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(08/06/98 9:00am)
The investigation into the murder of Shannon Schieber enters its fourth month with few clues and no arrests. Tomorrow will mark the three-month anniversary of the murder of Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber -- an event most members of the University community would prefer not to commemorate -- and police have yet to apprehend the killer or even name a suspect. While Penn has been far from immune to the city's ills, including violent crime, the Schieber case stands out among recent tragedies for the relative length of its criminal investigation. In the majority of recent homicides and homicide attempts involving members of the University community, the culprits have been caught in a matter of hours or within several weeks, but none have gone on for so long as the Schieber case. Schieber, 24, was strangled to death in her Center City apartment May 7 at approximately 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. But Inspector Jerrold Kane, head of the Philadelphia Police's homicide division, said that at this point in the investigation, time is not the prevalent factor. "Time is of the essence at the very beginning," he said. "But just because it's three months [since Schieber's murder] doesn't mean that an arrest won't be made." Lt. Ken Coluzzi, who is leading the investigation for the PPD, noted that the department's efforts so far have not yielded any tangible results. "Nothing positive to note at this point, I'm sorry to say," he said, adding though that "information on cases can pop up at any time." Though both investigators and members of Schieber's family initially said that they believed Schieber knew her attacker, police have recently begun to focus 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, a 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 department officials released pictures of several of the stolen items, hoping that one or more would be recognized in a pawn shop. A $10,000 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. "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. When fifth-year mathematics graduate student Al-Moez Alimohamed, 27, was shot in the chest at 48th and Pine streets in late August 1994 during a robbery attempt, four teenagers were immediately apprehended by plainclothes Philadelphia Police officers who witnessed -- but were not quick enough to prevent -- the crime. A fifth teenager turned himself in to police the following morning. Three of the defendants were ultimately convicted for murder, while two were imprisoned on lesser robbery and conspiracy charges. Two years later, in the midst of a fall crime wave, a University researcher was killed and a Penn student was wounded in two separate incidents. Biochemist Vladimir Sled, 38, was stabbed five times during a robbery at 43rd Street and Larchwood Avenue on Halloween night, 1996. Sled intervened as Eugene Harrison attempted to steal a purse belonging to Sled's fiancee, Cecilia Hagerhall. In the struggle, Bridgette Black, one of Harrison's companions at the time, fatally stabbed Sled. Security cameras caught Harrison using Hagerhall's ATM card hours after the murder, leading to his arrest three weeks later. Black and Yvette Stewart, who drove the getaway car, were arrested soon after. After cooperating with investigators, Black was found guilty of third-degree murder and sentenced to five to 12 years in prison. Stewart was also convicted of third-degree murder, while Harrison -- who initiated the robbery -- was acquitted. Both Harrison and Stewart await sentencing for the robbery of a Philadelphia Daily News driver committed earlier the day of Sled's murder. And in the case of Patrick Leroy -- the then-College senior shot in the back while fleeing a robber at 40th and Locust streets on September 26, 1996, justice was even more swift in coming. Within an hour, Philadelphia Police officers arrested the gunman, 20-year-old Chris Crawford of Wilmington, Del. Albert Bandy was arrested five days later for his involvement in the incident. Both pled guilty to all charges the following February. For their part, officers in the Schieber case are concerned -- but not overly preoccupied -- with the long duration of the investigation. "We don't like when cases go too long," Coluzzi said. "It's scary when cases go this long because you want to solve it for the family and all." "We're continuing to have a decent amount of manpower on the case," Kane emphasized. "The police are hopeful that an arrest will be made."
(08/06/98 9:00am)
Last-minute details keep vendors on the streets until Monday, officials say. The Philadelphia city ordinance regulating food vending in University City was supposed to come into effect like a lion on Tuesday, but instead went out like a lamb. Due to delays in paperwork and construction, the long-awaited regulations prohibiting street and sidewalk vending on most of the streets near campus will not be enforced until Monday at the earliest, Penn officials said yesterday. The University-backed ordinance passed City Council unanimously on April 23 and was supposed to take effect August 4 -- 90 days after being signed into law by Mayor Ed Rendell. Most of the approximately 100 vendors in and around campus will be moved due to the ordinance, which Penn has been seeking to pass since last summer. But to accommodate some of the displaced vendors, Penn agreed to construct five fresh air food plazas on University-owned land, which together will hold 11 food trucks, 24 carts and 12 stands. The plazas are located at 40th and Walnut streets, next to Meyerson Hall at 34th and Walnut streets, at 37th and Walnut streets between Gimbel Gymnasium and a parking garage, at 34th and Spruce streets near the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and at 33rd and South streets by Franklin Field. Those vendors remaining in street locations are being dealt with by the city's department of Licenses and Inspections. According to Jack Shannon, the University's top economic development official, L&I; has notified all of the street vendors of their future locations. "It's the beginning of the final shake-up," Shannon said of the upcoming reshuffling of vending locations. "The final D-Day is Monday. The new framework will be in place." The nearly week-long delay in implementing the ordinance came as a result of insurance regulations and conflicts over several of the clauses in the vendors' food plaza leases. "I'm a little upset," said Scott Goldstein, former head of the University City Vendors Alliance. "Jack Shannon acted as an empowered individual in the negotiations process. I think he made promises that he would not be able to keep." One of the most contentious issues was the duration of the lease. Both sides agreed to an initial five-year deal in which the vendors would be charged a nominal monthly fee of $1 for the lighting, electricity and sanitation services provided in the food plazas. But while Goldstein said Shannon pledged that the lease would be renewable for additional five-year blocks, the final proposal only allows the lease to be renewed for one year at a time. "We never promised [a five-year renewal]," said Carol Scheman, Penn's vice president of government, community and public affairs. "I also quite frankly didn't think that was a good idea." Scheman added that both the University and the individual vendors will have the option not to continue a lease after every one-year term and that the shorter length of time was "much more common." Another sticking point was the rents the vendors would have to pay after the five-year lease expired. According to Goldstein, Penn will charge each truck $400 a month, each cart $300 a month and each non-food vendor $200 a month for the right to vend from University land. Trucks and carts remaining on city-owned street locations will be charged $2,700 a year and no money at all for rent, respectively, beginning this summer. Goldstein said that the University promised to charge the food plaza vendors "a cost not more than what vendors are paying on the streets." "That was a lie," he said. "They have no understanding but they do it anyway." Scheman countered that the rents are indeed reasonable. "The idea is that it should not be in any way unaffordable or unreasonable, but there should be some market accountability," she said. But with the ordinance ready to be put into effect, University officials are looking toward a period of transition as vendors and their customers adjust to the regulations. "Remember move-in day?" Scheman asked. "That's what it's going to be like. We're prepared for a lot of hand-holding." Even so, Goldstein -- whose own truck will be moving to the 33rd Street food plaza -- feels betrayed after more than a year of negotiations. "[Shannon] can lie and screw us because [City Councilwoman] Jannie Blackwell submitted the ordinance to City Council before the lease was in place," he said. "It was the biggest disaster in this entire process."
(08/06/98 9:00am)
The Penn Book Center and STA Travel will stay in their current locations past August. The two retail establishments remaining in University Plaza have won a reprieve -- temporarily, at least. All of the businesses located in the old University Book Store building at 38th Street and Locust Walk were initially told that they must vacate the premises by August 14 in preparation for the building's demolition. The site is being leveled for the construction of a new six-story, $120 million Wharton School graduate facility. But with all of the mostly independent retailers of University Plaza having decided to close or relocate in advance of that date, only two tried to remain for as long as possible -- the Penn Book Center and STA Travel. Though their doors were scheduled to close next Friday, the Book Center and STA have been granted extensions on their current leases while they attempt to relocate, according to officials at both stores. Achilles Nickles, the owner of the Penn Book Center, has been negotiating with the University for the last several months to move his 35-year-old independent bookstore to the site of the former Sam Goody music store in the 3401 Walnut Street complex. He said that negotiations are continuing on the University's latest lease offer, made at a meeting in early June. But Nickles -- whose store relies heavily on textbook orders for its business -- is glad that he can stay in his current location through the busy back-to-school season. "It appears as if we may be able to stay here a little while longer for fall textbooks," he said. Earlier this year, a number of professors had expressed uncertainty about their fall textbook plans given the opening of the new Barnes & Noble-operated University Bookstore in Sansom Common and the uncertainty over the future of the Penn Book Center. But with this extension, a number of the Book Center's loyal clients have returned for the fall. Religious Studies Department Chairperson Stephen Dunning -- a 15-year customer of the Book Center -- said that he gave Nickles' store all of his textbook business this year. He had previously indicated that he would not do anything until the Book Center lease dispute was settled, but changed his mind because of the Book Center's superior customer service. "Those of us who have been using them for years have been loyal to them because of their great service," Dunning said. "That's what you really want -- responsiveness." Scott Hyatt, a senior property manager for University City Associates -- Penn's for-profit real estate arm -- refused to comment on the terms of the extensions granted to the Book Center and STA, instead insisting that Penn is in "ongoing negotiations" with both to relocate them even before the initial planned move-out date of August 14. "We are actively discussing relocations with STA Travel and the Penn Book Center," he said. "If at all possible we will accommodate them for as long as possible." Both Managing Director for Real Estate Tom Lussenhop and UCA Managing Director are on vacation this week and were unavailable for comment. But Ruth Perez, the branch manager at STA Travel, was confident that her business would be able to stay in University Plaza through at least October of this year, though she said that as for relocating STA to another site, "everything is still up in the air." Though Hyatt said that UCA will try to accommodate the retailers in University Plaza for as long as possible, the Book Store building will eventually face the wrecking ball to make way for the new Wharton building. However, several University and Wharton officials were unable to pinpoint the exact date of demolition.
(07/30/98 9:00am)
Health System bonds were downgraded amid worries of the industry's financial health. It appears that Philadelphia's health care woes may have only just begun. Earlier this month, the cash-strapped Allegheny hospital system announced that it would declare bankruptcy and sell its nine Philadelphia area facilities -- once valued at $5 billion -- to the for-profit Vanguard Health Systems for $502 million. Though Allegheny's malaise has seemingly stabilized, the University of Pennsylvania Health System is now discovering that it is not immune to similar financial distress. Citing a projected operating loss of $100 million for Fiscal Year 1998, Moody's Investor Service -- the New York-based bond rating agency -- has downgraded the Health System's bond status, one of the key indicators of fiscal health. The $159 million in new bonds issued by the Health System to refinance its existing debt and begin more than $50 million in new capital projects will carry an A1 rating instead of the coveted Aa3 rating now held by UPHS. However, the new lower bond rating was assigned a "stable" outlook. Meanwhile, Standard & Poors, another New York bond rating agency, reaffirmed the Health System's AA rating, though it revised its outlook from "stable" to "negative." Health System spokesperson Lori Doyle downplayed the significance of the Moody's report. A lower bond rating makes it harder for an institution to raise capital by signaling an increased risk to investors, resulting in higher interest rates. "[A1] is still a very strong bond rating," Doyle said. "Our bond ratings are higher than any other academic medical center in the region." Moody's gives Temple University Hospital's debt a lower Baa1 rating, while Jefferson Health System -- Penn's primary competitor in the Philadelphia market -- carries an A1 rating, the same as the Penn Health System. However, Standard & Poors gives Jefferson an AA-minus rating, just below Penn's AA grade. Only a handful of health systems across the country currently have an Aa3 rating from Moody's. Moody's cited a number of factors in their decision to downgrade the Health System's bonds, including the financial effect of Penn's take-over of debt-ridden Pennsylvania Hospital -- known to doctors as "Pennsy" -- and larger structural problems in the health care industry. Pennsylvania Hospital's $50 million operating loss for 1998 represents fully half of the Health System's total $100 million deficit, while "recent significant volume losses have exacerbated PH's financial difficulties," Moody's report said. "The hospital's decision to align with UPHS, after a long-standing clinical affiliation with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, alienated physicians who historically served on the medical staffs of both TJUH and Pennsylvania Hospital," the report continued. "As a result, these physicians moved practices and redirected patients to TJUH, which is evidenced by a 18.6% admission decline" for the first three months of Fiscal Year 1998. Doyle said that the Health System has an "aggressive plan" to reduce expenses and recruit new staff to Pennsy, and added that she expects a "positive turnaround" within two years. In addition to Pennsylvania Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Health System includes Presbyterian Hospital at 39th and Market streets and Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville, Pa. Doyle emphasized that the report cites a number of industry trends for the decline of the Health System's financial situation and that the fault does not lie solely with Pennsy. The recently passed federal Balanced Budget Act is expected to cost the system $175 million in lost Medicare receipts over five years, while the hospital is expected to hand out more than $14 million this year alone in "charity care" to uninsured patients, Doyle said. Mark Pauly, a professor of Health Care Systems in the Wharton School, said that declining reimbursements for patient care are to blame for the industry's financial difficulties. "Insurance organizations that pay them -- Medicare, Medicaid and much more the managed care plans -- are becoming much more stingy in how much they pay the hospitals," he said. "HUP, along with the other teaching hospitals in town, treats a lot of these patients and they really can't turn them away." Though the Moody's report made no mention of the Allegheny bankruptcy, both Doyle and Pauly cited the recent collapse of Penn's competitor as a factor in the bond rating downgrade. "It's certain that there was some spillover," Pauly said. "Any hospital in the Philadelphia area is going to be tarnished by what's happening to Allegheny." Pauly added that the Penn Health System will not be severely hurt by this downgrading, noting that "it's more of a warning." "It's not going to be a serious problem for Penn -- yet," he said. "On the longer term, the outlook is quite bright. Penn has put a lot of emphasis on the quality of care [and] eventually that's going to win out."
(07/30/98 9:00am)
The 12 college house deans are being trained to handle their administrative and academic roles. When undergraduate students return to on-campus residences in the fall, they will find a number of new faces leading them into the college houses of the 21st century. Alongside the twelve faculty masters -- one each for the University's 12 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. "Working with them has already been a pleasure for us, so the students can look forward to a strong start for the college house system." 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 insist that their unfamiliarity with campus will not be a problem. David Fox, associate director of the Office of College Houses and Academic Services, said that the recent arrivals to Penn will bring "new blood and new vision" to campus. And Brownlee emphasized that all of the deans -- regardless of time previously spent at Penn -- are currently undergoing several weeks of intensive training to ready them for their new positions. "For the new-timers and the old-timers alike, much of this is new information," he said. And already many of the deans are using those resources to prepare programs and activities to set their houses apart from the rest. Harnwell College House Dean Leslie Delauter plans to make the house a "more comfortable, attractive and usable space," by creating a library in the High Rise East rooftop lounge where students will find both the reference books and the cups of coffee they will need to survive late night study sessions. In the Quadrangle, Rogers plans to give students a larger role in the house through establishing a "student-run house governance structure." Similar bodies already exist in residences like Hill House, which adopted the college house format before the concept went University-wide. Ware College House Dean Katherine Becht -- who applied to become a house dean after serving on a University committee examining Penn's academic support services -- said that getting those services to students will be her "top priority." "[Penn] has a myriad of high quality resources to enrich the college experience for every student on campus, but many students do not take full advantage of them," she said. "I believe the college house system will make these resources easier to navigate and more accessible." And for old college houses that will not have to adapt heavily to the new system, this is a time of optimism. "Many of the old college houses were forever blazing trails, which is fun, but tiring," Hill House's Feld said. "Now, many of those trails are not only blazed, but also mapped and paved, and there are new travelers coming up behind us and next to us."
(07/30/98 9:00am)
HUP was ranked as one of America's best hospitals by 'U.S. News and World Report.' Colleges and universities regularly skewer U.S. News & World Report's rankings of the nation's top educational institutions, but for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the magazine's annual "America's Best Hospitals" issue is a welcome source of pride. For the second straight year, HUP made the weekly newsmagazine's "Honor Roll" as one of the top hospitals in the country. Placing 11th on the list of the 14 "Honor Roll" hospitals, HUP was tops in the Delaware Valley and ranked fourth on the eastern seaboard -- behind only No. 1 Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Boston institutions listed as No. 3 and 8 respectively in the national rankings. HUP was ranked No. 14 in last year's survey. "We're thrilled to be ranked among the top hospitals in the country," HUP spokesperson Lori Doyle said. "Our physicians and employees deserve a lot of credit." U.S. News ranked HUP among the top 25 hospitals nationwide in 13 of the 16 medical specialties used in tabulating the results. Its highest placement was at No. 9 in neurology, but the hospital also won recognition in the fields of cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, oncology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, psychiatry, pulmonary disease, rheumatology and urology. The AIDS treatment specialty, in which HUP placed highly last year, was eliminated this year due to the emphasis on treating AIDS patients through outpatient clinics, rather than as hospital inpatients. Additionally, for the second year in a row, the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania placed second nationally in pediatrics, again ranking behind only Boston's Children's Hospital. Other Philadelphia area hospitals to receive high marks in one or more of the 16 specialties include the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple University Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. HUP Chief Medical Officer David Shulkin welcomed the rankings as a positive means for consumers -- that is, patients -- to choose the highest-quality medical care for themselves. "That issue seems to be the single most important public ranking available to the people," he said. "It's something that has been shown to be effective." While describing himself as "delighted" about the rankings, Shulkin also accepted the magazine's inherent limitations. "It is a magazine for lay people," he said. "It's not a scientific instrument." The magazine, dated July 27 and available on newsstands last week, sifted through 6,400 hospitals nationwide in order to make its rankings. U.S. News first published its list of America's best hospitals in 1990. The rankings were based on an index that weights the hospital's reputation equally with its mortality rate and American Hospital Association information on the number of nurses at the hospital, the level of technology available to patients and other medical information. In order to compound this year's "reputational score" upon which specialty rankings are based, U.S. News surveyed 150 specialists in each of the 16 fields each year for the last three years and compounded the scores.
(07/23/98 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 last month when American politics scholar Paul Light chose not to come to Penn after a long courtship by the University. Light, 45, is currently 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 visited Fels this spring. Light, who denied any serious interest in leaving his current post for a position with the University, is responsible for distributing $16 million this year to programs working to improve government. "I was impressed with everything I saw at Penn, with the leadership and the department, but want to complete what I have started here at Pew, which is build a distinguished national program focused on renewing civic life in this country," he said. "As you can imagine, it is quite a task." 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 last month 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." Light was not only being sought out to join the Political Science staff -- which has already seen two junior faculty leave Penn and four senior faculty announce plans to retire this year -- but also heavily recruited by top administrators to direct the Fels Center. 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. So far only one recruit, international relations scholar David Rousseau of the State University of New York at Buffalo, has accepted Penn's offer. With this setback, officials are redoubling their efforts to recruit faculty for the fall of 1999. At a recent 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 that 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 farthest along in the discussions. Lustick said the offer made to Snyder -- which includes a salary increase, endowed chair and the right to recruit more faculty to the department -- has "passed through all the levels of the University." Snyder was unavailable for comment this week. "Ultimately, Jim's decision to come here will be based on his confidence that other people, junior faculty, would come here to work with him," Lustick said. Beeman said scholars' decision 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."
(07/23/98 9:00am)
Penn stands against a proposed ballpark at 30th and Walnut streets. A proposed $500 million baseball stadium complex at 30th and Walnut streets may instill hope in the hearts of local sports enthusiasts, but those fearful of traffic congestion may succeed in keeping the Philadelphia Phillies east of the Schuylkill River. Voicing the University's public opposition to the 30th Street site, Jack Shannon -- Penn's top economic development official -- testified before the House Democratic Policy Committee on July 14 at a hearing focusing on the location east of Penn's campus. The committee also heard testimony from community groups and several national experts on public financing of sports stadiums. Financial and political issues are also being considered in the planning for any new facility. Developer Dan Keating presented his plans to the Phillies in September 1996, calling for the creation of office spaces, a movie complex and parking areas around the new baseball-only stadium. The ballpark would be modeled on Baltimore's Camden Yards and Cleveland's Jacobs Field, two old-style stadiums that have revitalized their urban environs. The University did not have an official stance on the proposal until this January, when administrators came out against the stadium. Two other sites in Philadelphia are being considered by the Phillies and the city. One is adjacent to the Phillies' current South Philadelphia Veterans Stadium -- now shared with the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles -- while the other is in North Philadelphia at the intersection of Broad and Spring Garden streets. Shannon said transportation issues are the main reasons a stadium would be unfeasible in West Philadelphia. "There simply is not the infrastructure in place -- or could even be put in place -- to accommodate the 40,000 fans who are coming to a baseball stadium," he said. "You would be taking a bad position and pushing it to the point of gridlock." Shannon cited the annual Penn Relays track and field competition at Penn's Franklin Field -- which ties up area traffic one weekend a year in late April -- as proof of his theory. "You have a recipe on your hands for a traffic and logistical disaster -- not one weekend a year but 81 evenings over five months," he said. Shannon added that the concentration of critical care facilities in the area -- including the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- require an unobstructed flow of traffic for emergency vehicles to arrive. Meanwhile, according to Shannon, "all the studies have shown that you have more than sufficient transportation capacity," in South Philadelphia near the Phillies' current site. The area is easily accessible via Interstate 95, the Schuylkill Expressway and the Walt Whitman Bridge. According to Tony Ross -- the executive legislative director for State Rep. Andrew Carn (D.-Phila.), who sponsored last week's committee hearing -- the Phillies and the Mayor's Office currently favor the site in North Philadelphia. Carn's district lies near the proposed site. Carn is also the primary sponsor of H.R. 227, which calls for any stadium development project to be completed so as to benefit as many Pennsylvania residents and businesses as possible. According to Ross, the area at Broad and Spring Garden streets would be convenient from Center City and would provide an attraction for visitors to the city's Convention Center. However, as a state office building and the offices of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News would have to be razed for a new stadium to be built, there are significant "land acquisition issues," Ross said. In 1996, Governor Tom Ridge put forward a proposal where any new stadium would receive one-third of its funding from the state, while the municipality and the team owners would have to finance the remaining two-thirds. But if all four of Pennsylvania's major league professional teams -- the Phillies, the Eagles and Pittsburgh's Pirates and Steelers -- succeed in getting new arenas, the state's cut of the costs could go as high as $1 billion, Ross estimated. However, though Phillies officials projected that a new stadium for the team would open in 2001, action on any Philadelphia ballpark -- at 30th Street or otherwise -- will not begin any time soon. "At this point, Philadelphia is waiting to see what happens in Pittsburgh," Ross said. "That is quickly moving toward resolution." The Pittsburgh city government recently voted to fund a portion of a new stadium for the Pirates or the Steelers from public funds, Ross said, and Philadelphia officials plan to use Pittsburgh's eventual funding formula as a model for their own. Additionally, with 1998 being an election year, no action is expected before the November political contests. "The governor does not want to make this a campaign issue," Ross said. But Ridge spokesperson Tim Reeves placed the blame for the delay on the legislators, noting that "their appetite for controversial issues is not hearty in the weeks up to an election." "Whether it is a good political issue or a bad political issue, I don't know," he added. "The governor is out there for it." Ridge's Democratic challenger for the governor's mansion this fall, State Rep. Ivan Itkin (D.-Pitt.), agrees with Ridge on the issue of public financing -- with a catch. "[Itkin] supports stadium funding with a very strong caveat," Itkin spokesperson Diane McCormick said. "He wants guarantees that there is a public benefit of new jobs and economic development." "A third [of the cost] is fine for the state to fund," she added. "He's certainly up there up to at least a third."
(07/16/98 9:00am)
It is not uncommon for graduates of the Wharton School to be recognized for their entrepreneurial skill and marketing savvy. But when those talents draw the scrutiny of law enforcement officials from coast to coast, the results stand far from fame and fortune. Such is the case of Matthew Levenson, Chris Cononico and Michael Vaughn, three 1997 Wharton graduates who in 1996 founded University Student Services -- the parent company of the now-defunct QuakerCard, the popular local debit card service that abruptly shut down its operations in May. But now, thanks to a recently-signed agreement with 36 state attorneys general, University Student Services has folded completely. In doing so, company officials resolved widespread allegations of fraud and deception with thousands of students across the country receiving refunds from the company. When the QuakerCard burst onto the scene two summers ago, the company's founders were plagued with charges of misleading Penn students and their parents into thinking that the card was affiliated with the University. However, within a year of its founding, according to Levenson, "significantly" more than 3,000 students had stored money on the card, which was accepted at several dozen local merchants and eateries. University Student Services came under fire again this spring, when -- calling itself as the National College Registration Board -- it advertised a $25 "Campus Card" to 1.8 million high school seniors in an April 8 mailing. While the Campus Card -- like the QuakerCard -- is not affiliated with any university, the NCRB told students that the $25 card is "required" for a range of services and discounts nationwide, regardless of what school the student attends. 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 -- and also displayed the names of hundreds of colleges. Officials at the University of Michigan and several other schools denied any connection between the advertised card and their respective institutions and in some cases requested investigations of the unlicensed use of their copyrighted logos. However, trademark violations would be the least of the worries for the Campus Card's purveyors. While their offer would bring in thousands of dollars of revenue, it also resulted in scores of calls and complaints to state and local consumer protection and law enforcement agencies. Many allegations of fraud were based on the fact that the Campus Card was not affiliated with any banks for its purported debit card services. Nor were there advertised discounts that required any card aside from the identification issued by most schools to their students. However, Levenson did say that the card would have enabled students to buy textbooks at a discount from an on-line retailer. According to Karen Cordry, an attorney handling consumer protection issues with the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington, D.C., the effort of the various states followed the pattern of other recent suits, such as those brought against America On-Line, Sears and the nation's tobacco companies. "One state or two states will hear about it," she said, adding that states will combine their efforts as complaints trickle into the different attorney generals' offices. "Usually there are two or three or four or five states that take the lead." In this case, officials in New Jersey -- home to the Princeton-based National College Registration Board -- spearheaded the inquiry into University Student Services. "We began the investigation, and as other states started to voice concerns, an executive committee of seven states was formed," said Genene Wiggins, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Officials in Florida, Iowa, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Dakota joined the New Jersey representatives in negotiating the settlement with the Wharton graduates. Under the terms of the July 8 agreement, the NCRB will repay the $67,025 it collected from the 2,681 students and parents who paid $25 for the card. Additionally, the company will give back about 3,100 uncashed checks and the U.S. Postal Service will return between 5,000 and 7,000 pieces of mail held at the Princeton post office since May. University Student Services and the National College Registration Board are also prohibited from doing business for three years. "They're out of business, for one thing, which they were ready to do early on," said Senior Deputy Attorney General J.P. McGowan, who handled the case for Pennsylvania. "If they should ever go back into business or do something such as this, they would open themselves up to some substantial fines." The Assurance of Voluntary Compliance and Discontinuance stipulates that each of the defendants are subject to $30,000 in civil penalties to each of the 36 states affected -- or more than $1 million each -- if they violate any provision of the agreement. In a series of press releases, the attorneys general involved in the settlement proclaimed victory over the alleged forces of greed and deception. "I'm happy we stopped this company before more parents and students were defrauded," Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran said. "The marketing of these cards was not only misleading, [but] there were serious doubts at to whether the cards themselves were even worth the paper they were printed on." New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco was less subtle about his belief in the company's intentions. "In reality, it was nothing more than a rip-off," he said. Several attorneys general -- most of whom are popularly elected -- particularly emphasized students in their own states who were defrauded by the Campus Card. "[The] NRCB gets an 'F' for trying to cheat Minnesota students with its Campus Card scam," Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III said. "As consumer counsel for the citizens of Virginia, I will not tolerate any activity that threatens to mislead students and parents, particularly during this important time in their lives," Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley said. University Student Services officials could not be reached for comment. But Henry Feintuch, managing partner for KCSA Worldwide -- the New York City-based public relations firm which represents Levenson -- insisted that the turmoil created was unintentional. "The company is hoping to end the confusion they created on the marketplace and move forward," Feintuch said in May.
(07/16/98 9:00am)
The new Barnes & Noble-operated University Bookstore in Sansom Common offers students more than just books. After years of planning and construction, the Barnes & Noble-operated University Bookstore in Sansom Common opened yesterday with little fanfare but high expectations. As planned, the two-floor superstore is the first venue to be completed in the $73 million Sansom Common hotel and retail complex. Taking up more than 50,000 square feet, the new Bookstore is 60 percent larger and offers more products and services than the old University Bookstore at the corner of 38th Street and Locust Walk, which closed on July 10 in anticipation of yesterday's grand opening. The Bookstore's old home -- along with the adjacent University Plaza shops on the 3700 block of Walnut Street -- is set to be demolished to make way for a new Wharton School facility. Bookstore General Manager Dwayne Carter emphasized that yesterday's inaugural day was only a "soft opening" for the establishment. "We wanted to get the new store open as soon as possible given that we closed the old store," he said. "We still have some rough edges construction-wise." Carter added that only 110,000 to 115,000 of the store's anticipated 130,000 volumes are in stock, though he said "books are arriving every day." The new Bookstore resembles its predecessor in name only. In addition to the usual supply of textbooks and academic necessities, the store features a cafZ, which serves Starbuck's coffee; more posters and framed prints; and an expanded clothing selection -- featuring both Penn-insignia garments and designer apparel from Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Also new to the Bookstore is a second-floor music section. While Carter said that the 10,000 compact disks in stock were particularly strong in jazz, classical and international music, mainstays from Sinatra to the Spice Girls are also available. "We're not trying to be a music store," he said. "We just try to offer music to a student who wants a CD from time to time." Additionally, the Penn-owned Computer Connection has followed its Bookstore neighbor to Sansom Common, occupying a spacious 3,000-square-foot area on the store's ground level. But it is in its book displays that the new Bookstore distinguishes itself as a unique blend of the academic and the commercial. While the textbook section sits nearly empty in anticipation of the fall book rush, other areas of the store feature books by Penn faculty and publications of the University of Pennsylvania Press. And, in a change from the normal academic setting of a college bookstore, best-sellers with Barnes & Noble price stickers sit prominently near the store's front entrance. But Carter, who last managed the B&N; College Bookstore at Boston University, said that Penn's Bookstore is not another link in the B&N; chain. "This is not a Barnes & Noble bookstore," he said. "This is Penn's bookstore. We're just given the privilege to operate it on behalf of the University." Marie Witt, the University official overseeing the Bookstore's operations, said that Penn will receive a commission on the store's sales, but declined to discuss specific arrangements. Carter expressed his hope that the establishment would cater to more than just Penn's student body. Through planned book readings and projects with local schools, Carter said he hopes to make "the Bookstore an integral part of the West Philadelphia community." Four other stores -- Xando's coffeehouse, Urban Outfitters, City Sports and Parfumerie Douglas Cosmetics are expected to open in Sansom Common in late August, while the 250-room Inn at Penn is slated to open its doors in the fall of 1999.
(07/16/98 9:00am)
Thomas connelly was named to replace Gale at Community House. At last, the 3 1/2-month soap opera that was Community House has seemingly run its course. Interim Provost Michael Wachter announced yesterday that Music Professor Thomas Connolly will become the college house's faculty master, replacing Political Science Professor Stephen Gale, who has overseen the house for the last four years. In April, Gale said that the University was succeeding in "pushing" him out of the house, which is one of four college houses located in the Quadrangle. He submitted his resignation to the provost on April 16 but withdrew it the next day, announcing that he would reapply to head the house for another term. The focal point of the controversy was the University's decision not to renew the contract of former Community House Assistant Dean in Residence Diana Koros. The selection committee charged with selecting this fall's 12 house deans -- positions in the college house system that will replace the current administrative fellows and ADRs -- cut Koros from the candidate pool early on. Each of the other six assistant deans applying for the house dean positions were among the 25 finalists chosen in April from among the 100 applications received. Gale, interpreting the dismissal as a personal slight, complained about having "no say whatsoever" in the future of his own house and decried the lack of "collegial discussion and consultation" in the dean-selection process. "It is hard to escape the news that something is going on with respect to Community House -- something very odd," Gale wrote in an April 21 Daily Pennsylvanian guest column. "But unlike other controversies that I have witnessed in my 25 years on Penn's faculty, this time I am totally in the dark about what is going on." Wachter said that Gale, at some point, voluntarily withdrew from the candidate pool for the faculty master position. "It was certainly his decision to resign," Wachter said. "He resigned essentially to focus on his other University commitments." Gale did not answer repeated phone calls over the last two days, but a source close to the staff-selection process insisted that Gale would not have resigned voluntarily. Connolly's appointment fills the last vacant faculty master position. Since coming to Penn after earning a doctoral degree in musicology from Harvard University in 1973, Connolly -- an Australian citizen and specialist in medieval music -- has served as chairperson of the Music Department and as faculty fellow of Van Pelt College House. "Tom is a terrific choice for the Community and another wonderful example of Penn's finest faculty providing leadership in our 1998 comprehensive college house system," Wachter said. Connolly is unsure whether the recent controversies will impede his transition into community house, but he admitted that "it could be a problem." "I respect [Gale] and and I don't know what this is all about," he said. "The University insulated me from all of this." "I will do my utmost to be available to students and try and make the house really work," he added. Connolly, 67, will move into the Quad with his wife Margaret, who recently completed a post-doctoral teaching fellowship at Villanova University, and his 13-year-old son Stephen.
(07/09/98 9:00am)
Students in the College of Arts and Sciences -- and their parents -- fear not: it is possible to earn a living on a liberal arts education. According to a survey conducted by the University's Career Services office -- formerly known as Career Planning and Placement Services -- students who graduated from the College in 1997 have been taking full advantage of the nations' strong economy, posting a 9 percent increase in starting salary over the previous year. After growing by only 10 percent over the previous three years combined, starting salaries for College grads entering the workforce jumped from an average of $27,629 in 1996 to $30,112 in 1997 -- crossing the $30,000 plateau for the first time. And with the strong economy, more graduates are eschewing graduate and professional schools in favor of a paycheck. Whereas only 47 percent of grads went to work in the 1995 survey, a full 56 percent got jobs after their May 1997 commencement exercises. "In a rising tide all boats float," said Associate Director of Career Services Peggy Curchack, who has conducted the survey for every graduating class since 1985. "This is a stunning economy with a huge array of job openings. This has affected all of us -- especially new undergraduates." Curchack surveyed the 1387 members of the Class of 1997 through a series of mailings and heard back from 694, or just more than half. Of those, 56 percent were employed full-time, 30 percent were in graduate school and 8 percent were traveling or in other activities. Only 6 percent were still seeking employment. However, while all graduates seem to be faring better in the revitalized American economy, Curchack's study -- and those performed on graduates in the Wharton School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science -- showed a great disparity in income based on the chosen course of study. Within the College, the graduating classes of different majors can have income disparities upwards of $10,000 a year. For instance, while mathematics, economics and political science majors all average starting salaries in the $32,000 to $38,000 range, students with degrees in art history, English and biology are hard-pressed to bring in more than $25,000 a year. "That's true every year," Curchack explained. "The reasons math and econ majors have higher salaries is that a larger percentage of those students choose corporate employment that has the highest salaries." "It's not that English majors make less," she added. "It's that they make choices that result in lower salaries." In fact, consulting, corporate finance and investment banking -- the industries that provide the highest salaries to recent graduates, often at more than $40,000 a year -- draw the majority of their recruiting classes from the social sciences. Meanwhile, the survey found the graduates' lower-paying jobs to be concentrated in education and scientific research. "I have to say that consulting is the real hot ticket right now," Curchack said. "It's not that nobody in English is working in a high-end earning capacity job [but] we've only got one or two making choices to join those sectors of the economy." But while $40,000 may be top money for a College graduate, it is only par for the course for a student coming out of one of Penn's pre-professional undergraduate schools. In separate surveys conducted by Career services, Wharton students made slightly more than $38,000 a year, while those in Engineering made more than $39,000 on average. And students in the combined Wharton and Engineering Management and Technology program bested both, topping $40,000 a year for the second straight year. But according to School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston, starting salaries alone do not give an accurate picture of future success. "First jobs are only a small component of a career," he said. "Arts and Sciences students have built a solid base for a lifetime of achievement, a base that includes an unusual degree of adaptiveness and flexibility. Their first jobs are less indicative of where they will wind up than is true of graduates with more specialized training." And according to Curchack, alumni surveys conducted five years after graduation show that more than 3/4 of the graduates do go on to get graduate degrees, many after spending several years in the workforce first.
(07/09/98 9:00am)
Chemical Engineering Prof. Eduardo Glandt will serve in place of departing Engineeing Dean Gregory Farrington. To fill the void created by the upcoming departure of Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington, the University named Chemical Engineering Professor Eduardo Glandt on Tuesday to the position of interim dean in 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. Since the beginning of his deanship in 1990, Farrington -- a professor of materials science at Penn since 1979 -- has presided over the implementation of several interdisciplinary and dual-degree programs while tripling the school's endowment and doubling the number of endowed professorships. But the 53-year-old Glandt -- currently the holder of an endowed chair in chemical engineering -- is not without his own list of accomplishments. A native of Argentina and a 1968 graduate of the University of Buenos Aires, Glandt joined the faculty at Penn while still working on his doctorate in chemical engineering, which he received here in 1977. Glandt was chosen after several weeks of consultation among University President Judith Rodin, Interim Provost Michael Wachter, the Faculty Senate and the Engineering School's elected Faculty Council, which Glandt chaired for several years in the 1980s. He 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 the support of 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, was awarded the University-wide Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Glandt was recognized by the American Chemical Society for the research he did on his doctoral thesis, and in 1996, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Glandt has also held virtually every administrative post in the Chemical Engineering Department, presiding over its centennial while chairperson from 1989-1993. He additionally served on the University's Academic Planning and Budget Committee last year and currently sits on the committee to select a new provost. "Dr. Glandt is an accomplished scholar, an outstanding teacher and a terrific University citizen," Wachter said. "He has just the right administrative and intellectual experience to lead the school during this time of transition." Glandt is also a hit with his students. Using instruments from the Music Department, a group of graduate students several years ago formed a classical music troupe known as "The Glandt Ensemble," a pun on the Grand Ensemble of statistical mechanics. Later, a group of his less Mozart-inclined budding engineers formed a punk rock group in their professor's honor, "The Swollen Glandts." Thus far, Glandt has found his new role -- which he will assume officially when Farrington leaves next month -- slightly overwhelming. "It's become interesting how much there is to the job that someone who isn't doing it ignores," he said. "Things seem to start on the spot." The process of selecting a permanent dean will not begin until the fall, when Rodin will appoint a search committee of four faculty members appointed by the president, four selected by the Engineering School faculty and two student representatives.
(07/02/98 9:00am)
With little more than one month and counting until the city's new street and sidewalk vending ordinance takes effect, vendors around University City are beginning to plan for the changes in store when the clock chimes at midnight August 4. Jack Shannon, the University's top economic development official, said the vendors who applied for one of the 47 locations in the five Penn-owned fresh air food plazas were informed of their locations via letters mailed to their home addresses late Friday afternoon. However, all of the vendors interviewed by the Summer Pennsylvanian on Tuesday and Wednesday had yet to receive notification. And vendors who will not be relocated -- by choice or circumstance -- to the food plazas must find other arrangements for when the ordinance banning vending on most streets and sidewalks in University City takes effect. The legislation passed Council with unanimous support April 23 and will take effect next month, 90 days after it was signed by Mayor Ed Rendell. To sell from a cart, stand or truck in one of the 103 new street locations in University City, vendors must have submitted an application to the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections by last Friday. The ordinance charges L&I; with devising a system for distributing licenses to street vendors. Shannon said that there were more applicants for spots in the food plazas than the sites would be able to hold, but that "all vendors who could not be accommodated in the fresh air food plazas have had their basic vending information forwarded to Licenses and Inspections" by the University. He added that the food plazas at 34th and Walnut streets, 37th and Walnut streets and 34th and Spruce streets experienced demand greater than the plazas' capacity. Meanwhile, those plazas by the periphery of campus -- at 40th and Walnut streets and 33rd and South streets -- were much less in demand among the vendors. "We suspected that because of relative displacement that certain locations would be more attractive than others," Shannon explained. Though many vendors applied to both the University and the city in hopes of increasing their chances of securing a space, many vendors tied their hopes to only one or the other. Scott Goldstein, who resigned in April as chairperson of the University City Vendors Alliance -- one of the ad hoc groups created last year to fight the vending ordinance -- was confident that his Scott's Vegetarian Cuisine food truck would be relocated to a University food plaza. "I just happen to meet the criteria for a private space," he said, referring to his residency in West Philadelphia, unique vegetarian product and high-quality fare. Goldstein also made note of his seniority, having been a vendor in the area for the last 12 years. The namesake and owner of Sophie's Lunch Truck at 34th and Walnut streets, who did not wish to give her last name, said that she too was hopeful for a private space based on seniority. She has been a vendor since 1974. "But we don't know what's going to happen though," she added. That sentiment was echoed by Sonny Bherma of the Taco Pal food cart on the 3600 block of Spruce Street, who is waiting to hear back from L&I.; "Right now no one knows where they are going to be," he said. Like Bherma, many vendors chose to apply only to L&I; and not the food plazas, preferring a street location close to their current sites. "People at the hospital know us," said the owner of the B&J; food cart on the 3400 block of Spruce Street, across from HUP. "Every department knows us. The people that pick [the vendors' new sites], how do they know us?" Like many, B&J;'s owner -- who did not wish to be identified -- is afraid of moving far from her current location. "It'd be like starting a business over," she said. Shannon said that "consumer demand that had been coming on an ad hoc basis" was one of the factors in making decisions on food plaza locations. He cited the case of one cart operator on whose behalf his office received more than 100 e-mail message from HUP employees. Shannon insisted that when all of the food plaza and street locations were assigned, no vendor would be driven from University City as a result of the ordinance. "We are here to make sure every vendor has a home in one of those two sets of locations," he said. But Goldstein -- who has faulted the University and the city for being slow to relocate vendors -- was skeptical of the University's claim. "Being accommodated doesn't mean that they will have a viable location to earn a living," he said. That's a shame."
(07/02/98 9:00am)
Bike thefts are all too common at the University, and the frequency of locker break-ins and backpack snatchings have led many to believe that just about anything can be stolen on Penn's campus. But refrigerators? A rash of refrigerator thefts last month at two University residences have led to skepticism of safety and security in University dormitories-- along with questions as to exactly how and why thieves pilfered the large, bulky kitchen appliances. According to University Police, 37 refrigerators were taken from Graduate Tower B on June 15 and another five from High Rise East the following day. Both dormitories are undergoing renovations this summer and many workers enter and exit the building on a regular basis. "They're doing work over there and somebody just acted like they were working," University Police Det. Commander Tom King said. "One by one they just carted them out." King added that the thieves were almost arrested near High Rise East, but got away. "There was a report that someone was doing this, but by the time we got there they were gone," he said. Though the front lobbies of the residences are staffed by Spectaguard officers and equipped with video cameras, King said that the culprits were not caught on tape. According to Associate Director of Housing Services Al Zuino, both buildings where the thefts occurred are being renovated above and beyond just "routine maintenance work." Parts of the second and third floors of Grad Tower B are being converted to office space, while new faculty and staff apartments are being built in HRE to accommodate increased staffing under the University's college house system. Zuino added that as many as ten workers might be working in each of the buildings at any one time. All University employees and contractors working under the Trammell Crow Co. are issued identification cards to grant them access to University buildings. In order to bypass the front desks in each of the buildings, the thieves would have had to show identification or be let in by someone with authorized access. But since the thefts, stronger security measures have been implemented. Director of Security Services Stratis Skoufalos said that "[the departments of] Public Safety and Residential Living have agreed to utilize SpectaGuard officers as ID checkers in all residential buildings going forward," rather than the students who sometimes marshal the buildings. The policy took effect on June 18 -- two days after the second set of thefts. But Skoufalos denied any correlation between the crime and the new policy, noting that "it was a decision we were planning" for some time. He added that "all users of and visitors to the buildings, including contractors and vendors," would have to comply with the new regulations. Zuino would not speculate as to why or how the thefts were committed, but did say, "Obviously, it's a concern if something disappears from the building." King also added that he did not know why someone would steal the several dozen decades-old appliances, though one Penn Police officer speculated that the thieves may have wanted to harvest the freon gas used as a cooling agent in the older machines.
(07/02/98 9:00am)
The popular eatery will close its Sansom Street restaurant and focus on its baking. After 20 years as a Penn landmark, the Le Bus bakery and cafeteria on the 3400 block of Sansom Street is set to roll off campus tomorrow, to be replaced by a national soup, salad and sandwich chain. The popular eatery chain originated at the University as a food truck on the corner of 34th and Sansom streets in March 1978 and moved into its current storefront on upscale Sansom Row in 1984. But according to co-owner Ruth Drye, the difficulties of running both a restaurant and fresh bakery began to take its toll. "Le Bus is moving more in the direction of the baking business," she said. "We're putting more of our attention these days in the fresh baking. We didn't have enough in us to oversee such a diverse group of operations." While Drye denied that the cafeteria was losing money -- as one employee said it was -- she did say that it was the store's "weakest link." Le Bus will continue to run its establishments in Ardmore, Pa., and Center City. Company officials also plan to "significantly" expand operations at their wholesale bakery in Manayunk by the end of this year. Coming into Le Bus' vacated location will be Soupmasters, a national chain based in Maryland with 14 stores in the eastern United States. The company currently has stores locally in Center City, King of Prussia, Pa., and Cherry Hill, N.J., as well as in locations as far away as Ohio and Illinois. Drye said that in talks with Soupmasters, it became clear that the new shop would not be very different from Le Bus. "They told me that they don't intend to change much around the place," she said. "What motivated them was trying something away from a food court scenario." Robert Bettis, manager of the Soupmasters in Liberty Place in Center City, said that the store's menu resembles that of Le Bus, with an emphasis on soups, salads and wraps. Bettis said that the chain -- which is expected to open its Sansom Street location in time for the beginning of the fall semester -- offers several different types of salads and sandwiches and three dozen different types of soups, from seafood to vegetarian offerings. While the trendy menu should bring some consolation to Le Bus' regular customers, it will be little consolation to the 25 employees at Le Bus' on-campus location, most of whom will lose their jobs as a result of this closing. "We're doing everything we can," Drye said. "We're trying, let's put it that way. Obviously we can't absorb all of them." Drye added that she is sorry to leave the University City area to which she has become "very emotionally attached" over the last two decades. "It's a colorful community," she said. "It's never been without its drama. I've loved every minute of it." Though it is shutting down its retail business at Penn, Drye said that Le Bus will continue to keep its main offices and a bakery at the Sansom Street location for the next several months. There are also no plans to sell the building, owned by Le Bus co-founder Daniel Braverman. Instead, the company will lease the building's ground-floor retail location to Soupmasters. But in its coming departure, Drye said, Le Bus plans to give a little something back to its customers. Today and tomorrow -- its last day of operation -- Le Bus will be giving away free coffee and pastries during normal breakfast hours. The lunch menu will not be affected.
(07/02/98 9:00am)
Research funding fueled a 9.8 percent increase in academic spending. The University will spend a grand total of about $2.9 billion next year, according to the operating budget approved by the University Trustees last month at their annual summer meeting. For Fiscal Year 1999 -- which began July 1, 1998, and ends June 30, 1999 -- the University has a planned operating budget of $2.871 billion, of which $1.284 billion will be divided among Penn's 12 schools for academic expenditures. An additional $307.8 million was delegated for the University's capital budget, which goes to fund projects like Sansom Common and the planned Wharton School facility at the current site of the Book Store building at 38th Street and Locust Walk. The $1.284 billion academic budget constitutes less than 45 percent of the University's total operating budget, with the rest -- nearly $1.6 billion -- belonging to the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Still, the figure represents nearly a 10 percent increase over last year's $1.17 billion in academic expenditures. The total operating budget, including the Health System, jumped 4.6 percent from last year's $2.745 billion. With undergraduate tuition and fees growing by only 4.5 percent next year, University Budget Director Michael Masch attributed the large jump in academic funding to a large increase in government support for research projects at Penn. "The largest factor contributing to the increase in this budget is the increase in research funding," Masch said. "We'll have to do really well to top last year's performance." While the University had counted on $239 million in funding for Fiscal Year 1998, Penn researchers actually received $265 million from the government. Masch said that $294 million -- or 23 percent of the entire academic budget -- is expected to come from those grants this year. An additional benefit of the growth in research funding is that for every research dollar granted, the government gives the University an additional 59 cents to help run the school. But as Masch noted, an increase in funding is financially a double-edged sword. "As the research spending grows, we'll have to spend more to outfit labs and run payroll," he said. "There's a reason why they give us that overhead." Masch also said that this year's budget will benefit from a large increase in "spendable endowment income," the portion of the University's $3 billion endowment that can be spent every year. Masch said that approximately $51.2 million will be allocated, mostly for designated projects like endowed professors' chairs. Masch said that this year's budget represents an improvement over past years' expenditures, as more of the it will go to the schools' academic programs than in years past. This year's budget gives 71.2 percent of the academic budget directly to the University's 12 schools, as opposed to the 68.5 percent that went to the schools in Fiscal Year 1993. "That says to us the administrative units are a lower portion of the total," he said. "That says we're moving in the right direction." Masch noted that the key is not to necessarily cut administrative expenses, but to constrain the rate of growth to as close to zero as possible. While administrative spending is being restrained in the University's operating budget, new spending on University facilities from the capital budget is poised to vastly increase the size of campus -- from the ground up. "What we are planning to do over the next two years is add 1.3 million square feet," Vice President for Facilities Services and Contract Services Omar Blaik said. "That's 10 percent of our current total." The largest single portion of the $307.8 million appropriated this year will go to the new $120 million Wharton building. An additional $23 million will be spent on the School of Dental Medicine's Schattner Building, $6.5 million on the Law School's Silverman Hall and $6 million on Phase II of the Sansom Common Project. According to the University's spending formula, not all of the money set aside this year will actually be spent in 1999. Rather, approximately $100 million from this year's capital budget will be spent in each of the next three years, while most of the money spent in this fiscal year -- on projects such as the Perelman Quadrangle and the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology -- will come from previous years' expenditures. But according to Vice President for Finance Kathy Engebretson, projects planned for the future are putting limits to what the University can do financially. "While we are in good shape for this fiscal year, you look at what everyone has on their plates," she told the Trustees last month. "That's really about a billion dollars over five years and that's really more than we're able to do."
(06/25/98 9:00am)
Thomas Seamon was named a University vice president after three years of heading the Division of Public Safety. Managing Director of Public Safety Thomas Seamon was always more than just your average police officer. Since joining the Philadelphia Police Department in 1969, Seamon, 51, has worked his way up through the ranks to become the University's newest vice president -- a rare post for any law enforcement officer to attain. The University Board of Trustees voted last Friday at their summer meeting to promote Seamon, who came to Penn in 1995 from the PPD, to the position of vice president for public safety, effective July 1. "Tom Seamon has built one of the most progressive university public safety programs in the country," University President Judith Rodin said. "He has played a vital role in our ongoing effort to make Penn safer for all members of the University community and our neighbors." However, Seamon's new title will not affect his responsibilities within the University and the Division of Public Safety. "The creation of the vice president's position does not change the chain of command in the police department," Seamon said, noting that the managing director's position will not be filled. "I remain the head of the division and a sworn police chief." He added that the only administrative changes underway in the division is the upcoming addition of the Office of Fire and Occupational Safety to Public Safety. Rodin noted that the high priority of Public Safety within the University was the reason for the managing director's position to be promoted to vice-presidential status. "The Division has grown significantly over the past several years, and the services it provides are critical to the well-being of the University," she said. "It fully merits leadership at the vice-presidential level." In his role as managing director, Seamon has been responsible for implementing a strategic plan for campus security. Under the plan, the University doubled the number of investigators on its police force, contracted with Spectaguard to consolidate all security guard operations and increased the use of crime-fighting technology. Seamon also oversaw the design and construction of the new public safety facility at 4040 Chestnut Street that houses nearly all of the University's safety and security services. "He has developed a public safety strategy, and he has attracted a team of highly skilled professionals that have met the law enforcement challenges faced by this institution," Executive Vice President John Fry said. "His efforts have positioned Penn to continue to work in strengthening its surrounding neighborhoods." Seamon received a bachelor's degree in history from St. Joseph's University in 1969 and a master's degree in public safety from St. Joseph's in 1990. He rose to the position of deputy commissioner in the PPD -- the number two spot in the department -- before coming to Penn.
(06/25/98 9:00am)
Penn will aid the Phila. School District in constructing one school and relocating another. Calling it "the right thing to do," University President Judith Rodin announced last Thursday a partnership between Penn, the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to establish a new University-assisted elementary school on the outskirts of campus. Under the terms of the agreement, a new school serving students in pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade will be built at the district's expense on a University-owned plot of land at 42nd and Spruce streets. The University will also contribute $700,000 per year -- or $1,000 for each of the school's expected 700 students -- for ten years after the school is completed. The school -- expected to open in September 2001 -- will serve children living in the area bounded by 40th, 49th, Market and Baltimore streets. It is intended to relieve overcrowding in West Philadelphia's beleaguered public schools and to serve as a testing ground for teachers and programs from Penn's Graduate School of Education. Additionally, the University will aid the district in relocating the overcrowded Carver High School for Engineering and Science from its current location at 17th and Norris streets. Though the city will pay the costs of constructing a new buildingfor the magnet school, the University has agreed to make a plot of land at the corner of 38th and Market streets available at a nominal cost. "This is a partnership that holds incredible promise for the children of West Philadelphia," said Rodin, who is a product of the Philadelphia public schools system. "The three organizations represented here share a common interest and that is a commitment to improving the public schools in West Philadelphia." The public school venture is a departure from the national trend in education which sees colleges eschewing public school sponsorship in favor of private elementary and secondary schools. "Penn could have, and many universities across the country have, gone into this effort by establishing a private school or a charter school," said School Superintendent David Hornbeck, who oversees 213,000 students in the city's 259 public schools. "This is a wonderful moment for a K-8 school without peer." Speaking for the teacher's union, PFT Chief of Staff Jerry Jordan declared the partnership a "ray of light after many days of darkness." Penn's commitment to West Philadelphia public schools, however, will go beyond granting land for new buildings and funding school programs. Urban Studies Professor Ira Harkavy and GSE Dean Susan Fuhrman have agreed to head local "cluster resource boards," groups of community members and school officials who will work together to make improvements in areas such as programming and facilities. Harkavy, who is also the director of the Center for Community Partnerships, will head the board that represents University City High School and its "feeder schools," while Fuhrman will lead the West Philadelphia Cluster Resource Board. "We help decide what the clusters need," said Carol Scheman, Penn's vice president for government, community and public affairs, referring to concerns from new textbooks to cafeteria food. "It's an exercise in democracy at the very very local level." The new elementary school will maintain a close relationship with GSE, Fuhrman said. Though the school and the University will continue to sponsor volunteer projects at other local schools, the new school will be a focal point for GSE's teacher training and research programs. "We have over time been trying to consolidate our placements," Fuhrman said. While this school will receive significant funding and programmatic aid from Penn, Carol Scheman noted that the inspiration for this school came from the West Philadelphia community, not the University alone. "What you have here is the implementation of an idea that had its genesis in the community," she said. Yet, according to Penn officials, the presence of a quality public school in the area will likely attract members of the University community to join the larger West Philadelphia community. "Education has always been one of the major aspects of the drive to bring people to West Philadelphia," Managing Director of Community Housing Diane-Louise Wormley said. "[This school] certainly sounds like its going to be quite unusual and quite exceptional." University Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos noted that Penn's commitment to the new elementary school will not stop when current city and University administrators leave office. "The University Trustees have decided and planned that this is something that will go on for many years -- decades of change," he said. "It is our successors that will make it continue." "It's going to change this area, this district and ultimately, this city," he added.
(06/25/98 9:00am)
The debate has wavered between the contentious and the absurd, but after months of discussion and weeks of arguing, the controversial sidewalk-behavior ordinance passed, as expected, through City Council last Thursday. The bill, first proposed in December by Council President John Street, will ban, among other offenses, aggressive panhandling, bike riding and prolonged sitting or lying on city sidewalks. The bill will take effect 120 days from the date it is signed into law. Kevin Feeley, a spokesperson for Mayor Ed Rendell, said the mayor intends to sign it soon. "We believe that the bill has a good chance to provide services for the homeless," Feeley said. However, at least for now, the law's reach -- and the services the bill's proponents have promised for the homeless people affected by the law -- will not extend across the Schuylkill River into University City. At the request of West Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell -- one of the ordinance's three opponents on the 17-member body -- Council exempted her entire Third District from the legislation. When she tried to bring the University City area back under the auspices of Street's bill on its second reading one week ago, her motion was defeated. Blackwell did not return several calls for comment over the last two days. But at-large Councilwoman Happy Fernandez, who lives in West Philadelphia, said that the uneven implementation of the ordinance could have disastrous implications for West Philadelphia. "University City would be like a sitting duck where people could walk across the river and say, 'Hey, we can panhandle here'," she said, adding that the area would also be hurt by being denied access to the $6 million in new city services the mayor has promised for the homeless. But Fernandez held out hope that the law's reach would be expanded. She explained that if any amendments were passed last week, "the whole bill would have been held up until September." Last Thursday was Council's last day in session before its summer recess and members wanted the city to begin planning additional programs for the homeless as soon as possible, Fernandez explained. Carol Scheman, Penn's vice president for government, community and public affairs, said that the bill would be amended soon to include the areas around the University. Scheman indicated that Blackwell spoke with Street and that amendments to the bill will be introduced before it takes effect in the fall. "The ordinance doesn't take effect for 120 days and it will be amended way before then," she said. "There's nothing to worry about. To the extent that the bill is enforced in the city, it will be enforced in all areas evenly." "There's no reason to think this bill will negatively impact West Philadelphia," she added.
