Search Results
Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
(04/05/00 9:00am)
The two presidential hopefuls focused on November's elections. With their presidential campaigns in full swing, Al Gore and George W. Bush both made quick campaign stops in Philadelphia yesterday. Victories in recent primaries have already assured them of their party's nomination, but Pennsylvania's status as a crucial swing state in November means the candidates are keeping a constant eye on the Keystone State. Gore met with a group of 80 local residents -- largely consisting of senior citizens -- in a South Philadelphia community center yesterday morning to discuss revamping Social Security to enhance benefits for women. "Social Security is a lifeline for millions of American women, but there are ways in which Social Security treats women unfairly," Gore said yesterday. He announced he wants to make "modest but crucial changes in our Social Security system that will make it fairer for women." Meanwhile, Bush held an education roundtable with local Latino leaders in the Philadelphia suburb of Abington. The Texas governor largely focused his education-based discussion on returning control of schools to the local level. The talk followed his announcement of new literacy and teacher aid programs last week. Although the two candidates were miles apart, they still managed to exchange heated attacks. "If [Bush] gets his hands on America's retirement system, it will quickly become a system of social insecurity," the vice president said yesterday. Gore announced during his talk that if he is elected in November, he would push to help stay-at-home parents -- most of whom are women -- receive Social Security credit for up to five years of work while they raise their children. Because many women often leave the workforce to raise children, Gore said the Social Security status quo penalizes women. He added that his plan will increase benefits to women by about $600 each year, emphasizing the important role stay-at-home parents play in their children's lives. "Anybody who's [raised children] knows what hard work that is," Gore said. "We should honor it, and we should respect it." Gore also proposed giving widows increased Social Security payments upon their husbands' death. Currently, a widow's payment can be more than halved when her husband dies. The vice president also continually attacked Bush's five-year proposed plan to cut $483 billion in taxes, calling it a "risky tax scheme." From across town, Bush threw criticism right back at Gore. "I can't think of a better reform than allowing women to manage their own personal savings account, particularly younger workers in our society," Bush said in a statement released after his talk. "It's going to be an important debate in the campaign for president," he continued. "It's the status quo in the administration that does not reform Social Security -- versus an administration that will put capital on the line? to make sure that Social Security is available in the long run." Recent Gallup polls indicate that the vice president and Texas governor are running neck and neck, with 46 percent of likely voters favoring Bush and 45 percent supporting Gore.
(04/05/00 9:00am)
The Quakers pestered Princeton but lost at Old Nassau to give the Tigers their 27th straight Ivy win. The Penn men's lacrosse team may have gotten Princeton somewhat out of its rhythm yesterday afternoon, but the Tigers' beat goes on. By defeating the Quakers, 10-4, at Princeton's Class of 1952 Stadium yesterday afternoon, the No. 4 Tigers extended their Ivy League winning streak to 27 games and upped their season record to 5-1, 2-0 in the Ivies. Although Princeton won both halves of yesterday's contest, 5-2, the Quakers (3-5, 0-4) did a laudable job of disrupting the Tigers when the Ivy powerhouse had the ball on offense. "Our team defense really solidified. Any time you hold a team like that to 10 goals or so, it's a moral victory," Penn freshman goalie Ryan Kelly said. "We can't get used to being satisfied with those, though." Kelly performed pretty well in between the pipes for Penn. He had 15 saves on 36 shots in 59 minutes of action, but he was at a loss when it came to stopping Princeton's B.J. Prager. The sophomore attacker equaled his career high with four goals, which he has now done four times, including last Saturday against Yale. Prager, a quick and scrappy threat with the shortstick, has a knack for darting away from defenders off the ball. He demonstrated this ability by throwing in a quartet from very close range, twice in each half. "You can't ever lose him. He's too dangerous," Kelly said. "We'd lose him, and all of a sudden he'd be right there to put one in." Prager's day might have been even better, had two of his shots not hit the pipe. He has now scored a goal in 17 straight games and 18 of 19 for his career. Due to Penn's tenacious team defense yesterday, however, Prager was the only Tiger to score more than one goal on the day. "In general, I think that both our team defense and Ryan [Kelly] did a good job of holding them to 10 goals," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "I thought Bill Fowler did a great job on Matt Striebel." Striebel, a junior attacker who plays something of a quarterback position for Princeton, was held to just one assist on the day and scored no goals. This was only the second time thus far this season that he has been held to fewer than two points. Josh Sims, the Princeton attacker with the most points on the team who is now tied with Prager with the most goals at 15, was also held to a mere assist yesterday at Old Nassau. But the Orange and Black did an even better job silencing Penn's big guns. Pete Janney, Penn's leading scorer on the season with 25 points on 14 goals and 11 assists, was held scoreless by the Tigers. Junior middie Kevin Cadin was the only one of the Quakers' four leading goal-scorers to put one in the net. "One of the best things that they do is shutting down a team's attackers up front," Van Arsdale said. Cognizant of this fact, Van Arsdale put Janney in the midfield for much of the game -- drawing some Princeton defensive pressure away from the cage in the hopes of freeing up scoring. Van Arsdale's attempt was obviously unsuccessful on the whole, given the scant four goals produced. Also, none of the four goals scored came from an attacker -- all four came from middies. Cadin, Billy Reidy, Jake Martin and Billy Sofield each notched a goal. "They slid really well and shut us down a lot," Kelly said. "It looked like they were the best team we've seen so far with defensive quickness." The Quakers had numerous promising moments yesterday. After being down 3-0 after the first quarter, the Red and Blue battled back with a flurry on the offensive end. In a span of merely 38 seconds in the beginning of the third period, Martin and Sofield deposited balls in the cage, each off an assist from Todd Minerley to make it 3-2. "I thought we did a good job there," Van Arsdale said. "Todd Minerley fed both of those. We were moving the ball around, which was what we needed to do against a team like that." This was as close as the Quakers would get, however. The Tigers defense collapsed, and Sean Hartofillis and Prager made it 5-2 at the break. Three unanswered Princeton goals late in the third quarter gave the Tigers a six-goal lead and put the final nail in the Penn coffin.
(04/05/00 9:00am)
The Democratic congressman will ry to knock off Sen. Rick Santorum in November. U.S. Rep. Ron Klink (D) walked away from yesterday's Pennsylvania senatorial primary a clear winner, giving him the chance to take on freshman Sen. Rick Santorum (R) for his seat on Capital Hill this November. Klink's victory, clinched late last night, put an end to the hotly contested six-way race for the Democratic nod to run for Senate. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Klink's 41 percent of the vote easily beat out State Sen. Allyson Schwartz and former state secretary of labor and agriculture Tom Foley, who experts labeled his toughest challengers. Schwartz and Foley garnered 26 and 25 percent of the vote, respectively. And Philadelphia-area attorneys Murray Levin, Phil Berg and Bob Rovner together accounted for 8 percent of the vote. The bid for the Democratic nomination was the most carefully followed race of this year's state primaries. In the race for state attorney general -- the only other statewide competition -- Philadelphia lawyer Jim Eisenhower led Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli by a 51 to 49 percent margin late last night. Although victories in recent primaries have already secured party nominations for both presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush, yesterday's voters still voted for their party's favored presidential candidates. Gore received 74 percent of the Democratic vote, while 73 percent of Republicans cast a ballot in favor of Bush, with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Election officials reported a low turnout at the polls yesterday, as experts predicted prior to the race. Philadelphia's Deputy City Commissioner Ed Schulgen attributed the traditionally light turnout to the fact that "much of the ballyhoos have been taken out of the presidential race." Klink -- a conservative Democrat who hails from a suburb of Pittsburgh -- received strong support from western Pennsylvania, especially in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia area largely came out in support for Schwartz, a Philadelphia resident. Political analysts had largely avoided picking a favorite for yesterday's senatorial race, though Klink, Foley and Schwartz were the agreed-upon frontrunners. Political Science Professor Harry Teune said last week that Klink could be a "sleeper" of a candidate -- meaning he could come out and take an unexpectedly large victory in the primary, as was seen yesterday. Klink has largely been recognized as the most conservative of the six senatorial candidates, touting a pro-life stance. His policy towards gun control has also been labeled by experts as more conservative than that of Schwartz or Foley. Currently in his fourth term as a congressman, Klink has spent much of his campaign focusing on issues surrounding health care. But officials aren't predicting that Klink will be too successful in taking on the incumbent Santorum in November. According to Teune, Klink lacks the financial backing and name recognition needed to win a race of this magnitude. As of March 15, Santorum had already raised $6 million for his campaign. And Pennsylvanians have not elected a Democratic senator to a full term in office since the early 1960s.
(04/05/00 9:00am)
Penn's admissions rate has been steadily declining since 1991, when 47 percent of applicants were admitted. High school seniors across the country found some long-awaited letters in their mailboxes this week. And for a record-low 22 percent of the 18,815 Penn applicants, the news was good. Next year's freshman class will again be the University's most selective ever, according to Admissions Dean Lee Stetson. At one minute after midnight Saturday morning, the University released acceptance letters to 4,280 -- or 22 percent -- of its 18,815 applicants, including early decision applicants, for the class of 2004. The admissions rate is a continuation of the University's decade-long decline, down from 26.6 percent last year and a whopping 47 percent in 1991. And for the first time ever, the percentage of regular decision applicants accepted dropped into the teens, at 19 percent. "We admitted fewer to keep the class size under control," Stetson said, adding that he expects the yield rate -- the percent of students accepted to choose to matriculate -- to be close to last year's at 53.7 percent. That number was higher than expected, resulting in a larger than usual freshman class. "We'll be right where we want to be? with a class size of 2,350," if the yield rate is between 53 and 54 percent, Stetson said. The number of applicants for admission also reached a record level this year -- the total applicant group was 6.6 percent larger than last year's pool. About 42 percent of the Class of 2004 will be comprised of students who applied early decision. In addition to the overall decrease in the rate of admission, three of the four undergraduate school saw decreases in their acceptance rates. The College of Arts and Sciences accepted 23 percent -- 2,796 out of 11,986 applicants -- down from 27.4 percent last year. The School of Engineering and Applied Science admitted 26 percent -- 853 out of 3,325 applicants -- down from 32.9 percent. The Wharton School accepted 16 percent -- 521 out of the 3,278 applicants -- marking a one percentage point decrease. And the Nursing School accepted 51 percent of its applicants, up from 43.4 percent last year. The Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business -- the joint College and Wharton program -- accepted 72 of its 641 applicants. The Management and Technology Program of Wharton and the Engineering School accepted 87 out of 829 applicants. And 12 students were accepted to the the Healthcare Management Program of the Nursing School and Wharton. Admission offers were made to 2,175 women, representing 50.8 percent of all acceptances. And 447 international students were accepted. They comprise 10.4 percent of the admitted group and represent six continents and 79 countries. Additionally, minority students -- including African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans -- make up 41 percent of the accepted group. But that number falls significantly, to 17 percent, when Asians are excluded. This year's group of admitted students boasts an average SAT score of 1412 -- up from 1407 last year -- and the average students ranks in the top two percent of his or her graduating class. According to Stetson, 757 of the accepted students are valedictorians or salutatorians, and 663 valedictorians and salutatorians were denied admission. "This just shows how selective [we] had to be," he said. Stetson explained that the admissions office is relying more heavily on the waitlist this year -- with 500 names on the list -- in order to yield the desired class size. Last year the yield rate unexpectedly increased by five percent, resulting in a housing shortage in the fall. "We're better off being a little more conservative with admission," Stetson said. "Otherwise, we're at the mercy of who says yes [to his or her admission offer]." Mark Cannon, deputy executive director of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said the trend of increased waitlist use is being employed by more and more schools so they can better control class sizes. "[Students] are increasingly delaying their final decision? some students are double-depositing, going through pre-registration and orientation [programs] and not opting to enroll ultimately," Cannon said. "The waitlist is there as a cushion. Now that acceptances have been sent, Stetson and his office are shifting their focus toward getting the best yield possible, through tours, luncheons and campus visits. He said 50 to 60 percent of accepted students are expected to take advantage of the services over the next few weeks. "The competition to get them to enroll is intense," Stetson said, adding that the next month will be a chance for "Penn to put its best foot forward." Admitted students have until May 1 to accept their offers of admission.
(04/05/00 9:00am)
Unhappy with his playing time with the Quakers, forward Oggie Kapetanovic is hoping to play in Europe next season. Penn men's basketball player Oggie Kapetanovic has recently indicated that he may not return for the 2000-01 season. Citing frustration over playing time, Kapetanovic informed Penn coach Fran Dunphy of his feelings during a meeting last week. "I've been thinking about graduating and going overseas and playing ball there, because I want to play ball," said Kapetanovic, who has one year of eligibility remaining. "I feel like if I stayed here, I'd get similar time to what I got this year." Kapetanovic averaged 12.9 minutes per game this season, scoring 3.9 points and pulling down 2.6 rebounds per contest. A Wharton student, Kapetanovic is taking six classes this semester. If he is able to find a roster spot on a European team, he will take three summer classes in order to graduate early and begin playing next season. He plans to attend a camp in May in order to see what options are open to him. If Kapetanovic is unable to land in a good European league, he will return to Penn next year. "Our hope is that Oggie will come back, but that is obviously up to him," Dunphy said. Kapetanovic, a 6'10" forward/center, started in Penn's first game of the season, a 67-51 loss to Kentucky on November 17. For the rest of the season, however, he came off the bench to back up center Geoff Owens and forward Ugonna Onyekwe. Owens, who will petition the Ivy League for a fifth year of eligibility after missing his sophomore season with a medical condition, and Onyekwe, the '99-00 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, will both be returning to the Quakers' frontcourt next season. Kapetanovic sees little opportunity to get more playing time. "This year, there were some games when I played 19, 20 minutes a game, but it wasn't regular," Kapetanovic said. "I felt my playing time was based more on whether Owens or Ugonna was playing bad or in foul trouble. "I felt like I was just a sub. I want to play ball, and I want to play a lot." This past season, one which saw the Quakers win their second straight Ivy League title, was Kapetanovic's first playing for Penn. After beginning his career at Brown -- where he averaged 6.9 points while starting 20 of 26 games as a sophomore -- he transferred to Penn prior to the '98-99 academic year. Per NCAA rules, he was required to sit out a season. Midway through this past season, Kapetanovic became frustrated with his situation at Penn and decided to register for six classes, thus keeping his options open. "I started thinking about it in the beginning of February, right before the deadline for classes," Kapetanovic said. "I didn't tell any of the coaches then, because I thought it would be selfish of me to say something in the middle of the season." Last week, however, Rosemarie Burnett, the Penn Athletic Department's academic coordinator, noticed Kapetanovic's unusually heavy course load. Dunphy called him in for a meeting to discuss it. It was then that the coach first learned of Kapetanovic's intentions. Kapetanovic also met with Compliance Coordinator D. Elton Cochran-Fikes to discuss his future. As long as he does not make an agreement with an agent or sign a contract with a professional team, Kapetanovic will be eligible to play for Penn next season. In exploring his chances to play overseas, though, he will have an advantage over many other players seeking similar opportunities. Since he is a dual citizen of Canada and Yugoslavia, Kapetanovic will not be subject to the limit of two American players per team that is a rule in most European leagues. Dunphy said that he will do whatever he can to help Kapetanovic find a place to play next season, but the coach hopes that Kapetanovic will change his mind about returning to the Quakers. "I would love to see him play [for Penn]," Dunphy said. "But I will respect whatever he wants to do."
(04/05/00 9:00am)
Penn's anti-sweatshop student group is reacting angrily to the University's recent decision to keep Penn out of two controversial labor monitoring groups, raising questions about both the decision and the motives they say guided it. According to members of Penn Students Against Sweatshops, which brought the issue to the forefront of campus debate earlier this year by leading a nine-day sit-in of College Hall, the University is not working hard enough to choose a monitoring organization -- and is ignoring their preferred group, the Worker Rights Consortium. Last week, University President Judith Rodin sent letters to both the WRC and the rival Fair Labor Association saying that they have failed to make the changes that Penn requested as a condition of its membership. Rodin's letters were sent out on the advice of a specially convened committee examining the issue. The committee includes three PSAS members. The committee said the decision stemmed from unsatisfactory replies from both organizations to University requests that they augment the representation of colleges and universities on their respective governing boards. The WRC governing board has six university representatives among its 12 members, while just one of 13 seats on the FLA board is occupied by an academic representative. "The thing about the WRC not having enough representation is total bullshit," College freshman and PSAS spokeswoman Anna Roberts said. "It has everything to do with politics -- [the WRC governing] committee has 50 percent university representation." Sweatshop monitoring has been a major issue of discussion since February, when PSAS members staged a nine-day College Hall sit-in. They maintain that the FLA is ineffective in monitoring labor conditions, and demand that the University switch to the newer WRC, which will hold its founding conference this Friday in New York. PSAS representative and committee member Michael Hearn, a College sophomore, said that while he favors the WRC, he agrees that the only way for the committee to ultimately make a decision is to stay outside either organization for the time being. Still, Roberts insisted that the committee was not making enough of an effort to join a monitoring organization. "For a committee to come out saying that [the 50 percent collegiate stake on the WRC board] is not enough university representation shows that the committee wasn't created to figure out what was really better for workers, students and Penn," Roberts said. "I'm really upset about the committee decision, and I think most of us are," she added. But according to Committee Chairman Howard Kunreuther, the decision was reached by committee members after great deliberation. "There was a consensus from the committee," said Kunreuther, chairman of the Operations and Information Management Department. "[The PSAS members] have a right to have whatever feelings they want. We deliberated the issue and that is what we came up with."
(04/05/00 9:00am)
The new UPHS chief's letter calls for a decrease in costs without layoffs. When Peter Traber was the chairman of Penn's Department of Medicine, physicians and administrators praised him for his intricate knowledge of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Traber -- recently appointed the chief executive officer of UPHS and interim dean of the Medical School -- now has the opportunity to put that knowledge to use. In a letter that is being sent out to faculty and staff, he laid out his initial goals for returning the financially troubled Health System to stability. Over the past three years, the $1.9 billion healthcare behemoth has lost over $300 million. In the memo, Traber explained his future plans for the Health System, citing increasing cost effectiveness and planning for the future of healthcare. "Every move we make will affect our ability to successfully overcome past challenges as well as successfully position us for the future," he wrote. Traber explained that UPHS must be willing to revise its notion of how a healthcare center is organized, based on the marketplace in which it is located. "All operationally feasible options are being put on the table for review and discussion," he wrote. Last month, Traber maintained that he agrees with the concept of an integrated health system, but said he had not ruled out the possibility of hospital sell-offs or a separation of the Health System from the University. In the letter, Traber pointed to cost effectiveness as key to increasing revenues. This, he wrote, does not mean further reductions in personnel. Rather, he stressed the need to get more out of what is already in place. Specifically, he pointed to projects already underway to improve the Health System's billing system and resource utilization. Currently, the Health System has a central billing office that generates bills and interacts with the insurance companies. While there are currently no plans to change the billing system, most who know it agree that the system has its faults. Harvey Friedman, a professor of infectious diseases at the Medical School, thinks there needs to be more physician input in the billing process. He also pointed out that there is minimal interaction between the physicians and the billing office. "It's not only Penn, it's most major medical centers," he said. "The people who do the work and the people who generate the bills don't know one another." This, Friedman said, can lead to billing errors and inconsistencies. But Stanley Goldfarb, the interim chairman of the Department of Medicine, warned that decentralizing the billing process could mean increased operating costs. "The more you decentralize, the more staff you need to do the tasks," he noted, adding that he still thought UPHS would explore the possibility of decentralization. Friedman also emphasized the importance of cost effectiveness at the Health System. He pointed to the resource utilization per patient as a prime example. "We get reimbursed based on the diagnosis," he said, "so if you order too many lab tests you don't get reimbursed per test. If you find that you're overdoing it? that's a way to save money," he explained. Peter Quinn, the chairman of the medical board at UPHS, said part of the problem is that city, state and federal governments aren't compensating the Health System for the charity care it provides to uninsured indigenous patients. According to Quinn, who is currently leading a committee looking into resource utilization at UPHS, the Health System spent $66 million last year to treat uninsured patients. "We're providing care to Philadelphia city residents and the city doesn't give us help, the state doesn't give us help and somehow that's our problem," he said. Quinn added that Congress should look into reversing parts of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which drastically cut federal healthcare reimbursements, as a way to give much needed funds to academic medical centers. "We do have to get enough of a bottom line to reinvest in the Health System," he explained.
(04/05/00 9:00am)
Armed with an assortment of placards and some protest chants left over from their recent sit-in of College Hall, eight members of Penn Students Against Sweatshops took their message of workers' rights on the road yesterday. But it wasn't university apparel regulations the members were protesting this time. As part of the National Student Labor Day of Action, PSAS visited Domestic Uniform Rental, a Northeast Philadelphia-based contractor of linen cleaning services, to protest poor working conditions and stalled contract talks. Some of Penn's laundry services are provided by Domestic, which is one reason the group decided to join in the protest. PSAS was joined by anti-sweatshop activists from Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College and St. Joseph's University, as well as representatives from the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. "This is a student-slash-labor day of action, in honor of the 32nd anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King," College freshman Anna Roberts said. She added that PSAS is particularly interested in Domestic because their employees' struggle for better working conditions is in line with the traditional aims of the anti-sweatshop group. "We [went] down today because Penn is one of Domestic Laundry's biggest customers," Roberts explained. "All of the tablecloths Penn uses are contracted out to these people, and this goes right along with sweatshops. We don't want to pay people [who abuse workers' rights] whether they're making our T-shirts or washing our laundry." PSAS moved into the campus spotlight in February, when its members staged a nine-day College Hall sit-in to demand that the University pull out of the Fair Labor Association -- a labor rights monitoring group of which Penn was a member -- and join the Worker Rights Consortium, a group which PSAS said was much more effective in monitoring factory conditions and protecting labor standards. Facing pressure from the protesters to act and from the Penn community to end the sit-in, University President Judith Rodin convened a special committee to investigate the matter and render a decision. In anticipation of its report, the University pulled out of the FLA until a final determination could be reached. Yesterday's rally included speeches by UNITE union leaders, Domestic workers and members of the student groups. "That sit-in taught us a few things," School of Arts and Sciences graduate student and PSAS member Michael Janson told the crowd of about 50 protesters. "It taught us the importance of solidarity. Our members are people who come from middle-class families. Our struggle is your struggle. Our struggle is against exploitation. Our struggle is for justice." Following the 30-minute rally, representatives from UNITE and Penn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr and St. Joseph's met with Tom Hench, Domestic's general manager, asking to inspect the facility and for him to answer questions from the protesters waiting at the front door. Though Hench refused to let the students and union members tour the building during work hours, he did speak briefly with the protesters and answer their questions. PSAS members, however, were not happy with his answers. College senior and PSAS member Miriam Joffe-Block said, "He obviously didn't want us to come in back because he wanted to clean things up. That's basically the same thing that the FLA is saying -- that it's OK for the companies to be able to prepare before their facilities are inspected."
(04/04/00 9:00am)
They could have gone to the Philadelphia Police Department and dealt with more high-profile issues. Or perhaps they could have stayed out of town and enjoyed the relative peace of a sparsely populated suburb. Instead, the careers of 104 police officers took them in another direction -- straight off the Schuylkill Expressway and into the University of Pennsylvania Police Department, a world of policing where traffic patrols meet move-in day and burglary arrests share time with Spring Fling. Last week, The Daily Pennsylvanian's crime reporter spent a few nights riding along with three members of the Penn Police -- Sgt. Margaret O'Malley, Sgt. John Newton and Lt. Tom Messner -- patrolling the streets of West Philadelphia. Though he encountered no hardened criminals and posted no arrests, he did get a glimpse into the often-scrutinized UPPD and the men and women whose job it is to serve and protect. Peg O'Malley isn't your typical cop. As she patrols the streets during her 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, wearing the same bulletproof vest and carrying the same 25-lb. gun belt as all of the other officers in the UPPD, O'Malley looks no different than any other Penn police officer on the beat. But still, O'Malley is different from the majority of her fellow police officers in at least one category. She's a woman. And in a department where only 16 of 104 sworn officers are female, one could reasonably surmise that she's met one or two gender-related challenges along the way. But that just hasn't been the case, says the 38-year old, red-haired patrol supervisor, who's been with the force for nine years. "I was treated better here at the beginning than I was when I started [as a part-time officer] in Delaware County," says O'Malley, her eyes on the road, as we start our patrol eastward on Chestnut Street. "When I was there, I was one of two women and they wanted nothing to do with me," she adds. "When I came here, the guys were great, and I had no problems at all." Shifting her attention periodically between our conversation and the garbled messages coming over the dispatch radio, O'Malley -- who has received five departmental commendations since she came to Penn in 1991 -- discusses how the department has changed over the years. "When I first came here, we had robberies like every night," she says as we turn onto 38th Street. "Now, I can't remember the last time we had a robbery on this shift. We really have our stuff together here." But despite the obvious devotion to the job, O'Malley is not without her criticisms of the force. Her work as an officer has exposed her to an enormously broad spectrum of people -- from prospective students to learned faculty, foreign dignitaries to panhandlers on the street -- and she has decided opinions about most of them. Tonight, the response is sparked by seeing two men panhandling outside the 7-Eleven on Powelton Avenue. One of the men, with whom O'Malley strikes up a brief conversation, is well known around the neighborhood for his panhandling and his physical condition -- he is HIV-positive. "My feeling is that Penn just doesn't do enough [for the homeless]," she explains later. "I mean, it's an educational institution. Can't there be some sort of program to bring these people in and teach them job skills, even if it's just to get them off the streets?" Sgt. John Newton didn't become a cop to fulfill a childhood dream. He came to Penn, in fact, with the same basic motive as much of the University community -- to further his education. "One of the main motivating factors that brought me here was the opportunity to complete my master's, since that's one of the benefits of working at Penn," says the 48-year old Newton, as we start our patrol down 40th Street. "But I've been here 10 years and I still haven't gotten it." Newton -- a patrol supervisor with almost three years' experience as a sergeant -- is tall with an easy-going disposition and a laugh that rings out as he tells stories from a long career in campus policing. With few calls coming over the radio, we have the chance to discuss one of Newton's favorite subjects -- the growing role of the UPPD in city law enforcement. "I'll put us on par with a lot of departments," he says. "We exceed a lot of departments in terms of their quality and their education." He adds that University Police are even beginning to overcome an obstacle that has plagued them for years: the perception that they're little more than glorified security guards. "I think that's changing," Newton says as he tries to edge the patrol car around a truck parked on the sidewalk of the already-cramped 3900 block of Delancey Street. "It's becoming more and more obvious to [other departments] that we're a real police department and we can handle things just as well as anyone." Calling for another officer to ticket the truck, Newton carefully backs up the cruiser and heads off to check out what's happening elsewhere on campus. Just minutes later, a call comes over the radio asking for help at the scene we just left. Returning to the scene of the "offense," we find two enraged men, both screaming at a pair of junior patrol officers and demanding the ticket be rescinded. "Sir, you'll just have to tell your case to the judge," Newton tells the men, all the while keeping his cool. "Fortunately, we don't run into a lot of guys like that," Newton remarks as we turn the corner onto 40th Street. "We still get the occasional 'Wait a minute! You can't give me a ticket -- you're just University Police!' but then we have to tell them, 'Well, this isn't a University ticket.'" Lt. Tom Messner looks like a police officer. With dark hair, an athletic build and a steely countenance, the 38-year-old Messner is the perfect officer to be leading a patrol at 11:30 on a Friday night. Friday nights, after all, are for parties. As we make our way around the neighborhood and spot several groups of students on their way out for the night, Messner -- a 17-year veteran of the UPPD who is one of three Penn shift commanders -- is quick to share his views on the behavior of the 18-to-23-year-old population that makes up so much of his patrol area. "I'm sure the students don't view themselves this way, but they're really a high concentration of victims," Messner says as we turn into a residential area. "They're more affluent than the rest of the neighborhood, and the criminals see the transient population as an easy opportunity." But beyond their natural vulnerabilities, Messner finds little fault with most of the student body. "I'd say we don't have a problem with 90 percent of the students," he says. "I have run across a few of them who've acted like jerks." One of the most defining -- and often controversial -- elements in the police-student relationship, he adds, is alcohol, because it has a lot to do with how students respond when approached by police officers. "Most students understand the alcohol policy," he says, adding that for the rest, "It all depends on whether or not they're sober at the time, or whether we're breaking up the party they're enjoying." Just as he finishes the sentence, he notices a familiar sight directly in the beam of his headlights at the intersection of 41st and Locust streets. Two young men are carrying a keg of beer into an off-campus house. It's not a violation of any University regulations, but the house is familiar to Messner as one where parties get out of hand fast. He stops the car -- spotlight focused on the two young men -- right in the middle of 41st Street and heads out to confront them. After a short confrontation, he gets back in the car, leaving them with a strong warning. "They told me they paid these [underage] guys to carry the keg for them," Messner says as we drive away minutes later. "Do you believe that?"
(04/04/00 9:00am)
Swimmers want him to stay on The fate of Penn interim swimming coach Mike Schnur and of the Penn swimming program should be determined within the next two weeks or so, and it could be decided by as early as Thursday or Friday of this week. According to sources within the Penn Athletic Department, a decision on whether to retain Schnur or hire a new coach for the Quakers will come next week, if not later this week. One source indicated that whoever was hired would take the reins of both squads, representing no change from the way the program has been run under Schnur and his predecessor, Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. Schnur, who led both the men's team and women's team to improved seasons in his one-year interim tenure, is considered in the running for the permanent position with several other candidates. "It'll be over real soon," Schnur said, adding that he felt he was treated fairly during the process and that he was happy with the way in which it proceeded. Penn women's captain Cathy Holland, who is on the coaching search committee, said that a decision would come within two to three weeks, and "maybe even sooner than that." Holland, along with junior Blake Martin, captain of the men's team, were both named to the committee charged with finding a permanent head coach. While she did not reveal which candidate she and Martin recommended to the rest of the committee, she did say that her and Martin's recommendation had been made. She also said that the committee will make a final recommendation to Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky. "We were there to give [them] the pulse of the team and the input from the team," Holland said of the reason she and Martin were selected to join the search. If this is so, then it is likely that Holland and Martin have recommended that Schnur be retained, as other swimmers on the team believe he should be. "I wouldn't know [who they recommended], but I can assume they've recommended that Mike Schnur stay," senior swimmer Nick Sheremeta said. "I think it should stay how it is, with Schnur as coach. He's been here for I don't know how many years now, and he knows the program pretty well. "It certainly has changed from last year, just the enthusiasm on the team, and I think the quality of swimming got better this year also?. I think it's a general consensus with everyone that they agree that Mike should be the coach. He's well liked by everyone, and he knows everyone real well. I don't think there's anyone who could object against [his hiring]." Schnur, who swam for Penn in the mid-1980s and had been a Penn assistant coach since the 1992 season, ascended to the interim head coach position in September in the wake of longtime coach Lawlor-Gilbert's shocking retirement announcement. Despite disappointing finishes at Easterns -- the men finished ninth out of 10 while the women finished last -- both teams experienced success last season under Schnur's tutelage. The men's team was competitive throughout its entire slate, going 7-5 (4-5 EISL) -- a marked improvement over the previous year's squad, which went 4-7 (2-7) under Lawlor-Gilbert. On the other side of the pool, the women's team experienced a veritable renaissance. They broke their notorious 42-meet Ivy losing streak by beating their first opponent of the year -- Cornell -- en route to two Ivy league victories.
(04/04/00 9:00am)
After a disappointing outing at the indoor Heptagonal Championships in February, the Penn men's track team cited a lack of focus as a major problem. There have been no signs of a relapse into that lack of concentration so far in the young outdoor season. Though neither of Penn's two meets have been officially scored, the Quakers followed up a very solid performance at the Quaker Invitational a week ago with an even more impressive effort at the Raleigh Relays, held on Friday and Saturday. Despite the lack of official scoring, the Quakers know exactly where they stand after these first two meets. "We had a lot of people who had really good performances," senior thrower Brent Stiles said. Just as was the case at the Quaker Invitational, it was the throwers who led the way for Penn. Also in line with last week, it was freshman Brian Chaput and the javelin unit who did a good bunch of the damage. It may not be considered much of a feat at first glance that Chaput established a personal record in just his second career meet. But the first throw of his career qualified the Penn freshman for an automatic berth at nationals, so topping that mark is worth noting. And he did top that mark, as Chaput threw the javelin 223'07", beating his first-week distance by a foot and a half. The East Haven, Conn., native says he has trained extremely hard in an extended offseason by track and field standards since the javelin is not thrown during the indoor season. "It's almost like being locked up," Chaput said of the time off. "They're letting us out of our cages, and now we're attacking." The rest of the javelin squad -- certainly one of Penn's deepest groups -- also had a good showing. Sophomore Chris Crisman placed 10th with a distance of 187'04", and junior Seth Beaver finished 13th, throwing 183'01". To round out the impressive performance of the throwers, Stiles came in seventh place in the meet with the shot put with a mark of 51'06", while senior Matt Pagliasotti finished fourth in the hammer throw (192'11"). "We have six guys that are quality throwers," said Chaput, who credited Pagliasotti and ex-Penn star John Taylor for helping him achieve much of his success. Ironically, it is Taylor's 237' mark in the javelin that stands precariously alone above Chaput's in the Quaker record books. "The young guys are starting to really understand what it takes to succeed on the collegiate level," Stiles said. Another young competitor who was successful over the weekend was freshman jumper David Arundel, who won the high jump with a height of 7' 1/4", also qualifying him for IC4As. With such a promising start, especially among many of its younger athletes, Penn remains very optimistic. "I'm really fired up about the rest of the season," Chaput said.
(04/04/00 9:00am)
After struggling through a 1-12 season last spring, the Penn women's lacrosse team brought in a new coach, a new attitude and a number of new faces. And these newest Quakers have made immediate impacts. As Penn (4-2) prepares to face La Salle (1-5) at Franklin Field at 7 p.m. tonight, they will be led by two freshmen who have already distinguished themselves. Coatesville High School (Pa.) teammates Christy Bennett and Crissy Book have enjoyed considerable success as rookie starters. Book is Penn's third-leading scorer, with 10 goals and five assists; Bennett is one of the squads strongest defenders, with a team-high 12 ground balls. "I'm very happy with what they've done and I'm excited for the future," Quakers coach Karin Brower said. "They push each other more than any other two in practice. They attack each other all over the field, and they make each other better players." The duo has known each other since second grade, and a one-year hiatus when Book moved to Florida notwithstanding, have played alongside each other year-in and year-out. "I've always played midfield, and Christy was an attack wing in high school," Book said. "But there was never a rivalry. In high school Christy was always the top dog. We've always been competitive." Initially, Book was recruited to play for Penn by former coach Anne Sage and was unsure if Bennett would choose to join her. But after fluctuating between several college choices, Bennett decided to come to West Philadelphia -- and to spend another four years playing alongside Book. "We always had a good connection in high school and we knew where on the field each of us was for the passes kind of instinctively," Bennett said. "Now we're not necessarily looking for each other on the field, but when we practice against each other, we go a little bit harder." In high school, the duo formed quite the potent offensive threat, with both picking up All-Chester County honors. Bennett was also named an honorable mention All-American. At Penn, in the more competitive college game, however, things began to change. Despite initial reluctance, Bennett moved from her natural attacking slot to the unfamiliar position of defense. But in only five games, Bennett has proven to be one of the Quakers' most intimidating defenders. Brower, for one, is impressed by the play of her physical freshman. "She's very vocal, and she's a big leader out there as a freshman," the first-year coach said. "I couldn't really ask any more of her." But, admittedly, Bennett still likes to try for the odd goal or two. "I'm not minding it too bad," said Bennett, who has two goals and two assists. "I still like to get over the line when I can and try for a goal. But I'd rather play defense than sit and wait for an attack spot to open up." Book, on the other hand, plays the same role she did at Coatesville -- the speedster who is all over the field. Book exploded into Penn's offense with a four-goal outburst at Villanova. "Crissy has just great speed and is gifted naturally," Brower said. "And where her speed helps us the most is on defensive transition, when they're bringing the ball on a fast break. She is so quick she can get down there and stop a fast break a lot of times." Now on opposite sides of the ball, the two are destined to find themselves matched up in practice. While this has produced some fierce competition, they find a way to work through their differences to remain friends off the field. Well, almost. "We live in the same neighborhood at home, but if we'd lived in the same room this year, we'd kill each other," said Book, who confessed that the pair will nonetheless share an apartment with a third friend next year. "We didn't live together this year, because we figured if we were in the same room we'd kill each other," Bennett echoed. "She's a little less neat that I am, and I'm spastic about that." Against La Salle, while Bennett and Book are just sharing a field, and not a room, they'll still have to worry about being neat, as Penn looks to pick up a third straight win. The Quakers have struggled to remain consistent and to execute from game to game, fluctuating from nine-goal victories to 10-goal defeats. But if prior games are any indication, La Salle may not be the most difficult opponent. The Explorers fell by nine goals to a Villanova squad that Penn handled 14-7. "Obviously, La Salle got beaten pretty handily by Villanova. I definitely think we should win this game if we stay to our game plan," Brower said. "But we're kind of yo-yoing -- we're not playing consistently."
(04/04/00 9:00am)
Freshmen were hardest hit by the lack of available on-campus housing. In letters sent last week, Housing and Conference Services informed 350 students that they had been denied on-campus housing and will now have to reconsider their living options for next year. While housing officials could not offer an exact breakdown of the students by year, it appears that the freshman class -- the largest of the four undergraduate years -- has been hit the hardest. Many have been denied not just one of their top choices, but any on-campus housing at all. "I feel like I've gotten the shaft," College freshman Judah Lebow said. "It's fairly unacceptable. People turn over a large sum of money to go here and can't get housing." The current Kings Court resident had wanted to live in a quad apartment in one of the high rises. Housing officials said the number of students unable to reserve an on-campus slot is not alarmingly higher than last year, when approximately 375 students were denied housing after the assignments process. The homeless students now have several options. They can put themselves on a waiting list, they can apply for one of the 65 available spaces in the graduate towers or they can get temporary housing in the Sheraton Hotel and move back on campus when cancellations occur. Students have until Wednesday to choose one of these options. Should they choose to reject those choices, they must seek off-campus housing. To make students familiar with their options, housing administrators hosted an information session for students last night in Hamilton College House. Many of the students, however, were largely dissatisfied with the way in which housing services was dealing with the situation and demanded that more effective measures be taken. The students who attended the meeting were primarily freshmen who are currently living in typically freshmen dormitories -- such as Kings Court/English House, Hill House and the Quad -- and are looking for rooms in the high rises. "My roommates and I didn't understand how difficult it would be [to get housing] -- I certainly didn't expect this," College freshman Chidinma Ibe said. "[The University] brings people from all over the country, all over the world and then you get this," said College freshman Tara O'Reggio, a current Quad resident who wanted to live in a triple in the high rises with her friends. Graduate associates and residential advisors across campus said they have discussed the housing shortage with their residents. Several GAs and RAs have noticed that some freshmen have been denied housing, but none have reported excessive numbers of their freshmen being denied housing next year. Housing officials attributed the number of possible waitlist candidates to the success of the college house system. They pointed out that students are choosing prime room types in the high rise dorms -- such as three-room triples and four-bedroom quads -- that include private bed space and kitchens. "I think in the past few years we've made on-campus housing more attractive and we're seeing the outcome of that," Director of College Houses and Academic Services David Brownlee said. Brownlee added that the addition of 1,000 extra college house beds as part of Penn's massive overhaul of its residential system is intended to meet the increasing demand for on-campus housing. But that is a long-term project, he cautioned. "We cannot, and no one should believe we can, produce the beds overnight," he said. While it is uncertain how many will choose to stay on the upperclassmen waitlist and hope to receive an assignment on a situational basis as cancellations come in, Associate Director of Occupancy Administration Ellie Rupsis said approximately 300 students of the 375 students chose to stay on the waitlist last year. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Michael Sonsino contributed to this article.
(04/04/00 9:00am)
The former mayor and the jazz great will join four others receiving honorary degrees at commencement. In recognition of contributions to fields including the humanities, music, politics and the sciences, the University will award honorary degrees to six distinguished men and women during this year's Commencement ceremony, University President Judith Rodin announced yesterday. Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, who has been a visiting professor at the University this semester while working as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will accept one of the honorary degrees. The degree is Rendell's second from Penn -- he graduated from the College in 1965. Other recipients include jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, physicist John Bahcall, anthropologist Mary Douglas, law professor Ronald Dworkin and poet Seamus Heaney, a Nobel Laureate who will give the main Commencement address. Rendell, a Penn basketball fan and Political Science lecturer is credited with having steered Philadelphia away from fiscal disaster during his two terms as mayor. Rendell will be joined by Marsalis, a nine-time Grammy Award winner for his trumpet playing and the artistic director of the jazz section at New York's Lincoln Center. Marsalis is famous not only for his legendary technical abilities on the horn, but also for his widespread influence on modern jazz. Bahcall is the Richard Black Professor of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Specializing in astrophysics, Bahcall is best known for his work on neutrinos and is a recipient of the National Medal of Science. Douglas is a retired professor of Social Anthropology at London University and Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Northwestern University. Douglas, who has studied the Lele people of Central Africa, is lauded for her study of the way in which humans form classification systems, especially with regard to food. Dworkin, the Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London and Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University, will receive a degree in recognition of his scholarly contributions to the understanding of constitutional law. Heaney will deliver the University's 244th Commencement address. He is the 1995 recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature and was awarded Britain's Whitbread award for his recent translation of Beowulf. Commencement will be held May 22 on Franklin Field.
(04/04/00 9:00am)
Princeton is riding a 26-game Ivy winning streak into today's game against Penn at Old Nassau. Penn men's lacrosse star Pete Janney has received many accolades in his four years as a Quaker. Last year, he was first team All-Ivy selection and an All-American honorable mention. Three years ago, he became the first Penn player to be named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. There is, however, something he has not accomplished. Janney, and the rest of the Class of 2000, have never beaten Princeton. They get their final chance at the Tigers tonight at 7 p.m. at Old Nassau's Class of 1952 Stadium. "I want this win a lot," Janney said. "Knowing how much they've been able to accomplish while I've been here, being able to knock them off would be great." Although not beating Princeton in four years is disappointing, the seniors and the rest of the team are in good company. The Tigers (4-1, 1-0 Ivy League) are riding a 26-game winning streak in the Ivies, as well as a 10-game winning streak against Penn (4-4, 0-3). Princeton is also seeking its sixth straight Ivy title this season. Also, in the four years that Janney has been at Penn, the Tigers have won two national championships. The Quakers can take pride in the fact that the only one-goal Ivy game that the Tigers have been a part of since the streak began took place last year at Franklin Field. In that game, Princeton spotted Penn a 7-3 lead into the third quarter before coming back to score six straight goals. The Quakers had a chance to tie the score with 10 seconds left in the game, but the Tigers were able to withstand the breakaway and came away with the victory. "We played an awfully tight game with them last year," Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "It's similar this year that they clearly have more than anybody in the league, but the gap is not what it was two or three years ago." Despite not possessing the dominance over the league of past years, Princeton still has several dominant players. The Tiger that the Quakers have to be most fearful of is senior Josh Sims. Sims -- a high school teammate of Janney -- has scored at least four points in all of Princeton's games this season. "Sims is easily the Ivy Player of the Year favorite," Van Arsdale said. "He's just one of the best, if not the best, midfielders in the country." While Sims is clearly the one to watch, the Tigers have many more weapons. On the defensive end, they lost all of last year's starters to graduation. But freshman Damien Davis has played a crucial role in this year's squad, becoming only the third rookie at Princeton since 1991 to start the first game of his freshman year. "They're young on defense, but we have to concentrate on making as few mistakes on the offensive end as possible," Janney said. On offense, the Tigers are dangerous as well. Senior Matt Striebel guides the frontline and is second on the team in scoring with 10 points. B.J. Prager is is second on the team in goals with seven. "They were playing with a lot of young people offensively last year, and they've grown up," Van Arsdale said. "Matt Striebel runs the show, on that end. He's a very good athlete and someone we also need to pay attention to." The Quakers are coming off a difficult loss to Cornell last weekend. In that game, the Quakers were up 5-4 before the Big Red went on a run, scoring 12 of the next 14 goals. Penn dropped to 0-3 in the league and to 4-4 overall. "For us as a team to be successful, there is a certain way we need to play, and we did that in the first half," Van Arsdale said. "We won a fair amount of face-offs; we took long possessions; we moved the ball around well; and we didn't have any turnovers. That kind of play rests the defense. In the second half we didn't do any of that." Conversely, Princeton is coming into tonight's game fresh off a convincing win over a Yale team that beat the Quakers earlier in the season. The Tigers trounced the Elis, 17-5, with Brendan Tierney leading the team with three goals and two assists. Princeton played stellar defense throughout the game, holding Yale scoreless in the first quarter and only allowing one goal in the first half. While the odds may be against the Quakers, they can take solace in this fact: Before the Tigers' current 10-game winning streak against Penn, the Quakers had won 10 straight against their arch-enemies. If this pattern holds, Janney could secure one more distinction before tonight is over.
(04/04/00 9:00am)
Six Democratic hopefuls will vie today for the chance to challenge incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum. With the presidential primary races long over, today's Pennsylvania primary might have been nothing more than a formality. But among the various national and local elections on the ballot, the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Rick Santorum has clearly emerged as a rough-and-tumble match worth watching. The six candidates vying for the nomination have spent months preparing for today's elections. They've canvassed from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and everywhere in between. They've debated each other endlessly. They've sought every endorsement they can think to find. And when today's results are tallied, the field of six Democrats competing to take on the Republican incumbent will be narrowed down to one survivor. According to Political Science Professor Henry Teune, whoever receives the go-ahead from today's primary is in for a rough ride. "This is no walk for any Democrat," he explained. "Santorum's going to be hard to beat." State Senator Allyson Schwartz, U.S. Rep. Ron Klink and former state Secretary of Labor and Industry Tom Foley have emerged as the leading contenders for the nomination. In the tradition of state primaries, many are predicting that few voters will make it to the polls tomorrow, thereby making it virtually impossible for political analysts to pick a winner from among the contenders. "The election depends on who is going to turn out at the polls," Bruce Caswell, chairman of the Political Science Department at Rowan University in New Jersey, said last night. "And in this primary, where there will be such low turnout, there's no real clue as to who will win." The frontrunners The race's three leading contenders -- Schwartz, Foley and Klink -- are no strangers to holding public office. Klink is currently serving his fourth term as a U.S. congressman for Pennsylvania's 4th District. Schwartz is in her third term as a state senator for Philadelphia and Montgomery counties. And in 1991, Foley became the youngest politician to serve as the state secretary for labor and industry. With this sort of experience behind each of them, the three candidates are trying to distinguish themselves by what they've done in government. Schwartz, an unabashed liberal who worked in health and human services for 20 years before turning to politics, has come to the forefront for her work in education and health care. As Democratic chair of the state Senate Education Committee, Schwartz has championed early childhood initiatives and statewide academic standards. But Foley -- who won national honors for increasing opportunities for minorities and women in the state Labor Department -- has also identified health care and education, as well as Social Security, as his top issues. The former professor and scholar of Irish history has advocated increased prescription drug coverage and a patient's bill of rights. Klink has also focused his campaign largely on education and health care. According to spokesman J.J. Balaban, Klink has "been talking more about health care than any other issue in this campaign." As a result, the congressman has spent his terms trying to expand health care coverage for children and secure a patient's bill of rights. Emotional appeal Since state officials are anticipating a low voter turnout today, each of the six candidates have been emphasizing the issues they think will have the greatest impact on mobilizing voters. And, Teune said, the candidates have repeatedly turned towards two hot items on the democratic agenda: gun safety and abortion. "It's turning into a race to see who's more pro-abortion," he noted. "In an election like this, you've got to activate the Democratic faithful [by] appeal[ing] to emotional issues." In opposition to conservative Santorum's staunch pro-life stance, five of the six Democratic nominees have identified themselves as pro-choice. Klink remains the sole pro-life Democrat, though his spokesman was quick to add that "being a pro-life Democrat in Pennsylvania isn't that odd." Schwartz spokeswoman Eulalia Brooks claimed that the state senator's track record on the issue reflects her commitment to the pro-choice camp. "She started the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center, a model for many women's health centers," Brooks said. "She's been endorsed by every major pro-choice organization." However, to Foley and lawyers Bob Rovner and Murray Levin, abortion is simply a medical matter -- with no place for government. The sixth candidate, Phil Berg, could not be reached for comment. Like their stances on abortion, nearly all the candidates have emerged in distinct opposition to Santorum's stance against further gun control laws. Many of the six Democrats have declared their allegiance to what Levin calls "common-sense gun-safety measures," like child safety locks. University of Maryland Government and Politics Professor Paul Herrnson said it takes precisely these kind of inflammatory issues to mobilize voters in smaller elections like state primaries. "People who participate in primaries tend to be more ideologically extreme," he explained. "Sometimes that's what it takes to get people to the polls." Geographic struggle But today's election won't be decided simply by issues. According to Penn Public Policy and History Professor Theodore Hershberg, recent polls indicate that support for the three major candidates largely coincides with their area of residence. "There's a big geographic divide," Hershberg said. "There's been such limited media and visibility on this my sense is people will follow geography." "I'm not sure any of the issues emerged strong enough to differentiate the major candidates," he added. With Schwartz hailing from Philadelphia and Klink claiming residence in Pittsburgh, Teune said the race could turn into a face-off between the state's urban poles. Caswell agreed, adding that Western Pennsylvania historically votes at a higher rate than other areas of the state -- which could work to the advantage of Klink. "It really depends on which parts of the state come out tomorrow," Caswell said. Organizational battle Yet regardless of the issues -- or of a candidate's place of residence --Teune claims that today's race will eventually come down to each candidate's endorsements. "It's an organizational thing," he explained. "Endorsements will help. What these groups can deliver in votes is key." Philadelphia Mayor John Street gave Schwartz his endorsement in late February, calling her "the MVP for Pennsylvania's children and families." "She's a real strong supporter of public education," Street's spokeswoman Barbara Grant explained. "And, importantly, the mayor thinks she can beat Santorum in the fall." This endorsement, Teune said, may prove to be crucial. "Street's guys can deliver votes," Teune said of the mayor's endorsement. "That'll help Schwartz." Klink, too, has received dozens of endorsements, including several from U.S. congressmen. Foley received a significant boost when The Philadelphia Inquirer handed him their endorsement. And the state's labor groups remain largely split between Foley and Klink. "It's all split. It's so evenly split," Caswell said, noting that the even distribution of endorsements render many ineffective. "With endorsements we're only talking thousands of votes," he explained. "Of course, in this primary, with low voter turnout, thousands of votes might make a big difference," he continued. The real challenge Although today will mark the end of the race for five of the candidates, today's victor will only be starting the real work. Most experts predict that the conservative Santorum will be an especially hard candidate for a Democrat to defeat. Teune notes that Santorum is in "way better shape financially" than any of the Democratic candidates. But to Caswell, the Democrats will probably not win because they aren't strong enough candidates. "They're all very weak," he explained, although he also said that Santorum himself isn't that strong of a candidate. "Only about 15 percent of incumbents lose," he continued. "You just can't beat a weak incumbent with a weak challenger."
(04/04/00 9:00am)
In its first concert in the renovated auditorium, Penn's Wind Ensemble, a student orchestra consisting mostly of non-music majors, treated an audience of several hundred students, alumni and family members to a performance of classical overtures on Friday night. During the two-hour show, the orchestra performed concertos by composers including Mozart and Vivaldi. The Wind Ensemble, conducted by Ensemble Music Director Ricardo Averbach, showcased its individual instrumental sections during the first half. Each instrumental section played a separate piece that highlighted the strengths of that particular group. For example, the percussion piece, A La Nanigo, by Mitchell Peters, allowed the section to showcase the synchronicity and variety of the drums. A piece from the Don Giovanni Overture, performed by a "mix" of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns was guest conducted by College senior Adam Warshafsky, the president of the Wind Ensemble Board. The University Flute Ensemble also featured a solo performance by freshman flutist David Mills during a concerto from the famous Vivaldi piece The Four Seasons. Near the end of the first half of the performance, Averbach perplexed the audience for a second when he slowly turned around toward them and raised his hands in a conducting stance. The lights then focused on the University Brass Ensemble who had assembled on the side balconies to play above and behind the audience's heads. "I thought it was cool that they played from the balconies. They really mixed it up a lot," said College senior Paul Danifo, who had come to see his friends perform. Before intermission, Averbach announced the release of the Wind Ensemble's debut compact disk. Averbach jokingly pointed out that the CD was the culmination of "only" four years of work. "At Penn, we try to do fun and cultural pieces because they're almost all non-music majors," he said. Averbach then expressed his gratitude to two Penn alumni for their contributions to this year's Ensemble. Daniel Dorff, a composer who received a degree in composition from Penn about 25 years ago, wrote a piece specifically for the Wind Ensemble, entitled Allegro Volante. The piece opened the second half of the show. Jerry Levinson, a Swarthmore College faculty member and Penn alumnus, also composed a piece for the Ensemble. The pieces "Mars" and "Jupiter" from British composer Gustav Holst were particular crowd favorites. "I was definitely impressed," College senior Cathy Zorc said. "The first half was innovative and the second half was phenomenal. It was like being at the Kennedy Center in D.C."
(04/04/00 9:00am)
Penn was disappointed by the FLA's and WRC's responses to its requests. After receiving responses deemed unsatisfactory from two rival sweatshop monitoring organizations, the University has decided to continue withholding its membership from both the Fair Labor Association and the Workers Rights Consortium. The Ad Hoc Committee on Sweatshop Labor recommended holding off on joining either organization after reading the FLA and WRC responses to a letter from University President Judith Rodin requesting greater representation of colleges and universities on each organization's governing board. In its initial report, released on February 28, the sweatshop committee had recommended that Penn withhold its membership from both organizations until each adequately addressed the committee's concerns about who sits on each organization's board. In a letter sent to Rodin last Thursday outlining the committee's latest recommendations, Chairman Howard Kunreuther, a professor of Operations and Information Management, said the committee was disappointed by the responses provided by the FLA and WRC. The letter stated that the FLA's promise to "take into consideration" greater university involvement with its governance "falls far short of our expectations." And Kunreuther called the WRC's response "promising," but said that it "fails to make a sufficiently firm commitment to address the composition of the governing board." As of yesterday, 35 colleges and universities had joined the WRC, while more than 130 had joined the FLA, with several joining both. The WRC will hold its official founding conference on Friday in New York, where several of its 12 board members will be elected. The organization promised that at least half of the board -- three students and three university representatives -- will involve colleges in some way. The other six members will come from the WRC Advisory Council, which includes academics, politicians and worker-rights experts from around the world. The FLA's board currently has six apparel industry representatives, six representatives from human rights groups and one representative from member colleges and universities. Penn had been a member of the FLA until February, when Rodin agreed to withdraw from it after a 10-day sit-in in her office by members of Penn Students Against Sweatshops. In a letter sent to Kunreuther last Friday, Rodin said she agreed with the committee's assessment of the FLA and WRC responses and had sent letters to both groups explaining Penn's disappointment with their answers to her original requests. Rodin said she would ask for the committee's help again after receiving the next set of responses from the FLA and WRC. In her letters to the groups, Rodin asked the WRC to permit Penn to send two observers to the founding conference on Friday and requested that the FLA allow a Penn representative to speak at its governing board's April meeting. But WRC Coordinator Maria Roeper said yesterday that non-member schools will not be permitted to send any representatives to the WRC's conference on Friday. "We've been saying all along that we can't accommodate observers," Roeper said. "We've told Penn that before and it's not going to change." PSAS member Miriam Joffe-Block, a College senior, said two Penn students will attend the conference as representatives of United Students Against Sweatshops, but will not represent the Penn administration. FLA Executive Director Sam Brown would not comment on whether a Penn representative could attend his group's next board meeting, but said he was disappointed that Penn declined to rejoin the FLA at this time. "I think it's a mistake," he said, noting that college-logo apparel accounts for less than 1 percent of all clothing production. "It seems to me that universities should have an interest in that broader world."
(04/04/00 9:00am)
Gary Hirshberg, the president and chief executive officer of Stonyfield Farms, addressed a group of about 35 Wharton graduate students in Vance Hall yesterday. The Stonyfield Farms corporation, a major manufacturer of yogurt based in New Hampshire, is a leader in the search for new methods of money-making that are as environmentally friendly as they are profitable. Hirshberg, an environmental educator turned businessman, discussed the radical image environmentalism possessed when he first became involved in business in the 1970s, an image that made it easy for businesses to dismiss environmental causes as being economically non-viable. "I started at a time when, unlike President Clinton, most of us weren't exhaling," he joked. Changing to a more serious tone, Hirshberg pointed out the energy waste that he said characterized the food industry. "We're investing 30 calories of fossil fuel energy to get one calorie of food out," said Hirshberg, whose company currently uses two calories of fossil fuel for the same output. He then went on to explain the importance of soil conservation to the Stonyfield method of organic farming. "The whole basis of organic farming is forming the soil," he said. Emphasizing the difference between his environmentally friendly strategy and the chemical-reliant ones employed by other food producers, he mentioned the Kraft Foods display at the Land Pavilion in Disney World's Epcot Center. "The message was, basically, buy Velveeta and leave the food growing to us," he commented. Hirshberg also discussed the financially desperate situation of Stonyfield Farms when he first began the corporation. "We literally started without a nickel in our pockets," he said. As a result of these financial difficulties, his company was forced to look for novel ways of advertising. "I don't advertise -- I put our mission on our lids," he said. The Stonyfield yogurt lids have advocated numerous political causes over the years, including a campaign for gun safety. "We give out 10,000 trigger-locks a year now for free," Hirshberg said. Stonyfield Farms has been a leader in finding new ways of both increasing efficiency and helping the ecosystem. Some of these methods include using light-weight packaging, producing less trash and saving money. Hirshberg wrapped up by discussing the importance of family farms to the Stonyfield organic approach. "Only when someone is close to the land, smelling the air and drinking the water, will things happen," he said. Many of the students in attendance were impressed by Hirshberg's environmentally friendly approach. "I think he's a business leader. He's found a way that's not only good for the consumer, good for the environment, but that is good for profit," said Andrew Scheffer, a Wharton student pursuing a master's in business administration. Convinced by Hirshberg's success, Travis Katz, a Wharton graduate student and co-president of Net Impact, a student group for increasing business activity in helping resolve social issues, spoke of the viability of these ecological business methods. "I think it seems from what he's saying that these things aren't just good for the planet, but it's also good business strategy," Katz said.
(04/04/00 9:00am)
DisneyQuest turned out to be a Mickey Mouse operation after all. Philadelphia Mayor John Street announced on Friday that the two-year-old plan to bring the $167 million DisneyQuest entertainment center to an amusement complex at Eighth and Market streets is "dead." "The deal as it was originally envisioned can't go forward," Barbara Grant, Street's spokeswoman, said yesterday. However, she added that although the original deal fell through, another plan could be negotiated. "There is still an opportunity to have a DisneyQuest at that location -- they just have to start over from scratch," she explained. DisneyQuest -- a high tech entertainment center meant to bring the Disney experience to Philadelphia through computer animation and virtual reality -- was originally intended to be the lead tenant in a 420,000-square-foot development on Eighth and Market streets that the city expected to help rejuvenate the downtown area. But the mayor said the Center City development had failed to attract what he called a "critical mass" of restaurants, stores and retail centers to support DisneyQuest and fill the rest of the complex. Consequently, he said, DisneyQuest officials didn't feel they had the financial backing necessary to sustain the project. A deal with United Artists to construct a multi-screen theater in the same complex also fell apart. Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell had announced plans to bring the entertainment center to Philadelphia in December 1998. The project was originally expected to open in time for the Republican National Convention this summer. Officials had hoped the five-story attraction would draw approximately one million visitors a year. While Street said in January that the city might allocate $35 million in funds to support the project, Grant said yesterday that the city ultimately couldn't justify making such an investment. Disney was expected to spend up to $80 million in building the attraction. Grant also said that construction on a similar entertainment complex planned for the Penn's Landing site along the Delaware River has been delayed. The Penn's Landing development -- a conglomeration of shops, restaurants and entertainment centers similar to the complex at Eighth and Market -- was originally projected to open in 2000. But Simon Property Group Inc. -- the developer of the project -- has already missed its projected deadline to start construction and officials are now estimating that the complex won't open until 2002. Simon Property Group spokeswoman Billie Scott said the company now anticipates construction will not begin until this summer, attributing the delay to the complexity of planning such a large development. "It's an extremely complex process," Scott explained. "While everyone always has a best guess for the timetable, there are things that need to fall into place." Scott added that about three quarters of funding for the center have been secured, as have several crucial retail centers. New York-based toy retailer FAO Schwarz announced plans last fall to open a flagship store at the Penn's Landing site. Jillions, a chain restaurant and bar, also has indicated that they will open in the Penn's Landing complex.
