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(03/21/95 10:00am)
and Ryan Papir In presentations to University Council and two Board of Trustees' committees last week, Acting Budget Director Ben Hoyle detailed the University's proposed 1995-96 budget. He cited the University's 5.5 percent increase in tuition and fees -- lower than hikes proposed at Dartmouth College, the University of Rochester and Yale, Princeton and Brown universities -- as a focal point of the package. For 1994-95, the University's average tuition, mandatory fees and room and board total $25,822 -- making the University fourth most expensive among Ivy League schools. The University's tuition and mandatory fees, taken alone, were the cheapest in the Ivy League at an average of $18,856. The University's 5.7 percent increase in tuition and mandatory fees for 1994-95 was on par with increases across Ivy League, which saw an average tuition and fee hike of 5.8 percent. Hoyle also said the University would like to get the rate of growth in unrestricted funds in line with increases in tuition and fees, and wants more of the funding for financial aid to come from the University's endowment. "The faster the unrestricted fund grows, the less the University has to invest in other services," Hoyle said. Approximately $43 million of the total financial aid grant of $47.1 million comes from unrestricted funds, the main source of which is tuition. Allocations for the Penn Grant program, which is primarily funded by unrestricted monies, will increase by 6.3 percent. This is down from a growth rate of 17 percent in the last fiscal year and 10 percent for this fiscal year. This money is given primarily in the form of direct grants from the University to financially needy students, Hoyle said. The majority of financial aid comes from Penn Grant funds, he said. Hoyle also said that University-wide revenues are expected to rise by 4.7 percent for fiscal 1996, despite the fact that the incoming Class of 1999 will have 50 fewer students than the current freshman class. The reduction in class size has been mandated by the Trustees due to concern over the University's student to faculty ratio, which is higher than those at peer institutions, Provost Stanley Chodorow told University Council. Hoyle presented projections discussing an anticipated increase in compensation of 5.2 percent University-wide, with benefits rising by 6.0 percent and non-academic salaries up 3.2 percent. Average academic salaries will jump an 7.3 percent over the next year as a result of a 3.5 percent increase in raises for existing faculty positions and a $1.8 million appropriation for new appointments. These figures do not demonstrate the effects of process reengineering that will occur throughout the University during the implementation of the Coopers & Lybrand administrative restructuring report, Hoyle said.
(03/20/95 10:00am)
Administrators are projecting a break-even performance for the University during fiscal year 1995, Comptroller Alfred Beers told the Trustees' Budget and Finance Committee Friday morning. But the University of Pennsylvania Health System's new Clinical Care Associates practice posted a $3.9 million deficit for the quarter ending December 31, 1994, almost $2.5 million worse than budget. UPHS Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer John Wynne attributed the difference to the difficulties of building the new corporation, saying that CCA's budget was prepared "before we had experience with actual operations." University President Judith Rodin and Acting Budget Director Ben Hoyle then presented the proposed 1995-96 University budget. The plan holds constant Residential Living rents and dining contract prices -- averaging $4,342 and $2,624, respectively -- but increases tuition and fees for undergraduates by 5.5 percent, to $19,898. Overall, charges for undergraduates will rise by four percent next year, totalling $26,864. Hoyle said this change compares favorably with other schools of the University's caliber. This is "a significant accomplishment for us in this budget year," he said. Tuition and fees for graduate students will be $20,846, while professional school tuition will be determined on a school-by-school basis. But members of the Committee pressed Rodin and Hoyle about the spiraling costs of financial aid -- approximately $47 million next year due to the University's need-blind admissions policy -- and about what seemed to be substantial salary increases University-wide. Rodin and Hoyle answered that the burden of financial aid will be shifted more to the schools over the next three years and that salaries have been increased to keep them competitive with other schools and allow the University to retain hotly-pursued faculty. Associate Treasurer Diane-Louise Wormley provided the Budget and Finance Committee with an update on the University's Guaranteed Mortgage Program, developed in 1965. The program is an effort to encourage faculty and staff members to live in the West Philadelphia area, providing financing for up to 105 percent of the purchase price of a home in the community with an appraised value of $203,150 or less. The program's boundaries have recently been expanded to include Cobbs Creek Parkway on the west and City Line Avenue on the northwest, decreasing the average cost per eligible home. "[We want] a wider range of people at a wider range of salary levels to have home ownership," Wormley said, adding that the program and its associated services -- such as free mortgage counseling and an annual housing fair -- have been well-received. At the Stated Meeting of the Trustees' Executive Committee Friday afternoon, Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow updated members of the Board of Trustees on the implementation of campus safety initiatives, status of state funding for next year and upcoming faculty leaves and promotions -- including Chodorow's own appointment as a professor of history. Additionally, the Committee passed resolutions enlarging the Health System Trustee Board and various University Boards of Overseers, ratifying the appointments of John Anderson Fry as executive vice president and Susan Fuhrman as dean of the Graduate School of Education and disposing of properties owned by the University in New Jersey and northern Virginia. It also approved funds for the renovation of Blockley Hall by the Medical School and the continuation of the ResNet wiring program.
(03/16/95 10:00am)
The administration has created a working group charged with examining the role of a university chaplain in the current campus climate, Executive Assistant to the Provost Linda Koons said earlier this week. The group will be chaired by Jane Lowe, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work. It looks as though the group has its work ready-made, since students -- if they know that there is an official chaplain on campus at all -- say they have virtually no idea of what Reverend Stanley Johnson does on an average day. However, College sophomore Mark Gengenbach said it is still necessary to have a school chaplain who can serve as a counselor -- although Student Health Service and the University Counseling Service also offer psychological help. "For some reason, when I think of chaplain, I think of religious connotations," he said, adding that he did not see a problem with the chaplain having a particular religious affiliation. Engineering freshman Shira Neustein agreed. "As long as [that religion] is not imposed on the student body, I don't think it's a big deal -- as long as [the position] embodies the goals and values of the institution," she said. "I think there's always a role for someone who helps to remind us that there are limits to whatever we feel we can do." Assistant Vice Provost for University Life Barbara Cassel and Ralph Ciampa, director of pastoral care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, will also be involved in the discussion of the chaplain's role. "I think what we're doing, basically, is looking at the role of the chaplain from a historical perspective, [seeing] how that ties into the future of the institution, and examining what that role should look like in the future," Cassel said. Koons said she expects the group to meet for the first time next week.
(03/16/95 10:00am)
The Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education is slowly progressing toward its goal of making a 21st century academic community a reality on campus. PCUE will now focus its energies on the development of "propositions embodying the characteristics we think a Penn undergraduate experience of the early 21st century?should have" and on the nature of the future University community, Provost Stanley Chodorow said. Now that PCUE's task has divided into nine smaller segments, subcommittees have been determined and their chairs -- all PCUE members -- have been appointed, said 21st Century Project Executive Director Kim Morrisson. Each subcommittee will probably have between five and seven faculty and student members, Morrisson said. The students will be selected later this week from a pool of names generated by the Nominations and Elections Committee. "The idea is that each [subcommittee] will engage the community -- or the relevant parts of the community -- in an effort to come up with ways in which its proposition could be implemented," Chodorow said. College Dean Robert Rescorla is heading a group that will study scholarly engagement with faculty, focusing on the role of research in the undergraduate experience. "It's only when you try to add to knowledge that you understand what knowledge is all about," he said last night. "It's important and exciting to do that." Specifically, Rescorla said his group will discuss how to make research open to all undergraduates, because of the unique learning environment independent study and investigation provides. Mary Naylor, associate dean and director of undergraduate education in the Nursing School, is the chairperson of a subcommittee that will evaluate undergraduates' access to professional education and professional school faculty. Communications Professor Oscar Gandy has direction of the community service and service learning subcommittee, while Wharton junior Satya Patel, chairperson of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, will work with a group examining peer educational experiences. Acting Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum's subcommittee will look at "other culture" experiences. McCoullum said yesterday that she believes these experiences "which serve to prepare our students for [the] global community are?essential to the Penn vision of the 21st century undergraduate experience." Engineering Associate Dean David Pope has been assigned to a subcommittee that will analyze advising, and Professor of Operations and Information Management James Laing is in charge of a subset of Pope's group targeting student information systems. Wharton Vice Dean Bruce Allen is chairing the admissions and publications subcommittee. Finally, Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington will head the subcommittee looking at usage of state-of-the-art technology on campus. "My committee will deal with the impact of the information revolution on how we educate, how students learn, how students and faculty interact with each other," he said. "I am eager to engage in the discussion and creativity that will be involved." Chodorow said he has asked the subcommittees to report back to PCUE in about five weeks.
(03/16/95 10:00am)
The casual observer could almost have confused yesterday's University Council meeting with a session of the Undergraduate Assembly. The unseasonably warm and sunny weather, combined with a relatively uncontroversial agenda, resulted in below-quorum attendance at the meeting. After the traditional round of reports from Council's constituent assemblies, Undergraduate Assembly member and College senior Dan Schorr asked Council Moderator Will Harris to recognize UTV President Heather Dorf, a College junior. Council's Steering Committee agreed last month to bar UTV cameras from Council proceedings, but allow them to interview members and attendees after meetings end. Schorr and Dorf planned to request that Council discuss and reconsider Steering's ruling, but Harris said that without a quorum, Council did not have the authority to take such an action. After a suggestion by Faculty Senate and Council Steering Chairperson Barbara Lowery, Harris recommended that UTV bring a full proposal about coverage to a future Steering meeting. "I do not want my ruling to close down the conversation," he said. Provost Stanley Chodorow and Ben Hoyle, the acting director of resource planning and budget, then presented highlights from the University's proposed 1995-96 academic year budget. The budget provides for an undergraduate tuition hike of 5.5 percent, with overall undergraduate charges rising by four percent. The $250 technology fee, residential living rents, and the price of a dining services meal contract have been frozen at their current levels. This year's 5.5 percent tuition increase contrasts favorably to past increases of six and even seven percent per year, Chodorow said. "We're challenging [peer institutions], in effect, to raise their rates much less than they have in the past," he added. Financial aid will jump by 4.1 percent, with approximately $47 million earmarked for undergraduates. This figure is heavily tuition-dependent -- while Princeton University's endowment supports roughly 95 percent of its financial aid budget, the University's endowment provides only $2 million for the same purpose. But the proposed budget does not show the expected effects of the reengineering mandated by the Coopers & Lybrand administrative restructuring report, Chodorow said. Hoyle said that while the new budget does not demonstrate savings achieved through reengineering, it is significant because it includes "the lowest rate of growth in the [University's] unrestricted budget" in more than 15 years. Vice Provost for Graduate Education Janice Madden and History Professor Walter Licht, the associate dean of and director of graduate studies in the School of Arts and Sciences, next reported on the state of graduate education at the University. Madden said she is encouraged by progress made since a five-year planning report on the awarding of doctoral degrees was released in 1991, including the development of clear rules and expectations for graduate groups and the recruitment and retention of students of color to the University's graduate programs. But Licht said he is "glum" about prospects graduate students face upon entering the job market, adding that worries about financial support from independent foundations and the federal government are leading to "judicious parings" within graduate groups. Assistant Vice President for Policy Planning and Federal Relations David Morse said the desire of national lawmakers for a balanced budget has endangered many fellowships and loan programs. He urged those in attendance to tell their legislators about the importance of these programs. The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly plans to begin a letter-writing campaign intended to increase awareness of such funding issues this week. Finally, Council adopted a resolution advanced by its Committee on Communications urging "expeditious completion of the ResNet project" -- by September 1996 if possible -- and guaranteed access to communication and information services for "all members of the University community."
(03/15/95 10:00am)
Next year's University budget and the current state of graduate education are central topics on the agenda for today's University Council meeting. Following the usual reports by University President Judith Rodin, Provost Stanley Chodorow and the chairpersons of Council's various constituent assemblies, Chodorow and Acting Budget Director Ben Hoyle will present financial proposals for the 1995-96 academic year -- including a suggested 5.5 percent tuition and fees increase. The increase, as well as the entire University budget, must still be approved by the University's Board of Trustees at meetings later this week and in June. At today's Council meeting, Vice Provost for Graduate Education Janice Madden, Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences Walter Licht, and Assistant Vice President for Policy Planning and Federal Relations David Morse will also speak about graduate education. The Council Committee on Communications will propose a resolution urging both "that access to communication and information services be provided to all members of the University community" and "the expeditious completion of the ResNet project," according to an agenda provided by the Faculty Senate Office. Finally, Council will receive an update on the progress of judicial reform before adjourning. The meeting will be held from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. It is open to the public.
(03/14/95 10:00am)
Former New York Times columnist and best-selling author Anna Quindlen, who gave up her column last December, came to campus February 23 to talk to the University community in a segment of the on-going Annenberg Public Policy series. She took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to chat with Daily Pennsylvanian Staff Writers Jorie Green, Lisa Levenson and Ryan Papir. Daily Pennsylvanian: We're wondering how you decided to get into reporting. Anna Quindlen: I really wanted to be a fiction writer -- which seems ironic now -- and I pretty much figured out that you couldn't be a fiction writer and make a living out of it, and certain fiction writers that I knew said, "You know, what you should really do is take a job that would just pay the rent," but had nothing to do with writing, and that didn't sound like such a great idea to me. I was the editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, so the summer after I graduated from high school I went to work as a copy girl at our local daily, the New Brunswick Home News in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They let me do some reporting in my spare time, and what I found as somebody who had been raised as a really good Catholic girl was that a job in which I got to ask people rude and intrusive questions, and go someplace where I would not normally be able to go was so seductive that the writing part of it was only half the fun, and the reporting was the other half of the fun. So once I got in, I didn't look back -- until last year? DP: Considering how seductive you found reporting, why did you move from news to editorial writing? AQ: Well, first of all, I think the very best editorial writing is founded on reporting. I very rarely did a column that I hadn't done a significant amount of reporting on first?So I never thought of doing a column as giving up the reporting -- although if I had, I might not have embraced it so whole-heartedly. But also street reporting is kind of a young person's game, and after you've covered a certain number of murders, and a certain number of city hall press conferences, and been to the White House press room enough times, hard as it is for you to believe, you think, "Been there, done that." And so one of the reasons that I was anxious to do the column is because it meant movement for me? DP: Can you tell us where you got your column ideas? AQ: Some of them I got from the daily newspaper, just picking it up in the morning. Some of them I got from Page 1, and some of them I got from three paragraphs off the AP Wire that ran at the bottom of some page. Some of them came in fits and starts, so that one of my kids would say something and I'd sort of store it up, and then three months later, there'd be something that would happen in the news and I'd think, "Gee, that reminds me of that thing that Quinn said," and then I'd do the reporting and I'd put it all together but I would be saving string on it over months?I sort of bounced around between those that were inspired by personal things, those that were inspired by political affairs, those that came off the news and those that were just something that I knew about because I'd been following certain areas of American public discourse. DP: At this point in your life, when most people would be thrilled to say, "Wow, now I've got a column, and it's a change and it's something that I've been looking forward to," you've decided to give yours up. Can you give us an idea of why? AQ: Well, I was thrilled, and for five years I had a great time, and I thought I did a real creditable job, but as I said, I think it's real useful to push yourself all the time, that when you've gotten pretty good at something and you feel comfortable with it, that's a real good sign that in a year or two you ought to be looking for something else. And also, finally, I'm in a position to be able to write fiction and make it pay, and I don't know of a serious writer who wouldn't jump at that opportunity? I wanted to get out before other people thought it was time for me to get out. DP: Many aspiring journalists and readers concerned about current issues consider you a role model. How do you feel about this, and who were your role models when you were training? AQ: Well, obviously it's a little daunting, you know, particularly when you're on the train screaming at your kids and you realize that some woman sitting across the aisle knows exactly who you are and exactly how she thinks you ought to be acting, but to the extent that I've tried to make both my work and my family a real priority and that I'm known as a feminist -- which is really important to me -- and as a liberal, I'm happy if people see that as something that mirrors their own interests and concerns, that part of it's fine with me. If some little girl looks at me and says, "I'm for equal treatment for women, too," I say, "Hey, I have earned my place on the planet this month." To the extent that people try to make one woman stand for all women -- that's always made me really uncomfortable -- this time around there was all this second-guessing of the decision that I made about my work, and what it meant for women, as opposed to just saying, "Gee, you know, this is a real quirky one." I'm the first person in the history of the New York Times to ever willingly give up an op-ed page column, just write it off as lunacy and let's get on to other things, as opposed to what it says about women? DP: Turning to the newspaper business generally, how do you think it's changed since you entered it? AQ: I think it's much better. I think stories are better written, I think there's more analysis, I think we offer more of something for everyone than we did when I first got into the business. I first got into the business in 1970, which was still either a very who-what-when-where-why-and-how kind of story, or features so light they practically qualified as "Nerf" stories. I think we have a whole lot more in-between now. We have a whole lot more hard news that has some color and some sense of life and place in it, and we have a lot more feature stories -- but that really tell you something about politics, about art, about the human condition, about the way we live now? DP: You've said that feminism is one of your big concerns, and I think Penn has kind of a unique place in terms of feminism and women because we have the first woman president in the Ivy League. I'm wondering about your opinion -- AQ: About whom we did a hideous piece, which I'm still reeling from. All over the country, women say to me, "Excuse me, but would you have put the piece about the male president of Harvard on the cover of the C section and would it have focused quite so unrelentingly on the way he looked and his marital history?" The answer is no. I thought that piece the Times ran on Judith Rodin was horrid because of the way it was played and because of the spin on it. You know, the Times doesn't do that too much anymore, but when it does do it, because it's such a serious paper, it really stands out. Anyhow, go ahead. DP: I was going to ask about the portrayal of women and the experiences of women in academia, in the workplace, in the public sphere. How have you seen those change? AQ: You mean "All feminists are ugly?" [She laughs.] No, but there still is some of that. I mean -- this is a horrible story to tell on myself -- but about three years ago, I guess, I was on Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, and I get ready to walk out, right? And my hair is bigger than it's ever been before because they do hair and make-up and I was sitting there in the chair thinking, "Whoa! Look out, this is great." And he does this whole introduction for me, "won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is only the third woman to [have an op-ed column in the New York Times], and we found out today, her book has just debuted on the best-seller list at Number 7," and I walk out, and it's almost like a nervous tic, he says, "You're attractive!" And I said, "You know, I haven't thought about that smart woman, ugly thing since high school." One of the reasons why people still try to wage some last, losing battle against feminism is because feminism isn't a movement now -- it's our lives, it's our daily lives. It's the fact that little girls can be in Little League, and nobody even thinks twice about it anymore? It's the fact that we're at a stage where the president's wife can be smart and able and can get to do things, but we're not yet at the stage where everybody doesn't go berserk about the fact that she's doing things. So we're halfway through what I think it the greatest social revolution in 20th century America, and the fact is that there's still constant backlashes? DP: In general, what's your opinion on the political system in America? AQ: You know, I really feel like we need a cataclysmic act at this point, in some sense, and I think what that means is a major league charismatic leader, but I'm not sure if that's possible given the system of fund-raising and television advertising that we've come to be so dependent upon. I mean, what we see is this really destructive cycle every two, four, six years of "throw the bum out." Except that after "throw the bum out" comes, as Roger Daltry said, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." And it happens over and over and over again?We've engineered this system in which candor and principle are believed to be a road to sure destruction. We don't know whether they're a road to sure destruction or not because nobody's tried them in so long that we don't know what would happen to that candidate. So I think we're in a real bad place politically. And it seems to me?that what we're looking for is an FDR. But where she comes from, I cannot tell you. DP: There's a lot of criticism of the Democratic party because of it's association with Hollywood and it's association with the disenfranchised -- some people say the Democrats have left the middle class. Do you think that's a valid criticism? AQ: I think there's some validity to that criticism, but I would add that I don't think anybody speaks to the middle class right now, and that's the source of some of the stress that we're talking about with American politics. The fact of the matter is that when you look at what their agenda is on the economy and on certain legislative measures, when you look at where their money comes from, the Republicans are still the party of the rich. That has not changed, and any attempt to suggest different just isn't so. But I think the Democrats have found it hard to look at legitimate complaints about ways in which programs for the disenfranchised have been handled in America. The difference, I think, clearly at this point between the Democrats and the Republicans, is that the Republicans want to dismember those programs, and the Democrats want to keep them. What the Democrats have to embrace is the idea of keeping some of them in quite different form and therefore playing off the Republicans?I think the Democrats have to look more at retooling than they have. But I think the chances of them doing that, and doing it successfully, are much greater than the chances of the Republicans successfully representing what I think is deep in the American character: some will to raise the disenfranchised up and help level the playing field. DP: How has being a reporter helped your fiction writing? Has there been a connection between them? AQ: Yes, it's helped it a lot. I think, if you get good at being a reporter, you develop a real sharp eye for the telling detail, the one or two things that really will make the reader feel as if they were in the room or on the street. You also get a real good ear for how real dialogue sounds. I mean, you can tell. I start to write down certain words coming out of people's mouths and I think, "No, no, no, that's a hyped quote. Go back and work on it again." I think those things really, really helped me. I mean, I think I'm a much better fiction writer because of having to be a reporter. And it also develops the sense of discipline in you. I mean, I don't get [writer's] block that much?When you're in the newspaper business, getting blocked is not an option. If you get blocked, you better take the LSAT. You've got to write on demand, and I think that's really helped me in writing fiction?
(03/14/95 10:00am)
and Ryan Papir Undergraduate tuition and fees will rise by 5.5 percent next year if a proposal advanced by administrators is approved by the University's Board of Trustees at this week's annual budget briefing. Tuition and fees for graduate students, averaged across disciplines, will rise 5.6 percent. The jump -- the lowest percentage increase in more than 20 years --would push the total cost of undergraduate tuition and fees from $18,856 for the 1994-95 academic year to $19,893 for 1995-96. But University President Judith Rodin said yesterday that the total proposed cost increase for undergraduates is only four percent, because neither Residential Living nor Dining Services charges will go up. "We all intended to keep tuition increases as low as possible, and we're very pleased," Rodin said, adding that traditionally the University -- compared to peer institutions -- has had the lowest annual tuition increases and the highest hikes in residential and dining contract rates. None of the seven other Ivy League institutions have released 1995-96 budget projections yet, Rodin said. She also said that the suggested 5.5 percent increase is feasible because of three major changes in the University's budgeting process: administrative restructuring as a result of the Coopers & Lybrand report, long-term strategic academic decision-making and "tightening" of expenditures across the University. These adjustments may take on additional importance as the the proposed Commonwealth of Pennsylvania budget -- released by Governor Tom Ridge last week -- does not provide the increase administrators were seeking in the University's $35 million appropriation. While the state budget preserves the current level of funding for the University, it is still subject to change by the General Assembly. Vice President for Finance Stephen Golding said the University's Board of Trustees requested lower tuition hikes several years ago. "The Trustees have mandated that we have a declining rate of increase in our tuition, and we have tried to honor that for the last five to six years now," Golding said. He added that the University also has to consider declining or stagnant revenues from other sources of funding in determining tuition increases. "We're trying to decrease our overall rate of tuition [increases], but we're doing it with an eye toward the other revenues which are not growing at the rates at which they grew a few years ago," Golding said. He pointed to potential cutbacks in federal indirect cost recoveries and unchanged state funding as examples of such funding sources. The Undergraduate Assembly lobbied hard to keep the tuition-and-fees increase for undergraduates below five percent. But UA Chairperson Dan Debicella said last night he thinks the proposed change is "a success." "The administration is probably just being a little too cautious in their revenue assumptions from the endowment, outside sources such as gifts and the like," the Wharton junior said. "[But] I think that it's great that it's so close to five percent. I wish it were under five percent, but we tried our best."
(03/14/95 10:00am)
Citing his advancing years, University Chaplain Stanley Johnson has announced that he will retire on June 30, following 34 years of service on campus. University President Judith Rodin said yesterday that before a search committee is appointed to find a new chaplain, she and Provost Stanley Chodorow will bring together a group to talk about the role of a chaplain at a modern university. Creating such a group was Johnson's recommendation. Before attending divinity school in Philadelphia, Johnson was a student at Princeton University, where he was a member of the track team. Ordained as a deacon and then an Episcopal priest in 1954, he became chaplain at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Johnson was hired as University Chaplain in 1961. During his tenure at the University, Johnson has primarily served as a counselor, spearheading programs for students with questions about their sexuality and dealing with women's issues. The programs are now independent agencies. "I would foresee these [needs] and then the University would regularize them by hiring somebody to do them," he said. Johnson also served as Dean of Admissions from October 1974 until 1977. Johnson listed traveling, volunteering and the pursuit of various hobbies as activities that will occupy his time after he leaves the Chaplain's post. "I've gotten to the age where now I think it's time for me to do other things, look at more retirement things," he said. "I'm over 65 years old." However, he said he plans to remain involved in University life. Although he will not "be a prime partner in the things that go on anymore," Johnson said he will attend athletic events at the Palestra and Franklin Field and will move with his wife to a home nearby in West Philadelphia. Rodin said she knew Johnson well when she was an undergraduate at the University. Now, he is her "back-door neighbor," living in the University Chaplain's residence behind Eisenlohr Hall. "When he came to see me I very regretfully accepted his resignation," Rodin said. "[Johnson] has been a legend and an institution at Penn?and so I will miss him sorely in a lot of dimensions." Penn Hillel Director Jeremy Brochin said he will also miss Johnson, whom he characterized as "a support for me?who has made an important contribution to the University over many years." Brochin added that he thinks reevaluating the University Chaplain's role will be beneficial for the campus community because it will identify new opportunities for pastoral involvement in campus life, such as coordinating social action programs and increasing interfaith activities. Johnson offered a few words of wisdom for his successor, gleaned from his years of experience as a clergy member at the University. "Enjoy the place thoroughly, don't be afraid of it," he said. "If one comes with an open mind, an interest in it, a lively intellectual curiosity about what's going on, why I think anybody would enjoy themselves at a place like Penn."
(03/02/95 10:00am)
Seven faculty and staff members and eight students gathered to discuss the future of the University's judicial system yesterday afternoon. Sitting at an oblong conference table in a stuffy room on the second floor of Houston Hall, a portrait of Bishop White staring sternly down upon them, the group of 15 vaguely resembled a convention of jurists from centuries past. The group spent two hours in heated discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the once-again-revised Judicial Charter, returning repeatedly to unresolved issues until a consensus was reached on many points. College junior Wilton Levine, who chaired the Student Judicial Reform Committee working group that wrote the new Charter, centered debate around the role of advisors in the new judicial system and the procedure for questioning witnesses. Other concerns that were raised include whether a hearing board's decision will be a final decision or merely a recommendation to the provost and who is permitted to present new evidence after a finding has been made in a case. College senior Dan Schorr, an Undergraduate Assembly member and chairperson of the First Amendment Task Force, opened the conversation by expressing his fear that without an advisor who can speak on their behalf, accused students will be unable to present their cases effectively to a hearing board. Levine countered by explaining that if an advisor -- once permitted to speak -- began to dominate judicial proceedings, the hearing board would have no way to remove him or her from the hearing. But John Rudolph, manager of the Student Employment Division of Student Financial Services, disagreed. Rudolph has served as an advisor within the judicial system for the past three years. "I really see the role of advisor as more than a hand-holding function," he said, adding that although students should not be expected to face judicial proceedings alone, advisors also need more direction from the University. The group agreed that a procedure should be developed to prevent advisors from assuming control of a hearing, while simultaneously offering them more comment than a simple summary statement. Judicial Officer Steven Blum admitted that the current system is unwieldy, but said that whatever system is implemented in its place must allow the University to function as a University -- not a court of law. "The purpose of the system is to bring together a wide variety of viewpoints," Associate Professor of Radiology David Hackney said. "[We need] more people, less arbitrators." College senior Beth Hirschfelder, who chaired the SJRC working groups that drafted the Code of Conduct, agreed -- citing the importance of protecting both victims and those students who are wrongly accused. Arguments followed about the purpose of the University's judicial system, specifically whether it is inherently confrontational or adversarial and how it can better serve students' needs. "Finding the truth is not your purpose -- it's not the University's purpose either," Associate Professor of Political Science Will Harris said. "Doing justice is." A timetable for the procedures outlined in the draft Charter was also discussed yesterday. Levine said he felt the meeting was "perhaps the most productive we've had so far," adding that he will work with Hirschfelder and College junior Ashley Magids, chairperson of the academic integrity working group, to incorporate new ideas into the existing Charter's framework.
(03/01/95 10:00am)
Following a five-month nationwide search, Coopers & Lybrand partner John Anderson Fry has been selected as the University's new Executive Vice President. The executive vice president is the University's top financial officer. Fry directed the Coopers team that produced the University's administrative restructuring report in January. Although his appointment must still be confirmed by the University's Board of Trustees, University President Judith Rodin said yesterday that he will take office April 1. Fry replaces former Executive Vice President Janet Hale, who resigned last summer after a stormy 16-month tenure. Retired Temple University Executive Vice President Jack Freeman has served as acting EVP at the University since Hale's departure. Rodin said she is excited about Fry's appointment, citing his extensive experience in higher education management consulting as particularly impressive and important to the University. "He's the senior manager of [Coopers'] higher education practice and so he has spent over a decade developing and participating in this nationwide practice of consulting on cutting-edge issues in higher education administration," she said. Rodin added that "six or seven" of the scores of candidates screened by a national search firm were interviewed for the post from late October until recently. Three finalists were picked from this pool -- one each from the fields of higher education, corporate America and government. Fry was a logical choice for the post because of his close work with "dozens of university management teams" across the country, Rodin said. A graduate of Lafayette College, Fry received a master's of business administration degree from New York University's Stern School of Business. He has completed assignments ranging from planning and resource allocation design to enrollment and financial analysis for Columbia, Cornell and Tufts Universities, among others. "I can't imagine a background that would prepare someone better for our EVP position," Rodin said. "He is extremely bright, very focused and very innovative." Additionally, Rodin said Fry will "start well ahead of the game" because he is already familiar with the University's general structure -- and specifically with personnel in the Executive Vice President's Center, faculty members and deans. Fry said yesterday that he feels "wonderful" about becoming the University's next EVP, since the toughest part of administrative restructuring -- the determination of institutional priorities -- has already occurred. "I'm very bullish on the kind of depth of people we have in the institution to get stuff done," he said. "The real challenge is to manage the process of change that may be difficult in certain circumstances." Fry added that his immediate priorities are continued progress toward putting Rodin's campus safety initiatives into effect, implementing the Coopers administrative restructuring report and improving the quality of life for students, faculty and staff at the University. With Fry's selection, and the appointment of Vanderbilt's Anita Jenious as director of the Office of Affirmative Action last week, Rodin's administrative team is nearly complete. However, several positions in the Provost's Office -- including deputy provost, vice provost for university life, and executive assistant to the provost for external affairs -- remain vacant.
(02/27/95 10:00am)
Anita Jenious, assistant director of Vanderbilt University's Opportunity Development Center, was named executive director of the University's Office of Affirmative Action on Friday. "We are delighted that [Jenious] has agreed to accept the position of executive director of the Affirmative Action Office here, and we look forward to her starting at the University by April 1," said Stephen Schutt, University President Judith Rodin's chief of staff. Although Jenious's appointment comes at a time when the goals and future of affirmative action are being extensively re-examined and debated nationwide, Jenious said last week she is "pleased and excited about working with the Penn community." "The reputation of the community was a major factor in my decision" to come to the University, Jenious said, adding that the "dynamic" presence of University President Judith Rodin was also an attraction. A Vanderbilt graduate, Jenious became that school's first assistant director of financial aid for minority affairs in 1988, after receiving her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. As an undergraduate, Jenious was president of Vanderbilt's chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, which has a city-wide chapter in Philadelphia that includes students from Bryn Mawr College and the University. AKA City-Wide Chapter President Brynee Gandy, a Bryn Mawr junior, said she was happy to hear of her "soror's" appointment. "In our sorority we have many experiences that help us prepare [for life], so I know that she'll be very successful in all of her undertakings," Gandy said. Jenious has also served as disability services coordinator for Vanderbilt's Opportunity Development Center and as a graduate assistant in the University of Tennessee's Office of Affirmative Action. Additionally, Jenious currently hosts a weekend radio talk show in Nashville called "Express Yourself," and is a consultant to educational institutions and government agencies regarding issues of diversity, racism and sexism in the workplace. Bob Schoenberg, coordinator of the Program for the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community at Penn, said Jenious's experience with respect to mutliculturalism is especially relevant and makes her well-qualified for the position at the University. Jenious's selection follows a national search that began in October 1993 -- when former Affirmative Action Director Joann Mitchell left the University to become associate provost and affirmative action director at Princeton University. Sharon Harris, assistant director of the Office of Affirmative Action, has been serving as interim director since Mitchell's departure.
(02/23/95 10:00am)
Creating a tangible sense of community between the University and its West Philadelphia neighbors has been a top priority of students, faculty, staff and administrators for years. With the introduction of "Communiversity Days" on March 22, this elusive goal may finally become reality. Carol Scheman, vice president for government, community and public affairs, said she is working with Glenn Bryan, director of the Office of Community Relations, to plan a monthly program that allows high school students residing in the University City area to get a glimpse of day-to-day campus life. "[Communiversity Days] are intended to hook together small groups of young people -- as in ninth- and tenth-graders in the community -- for a very personal experience day on the campus," Scheman said. Beginning March 22, high schoolers will come to campus in groups of no more than a dozen to get to know individual University students better. The high schoolers will participate in the same activities that University students do each day -- such as eating meals in dining halls, going to classes, seeing a basketball practice or performance at the Annenberg Center, visiting the University Museum and spending time at The Daily Pennsylvanian to learn how a newspaper is produced. Communiversity Days will also permit neighborhood kids to get a first-hand look inside University buildings. Some have lived just blocks away from campus since birth but have never set foot in a classroom, library, dormitory room or laboratory. "I want these kids to be able to imagine going to Penn -- whether they choose to go to Penn or somewhere else [for college]," Scheman said. "They can learn that they're not that different from you guys." University President Judith Rodin said she is also excited about the introduction of Communiversity Days. "I think they're wonderful," she said. "It's a great way to open the University to the community. "When we talk about the community, it's often been what Penn is doing out in West Philadelphia," Rodin added. "[But] community means interaction between the University and the community [at-large]." Scheman added that Communiversity Days will only continue to evolve with extensive student input. Her office will function as a "dating agency," making connections between high schoolers who want to spend time on campus and University students -- in Greek groups, the Undergraduate Assembly or floors of campus residences -- who want to act as their mentors. "The abstract idea was kind of nice, but it is the students' enthusiasm [that] will make it go," Scheman said, referring to Communiversity Days. "If it's going to be something that catches on, it's going to be because there's going to be some real enthusiasm across the student body." Bryan, who grew up in West Philadelphia, is a University alumnus. He said last night that he was exposed to the opportunities available on campus as a youth, when he participated in the Upward Bound program. He characterized Communiversity Days as a "work in progress," saying that evaluation of the program's effectiveness by members of the University and West Philadelphia communities will occur consistently throughout its duration. "The wonderful part about this is that it's an institutional effort driven by students," Bryan said. "[The Office of Community Relations] is just providing support and coordination. "It's all of us working together regarding one particular project, something that we'd like to do more of and run as a theme throughout more of what we do," he added.
(02/22/95 10:00am)
The Council of Undergraduate Deans is currently considering a proposal that would lengthen the fall semester by one day, Provost Stanley Chodorow said last night. If the plan is approved, classes would begin on Wednesday, September 6, 1995, rather than the traditional Thursday. The new proposal comes after debate over the University's calendar reached an impasse last semester, when the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education recommended the incorporation of an extra reading day into the fall term. SCUE also asked for an adjustment in the number of teaching days per semester -- a goal that would have been partially accomplished by starting classes before Labor Day. The SCUE plan was rejected because it was "not acceptable to the faculty," Chodorow said last night. "But there was a general recognition that it would be nice if we could work out a longer fall semester," he added. "Most students would appreciate [not having finals on December 23]. We're sympathetic to that, we're not as evil as we look." SCUE Chairperson Satya Patel, a College and Wharton junior, said he is pleased with the calendar plan. "It's really a different animal, but I'm happy with the [proposed] calendar in the sense that we get an extra day of class and we end on the 22nd [of December] and we still have an extra reading day in there," Patel said. Under the proposal now being discussed, the number of orientation and New Student Week activities would remain the same. However, they would be compressed into a shorter time period, Chodorow said. In addition, NSW activities would become "somewhat more academic, more of an introduction to intellectual life," according to Chodorow. The orientation program is an issue that will also be addressed by the Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education. Making changes to the University's calendar is not an easy process, though, due to conflicts with advising programs and opening dates of residences planned many months in advance. But Chodorow said the orientation schedule is "quite extended" as it now stands. Although it worked well in the fall, he said he believes New Student Week is "unnecessarily spread out." By scheduling events more compactly for the upcoming fall, and allowing similar programs to flow into one another -- as the Freshman Convocation and Reading Project did in 1994 -- Chodorow said he hopes to emphasize the academic aspect of freshman orientation. It has not yet been determined how the end-of-semester day gained under the proposal would be used, Chodorow added. Possible uses include another day of teaching or reading, or a "flex day" that would help to alleviate the compression and stress of the week-long exam period. Mathematics Department Undergraduate Chairperson Dennis DeTurck said the proposed plan would not affect his department "all that much," despite the fact that math placement tests are given during New Student Week. "It might be good to lengthen the fall by a day," DeTurck said, adding that "fixed syllabus" courses like Calculus often have difficulty finishing required material in the fall because that semester is shorter than the spring term.
(02/22/95 10:00am)
Vice President Al Gore will serve as honorary chairperson of the University's celebration of ENIAC's 50th Anniversary in 1996, University President Judith Rodin confirmed yesterday. "He has agreed to come to campus and come to Philadelphia at least once and maybe more in 1996," she said, adding that the University is currently working with Gore's office to determine the extent of his involvement in various celebration events. ENIAC -- the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer -- was the world's first computer. It was created at the University's Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1946. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean Gregory Farrington said earlier this week that the ENIAC celebration is "a logical kind of topic" for the vice president, who has shown a great deal of interest in the information superhighway since taking office. "I've called [the birth of] ENIAC the second American revolution," Farrington said. "The reason I've called it that is that I feel and many other people feel that information technology will prove to be some of the most liberating forces in our society." Rodin, James Unruh, Unisys chairman and chief executive officer and Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell are among the dignitaries serving on the ENIAC 50th Celebration Committee, which has already designated 1996 the "Year of Computing." The ENIAC 50th Celebration will kick off February 14, 1996, with a dinner recognizing leaders and innovators in the computing and information technology fields. Other events that will be held during the "Year of Computing" include the opening of a $7 million, permanent exhibit at the Franklin Institute entitled "Inside Information" and the installation of a city-wide network of interactive visitor information kiosks. In addition, the University will revive the Moore School's summer session for 1996. It was during the same summer session in 1946 that scientists from around the world gathered on campus and conducted research that started the information age. "Technological change is impacting virtually every aspect of life around the globe," Rodin said in a statement. "The celebration will provide opportunities for academics, students, business leaders and Philadelphia visitors to stimulate new ideas about how computers can and should change our lives in the 21st century," she added. English Department Undergraduate Chairperson Alan Filreis said he thinks Gore's participation in the ENIAC celebration is a "great" thing for the University. "I think Gore's involvement will stress that it's not simply an engineering celebration," Filreis said. "[That] a prominent political figure comes to Penn for such a celebration can only underscore that we're dealing with something that's across the board, interdisciplinary." He added that the importance of the computer to many fields outside of engineering -- including public relations and education -- increases the relevance of the ENIAC celebration. "Gore's coming can only help to strengthen the notion that every citizen ought to have access to this new amazing means of communicating," Filreis said.
(02/21/95 10:00am)
Although the snowdrifts have barely disappeared from College Green, the University is already preparing for the April visit of an accrediting committee representing the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. According to Susan Shaman, assistant vice president for planning and analysis, the Middle States Association is one of seven regional agencies responsible for insuring the quality of educational institutions in the United States. Located at 3624 Market Street, Middle States also handles evaluations for schools in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia and, although it is not exactly a mid-atlantic state, Puerto Rico. Middle States evaluations occur once every 10 years. But every five years between these reviews, schools submit intermediate reports that allow the Middle States Association to monitor their progress. In the months before an evaluation is scheduled to occur, schools form internal committees of faculty, students and administrators to carry out a "self-study," Shaman said. The self-study helps to determine the evaluation's focus. The actual evaluation is then completed by a committee of educators whose members are mutually agreed upon by the school that is being evaluated and the Middle States Association. "They want to balance the team," Shaman said, explaining that both experienced and novice evaluators are recruited for each campus visit. Traditionally, evaluators come from institutions located within the school's own region. But because of the University's cosmopolitan reputation and four unique undergraduate schools, members of this spring's visiting committee are coming from across the country, Shaman said. Among those who will be on campus from April 9 through 12 are William Richardson, president of Johns Hopkins University, who will serve as committee chairperson, and Vanderbilt University Provost Thomas Burish, who will serve associate chairperson. Shaman said other committee members have been culled from the faculty of Princeton and Cornell Universities and the University of California at Los Angeles. "We will have some very thoughtful educators on our campus for two days," Shaman said, adding that the University community will be able to use the committee as a "sounding board" with respect to the issue of undergraduate education, the theme of this year's study. Provost Stanley Chodorow said the group will concentrate on progress the Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education will have made by April toward implementing the 21st Century Project on the Undergraduate Experience. "There is no question that the University's accreditation will be reaffirmed, so that self-study that we do and the visit can focus on a topic that is important now," he said. "We will treat the group as a group of experienced academics from peer institutions who can give us an outsider's view of what we are doing or talking about." Shaman echoed Chodorow's sentiments. "Frankly, our accreditation is not in jeopardy," she said. "We want [the committee members] to be engaged and help us to think through something we'll be doing very seriously in the next few years." Chodorow said that during the committee's visit, members will have "the run of the campus and will be able to talk with whomever they wish" -- including informal conversations with students on Locust Walk or in dining halls.
(02/17/95 10:00am)
and Amy Lipman A red Mitsubishi heading east on Spruce Street hit a parked Bell Atlantic truck at about 4 p.m. yesterday. Two-year-old Cubbin Lee, a passenger in the car, was injured in the accident, although he had been sitting in a child safety seat. He was taken to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where he was treated and released, hospital officials said last night. Philadelphia resident Innchan Lee, Cubbin Lee's father, had just picked his son up from the day-care program at St. Mary's Family Respite Center on Locust Walk. Lee said he was proceeding down Spruce Street when he noticed a car attempting to turn right onto Spruce from 39th Street. He added that when the other car stopped in the middle of Spruce Street, he applied his brakes and swerved to avoid that car. But Lee lost control of his own vehicle after its wheels became caught on the trolley tracks in the middle of Spruce Street. Lee's car then crossed the center line and hit one of two Bell Atlantic trucks parked along the curb outside Mayer Hall. "I couldn't control the car," Lee said. "It just slipped and hit the other truck." Bell Atlantic cable splicers Scott Burke and Gary Kubicki said they never saw a second car. The pair witnessed the accident from Kubicki's truck, where they had been filling out time sheets, Burke said. Neither of them was injured since Lee struck Burke's vehicle. Kubicki estimated that Lee had been traveling between 30 and 40 miles per hour at the time of the accident. "He was coming down Spruce -- that's why he was going so fast," Kubicki said. "He just like lost it [on the tracks]." Cubbin Lee was thrown from his car seat as a result of the impact, landing against the inside of the windshield and cracking the glass, Kubicki said. He added that the young child appeared to have hit his head and cut his lips. After the accident, the driver's side door of Burke's truck would not open, as the door frame had been slightly bent out of shape. Shattered pieces of plastic that had covered some of the truck's lights were scattered on Spruce Street near the truck. The cable splicers said the damaged truck would be towed from the site. University Police Officer Fred Riccelli said the accident would be further investigated by Philadelphia Police.
(02/15/95 10:00am)
The community is applauding University President Judith Rodin's unveiling of major new safety initiatives for the campus and its West Philadelphia vicinity yesterday. Wharton sophomore Jonathan Brightbill, chairperson of Penn Watch, said he is encouraged by the administration's support of student groups like his in the new plan. "We are very pleased that the administration sees the merit and potential within Penn Watch," he said, adding that he thinks student involvement in the implementation of the plan's component is crucial to its success. But Brightbill said that because the student body has shown relatively little interest in security issues, the area of West Philadelphia surrounding the University is unlikely to improve anytime soon. "Unfortunately, it is all too easy for Penn students to hide behind their bursar bills and use that as their excuse for why they are too lazy to get involved," he said. Brightbill did, however, commend various Greek groups and other organizations that have volunteered to work with Penn Watch patrolling the arteries around campus Rodin has designated Community Walks. History Professor Lynn Lees -- who lives at 45th and Pine streets and is active in Penn Faculty and Staff for Neighborhood Issues -- said while she has not yet read Rodin's official statement in yesterday's Almanac, she and PFSNI are in favor of "any University action that will increase street traffic in University City." "[The plan] strikes me as a creative response to the problems of street crime in West Philadelphia," Lees said, adding that increasing the number of pedestrians may get students out of Escort vans and thereby improve the entire neighborhood. Lees also said she bikes to work each day and has found the neighborhood near her home to be "relatively safe as long as one is careful." But according to Lees, street safety is only one element in producing a higher-quality environment for students, faculty and staff in University City. "We look forward to the appearance of this plan but also to?a whole series of measures for increasing the stability of the community," Lees said. Ben Hoyle, the University's deputy director of planning and budget, said funding for the new security initiatives -- including signs and increased lighting on the proposed Community Walks, and more blue light phones on the newly built safety kiosks -- will come from both permanent budget reallocations as well as one-time expenditures. When asked whether the University can afford the several million dollar cost of the new initiatives, Hoyle said not investing resources now could have dire consequences in the years to come. "I think the administration sees safety on this campus as a very high priority," he said, adding that since Rodin's proposed programs will not all be accomplished in one year, related expenditures can be spread out and made more manageable.
(02/14/95 10:00am)
Initiatives could cost millions In an open letter printed in today's Almanac, University President Judith Rodin outlines core components of a master security plan designed to improve safety both on and off campus. However, the plan itself is still in a draft form and will not be released until after a group of safety experts visits the University next month and makes additional recommendations. Rodin's letter lists several "significant new steps toward our goal of a safer Penn," including the creation of a series of Community Walks throughout campus, the positioning of new security and information kiosks at strategic points on and off campus and the development of uniform safety standards for campus buildings and security personnel. Additionally, the Division of Public Safety will double its bicycle patrols -- putting 10 more officers on bikes. Three of these bikes will be purchased with funds allocated by the Undergraduate Assembly. Finally, an analysis of building-use patterns will probably lead to changes in hours of operation and security measures taken at certain campus locations. Rodin said she is pleased to be able to announce the new initiatives -- some of which will be implemented starting this week. She estimated that the cost of the proposed safety programs will be several million dollars. Work on the Community Walks is slated to begin as soon as possible, Rodin said. New signs will be installed to mark key campus arteries, tentatively identified as Locust Street from 33rd to 43rd streets, 36th Street from Chestnut Street to the Nursing Education Building and Walnut, Spruce and Pine streets between 39th and 43rd streets. Along these routes, lighting will be enhanced, more of blue light phones will be added and security patrols will be beefed up, Rodin added. The Community Walks will be dotted with security kiosks, designating the ends of campus, according to University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich. "We anticipate that we'll be putting in as many as five," he said, adding that the kiosks will increase safety because they will be visible, well-lit structures built of glass "with a cone kind of roof" -- similar to an extra set of "eyes and ears." The kiosks will be staffed by contract guards who will be in radio and telephone contact with Public Safety. These guards will probably be provided by Allied Security, the same company that currently staffs entrances to dormitories. The kiosks will also serve a dual purpose as "ambassadors for the University," Kuprevich said, since each structure will have an exterior blue light phone and will provide maps and other campus information for visitors. The increased bicycle patrols will be instituted because studies have shown that officers on bikes are community-friendly and are able to provide an immediate feeling of security, Rodin said. In the open letter, Rodin also discusses the dramatic increase in the number of police officers on campus since 1989 and the creation of PennWatch -- a student-run organization devoted to increasing pedestrian traffic in West Philadelphia. "We can never make the University secure by building a wall around its perimeter," she states. "Sealing Penn off, even if possible, would deprive it of the urban interaction that has historically produced much of its intellectual vigor and character." She adds that increased crime prevention and safety education efforts by students, faculty, staff and community members and economic development proposals targeted at the West Philadelphia area will improve security in University City as well. Among the experts set to advise Rodin and Kuprevich next month are former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Tucker and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge of Philadelphia Ernie Kun. The head of security for Johns Hopkins University and a special agent employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation will also be on campus to offer suggestions, Rodin said. She cited connections she has made during her service on President Clinton's White House safety panel this fall as valuable in assembling the team.
(02/14/95 10:00am)
Gloria Steinem is 60 years old. Although her age now matches the turbulent decade during which she went from being simply a female writer to an outspoken feminist, Steinem has only gotten better in the intervening years. She was on campus yesterday evening to promote Moving Beyond Words, a collection of six major essays just published in paperback by Touchstone Books. At an intimate book-signing and speech sponsored by The Book Store and the Penn Women's Center, Steinem -- founder of Ms. magazine and the Women's Political Caucus -- further explained issues raised in the book and took questions from more than 200 of the mostly female fans crowded into a ballroom at the Penn Tower Hotel. "I think a lot of us feel like we know each other," Steinem began, adding that she hoped each person in attendance would leave with a new friend, idea, fact or feeling of support. Steinem then spoke about the importance of voting and political activism, urging audience members to cast ballots "so that we will no longer be controlled by these [Republican] ayatollahs who [get] out 90 percent of their vote." Moving Beyond Words is a "very weird book," Steinem said, filled with essays so long that each -- like a plant -- might grow into its own volume if water were poured onto it. Steinem focused on the phenomenon of race and gender reversal, a device that allows individuals to see life from others' perspectives and about which Steinem has written extensively. Steinem also said women should continue pressuring legislators to consider work in the home -- maintaining a household and raising children -- a full-time job, with appropriate value attributed to it. "The census decides what is visible," she said. "The national system of accounts decides what is valuable. We can change these mega-systems. "We have to remember that the caste systems of sex and race are intertwined, and there is no way to fight one without fighting the other," Steinem added. Reflecting on the progress of the feminist movement, Steinem said women should be proud of what has been accomplished and hopeful about what lies ahead. In response to a question about feminism's future potential and vitality, Steinem said the movement has more appeal than ever before. "In my opinion, being a feminist in the '60s was a joke," she said. "[Now] this is a revolution, not a public relations movement -- not everybody's going to love us." Steinem urged attendees to recapture the free spirits of their youth that existed before each conformed to society's dictates regarding traditional women's roles. "So many issues attracted me to her -- she has such a wonderful insight into all phases of women," said Libby Harwitz, director of Editorial Services for Medical Center Development, who brought a photo of her and Steinem taken at a 1984 book-signing to yesterday's event.
