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(09/29/98 9:00am)
The interactive courses in anthropology and calculus will be offered at eight site nationwide. Continuing its effort to market the Penn brand name, administrators are reaching out to high school students with a series of new classes designed to expand the University's share of the educational market. Penn will combine forces with the Baltimore-based Caliber Learning Network to provide distributed learning -- otherwise known as distance learning -- classes for high school students, Interim Provost Michael Wachter announced yesterday. The courses in anthropology and calculus will be offered at eight sites across the country simultaneously via digital satellite television and advanced computer connections. Students in the two classes offered through the new PennAdvance Program will interact with each other and with their professors in real-time discussions with the aid of Caliber's videoconferencing technology. Classes for the approximately 50 students enrolled this fall begin on Saturday. Penn has also contracted with Caliber -- a for-profit partnership of Sylvan Learning Centers and telecommunications giant MCI WorldCom Inc. -- to offer "Wharton Direct" executive-education classes. "I think distributed learning puts higher education in a new, very dynamic period of exciting opportunities," Wachter said. "This is a huge new market for the University." For the two classes offered by PennAdvance this fall, Mathematics Department Chairperson Dennis DeTurck will teach the popular Mathematics 141: Calculus for the Natural Sciences, while Anthropology Professor Alan Mann will lead Anthropology 3: Humans in the Natural World, a class on human evolution. Introductory classes in psychology, calculus and economics will be offered in the spring, with three or four courses being offered every semester thereafter, according to School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston. About 60,000 students in eight targeted markets -- including Boston, Atlanta and Dallas -- received direct-mail information from the University based on test scores obtained from the Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service. Each applicant had to submit an essay, letters of recommendation and a high school transcript to gain admittance to the program. "We are aiming at a very talented group of high school students," Preston said. "What we're offering them is easy access to Penn courses and Penn faculty [while] we are hoping to increase Penn's visibility among talented high school students." Preston added that the PennAdvance courses are not intended to replace regular high school curricula. "This is not Advanced Placement," he said, referring to the high-level high school classes that many colleges accept for credit. "This is the real thing." Classes will be held for three hours every Saturday for 10 weeks, beginning this weekend. Additionally, students will be expected to work "asynchronously" for an additional hour a week on course material found on e-mail and the World Wide Web, bringing the total work time to 40 hours per class. The classes will be conducted not at the students' high schools, but at Caliber centers outfitted with video screens and computer terminals. Students will be able to ask questions of their professors during lectures by e-mailing a "content specialist," a teaching assistant who will communicate students' questions and comments directly to the professor. For their part, the participating Penn professors will teach out of an old television studio at 46th and Market streets -- the first built in the country -- renovated to Caliber's specifications, according to Associate Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing Michael Eleey. Each class will cost $1,220, though administrators said they expected costs to rise several hundred dollars to the price charged for summer school classes. Limited financial aid was made available, Wachter said. Administrators also expressed confidence that the program would expand as students and parents expressed a preference for spring and summer classes. "We are planning on expanding the program rapidly and looking at 35 to 40 [participating learning centers] within the next couple years," Preston said. While DeTurck and Mann both said they were at first "skeptical" of distance learning, they optimistic for the program's chances of success. "It represents the coming fashion in teaching," DeTurck said. "I think I can give students a taste of a Penn class." But Mann cautioned against students bypassing the college experience in favor of digital classrooms. "I think it's a delusion to replace being there," he said. Wachter noted that the University's other distributed learning initiative is faring well in its first weeks. He said that 143 students are enrolled in "Building a Business Case," the first six-week Wharton Direct class, now being offered in 16 Caliber centers nationwide. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Ethan Kross contributed to this article.
(09/25/98 9:00am)
Officials expect the fund to bounce back from the $300 million loss, which is 10 percent of its total. The recent market dive that wiped out more than $2 trillion from the value of U.S. stocks has hit the University as well, resulting in a $300 million -- or 10 percent --Edrop in Penn's endowment over a two-month period. University officials confirmed that the endowment -- which peaked at slightly more than $3 billion at the end of June -- fell to about $2.7 billion at the end of August. Though exact figures were not available, officials attributed most of the loss to across-the-board declines in stock prices. But despite the recent drops, Penn officials say they are not concerned about the endowment's strength and are not planning any changes to their investment strategy. "We try to stick to a long-term policy that will provide the best risk and return for the endowment," Managing Director of Investments Landis Zimmerman said. "What happens month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter really doesn't have much of an influence on long-term policies." Harvard University announced yesterday that it, too, suffered a 10 percent drop in its endowment, which was valued at more than $13 billion at the end of June, the highest of any U.S. institution of higher education. Prompted by economic turmoil in East Asia, Latin America and Russia, U.S. and international stocks fell sharply in July and August. As of August 31, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 19.3 percent from its July 17 high of 9,337.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, a group of several hundred prominent stocks, also fell by 19.3 percent. The technology-laden NASDAQ index plummeted more than 25 percent in the same six weeks. Penn Vice President for Finance Kathy Engebretson emphasized that the endowment has begun to recover its losses thanks to the market's strong September performance. Even with yesterday's 152-point drop, Dow stocks still closed above 8,000, up from a year-low of 7,539 at the beginning of the month. As of July 31, the University had 42 percent of the Associated Investments Fund -- the main portion of the endowment -- in domestic stocks, 10 percent in international stocks and 5 percent in stocks from emerging markets. The University's long-term allocation strategy calls for 50 percent of the endowment to be in domestic stocks, but with the recent market downturn, the percentage of the endowment invested in U.S. equities fell from 42 percent on June 30 to 38 percent earlier this month. At their September meeting, the University's Board of Trustees used the endowment's large cash reserves -- at that point adding up to more than $200 million -- to bring the amount of U.S. stocks in the endowment up to 40 percent of the fund's total. T. Rowe Price Associates Vice Chairperson James Riepe, who replaced John Neff as the head of the Trustees' Investment Board over the summer, agreed with Zimmerman that the recent stock market downturn did not dampen their forecast on equities. "We really look at the endowment in a long-term basis," he said. "It's not something that changes our outlook in the short term." Zimmerman emphasized that the University put more money into the volatile stock market not in an attempt to buy shares "cheap," but rather to "rebalance" the endowment's diversified portfolio. "You don't want to make shifts into the flavor of the day," he said. Penn Finance Professor Jeremy Siegel, a nationally known stock-market expert and author of the bestselling book Stocks for the Long Run, praised the University's strategy. "It was good that they were able to buy [stocks] at lower prices," he said. "If you're looking at the long term, stocks are still the best." Zimmerman said his office does not track the endowment's individual stock holdings -- which are managed by several teams of outside managers -- instead focusing on the endowment's overall performance. But several of the stocks known to be held by the University earlier in the year have dropped significantly in the recent market downturn. Owens Corning, Inland Steel Inc. and Sony Corp. all dropped more than 30 percent in August from their mid-July highs. However, several others -- including Philip Morris Cos., RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. and Unocal Corp. -- fell by 10 percent or less over the same period. And Siegel warned that the worst may not have passed for the stock market. "In the short term, we're in for a rocky ride for the coming weeks and months," he said, noting that the volatility in emerging markets could have a large effect on stocks in the coming year. Siegel added that he expects stocks to head back down before reaching their former heights, though he said "no one can predict when the market will bottom and go back up." Zimmerman said the key to the endowment's growth is not necessarily the mix of stocks in Penn's portfolio, but how much of the endowment is in equities and fixed-income securities. Equities include stocks and high-yield bonds, while fixed-income securities such as investment-grade bonds have a lower return but are much less risky. Harvard's endowment during the first 2 1/2 months of fiscal year 1999 -- which began July 1, 1998 -- has seen a drop of approximately $1.3 billion, according to the annual report of the Harvard Management Co., which runs the school's endowment. "You have to think of a university endowment in biblical terms," Harvard spokesperson Alex HuppZ said. "Harvard takes a very long-term [approach] on its endowment." The report noted, however, that there is a "possibility that things will get worse before they get better." Even though they have equal percent losses this fiscal year, Harvard is still outperforming Penn's endowment in the long term. For fiscal year 1998, Harvard's endowment jumped 20.5 percent, compared to Penn's 13.3 percent. Over five years, Harvard's went up 19.6 percent annually, while Penn's averaged 15.2 percent.
(09/24/98 9:00am)
University Council also addressed other staff and student issues. A student-driven dialogue on how the University can better recruit and retain minority students highlighted the first monthly meeting of University Council yesterday afternoon in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. The two-hour session also dealt with administrative matters, the responsibilities of Council committees and several issues facing the students, staff workers and administrators that compose the advisory body's 92-person membership. In his status report on the activities of the Undergraduate Assembly, UA Chairperson Bill Conway called on Council to remedy the "startlingly low" number of minorities at Penn. "I think a representationally diverse campus would enhance the quality of the campus," the Wharton junior said. "This is the kind of issue Council needs to address. That's what it was created for." The 143 African Americans and the 117 Latinos in the Class of 2002 make up 5.9 and 4.8 percent of the freshman class, respectively. Both figures are much lower than the minority groups' representation in the wider American population. Although no Ivy League schools approach the two groups' representation in the United States, Penn falls lowest among urban Ivies such as Columbia, Yale and Harvard universities. United Minorities Council Chairperson Charles Howard, a College junior, said the situation was dire. "We're in a crisis situation," he said. "Our numbers have been low for far too long [and] we can possibly lose the numbers we have now." Howard emphasized that Penn's inability to compete with new financial aid initiatives announced at several peer institutions -- including Harvard and Princeton universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- will make it harder for Penn to attract top minority students. Princeton recently announced that its new aid plan -- which replaces loans with grants for students whose families make less than $40,000 a year -- has led to a surge in enrollment of middle- and lower-income students. Administrators and faculty gave their cautious support to the undergraduates' demands for action on minority recruitment. "This is something that is developing almost day by day," Interim Provost Michael Wachter said of other schools' financial aid changes. "We are focusing on it but we do have constraints. We will not allow the University to become non-competitive in attracting all students, including underrepresented minorities." Council's Pluralism Committee, headed by English Professor Eric Cheyfitz, will address the minority student issue. Several members of Council's Steering Committee indicated that they would ask the Pluralism Committee to "fast-track" a report, likely to be delivered at Council's November or December meeting, on what the current data are on minority students at top colleges and how Penn can remedy the situation. But City and Regional Planning Professor John Keene -- chairperson of the Steering Committee -- said it was "premature" to speculate on what recommendations could be delivered. The 32 Council delegates in attendance -- six short of the quorum needed for official voting -- also discussed such issues as Penn's relations with the outside community, the new college house residential system and the issue of student computer access. Council's next full meeting is scheduled for October 14.
(09/23/98 9:00am)
University Council will hold its first meeting of the semester today with administrative business and summertime initiatives heading the body's agenda. Council, which serves as an advisory body to the president and provost, is composed of about 90 administrators, faculty members, staff and students. Members meet monthly to discuss campus-wide issues in a public forum. The two-hour meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. It will feature reports from members of the steering committee -- including University President Judith Rodin, Interim Provost Michael Wachter and Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson and College junior Bill Conway -- along with committee reports and the selection and ranking of Council's focus issues for the academic year. Rodin said she is planning to discuss the University's recent partnership with the city's public school district and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to bring a Penn-aided elementary school to 42nd and Spruce streets, along with several other initiatives introduced over the summer. "I have worked closely with the chairs of the Faculty Senate and the chairs of the Council committees to develop charges for the upcoming year," she said. "I look forward to our work together as a deliberative body." Wachter said he will discuss several initiatives coming out of his office that "have momentum," including the new college house system, the University's distance-learning initiatives and the external reviews being conducted on the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Law School this year. Council's Personnel Benefits and Student Affairs committees will also present their year-end reports from the 1997-98 academic year. While nothing controversial is on the agenda for this year's first meeting, last year's Council term was plagued with dissent. The body began the year on a controversial note, as it voted to reduce the percentage of its members needed for quorum -- the minimum number needed to conduct official business -- to only 40 percent of its membership. "There is rarely a quorum at Council," Council Secretary Constance Goodman said last year. "The purpose of revising the quorum is to provide a number which is realistic so the votes are valid." The measure could not be officially ratified until Council's October meeting due to the lack of a quorum when the bylaw was introduced in September. Council ended a long-standing debate last fall when it voted to give the United Minorities Council a permanent seat, over the objections of the UA. While proponents of the move emphasized the need for greater diversity on Council, detractors called upon members of minority groups to seek seats on the UA instead. But the most heated moments of the term came at special meetings called by Council members to discuss the University's decision to outsource facilities management to Trammell Crow Co. and the city ordinance restricting food vending on most campus streets and sidewalks. The special November 5 meeting on Trammell Crow -- which required a quarter of Council's membership to sign a petition asking for the meeting -- was the first special session called in more than two decades. Though Council asked the University Board of Trustees to vote down the deal, Trustees unanimously approved it less than a week later.
(09/18/98 9:00am)
Penn President Judith Rodin's total compensation increased by nearly 14 percent to over $500,000. They may not make the multi-million dollar salaries of Fortune 500 chief executive officers, but based on compensation information in the University's federal tax filings, Penn administrators are hardly hurting in the wallet. University President Judith Rodin earned $498,536 in base pay for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997, the last year for which records are publicly available. She also earned $16,342 in benefits and had an expense account of more than $19,500. Rodin's combined salary and compensation package of $514,878 represented a 13.7 percent increase over the $453,029 she earned in the 1995-96 fiscal year, when she was the third highest-earning private college president in the country. Her package that year was also tops in the Ivy League. She earned $375,980 in 1994-95, her first year in office. But Rodin is far from the highest-paid employee of the University. That honor belongs to Health System CEO and Medical School Dean William Kelley, who raked in more than $1.1 million in salary and benefits in 1997. Several professors in the Medical School also earned upwards of $700,000. "I am grateful to the Trustees for the confidence they have in me," Rodin said, stressing that her salary is "competitive" for a teaching and research university of Penn's size, complexity and "academic stature." Following Rodin as the second highest-paid employee outside the Health System is Executive Vice President John Fry, who earned $326,219 in salary and compensation last year, 22.4 percent above the $266,505 he made for the 1996 fiscal year. Fry said he did not believe his salary had increased that much. "For the pure salary stuff, I don't think it's that high," he said. "I wish it was." Former Provost Stanley Chodorow made a $224,019 base salary during his final year as Penn's top academic official. His combined salary and compensation package of $242,181, however, represented only a 1.6 percent increase over the previous year. Chodorow resigned as provost last November in the midst of his unsuccessful bid to become the next president of the University of Texas at Austin. He left the University earlier this month to assume the helm of the California Virtual University, a distance-education consortium of nearly 300 California colleges. Several Penn vice presidents and financial officers also earned packages of more than $150,000 last year. The list was topped by Vice President for Development Virginia Clark, who made $191,017 in salary and $16,296 in benefits. Administrators defended the six-figure packages -- which are set by the University Board of Trustees' Compensation Committee -- as a necessary way of getting the best people to head University offices. "There's tremendous competition for the most talented [officers]," Rodin said. "These [packages] are all market-driven." University spokesperson Ken Wildes said the salaries are "in line with those at other schools" and are a key component in attracting officials to Penn and in warding off headhunters from other institutions. "The economic benefit has to be there to get the kind of person you're trying to attract," he said. "You're not going to get someone to Penn with less money." Wildes, who himself was hired away from a vice-presidential position at Northwestern University, added that the top schools across the country are "all after the best people." "We attract the best students and the best faculty," he said. "Why shouldn't we attract the best university administrators?" On the other side of the University, Health System officials make substantially more money than their counterparts from College Hall. Kelley leads the pack with a base 1997 salary of $1,128,957, plus benefits and an expense account. Wildes said that Kelley's salary is competitive with those made by CEOs of other large integrated health care systems, including Johns Hopkins University, the Mayo Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. And though several Medical School professors make hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Rodin and Fry, Health System spokesperson Rebecca Harmon stressed that most of their compensation comes from their clinical practices, not their teaching salaries. Urology Professor Alan Wein heads the list of Penn's highest-paid physicians with an $893,000 package, followed by Surgery Professors Thomas Spray and William Potsic, Neurosurgery Professor Paul Marcotte and Dermatology Professor Leonard Dzubow. Though all five earned salaries in the high six figures, none earned more than $59,000 from their Medical School teaching duties. "What you are looking at is somebody who saves lives," Harmon said. "Their patients are very grateful. Who can put a price on that?"
(09/17/98 9:00am)
Thirteen full-time employees will be affected by the move, but all are expected to get other jobs at Penn. The University will outsource a small but key part of the department which provides benefits to about 10,000 Penn faculty and staff to a national benefits management company, officials said yesterday. In an effort to offer higher quality service and improve its compliance with government regulations, the University has outsourced an important component of the benefits administration department in its Division of Human Resources to Hewitt Associates, a national leader in benefits management. Employees of the University of Pennsylvania Health System will not be affected by this deal, because their benefits are administered through a separate human resources department. Vice President for Human Resources Jack Heuer said that none of the department's 13 full-time employees are expected to lose their jobs with Penn, though some may be switched to other departments. Illinois-based Hewitt, which manages benefits administration for companies such as Citibank, Digital Electronics Corp. and 3M, has handled benefits data management at Penn since 1986. Under the new agreement, effective October 12, the company will handle customer service and relations with the 14 benefits providers with which the University is contracted, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Aetna USHealthcare. "They've been at this for a long time," Executive Vice President John Fry said of Penn's new partners. "This is something a lot of organizations are doing -- we feel like we're in good hands." Penn officials said customer service concerns and more complex regulations in the benefits industry prompted the outsourcing decision. Heuer noted that there have been complaints about customer service -- including poor response time on telephone inquiries to the benefits office -- while Fry emphasized that Penn does not have the resources in-house to "manage relationships" with the insurance companies and health maintenance organizations that provide employee care. "We bring a lot of experience from our other clients," said Linda Schievelbein, the "project implementation leader" at Hewitt handling the Penn account. "It's expensive to buy that much talent in benefit delivery if you keep it in-house." The outsourced department currently employees 13 full-time and seven temporary workers, Heuer said, adding that he has hired temporary workers to fill job vacancies since becoming vice president last November in order to minimize the impact of the move. "I don't expect anyone to lose their job," Heuer said, maintaining that displaced employees will be offered jobs elsewhere in Human Resources or other University offices. Employees remaining in Benefits Administration will continue to be employed by Penn, not Hewitt. Several department employees would not comment on the outsourcing move. Schievelbein said that six Hewitt associates are currently being trained to handle the customer relations duties for the department, in addition to one customer service manager and another associate to train the new staff. Heuer said that since "change makes people nervous," both the department staff and Penn employees who receive benefits through the University were consulted during the outsourcing discussions. Faculty Senate Chairperson John Keene said that he was pleased with the consultation process. "The firm that the University hired is one of the most experienced firms [in the industry]," said Keene, a professor of City and Regional Planning. "The reasons [for outsourcing] were sound and we appreciated the opportunity to review it." However, Keene cautioned that the administration must still "monitor" Hewitt's work for quality. Though Hewitt currently administers benefits programs for 115 organizations -- including many Fortune 500 companies -- Schievelbein said Penn is the first academic institution with which her company has worked. But Schievelbein does not know if this agreement will signal Hewitt's entry into the higher-education market. "We'll see what happens in the future," she said. Heuer and Schievelbein said the outsourcing agreement involves a straight payment of fees to Hewitt for services to be rendered, but that the exact details are still under discussion.
(09/16/98 9:00am)
Penn's Board of Trustees, the 90 men and women who oversee the University's long-term strategies and approve all major funding and hiring decisions, congregated yesterday for a series of meetings on pressing issues of finance and campus planning. The meetings -- the trustees' first of the semester -- were held at Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. The ever-expanding Sansom Common retail and hotel complex dominated the discussion at the Budget and Finance Committee meeting, with Executive Vice President John Fry briefing the Trustees on the timetable for the completion of the $90 million project. Trustees also approved several construction projects and were briefed on the financial status of the University and the Health System. Fry updated the budget committee members on the summer's on-time openings of the new University Bookstore and the Xando coffeehouse-bar, while predicting October openings for Sansom Common's Urban Outfitters and Parfumerie Douglas cosmetics stores. Fry also confirmed that the University is in the late stages of negotiations with Eastern Mountain Sports to occupy the space formerly slated for City Sports, which chose not to join the complex. The Trustees' Executive Committee approved more than $17 million in new funding for the first two phases of Sansom Common, above the $73 million pledged last summer. The relocation of the Faculty Club to the new Inn at Penn, the addition of more hotel and retail space at the complex's northwest corner and the construction of Steve Murray's Way -- the roadway bridging Chestnut and Sansom streets behind the Inn -- account for the majority of the approved expenditures. Murray's Way is being paved through the former plaza between the graduate towers at a cost of $6.3 million, over the site of a former parking garage deemed unsafe over the summer by University and city officials. Fry said that it would have cost Penn at least $4 million to renovate the garage space. "Things weren't going to get better, so we really didn't have the option of not doing anything," he said. The street is being named for the University's late vice president for business services, who died in April. The three capital additions to Sansom Common have been in progress for several months, but were only in the "conceptual design" phase during last summer's Trustees meeting, requiring official approval yesterday. Fry emphasized that the increased costs did not mean that the construction project was over budget, but rather reflected the cost of the additional items. The Trustees also approved two other capital projects: the $1.5 million renovation of the fourth floor of the Veterinary School's Rosenthal Building and $11.2 million in renovations to Law School facilities. The budget committee also addressed the issue of the University's $800 million in debt, including the possibility of refinancing the existing debt and the effect of the Moody's Investor Services' decision to downgrade Health System bonds over the summer. University Trustee James Riepe, vice chairperson of T. Rowe Price Associates, gave his first report to the Executive Committee since taking over for longtime Investment Board Chairperson John Neff this summer. He reported that while the endowment jumped 13 percent this last fiscal year, to approximately $2.9 billion, Penn's investments "lagged its competitors" in total return. Riepe added that the Standard & Poor's 500 -- a benchmark index of 500 leading U.S. stocks -- was down 15 percent since he took over, leading to a loss in the value of Penn's endowment. Official figures were not available as of yesterday.
(09/15/98 9:00am)
A committee urged the University to hire an alcohol policy coordinator and increase alcohol-free programming. Calling upon Penn to make changes in its academic, social and judicial responses to collegiate alcohol abuse, a University-wide task force is taking aim at one of the most controversial issues in higher education today -- the prevalence of binge drinking on many college campuses. The issue has taken on increasing importance following the release of a recent national study reporting a major increase in binge drinking on college campuses and a year of high-profile, alcohol-related hospitalizations at Penn and deaths at schools from Massachusetts to Louisiana. Last January, in response to several incidents of alcohol-related violence on campus, University President Judith Rodin appointed a special committee charged with making recommendations on how to combat binge drinking at Penn. After months of discussion, the committee has finished a 10-page report outlining strategies to mitigate the campus' "culture of acceptance for excessive drinking" and coordinate the University's efforts at preventing and punishing the high-risk behavior associated with alcohol abuse. The report makes a sweeping set of recommendations, including improving collection of data on binge drinking, notifying parents after any alcohol-related incident involving a student, and scheduling more classes on Fridays to discourage students from beginning weekend drinking on Thursday nights. The committee's main recommendations, several committee members said, were the hiring of a "coordinator" to oversee and administer the University's academic, disciplinary and medical responses to problem drinkers and to offer more non-alcoholic programming to students who might otherwise drink. Leaders of Penn's Greek community criticized the report, however, for blaming fraternities' for campus alcohol abuse while ignoring the non-Greek party scene. InterFraternity Council President Josh Belinfante, a College senior, took particular exception to the report's claim that "fraternities have played a major role in a significant number of alcohol-related instances of misconduct or life-threatening alcohol overdose." "As far as mentioning frats, and only dabbling into the off-campus party scene, I find it a little inconsistent," he said, stressing that a crackdown on fraternities would lead to more unsupervised off-campus parties. He added that the suggested punishments for alcohol offenses contradict the report's attempt to be "more therapeutic and less punitive" to offenders. Belinfante also said that the report's recommendations would not succeed in subduing Penn students' penchant for drinking. "I don't think that a 21-year-old bartender is going to change an entire culture," he said, referring to the report's proposed age requirement for any on-campus party. But Penn administrators maintain the report offers comprehensive and realistic suggestions for reducing binge drinking on campus. "We have to make it clear that not everyone drinks and that there are a range of social activities for people who don't drink," Rodin said. "We have to change that part of the culture." The 14-member committee finalized its recommendations this summer, and presented them to Rodin last week. The report will be made public in the near future, officials said. The report recommends that the coordinator for Penn's anti-alcohol efforts be a faculty-level appointment with experience in student counseling and the treatment of substance abuse. The Psychiatry Department and the Medical Center's Council for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention have pledged partial salary support, the report said. Among other changes to campus norms, the report also proposes a limit on the number of College of General Studies evening courses a student may take. Committee members said they heard instances of students taking night classes so they can "sleep in" after nights of heavy drinking. The scope of the recommendations rankled some. Panhellenic Council President Janelle Brodsky, for example, criticized the committee for focusing on such minutiae. But the College and Engineering senior said she is glad Rodin is focusing so much attention on alcohol abuse. Other committee members said they advocated creating more alcohol-free recreational and social spaces on a campus permeated with bars. "I encouraged them to? create a campus center where people could have fun, non-alcoholic events," said committee member Karen Pasternack, a 1998 College graduate. "If they increase the social space at Penn, I think that will reduce drinking." University officials have taken steps toward that goal by pledging to turn the former Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house at 3615 Locust Walk into a location for booze-free parties. "We believe we've come up with something that's comprehensive," said Drug and Alcohol Resource Team adviser Kate Ward-Gaus, a committee member. "[These are] fresh, creative ways of intervening on the issue." The report comes on the heels of a Harvard School of Public Health survey of college students that showed that while the percentage of binge drinkers among all students remained constant at about 40 percent, severe behavior intensified among students who drink. Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks in one sitting for men and ingesting four or more for women. Among the findings were a 33 percent increase among students who "drink to get drunk" and that four out of five students living in Greek houses are binge drinkers. The report also showed that students who drank heavily in high school are three times more likely to binge in college, a fact which troubles Belinfante. "We're not going to reach a lot of the binge drinkers on campus," he said, questioning the effectiveness of the proposed interventions. But committee members say the plan can curb campus drinking. "If the recommendations are implemented, it would go a long way to consolidating a broad approach to the problem," said Michele Goldfarb, director of the University's student judicial system.
(09/09/98 9:00am)
Stanley Chodorow was named president of the Calif. Virtual University. Though he did not win any of the vaunted university president posts for which he contended all through 1997, former Penn Provost Stanley Chodorow is finally leaving the University -- and heading home to California for a new job in cyberspace. On September 15, Chodorow will assume the presidency of the California Virtual University, a collaborative effort by nearly 100 California colleges and universities aiming to provide on-line and other forms of distance education. He will base the new venture in San Diego, where he was dean of arts and humanities at that city's branch of the University of California system before coming to Penn in 1994. After failing to win the presidencies of three universities where he won finalist status, Chodorow resigned as Penn's provost in November 1997 while a finalist for the top job at the University of Texas at Austin. The school named University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Provost Larry Faulkner president six weeks later. Chodorow, who is currently in California, will leave his current post as a professor in the History Department effective Monday. In his new role, he will head the board of directors of CVU's private foundation. "I felt it was a good opportunity, and in the meantime they decided that I was the right person to head it," Chodorow said. "It's really a start-up operation, but we've got a lot to start with." The last of Chodorow's 3 1/2 years as Penn's provost was marked by a series of near-misses at achieving his professed goal "to become a president." After contending for the top positions at the University of Michigan, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Arizona -- all of which went to other candidates -- he withdrew from the presidential search at Tulane University and lost the job at UT-Austin in the closing months of 1997. CVU was launched by California Gov. Pete Wilson in April 1997 as a joint project of the University of California system, the California State University system, the Foundation of California Community Colleges and the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities. The four bodies collectively oversee 301 institutions, of which 98 are currently offering more than 1,700 classes through CVU. "I launched the CVU to move California to an environment where quality learning opportunities are available to the greatest number of Californians possible, anywhere, anytime," Wilson said in a statement yesterday. "The new CVU Foundation will benefit greatly from Dr. Chodorow's considerable skills and experience as it works to fulfill this important goal." Unlike the long presidential searches to which Chodorow became acclimated last year, CVU's process was considerably shorter. "I was contacted in the usual way," he said. "But it was very short. As opposed to an ordinary [search], which lasts six or seven months, this only took four or five weeks." "We interviewed what we thought was a very talented group of CEOs," said Foundation of California Community Colleges President Larry Toy, one of CVU's eight board members. "Stan stood out among a group of very talented candidates." As chief executive officer of the CVU Foundation, Chodorow said his main directives will be to develop a market for on-line education and to work with the schools to develop a larger selection of classes. "No institution is very experienced in this yet," Chodorow said. "It's going to be my job to help them develop these programs." Interim Provost Michael Wachter, who took over for Chodorow earlier this year, praised his predecessor for launching "a number of critical initiatives at Penn." "CVU is very fortunate to have someone like Stan, who is so deeply committed to higher ed and to continually pioneering new frontiers for learning," said Wachter, who is heading the University's own distance learning programs. "Stan's grasp of the tremendous possibilities afforded by our new electronic technologies is superb." Chodorow identified the 21st Century Project -- the University's broad-based initiative to increase academic and research opportunities -- and the Perelman Quadrangle construction project as the two University projects of which he is most "proud." However, he emphasized that the increased base of academic and support services he helped create at Penn will be a model for his work at CVU. "These are the kind of services we want to provide," he said. "[But] we have to do it online. We have to use the technology." University President Judith Rodin, who took office the same summer as Chodorow, wished her former chief academic officer well. The two came into office together in 1994. "CVU has chosen a leader with vision and passion for the union of higher education and technology," she said. "I wish Stan the very best in his new endeavor." Given the choice of where in California to construct CVU's headquarters, Chodorow chose San Diego, where he spent 25 years at UC-San Diego. "One of the nice things about being virtual is that you can be anywhere you want to be as long as you have wires and a good airport," he said, adding that he will have to build his offices and his staff from the ground up. "I have a good busy task in front of me," he said.
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Penn was tied with two other schools for sixth place, up one from last year's No. 7 ranking. Receiving its highest ranking ever, the University jumped this year to a three-way tie for sixth place in U.S. News & World Report's annual listing of the nation's best colleges, finishing one notch higher than 1997's seventh-place finish. In the 12th annual rankings -- released in the magazine's August 24 issue and separate "America's Best Colleges" guidebook -- Penn tied with Cornell and Duke universities for the No. 6 spot. While Duke fell three spaces from last year, Cornell jumped over eight schools since last year's No. 14 ranking -- the biggest leap of any school in the top 50. Tied with Cornell, Penn again placed fourth in the Ivy League behind No. 1-ranked Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities. Dartmouth College and Brown and Columbia universities were three of the four schools tied for 10th place, giving the Ivies eight of the top 13 spots. "It's certainly a step in the right direction," Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said. "It's seen as a positive position for Penn in the eyes of prospective students." Based on the magazine's ranking criteria -- including academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, student-faculty ratio, selectivity and alumni giving -- Penn received an overall score of 97 this year. Though that was up one point from last year, scores are not directly comparable from year to year because the magazine's editors tinker with the criteria annually. Prior to last year, the University had failed to crack the top 10 among the 228 national universities in U.S. News' rankings, placing as low as 20th in the 1989 listing. But with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology occupying the five positions ahead of Penn this year, Stetson said it was "very difficult" for the University to move any higher. "The marginal increment to the next level is going to be a challenge," he said. The rankings have been a source of controversy in recent years as student groups and college administrators alike have criticized U.S. News for giving prospective students an inaccurate and misleading comparison of vastly different schools. After Penn's drop to 13th place in 1996, University President Judith Rodin questioned the validity of the ranking system, noting that the rankings are "comparing apples to oranges in many respects." But Rodin did admit this year that the rankings are a good reflection of the University's reputation. "The reality is that students and their parents use these rankings in the decision-making process," she said. "Clearly, this affirmation that Penn is among the very best universities in America is helpful as we seek the most able students in the nation and around the world for the class of 2003." Rodin's five-year strategic plan for the campus, the Agenda for Excellence, states a top-10 ranking as a goal, though it does not refer to the U.S. News list specifically. Stetson, while emphasizing that the admissions community has been "hesitant" about the rankings, was pleased with this year's list. "My philosophy is that if you are going to be ranked it is to your benefit to be ranked as high as possible," he said. He added that while the rankings have only a "marginal" effect on the number of applications the University receives, Penn's rise on the list has corresponded to an improved applicant pool and a greater number of accepted students coming to Penn. Earlier this summer, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was ranked 11th on U.S. News' ranking of America's best hospitals, up three spots from last year. It was the only hospital in the region to make the magazine's annual "Honor Roll."
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Monday will mark four months since the murder of Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber -- and police have yet to apprehend the killer or even name a suspect. Schieber, 23, was strangled to death in her Center City apartment May 7 at about 2 a.m. in an apparent robbery. The Chevy Chase, Md., native was discovered 12 hours later after failing to report to work or meet her brother for a scheduled lunch. Suspicion initially fell on Yuval Bar-Or, 28, a fellow Wharton doctoral student who Schieber had told friends was stalking her, but DNA tests showed that blood at the crime scene did not match his, effectively removing him from consideration, according to police. Inspector Jerrold Kane, head of the Philadelphia Police Department's homicide division, said he is not concerned about the speed of the investigation. "Time is of the essence at the very beginning," he said in early August. "But just because it's three months [since Schieber's murder] doesn't mean that an arrest won't be made." Police might have a new lead, however. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News reported last week that police are investigating similarities between Schieber's murder and the assault last week of another woman inside her apartment near 14th and Lombard streets. Though investigators and members of Schieber's family initially said they believed Schieber knew her attacker, police are also focusing on the robbery aspect of the crime, hoping that the investigation will yield clues to the murder. Several items -- including a necklace, wooden pen set, Canon camera and a large number of compact discs -- were discovered to be missing from Schieber's apartment on the 200 block of South 23rd Street. In late June, police officials released pictures of several of the stolen items, hoping that one or more would be recognized in a pawn shop. A $10,000 University reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer has also been announced, without any takers so far. But James Fyfe, a criminologist at Temple University, doubts that the stolen items will lead police to the killer in this particular case. "It's difficult to link mass-produced items to a crime," he said earlier this summer. "How would you tell one Rolling Stones CD from another?" Instead, Fyfe emphasized the role that physical evidence -- such as the blood stains that ultimately cleared Bar-Or -- may have in solving the crime through genetic testing. "The chances of solving these things in the past was very low," he said. "One of the things that has happened in the last several years is the growth of DNA technology." To that end, Kane noted that individuals arrested for violent or sex-related crimes are being investigated for a possible link to Schieber. "It's usually what someone leaves at the scene of the crime rather than what they take," Fyfe said. "As long as there is some physical evidence, there is some chance." But due to the nature of this crime, finding the culprit has not been as easy as in the past. The last several murders and attempted murders involving Penn students and staff have taken place during out-of-doors robberies, leading often to instantaneous arrests -- or at least lucky breaks within the first several weeks. For their part, officers in the Schieber case would like to solve the case quickly, mostly out of the concern for Schieber's family. "We're continuing to have a decent amount of manpower on the case," Kane said. "The police are hopeful that an arrest will be made."
(09/04/98 9:00am)
The sun was shining brightly, the Met Life blimp was drifting lazily overhead and a slate of noted dignitaries from science, politics and the arts was seated on stage. Students and administrators could hardly have asked for better conditions than those the morning of May 18, the University's 242nd annual Commencement. With graduates from the University's 12 undergraduate and graduate schools seated on Franklin Field and thousands of family members and friends looking on from the stands, University President Judith Rodin welcomed those assembled by invoking Penn's rich history. "You sit where some 10 generations of Penn-educated men and women sat before you -- men and women who have used their Penn educations in their professions and their communities," she said. And it has been approximately one generation since the University has had a Commencement speaker of the same stature as this year's visitor, former President Jimmy Carter. The last commander-in-chief to address Penn graduates was Carter's predecessor, Gerald Ford, who spoke in 1975 while still occupying the Oval Office. Meanwhile, many of the other individual schools' graduations also featured top-name speakers from the ranks of government, media and business. Interim Provost Michael Wachter introduced Carter at Commencement as the "ideal of service" and praised him for his strong record on human rights. During his one term in office, Carter created new educational programs, engineered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt and signed an arms reduction treaty with the Soviet Union. Since leaving office in 1981, Carter, 73, has been involved in a host of causes aimed at promoting human rights. He volunteers annually with Habitat for Humanity and through the Carter Center -- founded in 1982 -- works to monitor elections and eradicate disease in underdeveloped regions of the world. Carter, who grew up in the segregated South, called upon the graduates to free themselves from the familiar patterns and practices of prejudice. "The worst discrimination on earth is rich people versus poor people," he said. "It is very rare that we break down the chasm between us who have everything and those who don't." Drawing upon his travels to 125 countries over the last 17 years, the former peanut farmer called upon those in attendance to break from their "encapsulated environment[s]" and "transcend" the status quo. "We should continually expand our minds," he said. "There is a need for every individual human being -- including Penn graduates -- to remember this." Turning to current events, Carter -- whose post-presidential diplomacy has helped stabilize regions from Haiti to North Korea -- used the recent nuclear brinkmanship in South Asia to call for American moral leadership in the new world order. "I would hope that our country can see that our example is the greatest threat to death, destruction and war," he said. Carter was indirectly affiliated with the University even before he received his honorary Doctor of Laws degree Monday. In his speech, he made note of his relationship with University Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos, whose Merck Pharmaceuticals Inc. has provided the Carter Center with drugs, free of charge, that have cured tens of millions of Africans of river blindness, a parasitic infection endemic to the area that causes blindness in its victims. Carter's wife Rosalynn was to receive an honorary degree, but could not attend due to an illness in the family, according to University Secretary Rosemary McManus. Children's author Maurice Sendak also did not come due to a family illness. Rodin said at the ceremony that she hoped to be able to award Carter and Sendak their degrees at a later date. Those who did receive degrees honoris causa were former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arlin Adams, opera singer Jessye Norman and Frank Moore Cross, one of the world's foremost experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Genetics researcher Francis Collins and Nobel Prize winner Stanley Prusiner -- a College and Penn Medical School alumnus -- received their degrees a day after speaking at the Medical School's graduation ceremonies. And when Rodin introduced Federal Reserve Board Chairperson Alan Greenspan -- whose wife, journalist Andrea Mitchell, is a College of Women alumna and a University Trustee -- the contingent of Wharton School graduates applauded loudly for the "guardian of the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar." Beginning with the School of Arts and Sciences and ending with the Annenberg School for Communication, graduates from each of the 12 schools were recognized by their deans for their accomplishment and hard work. Rodin announced the degrees presented by each school on behalf of the trustees and praised all graduating students for their "commitment to all that is good in knowledge." The other gatherings of graduation weekend featured a slew of other top dignitaries. Mitchell, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News, spoke at the multi-faith Baccalaureate service in the Palestra the Sunday before Commencement. "The challenge for you -- both men and women -- is to invent a better way," she said, reflecting on the atrocities and prejudice she had witnessed in her travels. "Be mediators, helping to channel ideas into constructive compromise. Hold onto your passion for justice." Also calling upon the graduates to be advocates for "a more peaceful society" was U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who spoke to nearly 300 degree recipients at the Law School's graduation ceremony. Due to the possibility of a last-minute cancellation, school officials did not announce Reno's selection until about a week before the ceremony. However, the 59-year-old Harvard Law School graduate put aside official matters to look at the lighter side of life, even joking about parodies of her on Saturday Night Live. Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, a 1965 College graduate, came home to give the keynote address at the College graduation. Balancing humorous anecdotes about the study habits of his son Jesse -- an incoming member of the Penn class of 2002 -- and a serious message of community service, Rendell spoke to spirited applause. "You can change anything," he said. "You might not be able to change it as quickly or as completely as you want, but you can change anything."
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Students walking around campus at night this fall will notice a lot fewer SpectaGuards on patrol -- but those that are there will be increasingly mobile. Though the University customarily hires fewer SpectaGuard security guards to patrol campus in the summer months, it will not increase the levels back up to normal school year numbers when the fall semester arrives, according to University Security Director Stratis Skoufalos. Instead, the University is in the process of replacing many of the SpectaGuards currently on walking patrol with a new unit of bike patrols, based on the successful models of the Penn Police and the University City District's safety ambassadors. But Skoufalos maintained that the decline in the number of SpectaGuards is not a cause for concern given frequent changes in the past. "The number of SpectaGuard officers that is assigned here is a fluctuating number," Skoufalos said in June. "This is just another one of our deployment things." The University's plan, Skoufalos said, is to cover the same areas in and around campus more efficiently by putting two wheels underneath its patrol officers. "We can be effective covering more ground and more responsive to campus needs by being mobile on bicycles," he said. "We thought it was a natural evolution." Larry Rubin, a spokesperson for SpectaGuard, said no officers would be fired as a result of these changes. The guards being taken from the Penn campus this summer will be permanently re-assigned to other SpectaGuard accounts. But SpectaGuard Assistant Vice President Gesi McAllister did note that the personnel shifts could have an economic impact on the officers themselves. SpectaGuards on walking patrol make at least $10 per hour, while the officers moved to "interior positions" -- such as working at residential desks -- make as little as $8 an hour for the less "physically demanding" work. "There aren't that many jobs that pay as much [as the walking patrol positions], but then again, they're not doing the same work," McAllister said. "Most of them will wind up making less." None of the 10 security guards approached by The Daily Pennsylvanian would comment on the planned changes, citing clauses in their contracts requiring confidentiality. While Skoufalos would not commit the University to either a set number of SpectaGuards on patrol or a timetable for the transition from walking to cycling patrols, he emphasized that this new policy was not merely "experimental." "We're always looking to do things better," he said. "It's a calculated deployment strategy." He added that the bike patrols, unveiled in late summer, would replace many -- but not all -- of the walking patrols in a "seamless process." "Bikes are a sort of a growing trend in security work," Rubin added, citing examples such as suburban shopping malls and the campuses of Drexel and Temple universities. "The bike patrols will create greater visibility and effectiveness." The University has used SpectaGuard as its security-guard contractor since January 1997, after years of using various guard services -- including one whose employees were caught sleeping on the job. The SpectaGuard bike patrols supplement the University Police patrols. Last fall, about 20 of the 100 University Police officers were part of the Division of Public Safety's bike-patrol unit. PennWatch, the University's student-run town watch group, also patrols the area on bicycles.
(09/04/98 9:00am)
Penn's efforts to increase the Political Science Department's depleted faculty ranks -- and to resurrect the beleaguered Fels Center of Government -- suffered a setback this summer when American politics scholar Paul Light chose not to come to Penn after a long courtship by the University. The University has thus far been largely unsuccessful in its quest to hire faculty in the area of American politics. Light was being recruited both to join the Political Science staff -- which has already seen two junior faculty leave Penn last year and four senior faculty announce plans to retire this year -- and to direct the Fels Center. With only one new faculty member coming to the department this fall, department officials are using an increased number of graduate students and visiting professors to expand the number of offered courses. Light, 45, is director of the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the nation's largest private philanthropies. The author of 10 books, he previously taught at the University of Minnesota and was a visiting professor at Fels this spring. Light, who denied any serious interest in leaving his post for the University, is responsible for distributing $16 million this year to programs working to improve government. In April, Political Science Department Chairperson Ian Lustick said he was "operating with 95 percent confidence" that Light would be on Penn's faculty this fall. But in July Lustick said he was "not only disappointed, but very surprised" at Light's rejection of the University's "extremely responsive and exciting" offer. "We went several extra miles for this one," College Dean Richard Beeman said. "Paul Light represented by combination of talent and past experience a unique opportunity. There is not another Paul Light waiting in the wings." University President Judith Rodin said in April that she hoped Light would be attracted by the opportunity to run Fels, which has fallen on hard times since former director James Spady resigned in 1996. Having lost its accreditation, Fels is now run out of the Provost's Office. In addition to its implications for Fels, Light's decision to stay at Pew leaves the Political Science Department without any new senior faculty hires for the fall -- one of the department's top goals and a strategic priority under the University's Agenda for Excellence. Lustick said last fall that he was confident that three or four new faculty would be on staff by September. Only one recruit, international relations scholar David Rousseau of the State University of New York at Buffalo, has accepted Penn's offer. "[Rousseau] has an established track record of prestige publications and outstanding, innovative teaching," Lustick said. "Students can expect to experience a far more interactive course than they may be used to in large lecture classes." In order to expand the department's offerings, a number of graduate students and postdoctoral instructors -- along with two visiting professors -- will teach classes this fall, according to Undergraduate Chairperson Henry Teune. "[Lustick] is trying to enrich our curriculum for at least the next year," Teune said. "In the meantime, we've got to do the best we can." With Light's decision not to join the Penn faculty, officials are redoubling their efforts to recruit faculty for the fall of 1999. At a summer meeting of the deans in the School of Arts and Sciences, the department was granted authorization to hire up to four senior and one junior faculty members in the next year, according to SAS Dean Samuel Preston. Lustick said he is currently talking to three other potential senior faculty hires. Of those, he said that Jim Snyder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the furthest along in the discussions. Beeman said scholars' decisions whether or not to uproot themselves are based on a number of "personal and professional" considerations. "We are going out and recruiting senior faculty who've already got great jobs at places like Stanford, Princeton and MIT," he said. "We're helping their spouses find jobs [in Philadelphia]. We're showing them neighborhoods. We're showing them school systems." Beeman emphasized that recruiting at the senior level is a difficult process that rarely yields a positive result. "Every one of the recruitments is at best a less than 50-50 proposition," he said. "This is not like dealing for [oft-traded baseball star] Mike Piazza. They can't be sent wherever by their owners." Light, however, is optimistic about the University's efforts. "I think they'll do well in their trying to rebuild," he said. "Once they recruit the first one, the rest will fall in due order."
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To fill the void created by the recent departure of former Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington, the University named Chemical Engineering Professor Eduardo Glandt to the position of interim dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. In May, Farrington announced that he would be leaving the University effective August 15 to assume the vacant presidency of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Farrington -- a professor of materials science at Penn since 1979 -- became the 12th president in Lehigh's 122-year history. He replaced Interim President William Hittinger, who served since August 1997. Hittinger assumed the position after Peter Likins left to become chancellor of the University of Arizona at Tucson, a position for which former Penn Provost Stanley Chodorow was a finalist. The 53-year-old Glandt -- a native of Argentina and a 1968 graduate of the University of Buenos Aires -- currently holds an endowed chair in chemical engineering. Glandt joined the faculty at Penn while still working on his doctorate in chemical engineering, which he received here in 1977. Glandt, who was appointed July 7, is expected to serve approximately one year while a nationwide search for Farrington's permanent replacement is conducted. "The key thing is not to lose any momentum," Glandt said. "Dr. Farrington started a good number of initiatives. What we wanted for the upcoming year was to accelerate and not lose momentum." Glandt identified improving the Engineering School's programs in biomedical engineering, information science and cognitive science as strategic priorities for his term. In his more than 20 years at Penn, Glandt, an expert in thermodynamics, has been praised for both his teaching and his scholarship. In his first year at Penn, he won the Engineering School's Warren Award for Distinguished Teaching, and three years later, in 1980, he was awarded the University-wide Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Glandt has also held virtually every administrative post in the Chemical Engineering Department, presiding over its centennial while chairperson from 1989 to 1993. Interim Provost Michael Wachter -- who was part of the committee formed to select the interim dean -- said that Glandt "has just the right administrative and intellectual experience to lead the school during this time of transition." The process of selecting a permanent dean will begin this semester, when University President Judith Rodin convenes a search committee of four faculty members appointed by the president, four faculty selected by the Engineering School faculty and two student representatives.
(09/04/98 9:00am)
Penn Urology Professor Gregory Broderick has a problem. The difficulty is that Broderick, the director of the Penn Center for Male Sexual Dysfunction, has been at the center of the biggest sexual revolution since the advent of the birth control pill in the 1960s but doesn't know how to reflect that fact on his resume. Since late March, Broderick has helped lead a national dialogue over Viagra, the new impotence drug from Pfizer Inc. that has thousands of men lining up at their doctors' offices. Within two weeks' time, Broderick was cited by such publications as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Time, and The Guardian, a London newspaper. "In this field, when you're putting together your c[urriculum] v[itae] -- and I update my c.v. on a regular basis -- you update it as to peer-reviewed papers, chapters and lectures given," he said in a May interview. "I don't have a media section yet. So I guess I'll start a media section." While admitting that he has saved all of his press clippings, Broderick recognizes that his "15 minutes of fame" have likely expired. "It's very invigorating and very exciting to appreciate that someone wants to know what you know and wants your opinion," he said. "But all of a sudden when that stops, you feel wanting, you feel a little bit hungry and you realize that wasn't real anyway and you go back to being the person you were." "I can sympathize with the folks in Hollywood when they're not getting the calls anymore," he added. What made Broderick a celebrity in the field of urology was the Food and Drug Administration's approval this spring of Viagra, a small, blue, rounded-diamond-shaped tablet with the remarkable ability to enhance blood flow to the pelvic area. The result, Broderick said, is relief from "organic erectile dysfunction" -- or impotence. Broderick, 41, has headed the Center for Male Sexual Dysfunction for the last eight years. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of California at San Francisco Medical School, he trained at UCSF under Tom Lue, "one of the big gurus in male sexual dysfunction." According to Broderick, the Viagra craze is largely the serendipitous result of a pharmacological accident. "Most of the time, companies invest millions and millions of dollars in research and development of a product," he said. "In this case, Pfizer basically lucked into a situation here. They were developing drugs for chest pains -- cardiac drugs. It was being studied in one of their divisions in England and the men taking the drug really weren't having improvement in their cardiac symptoms but at the end of the study they refused to give back the tablets." "An investigator asked them why and they said, 'Well, we're getting better erections than we've had in years,' " Broderick said. And since that time, Broderick and his colleagues have been very busy urologists. While 3,000 men, aged 19 to 87, were involved in New York-based Pfizer's clinical trials for Viagra, more than 200,000 men sought prescriptions for the drug -- in only its first week on the market. Broderick alone was hand-writing between 25 and 30 prescriptions a day for the first several weeks that the drug was available. "The nurses and I were going crazy," he said. Broderick maintained that despite the huge demand for Viagra, strict quality-control measures are in place. "I'd like to emphasize that every physician that writes this prescription is obligated to either see the patient and take a history? or have discussed with him in the past issues of erectile ability," he said. However, he sees a great potential for abuse in the craze the drug has stirred up. Even as smugglers have tried bringing the drug into countries where it is not approved, Broderick noted problems in Philadelphia. "The street price for a Viagra tablet is between $14 and $18 a tablet," he said. "There gave been attempts to hijack supplies here in town. It's kind of like the black market in cigarettes." He cited young people looking to "experiment" and patients with non-physical sources of impotence as the primary groups who might turn to illicit sources of Viagra. But under approved conditions for men with a history of physical impotence -- resulting from diabetes, cigarette smoking or heart problems -- the drug has proven remarkably effective, Broderick said. In clinical tests, 70 percent of men achieved enough erectile function to "go back to having spontaneous sex" with few side effects. "For me, the gold standard is an erection that is unbending and will last for 20 minutes," Broderick explained. But he warned that men with heart problems that require nitroglycerine should not use Viagra, as the combination is potentially lethal. With the new "wonder drug" raising so many questions and so much controversy regarding its use, the media has brought the issue to the front of the national dialogue on men's health. "I think that's just a sign of the times," Broderick said. "It's an indication that male sexual dysfunction is now in the center in terms of mainstream medicine. And that's where it should have been all along." Despite his notoriety in the field, Broderick almost did not go into urology. Instead, he was on course to be a heart-and-chest surgeon, but was "put off by the fact that the patients being operated on didn't always do that well." "I was very inspired by the fact that urologists have a nice mix of a practice in terms of surgery and medical management," he said. "And although we're working on very very elderly men and women, we're working on improving the quality of their lives and generally they do very well." After a few weeks of doing the media rounds to discuss Viagra, the sudden end of his "15 minutes of fame" took Broderick by surprise. "The week they stopped calling I came to work and I got a little nervous because there were no messages from any major news services," he said.
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Penn was tied with two other schools for sixth place, up one from last year's No. 7 ranking. Receiving its highest ranking ever, the University jumped this year to a three-way tie for sixth place in U.S. News & World Report's annual listing of the nation's best colleges, finishing one notch higher than 1997's seventh-place finish. In the 12th annual rankings -- released in the magazine's August 24 issue and separate "America's Best Colleges" guidebook -- Penn tied with Cornell and Duke universities for the No. 6 spot. While Duke fell three spaces from last year, Cornell jumped over eight schools since last year's No. 14 ranking -- the biggest leap of any school in the top 50. Tied with Cornell, Penn again placed fourth in the Ivy League behind No. 1-ranked Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities. Dartmouth College and Brown and Columbia universities were three of the four schools tied for 10th place, giving the Ivies eight of the top 13 spots. "It's certainly a step in the right direction," Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said. "It's seen as a positive position for Penn in the eyes of prospective students." Based on the magazine's ranking criteria -- including academic reputation, graduation and retention rates, student-faculty ratio, selectivity and alumni giving -- Penn received an overall score of 97 this year. Though that was up one point from last year, scores are not directly comparable from year to year because the magazine's editors tinker with the criteria annually. Prior to last year, the University had failed to crack the top 10 among the 228 national universities in U.S. News' rankings, placing as low as 20th in the 1989 listing. But with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology occupying the five positions ahead of Penn this year, Stetson said it was "very difficult" for the University to move any higher. "The marginal increment to the next level is going to be a challenge," he said. The rankings have been a source of controversy in recent years as student groups and college administrators alike have criticized U.S. News for giving prospective students an inaccurate and misleading comparison of vastly different schools. After Penn's drop to 13th place in 1996, University President Judith Rodin questioned the validity of the ranking system, noting that the rankings are "comparing apples to oranges in many respects." But Rodin did admit this year that the rankings are a good reflection of the University's reputation. "The reality is that students and their parents use these rankings in the decision-making process," she said. "Clearly, this affirmation that Penn is among the very best universities in America is helpful as we seek the most able students in the nation and around the world for the class of 2003." Rodin's five-year strategic plan for the campus, the Agenda for Excellence, states a top-10 ranking as a goal, though it does not refer to the U.S. News list specifically. Stetson, while emphasizing that the admissions community has been "hesitant" about the rankings, was pleased with this year's list. "My philosophy is that if you are going to be ranked it is to your benefit to be ranked as high as possible," he said. He added that while the rankings have only a "marginal" effect on the number of applications the University receives, Penn's rise on the list has corresponded to an improved applicant pool and a greater number of accepted students coming to Penn. Earlier this summer, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was ranked 11th on U.S. News' ranking of America's best hospitals, up three spots from last year. It was the only hospital in the region to make the magazine's annual "Honor Roll."
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University officials are positioning the PennCash system to fill the void created by the QuakerCard's sudden departure. Two years ago, the QuakerCard burst onto the scene when four Wharton seniors turned a class project into a debit card service that came to be used by thousands of University students seeking a cash alternative for use at dozens of local merchants. And in May, just as suddenly, it vanished, followed by a flurry of charges from 36 state attorneys general. Students and merchants alike were surprised by the QuakerCard operators' removal of the card-reading devices from all 30 University City locations where the card was previously accepted. "They didn't tell me anything," said Steve Grant, the manager of the Wawa at 36th and Chestnut streets. "Nobody called up and contacted me or anything like that." Managers at other stores reported similar experiences of having the QuakerCard readers removed without prior notice. Store owners were given a brief note thanking them for their affiliation with the card. Now, as a result of an agreement signed in July with the attorneys general, University Student Services -- the parent company of the now-defunct QuakerCard -- has folded completely. In doing so, company officials resolved widespread allegations of fraud and deception and thousands of students across the country are receiving refunds from the company. The reason behind the QuakerCard's sudden failure remains a mystery, as company officials refused repeated calls for comment. The QuakerCard was introduced in the summer of 1996 by then-Wharton seniors Matthew Levenson, Jon Guljord, Chris Cononico and Michael Vaughan. It functioned as a debit card, with students using money placed on the card to pay for food, groceries and even taxi fares. But as the University Student Services attempted in April to take its product to the national level, problems quickly forced many universities and states to initiate investigations into the company's practices. Through a National College Registration Board, QuakerCard owners hoped to market a Campus Card to 1.8 million incoming freshmen at schools across the country. However, the marketing materials sent out in an April 8 mailing said that the card was "required" for many discounts and services nationwide, prompting a flood of phone calls to schools nationwide. Penn officials were similarly overwhelmed with inquiries from confused parents when the QuakerCard made its debut. In addition, a brochure accompanying the letter featured a card with the University of Michigan logo and the company's World Wide Web site -- now removed from the Internet -- also displayed the names of hundreds of colleges. Officials at University of Michigan and other schools denied any connection with the advertised card and many schools requested investigations of the unlicensed use of their copyrighted logos. Allegations of trademark violations as well as fraud -- the Campus Card was not affiliated with any banks for its purported debit card services -- landed the Wharton grads in trouble. Also, while the mailing stated that a Campus Card was "required" for certain discounts, none of the advertised discounts required any card aside from identification issued by most schools to their students. An executive committee of states which voiced concerns over the Princeton-based NCRB, led by New Jersey, negotiated the July 8 settlement. The settlement stipulates that the NCRB will repay the $67,025 it collected from the 2,681 students and parents who paid $25 for the card, and agreed to give back about 3,100 uncashed checks. University Student Services and the NCRB are also prohibited from doing business for three years. But from where the QuakerCard left off, the University's alternative PennCash system is ready to step in. Using the gold "smart card" chip located on their PennCards, students have been able to make photocopies at University libraries, do laundry and make purchases at a number of area stores -- including Baskin Robbins and Gaeta's College Pizza -- since earlier this year. According to Director of Campus Card Services Laurie Cousart, the University has been actively courting former QuakerCard affiliates to join the PennCash system. Businesses such as Saladworks, Cool Peppers, Brown's Thriftway supermarket and Mad 4 Mex have joined the PennCash bandwagon, awaiting students eager to use their PennCards for cashless purchases. Cousart emphasized that unlike the QuakerCard, the PennCash system has a ready-made market. "The real attraction will be that we have 30,000 PennCards out in service," she said. She added that PennCash, unlike the QuakerCard, is not meant to make a profit for the University, but to "cover costs." The PennCard's debit feature was unveiled in March 1997 as a joint venture between the University, PNC Bank Corp., MBNA Corp. and the University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union. Students can deposit up to $50 at a time on their cards at any of the Card Value Centers located across campus, with the value of their purchases deducted from their cards at the time of sale.
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Undergraduate students returning to on-campus residences this semester will find a number of new faces leading them into the college houses of the 21st century. Alongside the 12 faculty masters -- one for each of the University's college houses -- and the accompanying faculty fellows, the University has named the dozen house deans that will be responsible for both the administrative and academic support within each of the houses. The college house plan -- announced last October -- calls for the organization of the University's dormitories into 12 college houses with increased staffing and support services. The house dean position replaces the administrative fellow and assistant dean in residence positions in many of the houses. "No team of leaders could bring together more talent and experience than the new house deans," Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee said in announcing the appointments Brownlee said that "well over 100" applications were received for the 12 open slots, for which the University conducted a nationwide search. Five of the new house deans -- Sonia Elliot of DuBois College House, Jane Rogers of Goldberg College House, Tracy Feld of Hill College House, M'Hamed Krimo Bokreta of Kings Court/English College House and Deborah Yarber of Spruce College House -- previously held ADR or administrative fellow posts at Penn. Others, including Hamilton College House Dean Roberta Stack and Community House Dean Rick Cameron, held other posts within the University's residential system. Although several of the other house deans are new to Penn, administrators insisted that their unfamiliarity with campus will not be a problem. David Fox, associate director of the Office of College Houses and Academic Services, said the recent arrivals will bring "new blood and new vision" to campus. And Brownlee emphasized that all of the deans -- regardless of time previously spent at Penn -- underwent several weeks of intensive training this summer to ready them for their new positions.
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Non-Wharton students will no longer be able to use the centrally located, 24-hour labs. and Ginny Dorsey In a move that will keep many University students out of the popular, centrally located 24-hour Steinberg-Dietrich Hall computer labs, Wharton School officials implemented a policy this summer that will allow only students enrolled in Wharton courses to use the computer laboratories in its buildings. Though the University has plans to increase computer distribution throughout campus buildings and create computer labs in three of the residential college houses, the Wharton announcement has angered among many students. According to Wharton Vice Dean Richard Herring, the new policy is intended to combat lab overcrowding and problems with computer security. "We've received complaints from our students that they can't get into the labs when they need to," he said, emphasizing that specialized computer programs necessary for many Wharton courses are available only in Wharton computer labs. "We need to make sure that they have the access to get done what they need to get done." Herring also expressed concern about Wharton's ability to monitor illegal usage of its computers to steal software or download pornography. Since students without Wharton accounts log in as guests, he said the school is unable to track illegal activities to non-Wharton users. Under the new Wharton policy, all students will have to log on to the computers with an individual user name and password, ensuring that illegal activity can be attributed to the individual responsible. Many students, even Wharton students who the policy is intended to benefit, gave the new rules an emphatic thumbs down. "It is unfortunate that Penn insists on blatantly distinguishing between its different schools," Wharton junior Angie Wittenburg said. Kent Peterman, the assistant dean for academic affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences, said central administration, library and college house officials have been working with the College to "offset the loss" of the Wharton labs. New computer labs are being built in Goldberg House in the Quadrangle and High Rise East and High Rise South, which are now known as Harnwell and Harrison college houses, respectively. The lab in High Rise South and possibly one other building will be open 24 hours, Peterman said. "That will make up for one of the important functions of the Wharton labs," he added. In addition to the 35 new "high-end" Macintoshes and Windows-based computers purchased for the new labs, Peterman said between 25 and 30 more new machines will be installed in existing college house computer facilities, and e-mail kiosks will be built in the McNeil Building this fall. In the past year alone, Wharton has invested more than $750,000 in upgrades to its hardware and software. In justifying the new policy, Herring identified several instances of the "egregious misuse" of Wharton computers, including instances of forgery, harassment and the downloading of illegal files, such as child pornography. "We've actually had some of our machines seized by federal agencies because they were implicated in some nasty business," he said. "Because technology has become an important mechanism for doing lots of things, both good and evil, there has to be accountability." The new computers in the college houses will require all students to log on before use, Peterman said. But unlike Wharton's policy, "it won't be used to restrict access," he said. The computers in buildings occupied by the School of Engineering and Applied Science require Engineering students to log on with their own user names and passwords, though students from other schools are allowed to log on as guests. Wharton is not allowing that option on their computers. College senior and former Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Noah Bilenker said that the Wharton decision was not the right solution to the school's security and space problems. "They could rectify [the misuse] problems if they require that a Penn student log on with any upenn.edu account.? That would eliminate any of the harassing e-mails or child pornography," he said. "The problem of overcrowding is ridiculous considering the thousands of new square feet of Wharton buildings they're adding." But Herring -- who admitted that non-Wharton students weren't the only ones guilty of misuse -- said Wharton is not trying to section itself off but merely attempting to fix a problem. "There is a notion that it would be great to have universal access to everything everywhere," he said. "But unfortunately, I think it's simply impractical in this situation."
