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(09/21/98 9:00am)
You've had a long day. You just want to kick back with some friends and a have a few drinks at a quiet outdoor table sheltered from the whirlwind of daily college life. But you can't. Because you're Colombian or Japanese or Indian, and the waitress doesn't believe that your international ID is valid. Such was the fate that befell a group of nine International House residents August 25 when they tried to order alcoholic drinks at Mad 4 Mex on Moravian Street. All of the residents, all of whom were Penn students, were over 21. Several of them were from abroad. Following restaurant policy, the waitress asked the students to produce ID. When she didn't recognize the IDs, she took them to the restaurant manager, according to Douglas Robinson, a student researcher in the Medical School who is from Holland. The manager initially rejected the foreign IDs because they weren't listed in a book of state driver's licenses published by the Liquor Control Board, the state agency that regulates the licensed beverage industry. Mad 4 Mex and other restaurants use the book to confirm the validity of an ID. "We weren't concerned about being served or not," said College senior Cory Quach, who was with the group at Mad 4 Mex. "We were concerned with the ridiculousness of having very valid IDs that are questioned." But Mad 4 Mex General Manager Andre Braxton, who wasn't in the restaurant the night of the incident, said it's not unreasonable for servers to reject foreign IDs when they can't confirm that the ID is genuine. "The burden of proof is on [the customer]," said Paul Ryan, the owner of Smokey Joe's, a bar and restaurant on 40th Street. According to the LCB, anyone wanting to purchase alcohol must be able to produce one of four types of photo ID -- a United States driver's license, a non-driver's license, a law enforcer's ID card or a passport or visa. The ID must confirm that the holder is over 21. If servers are not convinced that an ID is valid, they are required by state law to refuse service to the customer. "If you're obviously over 21, then it shouldn't be a problem," said LCB administrator Derrick Jackson. "But if you look like you're close to 21, then I would suggest you carry a passport." But this may present problems, according to some international students. "We don't encourage students to carry their passport with them at all times," said Ann Kuhlman, the associate director of International Student and Scholar Services. "Because if they were to lose [the passport], those are hard documents to replace." With no official published book of foreign IDs and no plans at the LCB to alter ID laws, Kuhlman speculated that ISSS might be able to arrange for some other form of identification acceptable to restaurants and practical for students. Those IDs would have to overcome another obstacle as well -- the fact that foreign IDs are often written in different languages using other alphabets and systems of birth dating. Braxton said he has offered some foreign students the option of bringing a photocopy of their passport into Mad 4 Mex, where it would then be kept on file and could be referred to whenever that student ordered alcohol. So far, no one has taken him up on his offer. The issue of students being unable to use foreign IDs has never before been made known to ISSS or to the Office of International Programs, although a number of international students have experienced ID rejections at the New Deck Tavern, Cavanaugh's, the dance club Maui and the White Dog Cafe. But the recent national furor over underage drinking has prompted increased monitoring of bars by the LCB. In turn, bar owners are asking to see more IDs. "The state police treat campus bars differently than they treat all other bars in the city," said Cav's owner Bill Pawlicvek, explaining that he is under "tougher scrutiny" because the University is largely a community of minors. Pawlicvek added: "We card everyone so as to avoid mistakes because everyone judges a person's age differently." But Ryan acknowledged that international students might get some undue additional attention. "Are foreign students hassled a little more when the come in the door? Ryan said."Probably. Unfortunately."
(09/09/98 9:00am)
While most freshmen were taking care of last-minute packing, dozens of new students arrived on campus early to head into the woods or into West Philadelphia. One hundred stalwart freshmen attended the seventh annual PennQuest, a backpacking trip through the Poconos High Point State Park, while 39 participated in the 10th annual PennCORP, a community-service program that acquaints students with each other while introducing them to West Philadelphia community service. PennQuest students, accompanied by 20 upperclass counselors, hiked 15 to 20 miles, sleeping on the trail by night and braving rain and cold with their newfound friends by day. "There was a torrential downpour the first night, but all in all it was great," PennQuest counselor Kiri Gibney said. Gibney, a College senior, described how the freshmen and upperclassmen took advantage of the weather to hold a dance party out in the rain. "[PennQuest] is about getting to know other freshmen," said College sophomore and PennQuest counselor Cam Winton. "When they got back from the trail, they had made friends as close as you can make in three days." The freshmen agreed. "When everyone else is just coming to school, you already know people so it's awesome," said Wharton freshman and PennQuest participant Caroline Mao. While PennQuest participants scaled the Pocono peaks, the PennCORP participants stayed closer to home. The volunteers visited local service sites, rollerskating with children at the West Philadelphia YMCA, interacting with recovering drug addicts at Family House Now and renovating a 49th Street house with Habitat for Humanity. "The purpose of PennCORP is for freshmen to gain insight into the fact that being at the University is being a member of West Philadelphia," said College junior and PennCORP co-coordinator John Gensel. "West Philadelphia is a community where students can be actively involved if they take the initiative." Freshmen in both PennCORP and PennQuest applied to the programs early in the summer. About twice as many students applied as were accepted into each program. PennCORP is run out of Civic House, formerly the Program for Student Community Involvement, which opened at 3914 Locust Walk this summer in the white 19th-century house that used to house the Division of Public Safety. For some PennCORP participants, the program was just the first in what they hope will be a longer career of community service at Penn. College freshman Kate Welch extended her PennCORP experience past the program's official end, returning to a West Philadelphia neighborhood Saturday to continue beautification work at a local garden.
(09/09/98 9:00am)
The University welcomed about 2,400 new freshmen this week with enough parties and free food to last them until the Greek fraternities begin to officially hold parties later this month. From Saturday to Tuesday, more than 30 events and workshops organized by the New Student Orientation committee kept the first-years busy as they explored their new surroundings and rubbed elbows with new acquaintances. "This is the most fun I've ever had," Wharton freshman Marisa Tuchinsky said. "In a week we've met so many people I consider good friends. It can only get better, I guess." Tuchinsky was just one of hundreds of freshmen who, oblivious to Monday night's downpour, ventured out to the Class of 1920 Commons for Freshman Casino Night, revamped this year to include a coffee house and added activities. Wharton senior and NSO organizer Graham Rigby explained that the group tried to make Casino Night fun for all freshmen, even those who did not want to gamble. Students traded chips won at the card tables for raffle tickets redeemable for prizes. Meanwhile, others got tangled up in an ultra-sized game of Twister, while some received free henna tattoos or watched five Penn performing arts groups showcase their work in a coffeehouse atmosphere. Earlier in the day, freshmen in each college house attended receptions for all students in the house, including upperclassmen. Today, freshmen have the option of attending a number of academic workshops and college tips seminars. Tomorrow, new students can acquaint themselves with Penn's striking new retail complex at the Sansom Common Street Fair, a block party that will include live music, free food and booths set up by area vendors. Orientation isn't all fun and games, however. On Sunday, freshmen took a 90-minute break from the hubbub to acclimate themselves to the academic side of college life through discussions of the Penn Summer Reading Project book. In one group of 11 students who met with English Professor Peter Conn, all but one student had read the book, The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, and all had opinions to share. Conn challenged the students to explore how the book, which examines the author's struggle to reconcile her family's cultural history with her life as an American, related to their own lives. The students said they identified with the author's idea of a ghost of the past weighing her down. Reflecting on the discussion, Nursing freshman Kate Richards noted that the foreign students in her group added another dimension to the discussion. "Students from other countries could understand what the author was going through," she said. After the discussions were over, students flocked to the Quadrangle for the annual Dance Party, which attracted huge crowds this year. Other NSO events included a picnic on Hill Field and a box-lunch event at the Annenberg Plaza. Still, College freshman Andrea Zawerczuk lamented, "I miss home food." NSO also sponsored events specifically for incoming international students. Wharton freshman Phoebe Belcher from Australia found these special orientation programs reassuring. "The size of the groups that they organized us into were small enough that you didn't feel too lost," Belcher said. "They understood the position that we were in, coming from another country and scared." Other events were geared toward the 60 or so freshman commuter students that entered Penn this year, said Laurie McCall, associate director of Academic Support Programs and one of three NSO coordinators. McCall explained that commuter students are assigned to a college house and are then invited to the house's events throughout the year. New Student Orientation will continue in the coming weeks with the Into the Streets community service project this Saturday, additional optional workshops, and shopping trips to South Street, Manayunk and King of Prussia.
(06/04/98 9:00am)
As many older men can attest, having a prostatectomy is no joy ride. The surgery, performed on many prostate cancer patients, involves complete removal of the prostate gland. But thanks to a recent study by doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, prostatectomies are becoming less excruciating ordeals. Allan Gottschalk of HUP's Anesthesia Department worked with colleagues for six years to test preemptive analgesia, the practice of treating surgery-related pain before the actual surgery. This method dramatically reduces post-operative agony that often lingers for weeks after a major operation, researchers say. Gottschalk's study on the effects of preemptive analgesia on prostate-surgery patients was published in the April 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "We're talking about severe pain," explained Gottschalk. By giving patients preemptive analgesia, "it lowers the pain level while they're in the hospital and later on when they return home." Gottschalk noted that of the 23 million operative procedures performed annually in the United States, 12 million patients experiencing pain were inadequately treated. Through this study, Gottschalk's team "showed that apart from a 33 percent reduction in pain, patients were more active 3 1/2 weeks after the operation, and more than twice as likely to say they were pain-free 9 1/2 weeks after the operation," he said. And preemptive analgesia can be used for much more than just prostatectomies. "I use this approach any time I do a major procedure below the neck," said Gottschalk. The actual process of preemptive analgesia involves an injection consisting of local anesthetics and opiates, of which morphine is the most common. The drugs are sent through an epidural catheter, "a thin plastic tube inserted into the patient's back and threaded into the space just outside the spinal cord," according to Gottschalk. "We basically turn off the lower part of the body," he said. The drugs then stop the transmission of pain signals through nerves to the spinal cord, halting the sensitization that occurs and thereby stopping pain before it starts. Philadelphia resident Alfred Little had a prostatectomy at HUP in February and was administered preemptive analgesia. Little recalled that after waking up from anesthesia, he was asked to rate his pain on a scale of one to 10. He told his nurse it was a two. "The procedure had been done to deaden all of the nerves before the operation actually took place," said Little. Consequently, "as you start to recover, there's less to recover from in terms of pain." Gottschalk said he hopes to use the results to get a grant from the National Institutes of Health for a larger-scale study.
(04/24/98 9:00am)
Stenciled chairs, decorative sculpture, carved pocket watches and Native American weavings were just a few of the eloquent and ancient objects on display at the 37th annual Philadelphia Antiques Show this week. The show, which contained representations of American culture through the decades, is the largest fundraising event for the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. "Every piece has a little bit of history to it," said organizer Holly Luff. "Even if you're not a collector or buyer, it's a wonderful place to come to." Yesterday, the show completed a five-day run at the 103rd Armory on Drexel University's campus. Organizers expected 10,000 visitors and hoped to match last year's profit of $585,000. Admissions revenues from this year's show will benefit the Complex Aortic Surgery Program at the Medical Center, while actual sales of antiques go to the 56 dealers who came from around the country to display and sell their collections. Collectors must apply to participate in the event. "Our dealers are nationally recognized," Luff said. "We are able to pick the best of the best." Arthur Kaplan, a commemorative jewelry dealer from Maryland, was happy to explain his collection of bracelets, necklaces, and brooches. He extracted a gold ring from its display case and pointed out the lock of hair encapsulated in the ring's glass face. Reading the ring's inscription, "Ann Andrews, 22 November, 1814," he explained that Andrews had died on the inscribed date, at the age of 13. "Her mother or sister would have worn this after she died to commemorate her," Kaplan said. "Many people find [commemorative jewelry] morbid and upsetting. Others find it fascinating." This fascination with things of the past is what draws people to the highly-acclaimed show, though Luff said that "people in Philadelphia don't realize that we're considered one of the finest American antiques shows in the country." Indeed, organizers for the event transformed the gray warehouse on 33rd and Market streets into a lavish museum hall complete with carpeting and fresh flowers every 20 feet. Professional designers had arranged the spacious, wall-papered cubicles that showcased each dealer's antiques. And customers at gilded tables sipped lattes from the show's full-service cafe. While the cafe brings in some money for the annual exhibit, most of the revenue is made from admission tickets, which were $5 for students and $12 for others. The antiques show also held special events in the exhibition hall such as a Children's Workshop, a microbrewery event, a Champagne brunch, lectures and a sampler dinner of Philadelphia restaurants. An army of more than 300 volunteers, mostly women, organized this year's event. Luff stressed that the annual show is a year-round undertaking, adding that work for next year's exhibit will begin the day this show closes.
(04/21/98 9:00am)
Students at Penn and across the country can choose to re-take the exam, which is a major factor in medical school admissions. While most undergraduates were flinging the day away Saturday in the Quadrangle, more than 100 pre-med students labored in David Rittenhouse Laboratory over the test they had studied months for. But 20 minutes into the seven-hour Medical College Admission Test, students discovered an error -- which appeared on tests across the country -- that could jeopardize their chances of getting into medical school. A portion of the exam's verbal section, which tests reading comprehension of random topics, listed the wrong questions. The eight questions dealt with astronomy, while their corresponding reading section pertained to fast-food restaurants. Students pointed out the error to proctors, who contacted exam administrators and then told test-takers to skip the section completely. At least two students in one of the exam rooms voided their tests and left. "Everyone's first reaction was, 'I messed up really bad, I'm not going to med school,' " said Engineering junior Nick Rose, who went on to finish the test. "Everybody in the room was already stressed to the max as it is." The Association of American Medical Colleges, the group which administers the MCAT, will give students who took Saturday's exam three options. They may request a refund of the test's $160 fee; retake the exam, which is given twice a year, in August for free; or let their scores stand. The AAMC will not include the faulty section when calculating the score. Less than 10 percent of testing sites across the country were affected by the error, according to Andrea Wilson, a spokesperson for Kaplan Educational Centers, which offers students preparatory courses for the MCAT and other standardized tests. The number of Penn students affected by the error was not immediately available. However, even students whose exams did not contain mistakes were distracted by the incident, Rose said. And just how important is the MCAT for admission to medical school? "It's significant," said Maria Lofftus, director of academic services at Kaplan. She added that medical schools "do a personal interview, but in that initial review, most med schools are looking at academic history and the MCAT exam." Undergraduates usually take the exam in April of their junior year and then apply to medical school that summer. Medical schools run rolling admissions starting in mid-October, and students who wait to take the August exam will not receive their scores until mid-to-late October, meaning it could be more difficult for the late test-takers to gain admission. Some students start studying in their freshman year because the exam tests knowledge of topics like basic chemistry, biology and physics, Lofftus said. College junior Scott Fudemberg, whose test contained the errors, said he began studying in January. But as far as studying to take the MCATs a second time, "It's an unfathomable nightmare," said Fudemberg. He finished the test Saturday and is unsure whether he will void his score. And Rose said he is certain he will not repeat the MCAT. "I threw away this semester for the purpose of studying for it," he said. "I just don't want to do that again."
(04/20/98 9:00am)
Ahh, springtime! The birds, the flowers, the?nasal decongestants? If you are one of the 35 million Americans who suffer from allergies, April and May are a time of misery. And this year, the allergy season began earlier and is likely to last longer due to the effects of El Ni-o. The warm, wet winter, which produced average temperatures 7.2 degrees above normal, provided plants with a longer growing season and a chance to release extra pollen, according to a recent article in The Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's so bad this year, you can see the pollen moving through the air," said College senior Ashley Collins, who takes medication to combat allergies. Allergy and Asthma magazine says seasonal allergies are usually caused by the body's unfavorable reaction to plant pollen, although many people are also allergic to animal hair, dust mites or molds. Leaf and flower buds in the Philadelphia area on juniper, oak and elm trees prove especially troublesome in spring, while weeds and grasses cause problems in the late summer, the Inquirer reported. A person wrestling with allergies may experience sneezing, wheezing, a stuffy nose and itchy, watery eyes, symptoms that many people lump under the label "hay fever," though the medical term is Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis, or SAR. "Actually, the term 'hay fever' is a misnomer, since SAR is rarely due to hay exposure," said Burton Zweiman, chief of the Allergy and Immunology Division of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Another common myth is that allergies are caused by colds and sinus infections. Although all three ailments exhibit similar symptoms, colds are caused by viruses -- not allergens -- while sinus infections are the result, not the cause of long-lasting allergic reactions. These misconceptions can make treating allergies a confusing business. The most common treatment, antihistamines, block the body's receptors of histamines, which are chemicals released by the immune system to combat allergens. Unfortunately, over-the-counter antihistamines often cause drowsiness. Zweiman said that while prescription medications do not carry this side effect, "two of them, Seldane and Hismanal, have been implicated in a particular type of cardiac arrythmia in a small percentage of individuals." Other popular prescription medications like Zyrtec, Allegra and Claritin are not associated with this risk. However, antihistamines aren't a cure-all. "Since antihistamines generally do not help nasal congestion, even when effective against other allergic symptoms, they are frequently prescribed along with oral decongestants like Sudafed," Zweiman explained. Many allergy sufferers find more frustration than relief from trials of these various medications. "I don't know how much they work," Collins said. "I don't know if it's psychological or what, though I seem to do better on medicine." There are other ways to reduce the misery of seasonal allergies. Zweiman said avoiding the offending allergens should be sufferers' top priority. "The highest pollen counts are in the mid-to-late morning, so allergic individuals should avoid outdoor activities, particularly those involving running and particularly when in windy weather," he said. Pollution, smoke and changes in humidity can also exacerbate allergic reactions. If you are willing to play the medication game, Zweiman said "a trial of over-the-counter antihistamines is worth doing." If that does not work, he recommended seeing an allergy specialist.
(04/08/98 9:00am)
In my first year of middle school I learned that boys pull girls' pigtails. In my first year of high school I learned that women won equality in the 1970s. In my first year of college I learned that my history teacher had lied and that boys still misbehave. I do not understand how any Penn student can claim that gender inequalities on the college campus or in our larger society have been eradicated. We have made vast progress in the larger battles for political and economic rights, yet young women in America still face daily abuses specific to the female gender. This continued battery is especially damaging because it is subtle. We are constantly bombarded by peers and the media to conform to a double standard of beauty: be sexy, but not sluttish; be thin, but not bony; wear black pants, but don't personify the sorority type. Female Wharton graduates can look forward to a businessworld where they will have to fight to earn equal pay for equal work. We are subjected to the torments of males who, seeing us as breasts and genitalia, belittle us through dormroom banter, poor taste but mainstream films and e-mail circulated sex jokes. It's not that we can't take a joke, but it's tiring to be the punchline time and again. I'm the first to assert that not all men are guilty of these offenses; my aim is not to perpetuate stereotypes. But what conclusion are we to come to when repeated experience reinforces these stereotypes? Women at frat parties do find themselves fending off roaming fingers; women in the big city do get accosted; women in the office do become the unhappy recipients of unwanted advances. In the regular course of events, we don't complain about being treated disrespectfully because we have been conditioned to view the swirl of sexual jibes and snide comments as a natural mode of rapport between males and females. I take full responsibility for the fact that I rarely protest these degradations anymore. Somewhere along the line I learned that a little woman in a big world can lose her voice easily, so it's best not to shout. But even as the Penn Women's Center celebrates its 25th Anniversary, reading the public commentary that has lined this newspaper's pages has convinced me that my silence is the surest way to reinforce the status quo. So today I add my voice to the males and females alike who look forward to a more equal society where men and women respect each other as intelligent equals, not sex objects. As the cream of the country's academic crop and its future leaders, it is our duty to continue to strive for gender equality and our special shame if we deny that the problem persists. When I don't need a posse of trustworthy male friends to escort me to a party, when I don't see girls tragically parading their anorexic frames around campus, when I can live through an entire day without being teased by a male student who thinks I find humor in his sexual innuendo, when the card swiper learns my name is not "sweetheart," when I can voice my opinions without being called a bitch, then and only then will I applaud those who declare that the revolution is over. I can only hope it happens before my daughter is old enough to have pigtails.
(03/18/98 10:00am)
Will the next Bill Gates hold a degree from Penn's Nursing School? Although that's not exactly the stated goal of administrators in the Nursing School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, a recently-created joint-degree program between the two schools is geared toward equipping students with the skills necessary to design computer applications for the health care industry. Acting Nursing Undergraduate Dean Kathleen McCauley said the Nursing Informatics program will nurture a new kind of health care professional able to organize and analyze data for the purpose of improving care and making it more efficient. "It's a brand new way of thinking of things," McCauley said. The program will enroll its first students this September with the Class of 2002. Since the program is a four-year course of study, students must apply to enter the program when they apply to the University. Officials expect two or three students to join the program each year. "I think it will start small but will escalate," Weaver said. Nursing Informatics students will take courses in the Nursing and Engineering schools, as well as some specially designed courses in physics, chemistry and computer science, among other subjects. McCauley explained that health care professionals are constantly looking at ways computers can help them improve the quality of care at hospitals, clinics, health insurance companies and community health agencies. In a hospital, for instance, many variables -- such as a patient's diagnosis, the cost of tests and medicines, and the types of doctors needed to treat an illness -- contribute to the process of treating a patient. All of these variables need to fit together efficiently to provide high-quality care. This is where a student of informatics enters the picture. Health care institutions need people to "design programs that will collect large amounts of data relative to health care in order to analyze this data to direct health care decisions," said Nursing Professor Terri Weaver, who helped develop the joint-degree program. The ultimate goal is cost-effective but high-quality care, she added. Nursing sophomore Kathryn Kalbach said the new joint-degree program sounded interesting. But she wondered why health care institutions would need nurses to do tasks best left to computer experts. "I don't know if there's a need for [someone certified as a nurse] to collect data like that," Kalbach said. But Weaver stressed that this combination of nursing and engineering skills is exactly what health care systems are looking for. Someone with a background in nursing as well as computers will be better able to design programs responsive to the needs of doctors and patients because such a person will understand the inner workings of the health care field, officials explained. "We tend to have a cadre of people well-prepared in informatics, but who don't have the background in clinical practice," McCauley said. Nursing Informatics is the Nursing School's second joint-degree program. Health Care Management, a program with the Wharton School, enrolled its first six students last fall.
(02/24/98 10:00am)
College freshman Sebastian Stockman is one of 15 students nationwide to go on the show. Out of a pool of a few thousand applicants, only 15 college students nationwide are chosen each year to compete on Jeopardy!'s annual college tournament. And this year, College freshman Sebastian Stockman is one of them. In less than a month, Stockman will fly to the University of California at Berkeley for an intensive, two-day taping of the popular quiz show. The tournament will air in 10 nightly half-hour segments from May 4 to May 15. Stockman learned of his selection as a contestant last Friday when a television crew from WPVI-Channel 6, which televises Jeopardy! in Philadelphia, surprised him as he ate lunch in Kings Court/English House. Philly After Midnight reporter Karen Rogers presented Stockman with a Jeopardy! hat and certificate. As the lunchroom erupted with applause, the stunned Stockman could only reply, "Wow." Stockman remained dazed for the rest of the day as friends, his parents and even Interim Provost Michael Wachter congratulated him. "This is just another example of how deep and diverse Penn's talent pool really is," Wachter said. Once all the excitement had subsided, Stockman, whose friends call him "Sub," spoke with a grin and a slight Missouri twang about his decision to try to become a contestant on Jeopardy! "I've always liked trivia. I just figured I'd give it a shot," he said. While at home in Alma, Mo., last spring, Stockman registered via the Internet to take a Jeopardy! exam in nearby Kansas City, Mo. Jeopardy! receives tens of thousands of college applications each year over the Internet and through the mail. However, only a few thousand of these students are selected randomly to take a 50-question test that probes their knowledge on everything from popular culture to history. Students then try their hand at a mock Jeopardy! game involving actual game buzzers. A mere 15 students are chosen to appear on the show based on their exam and game performance. Before applying for Jeopardy!, Stockman served as the president of his high school quiz bowl team for two years, leading the team to state-level competition. Now he has less than one month to prepare for he knows will surely be a grueling but electrifying experience in Berkeley. "I'll probably practice the game on my Jeopardy! CD-ROM and bone up on my trivia," Stockman said. He'll also receive help from his dormmates, who have already become accustomed to losing to Stockman at his computer game. His favorite Jeopardy! categories are "Books and Authors" and "Sports." The last time a Penn student appeared on Jeopardy! was in 1996, when College senior Brian Gondos, then a sophomore, advanced to the semi-finals of the college tournament. If Stockman wins the grand prize on the show, he will receive a cool $25,000. But to Stockman's friends, he's already a winner. When Philly After Midnight filmed Stockman and his friends celebrating at Smokey Joe's Friday night, the group drowned out the reporter with cheers and shouts. Stockman was reluctant to predict how he would fare on the show. "I'm just happy to be there," he said. "I was pretty lucky to get to be a contestant. However I do is OK with me."
(02/16/98 10:00am)
Members of the University's Sphinx Senior Society are currently engaged in some pretty serious research. But their work isn't done in a laboratory -- it's all about history. Sphinx, one of four co-ed senior honor societies, is trying to discover from University Archives whether its organization was founded in 1898 or 1899, and its findings will determine whether this year's or next year's members will enjoy festivities honoring the group's 100-year anniversary. But no matter what the researchers conclude, Sphinx members emphasized that their group exists for much more concrete purposes than scheduling parties. Sphinx began as a secret club, then emerged as a forum for promising fourth-year student leaders, College senior Tal Golomb explained. Golomb, who is the chief -- or president of the society -- noted that Sphinx was comprised mainly of the "big men" on campus until the 1960s, when they admitted the first woman for her leadership of the Penn Band. Now the group is much more diverse. Its members represent a variety of student organizations from performing arts groups to community service clubs. This variety is exactly why Sphinx members enjoy being part of the society. "It gives you a chance to get to know other student leaders," said Wharton senior and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Steve Schorr, who serves as chairperson of the Student Activities Council. "And to know what's going on with other organizations," added Senior Class President Andy Kline, also a Wharton senior. Sphinx members gather weekly to support each other's activities by attending fellow members' sports events and performances. "It's nice to have an informal time to interact and hang out with each other," Golomb said. Other members agreed, noting that Sphinx fosters friendships that will last well past graduation. The society also holds trips, brunches and banquets throughout the year where Sphinx alumni wine and dine with current undergraduate members. But beyond serving as a social outlet for undergrads and alumni, the society is an important networking tool. Sphinx will shortly be traveling to the Penn Club in New York City, where members will have a chance to meet and talk informally with graduates now successful in the professional world. Soon after, current Sphinx members will select next year's members from the extracurricular elite of the junior class. This year's seniors will admit 23 juniors, who will then select seven more seniors to join the society in September. This year's members were chosen for their contributions to groups such as the Undergraduate Assembly, Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health, Off the Beat, UTV13 and the BiCultural InterGreek Council. Looking back on their last four years of college, members had some advice for undergraduates eager to affect Penn in positive ways. "Focus on a small number of groups rather than trying to do everything and not being dedicated to all of them," advised College senior and FLASH educator Laura Korin. And Newman Council President Christine Albanese, also a College senior, suggested that students "have a vision" of what they want to accomplish for themselves and the groups in which they participate.
(02/09/98 10:00am)
Ask any Penn student to explain El Ni-o and they'll likely describe it as "that storm thingy," or tell you that it "causes tornadoes." But University alumnus Michael Glantz makes understanding El Ni-o his business. Glantz, who earned a degree in Engineering from Penn in 1961, spoke Thursday on El Ni-o's impact on climate and society as part of the Alumni Lecture Series of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As program director for the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Glantz is an authority on the consequences of the weather phenomenon. Glantz defined El Ni-o as a seasonal phenomenon that occurs when warm currents from the western side of the Pacific Ocean move eastward, heating up the west coast waters of North and South America and causing droughts in Australia and Indonesia and rain storms in the Americas. As a social scientist, however, Glantz said he is more interested in how El Ni-o impacts society. Society has "a fascination with weather," he said. Glantz pointed out El Ni-o's ubiquitous presence in the mass media, noting its appearance as a subject of the daily comic strip "Frank and Ernest." So with all of this exposure, why do students continue to remain uninformed about El Ni-o? Students explained that the media focuses the majority of its attention on how El Ni-o relates to global warming trends. "I think people are much more interested in global warming because that's what the media focuses on," Engineering junior Brad Edelman said. "I don't know if people know the difference." In fact, the connection between global warming and El Ni-o -- if there is one -- is not yet known, Glantz explained. But one thing is certain -- while global warming is a relatively recent development, El Ni-o has been around for thousands of years. The phenomenon occurs on average every 4 1/2 years, and may last anywhere from 12 to 24 months, he said. The current El Ni-o, which began late last year, is responsible for rain storms and floods in California, Florida and Cuba. In other years, El Ni-o has caused serious droughts and merciless blizzards throughout the world. Glantz was quick to indicate El Ni-o's positive side, informing his audience that during an El Ni-o year, the East Coast and Gulf regions enjoy a sharp decrease in hurricane activity. Glantz is the author of the book Currents of Change: El Ni-o's Impact on Climate and Society. He explained that the study of El Ni-o applies to the domain of what he termed "usable science" -- the idea that scientific research should strive toward producing applicable results rather than being driven solely by scientific curiosity. Despite constant research on El Ni-o for the last 20 years, scientists are still unable to accurately predict or determine its effects. Glantz noted that El Ni-o has been blamed for everything from warm weather to the economic crisis in East Asia. "The El Ni-o mystery is not solved," he added.
(02/05/98 10:00am)
Though you may not know it, you've probably passed a few of Penn's Friars on Locust Walk this semester. They weren't wearing the brown-hooded capes of the Dominican Order or spouting theological wisdom. Instead, they more than likely on their way to rehearsal or to swim practice. Founded in 1901 as a protest against cliques and snobbery, the Friars Senior Society is a co-ed association of campus leaders from every sphere of Penn life. It is one of four senior societies, along with the Sphinx Senior Society, the Mortar Board Senior Society and the Onyx Senior Society. The 30 Friars include club presidents, directors of performing arts groups and captains of sports teams. "It's great because these are people who are so active in different things that they never would have bumped into one another," said Sally Katz, a member of the Friars Graduate Board, which oversees the organization. Joe Carlon, the current Friars president, or "abbot," said the mix of students provides camaraderie across traditional social lines. "One of the big things that makes Friars different from other groups is that we focus on supporting each other," said the College senior, who is also captain of the Penn baseball team. "I think that's the strongest part of our society. It fosters friendship, rather than just being part of a club." Once a week, Carlon and the other members gather to support their fellow Friars in their individual activities, such as a musical performance or a track meet. The Friars also perform community service activities and hold social events with graduate Friars throughout the year. These gatherings include a celebration at Homecoming, the annual "Friarside Chat" and a spring dinner. Katz, who acts as a liaison between undergraduate Friars and the 1,500 Friar alumni, said graduates and current seniors alike enjoy mingling with one another at these events. Friars are chosen for membership in the spring semester of their junior year in a process called "tapping." About 40 prospective members are invited to a "smoker," which serves as an opportunity for the outgoing senior Friars to meet and select about 20 new members -- all of whom are leaders in the University community. The following fall, the new Friars choose, or "tap," 10 more members. "Tapping" usually entails visiting the future member's dorm to announce his or her selection as a Friar. Some well-known graduate Friars include Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and his wife Marjorie, who is a University Trustee and a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, University Trustee Emeritus and philanthropist Walter Annenberg and Philadelphia Phillies President Dave Montgomery. With such a small membership and subjective process of selection, it may seem that Friars perpetuates the very cliquishness it was founded to combat. But Carlon suggested that the society is an open window, not a closed door. "At Penn, people get locked into groups of people they hang out with, through sports or fraternities or whatever," he said. But as a Friar, "you're able to meet a lot of diverse people. It opens your eyes to things you would never see if you weren't a part of it," Carlon said. The society took its name from the Roman Catholic orders of friars who lived by the creed: "It's not what you're going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life."
