Search Results
Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
(02/10/95 10:00am)
Aiming to ensure due process for accused students, the First Amendment Task Force yesterday announced plans to write its own version of the procedures outlined in the proposed Student Judicial Charter. On Wednesday, University Council voted by a wide margin to remand the Charter to the Student Judicial Reform Committee for revisions. Council wants the Committee to focus on protecting respondents' rights. According to College senior and Undergraduate Assembly member Dan Schorr, who also chairs the First Amendment Task Force, the proposed Charter does not provide sufficient protection for student defendants. "Our premise is this -- all rights, including free speech rights, cannot be secure if the system of justice is a system of injustice," he said. "Therefore, what we want to do is propose an alternative plan for University judicial hearings that protects the rights of student defendants and recognizes that a student being prosecuted is inherently a confrontational situation." Schorr said that because a student's future academic career and membership in the University community may be in jeopardy during judicial proceedings, it is essential that student defendants are permitted to call and cross-examine witnesses. Schorr also said it is essential to allow students' advisers to speak during the hearings. Additionally, the group contends that an open hearing should be granted upon a respondent's request. "I learned in high school that an open judicial system was one of the basic principles of a free society," Schorr said. "Under this system, students can't defend themselves and there's no public scrutiny." But College junior Wilton Levine, who chaired the Student Judicial Charter working group of the SJRC, said the Charter makes "every effort to protect the respondent's rights." "The purpose of the system as we have defined it is not for the complainant to gain retribution," he said. "The purpose of the system is to determine whether the allegations about the respondent are true or not." Levine added that the Charter does permit respondents to address the hearing board, and said he is open to allowing respondents to reply to statements made by witnesses. "[But] cross-examination takes it to another level, [and] makes it a more adversarial system," Levine said. College junior Maxim Jacobs, the First Amendment Task Force's vice chair for external affairs, will be chairing the group's judicial reform committee. Jacobs said he became involved in the reform process because he was concerned about students being "railroaded." "I looked over the [proposed] Judicial Charter outline and it really didn't say that we had any rights," Jacobs said. "It basically said that they could do what they wanted to us depending on who's their chair." Jacobs said he could not estimate how long the group's work will take, but Schorr said he hopes that the First Amendment Task Force can generate a preliminary document "within the next few weeks." Provost Stanley Chodorow said he has not heard of the First Amendment Task Force, but is willing to listen to the group's ideas. "In my view, all good ideas are useful and contribute to the process," he said. "Bad ideas are only a problem if they waste time by becoming the focus of an extended discussion that leads nowhere. "But bad ideas have their role; they help define the good ideas," Chodorow added.
(02/09/95 10:00am)
Calls for more due process University Council voted overwhelmingly yesterday to return the proposed Student Judicial Charter to the Student Judicial Reform Committee for revisions aimed at explicitly protecting respondents' rights. The vote followed prolonged debate between Council members over the character and purpose of the proposed system. It also focused on presumption of innocence, role of advisers and right of appeal. Before discussion began, Provost Stanley Chodorow acknowledged the assistance of College senior Beth Hirschfelder and College juniors Ashley Magids and Wilton Levine -- each of whom chaired an SJRC working group -- in writing the draft document. Chodorow also clarified his views about the importance of fairness in the revised judicial system, in response to yesterday's editorial in The Daily Pennsylvanian. Hirschfelder then told Council members that the presumption of innocence in the Charter is "a given," and opened the floor to comments and questions about the roles of accused students and advisers in hearings. The Charter now states that respondents would be able to reply to questions from the hearing board but not address the board directly or call and cross-examine witnesses. Advisers could not speak during judicial proceedings. Emeritus Finance Professor Morris Mendelson was the first to respond to Hirschfelder. "[Under the proposed system], the accused can't ask questions," he said. "I think that every person in a judicial system needs to be able to ask questions." College junior and Undergraduate Assembly member Eden Jacobowitz agreed, adding that he feels a student's adviser should also be able to ask questions on the student's behalf. But Hirschfelder said allowing respondents to speak may cause the hearing board "to take on the role of prosecutor," leading to adversarial judicial proceedings and making it more difficult to determine the truth. Chodorow also said the revised Charter does not try to create a court of law. "As a matter of principle, this is not a legal system," he said. "It is the institution that is acting and seeks to find the truth." Chodorow added that he thinks the new system will reveal the truth as well as or better than an adversarial system. But College senior and Undergraduate Assembly member Dan Schorr, who chairs the First Amendment Task Force, assailed the draft Charter as "totally flawed" and "inherently confrontational." Jacobowitz then read portions of a letter criticizing the revised system from History Professor Alan Kors, who served as his adviser during the 1993 "water buffalo" case. Schorr asked Council to pass a resolution rejecting the principles of the revised Charter and creating a new judicial reform committee "that reflects the minutes of this meeting" to reconsider the applicable issues and write another document. "If the principles aren't those that this Council wants, we have to send it back," he said. Echoing sentiments expressed by Hirschfelder and Magids, Graduate Student Associations Council President Bronwyn Beistle said "the thought of sending [the Charter] back fills me with despair and dread." However, Beistle -- an English graduate student who is also GSAC representative to the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly -- added that she shares the concerns raised by other Council members. Following a suggestion by College junior and UA member Lance Rogers that representatives from Council be added to the SJRC to rework the Charter, Mathematics Professor Gerald Porter proposed that the Charter be remanded to the SJRC with discussion from Council. After this substitute motion was accepted, University President Judith Rodin requested that SJRC members bring a "simple, straightforward ?much more well-articulated document" back to Council for further discussion next month. While Chodorow declined to comment on Council's actions, Hirschfelder said they did not surprise her. "We hadn't brought them a final document anyway -- we were planning on taking and using their opinions to continue to make changes to the document," she said. "Substantively, I think we heard things we haven't heard in the past." Magids said the process of judicial reform has taught her that compromise is crucial to achieving change. "I think that the system we're proposing is better than the one that exists, it is definitely a fair system," she said. "We've learned through this long process that it's not possible to just jump from A to Z and we've jumped as far as we realistically can to get a new system in effect next fall," Magids added. Levine said he also remains optimistic that the new Charter will be implemented next fall, and is still hoping for additional feedback from members of the community "to create a fair yet effective judicial system that seeks to find the truth."
(02/08/95 10:00am)
Continued debate about the proposed Student Judicial Charter and reports from the president and provost on the proposed Perelman Quadrangle student center will be the focal points of today's University Council meeting. The agenda also includes interim reports from Council's Admissions and Financial Aid, International Programs and Student Affairs Committees, as well as a presentation on benefits for professional staff members. Provost Stanley Chodorow said he anticipates "a deep discussion" of the issues raised by the draft Judicial Charter, including its basic principles and their consequences. "I also expect faculty to raise questions about the relative authority of faculty and students in the process," he said, adding that the issuance of grades by faculty members in cases where cheating is alleged may also be debated. "I expect the discussion of the Charter to be substantive and intense," Chodorow said. "I look forward to it." A final point of contention between Chodorow and members of the Student Committee on Judicial Reform who worked to create the revised Charter is whether the findings of its hearing boards will be final and binding decisions, or simply recommendations to the provost or his designZe. In a statement distributed to Council members this week, Chodorow said he respects "the absolute authority of the board as a judge of fact," but believes that "the officer who has to defend the decision should have the authority to make it." However, Chodorow later concedes that he "may have put too much weight on the University's liability." He also suggests in the statement an expanded role for the deans in the new judicial system and confirms his commitment to allowing respondents to have advisers from outside the University present during judicial proceedings. But the Charter as it now stands would not permit these advisers to speak -- a provision that concerns College senior and Undergraduate Assembly member Dan Schorr, who chairs the First Amendment Task Force. Schorr said earlier this week that he and UA Chairperson Dan Debicella plan to introduce a resolution at today's Council meeting asking for a return of the proposed Charter to committee for revisions that would protect complainants' rights. But Debicella said last night that he and Schorr are requesting revision of the Charter for different reasons. Chodorow said he expects comments, but not controversy, during discussion of the Perelman Quad proposal. The Council meeting, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall today, is open to the public.
(02/07/95 10:00am)
College freshman David Forlander has resigned from his position as president of the Freshman Class Board. He is being replaced by Engineering freshman Brett Lasher, who was elected vice president of the Board last fall. According to Lasher, Forlander resigned two weeks ago after a meeting of the Board, at which time Lasher was offered -- and accepted -- the presidency. Lasher added that Forlander has since taken a leave of absence from the University to deal with "personal problems- basically, a lot of stress." However, some of Forlander's friends have told Lasher that Forlander plans to be back at the University in the fall, he said. Lasher said that while he is glad to assume the position of Board president, the circumstances of his ascension to the post have tempered his emotions. "I accept the role -- I hope to turn this thing around," Lasher said. "I hope to continue his successes, I'm just sorry to see him leave school." Among Forlander's successes, Lasher cited the halftime show at Penn-Princeton basketball game, which the Freshman Class Board organized with the Sophomore, Junior and Senior Class Boards. Upcoming Freshman Class Board events include a freshman class night at the Class of 1923 Ice Skating Rink, Lasher said. But while the Board is attempting to maintain stability following Forlander's departure, his abrupt exit continues to cause problems for the remaining Board members. College freshman Josh Rockoff, whom Forlander appointed as freshman class public relations officer, said he plans to resign at today's Board meeting -- although he will continue serving as an advisor to the Board. "I'm leaving because I feel my duties can be helpful in another area," Rockoff said, adding that he plans to devote his time to a volunteer corporate sponsorship position with the Burger King/American Society of Civil Engineers 'Buy a Burger, Build a Playground' program. But Rockoff said he does not regret serving on the Freshman Class Board. "I am very happy and glad that I was able to work with such a fine group of students," he said. "I know that I am leaving the present Class Board in good hands?I feel very strongly that they can do a good job."
(02/07/95 10:00am)
and Tammy Polonsky President Clinton released his 1996 federal budget in Washington yesterday -- and according to University President Judith Rodin, the proposed cuts that could affect higher education are not as extensive as University officials had feared. Assistant Vice President for Policy Planning David Morse -- who lobbies for the University in Washington -- said under Clinton's plan, funding for student loans and research remains largely intact. But Rodin said until the budget is finalized and approved by Congress, the University will not be able to determine the exact effects of funding changes on financial aid packages, need-blind admissions or basic research activities. If the budget passes as it now stands, appropriations for the National Institutes of Health would increase by four percent in 1996, while funding for the National Science Foundation would increase by one percent, Morse said. "From what I know, the administration has come forward with a budget which is relatively gentle to the programs that we care about -- student aid and research funding," said Vice President for Government and Community Relations Carol Scheman. But she added that two "tremendously important" graduate fellowships for minority students -- Patricia Roberts Harris and Jacob Javits Fellowships -- have been "defunded" by the proposed budget. "The important thing to note is that this is the beginning of the budget cycle," Scheman said, emphasizing the importance of House Appropriations Committee hearings that will be held on the budget in the coming months. The hearings offer government agencies and the public a chance to voice their concerns about funding for various programs to lawmakers. "The word is that the administration proposes and the Congress disposes," she added. "We have to see what the disposition is." Morse shared Scheman's sentiments, saying that the budget proposal is as much a political document as it is an economic plan. Although the Clinton budget would not balance the federal books by the year 2002 -- as mandated by a draft constitutional amendment the U.S. House of Representatives has approved -- it makes substantial cuts in allocations for the Departments of Labor, Energy and Housing and Urban Development, Morse said. Also, Clinton's proposed budget is not expected to alienate any major constituencies such as students and middle-class families -- which could prove crucial for him as he attempts to work with a Republican-dominated Congress. "Usually the president proposes cuts that the Congress won't do," Morse said. "This year, Congress will take the president's proposals as a baseline and cut from there."
(02/07/95 10:00am)
Yesterday at an open forum, the Undergraduate Assembly offered students an opportunity to question University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow about their priorities for the University. But only about 30 students showed up -- and nearly half of them were UA members. Their questions focused on all of the current campus issues, ranging from the future of need-blind admissions to the proposed Perelman Quadrangle student center. With the release of the federal budget yesterday, financial concerns were on the minds of UA members College junior Lance Rogers and Wharton sophomore Seth Gribetz. Rogers asked Chodorow about a University policy requiring students to pay summer tuition to receive academic credit for unpaid internships. Gribetz inquired about the costs of studying abroad in University-approved programs -- which he said can be higher than the host school's actual tuition and fees. Chodorow replied that he would look into both situations, adding that changes making the University's study-abroad policy less flexible with respect to financial aid were made before his arrival this summer. College senior Dan Schorr, also a UA member, then assailed the proposed student judicial charter as unfair to students because it does not provide for a presumption of innocence or allow a student's advisor to speak during judicial proceedings. Schorr's remarks provoked prolonged debate between students and administrators as to the intent of the proposed revisions -- which would make the judicial system less legalistic and more mediation-oriented. "It is not a legal system we're trying to create here, not an adversarial system, [but] a system that allows the institution to pursue its academic mission," Chodorow said. He later added that the suggested changes to the judicial process are "not about fairness, [but] about effectiveness." College junior Jennifer Manion, who is editor-in-chief the women's magazine Generation XX, asked Rodin how the experience of minority students would be affected by the implementation of the 21st Century Project on Undergraduate Education. Rodin said the Provost's Committee on Undergraduate Education -- which is working to draft recommendations for undergraduate education reform at the University -- recognizes that there is no "universal or unilateral undergraduate." Instead, according to Rodin, PCUE's aim is to create an "even more differentiated and detailed undergraduate experience." Rodin and Chodorow were also asked about the role of technology on campus in the next century, efforts to recruit and retain minority faculty members, the progress of renovations to the Hutchinson Gymnasium weight room and the planned move of the Penn Women's Center to Locust Walk. College junior Tamara Dubowitz, vice chairperson of the UA, inquired about relations between the University and the West Philadelphia community. Rodin spoke briefly about two new initiatives she will implement this semester -- Communiversity Days, in which neighborhood kids will be invited to spend a day on campus participating in student activities, and a President's Forum intended to recognize the community service and volunteer efforts of University students, faculty and staff. Despite the low turnout at the forum, UA Chairperson and Wharton junior Dan Debicella said he was pleased with the discussion and interaction that occurred. "I think the questions that were asked were excellent, I wish that more people would have showed up," he said. "With our Program for Student Advocacy we really tried to reach out to students this year, and it's a shame they don't take advantage of these opportunities."
(02/06/95 10:00am)
University President Judith Rodin will be back at work in her College Hall office today, following meetings with elected officials in both Harrisburg and Washington last week. Rodin traveled to Harrisburg on Thursday to meet with Governor Tom Ridge and other members of the Keystone Committee, an advisory body composed of civic leaders from across the state. Ridge created the Keystone Committee before he took office. Its task is to examine policy reforms that have been successfully implemented in other states. The Committee will conduct study missions to these states with the intention of using their innovative ideas to solve Pennsylvania's problems. The experts serving on the Committee were drawn from business, policy and academic circles across Pennsylvania. They represent professions ranging from banking to law and hold positions in private corporations and the public sector. At Thursday's meeting, each Committee member selected the states and policy areas he or she will focus on during the body's term. According to Vice President for Government and Community Relations Carol Scheman, Rodin will work with two Keystone subcommittees -- one dealing with economic development and education in South Carolina, and the other studying economic development, education and health care in Massachusetts. Rodin said she picked South Carolina and Massachusetts because both states have been heavily impacted by changes in education and health care policy that have the potential to affect Pennsylvania and the University as well. "I chose the states [and] areas where I feel I have the greatest expertise and the most to offer the Committee," she said. On Friday, Rodin was in Washington, where she had planned to meet with members of Pennsylvania's Senatorial delegation. But the threat of this winter's first big snowstorm led many public officials to clear out of the capital early, forcing many cancellations, Rodin said. "It's very frustrating," she said. "I'm going to reschedule -- we got a few things accomplished but not as much as I would've liked." Rodin said she plans to make up the missed meetings as soon as possible.
(02/02/95 10:00am)
University President Judith Rodin will share her ideas and concerns about higher education with elected officials in both Harrisburg and Washington over the next two days. According to Vice President for Government and Community Relations Carol Scheman, Rodin's trip is an effort to ensure continued cooperation between the University and the organs of government on which it depends for its general welfare. "We are obviously in Pennsylvania and the fate of where the state goes, how well the state is able to operate and the success of the governor is going to affect us in many different ways," Scheman said, citing the importance of universities as repositories of knowledge. Rodin agreed, adding that she met with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and his opponent, former Lieutenant Governor Mark Singel, before November's general election to talk about "higher education in general and Penn's interests in particular." Specifically, Rodin said she wants to find ways that the University "can be more rather than less creative" in financing students' educational costs, with the support of the Commonwealth. Funding for basic research is also on Rodin's agenda, in light of the ongoing debate over the federal government's policy of reimbursing public and private universities for the indirect costs of such research -- the building of necessary facilities and the provision of administrative support services, for example. In December, Ridge asked Rodin to serve on his Keystone Committee, an advisory body of business leaders, policy experts and academics from across the state that will offer policy reform ideas for education, health care, transportation and economic development initiatives. The Committee will undertake study missions in five states around the country, aiming to learn from policies other states have implemented to solve similar day-to-day problems. But Rodin has said she will likely attend only a portion of those, due to her responsibilities here on campus. Rodin characterized today's meeting with Ridge and the other Committee members as a "follow-up" to her November conversation with the governor. Scheman said in preparation for the meeting, she contacted "colleague institutions" in other states who have worked closely with their respective state governments. "[Rodin] is going into this meeting armed with contacts and progressive initiatives [from] other states," she said. "State governments have had differing relationships with independent universities all over this country, but it's clear that the financial stability of state?affects universities in many different ways."
(01/31/95 10:00am)
Some doubt its potential impact The wheels of justice may turn slowly, but reaction to proposals advanced this week by the Student Judicial Reform Committee has been strong and immediate. Faculty members such as History Professor Bruce Kuklick, who felt the sting of repeated cheating scandals five years ago in his History 451 class -- or Alan Kors, who represented College junior and Daily Pennsylvanian staff photographer Eden Jacobowitz during the "water buffalo" case in 1993 -- contend that the new charter is seriously flawed. But Provost Stanley Chodorow said he is "very pleased" with the proposed Student Judicial Charter and Code of Academic Integrity, drafts of which are currently available for comment. Still, disagreement lingers about the function of student-faculty hearing boards that the charter creates. Chodorow believes they should make recommendations to him or his designee, while SJRC members want to empower the boards to render binding decisions. Chodorow, however, remains optimistic. "I had a series of very good meetings with the committee," he said. "We were able to clarify the issues and to have very good discussions of them." Kuklick said his sense of the draft -- from prior discussion with Chodorow -- is that the charter "gives students much more leeway than they ought to have," since it provides for near-equal student and faculty representation on the hearing boards. "It is absolutely clear that students should be summarily punished, and my feeling is that all of this stuff weighs things too heavily in favor of the poor, beleaguered students who might be wrongly accused," Kuklick said. Kuklick also said he understands Chodorow's contention that a student-run honor system would work best, because it would allow students to police themselves. But Kuklick said he believes that at a large school like the University, where many students think they can cheat without consequence, such an honor system is "naive and idealistic." "I hope that if I catch students cheating, this [charter] will not prevent me from making decisions about what I ought to do," he said. "I hope it will be a help and not a hindrance?I don't want to see a system in place that will diminish the prerogatives of the faculty in dealing with this." Kors said he is opposed to University intervention in any criminal or civil matter that would ordinarily be argued and settled in a court of law. Characterizing the draft document as "a nightmare of structural detail without procedural protection," he added that as the charter now stands, it deprives the parties involved of rules of fairness and stipulations of due process. "It gives absolute discretion to the judicial system to put someone through the terror of hearings," Kors said. He cited the proposed charter's lack of a presumption of innocence, burden of proof, specific time-frame, right to confront one's accusers, to cross-examination of witnesses and to an advisor who can intervene on a respondent's behalf as among its many problems. But even when dealing with alleged violations of the academic integrity code -- a function that Kors said is within the University's jurisdiction -- he stressed the importance of system-wide due process aimed at protecting the accused from arbitrary persecution. "Since there are no procedural or substantive protections of one who is accused, this is only not a kangaroo court if one imagines saints and the just administering it," Kors said. College junior Wilton Levine, who chaired the student judicial charter working group, said he hopes that before Feb. 17, members of the University community who have concrete suggestions for improving the draft document -- which appears today in Almanac -- will send their ideas to the SJRC's e-mail account, judicial@pobox. Chodorow said he is confident that after receiving feedback from the University community, he and University President Judith Rodin will resolve the issue of hearing board jurisdiction based on the system's organizing principles. Following that decision, the final document will be referred to the University's General Counsel's Office, which will develop "the detailed regulations," said Chodorow.
(01/30/95 10:00am)
After a year of discussion, debate and compromise, subgroups of the Student Judicial Reform Committee have drafted documents that could change the way the justice is meted out at the University. The documents, which detail how alleged violations of the Code of Conduct and Code of Academic Integrity should be handled, will be available for comment before being finalized. College junior Ashley Magids, who chaired the academic integrity working group, said her subcommittee decided to create a separate system to deal with violations of the academic integrity code. She said this would simplify the judicial process -- and emphasize the importance of honesty in scholastic endeavors through the selection of a 16-member student Honor Council. With implementation of the new policies tentatively scheduled for next fall, College junior and student judicial charter working group chairperson Wilton Levine said he is pleased with his group's accomplishments. "In what we're proposing, we've really developed a system for students to be directly involved in overseeing the judicial process," Levine said. He added that the working group examined judicial charters from more than 15 other schools and combined their best features with the University's existing judicial system to fashion the new charter. The hallmark of the new charter is student involvement. It establishes a Student Judicial Council -- which will consist of five faculty members and 11 students, one of whom will act as chairperson -- to advise the Judicial Officer. The SJC's three-member executive committee would work with the JO to decide how cases progress through the judicial system, considering options ranging from dropping a case entirely to referring it to a hearing board of two faculty members and three students. Under the new charter, however, selected cases could be voluntarily referred to an on-campus mediation center, which would also be available to students trying to resolve disputes such as conflicts with roommates. If a case is referred to a hearing board, the complainant would not appear unless called as a witness, the draft document states. The respondent would be permitted to have an advisor present -- although that person would not be allowed to speak during any judicial proceedings. However, there is still one major point of contention in the proposal -- the working group believes that the hearing board's findings should be considered a decision, while Provost Stanley Chodorow contends that findings of fact should only take the form of recommendations to him or another administrator appointed by him. But Levine said he feels that judgement by one's peers would encourage students to feel "ownership" of their actions and the results of those actions, and would probably be harsher than rulings by administrators. The proposed charter states that appeals could only be advanced because of suspected bias or procedural error. They would still be read by the Provost, who would make a final decision. Penalties or sanctions imposed by the hearing board could not be increased by the Provost on appeal. Magids said her committee worked jointly with Levine's for much of the past year, because their projects were parallel in many ways and because alleged violations of both the Code of Conduct or the Code of Academic Integrity will go through the Judicial Office. The Honor Council would act as an advisory body, in a manner similar to that of the SJC, Magids added. It would assist the Provost in deciding whether to drop, settle or pursue a case. If the latter option is chosen, the Council would select the two student hearing board members for that case.
(01/26/95 10:00am)
University administrators are encouraged by preliminary campus reaction to the proposed Perelman Quadrangle student center. "I have heard all positive and no negative," University President Judith Rodin said, describing her experience on campus yesterday. "Many people are eager to see and hear more of the plans, and we have promised we will [do that]." She added that she spent the day in meetings with faculty and staff, including the University Council Steering Committee, while Provost Stanley Chodorow spoke with various campus constituencies about the project. Chodorow said he met primarily with personnel from the College and the School of Arts and Sciences who have a "vital interest" in the Perelman Quad buildings -- especially Logan Hall. Many SAS departments and the College itself were housed there before deferred maintenance began. The present Perelman Quad plans show that once renovated, Logan Hall will provide space for the same offices that had been located there. But its ground floor will be made into an art gallery, multi-purpose auditorium and 150-seat recital hall. Logan Hall will also be connected to Williams Hall in two ways -- underground and through a two-story glass atrium that will contain a 24-hour reading room. "This [project] is to the advantage of the sense of history of these buildings," Chodorow said. "We're going to update them piece by piece." Although Perelman Quad will give student groups more space than the Revlon Center would have provided, Chodorow estimated that only about 25,000 square feet of new space will be created through its three-year construction. The remainder of the space included in the Perelman Quad proposal is either currently-available space that will continue to be used or space that will be "captured" through redesign of existing structures. Roy Vagelos, chairperson of the University's Board of Trustees, said it is important to proceed "gingerly" on the project because its prospective major donor -- University alumnus and Trustee Ronald Perelman -- has not yet committed crucial funds. But according to Vagelos, the Trustees were unanimous in their enthusiasm for the Perelman Quad, which he described as "wonderful." "It expands the space that will be available to students, it is right in the center of the campus, it will bring into sparkling life the historic buildings," Vagelos said. "[And] it's so centrally-located that it's probably more secure than the site that had been on Walnut." The site will also look remarkably different than it does now, Rodin said. Re-landscaping and re-grading of the grounds will bring College Green up to the entrance of Logan Hall, while the Houston Hall patio will be expanded and grass will be planted there. Rodin said the Perelman Quad program "is not engraved in stone." The Philadelphia architectural firm of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates has submitted schematic drawings and made preliminary recommendations about effective space utilization, though. The topic is on the agenda for next month's University Council meeting.
(01/26/95 10:00am)
When the President of the United States calls, most private citizens clear their calendars. But University President Judith Rodin is no ordinary private citizen. Despite a personal invitation from President Clinton, conflicts with a previously scheduled afternoon meeting and the complications of last-minute transportation arrangements have prevented Rodin from going to Washington today. Vice President for Community and Government Affairs Carol Scheman said Clinton asked Rodin to come to Washington to talk with him, Education Secretary Richard Riley and other university presidents about Clinton's "Middle Class Bill of Rights." Approximately nine presidents are expected to attend today's meeting, where Clinton and his advisors hope to gain a perspective on what the proposed legislation will mean for students looking to finance higher education, Scheman said. University spokesperson Barbara Beck said the presidents of Tulane University and the University of Chicago are among the officials invited to this morning's meeting. "It certainly is absolutely true that student aid is one of the most important issues for this University," Scheman said, alluding to the University's need-blind admissions policy. "We recognize the problems of access, indebtedness and the burden of high tuition on families," she said, adding that Rodin will not be missing a negotiating meeting but an information session about what some have called Clinton's tuition tax break. Scheman said she will be in Washington on Friday for a meeting about possible changes in the federal government's policy of reimbursing universities for the indirect costs of basic research.
(01/25/95 10:00am)
'Perelman Quad' to offer more student space In a remarkable reversal of years of planning by previous administrations, University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow have scrapped the Revlon Center student union project in favor of a student center formed by renovating and expanding existing campus facilities. A multi-page document obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian from a source in College Hall reveals that the new campus center will connect Logan, Williams and Houston Halls with Irvine Auditorium, restoring the amount of space available for student activities to 85,827 square feet -- nearly the level included in the original Revlon plans. The complex has been dubbed Perelman Quadrangle in honor of its prospective major donor -- University alumnus and Trustee Ronald Perelman, who is chairman and chief executive officer of New York's MacAndrews and Forbes Group, Inc. Perelman has not committed funds to the new initiative. But, in November 1988, he pledged $10 million in seed money to the Revlon project -- which was first proposed by former University President Sheldon Hackney and scaled back last spring in response to cost concerns. James Conroy, senior vice president for corporate affairs and special counsel at MacAndrews and Forbes, said although Perelman Quad plans were received by the company last week, Perelman himself has yet to see them. The new plans were drawn up by architect David Marohn of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, a Philadelphia firm that handled the restoration of the Furness Building on campus. The firm has also recently developed a concept plan for Dartmouth College, detailing what that school will look like in 15 years. Marohn refused to make a statement about the Perelman Quad project, saying that "it's really still in the preliminary stages." The Revlon concept has been replaced outright by what Rodin and Chodorow claim will be a more cost-effective, spacious and secure complex -- located closer to the center of campus and completed six to seven months faster than a project of Revlon's magnitude would have been. The new plans resemble Revlon in that they include items such as meeting rooms of various sizes, student organization offices and an expanded game room, according to the document. But in the proposed Perelman Quad, the square footage of most items -- such as twenty-four hour study lounges, reading and music listening rooms and music practice rooms -- is dramatically increased, the document states. The net area allocated for performance space in the Perelman Quad is four times greater than that provided for in the Revlon plans, according to the document. But the black box theater, integral to the original Revlon concept, has been eliminated in favor of a "flexible proscenium stage," Chodorow said, adding that this stage would permit a revamped, subdivided Irvine Auditorium to accommodate audiences from 500 to 1,400 with ease. Some new structures will be built to link the four buildings, including a two-story glass atrium between Williams and Logan Halls. The atrium is slated to be open 24 hours a day and is aimed at improving security by flooding the area with light. In addition, Houston Hall -- America's first student union -- will be restored to its former grandeur, and a parking lot currently located behind Irvine Auditorium will be turned into a park similar to College Green. Garage and supply facilities for the new complex will be located underground. Rodin said the goal of the Perelman Quad is to create a great urban space, "a real center where the role of the University [will] be focused in a more secure way." By using existing buildings already included in its deferred maintenance plans, she said the University hopes to achieve significant cost savings and to decrease anticipated construction time, so that students now on campus will be able to enjoy the new facility. Plenty of open space will be provided within the new complex for students, faculty and staff to congregate -- whether in an outdoor courtyard that Chodorow likened to a medieval "forum," or indoors at an assortment of cafZs and shops scattered throughout the four buildings. "There are so many possibilities and we need time and architects to tell us what the possibilities are," he said, adding that he thinks the Perelman Quad will draw members of the University community to the center of campus. "This [project] is just the beginning of the center of everything," Chodorow said. The University's Board of Trustees is equally enthusiastic about the Perelman Quad plan, Rodin said. If Perelman gives his approval, the project will move forward in earnest -- with administrators obtaining hard cost estimates and feedback on the plan from the campus community, she said. "The final plans must accommodate all that the original Revlon Center was intended to accomplish," Rodin said. "We want to provide the best center for this campus, and we are very respectful of the thinking that has already gone into this [project]."
(01/24/95 10:00am)
Washington writer also hired Assembling the best administrative team in all of American higher education is no easy task. Just ask University President Judith Rodin, who is still trying to round out her staff roster to accomplish this goal -- almost seven months after taking office. Rodin took another step toward finishing the job yesterday, welcoming two new advisors from Washington to College Hall. Chief of Staff Stephen Schutt, who held a similar position with former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford (D – Pa.), and Staff Writer Jeff Hartman joined new Director of the President's Office Linda Gilvear, whose appointment was announced last week. All three began the week in their new posts. However, Rodin is still searching for a permanent Executive Vice President, director of the Office of Affirmative Action and director of the African American Resource Center. Gilvear, Schutt and Hartman will be working in an environment markedly different from the one left behind by former University President Sheldon Hackney, Rodin said. Former Interim President Claire Fagin began the task of administrative restructuring by thinning out the number of middle-management personnel, and the positions Gilvear, Schutt and Hartman now hold resemble those recommended by a preliminary Coopers & Lybrand report Fagin commissioned last year. "[Gilvear and Schutt] are replacing Linda Hyatt and John Wells Gould, but their jobs are different," said University spokeswoman Barbara Beck. Gilvear, who spearheaded the recently-concluded Campaign for Penn, said last week she planned to spend many of her first days on the job "organizing my thoughts, prioritizing what needs to be done first." But while Gilvear may be performing mental gymnastics this week, Schutt and Hartman -- having just arrived from Washington -- will be learning their way around Locust Walk and attempting to meet as many people as possible. Schutt, a 1983 graduate of the University Law School, worked as an attorney and in state government before spending more than three years as chief of staff for Wofford. As chief of staff, Schutt recruited, hired and supervised campaign workers and devised and implemented legislative initiatives. He also directed a $13 million fund-raising effort. Schutt said he wanted to work with Wofford -- who was president of Bryn Mawr College before being appointed to the Senate by former Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey -- because of Wofford's ties and commitment to higher education. Schutt added that the experience he gained while running Wofford's office should prove invaluable in his new role at the University -- where one of his responsibilities will be acting as a liaison between the president's office and many campus constituencies. "This University is a large place -- with many people, who have many legitimate needs that are not always in concert with each other," he said. "[But] they all need to be looked at and dealt with." Schutt will also be engaged in economic development planning and policy-making activities, assisting Rodin in achieving her priorities for the University. "It's a very exciting thing in life to join with somebody who really has a vision, and to try to accomplish that vision," he said, referring to Rodin's undergraduate education and administrative restructuring plans. Hartman, who is Rodin's new staff writer, will also be active in the implementation of the 21st Century Project on Undergraduate Education by serving as a liaison to a variety of student activities. "Some have remarked that I'm good with hot air," he said, acknowledging that his previous job was with the Natural Gas Supply Association. "[But] it looks like I'll be handling some of the correspondence duties and speechwriting assignments." A 1990 graduate of the College of William and Mary with a degree in English and a Princeton native, Hartman said he is glad to be at the University. "I enjoy writing," Hartman said. "I never believed that I could earn a living writing, and in that sense I am very appreciative of [this] opportunity." Rodin echoed her new employees' enthusiasm. "[Schutt and Hartman] will be significant additions to the Penn community and wonderful additions to my office," she said. "[They] will add strength and staff support where we need it."
(01/23/95 10:00am)
Although most of them traveled to campus by plane for the traditional two-day round of winter meetings, members of the University's Board of Trustees also found time for a trip on the information superhighway during their visit last week. While much of their time was consumed by committee meetings and briefings on the financial and academic state of the University, the Trustees attended a plenary session on Thursday entitled "The University in the Information Age." At this program, Engineering School Dean Gregory Farrington offered the Trustees an audio-visual glimpse of the Internet's potential for innovation in education, focusing on how technology has dramatically changed the processing, transmission and storage of information. Classics Professor James O'Donnell, who taught a seminar exclusively on the Internet this fall, and English Professor Alan Filreis, who created a computer listserv to encourage continuous discussion in his Literature of the Holocaust course, showed the Trustees how the use of information technology has expanded the frontiers of the classroom. Filreis, who is also the English Department's undergraduate chairperson, said he hopes the World Wide Web component of the Internet will help the department to become "paperless" by June 30, 1996 -- and to solve the problems of "uncreative course-taking" by students and "weak advising." Dental School Dean Raymond Fonesca said he anticipates using the Internet to develop a "life-long learning" and continuing education program to keep alumni involved in the Dental School's affairs. Farrington summed up the Internet as a combination of the best of the American educational system -- because it teaches large numbers of students at reasonable cost -- and the British Oxbridge model that emphasizes personal contact with faculty. Trustee Myles Tannenbaum called the demonstration "mind-blowing." "It's incredible," he said, referring to the Internet. "[Its] opportunities and what it will mean are every bit as significant as the printing press in terms of implication." At Friday's Stated Meeting, the Trustees approved the minutes of their October 20, 1994 meeting along with resolutions providing for an increased number of term trustees until December 31, 1996. The Trustees also heard reports from University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow on the current status of administrative restructuring, action on recommendations made last year by the Commission on Strengthening the Community, results of recently-completed dean searches and the 21st Century Project on Undergraduate Education. Acting Executive Vice President Jack Freeman said the University expects to break even financially this fiscal year, with the Schools of Nursing, Social Work and Graduate School of Education posting surpluses and the Annenberg School and Athletics Department running deficits. General Counsel Shelley Green updated the Trustees on the University's compliance with anti-trust laws, stemming from litigation first brought against the Ivy Overlap Group in 1989 that was related to the sharing of financial aid data for admissions purposes. The Budget and Finance Committee approved resolutions creating the TeleQuest radiology consortium, to be based at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in addition to capital improvements to a planned Convention Avenue SEPTA stop near the Penn Tower Hotel. Purchases of computer equipment for the National Scalable Cluster Project and of several residential properties near campus were also ratified. Before adjourning, the Trustees discussed the proposed student judicial charter and the increasing internationalization of the University's student body. Rodin said she was pleased with the accomplishments that occurred during this cycle of meetings. "We always get a good deal of hard questioning and wise counsel from the Trustees," she said, adding that the Board now includes four new alumni Trustees and two Trustees appointed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. "This meeting was typical," she added. Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos agreed with Rodin. "When you're a Trustee it's your job to worry, because you're fiscally responsible," he said. "[But] this meeting went exceedingly well.?I'm always exhilarated by my time at Penn."
(01/20/95 10:00am)
Although its implementation will dramatically alter the way they do their jobs, University employees seem to have embraced the recommendations made by the Coopers & Lybrand administrative restructuring report. University officials briefed members of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly earlier this week about the restructuring effort, PPSA Chairperson Drita Taraila said. "It was a very positive session, I think," she said. "Everybody went in there with [feelings of] fear and trepidation, but went away with a very different feeling. The openness shared by three senior-level administrators was a very positive experience." Provost Stanley Chodorow, who attended the PPSA meeting, shared similar sentiments. "We got good feedback from everybody," he said. "There's plenty of anxiety out there, but I expected it to be expressed in a more forceful manner." Chodorow said he knows certain segments of the campus community are skeptical about what the restructuring process will actually achieve. However, the administration is confident that all of the benefits of restructuring can be realized, he added. "We want to make Penn the best-run place on the planet," he said. "The purpose of this whole operation is to make Penn the most effective, efficient organization it can possibly be." Acting Executive Vice President Jack Freeman said PPSA members were especially pleased that he and other University administrators responsible for changes associated with restructuring were taking an open approach to the process. "We were able to respond to expressions of interest and concern," he said. "It was not at all an antagonistic meeting. Everyone there seemed to recognize and appreciate the need for and reasoning behind the need to restructure." Taraila agreed with Freeman's assessment, adding that she and the PPSA are "optimistic" about the prospects of restructuring precisely because it is being handled in an open fashion. She said this treatment is in contrast to similar administrative initiatives she has experienced during a 20-year career as manager for administration and finance in the Medical School's Pharmacology Department. Jean Morse, deputy to University President Judith Rodin, said the success of the University's restructuring efforts depends on the involvement of the entire campus. For this reason, Rodin, Chodorow, Freeman and Janet Gordon, executive director of the Executive Vice President's Office, will be meeting with various constituencies -- including the A-3, Undergraduate Assembly, and Graduate and Professional Student Assembly -- in the next few weeks to get suggestions and feedback on implementation of the administrative restructuring plan.
(01/19/95 10:00am)
The full University Board of Trustees will be on campus today and tomorrow for its traditional round of winter meetings. But six new Trustees -- four alumni and two Commonwealth of Pennsylvania officials -- are already immersed in the issues affecting campus life after having attended a day-long orientation program yesterday at the Faculty Club. University President Judith Rodin described the orientation program as an "institutional briefing" that allows the new Trustees to get an overview of the role they now play in University decision-making. The group of six also had the opportunity to meet deans of the various schools, Faculty Senate leaders and senior officers of the University. They will return to campus later this semester to meet student leaders and other faculty members. University Secretary Barbara Stevens said the entire Board of Trustees will be briefed on many aspects of campus life during the next two days -- listening to everything from student life and University responsibility to external affairs and budget and finance. Discussion of the strategic importance of the University's "mutually beneficial" partnership with federal, state and city government, to be led by Vice President for Community and Government Affairs Carol Scheman, is also on the schedule, Stevens said. And a first-of-its-kind plenary session on "The University in the Information Age" will be held today, so that faculty, staff and students with electronic expertise can share their knowledge with Trustees. Rodin said other topics of interest to the Trustees are the Coopers & Lybrand report on administrative restructuring and the 21st Century Undergraduate Education Initiative, which will be explained in-depth both during normal committee meetings and some special joint sessions. This cycle of meetings is the first full set that Trustees' Chairperson Roy Vagelos, who took office last fall, will lead.
(01/19/95 10:00am)
University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow probably felt a little clairvoyant at yesterday's University Council meeting. In their opening reports, each anticipated many issues that would later be raised by Microbiology Professor Helen Davies as part of the Committee on Pluralism's continuing effort to track the implementation of recommendations made last year by the Commission on Strengthening the Community. Rodin spoke about the release of the Coopers & Lybrand administrative restructuring report earlier this week, said that planning for a campus center will finally "move aggressively forward," and reported on dean searches that were successfully concluded over the past few months. Chodorow brought the Council up to date on the University's progress in implementing an "arm's length" arrangement for its Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, and said he is pleased that the Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education has begun work on the 21st Century Project for Undergraduate Education. Chodorow added that deanship reviews will begin in about two months for Law School Dean Colin Diver, School of Dental Medicine Dean Raymond Fonesca and Annenberg School for Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson. The University should also be closer to having a new deputy provost at the end of the month, when the search committee appointed by Chodorow submits a list of candidates for the post to him. Search committees -- and their composition -- proved to be a topic of prime importance at yesterday's Council meeting. When Undergraduate Assembly member Dan Schorr, a College senior, asked Chodorow why there were no students on the deputy provost search committee, Chodorow said he was unsure whether such an appointment would be appropriate. And sixth-year Medical student Erick Santos, Representative to Council for the Medical School Student Government, asked Chodorow to look into Medical School Dean William Kelley's decision not to appoint a search committee to find a new Vice Dean of Education for the Medical School. Council Moderator Will Harris, an associate professor of Political Science, then turned the floor over to Davies. She said the Committee on Pluralism is "very pleased" with the University administration's efforts to implement Commission recommendations, citing the revamped Code of Student Conduct and increased involvement of faculty in campus life through courses offered in residences as examples of progress. Council next debated the proposed Student Judicial Charter and Code of Academic Integrity, aiming to resolve ambiguities in the appeal and sentencing processes they advocate. Before adjourning, Council also received updates from the Committee on Communications -- which endorsed the merger of Almanac and Compass, the Committee on Safety and Security, and Undergraduate Assembly member Lance Rogers, a College junior, who briefed Council on the activities of Ivy Council this semester.
(01/18/95 10:00am)
Although classes have barely begun, University Council is not wasting any time getting back to the business of advising the University's administration. Today, the Council will hold its first meeting of the semester. Members will receive an update from the Committee on Pluralism regarding implementation of recommendations made last year by the Commission on Strengthening the Community. A report on the current status of the University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program will also be included in that discussion, University President Judith Rodin said. The Committee to Review the Status of ROTC at Penn suggested last fall that ROTC be restructured under an new "arm's length" arrangement. Following the report of the Committee on Pluralism, the Bookstore, Communications, Library and Safety and Security Committees of Council will each give brief interim reports. Provost Stanley Chodorow said time has also been allotted at the meeting for discussion of proposals involving the Student Judicial Charter and the Code of Academic Integrity advanced by the Student Judicial Reform Committee. Additionally, a report on the Ivy Council is slated to be given before the meeting adjourns. Today's meeting will be the first conducted by Council under its revised bylaws -- which were approved by mail ballot on December 14, 1994 by a vote of 41-6. The revised bylaws provide for eight new Council members: one elected representative of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly, the Librarians Assembly and the A-3 Assembly -- and five additional undergraduates who are members of the Undergraduate Assembly. The allocation of additional seats to undergraduates became a hot topic last spring when UA chairperson and Wharton junior Dan Debicella asked that one of the new seats be given automatically to the chairperson of the United Minorities Council. That proposal was defeated. Graduate students protested the awarding of additional seats to undergraduates, since they were not offered an increased number of spots on Council. The new Council members will attend today's meeting, which will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Quadrangle's McClelland Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
(01/18/95 10:00am)
HARRISBURG -- Surrounded by swirls of red, white and blue bunting, with the Capitol Building gleaming in the background, former Erie Congressman Tom Ridge was sworn in as Pennsylvania's 43rd governor yesterday. A six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Ridge rose to statewide office in last November's Republican revolution. He defeated outgoing Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mark Singel in that race. Ridge, Pennsylvania's first-ever governor from Erie and the Commonwealth's first chief executive to hold his inaugural celebration outside the Capitol's East Wing, was sworn in at 12:15 p.m. by State Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille. Following the oath of office and the traditional strains of "Stars and Stripes Forever" played by the Valley Forge Military Academy Herald Trumpets, Ridge delivered a 20-minute inaugural address, which focused on the themes of community potential, individual responsibility and governmental change. Thanking his predecessor, outgoing Governor Robert Casey, for his integrity and commitment to public service, Ridge vowed "to re-instill, to re-invigorate, a sense of community throughout all of Pennsylvania." He described the challenges that will confront his administration in the coming months -- creating a government intended to serve the people, combatting crime, implementing a balanced environmental policy and reshaping the state's educational system. "We must redefine the relationship between state and government, our communities, and ourselves," Ridge told a wind-whipped crowd of more than 6,000 supporters. "Woven together each thread strengthens the very fibre, the character, of our state." He added that he plans to call the state legislature into a special session today to "confront the violence" currently plaguing Pennsylvania. This provoked vocal protest from opponents of the death penalty -- which Ridge favors -- who had gathered nearby at Soldiers' Grove to bring attention to their cause. Ridge also pledged to preserve and create jobs in the Commonwealth, and "to create the most advanced partnership in the nation to promote and enhance our resources." Acknowledging that the change essential to progress is never easy to achieve, Ridge said his priority is to "get the job done" and to strengthen popular confidence in state government. "You did not elect a governor just to run a bureaucracy," he said. "As your steward it is my responsibility to listen, to hear your voice, to challenge, to manage and ultimately, to lead." At the conclusion of the ceremony, Harrisburg's first inaugural parade in two decades wound its way around the Capitol complex, with law enforcement divisions in squad cars and on motorcycles leading military color guards and high school bands through the streets of the capital. Ridge's Lieutenant Governor, former Bucks County Commissioner Mark Schweiker, took the oath of office in the state Senate chamber, which was packed with about 500 friends, family members -- including Schweiker's wife and three children -- and other well-wishers. President Judge of the State Superior Court James Rowley administered the oath to Schweiker yesterday morning before Ridge assumed gubernatorial duties. Schweiker's inaugural speech also emphasized the idea of change, invoking the examples of past political leaders William Penn, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to encourage the development of a united, non-partisan state government. "These men are our mentors," he said, promising -- as he had many times on the campaign trail -- to make government work for the Commonwealth's citizens. "Our frame of reference, however, are the Pennsylvanians who hired us to do the people's business," Schweiker said.
