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(12/11/00 10:00am)
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education recently published a lengthy study titled Measuring Up 2000, a comprehensive look at the quality of public higher education across the country.
The publication includes comparisons of all 50 states, which were graded on criteria ranging from the affordability of post-secondary schooling to the quality of students' preparation for college.
Richard Wagner, a member of the national advisory board that assisted in the creation of the report, said that it would "serve as a catalyst for state leaders to take look at their states and take the necessary steps... to improve."
Pennsylvania fared well in some areas but did poorly in others.
Notable among the state's achievements was its completion rate -- the percentage of full-time students who complete their secondary schooling in five years or less. Approximately 62 percent of Pennsylvania's students receive their bachelor's degree within that period of time.
Dan Langan, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, attributed this to the high percentage of private colleges within the state.
He also cited an incentive program created by Gov. Tom Ridge in which colleges meeting a threshold level of 40 percent completion receive additional grants from the state. Most private colleges already meet that standard, according to Langan.
California was ranked highest in affordability of higher education. The state "has a long history of subsidizing higher education," said Charles Reed, the chancellor of the California State University System.
Reed added that the government recently appropriated more money for secondary education, lowering fees roughly 10 percent.
The burden of paying for a college education was higher in Pennsylvania than in many other states. After accounting for financial aid, public tuition costs consume about 30 percent of the average Pennsylvania family's income.
Public education in Pennsylvania is two-tiered, with a state system of schools augmented by four state-related institutions, which include Penn State and Temple universities.
Harriet Goodheart, a Temple spokeswoman, noted that the school's expenses have been rising.
"The costs incurred in delivering education, particularly with the cost of technology, are increasing," she said.
Temple receives an appropriation from the state, according to Goodheart, which allows the school to offer relatively low tuition rates -- $6,648 for in-state students. "We are offering more financial aid than we have ever offered before," she added.
Pennsylvania's eastern neighbor had one of the strongest showings in the higher education report card. New Jersey received top marks for educational preparation as well as benefits conferred by the educational system.
"We think the report speaks for itself," said Richard Vespucci, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Education.
(12/01/00 10:00am)
The continuing boom in early applications has touched virtually every Ivy League institution -- although some have felt its effects more strongly than others.
According to the most recent data available, all eight of the Ivies have posted gains over last year for early decision applications for the Class of 2005.
Yale University had the sharpest increase, receiving 1,793 early decision applicants, an increase of roughly 20 percent, according to the school's Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions.
Earlier this fall, Yale announced that it would admit international students without respect to financial need. Most Ivies, including Penn, are not able to offer need-blind admissions to foreign applicants. Furthermore, the Yale Daily News recently reported that Yale planned to cut incoming class sizes because of housing constraints.
Penn has received a record 2,833 early decision applications for the Class of 2005, approximately 10 percent more than last year.
Cornell University's early applicant total jumped 13 percent to 2,571, according to Loni Wheeler, the associate director for Operations at Cornell's Undergraduate Admissions Office.
And Princeton University received 1,850 early applications, compared to 1,669 for the Class of 2004, a rise of about 11 percent, Acting Dean of Admissions Steve LeMenager said.
Harvard University and Dartmouth College had relatively small increases in early applications. Harvard, which last year modified its non-binding early action policy to allow students to apply to more than one school early, had 6,098 candidates -- only about 70 more than last year. Dartmouth College rose about 3 percent to a total of around 1,130.
Columbia University, which has the smallest undergraduate body among the Ivies, had an all-time high of 1,687 early candidates, nearly 11 percent more than last year.
Brown Director of Admission Michael Goldberger said that his office received 5,246 early action applications, a rise of roughly 7 percent.
Joyce Smith, executive director of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said that the tremendous increase in college applications is partly due to a growing number of high school students.
"You have more students applying for college over the next five to 10 years.... The population of students is growing," she said. She added that many colleges have simplified the process by allowing online applications, something Columbia adopted this year.
Brown and Harvard are the only Ivy League schools with non-binding early action policies -- meaning that students accepted early are not required to attend. Applicants to all other Ivies must sign a form binding them to attend if they are accepted.
Several elite institutions now have application policies that do not even limit students to applying early to one school. Brown, Georgetown and Harvard modified their programs last year, allowing multiple early action applications, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has adhered to this policy for years.
Immediately after dropping the single-school stipulation, both Harvard and Brown saw extraordinary surges in applications, with their respective pools growing by 32 and 58 percent in one year.
(11/15/00 10:00am)
Another class, another record.
For the fourth consecutive year, Penn's admissions office has seen its number of early decision applicants surpass all previous highs.
Penn received 2,833 applications for early admission into the Class of 2005, a 10.4 percent increase over last year's total. Three of the four undergraduate schools also received more early applications than ever before.
The College of Arts and Sciences had 1,704 early applicants, an 8.3 percent increase over last year, while the Engineering School received 375, a gain of 12.5 percent. The Wharton School had a similar boost with 720 candidates, 12.1 percent more than applied for the Class of 2004. Only Nursing saw a decline, dipping to 34 from last year's total of 47.
These figures follow last year's 19 percent growth. Early applications have continued to rebound since a spate of high-profile crimes in 1996 caused a 10 percent plunge.
Penn's joint-degree programs continue to be major draws, with early applications to both the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business and the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology reaching all-time highs -- 94 and 141, respectively.
The number of international students applying early made up a record 9.1 percent of the total, according to Admissions Dean Lee Stetson. Nationally, Penn received applications from students in 46 states -- as compared to 48 last year -- with 10 states, including California, Texas and Pennsylvania, setting individual records.
Penn had unprecedented success in attracting minorities, with 1,051 early applicants. The number of Asian Americans rose to 857 from 719 last year, Latinos were up to 74 from 59 and the number of African-American applicants remained steady at 69. The number of Native American early applicants dropped from four to three.
Stetson noted that there were also more "legacy" candidates -- students with family members who are Penn alumni -- than ever before.
This year, Penn is aiming to admit about 43 percent of the incoming class of 2,350 via the early process, according to Stetson -- roughly the same proportion as last year. Depending on the quality of the pool, Stetson envisions taking "a few more, but not much more than 45 percent [of the total class]."
Stetson said he anticipates even keener competition among the regular decision group, which is expected to face an admittance rate lower than 20 percent.
"If the pool continues to be as robust as we anticipate, [the acceptance rate] may be around 20 or the high teens... overall," he said.
Penn and most other Ivies have binding early decision programs, in which applications received by the postmark deadline of November 1 are decided on by December 15. Accepted students are required to matriculate at the school that takes them early.
However, Brown and Harvard universities both have non-binding early action programs, which they modified last year to permit multiple early applications.
This change was expected to have an adverse impact on Penn's early applications, Stetson said.
"We thought it was going to take more students out of our pool than it did last year," he said, explaining that students would likely wait until finding out the status of their early applications before completing their regular applications, which have deadlines around January 1.
(11/10/00 10:00am)
Brown University's nine-month-long presidential search officially ended yesterday afternoon with the selection of Smith College President Ruth Simmons as the new leader of the Providence, R.I., school.
This historic appointment marks the first time an African American has been selected to the top post at an Ivy League college.
In addition, the 55-year-old Simmons is only the second woman to receive the office in the Ancient Eight -- Penn President Judith Rodin was the first female president in the Ivies when she was appointed in 1994.
"When I was told I had been elected this afternoon as president of Brown, I said my ancestors are smiling. It's a wonderful moment for me," Simmons said at a press conference yesterday.
Simmons will be assuming the position unexpectedly vacated by then-president E. Gordon Gee, who left in February to take the chancellorship of Vanderbilt University. She will take the reins from Interim President Sheila Blumstein on July 1, 2001.
According to Brown University spokesperson Mark Nickel, more than 300 people were considered for the job. Simmons was confirmed unanimously by a vote of the Brown Corporation after an extensive process that involved two selection committees and the services of an executive search firm.
Simmons has a lengthy record in higher education. The 12th child of Texas sharecroppers, she earned her bachelor's degree from Dillard University and her master's and doctorate degrees from Harvard University.
She has held various academic and administrative positions at several schools -- including California State University at Northridge and the University of Southern California -- and also served as provost at Spelman College in 1990. Her last position before becoming president of Smith College was vice provost at Princeton University, where she had earlier been a dean of faculty.
Simmons' transition to the presidency is on the minds of many in the Brown community. Nickel said that Simmons has a lot of interests and wants to "learn about Brown [and] talk to people here." He added that there is "a very good fit between Dr. Simmons and Brown," continuing that "she's used to the type of climate that she sees here."
Jennie Leszkiewicz, the president of Brown's Undergraduate Council of Students, was impressed with the president-designate's first speech to the Brown community. "She has a lot of qualities that I think work very well with Brown," Leszkiewicz said. "I think, right now, we're really excited to have a leader to lead us in a new direction."
Simmons appearance at yesterday's press conference prompted standing ovations from the packed auditorium. "I'd say that by far what impressed me the most was her integrity and her sincerity.... It was really clear when she spoke that [those qualities] came across," Leszkiewicz said.
Marvin Lazerson, a professor at Penn's Institute for Research in Higher Education, felt that women were rising in administrative positions. "I think it is the case that talented women are increasingly becoming presidents and provosts," Lazerson said, noting that women are taking more leadership positions at liberal arts colleges.
Brown's decision drops the number of Ivy League presidential searches down to two -- the presidents of both Harvard and Princeton universities have announced their intentions to step down at the end of this academic year.
(11/06/00 10:00am)
Friday's colloquium on leadership at the Fels Center of Government featured Sen. Rick Santorum, who talked about his experiences on Capitol Hill.
A crowd of about 50 people, containing mostly students, gathered to hear the politician. Santorum was in the House of Representatives between 1990 and 1994 and was then elected to the Senate in 1994.
Santorum is cruising to re-election against Democratic challenger Rep. Ron Klink.
Santorum told the audience that, "One of the reasons I came to Congress [is] I wanted to shake things up. The goal was to expose to America the rotting and corruption [in Congress]."
As a member of the House of Representatives, Santorum was part of the high-profile "Gang of Seven," a group of congressmen so-named because of their relentless attempts to reform practices that were firmly entrenched in the House. Santorum noted his role in the resolution of the House banking scandal in which congressmen were abusing their check privileges.
Santorum advised the audience members on how to be successful in leadership roles. "You have to be able to adapt to the situation you're in in order to accomplish your goals," he said.
The senator described the need for coalition building in the highly volatile environment of the Senate, where one "cannot get a vote... without 100 people agreeing."
During the open question-and-answer session that followed, the issue of campaign finance reform was raised, specifically the McCain-Feingold bill, which is designed to change the current system.
"I would argue that campaign finance reform is the greatest threat to the First Amendment," Santorum responded. "The biggest problem is the $1,000 hard money limit," which he claimed would cause "a lot of very wealthy people to enter politics."
"Individuals in a private election should have a right to speak [through donations to a candidate of their choosing]," Santorum said. He noted that incumbent candidates are able to raise more campaign funds due to their generally more extensive networks.
Turning to the impending presidential election, Santorum gave his decidedly unfavorable opinion of current Democratic candidate Al Gore. "He has no friends [on Capitol Hill]," he said. "He's not someone who has engendered himself to anyone in Washington.... Gore will just be very difficult to deal with."
Students in the audience had varying impressions of the talk. "He made some points that I thought he wouldn't come out with... especially [regarding] campaign finance reform," College junior Henry Brigham said.
The event had little resemblance to a campaign stop, according to Fels Center Director Larry Sherman, who hosted the event.
"Sen. Santorum gave a very humorous and modest presentation of himself," Sherman said. He added that the speech reflected on the current nature of elections: "[Santorum] clearly pointed out that he has the advantage as the incumbent" because of greater fundraising ability.
Some students were not in agreement with Santorum's record as a senator. "I thought he was very partisan, unable to see the other side of the issues," said Chris Patusky, a Fels Center master's student. "He's against campaign finance reform very strongly," he added.
(10/24/00 9:00am)
At most Ivy League institutions, prospective students can expect to be evaluated for admission without regard to their ability to pay tuition bills. But one Ivy, Brown University, has not been need-blind when selecting its students.
Due to budgetary constraints, Brown has for years been unable to ensure applicants a need-blind admissions process. Limited funding has meant that the admissions office must sometimes consider applicants' financial resources when making decisions, generally for the final 5 to 10 percent of students they choose to admit.
But if trustees and students have their way, Brown will join the rest of the Ivies in their need-blind processes.
A report released by a financial aid committee last May called for the school to reach full need-blind status within eight years. The report described the current situation and outlined a plan and time line for the change to be put into place.
The Brown Corporation, the school's governing body, discussed the report at its meeting this month, but has not yet decided on a course of action.
Among undergraduates, student sentiment has been in favor of a shorter time line for the school to become fully need-blind. Joshua Mandelbaum, a member of the Undergraduate Council of Students and an attendee at the Corporation's meeting, said that "the students recommended five years [for the implementation of a new policy]."
Students have created an initiative called the Last Dollar Campaign to raise money through alumni donations to help speed the process.
"The idea was to target alumni until [Brown is] need-blind," Mandelbaum said.
Once students are admitted, however, all of the Ivies including Brown cover their entire demonstrated financial need.
According to Mark Nickel, a spokesman for Brown, "[For] anyone who matriculates, we will meet 100 percent of their need."
Michael Bartini, Brown's director of financial aid and a member of the financial aid committee, echoed the recommendations of the report.
"Certainly from an institutional perspective and from an admissions perspective, we'd like to admit students without concern [for] the ability to pay," he said, continuing that it was inevitable that some students might be concerned about whether they could afford to attend Brown.
With so many high school seniors applying for admission, the impact that Brown's policy has on its applicant pool is not completely certain.
"Certainly the pool of applicants is large, the largest it's ever been," Nickel said, adding that they have come close to achieving need-blind admissions in certain years.
"Usually we're within 5 or 10 percent of being need-blind," he said. Nickel added that the goal of achieving need-blind admissions would have to be "considered... against the backdrop of all the competing needs the university has" and that undergraduate and graduate student financial aid needed to be evaluated together.
Mandelbaum said he felt that the adoption of a need-blind policy was essential. "I think it's something that people want to see done, and done as quickly as possible."
(10/02/00 9:00am)
For many high school students, the SAT is often seen as the arbiter of the future -- a test that may determine one's path through college and beyond. However, several colleges and universities are now rethinking the role of standardized testing in their admissions policies.
A number of schools, ranging from small liberal arts colleges like Middlebury College in Vermont to large public institutions like Indiana State University, have stopped requiring applicants to submit results of SAT I examinations.
Other schools, like Smith College, in Northampton, Mass., have decreased the emphasis of the test scores in their application process.
Sally Rubenstone, an admission counselor at Smith, said she felt that "what Smith has done in the past year is devalue the SAT."
However, many maintain the test is still useful in certain aspects of the selection process. Rubenstone, who has written several books on college admissions, pointed out that when schools are faced with a highly competitive pool of nearly identical students, the SAT "has become a tiebreaker, especially in [the] Ivy League."
Lee Stetson, Penn's dean of admissions, foresees no changes in the consideration of test scores when selecting applicants for Penn.
"I think that standardized testing continues to be a major element in the process," he said. "There's been no attempt to downgrade or change the way we use SATs."
The SAT faces new challenges in another area as well -- public institutions in California, Texas and Florida plan to, or have already, begun to accept students falling within a certain percentile in their high school classes, reducing the need for standardized test scores.
However, the College Board, the organization that administers the SATs asserts the continuing relevance of the test and discounts any trend away from its use. Janice Gams, associate director of public affairs for the College Board, said "mass media has been riding this as [a] major trend, and it's not a trend at all."
She cited a statistic that found that well over 80 percent of the 1,800 four-year colleges in the United States utilize the SAT.
Joseph Pedulla, chairman of the Department of Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation at Boston College, said the convenience of the test makes it attractive to post-secondary institutions, particularly some schools that receive several thousand applications yearly.
"If it's a large public institution... they need something that's very quick," he said. "It's a common metric" that facilitates the comparison of applicants.
And contrary to Gams, Pedulla said decreasing the significance of the SAT was a trend that "is taking off."
Gams added that SAT results were "in some cases more valid than grades" due to "variations from teacher to teacher" and among high schools themselves, of which there are thousands in the United States alone.
Colleges may also begin to look at test scores only as positive measures. Rubenstone said applicants with high test scores could be rewarded much as those with athletic or artistic ability -- and not penalized for the lack thereof.
Scores might "no longer be the make-it or break-it proposition," she added.
In contrast, Stetson did not foresee any significant decrease on reliance on the SAT: "The fact that two or three schools [have dropped requirements does] not make a trend."
(09/28/00 9:00am)
The recent resignation of Princeton University's president means that three Ivy League schools are looking for new leaders simultaneously, creating a large leadership vacuum inside the eight-member group of schools.
Princeton President Harold Shapiro, who has led the school since 1988, declared his intention to resign at the end of the academic year last Friday.
And last May, Neil Rudenstine, the longtime president of Harvard University, announced that he will step down at the end of this academic year. Also, Brown University President E. Gordon Gee resigned last spring after just two years in Providence, R.I.
But despite the simultaneous vacancies, some experts have predicted that the three top tier institutions will not necessarily be competing for the same candidates.
John Isaacson, a partner in Isaacson, Miller -- the Boston-based executive search firm that is helping with Brown's search -- predicted that the unique characteristics of each school could eliminate overlap.
"Those are three different institutions," he said.
According to Isaacson, the challenges facing college presidents have changed greatly over the years.
"Twenty years ago, to be the president of a university, you had to be a distinguished scholar but the fundamental economics were [a] given," he said, alluding to the increased financial pressures many schools are now facing.
Isaacson explained that from World War II until the Reagan era, college revenues were rising and university presidents' major concern was how to manage growth. "The main role of a president [today] is matching the revenue with the mission" of the school, he said.
Gee left Brown to become the chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Interim President Sheila Blumstein, a former dean and interim provost at Brown, assumed the top post within 48 hours of his announcement.
According to Brown spokesman Mark Nickel, the Brown Corporation -- the governing body charged with choosing a new president -- is actively proceeding with the selection process.
"The search is ongoing [and] nominations are still open," he said. "Although the search committees have moved through the process of evaluating applicants, the search is open until we find the person we need."
The current presidents of both Harvard and Princeton have given their institutions several months notice before they resign at the end of this academic year.
The Harvard Corporation is conducting its presidential search without assistance from external search agencies, according to Harvard spokeswoman Rebecca Rollins.
"The Corporation is conducting the search using its own resources," Rollins said. "I don't believe President Rudenstine is involved in the search."
Both Shapiro at Princeton and Rudenstine at Harvard have had significant impacts on their respective schools. Rudenstine oversaw a multibillion dollar campaign for the Harvard endowment, which has more than tripled during his time as president.
Shapiro has had similar success at Princeton, which has seen a record-setting capital campaign -- surpassing $1 billion -- along with the implementation of numerous educational initiatives during his tenure.
Gee had the distinction of raising the single largest amount of money in one year at Brown. Resigning only two years into his tenure, Gee had the school's shortest-ever presidency.
All three universities are actively soliciting the advice of the members of their schools' communities. Both Brown and Princeton have student representatives serving along with administrators, faculty and alumni on their search committees.
Isaacson said the the Brown search has been going smoothly. "We're doing pretty well," he said. "We hope to be the first of the three completed."
(09/15/00 9:00am)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has agreed to a $6 million settlement with the parents of a freshman who drank himself to death three years ago.
Scott Krueger, 18, died in 1997 three days after lapsing into an alcohol-induced coma. He had been taking part in a fraternity pledging event at the Phi Gamma Delta house.
The deal removes the threat of litigation against MIT by Robert and Darlene Krueger, who were set to file suit Wednesday if a pact had not been reached. The school has agreed to endow a $1.25 million scholarship in memory of Krueger, as well as pay $4.75 million to his parents.
The death rocked the MIT campus and forced the school to undergo a radical review of its alcohol and residential policies.
At the time of the incident, incoming freshmen had to choose to live in a fraternity or a dormitory within days of arriving on campus.
Now, however, the school requires all freshmen to live in housing owned and supervised by MIT -- effective in 2002, when the construction of a new undergraduate residence hall is slated to be completed. Also in 2002, all rush events will be moved later in the year so they no longer coincide with orientation.
Currently, all fraternities and sororities are required to have resident advisors who are not undergraduates.
Brad Henry, one of the Kruegers' attorneys, said that any deal was conditional on full public disclosure -- all agreements that would have remained confidential were rejected.
Henry added that no compromises were made in the process. "There were no concessions on our part."
MIT President Charles Vest personally met with the Kruegers and issued an apology on behalf of the university, which was released on the school's Web site.
"The death of Scott as a freshman living in an MIT fraternity shows that our approach to alcohol education and policy, and our freshman housing options, were inadequate. I am deeply sorry for this."
Henry cited Vest's involvement as a key element in the settlement process: "Once MIT, through its president, Charles Vest, expressed apologies for the failure of the Institute, everything became easier."
The Kruegers have not publicly declared what they plan to do with the money awarded to them.
Henry pointed out that MIT has implemented certain reforms since Scott's death. "We shouldn't gloss over the fact that MIT has already taken many of the steps they promised they would." He nevertheless added that "the pace of the reforms is somewhat frustrating."
In the aftermath of the incident, FIJI was permanently banned from MIT. The fraternity was indicted for its part in Krueger's death, though no one ever stood trial.
And in 1999, the Institute revoked for five years the diploma of a 1998 graduate who had served as pledgemaster at the event.
Penn's chapter of Phi Gamma Delta also disbanded last spring following the alcohol-related death of 1994 College graduate and FIJI brother Michael Tobin.
(09/14/00 9:00am)
Virtual universities have typically been at a disadvantage when it comes to offering extracurricular activities to their students, particularly in the area of sports.
A new Internet league hopes to change this.
Four Web-based colleges have teamed up to form one of the nation's first virtual university football leagues, which can be found at http://www.virtualcollegesports.com.
The schools' participation in this new program is somewhat unconventional. Not only are there no actual players involved, all of the games are entirely simulated. Furthermore, there is nothing that any team can do to influence the outcome of the games -- they will all be randomly decided.
Students at the four participating schools -- Kentucky Virtual University, Michigan Virtual University, Magellan.edu and the University of Texas Telecampus -- are encouraged to submit applications as to why their names should be selected for their respective schools' teams.
Once rosters have been finalized, a computer program will simulate matchups between the four participating schools -- and eight other fictitious teams that have been invented to bring the league to a full 12.
Students whose names are being used may find themselves the heroes of made-up game summaries recounting their exploits on the field.
"Basically what we're trying to do is... create a sense of community among our distance-learning students and just have some fun," Kentucky Virtual University student Sue Patrick said.
She added that the decision has garnered a lot of positive attention. "We want to provide an experience where students will want to... register again."
The other schools had similar reasons for joining. Rob Robinson, a technical manager for the University of Texas Telecampus -- the distance-learning unit for the UT system -- said the school is "always looking for ways that we can build community across campuses and degree programs."
Some virtual universities see the new league as a means of raising their profiles. Deborah White, spokeswoman for Michigan Virtual University, felt that the new league would "call attention to the fact that [we] exist."
All of the simulated participants will be modeled on actual college football players, much like other fantasy sports leagues.
KVU has even picked a name for their squad, dubbing their team "The @vengers."
The lighthearted nature of the venture is amply evident on the Web site. Applicants for the teams are encouraged to include high school football experience on their resumes, and to make some up if they lack any.
"It seemed like a real good way to build community," Robinson said. "I think it will be great fun."
(09/08/00 9:00am)
To anyone who cringes at the ever-increasing influence of corporate culture, stop reading now.
Taking the concept of grassroots marketing to a whole new level, two high school seniors from New Jersey have announced that they will be the nation's first corporate-sponsored college students.
Chris Barrett, 18, and Luke McCabe, 17, both seniors at Haddonfield Memorial High School, have embarked on an ambitious campaign to entice companies to pay for their entire college costs.
In exchange for their college costs, Barrett and McCabe hope to "create a grassroots marketing campaign" for their sponsors. Their plans include wearing the clothing and eating the food products of their corporate benefactors, as well as outfitting their dormitories with only sponsored furnishings.
The pair said that they wanted to try to do something new -- to take "a totally different approach to the college scene," according to Barrett.
To date, approximately 10 to 12 companies have contacted the students expressing interest in a potential sponsorship.
Their Web site, http:// www.chrisandluke.com, has already received around 400,000 hits.
"We're starting something that started elsewhere," McCabe said, citing the advent of corporate-sponsored weddings, school buildings and the like.
Corporations have long been endowing faculty chairs and buildings at universities, including several Wharton professors at Penn.
Marketing Professor Barbara Kahn said it's logical for businesses to target college students.
"There's a lot of inertia in brand preferences. It matters what brand people choose," she said, adding that by fixing students' buying habits early on, companies can gain lifelong customers.
Kahn noted that there is already debate on the ethics of corporate influence in education, specifically in primary schools. Advertisers are branching out now because with all the "advertising clutterS it's hard to get your logo seen."
As the college-age demographic becomes more and more valuable, "it seems like [it is becoming] an increasingly targeted market," Kahn said.
Barrett and McCabe hope to parlay their newfound fame into a career -- their aspirations include living in California and continuing "in the public eye."
They predicted that the unique nature of their idea would make it difficult for others to do the same at this point in time.
But they both downplayed any distinctions between themselves and students who choose other means of paying for college. "Our working for [our sponsors] is the same as anyone working [anywhere else]," Barrett said.
Added McCabe: "I see in the future that this will be a normal way of doing things.
(08/31/00 9:00am)
Few things are as highly anticipated by colleges and universities as the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings. Long a subject of intense scrutiny, the ratings have come under fire recently for the selection process the magazine uses to rank schools.
And now, details of a confidential U.S. News internal report critical of the rating system were recently published in The Washington Monthly.
The study, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago, had several criticisms of the methodology used to select the widely read "America's Best Colleges." Most notably, the report found the lack of a "defensible empirical or theoretical basis [for the ranking criteria]" to be its greatest flaw.
This year's rankings are scheduled to be released Friday morning on the U.S. News Web site.
In the Washington Monthly article, author Nicholas Thompson suggested reforms to the current process, including the elimination of ordinal rankings and greater efforts to account for the intellectual atmosphere of colleges.
U.S. News, however, responded in the article to this suggestion, saying that quantifying such data would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming.
University spokesman Ken Wildes said he feels that U.S. News is making an adequate effort to improve its ranking system, pointing out that "it's very difficult to compare and even rank places that are... very different." He added that colleges and universities are often overly concerned with their places in the widely disseminated list. Last year, Penn was ranked seventh in the annual report.
The Washington Monthly piece also held that colleges are often focused on ways to manipulate their own statistics to better suit the rankings. Wildes emphatically denied any such practices at Penn.
Thompson said yesterday that any upheaval in the listings as a result of a revised formula could undermine the rankings' future credibility.
"That's why they're not going to [reform]," he said.
He said that the current ranking system has always favored the Ivy League. "The rankings were designed to make sure the Ivies stayed at the top and once they found [a system to ensure that they did] they stuck with it," he said.
"There isn't any principle... behind the rankings. I think they are intrinsically unfair," Thompson said
(04/18/00 9:00am)
Penn students had a rare opportunity on Sunday to learn about careers in the performing arts directly from alumni who have gone on to reach their dreams of performing professionally. The Performing Arts Career Symposium 2000, presented by the Office of Student Performing Arts along with several campus organizations, brought seven alumni to the Annenberg Center's Studio Theatre. The panelists have distinguished themselves in various careers -- including screenwriting, acting, theater directing and even clowning -- after graduating from Penn. The discussion, moderated by SPA Coordinator Ty Furman, began with the alumni discussing their different experiences at Penn. A common theme among the speakers was their emphasis on extracurricular activities, as most of the alumni participated in some type of theater activity at Penn. For instance, Adam Gerstacov, a 1986 College graduate who now works as a professional clown, said he "ended up becoming really involved with Intuitions" during his time here. Susan Bernfield, the founder of an off-off-Broadway theater, was involved with Penn Players and Quadramics. Paul Provenza, a comedian and actor who has appeared in numerous productions on stage, film and television, then related his unique experience as an undergraduate to the audience. He owns the distinction of being the first Penn student to receive a bachelor's degree in Theater Arts. "There was no Theater Arts department," he told the 10 undergraduates present. "I ended up with the first Theater Arts degree, before they even had a program." Panel members also discussed their lives after Penn -- including the less glamorous parts -- like working odd jobs and sleeping on friends' couches while attempting to make their work known. Provenza gave advice to aspiring performers in the audience. "What's really important is to have something you can call your own," he said, a sentiment echoed by other panel members. "For me, it was stand-up comedy." And Josh Goldsmith, a 1992 College graduate and writer for the CBS comedy The King of Queens, added, "You can't depend on other people for your opportunities." Gerstacov advised students to be familiar with the business aspects of their intended professions, noting that Legal Studies courses were particularly valuable to him. After the panel discussion, the audience members moved upstairs to a reception held in the Annenberg lobby, where they mingled with the guests. "Our alumni [are] amazing. They love doing this?. They love talking to the students," Furman said. Furman added that attendance at the annual event tends to be much higher than it was on Sunday. He said he thought holding the event on Spring Fling weekend contributed to the poor attendance. Provenza said he had been particularly interested in participating in the symposium "because there was nothing like it when I was here." Janet Casamento, a College and Wharton senior who served on the 2000 Symposium Committee, said, "It's really? nice to see alumni who want to come back and give us the benefit of their knowledge."
(04/03/00 9:00am)
Using competition to build community, Penn's Residential Advisory Board sponsored an inter-college house soccer tournament Saturday afternoon in Superblock. Six teams representing five houses participated in the first-ever event. Players from Spruce, Harrison, Goldberg, Community and Harnwell houses made up the group of six teams, with Harnwell fielding two squads. The RAB is charged with advising the administration on college house issues and creating house-oriented activities. RAB co-chair Mike Pezzicola, a Wharton and Engineering sophomore who served as referee for the games, said the soccer tournament was "brought up as a good way to promote inter-house activities." College sophomore Margaret Watt, a RAB member who served as line judge for the matches, said the event was intended to "help promote community living and the college house system." The tournament was created, she added, in the hopes of fostering a little friendly competition between the different houses. Two of the teams were comprised of students who knew each other through special programs -- one of Harnwell's teams represented that house's International Program, while the Community House team was comprised of students who will be going to Mali this year to participate in a technology project. The six teams were seeded randomly in three first-round games. Of the three winners -- Harrison, Goldberg and Harnwell -- two were selected at random to compete against each other while the third received an automatic berth in the finals. After defeating Goldberg in their semifinal match, Harrison went on to defeat Harnwell in the finals, 5-2, clinching the top spot in the tournament. The competition itself was friendly but intense as players were often sent sprawling across the field as they chased after the ball. In between matches, players practiced or relaxed with their teams in the shade. RAB provided refreshments for the participants. But strengthening house community was not the sole motivation of those who participated. The winning team was awarded a $120 gift certificate to the New Deck Tavern, the second-place finisher received a $90 certificate to New Deck and third and fourth place were each given $60 certificates to Chili's. "It's nice to get out here," said third-year Irish exchange student Jonathan Feldman, who organized the winning Harrison College House team. "It's all about the prize money." Although RAB members said they would have liked to have seen more houses involved, the overall turnout of about 45 players was still gratifying for them. "We were hoping for all 12 [houses]," Watt said, "but we've never done anything like this before." The winning team, which came from the Science and Technology Wing in Harrison House, said they were pleased with the afternoon's event, complaining only of a lack of real nets -- small cones were used instead. Engineering sophomore Laura Lai, a member of RAB who also helped coordinate the event, said she felt the tournament would "exploit the whole college house system" and help facilitate inter-house communication.
(03/03/00 10:00am)
It was an unlikely setting for a shouting match. Tuesday evening, about 150 people -- many of them area medical students -- gathered in Stemmler Hall's Dunlop Auditorium for a heated debate on physician unionization. The fifth annual Thomas Langfitt Jr. Memorial Symposium brought four of the leading authorities on the controversial subject to Penn for a panel discussion and an open question-and-answer session. Arthur Caplan, the director of Penn's Center for Bioethics, served as the moderator. Much of the dialogue centered around the Campbell bill, a piece of legislation currently making its way through Congress that would give self-employed physicians the right to unionize. They are currently prevented from doing so by antitrust regulations. Doctors employed by hospitals can form unions, however. The experts who argued in favor of unions said they felt that the current system robbed them of critical decision-making power. Susan Adelman, the president of Physicians for Responsible Negotiations, began the forum by asserting that doctors were being taken advantage of by managed care organizations. "If [physicians] wish to be altruistic, they will be the altruistic recipients of crummy contracts," she said, referring to the terms many health maintenance organizations require doctors to comply with if they wish to treat their patients. Indeed, managed care often served as the focus of the evening's discussion. Panel member John Kelly, the director of Physician Relations for Aetna/U.S. Healthcare, wondered if unions for physicians would improve the quality of healthcare. "What impact would collective bargaining have? on patients?" he asked. However, Robert Weinmann, the president of the American Union of Physicians and Dentists, offered emphatic support for the Campbell bill "Health care dollars are being shuffled away from the doctors? to shareholders and executive pay packages," he said. Martin Gaynor, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, upheld the opposing view. "We're in very turbulent times in the healthcare system," he said, adding that he felt collective bargaining for individual physicians was not the solution. The event frequently became contentious as audience members asked questions of the panel. Caplan, for instance, asked how doctors could force HMOs to bargain if they themselves were not permitted to strike -- a question that sparked further debate between the panel and the audience. After the talk, Peter Traber, the interim chief executive officer of Penn's Health System, said he believes that patient care should always be the No. 1 priority of hospitals. "I think that I would come down on the side of professionalism and the integrity of the patient-physician relationship," he said. And James Wall, a first-year Medical student at Penn, said he felt that, "As a physician, [collective bargaining] would improve the state of physicians, not necessarily? society."
(02/04/00 10:00am)
Prominently displaying his unconventional approach to design, noted Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout held the attention of a filled-to-capacity crowd last night in the basement of Meyerson Hall. Van Lieshout, whose exhibit opens today at Penn's Institute of Contemporary Art, conducted a lecture and slideshow as part of a series hosted by the Graduate School of Fine Arts. About 200 people, mostly graduate students, attended the event. Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack said the program was a means of closing the gap between the student body and the typically avant-garde ICA, which is located at 36th and Sansom streets. "We've noticed that there has been a division between the campus and the ICA," Hack said. "With [ICA Director] Claudia [Gould], we've resolved that we will try to do more like this." The exhibit at the ICA marks the first major traveling display of van Lieshout's work in the United States. His creations have appeared in many galleries, including New York City's Museum of Modern Art. Currently operating an architecture and design studio in the Netherlands, which he started in 1987, van Lieshout designs and builds highly functional objects with an emphasis on "very simple standard furniture" for everyday living. Van Lieshout has also worked on civil projects for cities in the Netherlands. One particularly fanciful plan he described called for prisons created for the manufacture of alcohol --with inmates providing free labor. Mobility was another theme of the show, with several items incorporating wheels that allowed for easy transport. Several of his more unorthodox constructions -- which included a series of "sensory deprivation chambers" designed to cut a person off completely from the outside world and a Mercedes transformed into an armed pickup truck -- elicited laughter from the audience. Although he has created an assortment of weapons and included designs for self-sufficient, survivalist living in many of his projects, van Lieshout denied that his work possessed ulterior motives. "I am not at all interested in politics," he said. "I am interested in life." But when asked by an audience member why he chose to build weapons, van Lieshout responded, "[Weapons] are amoral. I don't like morality." Many attendees had strong opinions about the messages conveyed by the works. William Mangold, a senior studying architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, said he liked the fact that "he's fresh, he has attitude about things," adding that it was the best lecture he had ever attended. And Peter Knutson, who is in his first year of studying architecture in the GSFA, said, "There's actually nothing I didn't like?. He's coming from a position of sheer utility." At the conclusion of the lecture, the audience traveled upstairs where the speaker talked with students who sought autographs or a chance to ask questions.
