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(11/04/97 10:00am)
Some student leaders claimed they had input in the planning stages, but not in implementation. Amid confusion and concerns over new residential plans calling for the creation of 12 college houses by next fall, student leaders involved in drafting the plan said they have reservations about the program. Residential Advisory Board Chairperson Roshini Thayaparan and 21st Century Project Undergraduate Advisory Board Chairperson Rachael Goldfarb, both College juniors, sat on the committee that drafted the report calling for the new system. But Thayaparan told the Undergraduate Assembly Sunday that the two were not involved in the committee's work over the summer when the recommendations were converted into a the working plan of action which the University has agreed to implement. Associate Vice Provost for Campus Services Larry Moneta said the summer planning consisted mostly of technical details. "Over the summer we did the things that a large committee couldn't accomplish," Moneta said. "We needed a handful of technicians to get this done." Student input -- gathered through the College House Planning Board, a consulting report by the Biddison Hier firm and Goldfarb and Thayaparan's suggestions -- was important in the planning stages, he added. "Fundamentally we are implementing the report that they both had a part in writing," said Art History Professor David Brownlee, who authored the report. "The changes made over the summer were driven by budget concerns, but they don't change the nature of the college house program." Undergraduate Assembly members at Sunday's meeting said Thayaparan was extremely unclear about how much input RAB had in the report. UA member Andrew Ross, a College and Wharton junior said Thayaparan first implied that RAB had very little input, but then seemed to retract some of her initial statements. RAB and the 21st Century Project UAB were the only two student groups represented on the Brownlee report's planning committee. Neither group has agreed to completely support the plans. Goldfarb said that while the 21st Century Project UAB approves of the framework of the plan, certain parts of it make some members "nervous." And Thayaparan said RAB has not yet taken a formal position on the plan because all the details are not clear. Both Goldfarb and Thayaparan said they do not know much about the details or actual implementation of the plan. "There is a lot of confusion about the plan because nothing is set in stone, and not a lot of people know what's going on and I'm one of the people who don't," Thayaparan said. Brownlee said recent turmoil in Provost Stanley Chodorow's office may have prevented the two groups from getting as much information as they should have. Moneta, who also worked on the plan, said he is not surprised by the confusion and lack of consensus about a plan this complex and far-reaching. "I see it as not a problem but an inevitability with a organizational and academic change as complex as this," Moneta said. "There are these pre-existing bodies like RAB and the 21st Century Project UAB bodies all trying to figure out how to connect and play a role." But Moneta did express concern that the two undergraduates who played the biggest role in drafting the plan are unsure about its details and unsupportive of some of its contents. "I am extremely concerned that our most active students have some reservations, but again I am not surprised, because we are moving very quickly through the implementation phase," he said. UA Chairperson Noah Bilenker said the UA was also concerned by Thayaparan's comments. "They were in on the initial planning, and then they were not in on the final planning, and now they are being asked to mobilize student support for the program," Bilenker said. The College junior added that more student input would have prevented many of the complaints students now have about the plan. Director of Academic Programs and Residence Life Chris Dennis said continued student input is needed, since much of the implementation details have not been set. He added that there are roles that need to be filled by RAB and the 21st Century Project UAB. "RAB should be more involved in how the new house councils and house structures develop -- particularly in houses like the high rises that don't have these structures," Dennis said. "The 21st Century Project UAB group might especially be interested in looking at how systemic programs can use the new vehicle of the college house system," he added. Administrators and faculty members working on the implementation of new residential plans met with Thayaparan and Goldfarb late last night to discuss their concerns and will hold another meeting Friday.
(10/31/97 10:00am)
When the new Faculty Club opens two years from now in Sansom Common's Inn at Penn, it will be little more than one-sixth its current size. And while the space is adequate for the needs of University faculty, kosher dining -- which uses the building during dinner time --Ewill be left homeless. But kosher service may not require a new dining hall, due to changes resulting from the new college house plans to go into effect next fall. The plans, which call for each of 12 college houses to occupy its own dining hall, has led administrators to explore the possibility of offering kosher food in each hall, according to Marie Witt, director of support services for Business Services. This system would allow kosher students to eat with their college houses, adding to the community atmosphere of the residences, Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said. Moneta said the current proposal -- which is extremely preliminary -- would allow for the continuation of Jewish community meals for Shabbat, holidays or special occasions. In order to accommodate these large community meals, kosher dining would still have to find a space to replace the Faculty Club, in addition to finding a permanent central kitchen where the kosher food for all the dining halls would be cooked. The two buildings on either side of the Hillel building -- the Faculty Club and the Christian Association -- will soon be vacant. But Hillel Executive Director Jeremy Brochin said Hillel will not purchase the CA. And the Faculty Club building is slated for academic use, according to Executive Vice President John Fry. The University has not decided whether this plan would also allow for a central kosher dining hall, similar to the one in the Faculty Club, for regular weekday meals. "We want kosher observant student to eat with their houses and not be compelled to eat in one place," Moneta said. "And we want all students to eat with each other when they want -- we expect that they will want to on Shabbat, holidays and some other special occasions." But Hillel President Ami Joseph, a College senior, said many kosher diners enjoy eating together during the week and may not want to move to other dining halls. Hillel Executive Vice President and College senior Meyer Potashman said the University must take care not to damage the kosher observant community in the name of building stronger residential communities. "There are advantages of having people who care about kosher food meeting people in other dining halls," he said. "At the same time, there's something very special about the kosher dining program at Penn that creates a very important community atmosphere that I wouldn't want to disappear." And the laws governing kosher food may make it difficult to serve a variety of kosher options in multiple dining halls, according to Barry Weiss, who supervises the kosher kitchen. In order for food to be certified as kosher it must be cooked in a separate kitchen under the supervision of a person familiar with Jewish law, like Weiss. As a result, all the food would likely be cooked in a central kitchen and served as boxed meals in other dining halls, a proposal which would limit the variety of kosher options, Weiss said. Because of its limiting nature, Weiss said the program, while feasible, would work better as a service for busy students than as a replacement for daily meals in one kosher dining hall. And Joseph said the proposal would probably enjoy more success if it was introduced in one or two other dining halls, rather than all. "It would go a long way towards integration, but it's not really that feasible," Joseph said. "Maybe if they extended it to one other dining hall, that might work."
(10/30/97 10:00am)
The $37 million, state-of-the-art science building will provide laboratory space for three departments. To many University students, the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology building -- which was transformed this summer from a ditch to a large red building towering over Smith Walk -- is a complete mystery. But the $37 million building, which will provide state-of-the-art lab space for three departments, will have a major impact on a huge swath of the student body. Funded by a $27 million grant from the Air Force and a $10 million donation from University Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos, the building will provide the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Medical School with improved lab space. The first floor of the new building will house a program -- the Institute for Medicine and Engineering -- that is itself a collaboration by those three schools. The rest of the building will be occupied by the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering departments. The IME -- some of whose faculty continue to work in other cities -- was supposed to be the first to move into the building, but its scheduled November 3 move-in was delayed because the building will not have been finished yet. As a result, while the building's grand opening will take place on November 10, it will not be occupied until December 1. "It's going to look good for the dedication but it won't be functional," said Michal Bental Roof, the IME's scientific development administrator. When it actually opens, the building's main strength will be the versatility of its labs, many professors said. The electrical supply, types of available gases and working station hoods can be easily changed to accommodate changing research needs. "It's a superb facility from a chemistry standpoint," Chemistry Department Vice Chairperson George Palladino said. "The layout of the labs as well as number and types of hoods, the opportunities for chemists to design the types of space they need, the modular aspect of the building are all superb." The facility's first-floor lab spaces are especially important to the program because they are designed to allow for research integrating engineering approaches to cell and molecular biology and biochemistry, Bental Roof said. The IME will relocate to the building from multiple temporary locations across campus, although it will continue to maintain space in Hayden Hall. The program's research in the new labs will focus on tissue culture, molecular biology, radio-labeling, and optical imaging. The opening of the building will also relieve overcrowding problems in the adjacent Chemistry Building. The extra room will allow for increased undergraduate and graduate research space, according to Senior Project Manager Pat Mulroy. The department intends to use the second and third floors of the building for biophysical and biological chemistry faculty and research, with the inorganic chemistry section of the department occupying the third floor, according to Palladino. Most of the physical chemistry section of the department will remain in the current Chemistry Building -- which is linked directly to the IAST building on several floors. The fourth floor of the building will remain vacant as the Chemistry Department searches for new organic chemistry faculty. Meanwhile, the Chemical Engineering Department is preparing to move catalysis and biocellular/biochemistry faculty and research into the top floor of the IAST, according to Undergraduate Chairperson John Vohs. The building also features an entire network of complex systems designed to remove dangerous fumes and provide ionized water, in addition to meeting basic heating, light and electrical needs, Mulroy said. The basement, which contains several layers of support systems built one on top of the other, took a full year to plan, he added.
(10/29/97 10:00am)
While the Faculty Club will definitely move into Sansom Common's Inn at Penn in fall 1999, nearly everything but the new location is still up in the air. The move will outsource the jobs of approximately 36 workers, since the relocated club will likely be managed by Doubletree Hotel Corp. Doubletree is currently in the final stages of negotiations to run the entire hotel. Until the deal is completed, however, the University will not be able to assess how many jobs will be available for current Faculty Club employees, according to Marie Witt, director of support services for Business Services. Although the new Faculty Club will be a little more than one-sixth the size of the current one, Witt said this does not necessarily indicate that fewer jobs will be available because Doubletree may require additional employees for restaurants, guest suites and meeting rooms in the Inn. Executive Vice President John Fry said last week that "plenty" of opportunities will be available for those employees. But despite such assurances, employees say they are concerned and angry with what they perceive as University officials "leaving them in limbo," Faculty Club employee Charles Carrington said. Some employees added that they are upset that the University has rewarded years of faithful service with the possible elimination of their jobs. "All of those years of working loyally, coming in during rain or snow and this is how they treat their employees -- they throw them out on the doorstep," Faculty Club employee Robert Bosworth said. And many are concerned about how the loss of a job or benefits would impact their families. "You have to realize that some people got six or seven kids -- some got as many as 10," Carrington said. "If you knock out 30 people, you hurt like 300." One worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the employees are waiting to see how their union, Local 374 of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, handles the situation. He added that the union has been relatively unhelpful so far and has failed to indicate whether it will stand up for the employees or answer their questions. Local 374 Organizer and Business Agent Charles Murphy said the union is trying to help its members, but it has little information about the employees' future, since the University hasn't worked out all the details yet. "Our position is that we want everyone to maintain their jobs," Murphy said. "We understand their frustration, but we don't know what their employers are going to do either." Witt said she met with the non-unionized staff last week and will meet with union leaders Monday to explain what the University already knows -- which she admitted is very little of the actual plans or of the numbers of jobs available. But since the union workers' contract expires this summer, their jobs are not guaranteed, Witt said.
(10/27/97 10:00am)
Administrators hope the plan will foster community spirit and decrease alcohol abuse. It's goodbye to freshman living as we know it. The institution of the college house system next fall will combine undergraduates of all years in an attempt to increase feelings of residential community, ease social adjustment and even lessen freshman alcohol abuse, according to administrators. But some students and faculty say multi-year housing may not be as useful for incoming students as the University's current freshman dormitories. Administrators expect the new residential system, which allows students to apply for residence in any of 12 college houses, to result in multi-year houses within the next few years. In the immediate future, current residential patterns are expected to persist, with the majority of freshman choosing to remain in what are now the main freshman dorms -- the Quadrangle, Hill House and King's Court/English House. But the eventual integration of all classes has lead to concerns among some students and faculty about freshman social interaction in residences. "This is going to be worse for freshman," Nursing freshman Carolyn Otto said. "Living in the Quad and knowing that everyone is a freshman makes it a lot easier to just go up to people and meet them. If you have a lot of upperclassmen on your floor, it will be hard to meet freshmen." Engineering freshman Lawrence McAleer added that freshmen serve as a support system for each other. "It's good for all the freshman to be together because they are all going through the same thing," he said. Microbiology Professor Helen Davies, a senior faculty resident in Spruce Street House in the Quad, said one formula isn't necessarily best for everyone. "I don't think we're going to completely know until we do it," Davies said. "There are going to be first year students who will love having a house with all classes, and there are those who are not going to like it. They'll learn more and they'll experience more, but we don't know if what they'll learn is important." A faculty member connected with the residences who requested anonymity said freshman ought to have the choice of whether or not to live in an all-freshman residence. She added that while the new system of all multi-year houses may help to simplify the opening stages of the residential change, the University should consider adding some all-freshman houses at a later date. Some freshmen who already live in upperclassmen dorms --Esuch as present college houses or the high rises --Eclaim that living with upperclassmen and graduate students is a positive experience. "Multi-year dorms are better," College freshman Eleanor Scott said. "If I lived in a freshman dorm I would probably have all freshman friends. People wouldn't be able to tell me stories of how to get adjusted to college, and this way I am exposed to more people." In Hill House --Ewhich incorporates graduate students and undergraduate peer managers into the atmosphere of a freshman dorm -- older students have been an asset, Hill House Faculty Fellow Roberta Stack said. "The upperclassmen have a great deal to offer just by their presence, and it's not only their presence but their energy, impact, caring, helping and advising -- and its the same for grad students," Stack said. "It's also a two-way street. They get a tremendous amount of energy from the undergraduates." Residential Faculty Chairperson Al Filreis, faculty master of Van Pelt College House, said that since the the new system is flexible and entirely voluntary, freshman will be free to continue to choose housing in the Quad, Hill and King's Court/English House. But Filreis encourages freshmen to be open to the experience of living with students of different ages. He noted that the new residential system will allow freshmen to meet each other, while mixing with other students of varying levels of academic experience. Provost Stanley Chodorow said the new multi-year houses will be better equipped to handle disciplinary problems, such as drinking, on a peer level. He added that the presence of upperclassmen and graduate students alongside freshmen will provide new students with a source of advice and education about the dangers of binge drinking.
(10/22/97 9:00am)
New residential plans would combine the Van Pelt and Modern Language college houses next fall. The new, expanded Van Pelt College House could be a house divided when it opens next fall, if current student opposition to the combination of the Van Pelt and Modern Language college houses continues. According to residential plans released two weeks ago by the University, the two programs will remain in their current locations on the 3900 block of Spruce Street, but MLCH will cease to be an independent program. MLCH had been plagued by low levels of student interest over the past few years. The two houses will stay in different buildings, but both will be renamed the Van Pelt College House, and all programs will be run out of what is now Van Pelt. At a Monday night meeting, Residential Faculty Council President and Van Pelt Faculty Master Al Filreis told residents of both houses that neither facility would take over the other, adding that phrasing the plan as an "incorporation" of MLCH was a mistake. But Modern Language residents continued to voice their displeasure with the new plans at that meeting and another later that night for leaders of both houses. The sessions were scheduled following an angry meeting between MLCH residents and Director of Academic Programs in Residence Chris Dennis. Filreis said the problems arose from misunderstandings about the new system among MLCH residents, but were largely resolved at the meeting of house leaders. Wharton sophomore and MLCH House Council President Mike Rogan agreed that most of the issues have been worked out, but stressed that administrators must understand that the changes will take MLCH residents time to get used to. Rogan added that MLCH residents weren't involved in the month-long discussion process before the new residential plans were finalized, and are still shocked by the decision to discontinue MLCH's status as a college house. But MLCH students at the first meeting -- who did not attend the later meeting of house leaders -- said they are still upset that the program would not retain its independence. "We really enjoy what we have together, and we fear losing that," Nursing junior Beth Scanlon said. Slavic Languages Professor Peter Steiner, faculty master of MLCH, said he is encouraged to see the students concerned for the future of their program. "We are a kind of marginalized house -- speaking tongues and living in Siberia," Steiner said. "It's exciting to see the students so concerned about the program. I mean, they are willing to die for it." Modern Languages residents argue that the new system presents a major threat to their program. It would move Van Pelt students into any vacant MLCH rooms, which MLCH residents worry would interfere with their activities. "The strength of MLCH is that you have a lot of students in a small space who speak a lot of languages, and when you put people in there who speak less languages, you dilute the program," College sophomore Ariel Soiffer said. Objections to the merger provoked angry responses from some Van Pelt residents, who complained that their future housemates were acting too exclusive. Other Van Pelt residents welcomed the thought of community and increased interaction between the two programs. "This is an opportunity to have more people to talk to, and nothing is going to change," College sophomore Barbara Duker said. College junior Myra Lotto added that "it's not necessarily that I thought of [MLCH residents] as pompous," and that "they're just afraid of losing their programming. But what they have to realize is if they take action they won't lose that programming." Many MLCH residents said University assurances that the program should work are not enough, and several students said a failed experiment would force them to leave the house. "It is not enough to tell us that maybe it will work because many students like myself will leave next year if it doesn't turn out well," Soiffer said. Residents also expressed anger that the new college house would be called Van Pelt -- not Modern Language. And students were upset that Filreis would become faculty master of the two buildings in the house, shifting Steiner from faculty master to a faculty member in residence. Steiner, who as a Van Pelt faculty member in residence will continue to direct the Modern Language programs, said he believes his position will not really change except for the shift in titles. "It sounds like not much will change, and I will continue to be head of program," he said. "But there are going to be 12 college houses and 12 masters, and obviously we are being merged and I'm being axed." Art History Professor David Brownlee, who wrote one of the reports that led the University to adopt a college house system, assured students that Steiner would remain an integral part of the house and that the combined Van Pelt name is merely temporary. "It makes no sense for us to fuss about a house name that will change when we get a big donor to sponsor the house," Brownlee said. "In fact, those of you who have wealthy parents should note this as an opportunity to have the house named after you." In response to student concerns that the loss of the house's mandatory dining plan would undermine house unity, Filreis assured them that they may retain their current plan if they wish. In addition, he said Van Pelt and MLCH can decide how independent their budgets and programs will be next year. After last night's meeting of house leaders, Filreis said he was hopeful that the differences had been worked out among the leaders and that the y can in turn calm individual members of the houses. But Rogan said he was not as confident that the meeting would soothe student fears. "It's going to take time and now is just not the time," he said. "I expect there will be some animosity from certain house members next fall."
(10/21/97 9:00am)
In the aftermath of several recent alcohol-related assaults and hospitalizations, are students drinking too much? and Ian Rosenblum It seems alcohol is on everyone's mind these days. Consumption on college campuses has received national attention this fall, after the drinking-related deaths of students at Louisiana State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It has been a hot topic at Penn as well, with several recent alcohol-related assaults and the hospitalization of at least three freshmen this semester for alcohol poisoning. And according to an independent poll by The Daily Pennsylvanian, there is reason for concern about student's alcohol use. The survey -- conducted October 19-20 --Epolled 116 randomly selected students about their experiences with alcohol. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 9 points. Sixty-six percent of University students -- 51 percent of women and 80 percent of men -- say they have had at least one binge drinking episode this semester, with 31 percent of students binging five or more times since the beginning of September. Recent studies have defined binge drinking for women as four drinks in a single sitting, or five drinks for men in the same time period. The survey results are slightly higher than national averages. In a recent Harvard School of Education poll of 17,592 college students across the country, 50 percent of men and 39 percent of women said they have had a binge drinking episode. Similarly, Time magazine reported in October that 44 percent of all college students are believed to be binge drinkers. The DP survey also found that at least 59 percent of Penn students have been drunk at least once this semester. Many of these students said they were drunk on multiple occasions, with polled students reporting a total of 416 incidences of drunkenness. Only two students classified themselves as drinking "very often," with 86 percent responding that they drink "sometimes" of "often" and 12 percent saying they never drink. But even those who reported binge drinking several times a week were unwilling to admit to "heavy drinking." Students who said they drank "sometimes" or "often" reported anywhere from one to 40 binge drinking episodes and from one to 30 incidents of drunkenness this semester. The two students who admitted to drinking "very often" reported 21 and 25 incidents, respectively, of binge drinking. Last week, administrators said campus alcohol consumption will not decrease until students express disapproval of alcohol abuse among their friends. In what may be a first step towards vocalizing such feelings, 26 percent of polled students said they had at least one friend at Penn who has a problem with alcohol abuse. But that does not mean students are helping each other when it comes to over-drinking. "Most students are reluctant to say something to even their closest friends when they think their friends are in trouble," Drug and Alcohol Resource Team advisor and health educator Kate Ward-Gaus noted. And while students say they recognize alcohol's dangers, only 22 percent said they attended University-sponsored alcohol safety sessions in their freshman year. The University sponsors numerous alcohol-related sessions for freshmen during first semester and for Greek pledges during second semester. Ward-Gaus said the DP data on how many students attend alcohol-awareness programs "definitely jogs with what we're seeing in resident advisors getting their students to workshops." But she added that making such seminars mandatory may produce adverse results, since student reaction to the discussion often depends on whether the student wants to be there in the first place. An alternative may be building alcohol education into the curriculum and making it a required, for-credit course, Ward-Gaus said. While few students attended University-sponsored alcohol awareness events, nearly half of students said the University was doing a good job educating students about the dangers of alcohol. So why do some Penn students continue to drink heavily, even though they said they are aware of the dangers of alcohol? The majority of students said alcohol had little or no importance to their social lives, with only thirty-three percent saying that alcohol had "some" importance in their social life and 2 percent noting it was very important. Thirty-seven percent of the students, by contrast, said alcohol was not important to their social lives, with 28 percent saying it had "a little" significance. Ward-Gaus said some results from the DP survey were "real similar" to data obtained from a DART survey last spring. In that survey, 68 percent of students said the University's social life is "dependent on drugs and alcohol," and 24 percent said "you need to be drunk or high to have a good time at Penn." She noted that one recent study examined the idea that "most college students think drinking is more excessive than it is and people drink more as a result." "That means that we have to find different and better ways to communicate to students about this issue," Assistant Vice Provost for University Life Barbara Cassel said. "With the work that DART does and the Office of Alcohol Education, we would like to see that number increase significantly." Cassel stressed the "need to do something different and dramatic," adding that University President Judith Rodin introduced the possibility of holding a teach-in across the University so that students everywhere would be discussing alcohol use. Cassel added that she plans to meet with faculty-in-residence to discuss the issue. But some students said University City's paucity of late night non-drinking options is the problem, not a lack of education. "I mean at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, there's not really anything open except bars and parties -- unless you want to hang out in Wawa for a few hours," one male student noted. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Maureen Tkacik contributed to this article. Staff writers Margie Fishman, Mark Glassman, Tammy Reiss, Randi Rothberg and Diem Tran helped conduct the survey.
(10/16/97 9:00am)
The University has slowly responded to changing student residential needs. When the University converts all its residences into college houses next fall, it will be the biggest change in decades to a system that has evolved very slowly over Penn's history. Since the University was founded 257 years ago, the residential system usually failed to meet changing needs until decades of complaints and proposals built up, The Daily Pennsylvanian found in an examination of records in the University Archives. In light of such history, the newly proposed dorm plan seems even more significant to the fabric of the institution. While the first University dorm was built in 1752, only 12 years after Penn's founding, the 16-room house on the original campus at Fourth and Arch streets remained the school's only residence until construction of the Quadrangle 142 years later. In 1872, the University moved to its West Philadelphia location and continued to function without a single residential building until 1896, when the Quad opened. Four years later, the University built the "Bennett House Residence for Women Students" on the present site of Bennett Hall. The Quad remained the only male dorm on campus, and the housing system would remain segregated by sex until the 1970s. As Penn's population grew in the early decades of this century, new housing proved inadequate and the administration proved slow to act. Many students began to live in fraternity houses, which numbered well above 40 during the first half of the 20th century. Other students secured off-campus housing in boarding houses and apartment buildings nearby. Only men were allowed to pursue these option until the 1960s, though. Women were still confined to one of the few all-women's dorms on campus until then. The end of World War II sparked the biggest housing crunch the University had seen in its 200 years up to that point. Returning veterans tried to finish their college educations at once, and there wasn't enough space for all of them. Many were married and needed to accommodate families, and others simply demanded better housing than the University had been accustomed to providing. The situation set off a flurry of memos and drafts within administrative offices, but little else. Officials beseeched local landlords to rent to students, and tried to convince alumni in the Philadelphia area to donate apartments or find student tenants. After the immediate postwar crisis passed, the housing shortage continued, as the "Baby Boom" generation reached college age and sent the University's enrollment way up. Exacerbating the crisis, black students found that some local landlords refused to rent to them. At the same time, women students began demanding the right to live off campus, and to allow male visitors in their dorm rooms -- which was still prohibited by official policy. Attempting to ease the crunch, the University obtained several local apartment buildings for women's residence halls, which numbered 12 by the 1960s. These included King's Court, which was purchased as a nursing dorm in the 1950s, and Hill and English Houses, completed in 1960. In 1963, the University allowed senior women -- with parental permission only -- to move into off-campus apartments in officially approved buildings. And in 1964, Women's Student Government -- led by future University President Judith Rodin, then known as Judith Seitz -- convinced administrators that senior women were responsible enough to have male visitors in their rooms -- at least before midnight. Spurred by overcrowding pressures and by ripples in the society at large, the housing system was changing rapidly by 1969. Men were allowed in more than half of the women's dorms until 3 a.m., sophomore women were allowed to live off-campus and some Penn students were living in co-ed apartments in Center City -- a fact reported with great interest by the Philadelphia press. But an even greater change to the face of housing was still to take place in a far corner of campus. In 1969, with University housing capacity at a record low of 42 percent of undergraduates and 9 percent of graduate students, Student Government President Al Conroy complained that the Penn was "losing students because of the housing shortage." Student government representatives threw their support behind a plan to build a series of skyscrapers at 38th through 40th streets on both sides of Locust Walk, and graduate towers on 36th Street. The three high rises opened as the first co-ed dorms at Penn in 1970 and 1971, and the rest of the residential system ended its gender segregation soon afterward. Superblock's construction caused the demolition of 10 fraternity and five sorority houses and several blocks worth of homes in the Hamilton Village neighborhood. At the same time that the large, impersonal high rises opened, the University decided to follow faculty suggestions and open smaller program houses called college houses. Van Pelt College House opened in 1971, and five more houses, including, DuBois, Stouffer and Modern Language college houses, opened over the next five years. College houses were such a popular idea in the '70s that plans were drawn up to convert the Quad into six college houses. But the program, which lacked financial and administrative commitment, also met a fair amount of student resistance. "There goes the Quad experience," moaned an unnamed student in a 1976 DP article. In the end, only Ware College House in the Quad was ever carried past the planning stage, though faculty and some students continued to propose an overall conversion of University housing to a college house system. Over the next two decades at least four separate reports were commissioned to examine the housing system. All recommended a college house system, but only the most recent one by Art History Professor David Brownlee -- his second report to suggest the system -- prompted any action. So after toying with the idea for nearly three decades, the University will move to college houses next fall, setting the latest mark in the history of Penn's dorm life.
(10/10/97 9:00am)
The changes include increased programming, more uniform academic support and new faculty. New residential plans released Wednesday call for the creation of 12 College Houses to replace the current system of first year houses, upperclassmen houses, College Houses and Living and Learning Programs. But the impact of changes to the system will not be uniform across the 12 houses. While many University dormitories are already accustomed to varying degrees of communal life, considerable changes will have to be made to larger dorms and those without permanent programs and staff, like the high rises. But the faculty and administrators who designed the plan said they want to assure students that residential life will not undergo any drastic or unwanted upheaval, Art History Professor David Brownlee said. Instead, for many houses the changes will consist of increased programming and a more uniform level of academic support services, according to Director of Academic Services in Residence Chris Dennis. "What this program will give us is the comprehensive ability to deliver services across the board," Dennis said. "This will allow us to do this in the high rises the same way we already do in smaller houses." Specific choices of programming or house themes and focuses will be left up to residents in a manner "compatible" with what students want, Dennis added. Ultimately, if the program is successful, the biggest change for residents in larger houses will be an extremely positive one -- the development of a community atmosphere in what are currently impersonal buildings, Brownlee said. But he added that these communities are striving towards a different goal than traditional notions of community building as simply being a matter of everyone learning each other's names. "These will be a different type of community than the ones created in corridor buildings where everyone shares a bathroom," Brownlee said. Rather the goal of the program will be to enable each student to find "a circle of friends with whom they share experiences." In addition to stronger community, students may also benefit from increased diversity produced by turning each house into multi-year communities with representatives from all undergraduate classes, graduate schools and the faculty. "This will be a more realistic community," Brownlee said. "In the real world one lives with people of different ages." The high rises are currently the only dorms without any faculty in residence, requiring Provost Stanley Chodorow to search for two new faculty masters for the buildings, in addition to finding a master to replace a Quad faculty master whose term will end in May, Residential Faculty Council Chairperson Al Filreis said. Brownlee, who has led various efforts to create a college house system over the past decade, will serve as faculty master for one of the high rises. Filreis, an English professor who also serves as faculty master of Van Pelt College House, said that since each house will have an additional faculty member in residence, three more faculty members must be found for the high rises. And the University will be looking to hire 12 residential deans for the houses, who will hold similar positions as the seven current assistant deans for residence. But while those deans currently focus primarily on disciplinary and maintenance issues, the new deans will be expected to serve a more academic function by coordinating services and advising students. The first change many students will notice, however, is that their buildings will no longer have the same name. Residents of High Rise North may be shocked to discover that the new college house in their building will be called Hamilton House. And the Quadrangle will have one fewer house than it has now, as Butcher-Speakman-Class of '28 House disappears from the Penn vocabulary. Speakman and Class of '28 will become a part of Ware House -- which will encompass the entire middle Quad area around the junior balcony. At the same time, the rest of upper Quad will become Goldberg House, while the Butcher building -- famous for its rambunctious student body --will become part of the usually quieter Community House. But don't take the new house names as a permanent institution either, Brownlee said. The University will be looking for potential donors to sponsor the houses -- as is already the case with the Goldberg House with a $2 million donation from film producer Leonard Goldberg. Brownlee added that the new system for building community and increases in-house programming makes the residences considerably more attractive to donors.
(10/09/97 9:00am)
Released yesterday, the residential paln eliminates freshman housing and groups every residence into the house system. In the first major overhaul of campus residences since dormitories went coed in the 1970s, the University will transform all of its existing residences into 12 college houses by next fall. Released yesterday, the new residential plan could eventually change every aspect of dorm life at Penn. Eliminating first-year housing, it groups students of every year into each house. Officials hope the plan will give those students who want it the opportunity to continue their academic life into their dorms, and to build their own communities over time. Each house will have its own designated area within campus dining halls and offer a variety of academic support programs, including various forms of advising and tutoring. At least two faculty members will live in each house. Students will be able to continue using the resources of their house throughout their time at the University, even if they move off campus. But while every campus residence will be incorporated into the house system, student use of house resources -- including participation in dining contracts -- will be completely voluntary. The mandatory meal plans at the existing college houses will be eliminated. A new dining facility in the basement of one of the high rises and the construction of several new faculty apartments to accommodate the plan, will be completed over the summer. More extensive renovations to the physical structures of the residences are planned over the next 10 years, in line with the needs of the system as it develops, administrators said. The capital costs of the college house program -- mainly the cost of the new dining hall to be located in one of the high rises -- are expected to be small enough to be absorbed by the current residential budget, Provost Stanley Chodorow said. Operating the program is expected to raise the residential living budget by $680,000 annually, Chodorow said. All students living on campus will be asked to pay a $70 activities fees, which, with a matching grant from the 21st Century Project, will knock the cost down to $520,000. For at least three years, the University will be able to absorb those costs without raising rents to pay for the new programs, Chodorow said. A deal with the Trammel Crow Co. to outsource facilities management will help pay for the new programs, Executive Vice President John Fry said. Money from that deal will also help pay for the expected $100 million in renovations over the next decade. The plan, which incorporates separate reports by Art History Professor David Brownlee and the consulting firm Biddison Hier, creates one house in each of the high rises and divides the Quadrangle into four houses. The current college houses will continue to serve as individual houses, with the exception of the Modern Language College House, which will become part of Van Pelt College House. Brownlee explained that this will give the Modern Language program the chance to grow or shrink without hurting rent, which will mean more stability overall. The plan will not affect current Living-Learning programs and community living options in the high rises. Each house will have a faculty master, at least one faculty member in residence and a residential dean, and twice the number of graduate associates in current houses. Academic programs -- such as math tutoring, writing advising, computer help and other programs -- will be extended to all 12 houses. The Residential Faculty Council's Wheel project has already begun implementing these. Beyond those basic services, faculty and students will work to create unique programs to match the character of each house and the degree of student interest. Students involved in the college house project praised the University administration for allowing significant student input in both the report and future stages of development. "One of the great things about the plan is that it's a framework --Eeverything in the future will be student-initiated," Residential Advisory Board President Roshini Thayaparan said. But since participation in all aspects of the program is voluntary, it is difficult to predict its impact on campus life. Administrators said they expect that certain residential patterns -- such as freshman living in the Quad and upperclassmen in the high rises -- will prevail for the first few years. Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said the success of the program will be measured based on whether it improves the lives of students, rather than on how many residents show up for math tutoring or any single component of the plan. "The measure of success is going to be on the individual basis," Moneta said. "Ultimately, can every student express that Penn provided what they wanted? Did they find a path, did they find a niche, did they find a community that satisfied them?"
(10/07/97 9:00am)
One of the lessons Art History Professor David Brownlee has learned at the University is if at first you don't succeed, try again -- under a different administration. Eight years ago, Brownlee authored a report identifying the creation of communities-in-residence as a major priority. These communities would bring students in a particular residence together through common interests and innovative programming. The report, although advertised in Almanac and widely praised by administrators, was largely ignored, as was then-Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrison's 1992 report recommending the creation of a college house system similar to the one in place at Yale. Brownlee and Morrison's reports echoed another set of recommendations issued in 1965 by Professor Otto Springer -- who later served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences -- which also called for a residential community system. So last spring, when Brownlee was asked for the second time to develop a set of recommendations for building residential communities, his initial reaction was skepticism. "Are we really going to do it this time?" he asked Provost Stanley Chodorow. But several months after completing his report, Brownlee's initial doubts have been replaced by excitement and optimism. And his follow-up report -- which will be released in the next few weeks -- will represent the first attempt to implement, not just propose, a residential community plan. Earlier administrators were not interested in the idea, Brownlee said, which is why previous reports were never acted on. "There were always worries about predictable things? but all of them were sort of made up fears, they were sort of excuses for the not doing it," he said. "I really think it was just that the previous leadership of the University did not bring to it an interest in those sorts of things." Although some faculty and administrators describe Brownlee as a visionary who advocated the system before the idea was widely accepted, Brownlee said community living has had considerable support from professors and students for his entire 17-year tenure at the University. "There is no single recommendation that has been more uniformly brought forward by students and faculty than the recommendation that Penn's undergraduate residences must be organized around some sort of community," he said. Past experiments with community living programs, however, have met with mixed success. Of four college house pilot programs proposed in spring 1996, only two -- the non-residential Kelly Writers House and the Science and Technology Wing expansion into High Rise South -- attracted enough student interest to get off the ground. As a result, many administrators -- including Chodorow -- have said that any future programs must combat such negative student attitudes. "Students have to understand that residential communities will not take away from their residential experience," he said. "The Quad experience will remain the Quad experience." But Brownlee said current efforts to create the system take into account lessons learned from the 1996 pilot efforts, and future residential communities will not be dependent on a fixed number of participants. Instead, the programs are likely to be located within larger dormitories so they can grow or shrink with student demand. And students who are not attached to a specific program will be integrated into a community through increased programming and services in non-specialized floors of dorms like the high rises. For the most part, these changes would represent an improvement in current programming -- which Brownlee said is grossly underfunded -- rather than a huge departure from existing policy. And Brownlee wants to assuage any student fears that the new programming will be invasive. "No one is going to be out pounding on the doors saying 'come on out, we're having mandatory discussions of Kierkegaard'," he said. At the same time, he added that residential communities, unlike curricular improvements or hiring new professors, provides the sole opportunity to improve all undergraduate life in one step.
(10/01/97 9:00am)
The building may house the student credit union and the PennCard Center. "Please don't come visit us," is the message Frank Claus would like to give students about his Student Financial Services office. SFS is renovating its Franklin Building headquarters and allowing students to do most financial aid functions on line, as part of a general overhaul of the building's student services designed to consolidate more functions there. Claus said the building --Ewhich already houses SFS and the registrar -- will combine more administrative services under one roof. The PennCard Center --Ewhich must leave its current location at 38th and Walnut streets by June 1999 to allow for construction of a new Wharton building --Ewill also probably move into the Franklin Building next fall, Claus said. Claus has invited the University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union to move into the lobby of the building as well, if there is enough room. The front section of the current financial aid office will house an after-hours center, complete with Penn InTouch terminals, a Money Access Center machine, tuition payment drop off and a terminal for use with the new PennCards. The area will be open 24 hours a day to PennCard holders, but Claus said upgraded lighting, an emergency phone and a closed-circuit TV system wired to the Department of Public Safety will provide it with tight security. "The way we are designing this it will be like Fort Knox here," Claus said, adding that he would still advise students against making large withdrawals late at night. In December, SFS will open a cashier's desk designed to provide express payment service in what is now the building's lobby. At the same time, the current financial aid office will be used for financial aid counseling, and the office's "cattle stall" waiting area will be replaced by a more comfortable reception area, he added. Financial aid counselors will undergo careful training over the next few months to insure that they are capable of handling all student requests -- or of finding someone who can, Claus said. "The burden of the solution will be on them," Claus said. "We are trying to make it so that the first person students see solves the problem." Some students agree that the office needs to become more efficient. Engineering sophomore Seema Thomas said the amount of time it has taken SFS to respond to phone calls and process forms has prevented her from being allowed to register for classes. "I am happy they give me aid, but it could be a lot better," she added. But other students said SFS counselors are already very well trained and eager to help. "They've been very efficient. I just call and they answer all my questions," Wharton junior Renee Arthurs said. And in an effort to save students time and reserve the financial services office for counseling rather than routine operations, many financial aid tasks can now be done on line, Claus said. Over the summer, SFS asked students for their banking information in order to provide them automatic tuition refunds. The information enables SFS to refund student bank accounts immediately, eliminating the need for students to pick up checks. Of 2,600 students who signed on to the program, 908 students' tuition refunds have been directly wired to their accounts.
(09/29/97 9:00am)
The new programs offer support in residences and over the Internet. Being a student is often said to be a 24-hour job, but while Wawa and Kinko's provide all-night service, finding help with Calculus 140 at 3 a.m. can be a difficult task. The Residential Faculty Council and student volunteers have joined together to solve this problem with a program offering academic support in residences and over the Internet -- 24 hours a day. The Wheel program --Ewhich took its name from a feeling among faculty that they were "reinventing the wheel" -- tailors current tutoring programs to the needs of particular residences, while planning for the addition of new services, according to RFC Chairperson and English Professor Al Filreis. Because it involves re-allocating resources from current programs, most of the initiative can be implemented without extra cost to the University. A Wheel program to provide in-residence writing assistance, for example, uses money from the existing Writing Advisors program in Bennett Hall. The first stages of the program involve providing the college houses and freshman dormitories with services such as computer assistance and writing advising. In-residence services are not yet available in the high rises because providing such offerings in buildings which do not have residential staffs is more expensive and complicated than providing services in fully staffed houses, Filreis said. In addition to the new in-house writing and computing support, math workshops have also been tailored to individual residences. Following the suggestion of a student tutor, the math advising program --Ewhich used to offer weekly sessions with graduate students in a few dorms -- was revamped this fall to include nine undergraduate tutors. The tutors, who are attached to one or two of the 11 college and freshman houses, have extended hours and provide help via e-mail. The additional help sessions typically occur later in the evening and are advertised over e-mail to residents taking math classes. College junior Laura Kornstein, who organized the program, said these factors have led to increased turnout. The tutors have also begun making an effort to maintain personal contact with the students in their house, Kornstein said. "The tutors e-mail students so they know who will be there," Kornstein said. "You feel like it's an actual person, not just a body." Another Wheel project in its initial stages is a pilot library liaison program, under which one liaison in each of the 11 houses provides library and database tutorials. The program, which is funded by a grant from the 21st Century Project and a matching grant from the library budget, also provides all-day e-mail help and after-hours training sessions in Van Pelt Library itself. Filreis said he hopes to begin several other new services in the near future, including language tutoring and a music and art program. The RFC also hopes to extend an in-house research support program beyond Van Pelt's EFFECT initiative, which involves a small community of students based in the residence. And the RFC is considering residential economics tutoring, according to Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing Jim O'Donnell. Implementation of the Wheel initiative comes as the Residential Communities Committee prepares to release a follow-up to a report last spring by Art History Professor David Brownlee outlining sweeping changes to campus residences, including multi-year residential communities. The follow-up report will outline the exact mechanisms and timetables for residential renovations and community programs in residence. The interest among faculty and administrators in residential academic services and the current efforts to restructure residences combine to make this a "rare opportunity" to implement a program such as Wheel, Filreis added.
(09/26/97 9:00am)
Only about 100 students left the building when the alarm sounded early yesterday morning. and Michael Brus A small fire in High Rise South early yesterday morning has prompted a debate about the University's fire safety procedures. Four engines, three ladders and two fire chiefs from the Philadelphia Fire Department's Station Five responded to a one-alarm fire at 4:17 a.m., according to Fire Department spokesperson Robert Dickson. The fire -- which was caused by an overheated motor in the heating system of HRS room 1814 -- was extinguished by 4:41 a.m., Dickson said. He explained that a large number of trucks and manpower were sent to the scene to aid in the evacuation of the building, adding that a complete evacuation is standard procedure for a fire in a building of that size. But High Rise South was not evacuated during the fire. Only approximately 100 students left the building after the alarm sounded, while many others waited in fireproof stairwells. But many residents said they did not leave their rooms, and some said the alarm was not even loud enough to wake them. "I slept right through it," said College and Engineering sophomore Laura Swibel, who lives in room 1711 -- one floor below the fire. She added that her two roommates, as well as her neighbors in room 1710, also slept through the alarm. "The fire alarm is right outside [room 1710's] door," Swibel said. "The fact that [the fire] was one floor above and I didn't know disturbs me." Two floors above Swibel, College sophomore Matthew Morrow awoke to sound of the alarm and began to smell smoke. "All I know is it was coming into our apartment and it didn't smell nice," he said after evacuating the building with his roommates. Only two of the residents of room 1813 -- next door to the fire -- woke up when the alarm went off. College sophomore Peter Schell said he and his roommate had to wake up two other suitemates before all of them evacuated. A roommate said he initially thought the smoke was coming from the suite's own air conditioner. During fire drills, residential advisors are expected to knock on students doors to wake them and to insure that they remain in stairwells of exit the building. But Karen Hudson, one of the two HRS residence heads, said she will not permit her RAs to put their lives at risk by remaining behind to knock on students' doors during a real fire. Hudson added that she did not believe that students had problems hearing the alarms. "They're pretty loud," Hudson said. "I mean, they woke me up, so I tend not to have too much sympathy for people who say they didn't wake up." Hudson added that the evacuation was not successful because students refused to leave their rooms. Some students admitted that they heard the alarm, but didn't bother to leave. Wharton sophomore Lawrence Schlyen said the alarm woke him up, but he went back to sleep. "My window is overlooking [the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house], so I thought it might have been [a fire in] ZBT, and I was too lazy to get up and see what it was," Schlyen said. "This morning I didn't know if it was a dream or not." Hudson said she was "extremely disturbed" by residents' reaction to the fire alarm and will conduct sessions to educate students about the need for prompt evacuation. Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said the audibility of alarms is an important issue, and that he will look into it today. "We are one of the better schools in the country for safety codes, but if there's even a remote possibility that the audibility is a problem then I will look into tomorrow morning," Moneta said last night. He added that sound quality will probably be tested by placing decibel meters or residential staff in the buildings during the next fire drill.
(09/25/97 9:00am)
Large sections of the Annenberg School for Communication will shut down beginning next month in the first stages of a two-year, $15 million renovation project. The project will renovate the older section of the building and replace the Annenberg School Theater with a teleconferencing center linked to the Annenberg Public Policy Center in Washington, according to Communications Professor Larry Gross. The building's Walnut Street facade will be entirely revamped as well. Graduate students will be the first to see the effects of the renovations, as all graduate offices will move to 4025 Chestnut Street in October. Although they originally expected to move to the graduate towers, most Communications graduate students said the extra distance is not a problem. Several graduate teaching assistants, however, expressed concern about how far their students will have to go for office hours. "It's going to be interesting to tell my students, 'Uh, there's this building on 40th and Chestnut and that's where I am' -- that sounds kind of funky," second-year Communications graduate student Dave Park said. The next stage of renovations will begin in January, forcing the library and the first floor to close. The theater will shut down in May. But Gross said the renovations will have little impact on undergraduates, because the undergraduate classrooms, main offices and faculty offices will remain open for the entire construction period. "Except for the disorienting feeling of having a plywood entrance and the noise -- which we already have from across the street anyhow -- it won't really be that different," Gross said. The loss of the theater will create some difficulties for campus performing arts groups, who will be even more cramped for space. Irvine Auditorium closed earlier this year, and the Houston Hall theater will shut down next fall. The administration, however, has been actively searching for alternative rehearsal and performance space, and recently agreed to lease the Movement Theater International on the 3700 block of Chestnut Street. But when the project is completed, the undergraduate experience should be improved through increased involvement with the Annenberg Public Policy Center in Washington. The renovations will build a "penthouse" structure above the current theater site to house a telecommunications center that will let Communications students participate in lectures given at the Washington center, Gross said. The center already has a primitive telecommunications hook-up with the school, but the broadcast image is not "television quality" and professors need to drag a TV console into their classroom or "futz around" with a computer to use the system, according to the Washington center's director, Douglas Rivlin. When the program is fully operational, the center plans to solicit student requests for speakers and symposia, Rivlin said. "It will be possible to invite the FCC or congressmen or White House officials to come to our office in the National Press Club and speak to a class meeting in Philadelphia," Gross said. "It's a lot easier to get people to go across town than to Philadelphia." Gross said Annenberg won't be greatly inconvenienced by the closing of the theater, since the school only requires an auditorium of that size once every few years -- as it did recently for FCC Chairperson Reed Hundt's speech. The renovation project will also make the school's entrance more visible, since many people have trouble finding the current entrance. Gross said he once found Mayor Ed Rendell wandering around looking for the doorway before a speech he was giving at the school. Additionally, the building's older section -- which was built in the 1960s -- will be brought up to current standards for wheelchair access, while the school's computing facilities, research space and library will also see improvement.
(09/24/97 9:00am)
The troubled performing arts center must search for a replacement while planning for massive reorganization. Amidst preparations for a major reorganization and while dealing with a substantial deficit, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is facing an additional problem -- finding a new managing director. After a 33-year tenure in various positions at the center, current Managing Director Stephen Goff announced his resignation last August, agreeing to stay on at the financially troubled theater until a replacement is found. The University expects to have a new managing director by Jan. 1, 1998, Goff said. His departure comes as the center prepares for a three-year reorganization period. The reorganization will not affect student performances, although no decision has been made about non-University productions from July 1998 through the year 2000, Provost Stanley Chodorow said. Goff's resignation came after the plans to restructure the theater's operations were announced. Although he has enjoyed his 22 years as managing director, Goff -- a 1964 University graduate -- said the reorganization process might be best served by new blood. "Under the reorganization, maybe it is time they got somebody else to take it over from that point," Goff said. Cary Mazer, chairperson of the Theater Arts Department and a theater critic for City Paper, said Goff's departure will give the University greater latitude in rethinking the role of the Annenberg Center. "The University needs to find a home? for curricular academic programs in the performing arts and for the many extracurricular performing arts clubs," Mazer said. "Steve's departure provides the opportunity to rethink what the Center might be for and how it might be used." Under Goff, the theater won praise from faculty and administrators for attracting interesting and groundbreaking productions to campus. Mazer praised Goff's ability to attract diverse productions such as Angels in America, Wozza Albert, The Blood Knot, Master Harold and the Boys and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. At the same time, however, the center is experiencing financial difficulties as a result of reduced arts funding and slow ticket sales. Recently, the University has been pushing for an improvement in the center's bottom line. The reorganization process -- which calls for adding concerts, film series and lectures to Annenberg's current offerings in children's theater, student performances and dance -- resulted from a six-month review of the problems facing the center, Chodorow said. "The arts are expensive," Goff said. "And we all have to work together to be able to pay for them." The University has certainly been contributing its fair share of funds, according to administrators. Over the past nine years, the theater's operating expenses have increased by 13 percent, while revenue has decreased 16 percent, according to Chodorow. The center accumulated operational deficits in six of those years despite University contributions averaging $1.2 million per year to the center's budget. For fiscal year 1997, an "unanticipated and substantial deficit" forced the University to cover half the theater's expenses, according to Deputy Provost Michael Wachter.
(09/18/97 9:00am)
The University must now delay the IAST and Music Building work. The four-alarm fire that destroyed the half-completed Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall at 33rd and Chestnut streets last March also sent the University's master building plan up in smoke. The fire has delayed several projects -- including the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the relocation of the Music Department -- at least a year, according to Vice President for Facilities Management Art Gravina. "As you put your critical path together, all of a sudden you get a glitch and everything backs up," Gravina said. The Fine Arts Hall -- which was set to open in August in the restored Asbury Methodist Church -- would have housed studio, classroom and gallery space for both undergraduates and graduate students, freeing up the Morgan Building on Smith Walk. At the same time, the Music Department was set to move into a new facility, a project which was to be considered after the completion of Addams Hall. The Morgan Building, the Music Building and the Music Annex were then to be renovated and converted into cognitive science and computer science space as part of Phase II of the IAST project, an initiative which can not continue until those spaces are vacant or alternative locations have been found. In an effort to move IAST II along, Gravina said the University is looking for another location for the project. "The fact that Phase II involves labs for computer and cognitive science allows you to think about existing spaces," Gravina said. "You can use office space for a computer lab which you couldn't with a wet lab like the one in the [Vagelos Laboratories] IAST I building." University officials may also be looking for an alternative site for a Fine Arts building. In the next four or five weeks, a decision should be made about whether to rebuild the ruined church or tear it down and start from scratch, Gravina said, adding that the decision depends on what programs can be housed in what's left of the church and how soon a new building can be constructed. The final proposal must be approved by Lady Barbara Colyton, who is funding the project. Addams Hall was to contain a collection of works by Colyton's husband, Charles Addams, creator of the Addams family and a 1934 University graduate. While Colyton gave her donation with the understanding that the Asbury Church would house the new facility, rebuilding the church now appears to be prohibitively expensive, Gravina said. "Once you sell a project to a donor, it's hard to sell something else," Gravina said. "I mean she's a reasonable woman -- she doesn't expect us to spend $10 million to preserve something that was originally worth $2 million." Graduate School of Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack said the church would only have housed half of the school's programs, so another site would have been necessary anyhow. In the meantime, Hack said the school will begin using the upper floors of Meyerson Hall for Fine Arts classes and drawing studios. The area currently houses other College of Arts and Sciences classes. Fortunately, some building projects will not be affected by the delay. The Psychology Department is still slated to receive a site across the street from the Asbury Church at 34th and Chestnut streets, although actual construction is a long way off, since the School of Arts and Sciences must first find a way to fund the new building. The more long-term project of providing new space for the Graduate School of Education and the School of Social Work will also not be affected by the fire, but Gravina said both of those projects are even further off than the Psychology Building.
(09/15/97 9:00am)
A locksmith has lost a set of 'control keys' used to remove lock cores for a number of University dorms' doors. A ring of control keys used to remove lock cores in several University residences was lost two weeks ago and is still missing, making it possible for whoever has the keys to enter any room in the affected residences. Although the University has changed some of the locks in the affected dorms, most have not been replaced since the keys were first lost, Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said. Moneta said the Division of Public Safety and the University's lock company assessed the situation as posing minimal security risk to students, making more drastic measures to fix the problem unnecessary. During student move-in August 31, a locksmith in the Quadrangle lost a ring of keys containing the "control keys" that are used with an "extraction tool" to remove the core of a lock, Moneta said. One control key customarily removes the core of an entire dorm or dormitory section's locks. Officials would not specify which buildings the keys control. Moneta said even if anyone found the keys, it is unlikely he or she would know how to use them or have the necessary equipment to remove the cores. But West Philadelphia Locksmith Company employee Phil Paul said the necessary tools were commonly available. "There's no locks on the doors if you lose the control keys," Paul explained. "Stick in a screwdriver and the door opens up." A University administrator, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated the cost of lock replacements at $35 a lock -- or more than $100,000 to immediately replace every one. But Moneta said the University's decision not to replace all the locks in the affected buildings had nothing to do with cost, instead citing a desire not to "cavalierly inconvenience every student" with replacements that might not be necessary. University officials maintained that they have done everything needed to prevent security breaches as a result of the missing keys. Associate Director of Operations in Residential Maintenance Al Zuino said he contacted the University's lock company, Best Locking Systems of Philadelphia, and University Police Lt. Sue Holmes for a risk analysis, and that both the Best Locking Systems representative and Holmes played down the security risk. Best Locking Systems President Curtis Sharpp said he would neither confirm nor deny that the University contacted his company, adding that it would be impossible to remember any one specific call. He also refused to provide the name of the company's representative that handles the University account. Although Holmes acknowledged she had taken a call "related to" the lost keys, she refused to comment on the matter. Beyond the risk assesment, Zuino said he does not believe there will be any robberies as a result of the lost keys. "I am fairly confident that we are okay, because we have not had any break-ins yet," Zuino said. He said Spectaguards and University Police officers -- not locked doors -- provide most dorm security. If someone with a PennCard wanted to use the keys to enter individual rooms, however, security guards might never know. But Zuino also said University keys are coded so someone who picks up a key cannot tell what buildings the keys are for simply by looking at them. Only about seven people know the entire coding system, he said. Officials said all police and Spectaguards were notified of the possibility that an intruder might try to enter the dorms with the lost keys. But several officers and Spectaguards said they had not received any such warning. By way of explanation, Moneta said those guards and police officers may have forgotten about the incident, which occurred several weeks ago. He added that the steps the University took, combined with the fact that many people don't know how to use control keys, should ensure safety. "We identified what we thought were the most vulnerable locks, and we went about altering them," he said. Any locks that could be changed by replacing a pin rather than replacing the whole lock are already in the process of being altered. The situation doesn't call for anything beyond that, Moneta said. "It is a rare but occasional situation that some keys are misplaced, and our policy is to work with Public Safety, and we always work conservatively," he said. "If we felt there was anything unsafe going on, we would immediately rekey and recore." Although the University normally replaces its locks every five years, Moneta said the loss of the core keys would likely spur the University to begin looking for replacements sooner. Additionally, he said the University is examining the possibility of making all locks electronic by the end of the academic year. Some student leaders expressed disappointment that they and students in the affected areas were not notified of the potential risk, regardless of how small it may actually be. "I think it's a little weird that they haven't said anything," said Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Noah Bilenker, a College junior. "Students have thousands of dollars of merchandise in their rooms. It's got to be more expensive to replace their property [than to replace the lock cores]." Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Ian Rosenblum contributed to this article.
(09/15/97 9:00am)
In his final speech about television broadcasters' public interest duties, outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairperson Reed Hundt told a packed Annenberg Auditorium Friday that a permanent program to grant free TV airtime to political candidates has the potential to change American democracy. Hundt described his feelings of "nausea" after reading that several Republican analysts had declared certain potential candidates "not viable" for the 2000 presidential race because they wouldn't be able to raise funds for key television ads. In his five-year tenure as FCC chairperson, Hundt made free TV time a central issue of his agenda. During the 1996 presidential election, he sponsored an experiment with short, free time segments on most of the major networks. The Annenberg School for Communication analyzed the data from this experiment, concluding that free TV time often provided a more informative and less combative presentation of the issues. Under Hundt, the FCC has also established an Internet network and World Wide Web page, extended competitive practices in the communications market and required networks to air at least three hours of educational programming per week -- another project for which Annenberg provided research data, according to Annenberg Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson. As he prepares to leave the FCC, Hundt is trying to turn what many considered to be his greatest defeat -- a congressional decision to give a large chunk of the broadcast spectrum to TV networks at no costs -- into a victory for advocates of free TV time. The combination of fundraising misdeeds and the huge proportions of campaign funds spent on purchasing TV time -- an estimated 64 percent of all expenditures -- points to the increasing need for change in the system, Hundt said. "The way the candidates are getting sorted out has nothing to do with the way they proposed to reform or change education," he said. "It has nothing to do with how they proposed to close the widening gap between rich and poor. They're not sorting themselves out on any issue that's really of any interest to anyone in America. No, The New York Times said they're sorting themselves out according to how much money they can raise." But there's a "unique" opportunity to reform the political system by "disconnecting money and the media" using a little known provision of the agreement that gave broadcasters the additional spectrum licenses for free, Hundt said. As part of the agreement, Congress required the broadcasters to provide some type of public service, as determined by the FCC. Hundt proposed a plan under which the stations could fulfill their obligations by providing free airtime to candidates who agree to certain fundraising restrictions. Currently, broadcasters are obligated only to provide cheaper airtime to political candidates than to standard advertisers. But Hundt said that candidates should receive specified amounts of airtime for free; those who wished to purchase additional time would be required to pay full market value. After granting free time to candidates, Hundt said he doubts stations will agree to sell additional time for political messages -- except at exorbitant prices, a situation that Hundt feels will cool the race for TV time among candidates. He called on the FCC to investigate the issue, but admitted he was unable to convince a majority of the four FCC commissioners to approve the study. He stressed, however, that he hopes the initiative will succeed when the Senate approves three new commissioners --Eas well as Hundt's own replacement -- in October. Hundt has said he will step down in order to spend more time with his family. Hundt's speech was received well by both students and faculty. Communications Professor Larry Gross described Hundt as a "skilled and effective speaker." But Gross said he is disappointed with the current progress of the FCC, noting that President Reagan's appointees have remained past their terms because Clinton failed to nominate replacements. As a result, Gross said the FCC has been unwilling to implement Hundt's agenda, and now as Congress finally prepares to approve Clinton's nominees to the commission, Hundt is leaving. "If the issues are as important as he says -- which I believe -- and if his proposals are an important move towards a solution -- which I also believe -- why is he leaving in the middle of his term?" Gross asked.
(09/12/97 9:00am)
In what is being billed as one of his last major policy talks, outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairperson Reed Hundt will address free television time for political candidates at the Annenberg School for Communication today at 2 p.m. The speech will also be the last major event held in the Annenberg School auditorium, before its space is turned over to the school's Public Policy Center. The school's work analyzing last year's experiments with short segments of free time for presidential candidate statements led Hundt to choose Penn as the site for his speech. Annenberg Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson predicted that Hundt would discuss his new "time bank" proposal, which merges the issues of free time for candidates, campaign finance reform and the expansion of available spectrum for television broadcast. Broadly defined, Hundt's proposal calls for broadcasters to provide a public service -- i.e., free time to political candidates -- in return for a proportional amount of extra spectrum space to use as they pleased. In return, candidates would have to agree to certain campaign finance limitations. Hundt has not yet specified how the free air time could be used. During last year's free time experiment, all the air time had to be used for on-camera statements by the candidate, rather than campaign ads. Jamieson called the plan innovative, saying it attempts to solve several current issues at once. "There's an attempt to take money out of the system or minimize influence, but to give candidates what they've been amassing the money for -- they've been purchasing advertising," she said. A spokesperson for Hundt said the speech would not reveal any new policy initiatives, but that Hundt would discuss specific proposals now in Congress for free air time and campaign finance reform. Jamie Daves, a legislative affairs specialist for the FCC and a 1995 College graduate, also said Hundt will call for an FCC inquiry to study the feasibility of his plan as soon as possible. The Annenberg School has been heavily involved in analysis of the proposals for free air time, a cause which is gaining support in Washington side-by-side with campaign finance overhaul. Faculty and graduate students at the school studied the effectiveness of last year's experiment with free TV time, during which the major networks granted each presidential candidate brief spots to discuss specific issues. Jamieson said research showed the segments often contained more accurate and informative policy statements, while featuring far fewer attacks on other candidates, than standard political advertising. Few people, however, recalled watching the segments, with only 22.3 percent of Americans reporting that they saw a free spot. But Jamieson explained that there was no Nielsen ratings drop-off during these segments, as the networks had feared, leading her to believe that more Americans saw the free spots than remembered doing so. "[The Public Policy Center] has become an increasing force in Washington," Daves said.
