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LETTERS: Resource center a poor use of space

(01/19/00 10:00am)

To the Editor: The APSC tries to rationalize this appropriation of campus space by saying that this structure will benefit the Penn community as a whole. Considering the fact that we already have several such community houses -- yet much of the Penn campus has never heard of nor is even aware of their existence -- seems to contradict this. Yet for some reason the UA believes that this cultural center will be different. The fact of the matter is that a building that caters to Asian Americans by holding Asian-American group meetings, has a library of materials about Asian Americans and holds programs to promote deeper connections to Asian tradition will almost entirely draw an Asian-American crowd. Just because a varied group of students signed a petition to support this doesn't mean a thing. I know first-hand that Penn students are asked to sign so many petitions that many don't even know what they are signing. Even if all the students who signed petitions were well versed in the proposal for the center, there is a huge difference between signing a sheet of paper and going to this center. On the flip side, this center also brings up the question of why we don't have a European-American Cultural Center. While this would admittedly have to be a very large center, the UA can't possibly deny this without asserting that Asian-Americans have more of a right to pretend they aren't Americans than European-Americans. I hope that the UA thinks twice about its decision or at the very least claims a momentary lapse of judgment when other groups clamor for their own centers. Also, if the Asian-American Resource Center is established, I hope that it is attended by more than only Asian Americans and SARS students hoping for better grades. If the center isn't used by a decent portion of the campus, then I hope that those who pushed so hard for its creation spend most of their free time there to enjoy the fruits of their labor. If this is what actually occurs, then I hope that the UA will stop forming resource centers for various racial groups and create a World center where all different cultural groups can learn about their common heritage. Chris Beals Engineering '02

https://www.thedp.com/article/2000/01/letters_resource_center_a_poor_use_of_space

Pa. wary of anti-tobacco effort

(03/21/97 10:00am)

Lawyers are trying to craft a lawsuit against tobacco companies to provide for Pennsylvania's interests. The Associated Press State lawyers are trying to craft a lawsuit that will address the issue from the standpoint of Pennsylvania's interests, said spokesperson Sean Duffy. The process is complicated, but has been a priority for Attorney General Mike Fisher since he took office in January, Duffy said. ''It's a real complex piece of litigation,'' Duffy said. ''You want to make sure you do it right.'' Yesterday, officials of 22 states said the maker of Chesterfield cigarettes agreed to settle lawsuits by putting warning labels on cigarette packs that smoking is addictive and causes cancer. The company also agreed to pay the 22 states $25 million and 25 percent of pre-tax profits for the next 25 years. The Liggett Group also will cooperate in the continuing suits against other big tobacco companies. The settlement does not end state litigation against Liggett's competitors, nor affect more than 200 private lawsuits pending against cigarette manufacturers. Pennsylvania is not involved in the Liggett settlement, but can join in within six months and share in the settlement, Fisher said. ''This agreement will be of assistance to me and my office as we prepare our lawsuit against tobacco companies,'' Fisher said. ''We have preserved all of our options while at the same time putting the commonwealth in position to receive all the benefits of the Liggett settlement.'' Former Attorney General Tom Corbett said a year ago that his office was reviewing the tobacco issue to decide whether to go to court. When he left office in January, Corbett had not filed a case. Fisher announced during his campaign that, if elected, he would file a lawsuit against tobacco companies. His opponent, Philadelphia attorney Joe Kohn, had made the same pledge earlier, after five states announced a $10 million settlement with Liggett. Fisher said three weeks ago at a Senate budget hearing that the state's claim likely would exceed $1 billion and would be filed within a month. Duffy said Thursday the office is not likely to meet that goal. ''It's in development,'' he said of the suit. ''It's a couple of weeks away from fruition.'' The state's suit will amount to more than ''just joining in,'' Duffy said. Lawyers will have to determine a level of damages the state would seek and then prepare the actual complaint to file in court. ''It's not like filing a complaint for jaywalking,'' Duffy said. ''At the same time,'' said Kohn, whose legal practice has included filing class-action damage suits, ''a tremendous amount of work has been done by other state attorneys general.'' Kohn said Thursday that his campaign drafted a complaint for Pennsylvania to file against tobacco companies, and he considered presenting it to Corbett, but never did. As he said during the campaign, Kohn reiterated that Pennsylvania's sizeable elderly population could make it one of the bigger players in the tobacco litigation. ''Pennsylvania not only should be filing cases like this, but should be a leader because it will be the leaders who will determine what the terms will be,'' he said. ''It's not enough to sort of tag along.''

https://www.thedp.com/article/1997/03/pa-wary-of-antitobacco-effort

GUEST COLUMNIST: Six months out, still confused

(12/12/96 10:00am)

K EENE, N.H. -- Pause for a moment inside the bright chaos of education -- that mad, Herculean world of slippery knowledge crammed into long sleepless nights and coffee-glazed mornings. Step outside the realm of intangible theory, philosophical postulation, neo-classical art, abnormal psychology and international finance, cultural anthropology, literary postmodernism and biochemical engineering. Come, catch your breath, just for a moment. A mere six months separates me from all that, which places me in danger of appearing to know something you don't. Don't be fooled, though -- I know nothing other than how much I don't know. Still, bear with me, if for no other reason than because I am surviving beyond the walls of higher education. And because I have no desire to give any advice at all. The other day, I received a wide, flat package from the Office of the Secretary at the University of Pennsylvania. It was wrapped in stiff brown cardboard, folded securely at the corners and reinforced at the top and bottom. The front and back had been stamped several times with large, important blue letters commanding HANDLE WITH CARE. Gingerly, I sliced open the top edge of the parcel. Out slipped another flat cardboard wrapping, white and thin. I unfolded this inner package and pulled out a narrow pile of papers. One by one, I lifted each page, until I came upon a flimsy sheet of tissue paper. Just then, I sneezed. The tissue exploded sideways from the force of my breath and floated softly to the floor, wafting from side to side as it fluttered and fell like so many colorful leaves in September. I followed its oscillating descent, mezmerized, until it landed. And looking up, I caught a sudden glimpse of red and blue, of the words UNIVERSITAS PENSYLVANIENSES stamped ceremoniously under that famous coat of arms. I bent forward, peering closer -- and frowned. OMNIBVS HAS LITTERAS LECTVRIS SALVTEM DICIT. What? I rubbed my eyes and looked again, trying to draw meaning from the mysterious declaration. Salvtem dicit? Oh. Latin. How academic. How distinguished. How? indecipherable. Luckily, a translation had been included. "Greetings to all those who may read these letters," it said. (All those who may read these letters? Apparently this excluded all those unable to read Latin. That would be me.) I read on anyway. "Whereas it is the ancient custom of academics to honor with a proper title those who are distinguished in sciences or arts, therefore by the authority of the Trustees committed to us, following approval of her studies by the Faculty, we have admitted SONJA STUMACHER to the degree of Bachelor of Arts." Right beneath my nose, resting on the counter in my kitchen all the way up here on top of this mountain in the woods of New Hampshire, rested a diploma from the University of Pennsylvania. With my name on it. Spelled correctly. I stared again at the bold proclammation. It hadn't been a dream after all. Those four years in Philadelphia had been real, as real as the last-minute squeal of brakes at 34th and Walnut. As real as this very newspaper. I collected the diploma and placed it carefully back inside its sheath of cardboard armor. Then I glimpsed something beneath the parcel, a second and much smaller piece of mail, waiting unopened. My name peeked out from the window on the front, and the return address read "Student Loan Servicing Center." I swallowed hard. Oh no no, please not yet. I tore open the top and there it was, in spite of the silent plea: My first-ever student loan repayment bill. The price tag. Lurking stealthily beneath all that impressive Latin. Just a sweet reminder of how much I would pay for that BACCALAVREAE ARTIVM. I stood there for a few minutes, in the kitchen. Each hand held its prize -- in one a diploma, in the other a bill. They were like two sides of a flipped coin, except that no matter what end landed face-up, I had to bear the weight of both. A blind balancing act of heads and tails wrapped into one, educated, penniless human being. As I write, snow has begun to fall again outside. They say it's going to be a cold winter up here. I'll be around for another month of it, at least. Then it will be time to leap again into another world. Another place even further beyond the walls of higher education -- beyond the very limits of this country. But for now, it's time for me to head back up the road, back to the kitchen where a flat cardboard parcel waits on the counter next to a smaller envelope -- before the snow gets too deep. I'll let you get back to the swirl of West Philadelphia, to the bustle of Locust Walk and the flood of intangibles at Penn. Be on your way, but remember to look up every now and then.

https://www.thedp.com/article/1996/12/guest_columnist_six_months_out_still_confused

COLUMN: The Death of Creativity

(06/13/96 9:00am)

Aimee Cherubini James says theAimee Cherubini James says theformal education system fails thoseAimee Cherubini James says theformal education system fails thosewho wish to pursue careers in theAimee Cherubini James says theformal education system fails thosewho wish to pursue careers in thecreative arts, and that not everyoneAimee Cherubini James says theformal education system fails thosewho wish to pursue careers in thecreative arts, and that not everyoneshould attend college. Aimee Cherubini James says theformal education system fails thosewho wish to pursue careers in thecreative arts, and that not everyoneshould attend college. Education stunts the growth of a creative mind. In society today, creative individuals, especially those without the credentials that a college diploma provides, are simply not accepted or taken seriously. From school age on, we are pushed down the same road to conformity. Throughout the years, unless you were privileged enough to attend a good Montessori school, this only worsened, until by the time you were in ninth grade there were no creative projects: the closest thing to them were analytical essays written for history and English classes. You pushed through because it is what had to be done. After all, it was what you needed to do if you hoped to get anywhere in life. No matter that where you wanted to take your life had nothing to do with sciences or maths or humanities. In order to pursue the true dream, you had to first forge through four years of bullshit, four years of paying an institution absurd amounts of money to teach you how to spit back somebody else's ideas and write papers that will not help you one bit in the future, so that society would treat you with respect. Now where are you? In a job that you hate? Or did you finally get the gall to go after that dream, now that you had the education that you so desperately needed to back you up? And here is the final, most important question: did that education, one bit of it, help you in any way attain your ultimate goal? Most likely the answer is no, but the truth of the matter is that too many of us are far too afraid to simply nix college, to say screw society and what it expects of me, and go out on a limb to strive for what is really important to us and our happiness. Because we have spent a lifetime pushing our creative thoughts aside in order follow the standard route, it seems only natural to continue to do so even once we have the opportunity to finally let those thoughts show themselves to the world. There is little room out there for the writers and thinkers, and a very lucky few are able to create a life out of art. And those lucky few are the people who were not afraid to ignore what society said about them. They had parents who were not afraid to let their children stray from the usual path and supported them. They worked as waiters and bartenders and ticket collectors until they had their foot in the door and were on the road to freedom. But to do that takes guts, and many of us would rather push through with the four years of hell rather than do something that is little understood, as well as looked down upon, by our fellow countrymen. Why do we feel this way? Because our entire lives we have been taught that there is only one way to go. In order for the writers the thinkers the painters and the singers to be fully accepted by society, school systems need to let creativity back into the curriculum. Children must be taught that there is more than one way to success, and that doing what makes them happy will make them grow into adults that are a much larger benefit to society than if they had done something because it was what was expected of them. If this happens, then there will be fewer people who are afraid to go after their dreams, fewer people suffering the frustration of choosing a major, fewer people wasting their money on an education that simply isn't necessary. Today the message is pretty clear: no college diploma = no future. And it goes even further than that for those of us who have always shown potential in the education system: no diploma from a prestigious university = worse than no future. People today seem to measure a person's worth by the name on his or her college diploma. But what exactly does that diploma do for the creative individual out there, the kid who wants to pursue writing or acting or painting? We need to teach people to chase their dreams and turn them into reality, and a large part of this is teaching them that college isn't for everybody. Sure, you can major in creative writing or fine arts, even theatre arts, and you will probably even learn something from the education, but the truth of the matter is that the education system, at all levels, fails you in the long run. In fact, if you are one of the many of us out there who wants to take your life in a direction that college just doesn't help you with, then you are probably only here because you are expected to be. Your entire life people have pushed you in this direction and planted it in your mind that it is the only way to go. Now, backing out would mean failure and let down for yourself and your family. You are a victim of the education systems biggest disaster: the death of creativity.

https://www.thedp.com/article/1996/06/column_the_death_of_creativity

A FRONT ROW VIEW: Kegler won't let Penn lose

(01/18/95 10:00am)

But the five starting seniors have been through this before. Two years ago, after Temple and St. Joseph's humiliated Penn in two consecutive games, the Quakers rebounded just days later to defeat Princeton for the first time in three years. The Quakers just don't get down. They know exactly what they can do. Even before last night's 7 p.m. tip-off, it was clear there would be no lapses. You could see it in their eyes. You could see it in their actions. While the crowd worked itself into a frenzy awaiting the opening jump, Scott Kegler clapped his hands. After Matt Maloney chased down the loose ball, Kegler nailed a three-pointer from the left corner to begin the Quaker onslaught. There would be no letdown, not last night. Kegler would not allow it. Kegler provided Penn's heart and soul on the Palestra floor. He pumped his fist after he connected on his first of four long-range bombs. Then when Eric Moore swished two free throws, Kegler was the first to congratulate him. Kegler hit another shot from behind the arc just minutes later. After adding three free throws, he had scored nine of the Quakers' first 21 points and staked Penn to a 12-point lead. La Salle coach Speedy Morris must have felt like he had seen this before. He had -- last year, in fact. Starting in place of the injured Barry Pierce last year at the Spectrum, Kegler accounted for nine of Penn's first 14 points. And this year, Kegler is shooting 55 percent from behind the three-point arc. Even with this knowledge, Morris still could not stop Kegler from draining four of his five three-point attempts last night. But Kegler did not just excel on the offensive end of the floor. He followed La Salle's Romaine Haywood through picks and traffic all over the court. Haywood finished the first half with just six points on three-of-11 shooting. Then when the Quakers went to a trapping zone, Kegler anticipated a La Salle pass from the left corner and stole it at the top of the key. In the ensuing minute and a half, he poured in eight points to extend Penn's lead to 22 points. Kegler led the Quakers with 14 first-half points as Penn took a 54-31 lead into the break. La Salle could start the buses. The game was over. On the first possession of the second stanza, Kegler made sure the Explorers knew whose arena they were in. Although La Salle wore their home whites, it was undoubtedly Penn's home court. With just seconds showing on the shot clock, Kegler called for the ball. As the clock expired, he drained yet another three-pointer. Although the Explorers eventually made a run, it was too late. There was no way Kegler was going to let the Quakers lose two games in a row. You knew that when you saw him dive for loose balls. You knew it when you saw him beat La Salle's full-court press for easy baskets. The offensive explosion overwhelmed La Salle. The defensive pressure suffocated the Explorers. There was nothing Speedy Morris could do. With Kegler leading the Quakers last night, there would be no letdown. After being embarrassed in Amherst, Mass., Saturday night, nothing was going to stop Kegler. You could see the intensity in Scott Kegler's eyes from the moment he stepped onto the Palestra hardwood. Joshua Friedman is a College senior from Beverly Hills, Calif., and sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

https://www.thedp.com/article/1995/01/a_front_row_view_kegler_wont_let_penn_lose

EDITORIAL: "Put It In Writing"

(01/19/92 10:00am)

At the same time they are students, taking classes, studying, doing research, and working on their dissertations. Their work for professors must allow time for their work in pursuit of a degree. The new compact should do an excellent job of clarifying the specifics of graduate student employment, should a professor and student disagree at a later date. It will detail how much a T.A. is to be paid, what tasks a research assistant is to perform, how much credit a student will share with a professor on a forthcoming publication, and what a professor can expect. But the compact could also heighten awareness of the graduate student as a professional assistant, rather than a personal aide. "Taking professor's clothes to dry cleaners" will hopefully not appear in the section listing a student's responsibilities. Neither will "Discuss intimate details of personal life with supervisor" or "Socialize with advisor during off hours." We hope as many departments as possible -- and as many schools as possible -- will quickly sign on to the compact idea. Soon, this simple one-page form may guarantee that professors get what they expect, and students get what they deserve.

https://www.thedp.com/article/1992/01/editorial_put_it_in_writing

New Nursing dean makes first visit to U.

(11/19/91 10:00am)

It takes freshmen months to become acquainted with the University. Norma Lang tried to do it in a day. At her first visit to the University since being appointed Nursing School dean, Lang met with dozens of people yesterday, including students, faculty and her support staff. Needless to say, the day was long and hectic for the dean-to-be. During one session, Lang briefly spoke and answered questions from over 60 Nursing students on topics ranging form her computer literacy to her opinions on where the Nursing School is headed. Lang told the students, who were mainly upperclass and graduate students, that she does not anticipate any immediate changes for the school and does not even have a new vision for the school. In an interview earlier in the day, Lang emphasized this philosophy. "I think there is a good vision here to start with," Lang said. "I'm not coming in with a big grand plan because this school is so good." "I don't want to do any thing to alter that goodness," she added. "If a school is so successful, you want to make any changes carefully." At the session with students, Lang explained that she wants the nursing profession to take a more influential role in solving the health care problems in the U.S. Although Lang said she supports volunteering in the community, she also wants to make sure that nurses get paid fairly for their work. Lang, who is involved in a variety of national nursing and medical organizations, also told the students that she will support their involvement in the groups. Lang declined to answer several questions, such as ways to deal with Nursing students' perceived isolation from the rest of the University, because she did not feel as though she knew enough about the University yet. Students were excited about their first meeting with the dean and said they hoped she follows through with her positive attitude once she officially assumes the school's top post on March 1. "She seems very positive," said Nursing junior Diane Schretzman. "She seems very interested in undergraduate concerns." Sherry Straus, a graduate nursing student, said she was impressed with Lang, calling her "dynamic" and "a good successor." Lang will be replacing outgoing Dean Claire Fagin, who headed up the Nursing School for 15 years. Fagin will remain at Nursing as a faculty member while she serves as president of the National League of Nursing. When Lang assumes the post, she will be the ninth new dean at the University since Raymond Fonseca took the helm of the Dental School in July 1989. The School of Social Work is currently searching for a new dean. The Veterinary and Education schools are the only University schools not to have lost their top administrator in the last three years.

https://www.thedp.com/article/1991/11/new-nursing-dean-makes-first-visit-to-u

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