen Schiff. The meeting closed with general comments about the book and the discussion itself. "[The book] takes a wider variety of man -- intelligence, culture and compassion for people -- and argues that a single ordinal number, IQ, measures it all," said Brian Siano, a free-lance writer. "On the basis of that, the book argues that people should be treated as potential commodities -- the worth of which is measured in their IQ."
(11/03/94 10:00am)
From Marc Teillon's "Public Pillory," Fall '94 This "very very beautiful" piece of art -- as Wendy Steinberg, Public Relations Coordinator of the University's Institute of Contemporary Art, described it -- will be going on display next Saturday, just in time for Family Weekend. So if you can wrestle your family away from Franklin Field, take them on over to 36th and Sansom and show them what your University thinks about religion. While this exhibit may not enrage many non-Christians on campus, it still raises an issue of University-wide importance. Showing "Piss Christ" has little to do with definitions of art or federal funding of any offensive works. Displaying this work is about the cultural war on Christianity and which side the ICA, and consequently the University of Pennsylvania, has decided to join. The dominant cultural authorities, namely the arts and entertainment, have been waging war on Christianity for quite some time. The Hollywood and Network elites have led the attack to degrade this religion by making Christian leaders look like pedophiles, crooks and idiots and the church members like hypocrites and bigots. In the movie Short Cuts, Jennifer Jason Leigh runs a 900 number and tells her sister how their mother's priest calls regularly and has her pretend she is a little boy being sodomized on the church altar. In Leap of Faith, Steve Martin is a evangelical preacher who dupes the public out of thousands of dollars with a bogus ability to heal the sick. In Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) brings his buffoonery to the Anglican Church and makes a mockery out of the wedding ceremony by mincing words and forgetting lines. In countless television shows, like NYPD Blue and Picket Fences, characters attending weekly services always take the moral high-ground and are later shown to hypocritical by acts of deceit and envy. The Institute for Contemporary Arts has now joined the fight to degrade Christianity by showing Serrano's otherwise unimportant work -- a work that takes the ultimate symbol of the religion, Christ dying on the Cross to give us eternal life, and sticks it in the artist's excrement. Why do these elites want to piss on Christianity and anybody who practices the religion? Because this religion fosters tradition, moral absolutes, and stable doctrines transcending the whims of human nature. Christianity was chosen from a number of religious targets because more than 90% of all Americans who claim to be religiously affiliated are members of a Christian congregation. In Christianity, morality is absolute, not relative. Doctrines are eternal, not partly repealed by each successive generation. The Word of the Lord is studied, not interpreted. Though Christians may err in judgment or suffer from ambition and avarice, the moral norms set down by the Lord are still what each individual strives for. The controlling elites despise this aspect of Christianity. They want people to do whatever feels good and give into the moment. Don't force your morality on me because what may be acceptable for you is not necessarily proper for everyone else. There are no rights or wrongs, only gray areas where Man can use his power of reason to determine what is appropriate behavior for a specific situation. When this faulty belief in moral relativism results in dire consequences, the only solutions offered by the dominant establishment are man-made restraints determined by the artificial State to control and sanction behavior. Don't tell children not to have sex. Allow them to make decisions for themselves. When teen pregnancy rates start increasing, give out condoms and birth control pills to stop the consequences of teen promiscuity. After that fails, let the State decide who should be made infertile and who should be allowed to bear children. Spanish philosopher Juan Donoso-Cortes once said, "there are only two possible forms of control [in society]: one internal and the other external; religious control and political control." Once civilized man allows himself to fall into disbelief and immorality, then "the way is prepared for some gigantic and colossal tyrant, universal and immense." Being religious is very difficult, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist. But Leviathan's rules are far more stringent and a lot less forgiving than God's. Those on the ICA's side of the culture war are pleased with the results because they are the ones who run this monstrosity. Those on the right side are the perfectible men whom the all-encompassing State will cure of any human imperfections. We may not be able to draw Leviathan out with a hook, but we can stop him from forming. A strong moral fabric, backed by religion, and grounded in a firm belief in God is the only prescription. Marc Teillon is a junior Finance major from Liverpool, New York. The Public Pillory appears alternate Thursdays.
(09/08/94 9:00am)
Officials gathering evidence The five teenagers accused of murdering fifth-year Mathematics graduate student Al-Moez Alimohamed will be tried as adults, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office spokesperson Bill Devol said yesterday. Alimohamed, 27, was murdered last Monday night as he was walking home to his apartment near 48th and Pine streets. Although juvenile criminal offenders are usually released from prison at age 21, juveniles tried as adults can receive full prison sentences, Devol said. Eighteen-year-old Antoine Saunders, two fifteen-year-olds and two sixteen-year-olds have been charged with murder, robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy and possession of an instrument of crime, according to Philadelphia Police Sergeant Paul Musi. All the men are from West Philadelphia. Carole Weiner, chief of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Juvenile Unit, said she considers the decision to try the five as adults a sound one because "there are kids coming into [the juvenile] system who don't belong here." "The juvenile system was not designed for kids firing Tech-9's," she said. The teens allegedly first robbed and beat Alimohamed. Saunders then allegedly shot him with a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle. Alimohamed was pronounced dead on arrival at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania shortly after the shooting. Plainclothes officers from the Philadelphia Police Department's 18th District witnessed the robbery, but were not quick enough to stop the shooting, Musi said. According to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, all of the five teenagers have extensive juvenile criminal records, including robbery, aggravated assault, carrying a gun on school property, and witness intimidation. In response to the homicide, University and city officials held a press conference at the 18th District Police Mini-Station at 50th Street and Baltimore Avenue last Thursday. At the conference, University President Judith Rodin characterized the murder as "a tragic event." "We are concerned about the safety of our students," Rodin said to an audience of about 40 reporters and residents from the immediate neighborhood. "[Violent crime] is a West Philadelphia problem, but a problem that affects the whole city." Rodin said she does not expect outrage from parents because "parents have already confronted the fact that cities can be unsafe." She added that she is "grateful" to City Mayor Edward Rendell and the Philadelphia Police Department for responding so quickly to the incident. Deputy Police Commissioner Tom Seamon said extra units from all over the city would be brought into West Philadelphia to try to alleviate concerns over rising crime. Seamon said his department usually moves more police into the area surrounding the University during the academic year. He added that Philadelphia Police officers work closely with University Police to prevent and respond to crime in the area. Seamon characterized the homicide as a "senseless, random act of violence." Police officials said they have a fairly solid case against the suspects. "I think we have our case ready, and we're ready to proceed with it," said John Apeldorn, Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit Captain. "It's just a tragedy, and hopefully everyone will pay for their part in it." Although the teens were scheduled to have their preliminary hearings yesterday, the date was pushed back to September 28. Devol said this is due in part to the fact that the defendants had not secured adequate legal representation. If the suspects are bound over for trial, they will be formally arraigned within 10 days. At that time, they will have the opportunity to plead innocent or guilty. A trial date will then be set, Devol said, but that may not be for months.
(04/27/94 9:00am)
It is much more than a track meet. It is a social gathering. It's a happening. It's an occurrence. Once you become involved in it, and once you're directly involved in participating in it, you need to be involved in it every year. Without the Penn Relays in my life, a whole section of my life would be absent. It's hard to describe. It's addicting. There are so many meaningful things that happen -- from little kids running to old fellows coming, to young new studs coming along, to dropping the baton and kids rushing back and picking it up, to kids crying when they win and kids crying when they lose, coaches yelling when they win, coaches yelling when they lose. So many aspects. The whole microcosm of sports is put into the Penn Relays, and no matter what you've seen in any other sports, you can find that aspect in the Penn Relays. -- Bob Burdette, secondary school chairman Dr. Tim Baker was never an athlete in the Penn Relays. He was the fourth shot putter on the Springfield High School team, with only three shot putters going to the meets. He practiced every day, and was devoted to the sport, but he admits he was "totally uncoordinated." Somebody had to be sick for him to compete in a meet. Now Baker, director of the Penn Relays, can boast two things no other track and field coordinator can challenge: the Penn Relay Carnival is the oldest, and it is the largest. Proudly, he says, it has not lost the purity of competition on which it was founded. Tomorrow through Sunday, more than 13,000 athletes will take to the track of historic Franklin Field and have their own special memories to cherish for a lifetime. It will be the 100th running of the Relays, and the spectators, many former participants themselves, will be pumped. "It's very difficult for me to talk about the Penn Relays without feeling the emotion of it," Baker says. "I've been involved in the Penn Relays since 1960-61, and it's still magical. Every year it's magical." What differentiates the Penn Relays is the emotion. While sports have changed, and fans cheer multimillionaire athletes elsewhere, the Penn Relays has remained with its original luster and charm and innocence, as if to mock its venerable age. A race between two high school athletes, if close down the home stretch, will generate a roar from the 60,00-plus onlookers expected, just as the Championship of America. Many of the fans in attendance ran on the fabled track once, and they see themselves in the competitors. That's the beauty. Spectators are not passive observers here -- they are a part of the history. "I see young kids that are struggling. I see young kids that are pushing forward. I think to myself, 'I was like that.' I remember that," says Bob Burdette, a former competitor who is now secondary school chairman. "I find athletes and I say, 'That's me.' I'm going to root for that kid. You do identify." Burdette's first Penn Relays was special. He says the Relays became more special three or four years later, at ages 14 and 15, when on Penn Relays weekend, on Saturday, he would leave his house early in the morning and sneak a ride on a train bound for West Philadelphia. On arrival at the stadium at 33rd and Spruce, he would wait until a team would assemble to enter the Franklin Field gate, and then enter with the team without a ticket. That evening, Burdette would return home and his father, who he had a good relationship with, would say, "Where were you today?" "I was playing basketball," the teen would respond. "The guys and I were up at the school all day." Burdette knew he was lying, but he also knew he wouldn't be allowed to travel to the Relays by himself. "When I got to be 16 and was competing, I finally admitted to the fact that for two or three years I sneaked in," says Burdette. Forty-one years later, Burdette has been involved in all levels of the Relays. He competed as an athlete on junior high, high school, college and club levels, and made his officiating debut in glamorous fashion raking pits. Burdette still gets goose bumps when the crowd tunes into a race, regardless of the level of the athletes involved. The most important thing about the Relays is it gives people on all levels a chance to participate. In a sporting world in which society is increasingly looking for gladiators, says Baker, the Penn Relays offers participation and innocence. There are races for elementary school kids, perhaps some not yet old enough to tie the sneakers they run in. Yes, there are Olympians too. But it is just as much the kids' Penn Relays as it it the Olympians'. The thrill many will derive stems from the crowd. It buzzes for three straight days, and roars whenever there is competition. And it doesn't matter who is competing. "It could be two unknown high school participants from St. Somebody in East Nowhere, who if they are locked in competition in the back straight will bring the crowd to its feet," Baker says. "There is nothing more thrilling than to watch that happen, and to watch the reaction of that." The size and volume of the crowd this weekend would no doubt dwarf the first Penn Relays', which drew approximately 5,000 fans. The idea for the Penn Relays, and the sport of relay running, was born in 1893 at Penn. In an attempt to draw interest to a dwindling track program, chair Frank B. Ellis and the University Track Committee decided to stage a relay of four men running a quarter mile each. There was sufficient interest, and Princeton came on May 12 to the present Quad location at 37th and Spruce to challenge the Quakers. The Tigers won by eight yards. Penn defeated Princeton the following year and on April 12, 1895, the first Penn Relays was held at the present Franklin Field location, although all that stood at the time was a wooden bleacher on the south side. There were no locker rooms then, just tents set up around the track. The tents gave the Penn Relays an appearrance of a carnival, and in 1910, the meet officially became known as the Penn Relay Carnival. Tomorrow morning the old iron gates which seal Franklin Field will open to usher in the 100th Penn Relay Carnival. The Relays hasn't lost its magic. I think it's the greatest event in Philly. It's certainly the greatest track meet in the world -- there's no question. I think it's better than the Olympics because you don't have to be a world-class athlete to compete in this. The great thing about this is the kids who compete, all levels. You have elementary school kids and you have world-class athletes. But the magic part of the Relays to me are the high school and the colleges. All the fuss they make over the Santa Monica Track Club competing, Carl Lewis, that's not the Penn Relays. The Penn Relays is those kids running out here hour after hour, getting all excited, getting a chance to compete before 30,000 to 40,000 people. I go over to England a lot and there's an awful lot of things we get excited about here that people over there don't know the first thing about, but they all know the Penn Relays. You'd be amazed. You go to England, you go to Ireland, you go to any number of places, all far away, and people know what the Penn Relays are all about. It means something to them. It's a once-in-a-lifetime event. And for these kids who compete in it, they never forget it. -- Frank Doulsen, who attended his first Penn Relays in 1951 while a student at Penn, and is now the Philadelphia Inquirer sports editor
(04/04/94 9:00am)
Fights between teenage girls broke out in front of two movie theaters early yesterday evening, causing a ruckus which flooded nearby sidewalks with excited adolescents. University Police officer Margaret O'Malley, who helped break up one fight at the United Artist Campus movie theatre on 40th Street, said it was "an annual thing" for "teenage kids to act stupid" on Easter Sunday. University Police Sergeant Keith Christian also blamed the crowds on the holiday. "Easter brings out crowds of teenagers from the area and they congregate on 40th and Walnut because of the movie theaters, the arcade and the fast food restaurants," he said. Although O'Malley was unable to say why the girls were fighting in the first place in front of the United Artist, witnesses of each of the two fights -- the other taking place in front of the AMC Walnut Mall 3 movie theater -- each had different ideas of what initially sparked the brawls. Eighteen-year-old Craig Bishop said the fight in front of the United Artist was between "two Caucasian girls" in their mid-teens. One of the girls became angry when the other "smacked her on the head with a box of popcorn," he said. Nineteen-year-old Arch Long disagreed. He said the fight on 40th Street was "over a pair of sneakers." Cory Bee, 18, did not know why two or three girls began fighting in front of the AMC theater, but he was able to describe the brawl. "This bitch grabbed the other bitch by the hair and started pounding her head on the ground, and then the cops came," he said. Smah Ali, 17, said the fight on Walnut Street happened because one of the teenage girls was jealous of the other adolescent's good looks, although both were "all-right looking." "You know how females get," he said. Ali confirmed Bee's description of the fight, though. "One girl slammed the other girl into the ground," he said. But, Christian, who was on the scene, said no one was seriously injured in the fights. "These were not knock-down dragouts," he said. Christian added that while no arrests were made, both University and Philadelphia Police dispatched extra officers to the area for the rest of the evening. Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer Gregory Thomas contributed to this article.
(04/04/94 9:00am)
Nursing, Engineering and Wharton students are waging a silent battle against what they deem unequal representation in the Student Activities Council budget. Each school created a petition, circulated in classes and on Locust Walk, designed to outline its criticisms of SAC policies and suggest solutions to current problems. The clubs and organizations in the Wharton School received approximately .5 percent of the SAC budget this year. That budget, allocated to about 150 recognized University organizations and activities, reached almost $570,000. The School of Nursing was allocated .05 percent. Organizations in the School of Engineering and Applied Science received two percent. "We just want an equitable share of the funding," said Christian Coli, a member of the executive roundtable of the Wharton Undergraduate Student Association. "We've defined 'equitable' as a share representative of the educational, social and charitable contributions to the University community made by Wharton organizations," the Wharton sophomore added. Of the 38 Wharton clubs, each receives less than $100 apiece, Coli said. "This is a disproportionately small amount," he added. "The major problem is that [the organizations] are not getting the money they need and the money they desire." Coli said the Wharton Undergraduate Student Associations main objective is to "assist Wharton clubs in anyway possible." He said because SAC gives Wharton groups so little, the school has been forced to "divert some money to activities from educational money." Grace Esteban, chair of SAC's Steering Committee, believes department and school funding is a necessary part of academic-related activities. "The Finance Committee does feel that academic departments should fund their groups," she said. "The few events that are open to all students are the groups that we fund." "Other groups, such as the Amorphous Jugglers, can't ask for money from the Amorphous Juggling Department," Esteban explained. "The money?should be given to organizations that are meant for every person, regardless of school." Coli disagreed. "SAC is distanced," he said. "[Wharton USA] has contact day to day with the Wharton clubs. We're better prepared to deal with their needs." Nursing junior Jeannett Stankiewicz said only one organization in the Nursing School, the Nursing Student Forum, is budgeted. "We can't get funding for things we need to get funded," said Stankiewicz, the Forum's president. "[And] applying for budget and allocations is time consuming and frustrating." Esteban explained that she understands the schools' problems, adding that SAC is continually working to resolve them. "I do agree that there are forms to fill out," she said. "There is a process. But from the time that I've been on SAC, there have been efforts." But Stankiewicz and other nursing students contend that SAC's efforts are not adequate. For example, Stankiewicz said SAC denied funding for "Teen Mom Tutoring," a program which provides University tutors for teenage mothers in the local community. In response to this and other concerns, the Forum wrote a petition to voice its claims. "Basically, SAC is really accountable to nobody," she said. "We all paid a student activities fee. The undergraduate Nursing students are not getting what they deserve. "One of our goals is community outreach," Stankiewicz added. "It's hard to facilitate that with our resources." The petition in the School of Nursing was also circulated last week. "As far as the petition, SAC can definitely take it on and consider the problems," Esteban said. Engineering junior In-Yup Park argued that academic groups in the Engineering School are "getting shafted." Park, the president of the Engineering Student Activities Council and the Academic Societies of Engineers, added that "SAC is here to serve the student organizations, not to give us a hard time." He said he gave SAC suggestions last semester in order to help business run more smoothly. But, Park claims he was flatly denied. He said that while no engineers are currently on SAC steering committees, "that doesn't give them the right to be so insensitive to our groups." The lack of funding to Engineering activities, he said, has forced the school to contribute money to its organizations, which "should be spent on academics, computers and technology." "Our organizations have no formal stability," he said. "We can't plan events we want to plan. [SAC] sometimes gives us two days notice [about funding]." Staff Writer Randi Feigenbaum contributed to this story.
(04/04/94 9:00am)
Fights between teenage girls broke out in front of two movie theaters early yesterday evening, causing a ruckus which flooded nearby sidewalks with excited adolescents. University Police officer Margaret O'Malley, who helped break up one fight at the United Artist Campus movie theatre on 40th Street, said it was "an annual thing" for "teenage kids to act stupid" on Easter Sunday. University Police Sergeant Keith Christian also blamed the crowds on the holiday. Although O'Malley was unable to say why the girls were fighting in the first place in front of the United Artist, witnesses of each of the two fights -- the other taking place in front of the AMC Walnut Mall 3 movie theater -- each had different ideas of what initially sparked the brawls. Eighteen-year-old Craig Bishop said the fight in front of the United Artist was between "two Caucasian girls" in their mid-teens. One of the girls became angry when the other "smacked her on the head with a box of popcorn," he said. Nineteen-year-old Arch Long disagreed. He said the fight on 40th Street was "over a pair of sneakers." Cory Bee, 18, did not know why two or three girls began fighting in front of the AMC theater, but he was able to describe the brawl. "This bitch grabbed the other bitch by the hair and started pounding her head on the ground, and then the cops came," he said. Smah Ali, 17, said the fight on Walnut Street happened because one of the teenage girls was jealous of the other adolescent's good looks, although both were "all-right looking." "You know how females get," he said. Christian said that while no arrests were made, both University and Philadelphia Police dispatched extra officers to the area for the rest of the evening. Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writer Gregory Thomas contributed to this article.
(04/02/94 10:00am)
Nursing, Engineering and Wharton students are waging a silent battle against what they deem unequal representation in the Student Activities Council budget. Each school created a petition, circulated in classes and on Locust Walk, designed to outline its criticisms of SAC policies and suggest solutions to current problems. The clubs and organizations in the Wharton School received approximately .5 percent of the SAC budget this year. That budget, allocated to about 150 recognized University organizations and activities, reached almost $570,000. The School of Nursing was allocated .05 percent. Organizations in the School of Engineering and Applied Science received two percent. "We just want an equitable share of the funding," said Christian Coli, a member of the executive roundtable of the Wharton Undergraduate Student Association. "We've defined 'equitable' as a share representative of the educational, social and charitable contributions to the University community made by Wharton organizations," the Wharton sophomore added. Of the 38 Wharton clubs, each receives less than $100 apiece, Coli said. "This is a disproportionately small amount," he added. "The major problem is that [the organizations] are not getting the money they need and the money they desire." Coli said the Wharton Undergraduate Student Associations main objective is to "assist Wharton clubs in anyway possible." He said because SAC gives Wharton groups so little, the school has been forced to "divert some money to activities from educational money." Grace Esteban, chair of SAC's Steering Committee, believes department and school funding is a necessary part of academic-related activities. "The Finance Committee does feel that academic departments should fund their groups," she said. "The few events that are open to all students are the groups that we fund." "Other groups, such as the Amorphous Jugglers, can't ask for money from the Amorphous Juggling Department," Esteban explained. "The money?should be given to organizations that are meant for every person, regardless of school." Coli disagreed. "SAC is distanced," he said. "[Wharton USA] has contact day to day with the Wharton clubs. We're better prepared to deal with their needs." Nursing junior Jeannett Stankiewicz said only one organization in the Nursing School, the Nursing Student Forum, is budgeted. "We can't get funding for things we need to get funded," said Stankiewicz, the Forum's president. "[And] applying for budget and allocations is time consuming and frustrating." Esteban explained that she understands the schools' problems, adding that SAC is continually working to resolve them. "I do agree that there are forms to fill out," she said. "There is a process. But from the time that I've been on SAC, there have been efforts." But Stankiewicz and other nursing students contend that SAC's efforts are not adequate. For example, Stankiewicz said SAC denied funding for "Teen Mom Tutoring," a program which provides University tutors for teenage mothers in the local community. In response to this and other concerns, the Forum wrote a petition to voice its claims. "Basically, SAC is really accountable to nobody," she said. "We all paid a student activities fee. The undergraduate Nursing students are not getting what they deserve. "One of our goals is community outreach," Stankiewicz added. "It's hard to facilitate that with our resources." The petition in the School of Nursing was also circulated last week. "As far as the petition, SAC can definitely take it on and consider the problems," Esteban said. Engineering junior In-Yup Park argued that academic groups in the Engineering School are "getting shafted." Park, the president of the Engineering Student Activities Council and the Academic Societies of Engineers, added that "SAC is here to serve the student organizations, not to give us a hard time." He said he gave SAC suggestions last semester in order to help business run more smoothly. But, Park claims he was flatly denied. He said that while no engineers are currently on SAC steering committees, "that doesn't give them the right to be so insensitive to our groups." The lack of funding to Engineering activities, he said, has forced the school to contribute money to its organizations, which "should be spent on academics, computers and technology." "Our organizations have no formal stability," he said. "We can't plan events we want to plan. [SAC] sometimes gives us two days notice [about funding]." The three schools plan to present their signed petitions to the Undergraduate Assembly, the Student Activities Council and the University Treasurer's Office today. Staff Writer Randi Feigenbaum contributed to this story.
(03/17/94 10:00am)
The Cowboy Junkies aren't just mellow troubadours. Inspired by the passionate Michael Timmins, these Canadian crooners play the songs that make the whole world sing. There are certain concerts that go down in history for their importance. Like Hendrix's blazing set at Monterey, there are particular nights of unparalleled musical perfection. Definitely less known, though equally striking, was the Cowboy Junkies' one-hour live set from the Toronto Church of the Holy Trinity. Huddled around a single microphone, the Cowboy Junkies strolled their way through an evening of perfect blissful, melodic tunes that became the much-hailed Trinity Sessions. Carried by Margo Timmins' stunning soulful voice and poignant lyrics, the Cowboy Junkies music is at once relaxing and mesmerising, and the Trinity Sessions garnered them a cult following and significant critical praise. Shift scenes to Philadelphia's Theater of the Living Arts on South Street. The TLA's laid-back crowd ranges from straight-laced pre-teens to middle-aged ex-hippies, diversity being the crowd's only defining factor. But they all have one thing in common: all are entranced by the ethereal voice of lead singer Margo Timmins. As the adoring audience silently mouths the words (it seems to be sacrilegious among Junkies' faithful to sing along), it is apparent that the band's following is far from transient. However, it is less obvious that the artistic force behind the Cowboy Junkies is not the sultry Margo Timmins, but rather a slight, long-haired figure slouched over his guitar, comfortably lingering in the background. It takes a sharp eye (and a little prior knowledge) to identify him as Margo's brother Michael, the Junkies' chief songwriter. Slender and inconspicuous, Michael Timmins is far from a ready-made pop star. He has been married for five years and is no youth sensation, having completed his undergraduate education at the University of Western Ontario before ever founding a band. "I had always loved music, and when I came out of university I sort of bummed around for a year not really knowing what to do. It wasn't until a year out of university that I formed my first band." In fact, his brand of mellow blues/jazz/country does not seem to lend itself to alternative-rock super stardom. Timmins, himself, is as down to earth as the music he writes. But it also seems that the dreary climate of his native Toronto has seeped into his soul and colored his creations. "I think being a Canadian [has some influence], but I couldn't say what. I think the weather has a lot to do with it." Perhaps tempered by age or brittled by Canadian weather, Timmins creates music that is emotional and honest. As a songwriter, he consciously avoids hollow social or political messages. "I'm not a fan of lyrics which are overtly political. I find them boring and a bit insulting, really, to the listener's intelligence if it's a very complicated political issue. To pretend that you can bring anything to it in three or four minutes is a bit useless. I prefer songs that deal more with personal emotions, personal politics." The emotion of choice in the Cowboy Junkies' lyrics is love, especially its more melancholy aspects. For example, "White Sail" on the Junkies' latest release Pale Sun, Crescent Moon alludes to the myth in which Jason returns home to his father, but tragically forgets to change his sail from black to white. Timmins admits, "I've always loved that image, the image of someone watching for a sign from afar. Of course, it's always the wrong sign." Back at the TLA, Margo confesses her brother's plaintive leanings when she introduces the band's current single, "Anniversary Song." "People always say that the Cowboy Junkies don't have any happy songs," she stated. "So we wrote a happy song." As a ripple of laughter goes through the audience and the band starts the upbeat single, one is reminded that Michael Timmins' token 'happy' song is also his most popular. Although he still places a premium on artistic purity, Timmins seems troubled by the fact that the Cowboy Junkies have hovered on the brink of commercial success ever since they released Trinity Sessions in 1988. He shrugs. "We just don't get played on MTV." But Timmins' spirits brighten when he hears that "Anniversary Song" was a shriek of the week on WDRE. "To be on a play list with [bands like Pearl Jam and Depeche Mode] is great because they are attracting a lot of young listeners." The Cowboy Junkies are more than willing to work for success. When they came to Philly on February 28th, the band had only been on the road for a week. But they had already performed in Boston, Ithaca, New Haven, Amherst, and Burlington. "We're playing pretty much every night with every fifth or sixth night off." Timmins waxes philosophical: "Once you turn 25, 26, 27, the coolness, fun factor goes out of [a musical career]. You better be enjoying it for actually playing." During such introspective interludes, one gets the impression that the figure lurking behind the captivating singer contains more vitality than his unassuming demeanor would suggest. "Music has to be a passion. That's what I'm saying. If you have a choice whether you want to quit or not, then you should quit. Because you shouldn't have a choice. It should just be so passionate that you have to do it. It just drives you."
