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(04/17/00 9:00am)
Charleston Thompson paraded in front of the Kappa Sigma fraternity house Thursday in full Hugh Hefner attire -- silk robe, pipe and leopard-print slippers. Soon after, Thompson pulled off the robe to reveal a hot-pink Speedo. But the demonstration was for a good cause -- the College sophomore was participating in the third annual Kappa Sigma fraternity date auction. Hundreds of people crowded the lawn of the house and spilled out onto Locust Walk to watch 14 men and 15 women get auctioned off to the highest bidders. And both the dates and the bidders said the experience was well worth it. "He's worth every penny," said College freshman Yngrid Gonzalez, who paid $80 for a date with Thompson and a gift certificate to Johnny Valentines'. "He's that hot." Bidders were required to pay an entry fee of $1, plus whatever amount of money they bid. The date auction brought in about $3,500, with the highest bid being $350. All proceeds went to the American Red Cross. "I came to help out charity but, more importantly, to bid on some beautiful ladies," College freshman Mike Mittelman said. The auctionees came out of the Kappa Sig house one at a time, strutting their stuff and dancing to the blasting music. Among the men auctioned off were College senior and Quakers basketball star Michael Jordan ($95) and Queer Student Alliance president and Engineering junior Kurt Klinger ($60). And the women who came out for the auction included Check One president and College sophomore Desiree Strickland ($290) and Kappa Alpha Theta president Sonali Chakravorti ($90). "Everyone told me you have to get really crazy, but I didn't want to so I just dressed up," said Chakravorti, a Wharton junior, who was wearing rabbit ears and a furry collar. "Now nobody's dressed up and I feel stupid." But the crowd's response to Chakravorti was very positive. "It's for charity, it's fun, even though I already have a tuxedo -- and Sonali's a cool girl," said Wharton junior Mark Hodgson, who paid $90 for a date with Chakravorti and a free tuxedo rental. The major prizes this year included dinner with College senior Leah Bills at Brasserie Perrier ($150) and dinner for 10 at Marrakesh with College senior Uttara Patel ($350). And Wharton senior Ryan Robinson, who came out with a red rose in his teeth, fetched $100. "It's a really good cause," said College sophomore Mary Ferrer, who "won" her best friend Robinson. "The American Red Cross is an exceptional charity."
(04/17/00 9:00am)
As Penn students went about the task of cleaning up after a weekend of non-stop partying yesterday, University Police spent Sunday taking the toll of what they say was one of the least disruptive Spring Fling weekends in recent history. Over the course of the three-day event, six students received disorderly conduct citations and six were sent to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with alcohol-related illnesses. The most serious incidents of the weekend took place early Friday and Saturday mornings when police broke up parties on the 3900 block of Baltimore Avenue and at the Zeta Psi fraternity house. "Crime-wise, we did very well," University Police Chief Maureen Rush said. "Ninety-nine percent of the students had a great time and understood what it takes to stay within the limits of the law." Rush added that the majority of the disorderly conduct citations were distributed early Friday morning, after University Police officers broke up a string of parties on the 3900 block of Baltimore Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. "[The partygoers] were spilling out into the highway and it was starting to become a large block party on Baltimore," she said. "With the volume of people, it was becoming very dangerous and there were some serious fire and crowd control issues." According to several students who were present at the time, University Police began by asking students to vacate the residences, then forced them to move eastward on Baltimore Avenue. "As far as I know, at first they just told people to vacate the houses," Engineering junior and Baltimore Avenue resident Ben Williams said. "They weren't forceful at first. Then as more time passed, they just started throwing people out of houses." "I think it was an awfully large reaction to a non-existent problem," he said. Rush said the students who received disorderly conduct citations did so for failure to cooperate with University Police officers trying to control the crowds. "The issue on the 3900 block of Baltimore is that it's almost all student housing, and when every house is having a party, it's total chaos," she said. "The officers found that [at 12:30 a.m.] it was to the point where it could have escalated into a dangerous situation for everyone involved." "For the most part, when it was time to close parties down, most people were cooperative," Rush added. The other serious incident of the weekend took place early Saturday morning, when police officers and University Alcohol Policy Coordinator Stephanie Ives broke up a party taking place at the Zeta Psi fraternity house at 3337 Walnut Street. Police stormed the house at 2 a.m., ending the party and forcing the nearly 600 people in attendance to vacate the house. Fraternity leaders say that although the party was approved earlier by Ives and no alcohol was served, the police likely intervened because of the presence of outside alcohol on the premises. "I'm upset because the police gave the fraternity no opportunity to close the party," Zeta Psi President and Wharton junior Mark Hodgson said. "They used scare tactics even though our party was non-alcoholic, and Stephanie [Ives'] justification was that there was alcohol there because there was about 60 cans of beer around the house." "If we were serving beer, wouldn't there be more than 60 cans at a 600-person party?" Hodgson added. According to Rush, the party was shut down because of capacity issues and complaints from neighbors. "Approximately 400 to 600 people were in the place," Rush said. "It was overcrowded and that was why it was shut down -- it was just so loud." Few other serious incidents marred the weekend. The 18 students who received citations from the state Liquor Control Enforcement bureau and Penn Police is similar to the number in recent years. Of the six students sent to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, none were believed to be in serious condition. "I thought people generally tried to have a good time and not interfere with others' quality of life," Rush said. "And I think for the most part people were amenable to the things we had to do."
(04/17/00 9:00am)
N.Y. Mets skipper Bobby Valentine made some controversial remarks at a talk at Penn last week. His remarks were then posted on the Web. A casual afternoon talk with Penn students on the business of baseball last Wednesday turned into a potentially job-threatening nightmare for New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine over the weekend. By Friday morning -- after one of the students at the talk posted some of the controversial manager's comments on the Mets' World Wide Web site -- Valentine was smeared all over the back pages of the New York tabloids. Students at the talk spent the weekend answering calls from reporters seeking to confirm the Web account of the talk and to track down rumors about the existence of a video of the event. Once the remarks became public, Valentine made several attempts to pressure campus media outlets not to release audio or video footage of the event. UTV-13 President and General Manager Eric Gordon, confirming the existence of a video, said yesterday that the student-run television station taped the event. Though he would not say whether UTV-13 has possession of the video, he said that Wharton Wide World of Sports, which sponsored the talk, had told him they wanted the tape. "At first they were concerned with what we were doing with the tape," said Gordon, a College junior. Then, Gordon said, the group requested that any copies of the tape be given to them. The Wharton club declined to comment last night. On Friday, Valentine directly contacted the Daily Pennsylvanian reporter who covered the talk and asked that her audio tape not be released. According to that tape, Valentine was critical of several past and present Mets players -- including outfielders Rickey Henderson and Derek Bell, and former Met Bobby Bonilla -- as well as of the team's management. Valentine sprinkled his potentially inflammatory statements with remarks like, "I'm willing to handle all those questions as long as this isn't going to be seen on 20/20." In the audio tape, Valentine is heard saying that Bonilla "found something, and he lost something" this year after being signed by the Atlanta Braves. "He found his stroke, and he lost 45 pounds. That makes a big difference," Valentine said. "To lose 45 pounds, there has to be a commitment, and there seems to be a commitment this year, interestingly enough, because he's without a contract this year." Valentine was also critical of his team's failure to sign Japanese reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki over the winter. Sasaki signed with the Seattle Mariners. "I was a proponent during the offseason to say, 'Let's boost our bullpen,'" Valentine said. "I thought that if we can sign this kid Sasaki, who's a free agent, it would have cost us no talent, just a little money, and we would have one heck of a baseball team right now?. But the group who makes the decisions decides that wasn't a good idea." Valentine did not directly speak against Bell, acquired by the Mets over the winter, although several in attendance at the talk felt that Bell was the $5 million player the Mets manager alluded to when speaking of young outfielder Benny Agbayani. "Benny's in that situation where some would say if he was given 600 at-bats, he would have a lot more production than someone else that's making $5 million and getting 600 at-bats," Valentine said. Valentine was also not directly critical of Henderson, as the student who posted to the Mets' Web site originally asserted. Several in attendance agreed that Valentine's comments about Henderson were in jest. According to notes of the DP reporter who covered Valentine's talk, when asked how he deals with a player such as Henderson, the Mets manager gave a tongue-in-cheek response. "I don't," Valentine said, according to the notes. "I just ignore him as much as I can. Seriously, the personality of Rickey? it's the same personality that we all have, probably that he's always had?. I try not to change his personality but to get him to play as hard as he can every day he goes out there." Valentine, who had earlier praised some of his ballplayers for being "worldly in their ventures," is heard on the tape relating a story about Henderson. Valentine was reading The Wall Street Journal on the team bus when Henderson boarded. "[Henderson] said, 'Hey, Bobby, what are you reading?' I said, 'The Wall Street Journal.' And he said, 'You mind if I look at the sports page when you finish?'" Valentine said, provoking laughter from the audience. "Worldly, he's worldly." Valentine also spoke of stadium plans for the Mets and the New York Yankees. Prefacing his statements with, "This would get me in a lot of trouble with my owner," Valentine advocated "one building for two teams." "I don't think there's any way the City of New York and the public [are] going to co-venture two buildings in excess of a billion dollars each for these rich kids that run around with baseballs and rich owners that make a lot of money," Valentine said. The DP's audio tape did not record the entire speech, and the consensus of several students there was that many of Valentine's remarks were in jest. Some of the tabloid reports, they say, were taken out of context. After initial reports of the event surfaced on Thursday, Mets General Manager Steve Phillips -- with whom Valentine has a famously contentious relationship -- made an unscheduled trip to Pittsburgh to discuss the event with Valentine. Though Valentine's job has been anything but secure for months, the Mets said over the weekend that the remarks made at Wharton were not a fireable offense. "Steve and Bobby have talked," Mets spokesman Jay Horowitz said last night. "Steve has heard Bobby's side and what happened or didn't happen, and we're prepared at this time to close the door and move on." Valentine could not be reached for comment last night. "Brad34," the student who posted the comments on the Mets' Web site, said in an e-mail last night that he regrets his postings. "Believe me, I never had the intention of creating such a stir," the student said. "I just wanted to share some of my interpretations with some lunatics on a baseball board. This has just gotten way out of hand, and every party involved has certainly been adversely affected."
(04/17/00 9:00am)
Despite a fast start, the Quakers fell on the road to No. 9 Dartmouth. Going into its game with No. 9 Dartmouth on Saturday, the Penn women's lacrosse team knew it would be in for a long afternoon. But after a quarter of the game had been played, the Quakers (5-5, 1-4 Ivy League) found themselves very much even with the Big Green (8-1, 5-0). Two early goals by sophomore Traci Marabella and a tally by freshman Christy Bennett kept Penn close at 4-3 with 14 minutes left in the first half. The Quakers, however, ultimately could not keep up with the defending Ivy champs, and the home squad pulled away to a 10-4 lead at the break and to an 18-7 victory. All-Americans Jacque Weitzel and Kate Graw combined for five of the Big Green's goals in a 6-1 run late in the first half that broke the game open. "They're just a better team, and they should have beaten us. But I don't think they should have beaten us that badly. I would say they should have beaten us maybe by five or six goals, but I don't think it should have been 11 goals," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "Midfield transition, they doubled real hard and were really aggressive. And then their attackers are just stronger and more physical and go to goal harder than anyone we've seen." Still, the margin was a far cry from last year's blowout at Franklin Field, when the Big Green blitzed Penn by a 20-2 count. Marabella, the Red and Blue's leading scorer did her best to match the Big Green on the scoreboard, tallying four goals, but it was not enough to keep the Quakers hopes alive. The sophomore took a blow to the head early in the first half that required stitches after the game, but stayed on the field after sustaining the injury. "I thought Traci had her best game of the season. She was much better this game, and she had five shots on goal and scored four. She hustled much more in the midfield and came up with the turnovers," Brower said. Penn also received a first-half goal from Crissy Book and a late score from Kate Murray. But Dartmouth goalie Sarah Hughes was able to save 13 shots, and the Big Green offense rolled along, scoring five of the first six goals of the second frame. The Quakers, however, were unable to generate a consistent attack, constantly stymied by not having possession of the ball. "The thing that bothered me was that we didn't have possession that much. Dartmouth would bring the ball down and pass it around for a while and then move it into the middle for a shot," said Penn senior Brooke Jenkins, who noted that the Quakers were unable to follow this same pattern when they brought the ball up. "We forced some turnovers, but they're solid with the ball." With the loss, the Quakers have fallen in three consecutive games, dropping to just 1-4 in Ivy play. And while Penn knew that Dartmouth would be one of its tougher opponents, it was looking to possibly surprise the Big Green powerhouse. But once again, the Quakers defense struggled at times. Though Penn received strong defensive play from Bennett -- who held Weitzel in check for most of the game -- and Whitney Horton, the Quakers were hampered by the need to go with a goalie by committee system. In Wednesday's 15-11 loss at Rutgers, freshman Alaina Harper started in net for Penn and was replaced by junior Christian Stover at the break. Against Dartmouth, the opposite took place, with Stover recording six first-half saves against 10 goals allowed and Harper notching four second-half saves against eight goals. "We had some defensive errors and just didn't communicate too well on defense, and we didn't save a lot of balls," Brower said. "Christian had six saves and 10 goals against, and you can't stay in with that. Both Christian and Alaina have been playing about the same. If one of them goes in and plays great, they'll stay in. "But right now we seem to have to change because we need to try something else. We just need to come up with more saves -- that's the biggest thing." The road doesn't get any easier for the Quakers from here, as the team travels to the other preseason favorite in the Ivies -- No. 2 Princeton -- for a game on Wednesday afternoon. Penn is still optimistic about its chances in that game, but it is an optimism tempered by the Red and Blue's play in Hanover, N.H., over the weekend. "For our team, it's a learning experience," Brower said. "We played better than we've been playing. [But] if we want to get to be at that level of Princeton and Dartmouth, there are definitely individual things that we need to do."
(04/17/00 9:00am)
Penn swept Saturday's doubleheader with Cornell and split Sunday's, but fell a game back in the Gehrig Division. While the fans of the Penn baseball team enjoyed the bliss of the official opening of the new stadium at Murphy Field this weekend, the Quakers themselves quietly went about the business of winning. With a doubleheader sweep of Cornell on Saturday afternoon at the Penn Baseball Stadium at Murphy Field and a split in the twin bill yesterday, Penn improved to 17-14 overall and 7-5 in the Ancient Eight. But while the Quakers were able to take three of four games from the Big Red to open their Lou Gehrig Division play in the Ivy League, they fell one game behind Princeton, which swept its two weekend doubleheaders with Columbia. However, with two doubleheaders at Old Nassau this coming Friday and Saturday, Penn is not concerned about the division standings -- yet. "We're in a position where we're pretty much in control of our own destiny," Penn hurler Mike Mattern said. "We're going to go there and play them four games. And if we walk out of there with three or four of them, then it's to our advantage. We just have to play well there. "The one game isn't really that much of a big deal. It'd be nice to be tied or ahead a game, but we're right in the middle of things right now." The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly Mattern's gem in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader. As a steady drizzle fell -- interrupted only by spurts of heavy rain -- Mattern mastered the Big Red, allowing no hits or runs through the first five innings of the seven-inning contest. But in the sixth, as dreams of a no-hitter danced through the heads of the 377 wet souls in attendance, Cornell pinch hitter Vince Santo punched an opposite-field single through the right side of the infield to end Mattern's bid. "I left the pitch up, and the kid hit it into the outfield," Mattern said. "It was my own fault." But Mattern did not allow another hit the rest of the way and the Quakers won, 4-0. "I was throwing the ball real well. It was probably the best I've felt all year," Mattern said. "[A no-hitter] would've been nice, but I don't think you can get disappointed." In the second game of the day, the Quakers jumped out to an early 4-1 lead as the rain subsided and never looked back, completing the sweep of the doubleheader, 6-2. While impressive freshman pitcher Ben Otero could not match Mattern's line from earlier in the day, he did receive the same decision -- a win -- and improved his record to 3-2. As he has been several times this season, Otero was solid, giving up only two runs on seven hits in seven innings of work. Cornell fell apart in the bottom of the third, allowing the Quakers to score all the runs they would need. With runners on second and third following an error, Cornell pitcher John Osgood served up a wild pitch as Penn center fielder Andrew McCreery was at the plate, allowing Glen Ambrosius to score and Jeff Gregorio to go to third. Gregorio then scored on McCreery's groundout to advance Penn's lead to 4-1. In yesterday's first game, the Quakers -- as they have many times this season -- were not able to hold their opponent in late innings. In the seventh and final frame, Cornell shortstop Mike Nemeth singled in pinch runner John Mills from second, putting the Big Red up 4-3. Cornell also added an insurance run in that inning, taking a 5-3 lead that the Quakers neither overcame nor dented in their last licks. The two-run seventh spoiled what had been an otherwise splendid outing for Penn pitcher Mark Lacerenza, who fell to 1-4. "It seems that Mark is kind of snakebit in games like that," Mattern said. "We don't really give him run support like some of the other pitchers get. He's had some tough losses like that." In the nightcap, the Penn bats exploded late to provide the Quakers with a 10-2 blowout victory and an exclamation point on a successful weekend. The Big Red pushed a run across the board in the top of the first, as Erik Rico's one-out single drove in center fielder Justin Irizarry. The 1-0 score held up until the fourth, when the Quakers tallied a run of their own. In the bottom of the sixth, Penn scored seven runs, more than was needed to put Cornell away. The inning featured RBI doubles off the bats of Kevin McCabe and Ambrosius. Catcher Ralph Vasami chimed in with a two-RBI single.
(04/17/00 9:00am)
From music acts in the Quad to a pancake breakfast, students enjoyed the weekend's activities. The clouds parted to reveal a shining sun Friday morning, heralding the beginning of Penn's 28th annual Spring Fling. And although the sun did not last the entire weekend, the bright rays were definitely a good Fling omen. In a sea of sunglasses and capri pants, students flooded the Quadrangle in the afternoon hours, anxious to discover what Fling 2000 had in store for them. The theme for this year's fling was "Fling Me Baby One More Time," alluding to the ubiquitous Britney Spears hit. And the light-hearted spirit of the teen pop star certainly seemed to be in the air. "I love the sun, that is all I have to say," College freshman Lisa Snyder exclaimed. Students took advantage of the warm temperature, and spent time sunning themselves on the green in Lower Quad, eating funnel cake and barbeque chicken from the vendors and listening to the performing musical groups. In Upper Quad, students donned huge sumo wrestling costumes, painted their hair wacky colors and climbed a giant inflatable mountain. Over the two-day event, Jon Herrmann, chairman of the Social Planning and Events Committee, estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 people passed through the Quad gates to partake in the festivities. For freshmen, last weekend marked their inaugural Fling experience. With rumors of past Flings and the highest expectations swirling in their minds, the reviews were largely positive. "It was weird to have a carnival in your dorm," said Frank Wang, an Engineering freshman. "But it is also very cool." The festival did not live up to everyone's expectations, however. After experiencing the campus-wide party herself, College freshman Jasmine Orders said, "Fling is all hype." Still, some students kept going strong on Saturday despite the unwelcome dark clouds and rain that overshadowed the Quad. "It is our last Fling," College senior Bart Riley said. "Locusts and frogs couldn't keep me away." Though the bands and entertainment performed as planned, the turnout for Saturday morning and early afternoon was weaker than on Friday. During band K-Floor's performance in Lower Quad in the early afternoon on Saturday, the band's lead singer beckoned sleepy-eyed students out of their dorm rooms to join them in the rain. "Why don't you all come out of your bedrooms and party with us?" he asked. "It's a little rainy outside but we're having a great time." The rain let up for a bit though, just in time for Mask and Wig's traditional closing show on Saturday afternoon. The biggest crowd of the day -- about 3,000 people -- assembled, filling almost all of the Lower Quad. Mask and Wig entertained the crowd with their customary satirical blend of song and dance. Since last year's nudity was such a big hit, three members of the group decided to bear it all once again this year. The group was forced by SPEC to cut their show short, however, because of some scheduling difficulties encountered during the day. The group was forced to take the stage half an hour later than originally scheduled. The crowd begged for one last song, and the group was happy to oblige with their signature "Tuition" -- a takeoff on the well-known Fiddler on the Roof theme. Fling Co-Chairman Michael Silverstein commented that the scheduling problems were unfortunate, and although they were some initial hard feelings on the part of Mask and Wig, the difficulty was resolved. "In the heat of the moment they were angry, they wanted to perform," said Silverstein, who is also a 34th Street editor. Saturday night, after things had long since quieted in the Quad, throngs headed over to Hamilton Village for a Hawaiian-themed carnival complete with free food, carnival-style games and novelty attractions. The turnout for the evening's activity was record-setting according to Silverstein. Christina Chiew, a College sophomore and Fling carnival chairwoman, estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 people were in attendance. As part of the University's plan to provide non-alcoholic social options for students, there was a great deal more emphasis placed on this year's carnival planning, Silverstein said. And drawing Spring Fling weekend to a close was a midnight pancake breakfast at the Class of 1920 Commons. Hundreds of students turned out from midnight until 3 a.m. to grab a tasty late-night snack before calling it a night.
(04/17/00 9:00am)
As they have done all year, the Quakers closed hard but dame up just short in their try to improve on a disappointing Ivy campaign. The Penn men's lacrosse team finished its less-than-stellar Ivy League season with a 9-7 loss to Brown at rainy Franklin Field on Saturday. The Quakers (5-7) finish the Ivy loop at 1-5, their lone victory a tough, 7-4 win at Dartmouth. As they have so many times this season, the Quakers came on strong late, scoring four times in the fourth quarter, including the game's final three goals. But, as it has so many times this season, the final push fell just short. "It's starting to sound a little old," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "[It was] our last crack at a win in the league, so there's a little bit there, but more than that, it's just another tight game that you feel you could have found a way to win." The Quakers controlled the ball for the majority of the first stanza, firing eight shots on goal to the Bears' five. While Quakers goalie Ryan Kelly didn't let a Bears shot get by him until 30 seconds remained in the quarter, the Quakers only managed to get one shot past Bears goalie Beret Dickson. "I think early on when we were playing pretty well, getting good looks at the goal and playing well defensively, we didn't score as much as we needed to," Van Arsdale said. "A lot of that was good goaltending, and some of it was not great shooting by us." Dickson, coming off a disappointing midweek showing in Brown's loss to Harvard, made some very impressive saves and ended with 17 on the day. "[Dickson] got a lot of them in the first quarter, when we could've built ourselves a little bit of a cushion," Van Arsdale said. "To end the first quarter 1-1, when I really felt we had controlled play, was a key factor. Then, over the next seven, eight minutes they scored three in a row. I think we would've been able to absorb it better had we scored [more] in the first." After the Bears scored three straight goals in the second, the Quakers scored two goals with under five minutes remaining in the half and headed to the locker room down by just one. If the Quakers thought that their efforts had gone unrewarded in the first quarter, they were only bound for more disappointment in the third. Despite taking 15 shots on goal, Penn was shut out in the third quarter, 3-0. Eight of those shots were stopped by Dickson, while the rest simply sailed wide. "I didn't think we were as controlling of the play in the third as we had been in the first, but if you get eight shots on net, you've got to [score]," Van Arsdale said. "Not all our shots were great shots, but we had some pretty good ones. And on some of them the shooter didn't execute as well as they could've." Van Arsdale thought that, because his offensive players were encountering a goalie on a hot streak, they started to press a little too much, thus knocking themselves out of an offensive rhythm. "We missed the cage completely on some shots that we should've made [Dickson] make saves on," Van Arsdale said. After getting blanked in the third, the Quakers came out in the fourth trailing 7-4 and got three goals out of the nine shots they took. However, all three goals came after Brown scored twice to push its lead to 9-4. That meant that the Quakers comeback ended two goals too soon. "I guess there are things you could try to point to," Van Arsdale said of his team's inability to solve the Ivy puzzle, despite being very competitive in every single contest. "It's a game of spurts and back and forth flow," he said. "And we sometimes have a little bit too much trouble stopping the bleeding, and we let teams get on runs." These runs are expected in the ultra-competitive world of Ivy League lacrosse, where nearly every team is nationally ranked. But according to Van Arsdale, that's exactly why his team should be prepared for them. "When you play a good opponent, they're going to get a run on you at some point, but I think it tends to affect us for a longer period of time than it really needs to."
(04/14/00 9:00am)
A cultural treat was in store for classical music amateurs and aficionados alike when some of Penn's finest musicians took the stage on Wednesday night with the University Symphony Orchestra. Irvine Auditorium had a nearly packed house of students, parents and classical musical lovers for the performance. Under the direction of conductor Ricardo Averbach, who is in his fifth year as the music director of the orchestra, the University Symphony played four selections from notable classical works. Their pieces included Mozart's Violin Concerto no. 5 in A major, which set violinist Daniel Cohen, a College freshman, against the rest of the orchestra. College junior Talitha West-Katz, William Lai and Tony Park fronted the orchestra in violin and viola for the Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, also by Mozart. The "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture" by Tchaikovsky concluded the performance. The highlight of the evening, though, was a performance of Peter and the Wolf, a well-known musical story composed by Prokofiev. Serving as narrator for the piece was none other than College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman. At ease on the Irvine stage, he joked,"Our wolf is so terrifying, it will be represented by six horns instead of the usual three." Wednesday's concert was the last of the year for the orchestra, which marked its return to the newly-renovated Irvine last semester with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It was a momentous occasion for the orchestra, as the performance marked the Philadelphia premiere of the Urtext edition of the piece. The University Orchestra, which just celebrated its 122nd anniversary, has reached a broad and diverse audience under the direction of Averbach. Over the past three years, all of the orchestra's concerts have been sold out, and recordings of the performances can be heard in over 50 countries thanks to Art in the States, a program produced by WGBH Radio in Boston. The group has been a part of numerous exchanges with ensembles such as the Columbia University Orchestra, the Haverford College Orchestra and Orchestra 2001, and in 1998 toured France. Averbach himself is a noted music director worldwide. A native of Bulgaria, he will be returning to the National Opera of Sofia this June for their production of Mozart's opera Le Nozze di Figaro. His latest CD was recorded with the Sofia Symphony Orchestra and has sold more than 500,000 copies. None of this, though, compares to his most recently released project -- the Penn Wind Ensemble's first CD, narrated by University President Judith Rodin. With such a following, one might think there would be no problem attracting students to performances, but the number of students attending isn't as high as audience members say it could be. "I think students are aware that there are performances, but on-campus interest isn't very big," College sophomore Adrienne Moore said. "It's mostly family and friends."
(04/14/00 9:00am)
Spring Fling begins today with festivities in the Quad ranging from performing arts groups to food vendors and games. After much anticipation, Spring Fling is finally here. The festivities will be unleashed at 11 a.m. today in the Quadrangle, commencing Penn's 27th annual Spring Fling. With all the activities in store, everyone will be asking to "Fling Me Baby One More Time." The Quad will rock for two days with a variety of musical acts, games, local food vendors and student groups. This year's Fling is themed after the first hit single from teen pop queen Britney Spears. Student performing arts groups as well as local bands will take the stage throughout the day on both Friday and Saturday. "We have lined up some really great bands and performing arts groups," said Fling Co-Chair Mike Silverstein, a College junior and 34th Street magazine editor. On Friday, groups including the Arts House Dance Company, Flights 19 and the Penn Jazz Ensemble will perform on stages in the Upper and Lower Quads. Also on Friday, singer-songwriter Tracy Bonham will perform in the Quad at 2:20 p.m. Bonham, who recently released her third album Down Here, is opening for Ben Folds Five on their current tour. In the Upper Quad, various student groups -- including the College Republicans, the Korean Student Association and the Penn Leukemia Society -- will set up booths. This year, local companies including Parfumerie Douglas, Philly2nite.com, Council Travel and others will also host booths. Hungry students can head down to Lower Quad, where food vendors such as Allegro's Pizza, Kiss Foods and Smitty's Fries will offer edible treats. After sampling all the refreshments, students looking for a bit more physical activity can surmount a giant mock-rock climbing wall that will be erected in Upper Quad. Friday will feature a mock joust and on Saturday students can look forward to a bungee challenge. All the activity is not restricted to the Quad, however. From 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. today, Locust Walk will be filled with artisans selling their wares at Crafts Fair 2000, which will feature everything from picture frames to silver jewelry. Though activities in the Quad officially end at 6 p.m., the fun will not stop as the sun goes down. On Friday night, DJ Young Eller, the Philadelphia-based Roots and Ben Folds Five will take the stage on Hill Field -- rain or shine. The concert is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., with admission to the field opening at 7 p.m. Tickets have been on sale all week on Locust Walk and will be available at the door. Prices are $20 for students with PennCards and $25 for the general public. Saturday's schedule in the Quad features Strictly Funk, the Quaker Notes, Pennsylvania Six-5000, Mask and Wig and others. Saturday evening, students can head over to Hamilton Village for a tropical adventure at the Hawaiian-themed carnival. Beginning at 8 p.m., the event will feature free games, prizes, novelties and food. And afterward, the Social Planning and Events Committee will be hosting a pancake breakfast in the Class of 1920 Commons dining hall from midnight to 3 a.m. Throughout the weekend, souvenirs will be available in the Quad. Fling T-shirts are priced at $10 each, and key chains, frisbees and glowsticks will also be available.
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The Quakers host Cornell in two doubleheaders. The grand opening will take place tomorrow. A famous alum, the newest installments to the Penn baseball Hall of Fame, the Phillies' organist, 500 free pennants and free food are just a few of the things that the Penn baseball team is promising fans for the official dedication of its new stadium at Murphy Field tomorrow afternoon. "We're going to be doing a lot of neat things," Penn coach Bob Seddon said of the weekend's festivities. "It's going to be fun." The dedication ceremony will occur during the intermission of the Quakers' (13-13, 4-4 Ivy League) Saturday doubleheader against Cornell (5-16, 4-4). The first game begins at noon. The teams will also meet for a second doubleheader beginning at noon Sunday on Murphy Field. Autograph seekers should definitely be on hand for Saturday's dedication, as Philadelphia Phillies star outfielder and Penn baseball Hall of Famer Doug Glanville will throw out the ceremonial first pitch to officially open the ballpark. Also planned for the dedication is the induction of the Penn baseball Hall of Fame's six newest members -- including Mike Shannon, the 1996 Ivy League player of the year and the Quakers' record-holder for hits in a season. Additionally, Seddon and Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky will say some words about the new park and the Quakers baseball program in between games. And during both games of the doubleheader, Phillies organist Paul Richardson will pump out ballpark favorites for the Murphy Field crowd. "This will be a good time for everybody to come out and see the stadium and see the team," said Penn Athletic Communications Assistant Stephen Haug, who helped plan much of the dedication's events. "It should be a good weekend." Of course, the weekend could be spoiled for Seddon if the Quakers get too caught up in the festivities and lose focus on their games against the Big Red. Cornell visits Murphy Field coming off a successful Ivy League weekend last weekend at Brown and Yale. Similar to Penn's home results against the Ancient Eight, the Big Red split with the Bears and swept the Elis in their doubleheaders. And despite Cornell's subpar overall record, the team's fortunes in Ivy League play make Seddon leery of the folks from Ithaca. "Cornell doesn't have a good record, however. I think you can throw that out when you talk about the Ivy League weekend games," Seddon said. "It's really apparent that all the teams in our division are very equal." The apparent equality of the two teams could be broken, though, by the red-hot bats the Quakers have been swinging lately. Over the past six games, Penn has racked up a whopping 62 runs on 82 hits -- including a 33-run night at La Salle last week. The Quakers' opponents, on the other hand, can only claim 39 runs on 62 hits over the same span of games. These batting statistics give Seddon confidence in his team's chances this weekend against the Big Red's experienced pitching staff. "Whoever pitches for [Cornell], they'd better be good because our kids will hit the ball," he said. "A good pitcher will slow us down, but for the most part we hit the ball." Marked improvements in other aspects of his team's game has Seddon even more sure of Penn's chances against Cornell in the four games the teams will play. "We're playing very well right now, even in [the] games we've lost," Seddon said. "We're running the bases well; we're playing good defense; [and] we've been getting better pitching in the last three weeks. "The games [this weekend] are going to be very competitive, and they can go either way. But I'm pretty certain that our kids will rise for them." Slated to start on the mound for the Quakers in tomorrow's first game is sophomore Mike Mattern, who will try for his second win of the season after nabbing his first last weekend against Dartmouth.
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As a reporter for Newsday on Long Island, N.Y., Randi Feigenbaum spends much of her day busily writing from her small cubicle. Come 7 p.m., she'll make a stop or two at the grocery store and the dry cleaners and head home. Fast forward several hours, and Feigenbaum, a 1997 College graduate, receives her sole respite of the day when she transports herself back to her alma mater simply by logging on to the Internet. Feigenbaum and nearly 200 other alumni are participants in a Kelly Writers House book club, which is conducted entirely via e-mail and run exclusively for alumni. Alumni who take advantage of the program -- which launched in January with an online discussion of two novelists led by Writers House Faculty Director Al Filreis -- agree that it does exactly what it had been intended to do: allow them to maintain intellectual contact with their fellow Penn graduates. Each month, a group of alumni sign up to read and discuss a book chosen by one of the moderating faculty members. For the next several weeks, each alumni then e-mails his or her responses to the listserv so that others may comment. And then comes an online conversation, similar to one that might happen in a Bennett Hall classroom. "They cut across the years and the miles, and they mix people who might otherwise never have an opportunity to come into contact," 1981 Wharton graduate Richard Stein said. So far, four different professors -- Filreis, Classical Studies Professor Jim O'Donnell, English Professor Dan Traister and Religious Studies Professor Ann Matter -- have led three month-long sessions on topics ranging from the study of contemporary Jewish American author Saul Bellow to a discussion of Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire. The book club is the brainchild of Filreis, who conceived the idea following his involvement in a program called Alumnverse. In 1996, as part of Alumnverse, 160 alumni discussed poetry over e-mail. But instead of duplicating Alumnverse's one-year discussion, Filreis decided to hold short one-month book discussions this time. Richard Ross, a 1982 College graduate and now a top Disney Channel executive, then provided a boost to the project by donating $500 for the purpose of hiring someone to maintain the listservs. That's the only expense of the entire program as alumni utilize the listservs for free. After e-mailing various alumni list serves and Writers House contacts and publicizing the club in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Filreis had a group of 25 alumni sign up to participate in his first discussion on Bellow and novelist Mary McCarthy. Volunteer efforts by the five faculty discussion leaders and students at the Writers house took it from there. Alumni had initially been restricted to participating in one club, but when Filreis found the initial group to be so enthusiastic, he allowed them to sign up for a later book club. By now, more than 200 alumni have participated in the discussions. "There is a history of post-college-age people participating in post-college discussions," Filreis said. "In the 1950s people sat around and read books together." These virtual book clubs carry advantages besides eliminating the need for a central meeting place, according to those who participate. In fact, the online discussions have made it possible for alumni with full-time jobs, families and hectic schedules to still have time for intellectual discussions. "I will say that I think this medium actually allowed, in some cases, for more thoughtful discussion than a regular classroom because you didn't have to cram everything into a two-hour window once a week," Stein said. "We could take time to refer back to the text or other sources -- do our homework in class, as it were," 1963 Wharton graduate Alex Newmark added. Participating alumni are quick to point out that the initiative keeps them learning in an organized fashion. In short, no matter the drawbacks, it's still better than nothing. Still, many also recognize that the book club is far from a substitute for face-to-face learning. "You can't respond to each other [in] real time, so you can't have a real debate back and forth quickly," said Feigenbaum, a former Daily Pennsylvanian editor. "Sometimes, if I missed a day due to work related stuff, I missed whole topics and discussions, some of which I would have liked to respond to -- but they were yesterday's news." Michele Root-Bernstein, a 1975 Wharton graduate and member of the session on Nabokov, added, "Spontaneity gets lost, of course, since we are all composing our thoughts, editing them with second thoughts and, at times, suppressing them with third thoughts." The upcoming fourth book group -- moderated by Filreis and Writers House Director Kerry Sherin-- focuses on the works of Jennifer Egan and Ellen Umansky, two up-and-coming alumnae authors. The discussion is open to New York-area alumni only. The goal in restricting participation to New York residents, Filreis explained, is to encourage alumni to take their conversations from the chatroom to bars and restaurants. "[This is to] see if you can create an online learning community that actually can become a physical community," he said. With a large number of alumni located in Boston and San Francisco too, Filreis said he hopes to try the same sort of book discussions in those cities next year.
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A policy requiring notification if officials read e-mail was informally approved by University Council. After months of debate in University Council among faculty, staff, students and administrators, Penn may soon have an official policy governing the privacy of e-mail and other electronic information. A proposed electronic privacy policy was approved informally last month at a Council meeting that lacked a quorum. The proposal -- the third version brought before Council in as many months -- has been put out for public comment by Provost Robert Barchi through June 1. The new policy states that notification will always be made if someone's electronic privacy is violated and it outlines four conditions that must be met before any person's e-mail or computer files can be read by administrators. The four conditions apply to students, faculty and staff members, who had been given differing levels of protection in previous drafts of the policy. If the proposal is accepted, specified University officials will only be able to access a person's files or e-mail without consent if there is a "good faith belief" that doing so is required to comply with the law; if doing so may provide information needed for an investigation of a violation of law or school policy; if doing so is necessary to ensure the integrity of University computing systems; or if doing so may provide information needed to deal with an emergency. In the case of staff members only, a search of electronic data without consent may also take place if it will "yield information that is needed for the ordinary business of the University to proceed." The policy also would require that the person be notified "as soon as practicable" of the involuntary disclosure of information. Previous proposals had stated that students would "ordinarily" be notified when their e-mail was read, but did not guarantee notification. "Except as may otherwise be dictated by legal requirements, individuals will be notified of access to, or disclosure of, the contents of their e-mail, voice mail or their computer accounts as soon as practicable," the newest proposed policy states. Physiology Professor Martin Pring, who headed the effort to create a University-wide policy governing electronic privacy as chairman of Council's Committee on Communications, said that comments made at previous Council meetings this year helped the committee gain concessions from the general counsel's office for stronger policy protections. University attorneys had previously been hesitant to accept some of the stronger proposed protections because of the constraints they would place on the University's ability to act in many situations. "When University Council started asking the same questions [as the committee], it helped our argument considerably," Pring said, calling the latest version of the policy "substantially strengthened" from earlier drafts. Pring said he expects the policy to be approved and take effect this summer unless Barchi receives substantial negative comment before June 1. Because there was no quorum at the meeting, the majority of Council members present gave an informal approval to thepolicy, though several Council members still voiced some objections. On the recommendation of Council, a review of the privacy policy and its effectiveness will be made two years after it takes effect.
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The Quakers, losers of six in a row, host Princeton and Cornell hoping for better outcomes. If the Penn softball team hopes to make some noise in the Ivy League this season, the time to get some wins is definitely right now. The Quakers will try to get their first Ancient Eight win of the year today when they go against Princeton in a home doubleheader. Penn (11-22-1, 0-4) has been struggling offensively of late, scoring only five runs in the last six games, all losses. In its four league contests thus far, the team has totaled a mere four runs. "We definitely know that we're capable of beating Princeton," sophomore Jen Moore said. "But at the same time, we knew we could've beat Drexel, Yale, and Brown, but that just isn't happening." On Wednesday, the Quakers played Drexel in an away doubleheader and dropped both games, 4-1 and 1-0. The highlight of the day for Penn had to be the near no-hit performance turned in by freshman pitcher Dina Parise. Parise, starting in only her third game, showed an impressive array of pitches and took a no-hitter into the last inning. Unfortunately for Parise, her no-hit bid was spoiled when Kelly Donahue led the seventh off with a double. The game was over when Jodi Devine hit a two-out double to drive in the winning run and break the scoreless tie. "I was really pleased with my pitching, and I thought that our defense did an awesome job backing me up," Parise said. "It was a tough loss after holding them hitless for six innings, but I can take away a lot of positives from this." If the Quakers are going to beat Princeton, which stands at 4-0 in the Ivies, they will probably need some great pitching because the Orange and Black will make it difficult to score. Tigers pitcher Brie Galacinao took home last week's Ivy League Player of the Week honors. She helped Princeton start league play off undefeated by getting at least one hit in all four games and allowing no earned runs in two starts and twelve total innings. Despite Penn's offensive difficulties of late, returning first team All-Ivy selection Moore is having a great year with the bat. She is batting a whopping .394 with two homers and 15 RBIs. "I think that our biggest problem is that we always have one aspect of our game missing," Moore said. "One day we'll be hitting and pitching well, but our defense will be poor, and then the next day we'll play well on defense but we won't be able to get any hits." The Quakers will also face Cornell in a double-dip on Sunday afternoon. If Penn can take four straight home games, the Red and Blue could even its Ivy League mark at 4-4. "We seem to be hitting the ball consistently in practice, but when it comes to games we just seem to scatter our hits," Parise said. Cornell has been playing well thus far and stands at 17-5 on the year. The Big Red have played only one league game, however, and were shut out by Harvard, 1-0. Cornell has been potent offensively, with nine players batting at or above .300. "Our intensity needs to be up, and we have to be much more aggressive and really play like we believe in ourselves," Moore said. "We know we have a lot of talent, so it is just a matter of going out there and performing."
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In order to do so, the Quakers will need to come out on top at this weekend's Ivy Champs. This year, there are two ways the Penn's men's golf team could qualify for the NCAA regional golf tournament. Either finish in the top four out of their 50-team district, which is too late to happen, or win this weekend at the Ivy League Championship at Metedeconk National Golf Course. According to Penn golf coach Francis Vaughn, his Quakers will face an uphill battle -- with themselves. "Our biggest threat is ourselves," Vaughn said. "We have to play within ourselves. We have to play our own game and not worry about any other team." According to Vaughn, "Ivy League golf has seen much more parity among its teams in the last few years." At the Ivy League Championship last year, four teams broke 900, an average score of 75 per player. The Quakers will play 36 holes on Saturday and the deciding 18 holes on Sunday. This year, two freshmen will represent the squad at the tourney. Freshman standout Chad Perman will team with freshman Endel Liias to comprise the freshman contingent. "The last time I played two freshmen," Vaughn said, "we won." Rounding out the starting five are three-time All-Ivy selection and senior captain Rob Goldfaden, All-Ivy junior Kyle Moran and junior Todd Golditch. Hopefully for the Quakers, Vaughn has found the right mix of youth and experience. "Each of the players has the ability to play well and to find themselves in the winner's circle," Vaughn said. If the Quakers were to win this weekend, they could attribute their victory to their hard work throughout the season. "We've worked very diligently to prepare for this weekend," Vaughn said. "It has been our focus." According to Perman, the key to a Quakers win is patience and few mistakes. "It is so important to play smart golf and to limit dumb mistakes," Perman said. A personal key for Perman is a quick start in the first round on Saturday. "A good start will make it easier for me," Perman said. "It would certainly put me in a good frame of mind, a good flow." If the Quakers hope to be victorious this weekend, they will have to defeat defending champion Columbia, as well as 23-time NCAA Division I national champion Yale. The Elis' most recent NCAA title, however, came in 1943. Princeton, a 13-time NCAA Division 1 champion, will also pose a challenge. For the Quakers to reach the NCAA East Regional Tournament, they must go through Metedeconk National Golf Course. "You can't go to second base without touching first," Vaughn said.
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With five games still remaining on its schedule, the Penn women's lacrosse team (5-4) has already surpassed last year's squad in total wins. But if you look solely at the Ivy League standings, it might appear that little has changed since then. Penn still sits near the bottom of the league with just a single victory over Columbia to speak of. The Quakers have not beaten another Ivy opponent since April 11, 1998. The Red and Blue can break that streak tomorrow when they travel to Hanover, N.H., to face Dartmouth (6-1, 4-0) at noon. But if the national rankings are any indication, the No. 9 Big Green will offer a more imposing challenge than typical Ivy foes. "They are a different level, and that's just a fact," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "We're not there yet. Penn hasn't recruited, and they get the best kids in the country." The Big Green have compiled a perfect league record, coupled with non-conference wins over New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Boston University. Senior captain Brooke Jenkins said tomorrow's game will definitely be Penn's toughest to date. "We're just hoping to give them a good game," Traci Marabella said. "But it would be nice if we could come up with the upset." If the Quakers hope to win, they will need an answer for Dartmouth's Jacque Weitzel, the nation's leading scorer with 4.57 goals per game. "[Weitzel] is about 5'11'' and left handed, so she's tough to guard," Jenkins said. "She's a big strong girl who can really beat you with her size. We just have to stick on her like glue." But Brower said that even if Penn loses, it will still benefit just from facing Dartmouth. "I think it's great for us to play a team like this because it shows us where we need to go," she said.
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The surprising snowstorm that blanketed campus early Sunday morning probably convinced most students to remain in bed a few more hours. However, for 100 or so dedicated do-gooders, the weather was hardly reason to stop them from what they had set out to do: community service. Several dozen students, most of whom were Jewish, participated in the annual Mitzvah Day, in which they performed a variety of community service activities throughout the city. Mitzvah is the Hebrew word for "commandment," but is traditionally thought of as a good deed. This year, for the first time, Penn collaborated with students at Drexel and Temple universities. The goal of the day, coordinator David Glasner explained, is to bring together the Jewish community for the shared purpose of service and charity. Glasner, a College senior, said the collaboration with other schools was beneficial because "every campus really feels ownership of the event." College sophomore Albert Sultan added that this day was in keeping with the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, which means "repairing the world." "These are the ethical values that Jews and Judaism want to represent to the world," he said. "One thing we all agree on is that the world needs to be fixed." The day began with a brunch at the Veranda on Locust Walk. Most of the participating students had found out about the event either through Hillel or through their friends. The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity showed a strong charity commitment by turning participation into a pledge event for its freshman class. Wharton freshman and AEPi pledge Michael Sand said, "Part of being in a fraternity is doing philanthropy and donating time to the betterment of the community, so Mitzvah Day gives everybody a chance to give back and have fun doing it." The students was allowed to select which community service event they wanted to attend. Possible choices included going to the Thrift for AIDS store to sort clothes, cleaning and preparing an old synagogue for Passover, celebrating Christmas in April with underprivileged Philadelphia residents and visiting a geriatric hospital. Though most volunteers sported Mitzvah Day T-shirts, College senior Ben Schein got a little more creative by dressing in a large blue and red button, the symbol of the Half Shekel campaign -- a student effort whose goal is to create a unified Jewish community on campus by sponsoring social events and an annual charity drive. At the end of the brunch, Renee Bebe, a volunteer with the Philadelphia Cares organization, spoke to the students about the value of participating in community service projects. "One project at a time is how we change things," she said. At the end of the day, those that had participated felt accomplished and proud. Malka Hoffman, a Temple University sophomore and organizer of the B'nai Synagogue trip, said she was impressed by the commitment of the volunteers. "I'm so excited that so many people cared enough to come out and help clean up," she said.
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Daniel Becker, the resident nose job expert at HUP, performs around 100 rhinoplasties a year. Daniel Becker has probably seen every nose shape and size there is. A professor in the Ear, Nose and Throat Department at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Becker is HUP's resident expert rhinoplasty -- the technical name for a nose job. The nose guy, as he calls himself. Since Becker arrived at Penn 3 1/2 years ago, his practice has grown to the point where he now performs the majority of the rhinoplasty operations in his department-- about 100 a year on patients ranging in age from 16 to 78. And much of his practice -- about 40 percent of the rhinoplasties he performs -- is fixing nose jobs that did not heal properly. "My specialty is taking care of the nose inside and out," he explained. It used to be that surgeons would remove tissue and bone when performing rhinoplasties. But that technique often results in problems later on, such as obstructed breathing or a skeletonized shape, which is what Becker often finds himself correcting. "The nose has a structural support like a bridge," Becker said. "If you take away too much, then it doesn't have the support it needs and it doesn't work." Otorhinolaryngologists now resect swaths of cartilage from the ear or septum -- the wall that divides the nose into left and right halves -- and insert them into the nose through incisions made either in the inner nose -- a technique known as endo nasal rhinoplasty -- or on the columella, the bridge that separates the nostrils, known as open rhinoplasty. Many of the revisions that Becker does are on patients who had rhinoplasties 10 or 15 years ago. But he also sees patients who had more recent surgeries, which he views -- to some degree -- as a sign of incompetence on the part of the surgeon who did the original operation. "Clearly, there is not enough understanding about rhinoplasties out there," he noted. "Some things are done improperly." But not all of the revisions he sees are necessarily the result of a poor nose job, Becker points out. About 2 to 8 percent of any surgeon's rhinoplasties will need touch-up operations. But Becker says he strives for perfection with every rhinoplasty. "There is an expression that the best outcome is a happy patient and a happy surgeon," he said. "The worst outcome is a happy surgeon and an unhappy patient. The most common should be a happy patient and an unhappy surgeon." Striving for perfection is important because, for many people, a changed nose can mean a changed self-image. "It can make a wonderful improvement in people in the way they view themselves," he said. "If you ruin someone's nose, then it can be devastating." And Becker wants to dispel the image of nose jobs patients as rich people who are never satisfied with themselves. He points out that a good number of the rhinoplasties he performs are on students. Students, according to Becker, have the same reasons as anyone else for having their noses done: function, aesthetics or both. But students tend to wait until graduation before they have their noses done. "When people begin a new life, they want a new appearance," Becker said. "That's a good time for them to make that change." Whatever the reason for the operation -- Becker has even operated on men whose noses were crushed in fights -- the goal is always the same. "You don't want someone to look like they just had an operation," Becker said. "You just want them to look good." Modern surgical tools and techniques have been so refined that patients experience little or no scarring or bruising. Even the incision wounds are barely visible when they heal. And the pain is minimal. About the only post-operative symptom is fatigue. Otorhinolaryngologists like Becker now use powered instruments for tissue shaving and specially made osteotomes, which are used to reshape bone. "He utilizes traditional techniques combined with new approaches and instrumentation," said Andrew Goldberg, a fellow HUP otorhinolaryngologist. A typical rhinoplasty can last anywhere from one to three hours plus recovery time and costs a few thousand dollars. But for most patients, the outcome is well worth the price. "I've never seen a smile on a face as big as the smile on the face of a rhinoplasty patient after you take the cast off," Becker said.
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International Monetary Fund and World Bank, look out. What happened to the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle last year is expected to re-occur at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington, D.C., this weekend More than 50 students attended a discussion at Civic House Tuesday night to hear why thousands of students, some from Penn, will be descending upon the nation's capital in protest. The discussion, or IMF Teach-In, was sponsored by Groove Phi Groove, Penn Students Against Sweatshops and Civic House. History Professor David Ludden began the discussion by giving a broad history of the IMF and the World Bank. He highlighted both the goals and the shortcomings of these international financial institutions. The IMF, formed in 1946, began as "the lender of last resort for countries in financial crisis," Ludden said. Along with the World Bank, it was intended to promote a "flourishing environment for international investment of private capital." Both institutions exist largely to enable needy countries to receive financial capital from private investors. But what was originally intended to fund post-World War II recovery has been transformed into a multilateral force in effecting policy change in debtor countries, according to Ludden. The IMF now has to "get into governments and alter the way governments work," he said. One major problem with the IMF's operations Ludden said, is the issue of structural adjustment. In the 1970s, saddled by debt, many developing countries found themselves dependent on international finance for survival. These countries began to look to debt-driven development to solve their problems. "Businesses do not invest in infrastructure," Ludden said. "They depend on government investment in infrastructure." The IMF, in a position to loan this needed capital, then dictated the ways in which debtor nations had to change their budgets. Ludden left Civic House after his 20-minute talk. Exiting audience members who left with the professor said they were pleased with his historical viewpoint. "I thought that it was about as unbiased as one could make it," College sophomore Alice Pink said. But after Ludden's exit, the discussion quickly changed to a more partisan viewpoint. College senior Miriam Joffe-Block, who participated in the Seattle protests several months ago and is a leader of Penn Students Against Sweatshops, took the floor to discuss the workings of the IMF. She concluded that the IMF is doing more harm than good. "The IMF is forcing a market economy and integration into the global economy much, much faster than happened for the U.S.," read one of the visuals that she showed. But audience member Alex Robinson, a College senior, pointedly asked Joffe-Block after her presentation, "Instead of protesting against the IMF, why aren't you pushing for another multilateral body?" Emily Nepon, a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, responded in her presentation that one cannot afford to be objective. "People are fucking dying because of changes being made in their countries by the IMF and the World Bank," Nepon said. Nepon was referring to the fact that the IMF has, in some cases, dictated the release of price protections sponsored by debtor nations. This could then limit the availability of food to poor people.
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Penn will put the wraps on a disappointing year in the ivy League. After a heartbreaking, double overtime loss to Villanova, the Penn men's lacrosse team (5-6, 1-4 Ivy League) will try to right the ship tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Brown (4-5, 1-2) in its final appearance at Franklin Field this season. The Bears are also coming off a tough loss, a 10-7 defeat against Harvard, and Brown will be hungry for a win. "I think their team, much like us, feels a little bit wounded off that loss last night, and we're both looking to get a good win come Saturday," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. The question, therefore, is which team will carry the lingering effects of the Wednesday night losses into Saturday's game. "There's always a little concern about coming off of a demoralizing game like that," Van Arsdale said. "I mean, an overtime game's either euphoria or depression right when it's over. "[But] I thought our guys bounced back pretty well today, and they're looking forward to another good opponent on Saturday. Sometimes having another one looking at you in the face in a couple of days lets you put the previous one behind you." The Bears team staring down the Quakers for tomorrow is a formidable one. No. 14 Brown beat Duke, 10-9, early this season and Yale two weeks ago. The Quakers were edged out by the Elis, 11-10, in their first Ivy contest this season. The Bears, throughout their lineup, are a very strong team. They have excellent attackmen and midfielders and an above-average defense. "It'll be sort of what we went through last night [against 'Nova], with the first midfielders doing a lot of creating for them," Van Arsdale said. "I think they have a little bit better attack then we saw against 'Nova, and I think a little more solid defense. It's a good, solid Ivy League team." Van Arsdale wasn't going to make any adjustments -- he just wants to get them to play a little cleaner. "Last night we showed, I thought, our best offensive stuff in a long time, and I don't think we're going to change anything dramatically to get after Brown," Van Arsdale said. "We just need to be sharp and to avoid a couple of the turnovers that cost us in the third quarter yesterday." The Quakers aren't that worried about how the game against the Bears fits into the greater scheme of their Ivy League season. They are more concerned about getting a win on Senior Day on 33rd Street. "It's one game," Van Arsdale said. "I don't think it's so much the overall picture of the league that we're looking at for this one. Maybe at the end of the year, it'll look a whole lot better to say, 'Hey we won a couple of games in the league rather than just one.' But mainly it's a chance to beat a good Ivy League team, which Penn hasn't had much success with lately." Four Penn seniors will wear their game uniforms on Franklin Field for the final time. In addition to Quakers co-captains defenseman Bill Fowler and attackman Pete Janney, midfielders Billy Reidy and Mike Kehoe will also play in the last Ancient Eight contests of their careers tomorrow. "It's the last home game of the year, the last home game for four seniors, and I think that's more the focus for this one than that it's another Ivy game," Van Arsdale said. While there will be some recognition of the seniors and an alumni dinner on Saturday night, the planned festivities aren't that extensive. "We'll announce the four seniors playing in their last home game, and we also have an awards banquet Saturday night," Van Arsdale said. "Obviously with that kind of atmosphere, you'd like to make it a special one for them to remember because it's their last time out here."
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The Penn women's golf team wraps up its spring season with the Ivy League Championships this weekend. The 36-hole tournament will take place tomorrow and Sunday at the Metedaconk National Golf Club in Jackson, N.J. The five team members competing for the Quakers this weekend will be senior captain Natasha Miller, junior Jen Schraut, sophomores Rachel Slosburg and Victoria Entine, and freshman Stacy Kress. Both Schraut and Entine competed in last year's tournament in Bethpage, N.Y. While the Quakers competed in that tournament, their scores did not count in the official standings, as this is the first year for women's golf as a varsity sport at Penn. The Red and Blue shot a 442 and a 460, for a two-day total of 902. In this weekend's tournament, the Quakers will face Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, defending champion Princeton and Yale. The only Ancient Eight schools without women's golf programs are Columbia and Cornell. Penn has already faced the Tigers and Elis once this spring, at William and Mary. In preparation for the Ivy Championships, the Quakers have been focusing on ironing out some of the kinks in their games -- especially long putting. "We want to go into the Ivies with a positive attitude," Miller said. The Quakers should have the benefit this weekend of five competitors, something that they have not experienced yet this season. Since only the top four scores each day count, having a fifth golfer would give the other four competitors some breathing room. The Quakers hope that the additional competitor will enable them to rebound from a last-place finish in the 17-team field at the William and Mary Invitational two weeks ago. The team also wants to focus on its season-long goal, which has been to shoot under 400 in every single round, regardless of the tournament. Last week, the Quakers added assistant coach Laura Hammond to the coaching staff. Hammond, who earned her master's degree in Elementary Education from Penn in January, was a four-year letterwinner for the Penn State women's golf team. Hammond was also a four-time Collegiate Tournament winner and was a four-time Philadelphia women's amateur champion as well. "Laura is a wonderful addition to an improving women's golf team," Penn coach Francis Vaughn said. "Her experience as a collegiate player will help develop future Penn golfers."
