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(05/03/00 9:00am)
The Quakers may have won the men's Ivy League basketball title, but one of the most successful teams at Penn this year will never earn accolades for athletic prowess. Quaker Holdings is a student investment club started in 1998 by junior Michael Schostak and senior Aaron Fidler, two enterprising Whartonites who refused to wait until graduation to start earning their fortunes. While playing football at home in Detroit over the summer, the two decided to gather friends, pool some money and take on the stock market with their combined knowledge. "But the main focus here is not earning money," explains Schostak, the current chairman of the club. "Our main purposes are encouraging prudent investment and educating our members. None of us are Wall Street wizards, and we're not here to make a quick buck." True enough. But despite the lack of experience, Quaker Holdings has been at the top of its league. With an initial stake of $500 each, the 12 founding members have already doubled their shares. They have consistently outperformed the S&P; 500 and other popular stock indices. And with the current growth of the stock market, the future looks even brighter. The secret to their success? For one, the investors are careful in their stock selections. Their portfolio, which usually contains seven to 10 stocks, has featured high-profile stocks like Motorola, The Gap and IBM. "We're aggressive, but not stupid. We built a solid portfolio with stable stocks. We're looking to invest in stocks that have a significant growth potential. More importantly, we have entrepreneurial, self-motivated, ambitious members," Schostak notes. Indeed, Quaker Holdings is defined by its members. The 18 investors are more diverse than one would expect: They're not all from Wharton. The team benefits because members specialize in areas that best fit their skills. "The engineers are much more interested in technology and they do the research on high-tech companies like Motorola. We have a pre-med that does the research on biotech stocks. And, of course, the Wharton guys use all their knowledge of accounting and finance," Schostak says. The team is thoroughly committed to learning about the financial world, and this independence allows for a more educational experience. In addition, Quaker Holdings is strengthened by its well-organized structure. The Executive Board, composed of several officers who handle the specific responsibilities assigned to them in the club's constitution, provides leadership. The club also plans to change the structure of the Executive Board to encourage more participation and better distribute responsibilities. Quaker Holdings will be headed next year by Sam Kaplan and Josh Luks, both currently Wharton sophomores. The club plans on recruiting new members to replace the eight seniors who are leaving this year, but does not want to expand too much and take on the proportions of the Penn Investment Alliance, a sprawling organization with nearly 100 members. Luks' goals for Quaker Holdings exemplifies the ambitious nature of the club. "We'd like to create a much bigger presence on campus by providing things that other clubs cannot. We want people who are serious about investing, who want to play a significant role in an active environment."
(05/03/00 9:00am)
In exchange for a later opening date, the long-awaited $20 million overhaul of Gimbel Gymnasium -- which will create the Pottruck Health and Fitness Center -- will not close down the existing gym during the academic school year, officials announced last week. Construction will start this summer on the four-story addition that will add over 65,000 square feet to the current Gimbel space, according to the Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics. Officials announced the finalized construction date last week and expect the renovated facility to open in 2003. In October, plans called for a more accelerated construction schedule -- beginning this summer -- that would have closed down the entire site, including Gimbel, the Katz Fitness Center and the Sheerr Pool during the next academic year. According to a DRIA statement, Provost Robert Barchi discussed options with the Undergraduate Assembly and the Committee on Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics, who were in favor of keeping Gimbel open. "We felt that depriving students, faculty and staff of the use of these facilities for an entire year was not worth the benefit of an earlier opening," Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky said. Vice President of Facilities Omar Blaik said that some utility relocation may start this summer. And the vendors that occupy the fresh air food plaza next to Gimbel will be relocated during construction. "During construction, [the vendors] cannot be where they are," Blaik said. "The question is what happens after construction." Blaik added that the University is currently in talks with vendors about the impact of Gimbel construction, but said it is too early for serious discussions. The University has not settled on a location for the food trucks, according to the University's top economic development official, Jack Shannon, who added that they are looking at areas along the 3700 block of Sansom Street. "We would definitely not move them across campus," Shannon said. Some food truck owners are worried about the move. Mike Lynch, owner of the Quaker Shaker truck next to Gimbel, said that he hopes the new site does not deter foot traffic. The current plaza is accessible from Walnut Street. "[The move] will have a negative effect on all of us -- some more than others -- unless they make it aesthetically pleasing," Lynch said yesterday, adding that the University talked last month about adorning the new plaza with tables and chairs. Although the completed facility will bear Pottruck's name, the Katz Fitness Center, Gimbel and the Sheerr Pool will remain within the larger structure and retain their names. The overhaul is funded primarily by a $10 million donation from 1970 College graduate David Pottruck, a University Trustee and co-chief executive officer of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Featuring over 18,000 square feet of dedicated fitness space, the Pottruck Center plans include aerobic, dance and martial arts instruction areas. The new facility will also offer a juice bar, pro shop and climbing wall -- along with classroom and administrative areas. University officials first addressed the need for better exercise facilities in 1996 when they hired a consulting firm to create a list of recommendations for the future development of athletic and recreational facilities on campus. As a result, Gimbel underwent $1.2 million renovations in 1998 for the construction of the ground-floor Katz Fitness Center.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
Penn split four games with Columbia in a home-and-home series to avoid the basement in the Lou Gehrig Division. The Penn baseball team celebrated May Day one day early this year. Junior right fielder Chris May's seven runs batted in propelled the Quakers (20-21, 9-11 Ivy League) to a doubleheader sweep of Columbia (10-34, 6-14) on Sunday. Sunday's wins avenged two losses at Columbia the day before and stopped a late season tailspin that saw the Quakers drop seven games in a row. "There was a pride factor [in Sunday's doubleheader]," senior captain Kevin McCabe said. "In my mind, we were a lot better team than Columbia. We wanted to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we were a better team than that." In Sunday's first game, freshman Andrew McCreery pitched a complete game, holding the Lions bats at bay. McCreery scattered six hits over seven innings, allowing just three runs in a 13-3 Penn rout. Penn's hitters, held in check the weekend before by Princeton's staff, erupted early, affording McCreery the luxury of pitching with a huge lead, unlike the tight game that he pitched last Monday at Old Nassau. May -- batting in the cleanup spot --Etouched Columbia starter Ryan Kiernan in the bottom of the first for a two-run homer, his first of two dingers on the day. In the bottom half of the second, Penn rallied for five more runs, all with two outs. After Kiernan gave up singles to McCabe and Jim Mullen and hit May with a pitch to load the bases, the junior pitcher walked Glen Ambrosius to bring in a run. Designated hitter Jeff Gregorio then singled in two more runs. A single by Ron Rolph brought in Ambrosius, and Gregorio came around to score from first on an error. It appeared as if Columbia would strike back in the top of the third inning. After a William Hess triple brought in two runs to make the score 7-3, McCreery walked the bases loaded. But the freshman -- who finished the year leading Penn's regular starters with a 4.99 earned run average -- buckled down and struck out Keith Palmieri to end the inning. McCreery shut the Lions down after the third, throwing shutout ball the rest of the game to pick up his team-leading fifth win of the year. In the nightcap, junior Brian Burket picked up a win in relief of freshman Ben Otero. Burket pitched the last 4 1/3 innings of the game and held off a late Columbia rally in Penn's 13-9 triumph. The win brought Penn to the 20-win plateau for the first time since 1996, when the Quakers tied for the Gehrig Division title. The win also marks the 12th time in his 30-year career that Penn coach Bob Seddon guided his team to 20 or more victories in a season. "One of my personal goals was to get at least 20 wins," McCabe said. "It's certainly something to build on -- we made an 11-game turnaround." Last year's squad finished 9-28. Penn jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the third inning. The six-run rally was highlighted by May's bases-loaded double, which scored two. Burket relieved Otero in the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and one run in. But Burket got Andrew Pisano to fly to right field, ending the inning. Burket's win came a day after the junior hurler picked up a loss in Saturday's first game in New York. After starter Mike Mattern was lifted in favor of Burket in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lions pounced to erase a 9-5 lead. Columbia scored five runs in their last at-bat to steal the game 10-9. In the second game, freshman Ben Krantz was tagged for seven runs in three innings and gave up eight walks. The freshman's record dropped to 2-2 for the year as Penn's ninth inning rally fell short. Despite 16 hits, the Quakers stranded nine runners in the 9-7 loss.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
Cliff Bayer just keeps gliding along on the road to Sydney. The Wharton senior, who has taken this year off from school and the Penn fencing team to train for the Olympics, qualified for the Games last month with his win at a World Cup event in Bonn, Germany. Bayer, a foilist, vaulted to No. 8 in the world rankings with the gold medal. When he goes to Sydney in September, he will try to become the first American to medal in fencing since 1984 and only the second in the past 40 years. "It's been a great year for me, and it probably would have been a great year for a European fencer," Bayer said. "One thing that's particularly nice is that I've heard so many times that Americans can't do a sport like fencing because we don't have the tradition, we don't have this, we don't have that. A hundred excuses why Americans can't be successful in fencing. "This year, it's changing. People are starting to change the way they think. It's great to be part of that, almost like a revolution." In addition to Bayer's success, the American team recently won the Junior World Championships. Bayer, meanwhile, has become the first American ever to win a gold medal at a World Cup event. The Bonn victory is the second for him in the past year. Bayer won an event last summer in St. Petersburg, Russia. Bayer's year off from Penn hasn't been necessary just because of the travel, though. His training has been nothing short of intensive, just as should be expected from an Olympic athlete. Based in New York, Bayer trains, twice a day, six days a week. His mornings consist of running, biking or swimming to improve his strength. Then, in the afternoon, Bayer suits up for the fencing portion of his day. That usually consists of either a lesson from his coach or practice bouts with other members of the American national team. "One thing I've been working on a lot this year is becoming a much more diversified fencer, opening up my game a lot more," Bayer said. "That's one of the main reasons I've had so much success. A lot of fencers tend to have a certain type of move, and if that move works, they keep doing it. "It happens with younger fencers because they don't know any better. Once you get older, you have to keep changing, because one move isn't necessarily going to do it." One way that Bayer has diversified is by working on his defense more than in past years -- he had been known in the past as mainly an attacking fencer. This work paid off in Bonn. There, Daniele Crosta, ranked No. 14 in the world, tried to exploit this reputation, but Bayer adapted to Crosta's attacks to win the bout. "A lot of people just might look at me and say 'Cliff is a real good aggressive fencer, so I'm not going to let him attack me, I'm going to automatically attack him and he's going to be dead,'" Bayer said. "Something I've been working on then is to build up my defense to counter-attack those people who are thinking that." The result of all of this work is that Bayer will miss a little bit more school in September to compete in Sydney.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
High school seniors enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences this fall will have an extra decision to make this summer while they are busily selecting housing arrangements and dining plans. They will also need to decide whether or not they want to participate in the College's new pilot curriculum program, which includes a modified version of the General Requirement. College Dean Richard Beeman said the school will soon send out letters and brochures to incoming freshmen explaining the differences between the pilot program and the traditional curriculum, allowing students to indicate a preference for one or the other. From the group of students indicating an interest in the pilot curriculum, 200 will be randomly selected for the new program, Beeman said, but he added that the participant group may be somewhat adjusted to create a balanced mix of students. "We want this to be, as near as possible, a cross-section of the freshman class," Beeman said, noting that "we will pay attention to obvious categories" to ensure a balanced distribution of males and females, as well as students who indicated different interests on their applications to Penn. The most publicized part of the pilot curriculum, approved last fall by the College faculty, is the modified General Requirement, which will consist of four special interdisciplinary courses rather than the traditional 10-course requirement. One course will be offered each semester, on average, in each of the four areas: "Structure and Value in Human Societies," "Science, Culture and Society," "Earth, Space and Life" and "Imagination, Representation and Reality." The pilot program will also include a required research component for every participating student, as well as increased emphasis on the development of oral and communication skills and the use of free electives. Math Professor Frank Warner, the chairman of the Committee on Undergraduate Education, which oversaw the development of the pilot curriculum, said the new curriculum "could make a really significant difference to undergraduate education here at Penn." Classes offered this fall will include titles like, "Globalization and its Historical Significance," "The Self-Portrait" and "Life in the Universe." Students are expected to take one pilot course per semester for their first four semesters. "My hope is that we get a good number of students to select it, but that the number of students is not overwhelming," Warner said of the pilot program. Beeman said the College used focus groups of current students in developing its mailings on the new curriculum, and the participants were evenly divided about which program they would have preferred if given a choice. "I think we have crafted our [brochures] in a way that we expect a good many people will opt for the traditional curriculum," Beeman said, since the mailings will point out both the advantages and disadvantages of each program. Though the pilot curriculum's General Requirement includes only four courses, Beeman said he did not think that incoming students would choose it to avoid taking classes in subjects they do not like. He added, however, that "the pilot curriculum really does not ensure that students will be exposed to? as many subject areas." Warner noted that the experimental General Requirement would not necessarily be a reduction of six course requirements for most students, since many now fulfill parts of the General Requirement with courses in their majors or Advanced Placement credits. He said the pilot curriculum's special interdisciplinary courses -- most of which will be taught by a team of professors -- might actually get students to become interested in subjects that they might otherwise have avoided with the traditional General Requirement. In the fall of 2001, 400 freshmen will participate in the pilot curriculum, which will be overseen by a committee associated with CUE. The program will be evaluated in five years by the SAS faculty, which would have to vote to expand the initiative to all College students.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
A new cultural magazine will grace campus halls next year, joining the ranks of Penn's plethora of publications. Titled El Alebrije, the magazine will explore themes relevant to the Latino experience. The magazine, named after a creature of Latino mythology, will focus on the cultures of "Americans from the Americas" -- Chicanos, Latinos and Hispanics, among others. Editors say the magazine will not be strictly literary, but will publish both fiction and non-fiction, poetry, short stories, academic essays and any material that is relevant to the Latino heritage. "We try to be all inclusive," said College senior Jorge Solano, who will serve as the magazine's editor-in-chief. "It's for anybody who has anything to say about our identity in the U.S." Solano added that the alebrije was chosen to represent the magazine because the chameleon-like creature is "a mythical symbol for all the different backgrounds that apply to our experience." A board of editors has been chosen, but the magazine is still in the planning stages and will require University funding. The idea for a magazine focusing on Latino culture was first proposed last month by Lilvia Soto, director of La Casa Latina. Soto, who also teaches a creative writing course, said she conceived the initiative while reading her students' work. "I got some very good writing from my students," she said. "Their wonderful essays should be published." Soto called a meeting in April among Latino students to see if publishing a magazine through La Casa Latina was feasible. She said her proposal was met with much enthusiasm. "I found out there were other students who were interested in this endeavor," she said. Soto will act as an advisor to the student-run magazine. She also plans to work with the Kelly Writers House and other campus resources throughout the magazine's inception process. And Solano said that he would "like to see more involvement as far as writing submissions" from the English Department. Soto added that she hoped to write a grant proposal for University funding for the project. The magazine's editors hope to publish the first issue next spring. "We're in the hopeful planning stage," said Wharton sophomore Rosaria Perez, who will serve as the business manager of the new magazine. She added that the publication would come out on an annual basis, but she hopes eventually it will be published every semester. Editors are currently searching for talented writers -- students, staff and faculty -- from Penn, its sister schools and the Philadelphia community. El Alebrije will join a list of other magazines on campus dedicated to disseminating the voices of a campus minority, such as Mosaic, an Asian-American magazine, and Pandora's Box, a literary magazine for women writers. "We want to make [El Alebrije] a University landmark," Solano said.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
The Quakers ended the season with their sixth loss in seven games, losing 12-6 at Delaware. The Penn men's lacrosse team capped its season and four Quakers seniors ended their careers with a string of four straight losses. The Quakers (5-9) fell 12-6 to the No. 15 Delaware Blue Hens with a lackluster effort at Rullo Field Saturday evening. "I'd say we had a less-than-inspired effort when things started to go away from us," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "I don't think there was any one little thing that was the key to it. They just more or less outplayed us for the majority of the game." The Quakers fell behind 3-0 in the first quarter, before senior attackman and co-captain Pete Janney finally broke the drought with 6:30 left in the second quarter. As it turns out, that goal was the last of Janney's career as a member of the Red and Blue. He finishes as Penn's second-most prolific goal scorer with 117, 12 behind John Ward's 129. "Peter Janney was bothered by a rib muscular injury that really kept him from being able to shoot the ball," Van Arsdale said. The Red and Blue did manage to score again, pulling to within two before the half ended and heading into the locker room down 4-2. But Van Arsdale knew that the Quakers had missed some great chances. "I think at the start we had some good opportunities which we didn't cash in, which is starting to sound a little redundant," Van Arsdale said. "We did that early, and then they got the pace of the game a little bit slowed down and rattled off a couple in a row. And we just never really responded." Despite "slowing down" the game, the Blue Hens scored five goals in the third stanza, while the Quakers were unable to get any balls past Delaware goalie Dave Mullen, who had a career high with 19 saves on the night. Down 9-2 at the end of three, the Quakers, as they have so many times this season, sent out the "too little, too late" brigade. Junior attacker Todd Minerley sandwiched his 24th goal of the year between junior midfielder Pete Gilman's two goals, as the Quakers started the fourth quarter on a 3-0 run. The Blue Hens, however, came right back with a 3-0 run of their own, and Delaware attackman Jason Lavey's goal with 5:15 left essentially put the game out of reach at 12-5. The run also rendered the final goal of the Quakers' season -- by junior midfielder Adam Solow -- virtually meaningless. But what about the Red and Blue's season? "I think the first word that probably comes to mind for most people would be disappointing, particularly given the start we had," Van Arsdale said. "I think we started maybe faster than anticipated, including those scrimmages early. It seemed like we were playing some very good lacrosse, and we just never were able to maintain it." Consistency problems plagued the Quakers all year, as they never seemed to be able to sustain the flashes of excellence they showed at times. "Basically, it's just our inconsistent play," senior midfielder Mike Kehoe said. "We can never put a whole game together." Having lost three straight heading into Saturday's game, the Quakers seniors wanted to end their careers on a positive note, but it wasn't meant to be. "It was devastating, disappointing, nothing good about it," senior defenseman Bill Fowler said. "It was hard to swallow," Kehoe said. "We worked really hard in the offseason, and you put a lot of time and effort into a varsity sport." So, was the effort worth it? "I did have fun, despite the record," Kehoe said. "I learned a lot, and it taught me a good work ethic, even though we did lose every year." While the seniors were reflecting, Van Arsdale was looking ahead -- and at the positives that could be taken away from the season. "[Senior midfielder Billy] Reidy's comeback was a real big positive," Van Arsdale said, referring to the knee injury that kept Reidy out for nearly all of his junior year. Van Arsdale was also pleased with the play of his two young goalies, sophomore John Carroll and freshman Ryan Kelly, who split time in the net this year. More freshmen that Van Arsdale looks forward to having back are midfielders Alex Kopicki and Jake Martin and defenseman Stephen Brown, players who saw substantial action this season. "The freshmen that got a lot of time this year I think will really emerge next year," Van Arsdale said. "We have a couple key guys there that will play huge roles for us."
(05/03/00 9:00am)
Five historically African-American Greek organizations stepped, stomped, clapped and chanted their way through the Bicultural InterGreek Council's annual step show Saturday night at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink. One fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, entered wearing head-to-toe black, including black face masks. Halfway through the routine, the brothers ripped off their shirts, provoking wild cheers from the audience. They also executed a complicated routine using canes. The step show happens each year during the weekend of the Penn Relays, an annual track and field meet. "It's the best show they've ever done," said Indiana University of Pennsylvania senior and Kappa Alpha Psi brother Tyrone Bynum, who did not step Saturday. "They had no drops, even though they had some very difficult cane steps. They were flawless and they represented the fraternity very well." And their flashy moves were rewarded. The Pennsylvania State University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi won for best fraternity, beating out last year's champion, Penn and Drexel University's Alpha Phi Alpha. "This is the best thing in the world," IUP freshman and Kappa Alpha Psi brother Mike Earley said. "We knew we were top of our game this year." Penn and Temple University's Zeta Phi Beta sorority won the women's competition, defeating the University of Delaware's Delta Sigma Theta, and last year's winner, Penn and Drexel's Alpha Kappa Alpha. College sophomore Tia Rideout, BIG-C correspondence secretary and Zeta Phi Beta sister, said simply, "Hard work pays off." The show began with a performance by the West Philadelphia-based Devastating Precision Youth Drill Team, a combination of steppers and drummers. After Kappa Alpha Psi's performance, Zeta Phi Beta performed, entering with prizefighter robes and poking fun at the other sororities by pretending to knock them out. In addition to the five Greek organizations that competed in the show, Cheyney University's Phi Beta Sigma fraternity performed for exhibition purposes only. BIG-C Program Coordinator Larry Moses explained that Phi Beta Sigma could not compete because many of their steppers were older than an undergraduate show allows. Moses was pleased with how the show turned out. "We were very proud of the step show and a lot of the fellowship we saw," Moses said. "There was great representation, with a large number of people visiting from other colleges." The show was co-sponsored by Black Entertainment Television in order to promote their new Web site, BET.com. The company also had a deejay in Hamilton Village earlier in the day. Moses said the company was satisfied with the step show, after-party and the carnival, and plans to co-sponsor future Penn events.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
Nike has withdrawn funds from schools that have joined the WRC. University of Michigan officials are learning that sometimes it isn't easy to do what they think is right. Early this year, student protesters staged a sit-in to pressure Michigan -- the top collegiate clothing manufacturer in the nation -- to join the Worker Rights Consortium to monitor the production of school logo apparel. In February, the school agreed to join the the WRC. But then last Thursday, Nike announced that it was ending negotiations on the renewal of a six-year multi-million dollar contract with the university, citing the school's decision to join the WRC as the cause of the termination. And after this incident and other attacks from the corporate world, some of the approximately 45 member schools in the WRC are suggesting that the organization consider a greater relationship with the apparel industry. But while certain schools have pushed for a better relationship --which could include putting corporate representatives on the WRC governing board -- the organization has no plans just now to take these steps, which are what student activists say differentiate it from the more established Fair Labor Association. WRC spokeswoman Maria Roeper said that under no circumstances would the organization allow industry representatives on its governing board, fearing they might adjust the high standards that the WRC claims to uphold. "They shouldn't have decision making power," Roeper said. "That would undermine the concept of an independent organization." Still, if the WRC sticks to its current make-up of collegiate and human rights groups, companies may continue to express their frustration. Nike officials explained that, by joining the WRC, Michigan had substantially altered the draft agreement that the company and school had negotiated several months before, saying in a statement that the two were no longer "on the same page." Michigan spokesman Joel Seguine said that Michigan is standing firm in its commitment to the WRC. "This comes along, and it's another hit," he explained. "But we're standing on principle." Nike's current agreement with the school, which ends August 31, provides Michigan with sports uniforms and equipment for men's and women's varsity teams. This contract is valued at $7 million, university officials said. And on Friday, Michigan President Lee Bollinger announced the one-time transfer of $3 million from his discretionary fund to the athletic department to help cover the shortfall introduced by the potential loss of Nike funding. Nike's decision to end negotiations with Michigan comes just after Nike President Phil Knight withdrew his informal pledge to donate $30 million to the University of Oregon, his alma mater, to help finance a new football stadium. Oregon joined the WRC in early April. In March, Nike moved to end an agreement to provide hockey equipment to Brown University after the school -- also a new member of the WRC -- tried to renegotiate its contract in accordance with the monitoring organization. Nike officials said the WRC is asking apparel manufacturers to comply with impossibly high standards, but that the company agrees with the overall goal of the monitoring organization -- to secure workers' rights. "It's about possibly subjecting our company to standards that neither we, nor our competitors or even the University of Michigan and its vendors can honestly adhere to," Morris said.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
Philadelphia's reputation is about to get a facelift. For decades, many have perceived the City of Brotherly Love as nothing but a rest stop between New York City and Washington, D.C. And although the five-county Philadelphia region includes more than 50 colleges and universities -- not to mention 250,000 students -- it is not traditionally considered a college town. But the city's image is about to change, according to Todd Hoffman, founder of Campus Visit, a for-profit company started in Boston in 1995 to promote the city as a college town. The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation has put up $300,000 to hire Campus Visit to launch a promotional program in Philadelphia to boost its image among college applicants. Sixteen Philadelphia-area colleges and universities, including Penn, are already involved in the campaign. GPTMC Program Director Veronica Wentz said the initiative is one that area schools have been contemplating for years. "A lot of colleges are hoping to see us step up to the plate," she said, adding that institutions other than those that are already involved have expressed interest in taking active roles in the campaign. "[The initiative] will re-position Philadelphia not as a city of colleges but a city where colleges and commerce are intertwined," Hoffman said. "Philadelphia does not seem to get the recognition it deserves." Hoffman added that the city has a great deal of untapped cultural and ethnic diversity. "[The campaign] has been a long time coming," said Becky Bowlby, associate director of Undergraduate Admissions at Drexel University, a participating school. "Overall, I think Philadelphia gets a bad rap. What's heard outside the region [about crime and the people] is negative." Larry Moneta, Penn's associate vice president for campus services, said Philadelphia's resources are comparable to Boston's, but that the city has not done as good a job promoting them. "Imagery is a function of how you package the product," he said. The project is currently focusing on the first of three phases, which consists of attracting prospective college students. Later, the organizers will direct their attention toward helping enrolled students become familiar with the city and retaining students after they graduate. "When people are looking to select a college, 70 percent of them will go to a school they first visited," Hoffman said. "It's absolutely critical that you get the kids to visit the campus." Hoffman explained that the initiative aims to lessen parents' fears about the city by encouraging high school students and their parents to experience the city -- independent of the schools -- when they visit. The program offers suggested itineraries and recommended hotels and restaurants through its toll-free number , a travel desk and a Web site, http://www.onebigcampus.com. The initiative also includes a 46-page magazine with articles about the participating schools and the region. "There's a lot of information on how to apply to college, but there's little on how to do a campus visit," Hoffman said. "It's very important to sell people on the region." While Campus Visit's quantitative impact on application numbers is difficult to determine, Hoffman said the Boston schools involved reported a 15 percent increase in applications since joining the initiative, even though college applications rose only 2.3 percent nationally.
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To the world, Leigh Bauer is an attorney and a professor. To his students, however, Bauer is much more -- a friend and, sometimes, even a father-figure. Bauer began his teaching career in Wharton's Legal Studies Department over 40 years ago, even before he graduated from law school. He has a unique teaching philosophy, one that focuses on learning about the world by using critical thinking. "In my class, I bring everyday things to life," Bauer said. Students respond eagerly to this approach, often bringing up current news issues in class. Bauer is not easy on his students -- he strictly enforces attendance and requires class participation. But unlike most Wharton classes, Bauer refuses to grade on a curve. "Students graded on a curve aren't willing to help each other," Bauer explained. "If everyone masters the material, everyone should get As." Bauer shares his beliefs about college life and Penn with his students inside and outside the classroom. He encourages students to date, explaining that it is part of the college experience. Other issues that Bauer feels strongly about include underage drinking and litter, which he believes is the No. 1 problem at Penn. Explaining that the garbage left lying around campus only reflects poorly on Penn, Bauer said, "Everyone should be embarrassed by this litter. It reflects on our character." Bauer does more than just speak out about what he thinks and feels. He acts on those opinions as well. Former student Nhung Tran, now a graduate student in the History Department, explained how one of Bauer's practices influenced her. "Every day, after class, I would watch Professor Bauer walk around the classroom and pick up the trash the students had left behind," Tran said. With her own parents far away in Vietnam, Bauer and his wife took Tran, then an undergraduate student, under their wing to become her adopted family in Philadelphia. "They've provided moral support for me and opened their home to me," Tran said. Bauer, she said, instinctively steps beyond the norm for a professor-student relationship. But don't bother telling Bauer that there's anything remarkable about his attitude toward his students. "Bonding occurs naturally in my class -- I can't explain it," Bauer said. "Interplay with faculty and students is also very important to my wife and to me." Every Friday night, the Bauers dine with different members of the faculty or administration. They also commonly invite students to their home. "The Bauers are always inviting students to their home for Thanksgiving and other holidays. Leigh takes special notice of those students who cannot go to their own homes," Tran said. Students feel at ease with Bauer and take him up on his offer of accessibility. Indeed, one student called Bauer at his office at 5:15 a.m. last week, just to check if he was there. "It's all collaborative," College junior Adam Schiff explained, "and there is no lecturing. We help him come up with the answers." This is exactly the result Bauer desires -- for his students to learn to think critically on their own and also to realize that, for every situation in life, the answer is, "It depends." Bauer enjoys working with Penn students, describing them as "the cream of the crop." Preferring to teach undergraduates to MBA students, he explained that "My challenge here is to do more than just teach law." This is a challenge that, according to his students past and present, Bauer has met and surpassed. "His approach is different than any professor-student relationship I've ever seen," Schiff said. And Engineering freshman Rachael Palmer added her own praise for Bauer. "He's just great -- really interesting and an excellent teacher." Whether catching up with former students or discussing topical issues with current students, Bauer continues to deliver witty one-liners and tricky questions to those around him. But what he hopes his students will realize is that he is simply pushing them to be their best.
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Few speakers that come to Penn's campus ask Americans to remember their shameful secrets and share them with the world. But Randall Robinson, a lawyer, activist and author, did just that last Wednesday afternoon when he said that descendants of slaves do indeed deserve reparations from the United States government. Robinson spoke before a diverse mix of about 50 Penn students and faculty members in the Christian Association building. In his latest and most controversial book, The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks, Robinson addressed the subject of reparations. In it, he contends that the reparations are valid -- and even necessary -- considering the continued social and economic disparity between African Americans and whites in America. "African Americans are behind economically. Africa is behind the rest of the world. So one might ask the question, why is it that people of African descent are behind?" Robinson asked. "Something happened to cause this substantial economic gap to open between races in America and in the world," he said, referring to the deep and lasting effects of slavery. The president of TransAfrica -- a lobbying organization for African and Carribean policies -- Robinson argued that the reparations function as an equaling agent in response to present-day racism and nearly 250 years of slavery. He also used his talk to try to refute some of his opponents' arguments. One such claim centers around the fact that even some Africans were involved in the slave trade. He struck down that argument by drawing on an example from the Holocaust. "Even in the Jewish concentration camps, there was some collaboration, there always is." In addition, he addressed those whites who say that they should not have to pay because their ancestors were not involved in the slave trade at all. "No one is talking here about personal culpability," he said. "When a government is complicit in a crime against humanity, that government has a responsibility and an obligation to make the victim whole." Explaining that America has yet to erect any memorials to commemorate the Middle Passage -- the voyage that men and women were forced to take from Africa to America during the Atlantic slave trade -- he showed his frustration in talking about America's lack of acknowledgement of slavery. "I don't think the problem with this has to do with reparations itself. I don't think it has to do with money. I think it is this business of denial. We are living the lie," he said. Many of the audience members felt that Robinson has succeeded in bolstering the fight for more consciousness on behalf of African Americans in the past and the continued effects of racial discrimination. For instance, Tukufu Zuberi, the director of the African Studies Center at Penn, called the talk "a very appropriate end to this year's activities in [Penn's] African Studies." And History Professor Lee Cassanelli said Wednesday's talk was the first time that he had heard Robinson speak, and he was impressed by both the man and the lecture. "I have followed him and his work for 25 years. He is a wonderful speaker and I thought it was a great talk." College freshman Roscoe McMillan agreed, saying, "I found it very invigorating, I really enjoyed it. He was dynamic."
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There wasn't a prosecution table in sight, and the defense and jury stayed home. But on Monday evening, at the Division of Public Safety building, the University Police Department went on a trial of opinion as it hosted a hearing to gather public feedback for its ongoing accreditation process. For nearly an hour, about a dozen police officials, students and community members addressed a committee of assessors with their opinions on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Penn Police. The hearing was a mandatory step in the process of departmental accreditation, an honor the UPPD is seeking to bolster its stature in the law enforcement community and gain legal and financial advantages. Currently, only 26 university police forces nationwide are accredited. Three assessors from the Committee on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies recorded the testimonials, which focused on the department's suitability for accreditation. The assessors will wrap up their five-day, on-site review of the UPPD's procedures today. The vast majority of comments presented at the meeting were positive, as a number of high-ranking police and security officials from throughout the city attended to help the UPPD's cause. "Right from the get-go I was impressed with [University Police Chief Maureen Rush's] demeanor, her professional knowledge and, of course, her experience as a police commander," Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney said. "You'll be hard-pressed to find a more professional administrator," he added. "The men and women she commands are excellent police officers." Others focused on the professionalism and knowledge exhibited by UPPD officers. "The police officers have always been very articulate, very on-the-ball and very helpful in discussing issues related to student conduct," said former University Honor Council Chairman Kevin Hodges, a Wharton senior. A number of critical comments were offered by a trio of students in the audience, who chose to cite the department's relationship with students of color as evidence of a serious operational deficiency. "I come before you because there is a slight double-standard when it comes to who benefits from the police department's crime prevention efforts," said College senior Dan Cherry, a representative from UMOJA, an umbrella organization for several African-American student groups. "We're concerned that all issues are being handled -- not just those in the majority community," he added. One student discussed the unfair treatment which she said is typically offered to people with no affiliation to the University. "I've been hearing a lot of stories of [departmental] misconduct in terms of dealing with people with color," College sophomore Korzu Taplin said. "I feel that people in the community are often treated differently if they're not a Penn student." The comments of Cherry and Taplin drew an immediate response from several officials in the audience. "I'm not a student, though I know their issues are real," said Affirmative Action Executive Director Valerie Hayes, adding that Rush and her department have taken great strides in recent years to make their department as fair as possible. Despite the differing opinions, University Police officials said they were confident that the accreditation process will still go forward successfully. "I think in general terms it was a positive experience," Rush said. Once the assessors conclude their review later today, they will make a report to a final CALEA committee, which will hold a review hearing this July in Illinois. It is at that hearing where the department will learn whether it has been granted the honor of accreditation. "[The accreditation review] is not an easy process, and it's noteworthy that any police agency would set this type of goal and work hard to achieve it," said Albert Oglesby, deputy chief of the George Mason University Police Department and the lead CALEA assessor.
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They came to campus to run, to cheer, even just to celebrate. And in the end, that's about all that happened. Despite an influx of almost 100,000 Penn Relays fans and a campus-wide celebration in honor of Hey Day, University Police say that crime last weekend stayed at one of the lowest levels in recent history. Over the period of Thursday to Sunday, only nine crimes were reported to the University Police, and of them, police officials say, only a handful were related to either the Relays or Hey Day. "From a crime perspective, Relays went very, very well," University Police Chief Maureen Rush said. "With just a couple of exceptions, the crowd inside the stadium was a pleasant crowd and [they] were very cooperative." In the past, the Relay's crowds were known to bring with them a sharp increase in a variety of different crimes, including greater numbers of thefts, burglaries and even some violent offenses. But for the past three years, crime during the weekend-long track meet has decreased consistently -- a notable change since the 1997 Relays, which was marred by a riot at the Wawa convenience store on Spruce Street and a carjacking outside Franklin Field. This year, police are attributing only a few minor incidents to the Relays and Hey Day activities. "We had one pickpocket in a men's room at Franklin Field, a vandalism and a minor theft somewhere else," University Police Deputy Chief of Investigations Thomas King said. "That was pretty much it." In addition, four University students were arrested and cited with disorderly conduct for Hey Day-related disruptions on Friday in the Quadrangle. "[The students were exhibiting] unruly behavior that had the possibility of causing some real harm to others," Rush said. Besides Relays and Hey Day-related offenses, University Police responded to an unaffiliated case of domestic assault at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, an auto theft, two thefts from autos and a bike theft. In addition, police arrested 22-year-old Rudel Freeman early Sunday morning and charged him with burglary after a Spectaguard observed the Philadelphia resident trying to break into College Hall through a window. But with the lack of any other serious crime, police say they spent the majority of their efforts dealing with large parties both on- and off-campus. "They weren't so much rowdy as they were crowded," Rush said. "There were a lot of people at the parties so it took some of our resources away from the other things we were doing." By late Saturday evening, campus activity had returned to normal, Rush continued, adding that traffic patterns throughout the weekend stayed relatively manageable and vendors along Walnut and 33rd streets were helpful in keeping the volume of the music down.
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Bruce Montgomery, conductor of the Penn Glee Club, is retiring For the past 50 years, Bruce Montgomery has been a bastion of consistency in an ever-changing university. So it was only fitting that on Saturday night, when Montgomery conducted his very last Glee Club performance before a well-deserved retirement, nearly 1,000 of his closest friends and former students came to celebrate his long and much-admired career. The beloved Montgomery -- known to friends as "Monty" -- has conducted both the Penn Glee Club and Penn Singers for decades. For about two hours, Zellerbach Theatre was pervaded by a familiar yet bittersweet tune. Montgomery had the chance to witness Glee Club members past and present, as both the Grand Alumni Chorus -- made up of current students and alumni -- and the current ensemble performed songs from Monty's reign. For Monty's swan song, few in the auditorium were left with dry eyes. Around him sat an assemblage of friends and admirers, and before him stood a living retrospective of his life at Penn. Indeed, men who sang during Montgomery's first year as conductor stood beside current freshmen tied in sentiment and song. "I guess Lou Gehrig said it best on the day he retired when he said, 'Today, I'm the luckiest man in the world,'" Montgomery told the audience at the beginning of the performance. The show itself was a warm recap of Montgomery's musical career, with most of the pieces either written or arranged by the conductor himself. The repertoire combined traditional pieces, folk songs and a flamboyant Broadway-like number, "By The Sea" -- performed by the current Glee Club -- complete with tumblers, backflips and a human pyramid. Yet rather than end on a grand theatrical note as might be appropriate for a half-century of musical service, the show quietly finished with a mellow tribute to Penn, entitled "Afterglow," that Monty had written. Throughout the show, rather than acknowledge his own achievements, Montgomery consistently directed the applause toward the singers and musicians themselves. Still, while the show celebrated Montgomery's music, a reception afterward showcased the man. Accolades flowed freely at the invite-only reception, as Glee Club members and academics of various ages and backgrounds expressed what the music of Bruce Montgomery meant to them. Even University President Judith Rodin made an appearance, prepared with a short poem to honor Montgomery's departure. Robert Suskind, a 1954 Penn graduate and current member of the Grand Alumni Chorus, was a student when Montgomery first arrived at the school. "You can't find a more wonderful human being," a teary-eyed Suskind said. "He is the heart and soul of the Glee Club. It's a terrible loss." College senior Aaron Perlis, the current Glee Club president and one of several members who has worked with Montgomery for four years, remarked that he was a "72-year-old guy capable of joking around with 18- to 22-year-olds." "Bruce has been an absolute friend and mentor who has always been there," Perlis added.
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Amadou Diallo's death at the hands of New York City police officers in February 1999 cast its shadow on the Penn campus last Thursday evening. Approximately two dozen people -- most of whom were Philadelphia residents -- gathered in Logan Hall to discuss racial oppression and police brutality. The meeting was organized by Uhuru, a subsection of the African People's Socialist Society that promotes the democratic rights of African Americans and opposes government-sponsored oppression. During the two-hour long meeting, the audience listened to four speakers, two of whom were relatives of black men who were shot and killed by Philadelphia law enforcement officers. Barbara Vance, an aunt of police shooting victim Kenneth Griffin, described the circumstances of her nephew's death. Griffin was shot to death by two Philadelphia parole officers while allegedly naked and unarmed in the basement of a relative's home. Vance described her nephew's death as a racially motivated "homicide." "We're not considered men or women in this country," Vance told the audience. "Even in the Constitution we're considered three-fifths of a person." With tears in her eyes, Vance told the audience that even the health problems she suffered through since Griffin's death could not repress her activism. "I've had a stroke during this. I can barely walk, but I'm going to keep on fighting until I die," she said. Theresa Choice, whose son is currently imprisoned on armed robbery charges, spoke out against the American prison system, which she said makes an industry out of the imprisonment of African Americans. "Since 1990, 10 new prisons have been built. How do you think the government plans to keep them in operation?" Choice asked. With events like the Redman/Method Man concert and Penn Relays occurring on the same evening, the meeting drew a smaller-than-expected turnout. Many of those who did attend, however, felt deeply moved by what they heard. "The speeches were really powerful," remarked Wasi Hassan, a volunteer at a downtown Uhuru furniture store. College junior Lindsay Koshgarian said she was drawn to the Uhuru meeting by a sense of community obligation. "One of the reasons I came to Penn was to be a part of an urban community," Koshgarian said. "And that means being a part of the community as a whole, not just the Penn campus." Peg Shaw, a Health System employee, said she hoped that hearing the event's speakers would help those in attendance put a face on issues they hear about in the media. "You can read these things in the paper, but to see it in person allows you to realize that real human beings are affected when the police gun down somebody. There's no way you can be worried about the whales and the trees and not care about oppressed people," Shaw said. Kamau Becktemba, the Philadelphia president of the People's Democratic Uhuru movement, insisted that justice can only be achieved when enough people are motivated to act. "The only way we can get justice is to get it ourselves. I'm not naive enough to think that the system will ever give us justice," he said. Becktemba also chastised black elected officials for not providing the African-American community with more support, and singled out Philadelphia Mayor John Street, calling him "white power with a black face."
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Penn's quartet of fourth-years will reach for a high note when they travel to delaware on Saturday. The Penn men's lacrosse team traveled to Newark, Del., and back last night, just to practice. Yesterday, the Quakers worked out at the University of Delaware's Rullo Stadium. On Saturday, the Quakers will return to face the Blue Hens in their season finale. "The Penn Relays sort of wreak havoc on other field sports around here," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "It actually worked out pretty well, though. [Rullo Stadium]'s a good facility to play in, and it doesn't hurt to get accustomed to where you're going to be playing Saturday night." Just knowing the field won't get Penn (5-8) past Delaware (8-5) this weekend, though. To beat the No. 15-ranked Blue Hens, the Quakers can't afford the extended lapses that have plagued them this year. "[The Blue Hens] are a good team," Van Arsdale said. "They still have their eyes on trying to win an NCAA berth. So we'll get a team that has some higher energy and will be juiced up." Though he's at the helm of a team that hasn't quite lived up to expectations this year, Van Arsdale welcomes the challenge of a nationally ranked opponent preparing itself for postseason play. "I think that's good for us right now," Van Arsdale said. "I'm glad that we're playing a quality team and that we have the opportunity to end the season on a positive note. It would be nice, on a lot of different fronts, to finish with a win against a good team." One of those fronts is giving the Red and Blue's four graduating seniors a final game they can relish long after graduation. "These four guys have all made strong contributions during all their years here," Van Arsdale said. "I think their performances will dictate a lot of how the game goes for us." Considering that the four seniors -- attackman Pete Janney, midfielders Billy Reidy and Mike Kehoe and defenseman Bill Fowler -- account for one-third of the Quakers' 189 points this season, their play will almost certainly determine whether or not the Quakers can win on Saturday. Leading the way in the scoring department is co-captain Janney, the Quakers' playmaker. If Janney scores six times on Saturday, he would be Penn's all-time record-holder in goals. "He's such a presence on the offensive end," Van Arsdale said. "I think every team we play pays special attention to Peter." Perhaps increased defensive attention is the reason that Janney -- with 23 goals -- hasn't yet matched his freshman total of 27, much less last year's 37 scores. "Maybe he hasn't put as many in the back of the net this year as he would've liked, or as we would've liked," Van Arsdale said. "But we've had a great four years here." Reidy and Kehoe have anchored the Quakers midfield all season. Reidy, coming off a season that was cut short by injury, has been one of the Quakers highlights this year. "Billy's comeback has been one of the more positive things with our team this year," Van Arsdale said. "He had always been a pretty good all-around midfielder, and this year he's added the scoring part of it to his game." Kehoe, while not the scoring middie that Reidy is, has played all over the field during his time as a Quaker. "Michael has been asked to do a lot of different things. His roles have sort of switched around," Van Arsdale said. "I expect Michael to really put out a lot on the field this weekend. He just seems like a guy that's intent on going out the right way." The Quakers seniors would probably have an even higher percentage of the team's total points were it not for co-captain Fowler, who hasn't scored this year because he's been too busy shadowing the opponent's No. 1 offensive player. "Billy has sort of been a silent, steady guy," Van Arsdale said. "His performance Saturday on [Syracuse attackman] Ryan Powell was as strong as I've seen, and Powell would be my bet to be the National Player of the Year. "I think the seniors want this. I think the last game is what you're going to remember, and it'd be nice to remember it for the good things."
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The Red and Blue couldn't push their way past the Owls, who held Off Penn's second-half comeback try. It seems all too familiar. The Penn women's lacrosse team spotted Temple a five-goal second-half lead, then stormed back to within two goals, only to be turned away by the Owls, 15-11. The Quakers (5-8) have now lost six consecutive games, several of which have ended in this fashion. "It's about consistency," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "It's also about confidence. When we score, it's like nothing. But when they score, it's like the end of the world. So we score one goal, and they score three." A major problem for the Quakers yesterday -- as well as in recent losses to Rutgers and Brown -- was maintaining momentum over the entire course of the game. Penn goals by freshmen Christy Bennett, Crissy Book, Kate Murray and Bess Lochocki sparked the Quakers to a 4-1 run that brought the visitors to within 10-8 with 13 minutes left. The Penn bench was alive and screaming, and the team was active up and down the field. But when Owls sophomore Jen Jefferson found the net to raise the Temple lead back to three goals, the Quakers fell silent, and a major let-down could be sensed in the Penn contingent. The Owls (8-7) netted four straight goals, three within a two-minute span, to go up 14-8 and break the Quakers' back. "You get this self-confidence and enthusiasm when you score, but it just fades," Lochocki said. "We're trying to figure it out, it's got to be a mental problem." The Red and Blue came out sluggish on the turf in North Philadelphia, and Owls star Kelly Ruch took full advantage of the situation. Ruch -- whose six goals yesterday gives her 54 for the spring -- scored one goal and assisted on another in the first four minutes, as Temple went up 2-0. Penn's Traci Marabella answered at the 22-minute mark, but then the home squad responded with another pair of tallies. Held scoreless for over a 10-minute stretch, it appeared the Quakers might be in for a repeat of last season's 15-1 defeat at the hands of the Owls. But Penn's Brooke Jenkins netted a pair of goals, and Whitney Horton's strong move to net and low left-handed score brought Penn to within 6-4 with five minutes left in the first frame. "I think it was key that we had the lead at halftime," said Temple coach Kim Ciarrocca, whose Owls extended their lead back to 8-4 at intermission. "We're young, and we're making some dumb mistakes still. So I was happy to see we were up by four or five goals at the half." As happy as Ciarrocca was at her team's two tallies -- both by Ruch -- in the last 68 seconds of the first half, Brower must have been equally as disappointed. Even after a fiery halftime speech, the Quakers remained on the low end of the roller coaster that is momentum, as Ruch scored another goal merely nine seconds after the half's opening draw. From this point, however, Penn's Alaina Harper took charge in the net. Having replaced Christian Stover midway through the first half, Harper dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half. The freshman saved several free position shots by the Owls and was a force in the cage. "Penn's goalie must have had 15 saves today. She did a nice job of shutting us down," Ciarrocca said. "We fell apart for 10 or 15 minutes, and Penn absolutely capitalized on it." The Quakers did capitalize, but, once again, it proved not to be enough. Murray's goal and Lochocki's first of three tallies brought Penn to within two at 10-8 and rattled the Owls into taking a timeout and switching goalies. It appeared that the Quakers were going to make a bid for the lead, but a combination of ill-advised Penn passes led to turnovers. And a strong Temple offense proved to be too much for the Red and Blue. "We were letting their cutters go in from the top and shoot pretty easily," said Book, who played for the second straight game with a heavily taped-up sprained ankle. Jefferson and Ruch combined on three quick goals to devastate the Quakers. The experienced Owls used their dominance in the face-off arena, as well as a a profound size advantage at several positions, to pound out the victory. Lochocki added her second and third scores of the afternoon within a 16-second span, and freshman Lindsay Smith netted her fourth of the spring, but it was too little too late. "My confidence has finally come back to me," Lochocki said. "I finally feel like I'm playing like myself." Penn heads into its final game of the spring at Monmouth tomorrow afternoon in a tailspin. The team shines at times on both ends of the field, but must deal with the volatile gambit that its emotions and momentum seem to run if it is to have a chance at a season-ending victory. "There's one game left, and basically we said to them that we worked eight months for these 14 games, and this is the last one," Brower said. "And they can either go away from this season feeling good, or go away with seven losses in a row. It's definitely a winnable game."
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A tough season for the Penn softball team may get a little tougher this weekend. The Quakers, sporting a lowly 2-7 record in the Ivy League, will conclude their Ancient Eight season this weekend when they square off against Harvard and Dartmouth, the two top teams in the conference. Last weekend, the Red and Blue (13-25-1) were only able to squeeze in one game -- a 10-5 loss to Harvard -- as rain washed away Penn's other three scheduled contests. The Quakers' non-league games against Wagner and St. Joseph's have been cancelled this weekend to leave room for their rescheduled games against the Crimson and the Big Green. Thus far in 2000, Harvard and Dartmouth appear to be the two best teams in the Ivies. The Crimson are undefeated in Ivy play so far and are led by a strong balance of pitching and hitting. Five Harvard batters are hitting over .300, while Chelsea Thoke stabilizes the pitching staff with 93 strikeouts this season -- the sixth highest total in program history. However, the Crimson sport a subpar record of 12-17 overall, and in last weekend's game against Penn, they looked very beatable as the Quakers bats knocked out Thoke after just four innings. It was not until the sixth inning that a five-run offensive barrage gave Harvard the victory. The Quakers will also have their work cut out for them against Dartmouth (4-2, 19-11), which has only played six league games and is sitting pretty in second place in the Ivies, 1 1/2 games behind Harvard. The Big Green are coming off a big weekend in which they swept Princeton, beating the Tigers for the first time in the history of their program. Dartmouth was led to victory by freshman pitcher Christine Quattrocchi, who threw all 14 innings of the two-game series, which was played on Friday and Sunday due to rain. Quattrocchi shut out the Tigers in the second game without allowing a runner to reach third base. Her performance against the Orange and Black made her Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season. While Harvard and Dartmouth will probably be duking it out this weekend for the Ivy title, the Quakers are simply looking to end their somewhat disappointing season on a high note. "We're looking to come out, play hard, put out our best effort and see what happens," senior captain Michelle Zaptin said. "Of course, we'd love to end the season on a good note and hopefully prove to everybody that we're better than our record indicates." The majority of the Red and Blue squad believes that the Quakers have yet to reach their potential this season and hope that they will finally do so in their season finale. "We're all disappointed because our record doesn't really show how good we are," sophomore second baseman Jamie Pallas said. "There have been a lot of games that we let slip away, and I'm sure we're all frustrated." Pallas also noted that the Quakers have had a difficult time putting all three facets of their game -- pitching, hitting and defense -- together for one game. "We're all going to go out there and play hard and try to get all three assets of our game working at the same time," Pallas said. "If we do that, we can definitely have a great weekend." One spark for the Quakers this season has been sophomore third baseman Jen Moore. On Wednesday against Delaware, Moore tied Penn's single-season record for hits with 44, but was rather modest about her accomplishments, saying after the game that she cared more about the team's success. Moore's team-first attitude has spread throughout the Quakers squad, and heading into the final weekend of the season and the last in the careers of Penn's three seniors, the Red and Blue want to play together and do the best they can. "We're all definitely a little sad right now -- it's come to an end really quickly," said Zaptin, who will be playing in her final collegiate softball game this weekend. "But we're all looking forward to this weekend to see what we can do."
(04/28/00 9:00am)
Judith Rodin personally funded the $500 awards for each grad students. Two hundred and seventy undergraduate students cast their votes shortly after returning from spring break. Yesterday, in the cafe of Irvine Auditorium, the ballot results were presented and nine teaching assistants were each presented with a certificate and a $500 check as recognition for their outstanding teaching. One recognized TA could not attend the ceremony. Approximately 35 people -- including University President Judith Rodin, Deputy Provost Peter Conn, the committee members, faculty members and friends -- gathered to commend the graduate students. This year marks the first that TA recognition awards have been based upon nominations by undergraduates. "I really have to congratulate the undergraduates for the thoughtfulness of statements provided," said Walter Licht, the chairman of the selection committee and an associate dean in the School of Arts and Sciences. "It was a heartwarming experience," the History professor added, "for the committee to see the devotion of undergraduates to their TAs and the commitment of the TAs [to their teaching]." Licht cited the three criteria used to determine the final 10: the quality of the undergraduate nominations, the TAs' statements of their teaching philosophy and their faculty letters of support. The event was proposed to Rodin by Wharton doctoral candidate Eric Eisenstein, the president of the Graduate Student Associations Council. "The nice thing about the award is that it's a sort of reciprocation of the effort and care I put into my classes," said Eric Kondratieff, an Ancient History TA for four semesters. Yesterday's ceremony opened with a few words from Conn and Rodin, the patron of the award. Rodin had announced in November that she would personally be funding each of the 10 awards of $500 this year. "I do hope that Penn is a place that demonstrates an appreciation of our graduate students," the president said. "We are grateful for your teaching." Explaining the rationale in selecting 10 TAs, Rodin said, "We really felt that it was problematic to only single out one individual." Award recipient Edward Winston, a Biology TA for three semesters, explained that his job is one that many graduate students typically don't take for fear of being overly distracted from their labwork. "But for me," he said, "what good is working in a lab if you can't share your interest?" Awardee Stacey Philbrick, a Political Science TA, sees the commendation received from both sides of the process -- undergraduates and faculty -- as "really validating" of her ability as a TA. For Philbrick, the award is evidence "that [her] efforts haven't been wasted." College sophomore Meredith Chiaccio, who came to the event in support of Gordan Wong, her Chemical Engineering TA, said it was nice to see that undergraduates are being recognized as a valuable source for selecting the best TAs. "Students are the ones who see [the teaching assistants] the most," Chiaccio said. Chiaccio recalled how Wong once spent 90 minutes outside of scheduled office hours helping her the day before an exam. According to Chiaccio, Wong frequently provided extra review sessions for tests. Other TAs recognized yesterday evening were Aaron Bloomfield, Christopher Burrows, Jeffrey Casello, Gregory Flaxman, Tamar Kaplan and Jason Parsley.
