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(03/31/00 10:00am)
A crowd of about two hundred Penn students welcomed the sounds of punk, jazz and plain-old rock at last night's unofficial christening of 4040, Penn's new indie music club. Four student bands rocked for more than two hours during the Battle of the Bands, a friendly competition showcasing some of Penn's best undergraduate musicians. The event was sponsored by 34th Street magazine, which is published by The Daily Pennsylvanian Inc. Each of the groups -- The Atreyu Complex, Half an Echo, The Ally and Don't Look Down -- played for 20 to 30 minutes. A panel of judges -- including a Penn music professor, the 34th Street music editor and local group the Jazzyfatnastees -- graded the groups. The Ally, a jam band fronted by College sophomore Ira Tuton, won the competition and left with $200. 34th Street Editor-in-Chief Matt Rand explained that the purpose of the event was to bring something new to Penn's campus. "We wanted to bring in people who wouldn't normally go to a live music show, and we wanted to show them there's some stuff going on that's pretty good," the Wharton junior explained. Each of the four bands gained a spot in the contest by submitting a demo tape to the editors of 34th Street or were asked to participate. "This is a great event for us," said Wharton senior Dave Goldman, the lead singer of The Atreyu Complex. "We get a chance to play for some important people." Half an Echo member Leo Dugan, a College sophomore, said his band is "always looking for opportunities to play. We play all around Philly." The band will be performing in the Quadrangle during Spring Fling. Several participants and organizers said they felt that the Battle of the Bands was an important step for the Penn music scene. "This is a good start for things to happen at Penn," Goldman said. "4040 is a good club that Penn kids don't know about -- they don't know about the music scene." But if many students didn't yet know about the club, perhaps that is because its first show took place less than a month ago after months of negotiations with the University, which had been seeking to bring a non-alcoholic music club to campus. Indeed, the concert was designed to introduce the Penn community to the new club at 4040 Locust Street. 4040 will hold its grand opening tomorrow with emo-band Atom and the Package. 4040 co-owner Sean Agnew felt positive about lending his space to 34th Street's first-ever event. "I want to incorporate more Penn events and get Penn students involved in this scene," Agnew said. Agnew's reputation in Philadelphia's music scene served as an additional draw to both the participating bands and audience members. Wharton and Nursing sophomore Grant Martsolf expressed his excitement at the possibilities opened up by this event. "It's a great idea," Martsolf said. "It's something to do right in my backyard." Judging from audience reactions, the Battle of the Bands was a good step toward the goal of inolving Penn students in the music scene. "I had heard this place was pretty cool, that this was the hot indie rock place in town," Engineering freshman Nirav Batavia said. "Now I'll definitely come back."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
College Green was packed yesterday afternoon when Penn's student government pulled out all the stops in its effort to get students to vote. Yellow balloons that read "Vote on Penn InTouch" dotted Locust Walk. A cappella and dance groups performed enthusiastically before the crowds. Candidates milled around, handing out fliers and shaking hands. And, to top it off, there was free pizza. The Nominations and Elections Committee's "Get Out the Vote!" event kicked off the beginning of elections yesterday. Elections for the Undergraduate Assembly and class boards will last through next Wednesday. This year, more than 120 candidates will be running for the class boards and the UA. Sixty-three candidates will be running for the 25 seats available on the UA, and 63 candidates will be running for class boards. Candidates passed out $1,000 worth of pizza all afternoon while they introduced themselves to voters and answered questions about elections. "The [turnout] is fantastic," NEC Vice Chairwoman of Elections Teresa Lee said. "[Students] have been positive, assuring that they would vote," the Wharton and Engineering junior added. Students could eat their pizza on the Green while enjoying free entertainment by various student groups, including a cappella group The Inspiration and the Arts House Dance Company. College sophomore Hal Hodes, also an NEC member, said he thought the event went well. "Candidates are meeting voters and visa versa," Hodes said, "[so] people aren't just voting out of a blurb from the paper." Candidates agreed that the event was a great way to meet students and introduce themselves to them, as well as encourage them to vote. "[The event] is going pretty well. I've been able to talk to lots of [students]," College freshman and class board candidate Katherine Smith said. "It's great -- people can meet the candidates [and there's] more interaction," College freshman and UA candidate Lily Yeun said. Some candidates are also confident that voting through Penn InTouch -- which was actively advertised yesterday -- will positively affect voter turnout. Lee said last night that 5 percent of students had voted during the day, meaning that over 500 students had already cast ballots. Last year, 1,220 students -- just 17 percent of the eligible voters -- voted. "The recent change in how to vote [is great]," UA candidate and Wharton freshman Amina Conteh said, adding that "more people will definitely vote." Students will be able to vote on Penn InTouch until Wednesday, and results for the UA and class boards will be announced after the NEC's Fair Practices Code hearing the following day.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
New software enables profs to create highly interactive class Web sites for students. Penn professors are starting to throw away their chalk and erasers in favor of a new kind of blackboard. Using a commercial software product called "Blackboard" that the University is pushing faculty to use, professors can create sites that allow students to access class information and assignments, hold group discussions, take electronic exams and monitor their grades online. Blackboard was first unveiled last semester, when a small number of courses made use of it, primarily in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Engineering School. Classical Studies Professor Joseph Farrell, the faculty director of distributed learning for SAS, has spent the past two semesters working to get SAS faculty members interested in using Blackboard for teaching their courses. The program is designed to be user-friendly so that even professors unfamiliar with programming can design Web sites, he noted. Every SAS department has held a faculty-training meeting to make information about Blackboard more widely available, and Farrell said he hopes every department will have at least one or two courses utilizing the resource next semester. Blackboard Web sites are pre-formatted, allowing professors to add relevant course materials and use as many or as few features as they choose, as well as make a limited number of design changes, like changing color schemes. Students in courses using Blackboard must log in using a password to the course's Web site to use most of its features, allowing online class discussions and other private areas of the site to be protected from public view. In a Penn survey of students who used Blackboard in their courses last semester, 83 percent of respondents said the use of the program had enhanced their class in some way. Almost all of the nearly 400 students surveyed said they found the program to be user-friendly, while about two-thirds of those surveyed said they would like more of their professors to make use of the software. Farrell said the positive student reaction to Blackboard "was much more enthusiastic than we had even hoped for." At a training session for the Anthropology Department earlier this month, several professors in attendance said they planned to use Blackboard for their courses in the future. One of the features that most interested those in attendance was the software's ability to place course materials like readings and photos online, eliminating the need for course bulkpacks. These types of readings can be placed in the restricted areas of the Web sites accessible only by enrolled students, Farrell noted, avoiding problems like copyright violations. "Its a little less personal in some ways," said Engineering junior Ben Williams, who uses Blackboard to chat with classmates from a poetry class taught by English Professor Al Filreis. But he also noted that discussions via the Web site were "not as intimidating" as speaking in class. Farrell said he has found the program to be very useful in teaching one of his own poetry courses, "Horace," this semester. Students did not have to purchase any books or bulkpacks for the class because all of their assigned readings were on the Web, Farrell said. Students in his class take online quizzes based on the readings, he said, and can then keep track of their grades automatically using a personal information feature provided by Blackboard. "I can't imagine ever wanting to teach a course without [Blackboard] ever again," Farrell said.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Penn was ahead in the nightcap, but Villanova tied it up as darkness arrived. This has been a season of streaks for the Penn softball team. And, right now, the Quakers are on a cold streak. After winning four straight over La Salle and Lafayette last weekend, Penn (8-13-1) is now winless in its last four contests. Penn was shut out yesterday afternoon at Villanova in the opener of a doubleheader, 9-0, and tied the Wildcats, 5-5, in the nightcap as the game was called in the bottom of the fifth due to darkness. The first game was lost from the get-go as the Quakers came out flat, giving up five first-inning runs to host Villanova. It was a lead that the Wildcats would never relinquish. "We came out kind of shaky and let the first game slip away after the first inning," Penn freshman shortstop Crista Farrell said. The first-inning onslaught came against freshman pitcher Becky Ranta, who has been the Quakers' ace and was just named to the Ivy League honor roll this week. The Wildcats, however, took no notice of Ranta's prior accomplishments as they roughed her up for five runs on seven hits. Fellow Penn freshman Dina Parise had no better luck at stopping 'Nova, giving up four runs in 4 1/3 innings. The game was called in the sixth inning due to the eight-run mercy rule. Offense was also lacking for the Quakers in the opener. Sophomore second baseman Molly Meehan collected Penn's lone hit off the stellar pitching duo of Carrie Walpole and Faith Meisinger. Part of the reason for Penn's lack of offensive production was the umpire's rather large and unorthodox strike zone. But the Quakers would not use this as an excuse, as the strike zone was the same on both sides. "The umpire was calling a lot of inside pitches for strikes -- it was a kind of unexpected strike zone," third basemen Jen Moore said. "But Villanova pitched a really good game, and we should have been swinging." Another possible reason for Penn's unimpressive performance was the absence of two starters -- second baseman Jamie Pallas and left fielder Clarisa Apostol. The two sophomores took the game off to attend the funeral of friend and College junior Justin Finalle, who committed suicide this past weekend. Nevertheless, the Quakers are still very disappointed with their performance. "They hit the ball, and we didn't and our fielders did not do a good job," Moore said. "It was a disappointing game." But while Penn seemed to give up in the first game, they made quite a game out of the nightcap. The Penn bats finally got rolling in the third inning, as the Quakers brought home four runs to break the scoreless tie. Freshman left fielder Deb Kowalchuk got the rally going with a one-out single. After a Farrell sacrifice and a passed ball, Moore drove home Kowalchuk with her team-leading eighth double of the season. Freshman Heidi Albrecht followed with a single to score Moore, and, two batters later, freshman catcher Dani Landolt drove in two more with another base hit. The Quakers extended their lead to five in the fourth with another Moore RBI, but the Wildcats came right back. They scored twice in both the fourth and fifth innings to pull to within 5-4. With the Quakers leading by one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, the game got interesting. Darkness was fast approaching, and many of the Quakers had trouble seeing the ball. "You need light entering your eyes to react," Moore said. In a valiant attempt to preserve its one-run lead before the game was called, Penn coach Carol Kashow changed pitchers twice, putting in Parise for senior captain Suzanne Arbogast, who gave up four runs and six hits through five innings, before putting Arbogast back in the game. But the Quakers could not hold off the Wildcats late-inning rally as Villanova benefited from a game-tying walk off Arbogast. As soon as the game was knotted at five, the umpires decided to call the game, leaving Villanova with the bases loaded and one out. Despite the late Wildcat come-back, Penn was still pleased with the game. "We played a lot better and showed a lot of character coming back in the second game," Moore said. The Quakers will look to get back to inscribing the winning side of the ledger when they square off this weekend against Temple and Army.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panthers in 1966 and was a leading proponent of black militancy. Even though he still wore a trademark beret, Bobby Seale came to campus last night promoting a message far different from the black militant one for which he became famous in the 1960s. In an animated two-hour speech before approximately 175 students, Seale, who co-founded the Black Panther Party over 30 years ago, said he and other members of his movement have been unfairly misrepresented by the media as "hoodlums" and "thugs." In reality, Seale explained, the party was based more on a desire to change the status quo than on a hunger for violence and retribution. Seale, along with Huey Newton, is known as a leading figure in the rise of the black power movement of the mid- to late-1960s. The imagery of the Panthers' berets, bandoleer belts and upraised fists remains today a lasting symbol of Seale and his activism. He was also a member of the "Chicago Eight" -- a group of radicals arrested for disrupting the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. For his outbursts in court, Seale was ordered bound and gagged. While his ideologies may have changed over the years, his dramatic speaking style has not. Through a series of vivid descriptions of the past and colorful imitations of friends and foes, Seale set about dispelling various myths about the Panthers. He began by condemning the group's portrayal by the media. In particular, he criticized the 1995 film Panther. Calling it "poetic lies," he explained that the film promotes the same image of the Panthers being thugs that the government promoted in the past. "I think it's a bunch of cheap fiction crap," Seale said. "Only 10 percent was [based on real-life incidents]." Seale spent the majority of his address refuting this image of "hooliganism" and tracing the start of the radical group he founded with Newton, whom he met while both were attending Merritt Junior College in Oakland in 1962. Stressing the amount of reading and research that he and Newton engaged in before shaping the group, Seale gave a lengthy description of the intensive study of African-American history that precipitated the creation of the Panthers. "This is the kind of stuff that was? blowing my mind," he said, referring to the legacies of figures such as W.E.B. DuBois and Nat Turner. While Seale and Newton took active roles and promoted social change within their small college by advocating for a black history class, it was not until the death of Malcolm X that they decided to formally organize the Panthers. Shortly thereafter, they came up with the Ten Point Platform, which outlined the goals of the group. Included in the platform was the right to freedom from police brutality "We wanted to capture the imagination of real people," Seale said. Seale pointed out that the Panthers, especially in their early days, stayed well within the boundaries of the law, even though they are often remembered for their run-ins with police. Newton was in law school and tried to ensure that the Panthers followed at least some of the country's laws. Seale closed his remarks with a condemnation of all kinds of racism and called for a future of "cooperational humanism." "All power to all the people," he said as he left the stage to a standing ovation, echoing the message he has been promoting for the last 30 years. "It was very enlightening," University City High School student Nicole Harris said. And College junior Larissa Kopytoff said Seale's stories "really gave you a sense of the atmosphere of the time."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Fewer students than hoped have come to focus group sessions on Penn's future. The Penn Public Talk Project kicked off the PennTalks initiative this week, bringing together small groups of undergraduates to discuss their experiences at Penn and their hopes for the University's future. But so far the effort -- which will culminate in a report to University President Judith Rodin on the various student opinions expressed -- has gotten off to a slow start, as it seems fewer students than expected are interested in talking about Penn. Associate Director of Penn Public Talks Bill Boltz said that there were originally 30 discussion sessions scheduled for the next two weeks -- but as of now, only 15 will run. He attributed the apparent lack of student interest to the fact that PennTalks was held so soon after spring break. "So much is going on," Boltz said. "People are getting back at different times. The sessions next week will be more full than this week's." At the project's inception, Boltz planned to have about 10 students per session; however, many have only three or four. But Boltz said that the smaller number of students will still result in "good and productive conversations." Boltz said PennTalks is intended to let administrators know what students think about Penn, as well as to strengthen the University community. College sophomore Ari Alexander, the Penn Public Talks Project student liaison, expressed hope that PennTalks will help to "break down the hierarchy" of the University so that administrators will be able to hear students' opinions more easily. As part of the program, Penn hired the Connecticut-based Study Circles Resource Center to train 31 student facilitators in how to get their fellow students to discuss the issues that are important to them. All the discussions are run solely by students. Participants remain enthusiastic about the effort. "It went really well," said College sophomore Jamie Beller, who attended one of last night's sessions. "It was productive. We brought up a lot of pertinent issues and we got to hear different views from different people." Facilitator Iman Martin said that she got involved in the project partly because, as a member of the United Minorities Council, she wanted to bring many different kinds of students together. "It's a chance for Penn students to come together and talk about what Penn is really about," the College freshman said. Facilitator Amy Rosen, an Engineering sophomore, stressed the importance of students feeling that they can really express themselves. "For the first time, [Penn has created] an unrestrained conversation, with no adult figure or authority figure present," Rosen said. If the PennTalks program is successful, those involved hope to expand the project to include dialogues between faculty members, graduate students and members of the University City community.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
A new life sciences building would house the Biology and Psychology departments. University administrators are planning to breathe new life into Penn's natural science departments and programs with the construction of a $90 million life sciences building, to be located at 38th Street and University Avenue alongside Hamilton Walk. Although the project is still in its preliminary stages and has yet to be submitted to the University Trustees for approval, the proposed 95,000-square-foot facility would provide new homes for the Psychology and Biology departments. It will create new and vastly improved wet and dry research laboratories and increase classroom and office space to accommodate faculty enlargement in both departments. The life sciences building will also house interdisciplinary programs in fields such as genomics and cognitive neuroscience, which draw upon faculty from the Biology and Psychology departments, as well as from the Medical School and Veterinary School. "There is a huge evolution -- if not revolution -- going on in the life sciences," University President Judith Rodin said. "We need the type of facilities that will allow us to push the frontiers, and right now we don't have the facilities to do it." The building is currently being designed by Boston-based architect Ellen Zweig, who also did the feasibility studies when administrators began developing the project. There is no timetable for the project, but preliminary plans call for the building to be constructed in two phases. According to Provost Robert Barchi, the first phase -- which should take about 18 months to complete -- will provide approximately 55,000 square feet of space for Biology Department laboratories and animal research labs for the Psychology Department. The Biology Department's current lab facilities in the Kaplan Wing of the Leidy Laboratories and the Mudd Biology Research Laboratory would then be demolished to make room for the second construction phase, an adjacent building housing primarily Psychology Department laboratories and offices, Barchi added. As part of the plan, the Goddard Laboratories building would also be vacated, although that building would remain in use for administrative purposes. According to administrators, the new life sciences building would help enliven the back end of campus along Hamilton Walk, serving as the focal point of a "Life Sciences Quadrangle" that would encompass Medical School and Veterinary School buildings and the Bio Pond. And construction of the new building would free up much-needed expansion space near Locust Walk for the Graduate School of Education and the School of Social Work, both of which currently do more than 40 percent of their research in rented facilities. Administrators plan for those schools to use the Psychology Laboratories Building on 3720 Walnut Street once the Psychology Department moves into the life sciences facility. Still, the project remains focused on vastly improving laboratory space for the Biology and Psychology departments. "In terms of facilities, it is our No. 1 priority," School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston said. Penn faculty and administrators have long complained that current research laboratories for the natural sciences are too small, too old and downright depressing. "They are really outdated facilities and that has really hurt us in our ability to attract and retain the best faculty," Psychology Department Chairman Robert Seyfarth said. "It is a problem when your facilities are not on par with those institutions you are competing with," Preston added. Many of Penn's peer institutions have announced that they will make major investments in their sciences programs. Most notably, Yale University recently announced it would spend $500 million to overhaul its natural sciences program. But like all University construction projects, the challenge remains in finding funding for them -- although administrators have been pitching the project for a number of years. "A lot of people want to give money to people -- not bricks and mortar," SAS Vice Dean of External Affairs Jean-Marie Kneeley said. And Rodin said that the absence of formal plans has made it difficult to fundraise. Still, Preston and Rodin have met with a number of potential donors -- including many from the biotechnology sector -- and have already secured a number of private donations. According to Preston, they have already received pledges for almost $3 million in dedicated stock and a total of $4 million from individual Trustee donors. "At this point, we feel the funding is identified," Preston said. "There is an understanding that if we raise our target of $15 million to fund [Phase I construction], we can sustain debt service on the rest of the building."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
A possible security breach or system overload cut off many students' access to PennNet. Many Penn students experienced technological glitches while using the Internet for the past two days, finding themselves unable to use software like instant message service ICQ. Penn officials say that most of the difficulties were a result of an investigation into a series of potential security breaches on the network, which forced the Office of Information Systems and Computing to place a block on many PennNet services. Security violations could include hackers entering PennNet. Hackers can automate several computers to send all data stored on them to a single computer system and thereby place an overflow of information into the system. ISC Vice Provost Jim O'Donnell, a Classical Studies professor, said officials are looking into a series of security-related incidents, though he declined to elaborate on what they were. Whatever the cause, for the past two days Penn put a block on certain services to check if they were the source of security problems. O'Donnell said the block has been mainly lifted, but he would not say if the root of the problem had been discovered. He explained that if hackers were to access the system, possible security problems could be denial of service attacks -- programs designed to generate enough traffic on the network so that they deny access to the network's legitimate users. Denial of service attacks include attempts to flood a network with traffic, to disrupt connections between two or more machines, to prevent a particular individual from accessing a service and to disrupt service to a specific system or person. "One of the challenges these days is you're not sure what clever ideas people can come up with to do with the Internet," O'Donnell said. Another possible cause of the network traffic is PennNet users' use of new audio and video services. But O'Donnell doubts that Napster.com is a problem. Napster -- a popular Internet service that allows quick downloads of megabytes of music -- has been a burden on some college networks by draining bandwidth away from regular applications, such as Web browsing. "We haven't seen [Napster] as a real big problem here yet," he said. O'Donnell said traffic problems sometimes go unnoticed for long periods of time. But for the past year, ISC has utilized new network monitoring software, which notifies staff as soon as a technical difficulty is detected. O'Donnell said most people found out about the problems from a statement he posted on the PennNet-announce listserv and newsgroup and experienced few or no difficulties. Traffic issues are "part of the challenge of living on the Internet," but similar problems have not occurred in recent years, O'Donnell said.
(03/30/00 10:00am)
The Quakers lost at Lafayette by a familiar margin -just one run. Another day, another tough one-run defeat. After falling to Temple Tuesday afternoon at Veterans Stadium by the closest of margins -- 5-4 in 10 innings -- the Penn baseball team traveled to cold and windy Easton, Pa., yesterday to try and wash the bitter aftertaste of falling to the Owls out of its collective mouth. It didn't work out that way. With a 10-9 loss to Lafayette marked by shaky pitching and fundamentals, the Quakers fell to 8-9 on the season and are left to ponder the missed chances at victory that have defined their week. The Quakers jumped out to an early 3-1 lead on the strength of sophomore catcher Brian Fitzgerald's two-RBI single to right-center field in Penn's three-run second inning. It was a lead Penn would not hold for long. Lafayette shortstop Vince D'Angelis' single to right-center field in the bottom half of the inning scored right fielder Russ Giglio, cutting Penn's lead to a scant one run. After going two innings and giving up one earned run, Penn starting pitcher Greg Lee was lifted in the third to help set up this weekend's pitching slate for the Quakers. His replacement was Nick Barnhorst, who didn't last long. With one out, Barnhorst walked Lafayette designated hitter Niko Palos and third baseman Bob Osipower. After first baseman Matt Tambellini reached on a fielder's choice, knocking out Osipower at second base and advancing Palos to third. A passed ball charged to Fitzgerald scored Palos and sent Tambellini to second. This turn of events seemed to unnerve Barnhorst, who walked the next three batters, forcing home a run in the person of Tambellini. Barnhorst was lifted in favor of promising freshman Ben Otero, who got D'Angelis to end the inning by flying out to left with the bases loaded. While Lafayette missed a chance to break the game wide open, they would never trail again. "He was horrendous," Penn coach Bob Seddon said of Barnhorst. "Nick could not find the plate. It seems like when something goes wrong, we break down. In other words, first inning, first batter, line drive to third base, and it's not caught. Then we break down -- a walk or a hit. We're not strong when we have something negative go wrong?. After a goof, we have to be more focused." In the Leopards' next turn at bat, they would make the Quakers pay dearly for their mistakes. With two outs, Otero struck out Palos swinging, seemingly ending the inning. But Fitzgerald let the ball get away -- his second passed ball of the game -- and Palos was able to reach first base. Lafayette took advantage of its new lease on life. After Palos reached base, Osipower homered to right, driving himself and his teammate in. Not to be outdone, Tambellini immediately followed Osipower's blast with one of his own, a solo shot to center that gave the Leopards a 7-3 lead. The Quakers got two back in the top of the fifth when shortstop Glen Ambrosius' fielder's choice scored second baseman Nick Italiano. A wild pitch by Brendan McDonough later in the inning scored designated hitter James Mullen, who had reached base earlier on a fielder's choice of his own. In the sixth, the Quakers had a chance to score when Brian Fitzgerald stood on third with one out. But left fielder Jeremy McDowell ran into a tag on a ground ball by Italiano to initiate a double play that ended the inning before the run could score from third. "We did some stupid things that become highlighted when you've given up a lot of runs," Seddon said. "If you weren't giving up all those runs, you wouldn't really notice those little things. They hurt us." The Leopards put the game away in their half of the sixth. After Otero held Lafayette to one hit in the fifth, Dan Fitzgerald was brought on to pitch and was shaky, walking three batters and plunking one with a pitch. With two outs and runners on first and second, Jon Kline pinch hit for catcher Jason Carlough and squeezed a single through the left side, loading the bases. Giglio singled to left, scoring two and giving the Leopards a 9-5 lead. After walking the next batter to reload the bases, Fitzgerald hit D'Angelis, forcing in another run. While Fitzgerald got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting center fielder Tye Gonser to pop out to him, the damage had been done, and Lafayette had the runs they would eventually need to prevail. With right fielder Kevin McCabe's three-run homer in the top of the seventh, Penn cut the deficit to 10-8 and put themselves in an excellent position -- with Brian Burket and Ben Krantz holding Lafayette scoreless in relief in the seventh and eighth, Penn only needed to score two runs over the final two innings to pull even with the Leopards. In a slugfest such as yesterday's contest, this seemed to be an achievable feat. However, the runs Penn needed to avoid defeat never materialized. After the Quakers cut the Lafayette lead to 10-9 in the eighth inning, they looked to be poised to take the lead in the ninth. With darkness encroaching upon the field, pitcher Ross Butler walked McCabe and center fielder Andrew McCreery to start the final frame. But Brian Fitzgerald's bunt rocketed back to the box, and Butler was able to force out McCabe at third. Butler settled down and struck out first baseman Ron Rolph and left fielder Jeremy McDowell to end the game with the tying run in scoring position. "Even though they're scoring a lot of runs, they're not getting clutch hits," Seddon said. "You can't put it all on the pitchers, and the offense knows that. You can't [have] a man on second, one out in the eighth inning and don't get him in and man on second, no outs in the ninth inning and don't get him in when you try and tie a game. "We're out of sync. We're not making the plays we have to."
(03/30/00 10:00am)
Officials originally hoped to start building the controversial public school early this month. Construction of the new Penn-assisted public school in West Philadelphia remains on hold nearly a month after its scheduled groundbreaking. Work on the pre-K-8 neighborhood school was slated to begin March 1, and some officials have speculated that if the delay continues long enough, the school's scheduled fall 2001 opening may be pushed back. The University has played a key role in developing plans for the school since Penn and the Philadelphia Board of Education announced the joint effort in the summer of 1998. Penn has promised to contribute $700,000 a year -- $1,000 per student -- to the project for 10 years, as well as to provide technological and teaching support from its Graduate School of Education. Glenn Bryan, Penn's top community relations official, attributed the back-up to the Philadelphia school board's extended deliberation process to decide the catchment area -- which will determine who can attend the school. "We are waiting for the school board to decide what the catchment area will be," Bryan said. "It does threaten the school opening -- we are very much wanting the school board to make this decision." The board's Education Committee has been working to define the controversial catchment area since last December and early this year held several widely attended community meetings -- where angry and concerned area residents voiced their thoughts on both the school and the catchment area. Mayor John Street's overhaul of the school board earlier this month, in which he replaced five board members, also significantly delayed the process. Since the new appointments, there have been no public meetings to discuss the school and a spokeswoman from the Board of Education said there will be no new information released regarding the issue in the immediate future. School Board President Pedro Ramos could not be reached for comment. Steve Schutt, Penn's pointman on the project, said as long as the catchment area is determined this spring, it should not have much effect on the school's scheduled opening. He attributed the delay to logistical issues. "Our architects are working on some details of the design that have to be resolved for us to complete construction plans and schedules," Schutt said in an e-mail early this week. He added that the team expects to break ground in the near future. Bryan said it is a "definite priority" for the school to open on its scheduled date of fall 2001. Neither Schutt nor Bryan gave an estimated date when construction would begin. The school board must decide whether to assign to the school a specific neighborhood -- which Penn wants -- or to use a lottery system. The controversy has pitted neighborhood against neighborhood, with residents wanting to ensure that their children are eligible to attend. The catchment area will also likely have large implications for property values in the area. Meanwhile, community members said they are unsure about the project's status. "It's dropped off the radar screen," Spruce Hill Community Association President Barry Grossbach said. "Last thing we heard, the school board was supposed to make a decision in January." The three institutions occupying the block at 42nd and Locust streets where the new school will be built -- University City New School, Penn Infant Center and Penn's Children Center -- are still proceeding with their relocations as planned, although they remain uncertain about the updated construction schedule. Betty Ratay, principal of University City New School, was told by Penn officials to prepare for construction at the beginning of the month. "All the people in the parking lot had to be reassigned as of March 1. Then March 1 came, then March 2, then March 3," said Ratay, who is currently looking for a new location for UCNS. "Nothing happened. I don't know why." And Marni Sweet, director of the Penn Infant Center, said the day care center still intends to move to a new building on the same block during the summer and fall of 2001.
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PWB exceeds goals, readies for Final Four PWB exceeds goals, readies for Final FourThe organizing group overcame a fundraising shortage and plans to put on activities without a hitch. Women's Final Four Championship Week kicked off yesterday with an announcement that Philadelphia Women's Basketball 2000, the event's organizing committee, has exceeded its fundraising goal of $1.4 million and will be able to pay for all of the planned activities. Over the past weeks and months, there had been much talk that there would be a fundraising shortfall, but the host city and state governments came through with grants to cover the shortage. PWB officials would not release exact fundraising totals or how much money the state and local governments had provided. Philadelphia Sports Congress Executive Director Larry Needles, however, estimated that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania together donated about $150,000. The rest of the funds came from local corporate sponsors such as First Union Bank, American Water Works and Independence Blue Cross. Much of yesterday's press conference was spent publicly thanking the corporate sponsors, host schools and labor organizations for their donations. "We are so very proud of what our corporations have done, to join forces to make [the Final Four] possible," PWB co-chair Fred DiBona said. "I think the Final Four is one of the most important events to come to the city of Philadelphia in years." Speaking on why her company became a charter sponsor of the 2000 Final Four, American Water Works CEO Marilyn Weir contended that her company got involved for more than the customary tax write-off and image-enhancing publicity. "This all happened because I'm a frustrated 56-year-old basketball player," Weir said. "This has nothing to do with corporate citizenship. It's that [I] wish I could do that baseline shot from the corner the way I used to." On a more serious note, Weir said she noticed the growing fan base of women's basketball in the 23 states in which her company operates. While Penn and St. Joseph's are the official host universities for the Final Four, they handed the organizing and fundraising responsibilities off to PWB two years ago with the idea of creating a larger event than in past years. The creation of the PWB was a departure for the Women's Final Four, which in the past was organized out of the offices of the host university. Last year, for example, host-university Stanford had just a fundraising director, one staff member and three interns working full-time on Final Four activities, all of whom were Stanford employees. In contrast, this year's committee had two fundraising chairs, an organizing director, media directors, interns and help from the city visitors office. The shift in organizing strategies has caused an explosion in the size and scope of Final Four activities. To keep pace with the increase in programming, PWB announced it has recruited over 700 people to volunteer at least 12 hours of time. Last year's volunteer corp numbered just 600 according to Beth Goode, who was director of media relations for last year's event. Even with the increased staff, those associated with PWB gave much of the credit for the growth of the event to PWB Executive Director Cathy Andruzzi, who has headed PWB since its inception. "She's the one that has provided the energy; she's the one that has provided the insight; she's the one that had to deal with the problems every single day," DiBona said. Andruzzi's future with PWB, and PWB's future itself, will be one of the most pressing issues to consider following the Final Four. Andruzzi said there hasn't been time to think that far ahead this week, but she hopes to leave PWB as an organization that can grow the sport of women's basketball and continue to stage major basketball events. To help her assess PWB's potential future, Andruzzi will meet with a group of first-year Wharton MBAs who have spent the past 10 weeks studying PWB and assessing its viability as a permanent city organization. "Part of the creation of PWB was to create a long-term legacy financially and otherwise," said Mary DiStanislao, Penn's senior associate athletic director. "Our whole idea is to continue this and build playgrounds, to possibly fund scholarships, to get involved in youth programs."
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Lauren Hittner will represent the Penn gymnastics team as the No. 2 seed in the all-around. Even though the Penn gymnastics team's season ended with the ECAC Championships on March 18, sophomore Lauren Hittner and junior Jenn Capasso haven't packed up for the year just yet. For only the fifth time in Penn history -- but for the fourth straight year -- the Quakers will be represented at the NCAA Regionals this Saturday at Penn State. Hittner will head into competition seeded second in the individual all-around, behind only Rhode Island's Marissa Medal. Capasso's fate is not as certain, as she will be an alternate both in the all-around and individual balance beam event. "The fact that we're sending two gymnasts to Regionals is a testament to the level of competition of this team," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "We're consistently performing at high levels." Only the gymnasts with the top seven individual scores in the all-around and the four events -- uneven bars, balance beam, vault and floor exercise -- from teams that did not qualify for regionals can compete. The Ivy League is well represented in individual all-around competition with Yale and Brown sending one representative each, meaning that three of the gymnasts who will perform in the all-around will represent the Ancient Eight. However, instead of rotating with her Ivy rivals, Hittner will be performing with one of the "Top 12" teams, exposing her to new gymnasts and a higher level of competition. She is looking forward to the challenge. "It's going to be different because I haven't really seen any of the teams that will be there," Hittner said. "I expect to just have fun. There will be a lot of great gymnastics, which should make for an exciting meet." The competition will cap off a storybook season that began with Hittner's transfer from William and Mary. After spending the majority of last season sidelined with mononucleosis, Hittner competed at the 1999 ECAC Championships, demonstrating her competitive skill to Kovic. He needed little convincing, however, as his memory of recruiting her as a high school senior vanquished any doubt that she would be a welcome addition to the Quakers. This season, Hittner has established and re-established the individual all-around school record at Penn and tied the balance beam standard in multiple meets for the Red and Blue. She was named the ECAC Co-Athlete of the Week for January 10 and ECAC Co-Athlete of the Year. And her remarkable season is not over yet. "[Going to regionals] is definitely a self-esteem booster because now I'm doing what I know I can do. Last year was frustrating because I knew what I had the potential to do, but my body wouldn't allow me to do that," Hittner said. Kovic knows that in addition to the solid routines and scores Hittner has posted this season, her contribution extends past mere competition. "She's helped to raise the level of gymnastics of the team. She's been a spark not only in competition, but as a personality on the team," Kovic said. Many of Hittner's teammates will be traveling to Penn State to cheer her on and provide a support base. "I'm really looking forward to it," Hittner said. "I just want to go in and enjoy myself."
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Fanda Stejskal led the Penn surge by upsetting the region's top player, Michell Koch. The Penn men's tennis team gave Navy a salute of its own in Annapolis, Md., yesterday, sinking the Midshipmen, 5-2, to claim its third straight victory. Finding themselves down 1-0 after being handily swept by Navy (10-9) in doubles play, the Quakers (8-7) recomposed themselves in their six singles matches. Led by Fanda Stejskal's straight-set victory over Navy's Mitchell Koch -- the top-ranked singles player in the region -- and freshman Ryan Harwood's come-from-behind win over Midshipmen senior Joe McCauley, the Quakers conceded only one additional point in their successful upset bid. And with Ivy League play to begin this weekend at home against Princeton, Penn co-captain Eric Sobotka said his team's tenacity against Navy should be a warning sign for the Tigers. "We were pesky," said Sobotka, who easily won his singles match, 6-2, 6-0. "That's something that's really important, not just the fact that we beat Navy, but it was the way we beat them. That really shows that we're really ready for Princeton." Penn's peskiness was shown by Quakers ace Stejskal in his No. 1 singles match against Koch. After having fallen 8-3 in doubles play with partner Sobotka against the Navy pairing of Koch and Jim McHugh, Stejskal again found himself down to Koch early in his first singles set, 2-0. "He was a little tense," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said of Stejskal, who is ranked ninth in the region. "But then Fanda said, 'Hold on a second, I'm as good as this guy. Let me just get going, let me just get my feel.' All he did was just settle down, and then [Koch] kind of folded." Koch's fold resulted in a 6-1 rally for Stejskal to win the first set, 6-3, but Navy's top player quickly popped back into his regular form. Almost to show that the first set had been nothing more than a fluke, Koch used his strong forehand to vault himself into a commanding, 3-1 lead in the second set. Stejskal found himself desperately needing something to shift the momentum into his favor. It came from a mishit ball bouncing in from another game. "A ball rolled on the court just as Koch was about to put the ball away," Ernst said. "The umpire called [it], and it really disrupted him. He probably would have gone up 4-1 at that point, [but] he let that get to him." Instead, Stejskal turned around to claim the set, 6-4, and win his 18th match of the year in what he said was not even close to his best performance. "I don't feel like I played my best game today," the Prague native said. "But it's nice to know that I beat the best player [in the region] even if I didn't play too well." Ernst said that Stejskal's upset win over the region's No. 1 player was important not only for the Quakers' top player, but for the team as well. "They see that our guy beat the best player in the region, and it gives them confidence," Ernst said. One of Stejskal's teammates who seemed positively affected by the sophomore's victory was Harwood. While Stejskal was finishing off Koch, Harwood simultaneously took a 6-1 thrashing in the first set from Navy's Joe McCauley. McCauley's domination of the Penn freshman elicited loud cheers from the Midshipmen seated in the stands nearby. "He was on fire, that guy, and he was playing to the crowd," Sobotka said. "It was a harsh crowd out there. Those Navy guys, they don't have a lot to do, just row their boats or whatever, so they were pretty pumped." Despite facing a one-set deficit and a hard-blowing wind that sent the ball flying unpredictably, Harwood showed composure going into the second set. The tactic worked, and Harwood took the second set, 7-5, after battling serve for serve with McCauley. And after continuing some back-and-forth play with the Navy senior, Harwood went on a 4-0 run to win the final set, 6-2.
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There's nothing quite like facing Yale to get the Penn women's crew team's competitive juices flowing. This Saturday, the Quakers will meet the Elis and Columbia on the strong-currented Harlem River in a contest for the Connell Cup. For the past two decades, the trophy has belonged to either the Red and Blue or Yale, but mostly the Elis, as the Quakers have captured the cup only three times in that period. This time around, however, it will be the Quakers heading into the race as the most recent Connell Cup winners. "In a sense, the rivalry is upping the competition," Penn junior Rachel Pringle said. "We want to continue the trend of beating Yale. We want it to become a tradition." Raising the stakes, the regatta is the buzz out of New Haven that the Elis have become stronger and more powerful recently, even since the fall season. "It's a huge rivalry for us. We're determined to win," Penn junior Dara Friedman said. Coming off a sweep of all five races last Saturday against Navy and Georgetown, the Quakers are looking to continue their winning ways, a streak that extends back to a victory in the Head of the Schuylkill, their last regatta of the fall season. "We're definitely going to try to ride on this momentum," Pringle said. "It'll make for a competitive edge on top of a confidence boost." The Quakers, however, refuse to let themselves become overconfident. "Everyone is excited but cautious," Friedman said. "We want to show that we're building on what we accomplished last spring and how we've improved relative to the field of competition." Possibly complicating matters are the less-than-perfect racing conditions the Harlem River will present. The river that separates the Bronx from Manhattan is known for creating navigation difficulties and unexpected surprises. "Columbia is a really rough course. There are a lot of wakes and undercurrents that make the race somewhat unpredictable," Friedman said. The main focus for the Quakers will be to continue to work on racing well as cohesive units. Practice this past week has concentrated on sprinting to the finish. "We want to focus on racing strongly and cleanly," Pringle said. "In particular, we want to focus on a well-executed sprint and just a strong race overall." Penn coach Barb Kirch was pleased with the performance of her team last Saturday and hopes that they will continue that rhythm this Saturday. "I think it showed us our conditioning level and how important the winter training was. They showed poise and a will to not give up until the finish, and they need to carry that over," Kirch said. Pringle agrees that equally important to the physical factors that go into winning races is team attitude. "We hope to maintain our professionalism and go into the race knowing that the competition is tough, but that we will race all the better for it," she said. Using their momentum and knowledge of what it takes to win, the Quakers are looking for a back-to-back win of the Connell Cup for the first time in Penn history.
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A variety of events are on tap around the city to complement the Final Four. This weekend, Philadelphia is expecting a few visitors. About 40,000, in fact. With the 2000 NCAA Women's Final Four taking place at the First Union Center this weekend, officials are busy preparing the City of Brotherly Love for the thousands of basketball fans anticipated to attend -- and getting ready to reap the rewards the tournament will bring to the city. "This has literally been about a six-year process," Philadelphia Sports Congress Executive Director Larry Needles said. "To bring an event of this magnitude is truly a city-wide effort." Philadelphia Women's Basketball 2000, a local organizing committee, has been working closely with the Philadelphia Sports Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau to schedule a week of activities related to the Final Four and women's basketball as a whole. The Final Four games themselves, to be played Friday and Sunday nights, are sold out, but there are a host of events over the next four days that are open to the public. Today's first public event is an open practice and autograph session at the First Union Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring all the Final Four teams -- Connecticut, Penn State, Rutgers and Tennessee. Across the street at the First Union Spectrum, the U.S. women's national team will play a Hungarian club team tonight at 7 p.m. The rest of the weekend will be filled with basketball clinics for children aged 10-18 and a variety of fan-oriented events at the Convention Center. "This is a way of creating a women's basketball week in Philadelphia," PWB spokeswoman Laura Loro said. "It's a great opportunity to showcase the city and women's basketball together." To give visitors a good impression of Philadelphia, Danielle Cohn, the spokeswoman for Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that her organization has prepared transportation, special signs and welcome booths to help visitors navigate the city. In conjunction with the Philadelphia Sports Congress, the group has developed a shuttle system to transport coaches and visitors from events to hotels, games and airports. The routes will also be used to transport the large contingent of media members expected to cover the event. Cohn said she expected that those in town for the tournament will make full use of Philadelphia's tourist and historical attractions. The Philadelphia Sports Congress estimated that the economic benefit to the city from the Final Four will be approximately $25 million. This figure includes expenditures on hotels, restaurants and transportation. "People want to see the staple items of the city just as much as they want to explore the new," she said. "It's our job to make sure people are well-informed about what's going on throughout the city." Cohn said several welcome booths -- which will be manned by employees of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and by volunteers -- will be placed in the airport and in several hotels to help visitors get to and from the weekend's activities.
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Women's hoops has rich history in city Women's hoops has rich history in cityFrom tunics to TV bucks, the story of Philly hoops has been a colorful one. Forget the Declaration of Independence and the cheesesteak; think not of America's "first university" nor its first fire department. This week, it is another institution with roots in the cradle of liberty -- women's college basketball -- that is garnering headlines and has the city abuzz. While no Philadelphia teams have qualified for the Final Four to be held this weekend at the First Union Center, the City of Brotherly Love's impact on the game is still readily apparent. Of the four teams that will descend on the city this week, two have head coaches who cut their basketball teeth in Philadelphia -- Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and Penn State's Rene Portland. Four of the players who will compete, including stars Kristen "Ace" Clement of Tennessee and Shawnetta Stewart of Rutgers, are also Philadelphia products. But Philly's impact extends far beyond playing host to this week's festivities, which will bring 40,000 players, coaches and fans into the region. Philadelphia is the cradle of women's college basketball, the place where it all began. From the pre-Title IX era to the sport's first forays onto the national sports radar to today's standing-room-only arena crowds, Philadelphia has played an integral role in the evolution of women's college basketball. In 1969, West Chester coach Carol Eckman decided to host a national invitational college tournament and drew an unlikely mix of 16 teams, including Purdue, Kentucky, Southern Connecticut and Ursinus. According to some reports, 2,000 fans jammed West Chester's cramped fieldhouse to watch the host Golden Rams pound Western Carolina in the final, 65-39, and claim the first semblance of a women's national title. In 1971, the rules of the women's game were modernized. Gone was the six-on-six play and the strange rules limiting the number of dribbles, vestiges of an era when women played the game in bloomers and long tunics. "There used to be six players on a side, and only two ran up and down the whole court -- so at any given time, there'd only be four players on a side," says Cathy Rush, who coached Immaculata College in Paoli, Pa., from 1970-77. "I took the job in 1970 at Immaculata for $450 a year, and it was supposed to be a low-key job." Rush's years at Immaculata turned out to be anything but low-key. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, barring sexual discrimination at federally funded institutions and mandating equal gender treatment in athletics. That same year saw the founding of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which sponsored the first true national championship tournament. That season, the Mighty Macs of tiny Immaculata -- utilizing a sleek new style of play while emphasizing fundamentals -- burst from their suburban campus to upset West Chester for the title. "There were only 11 players on the team, I had no assistant coach and, because we didn't have enough money, I could only take eight players. We flew stand-by and we drove from Chicago down to Illinois State," Rush says. "After each game there were no reporters, no UPI -- we would actually call the university, call our friends and family and tell them, 'We won!'" By the next season, Immaculata had established itself as the first true attraction in the women's game. "Because Immaculata's gym had burned down, we started renting the old Villanova field house, Ridley High School, Great Valley High School, and we started filling them up," Rush says. That following blossomed from a nucleus of nuns of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who flocked to the games from the local orders wherever the Mighty Macs played. As Immaculata continued to devour its competition -- the Mighty Macs repeated as national champs in '73 and won again in '74 -- the crowds continued to grow. "[Current Penn State coach and former Mighty Mac] Rene Portland's father had a hardware store? and Rene's two brothers would bring in five or six dozen metal buckets on dolleys and hand them out," Rush recalls. "Of course, the nuns got theirs first, and so here's our fan base of nuns and family and friends and assorted people and people sitting in the stands with buckets between their knees and these wooden dowels and just beating the buckets." With fans banging on the buckets, the Mighty Macs pounded on the competition. In 1972-73, Immaculata cruised to a 97-24 victory over Penn at the Palestra. "People hated seeing us coming," Rush says, "because they knew it was loud, they knew it was going to be boisterous and they knew they were going to get killed." In '75, though, the AIAW permitted scholarship schools to enter the national tournament and Immaculata lost in the finals to Delta State of Louisiana. In 1977, LSU bumped the Mighty Macs in the semifinals, and Rush hung up her clipboard to focus her energies on her summer basketball camp. The game was changing. An era of big schools -- with swelling budgets, scholarships and state-of-the-art facilities -- was ushered in. Once-mighty Immaculata, which played the first nationally televised women's game in '75, could no longer compete. Today, women's college basketball has reached an all-time high. Immaculata, meanwhile, has faded into the world of Division III. "There's a possibility of this whole thing being made into a movie," Rush said. "And the premise is that it's Hoosiers, A League of their Own and Sister Act all rolled into one. It was just a crazy, crazy time." While the Mighty Macs' dominance ended, their legacy is still highly visible in the world of women's college basketball. Mighty Mac alums Marianne Stanley, Rene Portland and Theresa Grantz serve as head coaches at national powers California, Penn State and Illinois, respectively. Final Four coaches C. Vivian Stringer of Rutgers and Geno Auriemma of UConn both emerged from the Philly women's college basketball scene of the 1970s. Stringer, an old friend of Rush's, began coaching at Cheyney State in '71, while Auriemma, a Norristown native, got his first job as an assistant at Virginia via his friendship with current St. Joseph's men's coach Phil Martelli -- whose wife, Marra, played for Rush at Immaculata. For those who have followed the sport's rise in Philadelphia from the first tournament at West Chester to this week's Final Four, there is a true sense of satisfaction. "There's a lot of nostalgia in all this," said Mary DiStanislao, who played at Rutgers and served as an assistant coach at Immaculata and is now an associate athletic director at Penn, "because 25 years ago I was here as a college player and as an assistant coach, being part of the Immaculata thing, and knowing all these people from when the world was a lot smaller, and now seeing it come full circle and having it being a huge media event?Eis just astounding."
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The Penn women's golf team hopes to improve upon the progress made last fall when it sees its first action of the spring this weekend. The Quakers will compete in the William and Mary Invitational, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Ford's Colony golf course in Williamsburg, Va. The Red and Blue will be competing against 15 other programs, including national powerhouses Yale, James Madison and Methodist College. "This is, without a doubt, the best tournament that we've played in since we started our program last year," Penn coach Francis Vaughn said. The Quakers spent most of their spring break polishing their games at the PGA National course in Palm Beach, Fla. "The ladies have been practicing very well and hopefully will continue to improve on last year's performances," Vaughn said. "Some of them have played their best golf of late, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they do this weekend." In three tournaments this past fall, the Quakers showed steady improvement in their overall scores, even if their tournament placements did not reflect that effort. For now, though, the current squad would just like to keep building on its success, asserting that the sub-400 rounds they recorded at Rutgers are a reasonable expectation for both spring tournaments. "We're hoping to maintain the same [level of play] as before and to improve on our low score of 381 [at the Rutgers Invitational]," Penn freshman Stacy Kress said. The Quakers are also excited about the addition of sophomore Rachel Slosburg to the roster in the period since the fall season. While the Quakers may not quite be in a position to contend for tournament titles yet, they realize that they are not too far away from beginning to make serious challenges on the links. "We're going to play the best we can, and we're going to try to move forward with our games and with our team," Vaughn said. "Our goals have to be realistic -- we're playing against teams with established programs. "This year was my first recruiting year, but next year we may have the opportunity to go out and win some tournaments." At any rate, the Quakers hope to use this weekend's tournament to improve their games in preparation for the Ivy League Championships in mid-April. "We want to play well and get ready for the Ivy Champs in two weeks," Kress said.
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The members of the Penn women's basketball team won't be attending the NCAA Women's Final Four at the First Union Center this weekend -- they'll be too busy. The Quakers are volunteering at several events in and around Philadelphia that are being held in conjunction with the Final Four. At various times between tomorrow and Sunday, the Quakers will be working at the NCAA's Hoop City, an "interactive fan festival" at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. And for four hours on Saturday morning, the Quakers will be working with the NCAA's Youth Education through Sports clinics. At five sites throughout the Philadelphia area, the YES clinics will bring together coaches and student-athletes from local colleges with area students aged 10-18. The stated goal of these clinics is to "help area students develop sports skills and to encourage academic achievement," according to a press release from Philadelphia Women's Basketball 2000, the Final Four's organizing committee. "The free sports clinics feature enriching activities suited to the developmental level of each participant," the release continues. "Basically, [the clinics are] just a way for us to give the kids some attention, and hang out with them and show them what basketball's all about," Penn co-captain Diana Caramanico said. The Quakers, along with athletes from Rowan and St. Joseph's, will be conducting these activities across the Delaware River at Williamstown High School in Williamstown, N.J. The school is the site of the area's largest clinic, with approximately 480 kids taking part. "That's a lot," Caramanico said. "We're going to end up like at summer camps probably, with 10 or 15 kids per person." Penn coach Kelly Greenberg, who will not be involved in the clinics, saw the number of students at the Williamstown site as a tribute to the huge strides the sport of women's basketball has made and to the increased popularity of the sport. "I think that just the number of girls at this one site is very impressive and says a lot," Greenberg said. "The number of girls that play basketball now as compared to when I was younger is amazing." Greenberg also believes that, through events like the YES clinics, those currently involved in women's basketball have a responsibility to encourage the growth of the sport among younger children. "As women's basketball coaches and players, that's a duty of ours to make sure that [development] is happening at that level," Greenberg said. Greenberg's players know the importance of clinics and summer camps in the development of a student-athlete. "That was really how I started to play," junior guard Claire Cavanaugh said. "I made my first basket at a St. Joe's camp. "I love it, I've been a camper all my life. I remember idolizing the counselors, so it's cool to be on the other end." For Cavanaugh, the major benefit of a camp or clinic is that it makes the game of basketball and the idolized players more accessible. "You get to see that [the players] can be really cool or really fun and still be tough out on the basketball court," Cavanaugh said.
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Penn will be making its first appearance in the tournament. The Penn men's golf team will travel to Issue, Md., this weekend to compete in the second annual George Washington Invitational at the Swan Point Yacht and Country Club. The tournament -- which will take place on Sunday and Monday -- is one of the largest intercollegiate golf events on the East Coast with more than 140 golfers from 27 colleges and universities, including two squads from the host Colonials. Last year's invitational was won by American with a 50-over-par 626, seven strokes ahead of runner-up Maryland-Baltimore County and 13 strokes ahead of third-place Hampton. After a successful fall season and a productive spring break, the Quakers are looking forward to getting back into action against other schools in their district. Although Penn has never competed in this tournament, the Quakers' outlook is positive. "I expect to win, and the rest of the team does, too," junior Todd Golditch said. "We go into every tournament expecting to win, and there's no reason why we can't win [this weekend]." "Every week we try to win, and I think [this weekend] it'll come out well," Penn freshman Chad Perman added. Over spring break, the Quakers competed in the East Carolina Invitational in Greenville, N.C. Even though their 21st-place finish was well back in the field and something of a disappointment for the Red and Blue, the Quakers were pitted against very strong competition with teams from different districts. A good showing this weekend will bode well for the team's confidence, especially after stumbling a bit at East Carolina. The field at this weekend's tournament should be more representative of the Quakers' typical District II competition and virtually free of the Southern powerhouses that they saw over spring break. "I think we can work out the kinks that haunted us at ECU," junior Kyle Moran said. "I think we will do really well this weekend. We will be competing against teams in our district who are in similar positions as we are." At any rate, the team feels confident about its ability to bounce back from a rough showing at East Carolina. "Now that we've gotten a tournament under our belts, as well as some practice in better weather, we feel more comfortable with our chances [of winning]," Perman said. This weekend's tournament should be a good warmup for the Navy Spring Invitational and the Ivy League Championships, both set to take place later in April. The Ivy Championships are especially important because this marks the first year that the winner of the Ivies will move on to the NCAA Championships. If the Quakers are to take advantage of this opportunity, they will need to start showing marked progress this weekend at GW.
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Bouquets of rainbow-colored balloons sprang up all over College Green yesterday in celebration of B-GLAD, the annual Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Awareness Days. About 30 students, faculty and community members gathered at the Peace Sign for a rally at 12:30 p.m. to promote queer awareness, discuss their experiences and voice their concerns. Engineering junior Kurt Klinger, co-chair of the Queer Student Alliance, said the QSA hoped to increase its visibility through events such as these. "We're making more of an effort to be more visible on campus," he said. B-GLAD events will continue throughout the week, concluding with a party on Friday. Co-chair Mike Hartwyk, a College junior, also addressed the group's name change from the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance to the Queer Student Alliance. "We feel [queer] is a more neutral term," he said, adding that although in the past the word was used in a derogatory sense, today "the times have changed," and queer people are "reclaiming the word." The rally opened with a talk from College sophomore Rudy Ramirez, who, wearing sparkling black and flashy purple clothing, quipped, "I was a bit concerned about wearing this outfit because I didn't want anyone to think I was gay." But in between his crowd-pleasing jokes, Ramirez spoke seriously about the many obstacles homosexuals face in society. Asking audience members to look at their hands, he said, "There are those who would rather cut off your hand than have you use it to love the way destiny has told you to use it." "I will love the way I choose," he added. Ramirez was followed by 1978 Penn alumnus David Azzolina, who spoke about the history of gays at Penn. Azzolina was one of the few undergraduate members of Gays at Penn, the campus group for gay people that existed in the 1970s. "Most of the gay men of my generation are dead," he said. "It is incumbent of you young gay men to not forget them." Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center Director Bob Schoenberg read a statement from University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi, who expressed their continued support for B-GLAD events. "Truly Penn is a place that thrives on its diversity? and the spark and spirit it brings to campus," the letter stated. Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Mike Silver, a College senior, also spoke at the rally, emphasizing the UA's increased effort to work closely with minority organizations. "In the past, the UA has not really made this effort," Silver acknowledged. Silver also spoke about the derogatory e-mail sent to the QSA listserv last week. "Just because we are an Ivy League school? doesn't mean we're immune to these things," he said. Many of the students and other members of the Penn community who came to the rally said they found it inspirational. Mike LaMonaca, a 1998 Penn alumnus and now an employee of College Housing and Academic Services, said he was impressed by the speakers. "I'm continually impressed by the queer students here and how they are able to be visible on campus and to foster the ideals of tolerance and acceptance," he said.
