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(09/23/94 9:00am)
In an effort to improve communication between Greek organizations, student facilitators held a workshop last night to discuss fraternity and sorority stereotypes and promote unity among the groups. Facilitators from Programs for Awareness in Cultural Education, a student peer educator group, spoke with members of each Greek organization and representatives from the Greek Social Action Committee for nearly two hours in McClelland Hall. PACE facilitators provide a forum for discussion concerning issues such as gender and race relations and improving interaction between different identity groups. PACE leads programs for groups across the University and community. GSAC asked PACE facilitators to help its members begin discussing how they can combat rumors about the Greek system and promote unity, said College senior RoseAnn Cho, chair of GSAC and an Alpha Phi sister. GSAC serves as the umbrella organization for the Bicultural Inter-Greek Council, Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council. Facilitators first showed a video they created that included interviews with students in and out of the Greek system. Some students interviewed for the video said they thought sororities were an arm to fraternities and others said the Greek system is not diverse enough, according to Cho. Participants then broke into small groups and discussed the video and how they can disprove the stereotypes. "People emphasized that we are all part of the Greek system and one group's actions reflect the entire system," Cho said. "We can work towards alleviating those stereotypes by unifying the Greek system through activities." Some suggestions included sponsoring a community service event and then a party, going on shared trips, and sending representatives from each part of the Greek system to other groups' meetings. Participants praised the facilitators' ability to help them talk openly about the Greek system. They also said meeting new people proved valuable. "Because of the workshop, I found out about a step show that I'll go to and I'm going to encourage everyone in my sorority to go," College senior and Sigma Delta Tau President Sondra Goldschein said. PACE facilitators said they felt encouraged by the happened. "Tonight was definitely a starting point," said Hitomi Wyoshida, a second year Graduate School of Education student. "Hopefully they will get deeper into the issues, but at least they agreed to communicate."
(09/19/94 9:00am)
Aiming to learn about leadership styles and each other, the United Minorities Council and the African American Studies program each sponsored retreats last weekend. Building on the relationships formed, the UMC executive board will meet today to discuss its goals and potential projects. And these could include a unity week addressing issues that affect students of color. Representatives from the 10 groups comprising the UMC, the group's executive board and Greenfield Intercultural staff members attended the retreat this weekend at the Environmental Education Center in the Poconos. The retreat was planned to last through Sunday but ended Saturday because of rain. Designed to help UMC representatives get to know each other, the retreat included a session in which members discussed the stereotypes associated with each group and how the groups view themselves. "Some of the Asian students voiced their concern about being labeled the model minority and the pressures from inside and outside the minority community" said College senior Liz Melendez, the UMC's chairperson. "Then Latino and black students spoke about how they are programmed to think that they are worthless." While the session became emotional at times, Wharton senior Jenny Ho, the UMC vice chairperson, said she learned more about the UMC as a result of the weekend. "The session made me more aware of the need for groups to interact more," Ho said. "Misperceptions that the different groups had about each other that had always been there but were never spoken about came out at the retreat. [The retreat] served to help us better understand each other." The UMC members also took advantage of their surroundings. Facility staff members organized outdoor team building exercises, including a low ropes and obstacle course in the woods. For College senior Desiree Martinez, president of Six Directions, attending the retreat made her feel optimistic about what the UMC can accomplish. "I really got excited at the retreat," Martinez said. "I met a lot of inspirational people and it was comforting to know that there are people who are in the same situation as you are and know where you're coming from." Representatives from 10 groups within the black community, faculty and administrators travelled to Fellowship Farms in Pottstown, Pa. this weekend for the African American Studies program's eighth annual leadership retreat. With a hectic schedule of activities from 9 a.m. until dinner, the 15 students spoke with faculty and administrators about finding their strengths and weaknesses as leaders and how to balance academics and leadership positions. Staff members from across the university also led role playing exercises to explore the different scenarios a leader might encounter within the separate groups, according to College senior Robyn Kent, president of the Black Student League. After dinner the representatives broke into smaller groups and discussed issues they want addressed this year. "We tried to demystify the unity paradigm that says that all the groups in the black community have to be the same," Kent said. "We should unite, but we shouldn't feel we always have to fight for the same cause. It's important that we should be able to come together and still maintain our separate issues." Participants also said they would ask the administration to cancel classes on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
(09/19/94 9:00am)
Haiti's prominent position in the news over the past few months could bring the Dessalines Haitian Students Association exactly what it has been hoping for -- more awareness among students about Haitian life and affairs. The name Dessalines comes from the Haitian military general Jean Jacques Dessalines who was instrumental in helping Haiti gain independence in 1803. Starting its second semester at the University, the DHSA held its first semester meeting yesterday to discuss how to respond to the Haitian crisis and its plans for the coming months. The group is planning to invite a speaker to campus near the end of the month and hold a panel discussion with several experts on Haiti in November. College junior Colette Lamothe, president of the DHSA, says the group has not yet planned any immediate activities in light of the military junta's agreement yesterday to step down from power. "I don't want our response to be in the heat of the moment," Lamothe said. "Those types of responses don't educate people." While many members feel it is too early to feel relieved or disappointed at the recent turn of events, Lamothe says she hopes that because Haiti has received so much media attention that people will be more receptive to learning about Haiti. But the coverage about Haiti, some feel, gives a one sided view of the country. "The media has only shown the destruction which is only a part of Haiti," Engineering and Wharton sophomore Marjorie Janvier said. "There is a whole other side that people don't see, such as the beautiful beaches." DHSA members also feel it is important that students understand more than just what is happening in their homeland now. "The conflict in Haiti has been going on for a while," said College sophomore Tatiana Louis, secretary of the DHSA. "We hope to teach people about what happened in the beginning and what led up to to the conflict now to make it one of the most popular topics on TV."
(09/14/94 9:00am)
Responding to a string of harassment and discrimination accusations made against a national law firm, the Law School has asked recruiters from the firm to postpone a recruiting visit scheduled for this week. Officials from the University's Career Planning and Placement Office are scheduled to meet today with Law students to set up a formal procedure to further investigate whether Baker & McKenzie, the world's largest law firm, is in compliance with the University's non-discrimination policy. The University's non-discrimination policy states that firms recruiting on campus may not discriminate against prospective employees or current employees because of race, sexual orientation or gender. Two lawsuits, filed by former employees of Baker & McKenzie against the firm have caused members of the University's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Law Students' Association to ask the Law School to ban the firm from recruiting on campus. In 1993, the New York State Division of Human Rights ruled that the firm dismissed attorney Geoffrey Bowers in 1986 after learning he had AIDS. Bowers died in 1987 and his estate was awarded $500,000 by the Human Rights Division. The case is currently under appeal in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division. Also this month, a San Francisco jury awarded Baker & McKenzie secretary Rena Weeks $7.1 million after finding that the firm failed to stop a partner from harassing her. Law students and LGBLSA representatives Anthony Falzon and Rose Weber met with a sub-committee comprised of faculty and students in July to discuss the Bowers case. Falzon and Weber then filed a formal complaint that was mailed to Baker & McKenzie, according to Falzon. The firm replied in August, giving its position on the Bowers case. "We received a letter in which the firm maintained that it had not discriminated against Bowers," Law School Dean Colin Diver said. "The firm claimed that it would be vindicated on appeal." Upon receiving the letter, which also contained a description of the firm's own non-discrimination policy instituted in 1990, the sub-committee reconvened to resolve the issue. On September 1, the subcommittee members decided not to take action against Baker & McKenzie. Instead, they asked for more information concerning how the firm's non-discrimination policy is carried out and regular updates concerning the appeal, said Associate Law Professor Alan Lerner, who is also the sub-committee chairperson. The information provided by Baker & McKenzie and a description of the Bowers case were also made available to Law students interested in the firm. Several issues regarding the Bowers case affected the sub-committee's decision, according to Lerner. He said the firm was not barred because, among other things, the subcommittee did not have information to show that the firm currently discriminates. "We also learned of other instances when the the firm was aware that certain employees had AIDS and was very supportive," Lerner said. Sub-committee members also said they feel reluctant to penalize Baker & McKenzie while the Bowers case is still under appeal. "Because the case was still on appeal it was possible that the decision would be reversed," Lerner said. Enraged by the outcome of the meeting with the faculty, Falzon and Weber wrote another letter appealing the decision. "In our letter, we said that if action was not taken we would go to the national media [and] picket at the recruiting site," Falzon said. The case has now been handed over to the Career Planning and Placement Committee. After emergency meetings that arose following the Weeks verdict, the committee decided to defer Baker & McKenzie's scheduled on-campus recruiting visit, making it the first university in the country to take action against the firm in this case. "The finding of the jury in the Weeks trial was that there had been an ongoing pattern of discrimination which is contrary to our policy," Lerner said. "There was evidence that other women besides Weeks had been harassed and that the partners were aware of this." For now, Baker & McKenzie is awaiting the Law School's decision. "Whether the accusations are founded or unfounded is beside the point," said firm Recruiting Director Ann Ogburn. "We are just going to wait for the Law School's decision and then we will decide what to do."
(04/11/94 9:00am)
Standing in front of the newly-painted pearly white wall, the six students admired their work, remembering the dilapidated state it was in before they came. As part of the 10th annual nationwide Hunger Cleanup Day sponsored by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, College senior Molly White, a resident advisor in the Quadrangle, took five students from her hall to paint an abandoned house in West Philadelphia. Other groups involved in the project cleaned furniture at St. Mary's Respite Center, helped people at the Ronald MacDonald House with a mass mailing and cleaned up the block around a Latino education center. Forty-five students participated in all. Sister Anne Marie Weisglass, the rehabilitation specialist for Philadelphians Concerned About Homelessness, met the students at the house and supervised the project. "We provide transitional subsidized housing for single families in the hope that by the end of five years they will be self-sufficient," Weisglass told the group before they began working. The Misericordia Hospital in West Philadelphia donated some of the houses PCAH renovates. PCAH also buys houses for $1 that have been forfeited to the state by tenants who could not pay their taxes. Once PCAH buys a house, a contractor refurbishes it, which usually includes putting in new appliances, upgrading the electric or plumbing system and painting the walls. Before moving in, families must go through a screening process, according to Weisglass. "Each parent needs to prove that he or she is motivated to want to be off welfare," Weisglass said. "They have to be willing to finish their high school education and then go for more, because that is usually necessary for a job." Tenants pay as much rent as they can afford but are not allowed to live in the house for more than five years. PCAH also provides workshops for the families about issues such as parenting and house maintenance. After speaking with Weisglass about PCAH, the students went straight to work. Some took off old paint from the outside of the house and then re-painted it, while others painted the wall of the staircase. "I really feel like we made a difference," College freshman Michelle Chin said. "The work we did will last. It brought a noticeable change to the neighborhood. I felt great at the end of the day." For White, the nature of the program makes the extra work worth it. "There are a lot of organizations that try to help the homeless by putting a bandaid over the issue and do things like pass out sandwiches," White said. "But [this project] really does help these people move closer to self-sufficiency."
(04/04/94 9:00am)
Clearly and quietly, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Louise Gluck read from her book The Wild Iris with a steady tone, creating an almost hypnotic effect. About 55 people attended the reading last week, sponsored by the Philomathean Society and the Creative Writing department. Reading poems from several of her books, Gluck described how she developed as a poet while producing each work. When writing Ararat, a recent book addressing the organization of the family, Gluck said she mastered a conversational style for the first time. "It was a great lark to write Ararat," she said. "Before, I felt I had no access to replicate the voice used in speech. I didn't use contractions or ask questions. "When I finally learned how, I felt I could put everything I saw into this language," she added. While Gluck uses one voice throughout her poems in Ararat, she changed her style again when writing The Wild Iris, alternating between several voices. "One voice is a single human being who speaks to whatever controls the universe," Gluck said before she read from the book. "Another voice is from the natural world which speaks to humans and beyond humans. The last voice, which is whatever can not be named, speaks to his or her or its children." Gluck used an almost monotonous tone when reading her poems, which she said many people have criticized. "People have told me that I ruin the poem with the way I read it," Gluck said. "I actually feel uncomfortable doing readings." She added that she does not think she is "the authority on what the poems mean or how they should be read." "I would much prefer someone see my poem on paper and decided themselves what they think it means," she said. After the reading, Gluck, who also teaches creative writing at Williams College, spoke with students. She encouraged them to experiment with different styles and avoid the mistakes students often make when writing poetry. "A lot of students' poems sound like they took them straight out of their diaries," Gluck said. "They talk about the typical, 'it's raining and you don't love me.' You have to go beyond that and turn it into something more surprising." For College sophomore Shawn Walker, listening to Gluck's reading and meeting her gave a new perspective on the poetry. "I learned more about her personality during the reading," Shawn said. "When she talked to the audience and people afterwards her humorous side came through which I hadn't seen in her poetry. I'll probably think about that next time I read her work."
(03/30/94 10:00am)
As College senior Adam Korengold eagerly handed Lani Guinier a copy of her new book for an autograph, she smiled warmly and asked him what his name was. "It's kind of strange," he said, referring to his name. "Don't even talk about strange names," the University law professor said, laughing. "It's a fine name." As part of a three month promotional tour for her new book The Tyranny of the Majority, Guinier held a book signing at The Book Store yesterday. Guinier became a major public figure last year when President Clinton nominated her to the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Shortly after, critics labelled her anti-democratic and called for the withdrawal of her nomination because she said the government needed to readjust its use of majority rule. President Clinton then withdrew Guinier's nomination, claiming he reread her papers and did not agree with her ideas. Guinier claims critics judged her theories without thoroughly studying her ideas. Writing the book, which includes several of Guinier's controversial articles, gave her a chance to clarify her views, she said. "I saw it as an opportunity to have my ideas, which were at the heart of the controversy, available," Guinier said. "I thought that the same essays that got me into trouble would get me out of trouble once people actually read them. "To me, democracy means one large scale conversation," she added. "By writing my book I now feel that in a small way I am broadening that conversation." Many members of the University community and the Philadelphia area came to the book signing. Some gave gifts and others gave their business cards. Bobby Seale, a co-founder of the Black Panthers who now lives in Germantown, arrived unexpectedly to give Guinier support. "I voted for Clinton," Seale told Guinier. "But when I heard what he did to you I thought he must be out of his mind." For Graduate School of Education student Mary Boxley White, meeting Guinier gave her a chance to speak with someone who represents her life experiences. "I feel like I've met Guinier before," White said. "I see her eating in the White Dog Cafe and her office is near my classes. "[And] I can really identify with what she's gone through," he added. "Trying to become a professional black woman in America is a difficult task."
(03/01/94 10:00am)
Taking special precautions to make sure the event did not turn chaotic, chairpersons for the Penn Against Cancer Benefit Ball said the night went just how they planned -- fun, but not out of control. About 700 students turned out for Thursday night's ball at the Franklin Institute, raising more than $10,000 for the American Cancer Society. "I'm exceptionally pleased with the party," said co-Chairperson and College senior Kirsten Bartok. "We kept the party smaller than last year's -- making it more intimate. We also separated the bar from the dancing so there was less spilling and people bumping into each other." Co-Chairperson and Wharton senior Jonathan Rodbell said he is pleased with the support students showed for the event. "I'm flattered we sold out so fast," he said. Tickets, which cost $35, sold out in three days. In honor of the third anniversary of the ball, Grant Hartman, a representative from the ACS fundraising department, presented Bartok and Rodbell with a gift. "I gave Kirsten and Jonathan engraved frames that say 'Penn Against Cancer 1992-1994' with a photograph of the committee," he said. "Later in the year, they will receive a certificate in front of the Volunteer Fundraising Committee. "They've done phenomenal work as far as college fundraising goes," Hartman added. Along with other college groups who raise money for the ACS, Bartok, Rodbell and co-Chairperson and College junior Heather Woods will present ACS representatives with a check at a ceremony in the spring. Students said they were impressed by the entire evening. "Everything seems so well organized and elegant," said College sophomore Patti Ducoff. "I loved seeing friends in a setting that's different from the usual weekend scene." Other students said knowing that the ball benefits cancer made the night more enjoyable. "I had a great time getting dressed up and dancing with my friends," College freshman Elsbeth Norton said. "It felt good knowing that I could have such a wonderful night and help such a good cause as well."
(02/27/94 10:00am)
Casually seated in a circle in W.E.B. DuBois College House's all-purpose room, about 25 students last night discussed how to survive as an African-American student on a predominantly white campus. Swing Phi Swing, the group sponsoring the forum, is a non-Greek organization dedicated to heightening cultural consciousness, community service and academic excellence. College sophomore Celandra Deane, the group's president, opened the discussion, asking the students why they chose to attend the University, knowing they would be part of a minority. "If you go to a black college it's easy to assume that you are experiencing black culture because you're in a black environment," College senior Tyrone Kelley told the group. "At Penn the cupboard is bare from a cultural perspective so it forces me to search for myself. It leads to more cultural growth." Many people also said attending the University gives them a better sense of reality than attending a black college. The University helps students feel prepared for life after college, some said, but they added this experience often has its costs. "I feel like every time I come into contact with people and tell them I go to Penn I have to prove that I'm not just here because I'm black," Deane said. "I have to show them that I'm not just fulfilling some quota." The extra pressure students feel to prove themselves is often coupled with the burden of speaking for all black students, participants said. Students told stories about professors and classmates who asked them to give the "black perspective" during discussions. "You have to realize, though, that they aren't black," Nursing freshman Kenitra Carby said, responding to the stories students told. "Because you are black they're going to assume that you know more than they do." Once the students are set apart as spokespersons for their race, they said yesterday it is difficult to decide whether to promote black unity or express their own personal opinions. "In all instances we need to say that we have the same goal of bettering the condition of our people's condition world wide," College sophomore Nina Johnson said. "Though we may have different tactics we should support each other. "That way we can be a collective and individuals at the same time," she added. "The two don't have to be mutually exclusive." For Kelley, the best way to make people look past a person's color is to concentrate on self improvement, he said. "You have to have rigor and self-determination," Kelley advised the group. "If you are the best that you can be at what you set out to do then at that point people will have no choice but to see you on a more personal level and not a representative of black people. You have a better chance of getting the respect that you deserve."
