In eyes of experts, a new age has dawned
(09/12/01 9:00am)
As the world reels from the worst terrorist attack in history, observers are predicting a drastic overhaul of America's domestic and international policy.
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Councilman tries to block stadiums
(09/10/01 9:00am)
City Councilman David Cohen will ask the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court today to throw out an appeal by the Eagles and Phillies contesting a lower court decision the teams say will destroy the new stadium projects.
Incumbents see little GOP challenge
(09/07/01 9:00am)
Although City Controller Jonathan Saidel is up for re-election this November, the Democrat doesn't seem particularly concerned about his chances.
New stadiums run into legal troubles
(09/06/01 9:00am)
The future of the new Eagles and Phillies stadiums now hinges on reversing an Aug. 10 ruling that says the teams did not adequately seek multiple bidders for the project.
A city on the rise, but it's a long way up
(09/02/01 9:00am)
More than a year and a half after sliding to victory in the closest mayoral election in Philadelphia history, John Street is still struggling to fill the shoes of his predecessor.
Mayor subpoenaed over turf contract at Veterans Stadium
(08/30/01 9:00am)
Six city officials, including Mayor John Street, were subpoenaed by City Controller Jonathan Saidel on Tuesday for information regarding faulty turf at the Veterans Stadium and a city contract with Southwest Recreational Industries.
Hillel building still awaiting funds
(05/02/01 9:00am)
Close to a year after construction was supposed to begin on the new multi-million dollar Hillel building, the project still faces several financial hurdles before plans can move forward, according to sources close to the negotiations. The project, which was supposed to start last summer, is projected to cost $11 million, about half of which has been raised. But uncertainty has loomed over all aspects of the facility, including its design and location, for the past year. According to Rabbi Howard Alpert, the executive director of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia, only about 50 percent of the necessary $11 million has been raised by Hillel. But the significant financial shortfall may be coming close to a resolution as financier and Penn alumnus Michael Steinhardt -- who founded the investment corporation Steinhardt Partners -- has reportedly offered the naming gift. Last week, a source close to the negotiations confirmed that Steinhardt will be the naming donor. And though Hillel has not officially announced Steinhardt's donation, Alpert did say last week that a naming donor had been found, but would not specify who. "We're speaking to funders, and we do have the naming gift already," Alpert said. And while Vice President for Facilities Services Omar Blaik said he did not know for sure who the naming donor was, he did say that the gift is substantial. "I understand from Hillel that there is someone who has put forward $2 to $3 million for the naming of the center," Blaik said. Aside from finances, the site of the facility has been a point of contention for many parties involved. Representatives of Jacobs/Wyper Architects -- the firm designing the new facility -- said in February that the new building would be constructed in Hamilton Village. Blaik also confirmed that the new facility would be located near the high rises. However, Hillel officials still will not disclose the facility's location. Last February, members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in Hamilton Village confirmed that the building would be located in the parking lot it currently shares with the Sigma Chi fraternity. Members of Alpha Tau Omega originally expressed displeasure with the proposed site and the upcoming loss of the parking lot, and said the fraternity was trying to have a discussion with the involved parties. Alpert said that negotiations concerning the proposed site had been cordial. "I think the conversations have all been very friendly," Alpert said. But while Steinhardt's donation may bring a measure of security to the new building's future, the gift comes after months of financial limbo. According to Blaik, the University has been waiting for months for Hillel to announce that it is ready to begin construction. "We are very hopeful that they will be successful so that we can consummate the agreement between us," Blaik said. And Alpert, though he would not directly state that financial woes are the reason for the delays, did say that fundraising issues were key concerns in the negotiations with the University. "Projects as complex as this, both in terms of its fundraising and all of the details that have to be arranged, it's very difficult to predict how long all of these negotiations will take," Alpert said. But Alpert also stressed that while the building may be behind original expectations, consultants had told Hillel at the beginning of the planning that fundraising for projects such as this could take years. "We're now 18 months into the project," Alpert said. And Alpert also said design concerns were part of the reason for the delay. "We have to come to agreement on what the building's going to look like," Alpert said. The current Hillel facility, located at 202 S. 36th Street, has long been recognized as inadequate to fulfill the needs of the growing Jewish community on campus. As the plan to relocate was announced in 1999, Penn Hillel Director Jeremy Brochin cited lack of space as one of the main reasons for requiring a new building. "I think we're already a community that's bursting out of the building," Brochin said. Current plans for the new facility provide between 30,000 and 35,000 square feet of space -- more than double the 11,000 square feet that comprise the existing Hillel facility. The building is to have three stories including a basement level, and will house Kosher dining, which moved out of Hillel five years ago due to lack of space. Kosher dining originally moved next door to the present Hillel facility, until that structure was transformed into the Graduate School of Fine Arts over a year ago. Irv's Place at 4040 Locust Street has housed the service since that time. But besides providing more space and a place to eat, Hillel hopes that the new facility will help to bring the various Jewish communities at Penn together.
Rapper Common rocks Relays show
(05/02/01 9:00am)
Providing a break from the tense competition of the Penn Relays, hip-hop artists Common, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek entertained the crowds at Wynn Common on Friday night. The show -- called "The Resurrection of Hip-Hop 2001" and hosted by the Social Planning and Events Committee To Represent Undergraduate Minorities at Penn in conjunction with Power 99 FM -- also featured opening acts Download and the Vikings. Following some introductory words by Power 99 host Tiffany Bacon, the concert finally got rolling at 7:30 p.m. -- after a half-hour delay -- with Download, who performed for about 15 minutes. After they finished, the Vikings also played for 15 minutes before exiting the stage saying, "If y'all don't like [the music], we don't eat." However, the crowd was fairly small and inactive -- with the notable exception of some break dancers enjoying themselves in the middle of Wynn Common -- until Talib Kweli came out at around 8 p.m. And Talib definitely seemed to have the crowd captivated throughout his hour on stage, even when he yelled at some hecklers who booed artist J-Hood as he came out to perform in the middle of Talib's act. J-Hood was late for his original slot as an opener. But the main attraction of the night was definitely Common. The Chicago-born lyricist was SPEC-TRUM's first choice for a headline act. Common's most recent album, Like Water for Chocolate, was nominated for a Grammy and featured collaborations with artists such as D'Angelo, the Roots and Macy Gray. Midway through his act, Common was joined on stage by performer Tru Life, who "free-styled" -- a form of rap where people create rhymes and lyrics spontaneously. The concert drew rave reviews from those in attendance. According to College senior Kwasi Asare, the mix of acts was a perfect choice for college-age students. "It was an amazing expression of artistic work that really speaks to our generation," Asare said. "Common definitely provided a quality show." But the crowd was not exclusively made of Penn students, as many students from nearby universities came to hear the acts. For Drexel freshman Jesse Estler, it was the surprise appearance by Tru Life that made the evening. "I was surprised to see Tru Life there from Cross," Estler said. "I go to see them whenever they're in the city. The whole show was really hyped." And Temple University student Sean Weinstein said he thought the DJs were the highlight of the show. "I liked the DJs, the DJs were really good," Weinstein said. "But the music they played [during the opening acts] wasn't that good." The concert was promoted throughout the Delaware Valley and New York through radio advertisements. According to SPEC-TRUM Co-Director Erika Parkins, the event was easily SPEC-TRUM's largest project. "This is our biggest event of the year -- the most well-known," Parkins said earlier this month. "The energy behind it is spectacular." Common and Kweli were chosen from a field of prospective performers that included Mos Def and Mystikal, both because of their availability and their combined musical vibe.
University awards TAs for excellence
(05/02/01 9:00am)
Recognizing outstanding classroom skills, University President Judith Rodin presented an award for teaching to 10 graduate students and teaching assistants yesterday. The two-year old Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students, awards recipients $500 and formal recognition. Undergraduates nominate the recognized graduate students. A committee of faculty, graduate students and past winners makes the final selection from among the nominees. Sanjay Chugh, Thomas English, Amy Garrett, Fariha Khan, Samuel Trieu Nguyen, John Oberdiek, Erik Simpson, Jonah Steinberg, Paulina Alberto and Timothy Duncan were the lucky 10 winners this year. At the presentation ceremony, held in the Arthur Ross Gallery of the Fisher Fine Arts Library, Rodin said that graduate students -- who are often teaching assistants in large lecture classes -- are the main contact between faculty and undergraduates in many courses. "Our graduate students are on the front line in the classroom for the undergraduates," Rodin said. According to Rodin, the award stemmed from a desire "to recognize the talent of our graduate teaching assistants." Though the award was actually created three years ago by History Professor Walter Licht and members of the Graduate Student Activities Council, it was formally sponsored by Rodin herself two years ago. Licht, who chaired this year's selection committee, praised the graduate students who originally created the award, highlighting the fact that undergraduates, rather than faculty and administration, get to recognize their own teachers. "I was especially pleased by the democratic nature of the award," Licht said. After the list of nominees was narrowed from 280 to 30 by the selection committee, the remaining candidates were asked to write a statement of their own philosophy on teaching. And Licht said that these statements really showed the nominees' commitment to the classroom. "There's a lot of love in these documents," Licht said. And winners of the award said it was the undergraduates that gave them the motivation needed to teach. "The best way that I can tell that I made a difference is by the undergraduates themselves," said Duncan, a chemistry graduate student. And Alberto, a History graduate student, agreed with Duncan, saying that the award was special for her because it is "selected by the undergraduates themselves and not by any other committee." The award is just one in a series of University attempts to improve the quality of graduate student life. Earlier this year, Penn announced that it would pay for five years of health insurance for graduate students receiving full aid and increase stipends. But despite these changes, a group of Penn graduate students -- calling themselves Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania, or GET-UP -- is seeking to unionize, and have labeled the University's efforts attempts to temporarily appease graduate students in order to hamper their push for unionization. However, Rodin said that this is an inaccurate portrayal of Penn's motives. "I am clearly disappointed that the students who feel the need to unionize would mischaracterize these changes, which I think they have done," Rodin said.
`This place looks a heck of a lot better'
(04/27/01 9:00am)
The days of shootings in front of Smokey Joe's and muggings on Locust Walk seem a distant memory. Penn is now consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the nation. The University has raised nearly $1 billion in funds. Guided by the Agenda for Excellence, Penn has made some significant headway over the past five years of University President Judith Rodin's tenure. Now, the plan responsible for all of this is coming under review. And as the University reviews these successes, as well as the Agenda's failures, it may very well develop a new strategic plan for the next five years. Though what Penn will focus on in an upcoming strategic plan is not certain, there are certainly some topics on which it will have to focus, and some things it can leave behind as past successes. The past five years of the Agenda have certainly been speckled with numerous successes. But in order to succeed in the future, the University will have to face some important issues in order to draft its next plan. Relations with the West Philadelphia community, while slowly improving, still remain a point of contention. In recent months, the community group Neighbors Against McPenntrification has repeatedly accused Penn of encroaching upon the surrounding neighborhood. And last fall, area landlords charged that the University's partnership with the real-estate company Fannie Mae was little more than a ploy to fix housing prices. Penn will have to find a way to appease local residents while furthering University initiatives if it is to succeed in the future -- especially given its plans for the future of campus. Campus development, which has been extensive during the Rodin administration, now has an ambitious 25-year plan intended to eventually unite Penn with Center City. Such a project will require tremendous amounts of fundraising, assuming Penn is even able to buy the neighboring lands held by the U.S. Postal Service to fulfill its dreams of eastward expansion. Because of ongoing financial difficulties, the Postal Service will not move off the lands east of Penn as soon as originally planned. And then there's the issue of financial aid. Though the University has raised $903 million of a target $1 billion for the entire plan in the past five years, it has raised only $131 million of a target $200 million for financial aid. This is an area the University must address if it hopes to compete with the Harvards and Princetons of the world, which fund their financial aid systems largely from their endowments. Currently, Penn relies almost entirely on its operating budget to fund financial aid. Though Penn's finances -- with the exception of the endowment -- are doing well as a whole, the University has suffered some heavy losses in recent years. Most notably, the University of Pennsylvania Health System lost more than $300 million in the 1998 and 1999 fiscal years. The Health System has since made modest recoveries, but Penn still has much of the loss to recover. Such financial issues will undoubtedly plague the University's mind as it chooses what to focus on in the future.
Nine students win Fulbright Scholarships
(04/26/01 9:00am)
For nine lucky Penn students, next year won't be spent worrying about midterms or that stressful job search. Instead, these undergraduates and graduate students will head overseas for a year of subsidized study through the Fulbright Scholarships. Named after Sen. William Fulbright, who sponsored legislation to fund the program in 1946, the Fulbright Scholarship gives graduating undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to spend 10 months in any one of more than 100 participating countries. The nine students who were granted the Fulbright this year were among 48 Penn students who applied, and seven are still waiting to hear whether or not they won. Eight hundred Fulbrights are granted nationwide each year. According to Clare Cowen, the associate director for international fellowships at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, the number of Penn students applying for -- and receiving -- the Fulbright has been steadily increasing. "The most we ever had [receive the award] was 16," Cowen said. "I would say that's probably a rising trend." Cowen went on to say that the low-pressure atmosphere that Fulbright recipients work in sets the award apart from other overseas grants such as the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships. "You don't have to publish a book," she said. "All you have to do is write two reports." Students who won the scholarship said that they chose the country they wanted to study in for a variety of reasons. According to Ashley West, an art history doctoral student who will be studying in Munich, Germany, her choice was based on her research. West is currently studying the German artist Hans Burgkmair the Elder and her trip will allow her to examine Burgkmair's work up close. "It's directly related to my proposed dissertation topic," West said. "I'm going there because they've got the most complete collection of [Burgkmair's] woodcuts." However, Penn's undergraduate students seem to have picked their countries more out of sheer fascination. College senior Andrea Morton, who will also be studying in Germany, said she has always been interested in the country. "When I was little I was there, and ever since then I've been interested in Germany and the language," Morton said. Also among this year's recipients are undergraduates Jae Song, Ian Gelfand and Rebecca Schrage, as well as graduate students Mark Brosseau, Teresa Wojcik and Gregory Flaxman. Cowen expressed pride in this year's applicants, whether or not they emerged with the prestigious scholarships. "As every year, it's a wonderful group of Penn students, and I wish all of them had won something," Cowen said. Statistically, the Fulbright is significantly easier to receive than a scholarship such as the Rhodes. According to Cohen, a student's chances of receiving a Fulbright is about one in five as opposed to one in 40 for a Rhodes. However, Cohen did say that these statistics vary depending on which country the student chooses. For example, the chance of winning a Fulbright Scholarship to England is about one in 25.
Police release Campus Copy report
(04/24/01 9:00am)
After nearly two weeks of investigating, University Police announced yesterday that the April 3 incident at Campus Copy Center will remain classified as a simple assault. The final report on the incident between Graduate School of Education student Gregory Seaton and employees of the Walnut Street store confirms the ruling made by the officers who first responded to the disturbance. Seaton has alleged that he suffered racial discrimination from Ron Shapiro, the son of Campus Copy owner Stan Shapiro. Furthermore, Seaton claims that he was assaulted by Ron Shapiro and several Campus Copy employees after he protested his treatment. Campus Copy representatives deny Seaton's allegations, claiming instead that Seaton incited violence. The report brings some closure to weeks of controversy after Seaton's account of the incident circulated campus via e-mail the weekend after the alleged assault. In the days following, student groups launched protests in front of Campus Copy and circulated petitions admonishing Campus Copy for its customer service. A simple assault -- an assault in which no serious injuries are sustained -- must be witnessed by police officers in order for an arrest to be made. The report stands behind the original decision not to make any arrests. Penn Police Chief Maureen Rush said that regardless of the testimony of the various security guards, the fact that no police officer witnessed the incident would alone have been enough -- in addition to the lack of serious injuries -- to validate the simple assault ruling. "None of the police, [University City District] Safety Ambassadors or the Allied-SpectaGuard Officer witnessed the altercation; all arrived after the event in response to the radio call," the report read. The report also said that both Campus Copy and Seaton have been told that they can "seek further resolution through the Philadelphia District Attorney's Private Criminal Complaint process." Rush would not speculate as to whether the concerned parties would seek further action or as to what the outcome would be if they did. Yesterday, Stan Shapiro said that he felt the final report supported Campus Copy's side of the story. "We told the truth right from the beginning, and I believe this police report more or less confirms that," he said. And Ron Shapiro said that he was "happy with the way [the report] came out." Though Campus Copy last Tuesday signed an apology for providing Seaton with "poor service," they have consistently denied that Seaton was the victim of racial discrimination. Seaton declined to comment on the report yesterday, saying that he would wait until he had seen something "a little more in-depth." Seaton also would not say whether he plans to take legal action against Campus Copy, and Stan Shapiro said that while he knows Seaton has an attorney, he does not know what kind of litigation Seaton could bring. "I know that he has counsel, but whether he's planning any kind of a lawsuit, I don't know," Stan Shapiro said. "I don't know what kind of suit he possibly has." Following the final Penn Police report, University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi released a statement in which they praised how the issue has been examined. "We have begun to have conversations with members of our community on issues of great importance to all of us, and we intend to continue the dialogue," the statement read. Rodin and Barchi's statement also said that the issues raised by the Campus Copy controversy would be discussed in the future. And former Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Michael Bassik said that while the investigation was quick, the issues raised by the incident have yet to be addressed. "I'm glad to see the investigation was conducted so quickly, but it looks as though the final report sheds no new light on the matter," said Bassik, a College senior. And Kimberly Noble, UMOJA Political Action and Research Committee Coordinator, said that the report contained no new information about what actually happened on April 3. "Obviously, everyone wants to know what happened on that day, and we're not going to know," the College sophomore said.
Five years in, Rodin's Agenda gets a review
(04/23/01 9:00am)
The past five years of University President Judith Rodin's administration have been driven by one pile of paper -- the Agenda for Excellence, a strategic plan for the entire University during her tenure. Announced in November of 1995 -- just months after she assumed the University presidency -- the Agenda established a list of nine goals for Penn to tackle over a five- year period. And with those five years coming to a close this year, the Agenda is coming under review. Though the evaluation will occur throughout the end of the year, the University Trustees will hear the first piece of it at their June meeting. As the review process began earlier this year, Rodin said that the analysis would help determine what areas still need improvement. "What this would be is now saying, 'OK, we've done it on an annual basis, we keep recalibrating and resetting; let's step back and see everything that we've accomplished, what we haven't done and ask ourselves why,'" Rodin said. Once the Agenda was compiled by senior administrators, it was circulated to members of the Penn community, including faculty and students. Furthermore, each of Penn's schools developed their own version of the Agenda in subsequent years, each tailored to address their special concerns. And almost as soon as it was implemented, the Agenda began to greatly affect the way the University operated. The March after it was announced, Rodin traveled to South Korea in an effort to aid the globalization called for in the Agenda. In May 1996, the University of Pennsylvania Health System took over the Penn Tower Hotel, a move that Executive Vice President John Fry said, at the time, was a direct result of the Agenda. But to students, perhaps the most noticeable result of the Agenda was the construction of the Perelman Quadrangle, which officially opened in September. Rodin maintains that by and large, Penn is a much better place than it was before the Agenda. "Let's just go back seven and a half years and remind ourselves where we were," Rodin said last week. "When we came, Sansom Common was a parking lot, the temporary book store had been up for 25 years... so you are experiencing a very different Penn from the Penn that we experienced eight years ago," Rodin said. The nine original goals drafted by the Agenda, and then expanded upon by subsequent goal statements and individual agendas drafted by Penn's separate schools, have been the driving force behind some of the most ambitious efforts the University has undertaken since Rodin became president. For instance, in 1995, the Agenda called for the University to "seek greater research opportunities." This motive has led most recently to the establishment of the Center for Undergraduate Research Fellowships, an organization that seeks to facilitate and promote research by Penn's undergraduates. The Agenda also called for massive fundraising efforts, and these efforts, on the whole, have been successful, with the University having raised more than $900 million since the implementation of the Agenda. Furthermore, the University was able to break $300 million in each of the past two years. According to Rodin, this is one of the most dramatic results of the Agenda. "The rate of annual increase at Penn is higher than any other institution in our peer group, except for institutions that are actively in a campaign," Rodin said. For Provost Robert Barchi, who has held various positions at Penn since the late 1960s, the successes of the plan can be seen in the quality of Penn's student body. "We've always had good students, but I think we have excellent students now," Barchi said. "If you think about the Agenda and what it says, it really outlines what it means to be a great university." But while they laud the Agenda and its goals, administrators also say that there are areas still in need of work. According to Rodin, the integration of technology and globalization of Penn are two Agenda goals that have not gone as far ahead as some of the other points. "Ideas that were thought to be fresh and pertinent [in these two areas] five years ago are not still thought so now," Rodin said. And others in the Penn community see other areas that still need work. According to English Department Chairman John Richetti, one of the most important things for Penn to tackle in the next five years is the faculty-to-student ratio within the School of Arts and Sciences, which currently employs 450 professors. Administrators added that they would like to see more faculty per student. "I'd like to see the School of Arts and Sciences faculty go up to between 500 and 525," Richetti said, who added that "that wouldn't give us a ratio as good as some of the other Ivy League schools." SAS Dean Samuel Preston agreed that faculty staffing is a problem that needs to be addressed. "It's a relatively low faculty to student ratio, and that's something that we're working to correct," Preston said. Furthermore, several within the University community say that fundraising for Penn's financial aid system -- which has failed to match recent financial aid overhauls at Princeton and Harvard universities -- has not come nearly as far as was originally planned. Less than 5 percent of Penn's financial aid budget is covered by endowment, putting Penn at the bottom of the Ivy League in this category. But it is issues such as these that this year's review seeks to address. According to Rodin, determining such weaknesses is the most important part of the analysis. "My view is always, you learn more from what you didn't do and probing why than examining what you did do," Rodin said.
Graduation speakers set to address seniors
(04/19/01 9:00am)
All but one of the University's schools have announced their speakers for this year's Commencement. While the entire Class of 2001 will hear Arizona Sen. John McCain speak at the main ceremony, most of the individual schools will have their own speakers for their smaller, separate graduation ceremonies. Now, with the exception of the graduate division of the School of Arts and Sciences, all of Penn's graduate and undergraduate schools have made public their choices for graduation speakers. The list of speakers includes some very impressive names, such as Nobel Laureate Michael Brown, who will address the Medical School, and Harvard President Emeritus Derek Bok, who will speak to the Law School graduates. According to Sarah Gordon, a professor in the Law School, Bok will be an effective speaker because of his experiences as a college president, scholar and one of the country's top legal experts. "He has been a chair of the board of Common Cause, which has been deeply involved in campaign finance reform," Gordon said. But perhaps the most recognizable name for the individual school ceremonies is Philadelphia Mayor John Street. Street has agreed to speak at the Graduate School of Fine Arts ceremony. But some of this year's speakers also come from within the University. Penn Political Science Professor John DiIulio will address the School of Social Work. DiIulio, one of the foremost scholars of American politics, has received national attention recently after he was named director of the controversial White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. According to Jack Nagel, chairman of the Political Science Department, DiIulio's experience with and research on faith-based community programs will make him an excellent speaker for the School of Social Work. "He's worked very closely with Professor Ram Cnaan on research on the influence of churches and other faith-based institutions in cities, particularly in Philadelphia," Nagel said. Oliver C. Boileau Jr., a Penn alumnus and former president and chief operating officer of the Northrup Grumman Corporation, will address the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Claire Fagin, dean and professor Emeritus at the Nursing School, will address graduates at the School of Nursing ceremony. The School of Arts and Sciences' ceremony will feature Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr., a 1992 College graduate. According to SAS Dean Samuel Preston, Ford's age is one of his main strengths as a speaker. "I think younger speakers tend to connect better with our graduates," Preston said. Furthermore, Preston said that Ford is a role model for College graduates. "He represents a model for students in the College," Preston said. "He's a very young alum who has already made an important contribution politically." With the exception of Aaron Karo, a Wharton senior who will address the Wharton undergraduates, Ford is this year's youngest speaker. Wharton traditionally has a student speaker for its undergraduate class. Karo is the writer of the popular e-mail newsletter "Ruminations on College Life," a collection of witty anecdotes that has a readership of over 10,000, including Microsoft Founder Bill Gates.
Campus plan finds a few snags
(04/18/01 9:00am)
As the Campus Development Plan 2001 begins to affect the planning of construction at Penn, several experts and officials are noting that parts of the 25-year proposal may be jeopardized by external problems and conflicts of interest between donors and the University. The plan, unveiled at February's meeting of the Board of Trustees, was designed in consultation with the Olin Partnership -- a firm led by Penn Architecture Professor Laurie Olin. Among the plan's most ambition projects are a foot bridge across the Schuylkill River to connect Locust Walk with Locust Street, as well as massive development of the western bank of the river adjacent to Penn's campus. But while officials are optimistic about the future campus that the plan offers, there are several concerns about the implementation of the plan. To begin with, it was announced last month that the U.S. Postal Service, the organization that currently owns the lands on which Penn bases its hope of eastern expansion, would not be moving out of the area in the very near future. The Postal Service has placed a freeze on projects due to financial difficulties. And funding of Penn's project -- which is admittedly piecemeal -- may end up being dictated by the wishes of donors over and above the wishes of the University. Furthermore, the eastern expansion of the plan was first mandated almost a decade ago, and with a few notable exceptions -- such as the creation of the Left Bank Apartments -- it has yet to materialize. Perhaps the biggest factor in implementing the widespread changes in the face of campus is that of financing the various projects. Officials say that these will largely be funded as individual donors choose to endow large projects, but they admit that this will make for a very long process. "The disadvantages are that [the piecemeal funding] will be a lengthy process and we will need to make our vision for the campus coincident with the vision of our donors," Vice President for Finance Craig Carnaroli said. But Carnaroli also noted that reliance on donors is necessary, particularly given the comparatively small size of Penn's endowment. "It's sort of what we have to do," Carnaroli said. According to architect Denise Scott Brown, who worked on the last major campus plan in the early 1990s, such broad-ranging plans as the one recently presented to the Trustees can have some impact on the face of the University. And some of the biggest changes at Penn in the last decade occurred as a direct result of this plan. "Out of our master planning studies came the Perelman Quad," Scott Brown said. Scott Brown has been affiliated with the University since the 1950s and has worked on many master plans. According to Scott Brown, the vague nature of the goals outlined by the Campus Development Plan 2001 are not a unique aspect of this particular plan, as many master plans deal more with broad situations and future expectations than with specific projects. The most recent plan that she worked on for Penn made no calls for particular buildings. "It didn't call for buildings as such," Scott Brown said. "It talked about relationships." Pennsylvania State University Architect Dave Zehngut, who recently helped complete a master plan for his university, agreed that the job of master plans is to present a broad overview and not specifics. "The way we think of it is that it's a framework," Zehngut said. "It has to offer you some flexibility because of changes over time." However, Penn Architecture Professor Patricia Conway criticized the current master plan for confining itself to a broad overview of goals. "Personally, I find [the campus development plan] rather disappointingly underambitious, in the sense that there's nothing that I've read that is more than a general statement of a goal," Conway said. Many of the goals outlined in the new master plan were first discussed in the one Scott Brown worked on, particularly the desire to strengthen pedestrian walkways. In fact, a focus of her study was how pedestrian traffic at Penn moved. "When we were doing the plan, we tried to map people's pathways through the campus," she said. And Conway said yesterday that Penn's desire to expand eastwards -- as opposed to the traditional drive to expand westward -- came out of Scott Brown's work. "Denise did a totally different plan which identified in very general terms a plan that called for expansion toward the east and an expansion slightly toward the south," Conway said. But while this call for development of the eastern part of campus is almost a decade old, much of it depends on acquiring the postal lands, and the Postal Service announced last month that it was delaying its proposed move out of the city to the region around the Philadelphia International Airport. Penn officials remain confident that the move will happen eventually, and that Penn will finally be able to acquire the land east of campus. But even so, they admit that the situation is, largely, out of their hands. "We understand that there are issues that are beyond the local concerns and that are related to funding issues in Washington," Vice President of Facilities Services Omar Blaik said.
Commencement gets a face lift
(04/18/01 9:00am)
Reacting to problems with sound, time efficiency and lighting, University officials yesterday unveiled a complete redesign of Commencement ceremonies for this year's graduating seniors. After spending $200,000 in design fees, the University has announced that it will make several changes in the construction and placement of the stage at Commencement. Also, all ceremonies taking place on Franklin Field will be consolidated onto a single stage rather than two stages, as was done in the past. The new design was created after consultations with MGA Partners, an architectural firm that has worked on several projects for Penn, including additions and renovations to the Annenberg School for Communication and most recently to the Kings Court/English House Dining Hall. According to Vice President for Facilities Services Omar Blaik, the new design, in which the stage faces the eastern end of Franklin Field, will allow the University to better utilize Franklin Field, while simultaneously saving money. "By making the orientation this way, you eliminate the need for two stages, which is expensive," Blaik said. In the past, a separate, smaller stage had been placed on Franklin Field for the separate ceremonies of Penn's individual schools, such as the School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School. Furthermore, Blaik says that by making the stage face eastward, the ceremony will be able to make better use of the sun and the acoustics of Franklin Field. "Now, we have sun that is projecting on the stage and away from the spectators," Blaik said. "The third [advantage] is sound because you have an enclosed area [the curved rows of seats at the east end of Franklin Field]." By locating the stage in its new orientation at the 30-yard line, Blaik expects that seating capacity will be increased by 10 to 20 percent. And the construction of the stage itself will also change with the reorientation of the stage. Unlike previous years, in which the stage was made primarily of plywood, this year's stage will employ a great deal of stronger, more durable steel scaffolding. According to Senior Class President Ray Valerio, a member of a consultation committee of students and administrators that discussed the changes, the new design will bring a lot to this year's Commencement. "I think the layout is a definite improvement from last year's Commencement," Valerio said. However, Valerio did not want to say whether the $200,000 it took to create the design was worth it until he actually sees the ceremony. "I couldn't tell you if it was money well spent until Commencement comes," Valerio said. But Social Planning and Events Committee President Theo LeCompte, who was also part of the committee, said that Commencement is an event definitely deserving of University attention. "Graduation and Commencement are very important to a lot of people, and for the University to concentrate on it and concentrate on making it a memorable experience is really important," LeCompte said.
Dining changes brought on by financial woes
(04/17/01 9:00am)
Amidst a storm of controversy set off by changes to Penn's meal plan system, officials yesterday cited financial reasons as the primary motivation for the changes. Starting next year, the smallest meal plan available to upperclassmen will increase from 70 to 160 declining meals per semester, and the University is instituting a no-cancellation policy for meal plans. But yesterday, in a meeting with members of the student-run Dining Advisory Board, officials discussed some of the alternatives that were initially proposed -- and officials explained their reasoning for the decision. According to Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee, major changes in dining policy were necessary due to the financial state of dining services. "One has to look seriously at the purely financial conditions," he said. And according to a statement that was circulated to members of the Undergraduate Assembly and the Dining Advisory Board, administrators also discussed the possibility of closing one of Penn's four dining facilities. "There were some short-lived internal discussions of closing a dining hall entirely, most likely Stouffer, instead of making the meal plan changes," Dining Advisory Board member and Wharton senior Adrian Jones wrote. "Frankly, I would favor capacity rationalization, i.e., closing Stouffer, to mandated meal plans, but this is an issue for everyone to discuss." But regardless of the input that students may have given, closing one of Penn's dining halls is not a viable option, according to Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee. "What we want is dining space for all students," Brownlee said. "The fact is that [the dining halls are] scattered across campus. My own understanding is that there are not enough seats if we close a building." And according to Jones' statement to the UA, CHAS is mandating that four dining halls remain open. Officials also say that student reaction has been blown out of proportion for minor changes. Associate Vice President of Campus and Facilities Services Larry Moneta blames much of the controversy on the fact that the University was not given time to give an explanation of the decisions. "All of [the proposed changes] was intended to be a single rollout," Moneta said. "It was all a single effort that would have had a much more recent and reasonable presentation." Last Monday, it was reported that starting with the Class of 2005, Penn freshmen would be required to buy the 17-meals-per-week "Titanium plan." Furthermore, at the start of the spring semester, freshmen will not be allowed to downgrade to a plan that offers fewer than 14 meals per week. But while this change upset many of Penn's prospective and current students, perhaps the largest student uproar came after Friday's news that upperclassmen choosing to purchase a meal plan would no longer be offered the 70-meals-per-year base option. According to Jones, the changes came out of lengthy discussions on how to improve the financial state of Dining Services. And in an interview last night, Jones faulted administrators for not bringing discussions to students sooner. "I think that that's been their biggest mistake throughout this, and they've perpetuated that mistake by not coming out and saying 'here are our reasons,'" Jones said. Jones also said that he doubts whether Penn's financial aid system -- a system unable to implement the major changes that have been occurring at other Ivy League universities -- will be able to match the financial burden created by the dining changes. For him, students choosing to eat at the less expensive food carts and restaurants are evidence of student "self-help" in the face of high dining costs. Jones also said that students should have been involved in the decisions from the beginning. "I think that if they would have come to students in the beginning, even before they made the decision and said 'here are the trade-offs we are faced with, none of them are good, what should we do,'" Jones said. "That's what really frustrates me." Managing Director of Dining Services Peg Lacey has not responded to repeated phone calls since the first changes were reported last week.
Protests go on outside Campus Copy
(04/16/01 9:00am)
Armed with a megaphone and signs reading honk! if you support safe business, a group of protesters descended on Campus Copy Center late Friday morning. Though the protest began as a small group of about 20 students in front of W.E.B. DuBois College House, it attracted additional supporters as it marched to Campus Copy's main location at 3907 Walnut Street, swelling to well over 50. The group, composed mainly of students, demanded an apology from the business for the alleged beating of Gregory Seaton, a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Education. Seaton created a storm of campus controversy last week when he began circulating an e-mail that claimed he was first denied service at Campus Copy and then beaten by four of the store's employees. Though Seaton maintained in his e-mail that the incident was racially motivated -- an allegation that Campus Copy vehemently denies -- protesters have not focused on the race issue. Instead, protests have centered around questions of customer service and business safety. College sophomore Lark Grier said that she came out to the protest in support of Seaton, but that race had little to do with her motivation. "I just think it's important to support people who have gone through these things," she said. "It's not about race, it's about justice." And protest leaders emphasized that Seaton was alleging assault -- not that he was an African American. "Fact. One unarmed man was beaten by four men inside of Campus Copy," College junior Christine Nangle said, addressing the crowd with a megaphone. "We're not telling you [Campus Copy] you're terrible people. We just want you to admit something wrong happened." And College freshman Reggie Butler told the protesters that they should use this opportunity to send businesses a message that customers need to be treated with respect. "The sad thing is that this kind of thing happens all the time," Butler said. "We need to send out a message to businesses that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated." Campus Copy continued to deny any wrongdoing in the incident, and owner Stan Shapiro said that he does not intend to apologize. "To apologize would be to say that I was in the wrong," Shapiro said. Campus Copy representatives allege that Seaton demanded service and then incited violence himself, prompting employees to come from behind the counter to subdue him. Shapiro went on to say that he feels the student protesters are too swift in their judgment of the store, but that most Penn students are being fair and waiting until the ongoing investigation by University Police is concluded. "I'm saddened by the fact that we are being prejudged and prejudged wrongly," Shapiro said. But he went on to say that he thinks that "the greater majority of the Penn student body and the Penn community will strongly support Campus Copy Center because we have a history in this community." Both Seaton and Campus Copy are employing legal counsel. UMOJA Political Action and Research Committee Coordinator Kimberly Noble called the ongoing protests the beginning of the Penn community coming together to work for a better society. "This is the start of students, and faculty, and staff members coming together to force social change," the College sophomore said. Furthermore, Graduate School of Education Professor Walter Palmer, an area resident, said he was encouraged by the protest. "The truth of the matter is that there is not a social movement in the hands of young people," Palmer said. Noble promised that the protests would continue from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays until the issue is resolved. Next week, Noble said that there will be a protest in front of College Hall because "the president of this University and the provost need to know what we have to say." Shapiro said that he expects that the protest will have an effect on his business, although he would not speculate as to what extent. "Any protest would affect any business," Shapiro said. "How much or how little, it's hard to say."
New meal plan not sitting well with pre-frosh
(04/12/01 9:00am)
As high school students from around the nation flood campus for Penn Previews, prospective Penn students and parents are expressing concern over the University's recent decision that will require all incoming freshmen to purchase a full meal plan. Under the new plan, freshmen will be required to buy a 17-meal-per-week plan during their first semester. During their second semester, they can either upgrade to 19 meals per week or downgrade to 14 meals per week. But at no point during their freshman year will students be able to choose plans that offer less than 14 meals per week. Aaron Lawee, a pre-frosh from Marblehead, Mass., who is staying on campus for Penn Previews, said that he was troubled by the size of the required plan. "You basically have to eat 17 meals a week, and that's a lot to me," Lawee said. "I just don't think it's a very good plan." And some prospective students said that they were concerned about the size of the plan because of the quality of food that they expect from the dining halls. Katherine Brill from Bethasda, Md., and Kristin Meliambro from Long Island, N.Y., both said that they didn't like the plan, especially given what they heard about the reputation of Penn's dining service. "I'm hearing that the food isn't that great and students don't really use the dining halls much anyway," Meliambro said. Administrators are maintaining that the changes were made to give financial stability to Dining Services, improve the quality of service and create community among students. Officials say that the change was necessary despite the fact that the vast majority of Penn freshman already purchase meal plans. "It's to create stability," Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee said. "It's fundamentally a pricing matter." Brownlee also said that the new plan may improve the quality of dining. "I think we all know, and dining knows, that dining has to serve food that's better, food that has more variety and better matches what students want when they want it," Brownlee said. Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said that changes in dining revenue had influenced the decision, though he would not call the changes a problem. "I wouldn't characterize it as financial problems, but we're certainly beginning to see changes in the revenue stream," Moneta said. Moneta also emphasized the fact that the new plan will only affect students during their freshman year. "Clearly, we haven't developed a plan beyond the first-year experience," Moneta said. "[Upperclassmen] have the opportunity to use any other number of options." Most schools in the Ivy League and its peer group require meal plans in some form, at least during freshman year. Harvard and Yale universities, for instance, require students to have one for all four years. But not all schools, including Cornell University, require a specific kind of meal plan from their students -- as Penn will start doing with the Class of 2005. Similarly, most schools with similar meal plans to Penn's do not charge as much for comparable options. According to Princeton Director of Dining Services Stu Orefice, whose school requires two years of meal plans, Princeton's requirements represent a good balance between these two extremes. "If you look at the grand scheme of the Ivy League, people think that Princeton has the best of both worlds, because we're only two years," Orefice said. "It's kind of a hybrid." But Orefice noted that the addition of a large off-campus vendor -- similar to Penn's numerous food trucks, Houston Hall and Moravian Cafes -- has caused Princeton to rethink its requirements. "Most students here, now that we have a brand new retail center, would rather eat there," Orefice said. Next year, Princeton will offer its students seven meal plan options, ranging from 20 meals a week for $3,857 -- including 50 dining "points" -- to a points only option with a minimum cost of $250. Penn's 17-meal plan, priced at $3,444, is comparable with Princeton's top option. Students required to buy a meal plan at Princeton can chose from any of the top three, which include two options for 14 meals a week. And New York University, an urban school with a similar level of off-campus retail options as Penn, requires students living in its freshman residences to purchase a plan. However, freshmen who do not live in these residences are not required to buy a meal plan. NYU offers 11 meal plans -- including two Kosher options -- that range from $1,775 to $710 per semester. But NYU doesn't require a specific number of meals per week as Penn does, and their plans are priced at a much lower cost than the University's 17-meal per week option. At Boston University, another urban campus, students have the option of choosing from six meal plans, ranging from $3,440 for unlimited meals to $3,180 for 216 meals per year -- 108 per semester.
U. dining plan worries food truck vendors
(04/11/01 9:00am)
Some local food vendors are wondering how their business will fare now that the University will require all freshmen to purchase a 17-meal per week plan during their first semesters at Penn. And some are even concerned that the move may put them out of business. Starting with the Class of 2005, all incoming freshmen must buy the 17-meal-per-week plan -- called the "Penn Titanium Meal Plan" -- for the first semester. After this, they may either upgrade to 19 meals per week, or downgrade to 14 meals per week in the second semester. In the past several years, many off-campus eateries have opened at Penn, including the Moravian Cafes food court, El Diner and Papaya King. And it was the addition of these new food vendors that led Penn, in part, to close food service at Chats, formerly in the basement of the 1920s Commons Dining Hall, in December. Food truck vendors wonder if, with the increased dining requirements, they soon will face the same fate as Chats. Michael Lynch, who operates the Quaker Shaker food truck next to Gimbel Gymnasium, estimates that freshmen make up a significant part of his business. "There's some young faces I see," Lynch said. "Say a quarter of everyone who's out here eating [is a freshman]." And Lynch fears that the effect of the new requirement may spell trouble for vendors like him. "That's pretty slick on [the University's] part," Lynch said. "It may hurt some of us in a big way. It may put some of us out of business." Another food truck operator who wished to remain anonymous agreed that the vendors may be hurt by the move, as students make up the bulk of their business. However, according to Vice President of Campus Services Larry Moneta, competition with food trucks and other vendors was not a consideration of the University when it created the new requirement. "[Competition] was not a goal," Moneta said. "We had no conversation about the food trucks." Some operators remained calm yesterday, citing the fact that many freshmen already buy the full plan and choose not to use their meals in the dining halls, opting to purchase from vendors anyway. "I hear freshman talking about it in line, and they buy the full meal plan," said Dimitrious Dimopoulos, whose family operates the Greek Lady food truck by the Quadrangle, where most freshman reside. "Ninety percent of freshman buy the full meal plan anyway. Maybe if they made everybody buy it, it would affect us." D.J. Bak, an operator of a 38th Street food truck, agreed with Dimopoulos, though he expressed surprise at the heavy requirement of the new plan. "What kind of requirement is that?" Bak said. But Bak added that "even if [freshmen] pay in advance, probably they'll miss lots of their meals."