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(04/12/00 9:00am)
Even though the Cold War ended nearly a decade ago and more and more former communist-block countries across the globe are adopting the ideologies of democracy, one bitter battleground remains. North and South Korea, 55 years after their first division, are now trying to enter a new era of economic relations, and eventually, national unification. This effort was the main theme of talks given by Hong-Koo Lee, South Korean ambassador to the United States, and Stephen Bosworth, the American ambassador to South Korea, both of whom spoke to about 50 students and faculty members in Vance Hall yesterday. The talk was co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies and the Korean Economic Institute of America, and was part of the 2000 Korea Caravan, a lecture tour of major American cities. To start the discussion, Lee spoke of the turbulent history of the Korean peninsula in the 20th century. "In 1910, Korea was taken over by Japan," he said. "It was an age of imperialism, and Korea was a victim." However, in spite of this foreign occupation and the ensuing split between North and South, Lee insisted that South Koreans have struggled to earn prosperity. "Koreans have been working very hard to build up their country," Lee said. Stressing the economic progress that has been made, Lee compared the current per capita income of South Korea, which is around $10,000, to the meager per capita income in the 1950s. "At the end of the Korean War, our per capita income was $70 or $80," he said. After praising the South Korean economic recovery, Lee explained that re-unification will be an arduous -- but necessary -- task. "North Korea is a textbook example of a totalitarian regime," he said. Lee then turned the lecture over to Bosworth, who reinforced his fellow ambassador's message. He commended the South Korean people's recovery from the recent Asian economic crisis. "It was remarkable for me to be there at that time and watch how, from the depths of crisis, in a period of a few days, Koreans began to work to recover," Bosworth said. The chances of re-unification, he added, are bolstered by the recent decision of North and South Korea to hold a summit. Several students in attendance said they were not discouraged by the two men's skepticism that the reconciliation will come soon. "I think that in the context of 50 years, a little more time isn't going to matter," College sophomore Angie Kim said. Similarly, College senior Ji-Ye Hwang said she believes a slow re-unification is actually necessary, and that the world should not expect North Korea to fall apart. "That's probably the only way," she said. "China wouldn't let North Korea collapse."
(04/12/00 9:00am)
The Arizona senator will talk Friday as part of a program encouraging youth to vote. After losing the race for the Republican presidential nomination, it might seem that John McCain would stop campaigning. Yet on Friday, the Arizona senator will be stopping in Philadelphia to encourage young people to get involved in the political process and vote in the upcoming presidential election. McCain will kick off the We the Future 2000 national convention -- sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Responsibility and Social Trust -- at noon. The event, which will be held at One Liberty Place, is free to Penn students with valid identification. The specific topic of McCain's speech is not yet known, FIRST Associate Director Melinda Scott said last night. The former presidential candidate will also attend several other events in the Philadelphia area on Friday evening. Continuing the weekend's activities, University President Judith Rodin will introduce Jason Nastke -- the 20-year-old mayor of Valatie, N.Y. -- to audiences at the Penn Tower Hotel on Friday night. The three-day convention is designed to let people in the 18-to-35 age range "come together to discuss what issues are important to them and present them to the presidential candidates," Scott said. She added that the presumptive presidential nominees, Al Gore and George W. Bush, were invited to attend the event but are sending campaign representatives instead. People from both campaigns will face off in a debate on Saturday afternoon at Drexel University. The event is open to students. Approximately 1,000 delegates from across the nation -- who can register to attend the convention online -- are expected to travel to Philadelphia for the convention this weekend. On Saturday, Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy will address delegates about the importance of First Amendment rights, and Marian Wright Edelman, president of Children's Defense Fund, will also speak. Delegates will spend Sunday attending skill-building workshops on topics such as grass roots organizing, lobbying, handling the media and running for office in their home town. Scott said the idea was to give delegates "action they can take in their own communities? to make a positive impact." FIRST was developed in 1995 when current president John Smith, a Philadelphia-area lawyer, wrote a newspaper column "calling for a bill of responsibilities to match the bill of rights," Scott said. "The basic idea is that not only is it your right to vote, but it's your responsibility," she added. FIRST has hosted dozens of regional conferences in the past several years in an effort to re-engage young adults in the political process. This weekend's convention marks the third national convention FIRST has hosted. At the convention, delegates will put the finishing touches on a Generational Action Plan -- a three-year-old document that has passed from convention to convention -- designed to give young people ideas for how to become more politically active in their own communities. The final version of GAP will be presented to delegates on Sunday night.
(04/12/00 9:00am)
Police will be present at all Fling events to minimize underage drinking this weekend. For most Penn students, the phrase "Spring Fling" is synonymous with alcohol -- and lots of it. But the University Police will join forces with the state Liquor Control Enforcement bureau this weekend to combat the underage drinking that has historically characterized the annual event. University Police Chief Maureen Rush said that, similar to last year, numerous Penn Police, Philadelphia police and LCE agents will be present throughout the weekend's activities to minimize underage drinking. "We're working on a protocol with the college house system, and we'll be using Spectaguards," she said. Rush added that the LCE is expected Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the agency will be using the University Police headquarters on Chestnut Street as a base of operations. "[The LCE] is looking for underage drinkers, establishments serving underage drinkers and houses serving underage drinkers," Rush said. "We help [the LCE] in any way we can." LCE officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. Unlike last year -- when there was a ban on alcohol at most on-campus undergraduate parties following an alcohol-related death -- University security officers are not conducting mandatory searches for alcohol in students' bags at all dormitory entrances. According to University Police Deputy Chief of Operations Michael Fink, security guards will only check "suspicious" packages to ensure underage students aren't bringing alcohol into dorms. However, from Thursday until Saturday, no alcohol -- regardless of whether the student is of legal drinking age -- will be permitted into the Quadrangle, Hill College House or Hill Field. For Fling events in the Quad, no beverage containers will be permitted to be brought into the area. Any individual bringing alcohol into one of the other college houses may be required to show identification for proof of age. University officials emphasize that the current alcohol policy will be strictly enforced throughout the weekend, adding that University Police will give citations to those found with alcohol at Fling events. Last year, only 16 students were cited by the University Police and the LCE for violating University policy or state law -- down significantly from the 180 students cited in 1996. Cited students must either plead not guilty at a hearing, risking a large fine, or pay $100 to attend a three-hour alcohol awareness class on Saturdays. And students who receive citations will lose their driver's licenses for 90 days, regardless of which state issued the license.
(04/12/00 9:00am)
Deejay Young Eller will open the concert, which will feature the Roots and Ben Folds Five. The lineup is finally set for Friday's Spring Fling concert. Joining the Roots and Ben Folds Five will be New York-based deejay Young Eller. According to SPEC Concerts co-director and Engineering senior Ari Jaffess, the organizing committee selected Young Eller to open because he plays an eclectic selection of music. "We wanted both headliners to have a lot of time," Jaffess said of the committee's decision to hire an opening deejay. "And the bands both wanted a lot of time as well." So far, ticket sales for the concert, which will be held on Hill Field rain or shine, have been steady, according to SPEC Chairman Jon Herrmann. With a total capacity of 6,000, Herrmann said the event organizers were hoping to sell more than 4,000 tickets. As of yesterday, 2,900 total concert tickets had been sold, Jaffess said. Of that number, Jaffess estimated that 2,250 were sold to students, and 650 to the general public. Last year's show, headlined by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Run DMC, sold about 2,500 tickets. Tickets have been for sale on Locust Walk since March 27, and will continue to be sold on the Walk from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. today and tomorrow. They are priced at $15 for Penn students and $23 for the general public until Thursday. "Ticket sales have been going crazy on the Walk," Jaffess noted. "We have been averaging about 400 tickets per day." The concert has also been advertised on radio stations, and tickets were made available to the general public through Ticketmaster. Herrmann said he believes the big-name bands headlining this year's Fling played a role in the high sales. "Ticket sales are always defined by who is playing," Herrmann said. "And this year is a bigger show, with more popular bands." The day of the show, tickets will be sold at the concert with student tickets priced at $20 and general public admission at $25. Students will be admitted onto Hill Field at 7 p.m., while the concert itself is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. The theme for this year's Spring Fling is themed "Fling Me Baby One More Time," inspired by teen singing sensation Britney Spears' hit single. Philadelphia-based rap and R&B; group The Roots have been making waves on the music scene since 1987 with their unique blend of vocals and drum beats. Their recent album, Things Fall Apart, brought them critical and commercial success. Ben Folds Five, a unique guitar-free trio, made a mainstream name for themselves with their hit single "Brick" in 1997. Their album Whatever and Ever Amen went platinum that same year.
(04/12/00 9:00am)
In addressing a packed room of Wharton graduate students yesterday afternoon, motivational speaker and best-selling author Stephen Covey used a seemingly unconventional teaching technique to convey a rather conventional lesson: It is always best in business to join together and work toward a common goal. Covey, the internationally known author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, asked the roomful of students to close their eyes and then point north. When nearly everyone began pointing in opposite directions, Covey told the audience that, "The essence of leadership is to get people pointing in the same direction." Covey came to Penn as part of the Zweig Executive Dinner Series Committee. His appearance in one of the largest rooms of Steinberg-Dietrich Hall proved so popular that every seat was taken, leaving groups of students standing in the aisles and sitting on the floor. Covey was recently named one of Time magazine's 25 most influential people. Over the past 30 years, Covey has worked as a consultant with international companies, focusing largely on leadership and time management skills. But he is perhaps best known for his motivational book, which was a mainstay on The New York Times bestseller list for several years. Covey discussed several of his now-famous "seven habits" of success in his talk yesterday. Drawing on both personal and professional experiences, Covey, dressed in a stylish black suit, lectured for the first half of his hour-long talk on what he considers to be four qualities of good leadership: modeling, pathfinding, aligning and empowering. Making his talk Penn-specific, Covey also applied his common goal theory with Wharton's program of team-learning. "I think that is so important, so valuable, that you are having team-learning experiences," Covey said. "The world is very interdependent. You cannot think independently in an interdependent world." To draw an example, Covey equated being overly independent with trying to play tennis with a golf ball. "You can do it, but it doesn't work well," he joked. When asked what advice he could give to graduating seniors, Covey offered some tips that could well be relevant to all students at Penn. "Write a personal mission statement and live by it," the author said. "Read and take full advantage of the learning opportunities here. Try to get the job that taps into your passions." Writing a personal statement is one of the "seven habits" of success that Covey outlined in his book. Calling his experience on campus "tremendously pleasurable and positive," Covey wished the students luck in finding the jobs that they wanted. Many of the students who attended Covey's talk were at least familiar with the "seven habits," but had not necessarily read his book. "My husband has read several of his books, and he says that they are very good," said Vanessa Pfeiffer, a second-year Wharton student pursuing her master of business administration degree. "My friends said that I shouldn't miss this opportunity." First-year MBA student Dave Sturek added, "I thought it was very interesting. It was very typical of what I heard and discussed before, but he is very inspirational and gives a lot of people hope that they can live their lives in a similar way that he does."
(04/12/00 9:00am)
An East meets West cultural extravaganza came to Irvine Auditorium on Friday night. Hindi a cappella group Penn Masala performed with jazz a cappella group Counterparts for a one-night-only performance dubbed Curry and All That Jazz. The show marked the first time a minority a cappella group has performed with an English singing group in Penn's history. Though Counterparts and Penn Masala have appeared at each other's shows in the past, this was the first time they held a formal joint show. "We guest performed for [Counterparts] last year," said Penn Masala singer Abhi Patwardhan, a Wharton senior. "They're an awesome group." More than 1,000 students were in attendance. Audience members said they enjoyed the contrast between the two distinguished singing groups. "I'm very delighted by it," Engineering junior Kevin Chan said. "It's a good mix. Penn Masala is very entertaining and funny, and Counterparts is an excellent group." The performance opened with a spoof of Michael Jackson's Beat It, in which the two groups duked it out on stage to an applauding audience. Counterparts, decked out in tuxedos and black dresses, performed from its vast repertoire of jazz and pop classics, while Penn Masala, garbed in colorful punjabees, sang popular Hollywood hits and English pop songs. Both groups mixed a good dose of humor with their musical talent. Penn Masala provided comic translations of some of their songs and poked fun at South Asian stereotypes with their song Show Me The Meaning of Being Desi, a parody of the popular Backstreet Boys song. This was also the last big performance on campus for each of the groups this year, and they took the opportunity to honor their outgoing seniors and their alumni, who came on stage to sing a few songs with them. The two groups came together for the show's grand finale, in which they performed popular Hindi song Tu Cheez Badi Hai.
(04/12/00 9:00am)
The leases of the Gold Standard and Palladium expire at the end of 2002. Penn's announcement last week of plans to reinvigorate Locust Walk leaves an unclear future for the Palladium Restaurant and the Gold Standard, both of which have been central fixtures on the Walk since 1983. Both restaurants reside in the Christian Association building -- located on the corner of 36th Street and Locust Walk-- which is one of four buildings that will soon hold several student groups. This past fall, the University purchased the CA building, taking control of the 27,000-square foot property in the heart of campus and ending 20 years of on- and off-negotiations. The dining establishments' lease expires December 31, 2002, according to Roger Harman, who owns both establishments. "We're not sure if the University wants us to stay here in a reduced capacity," Harman said yesterday. He added that he had been aware that his restaurants would be affected by the University's acquisition of the CA building. "There's no big secret here," Harman said. "We knew our lease was up." Harman said he has his eye on several other properties in the neighborhood to possibly relocate one or both restaurants, anticipating the committee's report. He added that he will discuss plans over the next few weeks with the Locust Walk Advisory Committee -- a 12-person task force of students, faculty and staff that University President Judith Rodin charged in February with determining how best to fill a number of recently vacated properties along the Walk. The CA building's ground floor, currently occupied by the Gold Standard, will eventually house a performing arts hub. Plans call for about a dozen campus organizations to get new homes and will spawn the creation of a cultural and performing arts center, a research hub for undergraduates, a graduate student center and common space for student religious groups. According to Provost Robert Barchi, who chaired the committee, Penn would reclaim much of the space the two restaurants now use, though he said the committee wanted to keep some type of food operation in the building. "It will be up to the University and specifically, Business Services, to work out whether or not it makes sense to continue with the current restaurant owners or to explore other alternatives," Barchi wrote in an e-mail yesterday. Students on the committee said that keeping the Palladium is a possibility. "There is the thought that there should be some outside dining," said Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Michael Silver, a College senior who sat on the committee, adding that a food venue adds character to the corner. Harman noted that renovations to the building may impact the restaurants' plans, as well. Starting this summer, the University's renovations will address safety issues stemming from structural inefficiencies and will tailor the CA building to the needs of its future occupants.
(04/12/00 9:00am)
Budding student filmmakers got a chance to screen their works Friday night in front of a roomful of their peers as part of the first-ever West Philadelphia Film Festival. The student-run festival allowed more than a dozen students from Penn and other local colleges, as well as West Philadelphia residents, to showcase short films that they had written and directed. A documentary about the Vietnam War, The Weight, was also shown. Filmmaker Sid Holmes spoke briefly to the audience following the film festival. The films ranged in content and filming techniques from one that poked fun of VH1's hit program, Behind the Music -- the documentary chronicled the lives of two famous karaoke singers, "Kier and Courtney" -- to one, titled Our Vacation, that featured a man being chased through the woods and killed. Most of the filmmakers were students. Of those, some are currently enrolled in film classes, while others are just finding a new hobby. College juniors Zach Miller and Justin Carey, for instance, decided on a whim to make a film after hearing about the festival. Their short film, titled Liquid Assets, was filmed with a computer camera and then played on a computer screen. Though to many in the audience displaying a small gray screen with computer commands on top might have seemed like an artistic decision, the two filmmakers insisted that their decision was really based on a lack of equipment. "I wish they had more stuff like this on campus. We need more of a medium to show our stuff," Miller said, adding that he was impressed with the camera effects of several of his fellow filmmakers. College senior Saryn Chorney, the filmmaker of Lola and a Film Studies minor, said she felt the festival was beneficial to those interested in film. "It's cool to see what other people are doing. I'm trying to come up with ideas," the College senior said. "When you see the creative process at work, it makes you think of ideas," she said. Chorney felt that the other films viewed were each very unique. "Each of the films had a different angle." Penn last year began offering a Film Studies minor, but still does not offer a major -- a fact that seemed to dismay many interested students. The audience and filmmakers' response to the event was overwhelmingly positive, as many said they hoped that there would be a continuation of film festivals. One of the film festival's organizers, College junior Barry Schwartz, said he felt that having a film festival was important to promote and encourage students interested in film and to allow filmmakers from different schools around the area to meet. "I think there's a large film contingency at Penn," Schwartz said. "This event brings together West Philly artists and students from surrounding schools? who share a common interest in film. We need to create a venue so we can work together in the future."
(04/11/00 9:00am)
Adam Solow scored twice in his return to the school that he attended for two years. After four unsuccessful attempts, the Penn men's lacrosse team came back from Dartmouth this weekend with its first Ivy League victory of the 2000 season in hand. The Quakers (5-5, 1-4 Ivy League) had lost to Ivy rivals Yale, Harvard, Cornell and Princeton before picking up the 7-4 victory against the Big Green (3-4, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon in Hanover, N.H. "It was definitely huge to get the win at Dartmouth," co-captain Pete Janney said. "Losing to the other Ivy teams was getting a little stale, and we didn't want to go 0-6 in the league." While the win gives the Red and Blue confidence for the remaining four games in the season, the victory was not always a given. The Quakers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after goals by Janney, middie Kevin Cadin and middie Adam Solow. Janney scored 51 seconds into the game off a set play following a face-off. Janney won the face-off and passed the ball back to Penn's Billy Reidy. Reidy fed the ball to Janney, who fired it on goal for the first score of the game. Cadin followed suit 10 minutes later, netting his first of two goals on the day for the Quakers. The third score of the first quarter came from Solow. His goal was especially meaningful considering the fact that he transferred from Dartmouth this season after leading the Big Green in scoring in 1999. "It was important for Adam to get going early," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "He did, and played a good game." Penn's momentum would switch quickly, as Dartmouth capitalized on Quakers turnovers and knotted the game at three going into halftime. "We made really stupid mistakes in the second quarter," Janney said. "We didn't handle the ball well on the perimeter. We made a lot of bad passes and didn't give the offense enough opportunities overall." The lack of focus illustrated in the second frame did not carry over in the third, however. The Quakers, who spent time in the nation's top 20 earlier on in the season, rebounded to pull away from the Big Green, the usual cellar-dweller of the Ivy League. Dartmouth goalie Mike Gault went out early in the third quarter with an injury, and the Quakers took advantage. With just over four minutes gone by in the second half, Reidy, unassisted, scored the most crucial goal of the day to make the score 4-3 in Penn's favor. "Reidy was all over the field," Van Arsdale said. "He got to a bunch of ground balls, and we were able to let out a sigh of relief after he scored in the third." Five minutes later, Cadin put the ball past backup Dartmouth netminder Patrick McClammer, in what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Cadin had two assists to go along with his two goals. "I was just working off the ball, and I was in the right place at the right time," Cadin said. "We moved the ball around pretty well in the second half." Following Casey Burlage's second goal of the day for the Big Green, the Solow brothers scored the last two goals of the contest. First, Adam found the net. Then Scott scored to preserve the 7-4 win. Scott also tallied two assists. Penn goalie Ryan Kelly made 15 saves in the victory. With the victory at Dartmouth, the team hopes it can relax now that it no longer needs to worry about winning an Ivy game. "Hopefully, because the team has more confidence, it will lead to us loosening up a little," Van Arsdale said. "The effort and intensity was certainly there, but the execution isn't always there, which can be a sign of the team being a little uptight." One area of the field that certainly gained confidence from Hanover was the defense. Besides holding the Big Green to just four goals, the backline consistently held off Dartmouth attackers on breakaways when the offense turned the ball over. "The team defense was very strong," Janney said. "They were really convincing in the first quarter and continued that play throughout the game. Ryan played a great game in goal as well." With four games to go, the Quakers know they can still make something of their season. With games against Villanova, Brown, Syracuse and Delaware, they know all the games will be hard-fought but winnable. "We've been practicing well for the last week," Van Arsdale said. "The game this weekend was not picture perfect, and we know we can keep getting better."
(04/11/00 9:00am)
Against Princeton last Saturday, less-than-stellar doubles play did in the Penn women's tennis team. The Red and Blue seemed to learn their lesson, however, as the Quakers went undefeated in doubles this weekend in two victories on the road at Brown and Yale. Penn (10-9, 2-1 Ivy League) breezed by the Bears (1-12, 0-2) on Friday, not allowing the home side to win a single match in Providence, R.I. None of the matches were even close -- in all six of their singles matches, the Quakers never let more than three games slip in any set. At No. 1 singles, Penn junior Lenka Beranova pulled off a 6-1, 6-1 win against Brown's Maria Elena del Valle, while Penn junior Shubha Srinivasan dominated the Bears' Jeanine Baillie and took her No. 2 singles match, 6-3, 6-0. Senior co-captain Anastasia Pozdniakova was equally dominant at No. 3 singles, winning her match, 6-1, 6-0. After Louani Bascara, Jolene Sloat and Justyna Wojas completed the singles sweep of the Bears, Penn had already won the match -- but there was no decline in the Red and Blue's dominance when it came time for the doubles showdowns, for the Quakers had practiced in pairs more heavily than usual during the week. "Having known that you won singles and knowing doubles doesn't count, there sometimes is a letdown," Bascara said. At Brown, though, the Red and Blue's momentum didn't falter. In the top spot in doubles, the duo of Beranova and senior co-captain Elana Gold easily took their match, 8-4. Bascara and Pozdniakova skated through to an 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles, while Srinivasan and sophomore Sloat swept their foes, 8-0, at No. 3 doubles. Last spring, the Bears (1-12, 0-2) gave Penn more of a challenge -- the teams split singles before Penn took all of its doubles sets to win the match. "[Brown was] drastically worse than last year," Penn senior co-captain Gold said. "We got on them early, and they folded really quickly." In all fairness, Brown is a very young team. After losing four of last year's starters to graduation and injury, freshmen alone make up half of the Bears' roster. While Gold believes Brown left the Quakers "well-rested" for their match against Yale on Saturday, Penn's victory over the Elis wasn't nearly as easy as the Brown match was. Singles victories from Beranova, Pozdniakova, Sloat and sophomore Rochelle Raiss -- who competed while she had a bad case of the flu -- brought the Quakers to a 4-2 lead before the doubles matches. Penn needed only one doubles victory to ensure a match win over the Elis, but that was no certainty. "It's difficult and rare for a team to come back being [down 2-4]," Bascara said. "But by the same token, it's difficult to close out a match like that. "After having lost all our doubles to Princeton and having seen the style they play -- which is basically all power and [aggression] -- that urged us to step it up a notch in terms of aggressiveness. We were up at the net, closing and being aggressive. That's how it was on most of the courts that day." Beating the Elis in doubles was not as hard as it was against Princeton, but it was still no easy task -- and the effort required some of the Quakers' best tennis of the entire season. Gold and Srinivasan's 8-5 victory at No. 3 doubles wrapped up the victory in the match for Penn, while their teammates continued to battle the Elis on the first two doubles courts. After starting their match down 4-0, Raiss and Beranova fought their way to an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles, while Bascara and Pozdniakova finished with the same score at No. 2 doubles. The win brought Penn to 2-1 in the Ancient Eight, meaning that the Quakers are still in contention for the league title, but they must beat both Harvard and Dartmouth at home this weekend.
(04/11/00 9:00am)
Penn's match with Yale was particularly intense, but the Quakers survived for the win. "Come on!" yelled the accented voice from Lott Court No. 1. The sound came from Penn sophomore Fanda Stejskal, signaling that he had won another point against Yale's Greg Royce. Stejskal's shouts were met with increasing enthusiasm from the crowd of parents and Stejskal's fellow Alpha Epsilon Pi pledge brothers as he battled back from a 6-3 loss in the first set to win the final two sets, 6-4, 6-4. The Penn men's tennis team beat Yale, 5-2. "In the beginning [Royce] played really well. He missed like two balls during the entire first set. I thought, 'I'm getting killed,' and that's when Mrs. Barki told me to hang in there," Stejskal said. "Then I started returning. During the middle of the second set I played better and I didn't let it go like yesterday." Unfortunately, Penn sophomore tennis player Brian Barki's mom wasn't there to advise Stejskal on Friday, when he lost his match against Brown's Justin Natale in a 7-5 tiebreaker. The Quakers still managed to beat the Bears, 4-3, with freshman Ryan Harwood returning from a 4-5 deficit in the third set against Brown's Nick Malone to clinch the match, 7-5. Harwood's win allowed Penn to walk away with the meet, paving the way for a rare achievement the next day. This was the first time that the Quakers have swept an Ivy weekend since 1995, when, like this year, Penn beat Yale and Brown in back-to-back competitions. There was no love lost between the Quakers and the players from Yale. The match between Stejskal and Royce included frequent accusations by Stejskal that Royce was unfairly calling his serves out. Royce, visibly annoyed, became more impatient with his requests that the match simply continue. "I think he hooked me a couple of times," Stejskal said. "The shots were never obvious but I think they were in. There's nothing you can do though." Harwood also had difficulties with his Yale opponent, Scott Carlton. At one point, Harwood yelled, "Open your eyes," to Carlton in reference to a call made by Carlton. Harwood's outburst was met with a penalty call by the referee, which cost him a point in the match. The penalty call by the referee on Harwood also resulted in an interference call in Stejskal's match, since the referee yelled the penalty verdict during Royce's serve. Royce had double faulted with the point going to Stejskal, but the interference call meant that the point had to be replayed. Despite the personal conflicts during the matches, the Quakers were all smiles after junior co-captain Eric Sobotka clinched Penn's win against Yale by defeating Kevin Park at the No. 4 position. Penn players mobbed Sobotka on the court after his win, as Stejskal was still battling Royce on court one. Penn faltered a bit in doubles this weekend, with Zupan and Barki at the No. 3 position the only doubles team to beat Brown. Senior Brett Meringoff and Harwood at the No. 1 position were the only doubles partners to defeat a Yale duo. This weekend's matches bring the Quakers to 3-1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis League, which is already an improvement over their 2-7 EITL season from last year. The addition of Stejskal and Harwood to the team, as well as strong performances by returning Penn players, has made the rest of this season look a lot brighter than last year's.
(04/11/00 9:00am)
Penn split a doubleheader with Dartmouth and fought hard with Harvard, but lost both games in Boston yesterday. The Penn baseball team opened up its New England road trip successfully, winning the first of four games at Dartmouth and Harvard. Unfortunately for the Quakers, that was as good as it got. The Red and Blue (13-13, 4-4 Ivy) finished 1-3 on their road trip, losing the nightcap at Dartmouth on Saturday after winning the opener. They then dropped both contests at Harvard yesterday after being forced to stay an extra night in Boston -- the doubleheader between Penn and the Crimson scheduled for Sunday was moved back one day because of the freak snowstorm that descended upon the Northeast. With the 1-3 weekend, Penn fell into a three-way tie for first place in the Lou Gehrig Division of the Ivy League with Princeton and Cornell, which both went 3-1 this weekend. Both the Tigers and the Big Red faced the easier foes of the Red Rolfe Division -- Yale and Brown. Columbia, which had been tied with the Quakers in the standings before this weekend, was swept by Harvard and Dartmouth and fell a game behind the pack with a 3-5 Ivy record. On Saturday, Penn raced out to a 2-0 lead over Dartmouth starter James Kelly and never looked back. The closest the Big Green would come was 3-1 in the third inning, when they scored their only run off of Penn hurler Mike Mattern -- a solo home run off of the bat of Dartmouth shortstop Matt Klentak. Mattern was dominating in his first win of the year, going the distance in the seven-inning game, giving up one run on five hits and striking out eight Dartmouth batters. He walked just one Big Green player. The Quakers, who put a run across the plate in the top of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead, faced a Big Green scoring threat in the bottom of the fifth when Dartmouth put men on first and second with two out. But first baseman Ron Rolph picked up a smash grounder off the bat of Dartmouth second baseman Joe Rockers, not only ending the inning but also -- with Mattern on the mound -- effectively ending the Big Green's chances for a victory in the first game. "Mike was outstanding," Penn coach Bob Seddon said of his victorious pitcher. "It was clearly his best performance of the season." In the nightcap, Dartmouth ace Connor Brooks showed the Quakers why he has been one of the Ivy League's best pitchers for the last four years. In his first-ever appearance against the Red and Blue -- an odd happenstance, considering the fact that Brooks is a senior -- the talented righty fanned 13 batters en route to a nine-inning complete game victory. Penn gave itself no chance against Brooks, as freshman Ben Krantz, who took the loss, surrendered eight runs on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings. The Quakers were already behind 9-0 by the time they managed to get to Brooks in the eighth inning. Right fielder Kevin McCabe drove in one run with an RBI single before third baseman Oliver Hahl stole home, cutting the Big Green lead to 9-2. But against Brooks in the late innings, there was no realistic chance for any kind of Penn comeback, and Penn eventually fell by the score of 10-2. With a win and a loss in the books, the Quakers traveled to Boston and expected to take on the three-time defending Ivy champion Crimson on Sunday afternoon in a twin bill. But one day after Mother Nature had laid waste to these best laid plans of the Quakers, the Crimson laid waste to the Quakers themselves, leaving them with nothing to show for their impromptu overnight stay in the city of beans and Fenway Park. While the Quakers had excellent chances to win both games, they came closest in the second game of the twin bill, coming within three outs in the ninth and two in the 11th of beating Harvard for the first time in nine tries. But Penn's relief pitching abandoned it. With a 5-4 lead going into the ninth, freshman Andrew McCreery, who had replaced fellow freshman and starter Ben Otero, was brought in to try and seal the win. But he quickly blew the save, as the first batter he faced, right fielder John Franey, blasted an opposite field homer to tie the game at five. McCreery, who was pegged with the loss, pitched a scoreless 10th before loading the bases in the 11th. Paul Grumet was then given the ball and the unenviable task of getting the Quakers out of the mess. The first batter Grumet faced, pinch-hitter Joe Llanes, laced a two-RBI single to win the game and complete the Harvard sweep of the doubleheader. The Quakers had taken the lead in the top of the inning thanks to back-to-back RBI singles by shortstop Glen Ambrosius and catcher Jeff Gregorio. The loss ruined a magnificent effort by Otero, who had another strong start after his complete game against Brown two weeks ago. "Otero was extremely strong," Penn pitching coach Bill Wagner said. "But our relief pitching did not seal the deal." In the first game, Penn held a 2-0 lead going into the fifth inning when pinch-hitter Joe Hopps' three-run double put the Crimson up for good. They would add one more in the inning to take a 4-2 lead, which is the way the game ended. Harvard sophomore Ben Crockett, who was credited with the complete-game victory, was able to shut the Quakers down after his teammates gave him a two-run lead. "We played well, we just didn't hold the leads," Seddon said. "We just didn't get it done."
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The Quakers fell behind 8-1 before their furious comeback fell just short. Due to inclement weather on Sunday, the Penn women's lacrosse game scheduled for 1 p.m. on Franklin Field got off to a late start. Its contest with Harvard was delayed by nearly an hour, as extra time was needed to clear snow off the turf. But even after a warm water treatment made the field presentable, the competition still didn't get fully underway for almost another hour. After all, the Quakers didn't really show up until midway through the second half. Unfortunately, when Penn put together its 5-0 run to end the game, it was too little, too late. The Quakers came up short by two goals and fell, 11-9, to the Crimson. "It's frustrating to see them play the game in the last four minutes when it's an hour long," Penn coach Karin Brower said. Penn actually put the first goal on the board when freshman Crissy Book scored five minutes into the contest. But the Quakers held this advantage for just 90 seconds, and it was their only lead of the afternoon. Lizzy Frisbie countered and began a 5-0 run for the Crimson, who took a 5-1 lead into the locker room at halftime. The trend continued after intermission, as Harvard tallied three more unanswered goals before Penn's Traci Marabella finally restarted the Quakers offense after its 30-minute sabbatical. Penn outscored the Crimson, 7-3, from there in, but despite efforts by Marabella, senior captain Brooke Jenkins and freshman Kate Murray, Penn could not make up for its early mistakes. "We weren't aggressive; we didn't go to goal; we didn't challenge on attack; and we didn't run the plays well," Brower said. "They out-hustled us. I don't think they were a faster team than us, but they just wanted it more." The Quakers had already dropped their first two Ivy contests of the year against Yale and Cornell, and with their only win coming against Columbia, yesterday's loss puts them at 1-3 in the league. According to Brower, the same problems keep spelling defeat for her team. "Cornell, Yale and [Harvard] -- we could have won those games, but we looked intimidated," Brower said. "I don't know if it's inexperience or what, but they say that they think they can beat a team, and then they don't play that way." After losing to Harvard, the first-year coach couldn't even find comfort in what seems to be her greatest feat to date. The Quakers have put five wins together this season -- a marked improvement from last season's 1-12 record. "[Brower] has done a really nice job," Harvard coach Carole Kleinfelder said. "The team is obviously playing so much better than last year. But they're young, so they're still going to make a lot of nervous mistakes." But just being better than last year isn't enough for Brower. "The thing that really bothers me is that I feel like -- yeah, we're better than last year -- but that wasn't so hard to do," Brower said. "We've got to win a game that counts, and that's important. We've beaten the teams that we should beat. We need to beat a team when it's a close game." Judging by the 11-9 score, one would think the game against Harvard was one such close contest. But anyone who braved the weather and journeyed to Franklin Field on Sunday could tell you otherwise. Even though the last few minutes provided plenty of excitement and hope for the Penn faithful, Harvard held a commanding lead for most of the contest until Penn changed its offensive strategy in the final minutes. "I'd been telling them the whole game that they could take their kids to goal and then finally -- in the last four minutes -- they go to goal," Brower said. "We didn't challenge their defenders and then finally like [Murray] decided to take her girl to goal and she got three shots off." Some personnel changes by the Crimson late in the game also made the Red and Blue's job a little bit easier. "They did change their goalie, which helped a lot," Brower said. "But whether or not they switched the goalie, at least we were getting the shots off." In addition to pulling goal keeper Nora Guyer, Kleinfelder also cleared most of her bench. When asked if the new lineup contributed to Penn's late run, the Crimson coach did not hesitate to respond with, "Oh yeah, no question." "Of course, it was still nerve wracking since it was a game that we'd had total control over, but I got everybody in who was sitting on the bench. We didn't play as well, but I always had [the starters] to put back in to stop it," Kleinfelder said.
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The Penn's women's track team continued its recent success and outshined its competition at the University of Pennsylvania Invitational at Franklin Field on Saturday. The Red and Blue dominated in their third outdoor meet of the season and recorded four first-place finishes against a field of 14 teams. Penn coach Betty Costanza called the competition "very good." However, the teams, including Rutgers, Temple, La Salle, Delaware State, Princeton and Villanova, were no match for the strength of the Quakers' hurdle, jump and sprint squads. Juniors Jajuan Gair (13.98) and Bassey Adjah (14.10) captured first and second place, respectively, in the 100-meter high hurdles. In addition to setting personal records in the event, the times set by Gair and Adjah qualified them both for the ECAC Championships on May 27-29. The strong performances of of junior Jen Thompson and senior captain Ruthie Neuhaus also earned them places at the ECACs. Thompson and Neuhaus held down both first and second place, respectively, Saturday afternoon in the triple jump competition. Freshman Meredith Bunche added to Penn's domination with a fifth-place finish in the event. The women concluded the meet by stealing a victory in the 4x400 relay. Sophomore Melissa MacIntyre, Adjah, sophomore Jeraldine Cofie and freshman anchor Petra Stewart ran a near flawless race to win the event. Their performance, as well as that of the 4x100 relay team, also earned them a berth at the ECACs in Princeton, N.J. Further burying the competition was Adjah's personal-record-setting measure of 5.77 meters in the long jump. Her closest competitor was Latisha Conte of Delaware State, who finished a full six inches behind Adjah. Penn's Melissa MacIntyre and Bunche finished third and fifth, respectively, in the event. That means that, of the top 10 finishers in the long jump and the triple jump, a total of six were Penn athletes. This weekend, the Red and Blue will face a healthy serving of Ancient Eight competition in New Haven, Conn., in a tri-meet in which they will face both Yale and Princeton. Costanza maintains that the competition will be tough because Yale shares many of the same strengths as the young Quakers squad. The sprints, jumps and hurdles will prove to be deciding factors once again. Though the Penn team is very young this year, its successes throughout the outdoor season have been roundly promising. All this success has come following the loss of 13 top seniors and the frustrations of a disappointing last-place Heps finish in the indoor season. But the Quakers are not looking back. Senior captain Richelle Clements, who placed fourth in a field of over 40 competitors in the 200, attributes the recent success of the team to the responsibility assumed by the team's three seniors. And as the entire team has shined as of late, the senior leadership has been naturally pleased. "It has been especially fun to watch the young talent [on the team] mature," Clements said. With only two meets left before the Penn Relays, the Quakers are happy with their improvement and are keeping their expectations high. "And we can only get better," Adjah said.
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Four games. Four runs. Four defeats. That was the story for the Penn softball team yesterday and Saturday as they dropped consecutive doubleheaders to Ivy rivals Yale and Brown, while putting together only four combined runs in the losses. The offensive struggles began in the Quakers' Ivy League opening doubleheader against Yale on Saturday at Warren Field. Despite a strong pitching effort by star freshman pitcher Becky Ranta, Penn (11-20-1, 0-4) was unable to get on the scoreboard against Yale senior pitcher Teri Hickey. The Quakers fell to the Elis, 1-0. The lone run of the ballgame came in the top of the third with an RBI double from Yale second baseman Kathy Ching. That would be all the support Hickey needed as she stifled the Quakers' bats the rest of the way, giving up only five hits while recording her third shutout of the season. Ranta, who dropped to 7-7, was the tough-luck loser, scattering nine hits in her team-high eighth complete game of the season. The second game appeared to be another close pitchers duel between Penn senior Suzanne Arbogast and Yale hurler Mariah Fike through the first four innings. Each team put one run on the scoreboard in the third inning, the Quakers run coming on an RBI single from freshman designated hitter Heidi Albrecht. But with the game knotted at one, the Elis erupted in the top of the fifth inning, scoring seven times on six hits to open a comfortable 8-1 lead behind a two-run triple from Yale first baseman Monica Lebron. Lebron and the Elis tacked on two more runs in the seventh to cap off the 10-1 victory. Arbogast fell to 2-7 on the season after giving up five runs on four hits while walking eight in 6 2/3 innings. After dropping two to the Elis, the Quakers looked to bounce back against Brown yesterday at Warren Field after the doubleheader, which was originally scheduled for Sunday, was postponed due to snow. But once again, the Penn bats could not get rolling, as the Bears left West Philly with 4-2 and 8-1 victories. In game one, the Quakers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after freshman shortstop Crista Farrell grounded into a fielders choice with the bases loaded to score Arbogast. But Ranta, pitching in her second consecutive doubleheader, could not hold the Quakers lead, as the Bears scored fours runs in the top of the fourth, capped off by a two-run double by Brown third baseman Tami Parrot. The Quakers added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Penn sophomore third baseman Jen Moore walked and later scored on a wild pitch, but could not get more runs, as they fell to the Bears by a 4-2 margin. Ranta took the loss to fall to 7-8 on the season, while Penn freshman pitcher Dina Parise worked three innings of scoreless relief for the Quakers. But after the game, Penn coach Carol Kashow was less concerned about her team's pitching than the Quakers' lack of offensive production. "We need to score more runs -- we're capable of doing it," Kashow said. "The defense and pitching is solid, and we're getting people on, but we're not getting them home." The nightcap was more of the same for the Red and Blue as they were able to produce only run, dropping their fourth straight game, 8-1. The Quakers took a 1-0 lead in the first with a Moore RBI single, but the Bears fought right back with eight unanswered runs. Arbogast took the loss, but was not helped by her defense, which committed five errors in the game. Only one of the runs the senior pitcher gave up was earned. Brown hurler Erin Durlesser, who allowed one run on three hits in her complete game victory, was very satisfied with the win. "I felt like my team was behind me, and I felt like I was in control of myself and was able to hit my spots," Durlesser said. "These wins are really important for us." The Quakers know that they have the ability to turn things around. "We expect a lot more from the team than we've been showing," freshman outfielder Deb Kowalchuk said. "We're not playing up to our potential."
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Penn's spring party was started back in 1973 by three guys with a guitar and a Woodstock state of mind. The year was 1973. Three boys sat in a Quad dorm room, one singing a folk song while his friend accompanied him on guitar. As the music drifted out into the hallway, they talked about school and the upcoming end of the semester. An idea slowly grew between them as they were talking -- it was an idea for a festival, a celebration of music, culture and art. And together, on that February evening, the three Penn undergraduates came up with the idea for the first Spring Fling. "We were all pretty romantic in those days," said the guitar player, 1974 College alumnus Craig Salvay. "We were lamenting the tradition of Skimmer, it just didn't jive with what was going on in the early '70s -- the Vietnam War, the last of the Beatles." The students wanted to throw a party that would unite the entire school for one weekend with music, dance, food and thousands of students enjoying the sunshine. They chose an emblem for that first Fling -- the well-recognized painting by Matisse entitled "La Danse" depicting a ring of women dancing. The three men -- Salvay and 1974 Wharton graduates Robert Haft and David Dibo -- felt the painting captured the spirit they hoped Fling would embody. Little did these three students know that under their initiative, Penn had embarked on what would become a 27-year-old tradition, a veritable rite of the coming of a new season and an interlude before the lurking final exam period. They founded an event complete with headlining bands, free-flowing drink and thousands of students packed into the Quadrangle. "No one knew we were creating a tradition," Salvay said. "We were just having a good time." Come Together Though officially born in the 1970s, Spring Fling actually served as replacement for the tradition of Skimmer -- an event, dating as far back as Prohibition, when students cheered crew races on the Schuylkill River. But with a longtime reputation for rowdiness, Skimmer was banned by both Penn and the City of Philadelphia in 1972 for repeated misconduct. So when the student organizers discussed their vision for a new springtime event, they planned to steer away from the historically troubled Skimmer and instead introduce a festival that would better reflect the free-wheeling ideology of the era. The hair was long, the clothes tie-dyed and typical after-graduation plans included dropping out of society and living on a commune, according to Haft. "The social mores of the early and mid-'60s had given way to a total lack of social mores," Salvay explained. "There was an idealism that pervaded our lives then." Starting from scratch, the three students single-handedly organized the two-day party in the Quad that would entertain thousands of people. To make the party happen, they had to build a stage and solicit musical acts and local artists to perform on it; they had to recruit the 25 vendors to feed the masses; they had to build facilities for creative artists to display their handiwork. And when it was all over, they had to clean up. According to the three men, although they divided the approximately $800 expenses with Penn, they did all the grunt work themselves. They began planning and organizing in mid-March for the festival in late April. "It was totally free from University supervision," Haft said. "If there was any supervision, it was mine." And the men admitted that up until the final hour, they were far from sure that they would be able to pull it off. "There was this excitement of 'Is this going to work, what would happen if it didn't work?'" Haft said. Still, they persevered to put it all together. The men erected a makeshift stage and wired the Quad for sound and electricity. Salvay remembers hot-wiring the speaker system from a basement laundry room while standing in a puddle. He would have been electrocuted but for his rubber-soled tennis shoes. And they built the stage themselves with lumber from a local hardware store. "I remember carting sheets of plywood on my back from 40th and Market," Salvay said. The organizers also arranged for all the services, convincing downtown restaurants to sell food and soliciting local entertainment acts. "All the restaurants that could never get on campus rented space from us," Haft said, noting that the 25 vendors offered food ranging the gamut from Chinese to Italian. A campus institution at the time, "Al the Fruit Man" was one of the food vendors invited to the first Fling. He sold fruit out of the back of his aging Chevy station wagon parked beside the Quad. To get entertainment, the students called upon Philadelphia thespians as well as campus performers. "My roommate was an actor," Haft noted. "And he knew a lot of artists." Here Comes the Sun With all the preparations out of the way, the Fling weekend -- April 19, 20 and 21 -- rolled around. Each day students filled the Quad, listening to music, dancing on the Quad lawn and basking in the sunshine surrounded by blooming gingko trees and wisteria. "From Thursday night until Sunday we took over the campus," Haft recalled. "For a couple of days, you could suspend belief and see what the future might be like." Although many aspects of Fling remain the same, the men noted that social attitudes during that weekend were very typical of the 1970s. In fact, they compared the crowd to the attendees at Woodstock. "It was the era of sex and drugs and a very open era," Haft said. To open up the musical portion of Fling '73, Salvay played a personal composition on his guitar. "I was the first musician to play at the first Spring Fling," he boasted. The first few lines of his song still remain permanently in his memory, "Rise, see the new day begin," words that he believes embody the idealistic spirit that accompanied the creation of Fling. Haft recalls the improvised nature of the first Fling's musical acts. "We had doctors from HUP playing the harmonica," he said. Another of the original Fling traditions has faded into memory. In 1973, the organizers had difficulty attracting a star entertainer, instead ending up with a star square-dance caller. "People hadn't square-danced in 15 years," Haft said. "But we found a fantastic caller, and the whole Quad was rocking." With a 12-watt amplifier and an old-time guitar, the caller looked like he had come "straight out of West Texas," Salvay said. Thirty years later, Fling attendees take a more conservative approach to partying than their parents' generation, but much of the festival has withstood the test of time. The high point of Fling is still dancing to the tunes of a big-name musician. From the Psychedelic Furs in 1983 to Cypress Hill in 1994, the musical act has always reflected the varied preferences of the student body. And throughout the two days in the Quad, local musicians, student bands and a cappella groups entertain the crowds. One on-campus group has remained constant in their participation in Fling. Mask and Wig has closed many Saturday performances with their combination of musical satire and comedic play. "We close the show in Lower Quad on Saturday evening," said College senior Josh Slatko, chairman of Mask and Wig. "It's been going on as long as I have been around, and I am sure much longer than that." And the Beat Goes On Though the names of headlining bands and some of the activities have changed, the intent of Fling has remained constant, according to this year's Fling co-chairman Jason Ebert, a College junior. "People still get absolutely hammered and party like crazy," he said. "It is towards the end of the semester, the weather is getting nicer and everyone is in a party mode," Ebert added, echoing his 1973 counterparts. Lisa Malbacho, a Nursing senior and co-chairwoman of this year's Fling, came to her first celebration as a visiting pre-freshman. "We went to the outdoor Violent Femmes concert," she said. "There is something special about the outdoor element." One of the men who started it all returned to campus last year to see how Penn students today have continued his legacy. Salvay said the spirit of Spring Fling has not diminished over the years. "It is the celebration of humanity," he said.
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Several hundred people participated in Quaker Corps, a program designed to unite Penn with the West Philadelphia community. The streets surrounding campus were filled with students carrying trash bags, toting shovels and lifting saplings on Saturday as several hundred people rolled up their sleeves and headed out into West Philadelphia for the first-ever national Ivy League volunteer day. Students from the Undergraduate Assembly joined forces with UC Green -- a Penn initiative that seeks to improve University City's appearance by planting and gardening -- and Penn's Greek community to amass equipment and labor for the day-long activities. The event, Quaker Corps, was composed of four greening and building projects that were all part of a larger Ivy League plan, Ivy Corps, designed to unite each university with its surrounding neighborhood. Four different projects were spread over five sites, including the construction of a pavilion between University City High School and Drew School at 37th and Lancaster streets and the building of a brick path at 39th Street and Baltimore Avenue. Some members from Habitat for Humanity arrived at University City High School at 6:30 a.m. to begin the day's work of erecting a garden pavilion where only an empty lot had existed. Thirteen hours later, the huge construction project was 80 percent completed, according to College freshman David Levin, who helped organize Quaker Corps. "It was a momentous change bringing people together for this project," Levin said. "It changes our relationship with University City High School and Drew." Meanwhile, 15 workers toiled in the warm noon sun at the intersection of Baltimore and Woodland avenues -- the area known as the "Gateway to West Philadelphia," according to the site's project coordinator and recent College of General Studies graduate Alex Schlachterman. Penn undergraduates, graduate students and high school students, along with community members -- and even Tom Lussenhop, a Penn real estate official -- toted wheelbarrows filled with dirt in an effort to clear 225 square feet for a brick path. "'At first my friends were like, 'We can't even move wheelbarrows,'" laughed volunteer Vanesa Sanchez, a student at Germantown Friends Academy and the daughter of the director of UC Green. "But now they're like, 'Wheelbarrows are the fun part.'" Engineering freshman Shuo-Ju Chou helped two high school girls that were navigating a load down the sidewalk. Chou said he volunteered because he wanted to help out the community -- and discovered that, though rewarding, the work was pretty hard. "[The event] goes until two," Chou said. "I'll see if I can last until two." By noon, the cleanup was already in full swing in front of fraternity and sorority houses on Spruce and Walnut streets in conjunction with Greek Weekend. Dozens of students scoured the sidewalks with trash bags, while others used equipment to clean up the broken concrete and still others lounged on their porches -- taking a break from the hot sun and tough work. Directing his fellow fraternity brothers, John Buchanan, IFC executive vice president and Phi Psi brother, stepped back for a few minutes to soak in the scene. "No one takes care of this," Buchanan explained, shaking his head. "You have to take care of grass. That hasn't been done so we're replacing it with gravel. We wanted it to look clean and neat." Buchanan cited high attendance rates among the Greeks, with almost every sorority house and over a third of fraternities participating. And Jenny Turner, chair of the Panhellenic Council's Civic Committee, described the overall mood of the afternoon as positive. "I think everyone's having fun," Turner said. "It's a nice day."
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Currently lumped with their East Asian neighbors, natives of South Asia desire their own services and resources. When students apply to Penn, whether they hail from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China or Korea, Penn only gives them one option from which to choose in the ethnicity column -- Asian. Currently Asian-American students are the biggest minority student population on campus, accounting for 25 percent of the freshman class alone. But there are divisions within this minority group that students say go unnoticed. South Asian students think Penn too easily lumps Asian students together, considering them all to be of East Asian origins. In fact, South Asian students account for 6 percent of the freshman class, making them a significant minority group in their own right. "When people refer to Asians they refer to East Asians, and South Asians are sort of forgotten," said College senior Tariq Remtulla, outgoing chairman of the South Asia Regional Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board and co-chair of Sangam. East Asians come from countries such as China and Japan, while South Asian countries include India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The cultural and traditional histories of these two broad regions are very different, making the shared classification far too general for many. South Asian leaders said the available resources for Asian Americans focus mostly on the more established East Asian students, without much attention to the South Asian needs. And only one of the Asian Pacific Students Coalition's 12 constituencies, the South Asia Society, is primarily South Asian. South Asia Society Chairman Raj Ramachandran, an Engineering senior, said that although South Asians and East Asians have similar needs, they also have important differences. "Even though we are similar in our political needs, we are quite different in our ethnic needs," he said. He added, "I don't think the University recognizes the difference at all. There's no separate [check] box for South Asians." Among the resources that South Asian student leaders are pushing for are career counseling services, a meeting place for academic, social and cultural activities and performance space for the many South Asian performing arts groups. Remtulla also said that a large percentage of South Asian students are pre-professional, leading to a need for academic advisors targeting those students. A major recent debate within the South Asian community has been whether to break away from the APSC and form a separate South Asian political umbrella. But, for the time being, South Asian students have decided against this schism, saying they don't want to leave the APSC, they just want equal recognition within the group. "We never want to break away from our allies," Remtulla said. APSC chairman Sammy Sugiura, a Wharton junior, said exclusion of South Asians in the past was not intentional and that the group was striving to increase its South Asian representation. For the first time this year, South Asians have held positions on the APSC executive board. College senior Gaurab Bansal, co-chair of Sangam, said, "The APSC this year has done an admirable and tremendous job in reaching out to South Asians." But he added, "I think still more needs to be done. South Asians themselves need to get more involved." South Asian groups have made some efforts this year to increase solidarity among themselves. Groups such as Penn Masala, Sangam and the Bangladesh Students Association held informal meetings earlier in the semester to discuss supporting each other and co-sponsoring events. Asian-American students as a whole have been pressuring the University for more resources. The APSC and University President Judith Rodin have been discussing a proposal for a Pan-Asian American Community House since last year. Student leaders have said this space would cater to East and South Asians. Greenfield Intercultural Center Director Valerie De Cruz said in America it is increasingly important for South Asians and East Asians to bond together for political needs, but she noted that the two groups aren't coming from common ground. "Traditionally, they come from very different backgrounds," she said. "Culturally there isn't a lot of overlap."
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When T.J. Leyden was in the Marine Corps, he had a two-inch high Nazi "SS" tattoo on his neck, a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf by his bed and a swastika poster in his locker. Leyden, who has since renounced white supremacy and is now a leader in the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Task Force Against Hate, spoke before an audience of about 150 people in Logan Hall last night about his 15 years as a neo-Nazi. The talk, held in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, was co-sponsored by the Holocaust Education Committee and several other organizations, including the InterFraternity Council, the German Department and Connaissance. "The story I tell you is one I'm not proud of having to tell you," Leyden said to open the talk. Leyden began by speaking about his entrance into the neo-Nazi skinhead movement via the punk rock scene of the late 1970s. Since his southern California neighborhood was predominantly white, Leyden and his fellow skinheads focused their aggression mainly on other local whites. "Getting a black, Hispanic or Asian was like a bonus," he said. "They would not make it out of my neighborhood without being beaten up." After graduating from high school, Leyden joined the Marine Corps, which he said "made [him] a better racist" by teaching him organizational and recruitment skills. For instance, at the Enlisted Men's Club, he would write racist statements like "Kill whitey" on the bathroom walls and try to get the white Marines to accuse the black Marines of having written the slur, fostering racial tension and hatred. Interestingly, Leyden spoke about working with other Marines involved in the Black Power movement, who would write phrases like "Lynch the nigger" to get a similar reaction from blacks. "If we could get the whole bar [fighting], that's what we were shooting for -- and some nights we did," Leyden said. Leyden then showed slides of tools -- such as "White Power" comic books and CDs -- that he used to recruit young teenagers into the movement. He explained that children just entering puberty were the easiest targets, because they are very concerned about "fitting in." Leyden also discussed his departure, both physically and ideologically, from the neo-Nazi skinhead group. He spoke briefly of his mother, who contracted polio at a young age and was subsequently treated by Jonas Salk's vaccine. "I may literally owe my life to a Jewish doctor," he said. "Ain't that a hoot?" Another wake-up call for Leyden came when he was watching television with his children, and his 3-year-old son turned the TV off and said, "You know better than that, Daddy. We don't watch shows with niggers on them in this house." At first, Leyden was proud that his son had learned so well, but then he began to think of the boy's future. "I had buried six friends in 15 years, and I had the ultimate sensation of fear that my boys would end up like that," he said. After Leyden left the movement, he became affiliated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center and now speaks all over the country about racism. He has been the target of several assassination attempts by members of the white supremacy movement who now call him "a traitor to his race." College sophomore Shana Coplowitz, the co-chairwoman of the Holocaust Education Committee, said she was pleased with the speech. "It went off really well," Coplowitz said. "I was impressed that so many people took time off on a busy Monday night to come hear this, and I learned a lot about neo-Nazi white supremacy."
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At least seven minority candidates were elected to the UA last week. Over the past year, the Undergraduate Assembly has made conscious efforts to diversify its membership -- attempting, essentially, to steer itself away from its historically white, Greek, male image. And judging from last week's election results, the changes are beginning to take form, with significant increases in minority representation on the UA. At least seven minority students were elected to the UA last week, compared with two minority students in last year's spring elections. Although about half the elected members are incumbents, there was still room for a diverse group of new faces. Last year's UA had a total of four minority members --Eincluding two elected in the fall freshman elections -- among its 33 total members. The group has been criticized for its homogeneity and neglect of minority issues in the past. But the the new additions could alter the general mindset of the UA. Both the UA and the United Minorities Council have agreed that the lack of minority students on the UA does not accurately represent the student body. Together, the UA and UMC have made extensive efforts to encourage minority students to get involved in student government and run for positions on the UA. The two groups have also embarked on various joint projects over the past year, including co-sponsored meetings on campus issues. The seven elected minorities came from a pool of about 20 minority candidates, itself a marked increase from previous years. Engineering junior and UA incumbent Mo Saraiya said that a larger presence of minorities on the UA will make the group more effective in addressing minority issues. "Because [the UA] doesn't have a stake in the issues, it's not as efficient in tackling them," he said. Mike Krouse, another UA member and member of the minority community, noted that a more diverse UA will prove effective. "Sometimes there's a lack of understanding of issues," the Wharton and Engineering junior said. Krouse attributed this to the "different mindset" that a less diverse UA may have toward minority issues. He added that the diversity of the body will help increase the perspective the body has on various issues. Krouse, who is running for UA chairman, also said that the increased number of minorities and continuing improvement in the UA's relationship with the UMC will increase the legitimacy of both student groups on campus. "Having both groups' support something together would project a unified front to the administration," Krouse said. UMC Vice Chairwoman Anita Patel said that with more minorities on the UA, the body can better address minority issues with or without the active support of the UMC. "[The UA] can work more independently without the UMC," Patel said. "They can now depend on the [minority] students elected." "Students will now hope the UA will address minority issues better," the College junior added.
