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(10/10/91 9:00am)
A sparse crowd condemned the University's proposed demolition of Smith Hall to make room for a Pentagon-funded science institute at a rally on College Green yesterday. Several speakers mentioned the presence of Reserve Officer Training Corps and its connection with the Department of Defense during their short, but passionate statements. "[The administration and the Defense Department] are doing direct harm to students on this campus already. Lesbian and gay students' civil liberties are being sold down the river," said Elizabeth Hunt, a graduate student in History and Sociology of Science. "President Hackney is dragging his feet." The gathering of approximately 25 people booed President Sheldon Hackney as he walked out of College Hall and past the protest during one of the speeches. "No more discrimination. ROTC off campus," several protesters chanted at the president. At the rally, many concentrated on the atmosphere of distrust they say the University has created. "Trust us, work with us," Hunt said, disdainfully imitating the University administration for allegedly deceiving community members throughout the battle over Smith Hall. College sophomore Katy McCabe spoke mainly about the connection between the military and research universities, while H&SS; graduate student Julie Johnson emphasized the economic difficulties she said the project could encounter. Those attending the rally generally said they already supported the position of the protesters and came to hear more. "The Cold War is over. What is there to be fought today that can't be fought with the arsenal the United States already has?" asked Hans Pols, a graduate student in H&SS.; The University and opponents to the proposed Institute of Advanced Science and Technology have been at odds for over a year because some activists say Smith is historic and should remain standing. Other protesters, like those at yesterday's rally, focus on the possible environmental hazards and on the use of a Defense Department grant. University administrators repeatedly denied charges that weapons research will be done in the new building, citing a policy which forbids unpublishable research.
(10/09/91 9:00am)
Analyzing the history and future of the Soviet Union, three University professors led a symposium on the fluid state of affairs in the Soviet Union Monday night. More than 50 students attended the 90-minute long symposium, entitled "Collapse and Chaos . . . Toward Federated Freedom or Domestic Dictatorships?" Economics Professor Herbert Levine, Soviet Studies Center Director Elliot Mossman and History Professor Alfred Rieber spoke for approximately 20 minutes each before opening the floor to questions from the audience. Levine, who recently returned from the Soviet Union, chose economic reform as the central topic of his lecture. He dated the country's transition from a centralized economic system to a market economy to June 1987, though he called the transition "incomplete." Levine said that any transition involving the full scale alteration of the economy of a nation of 280 million people must necessarily be a gradual process. In his speech, Mossman focused on the nationalities problem at the forefront of change in the Soviet Union. He quoted a Soviet census which gave the number of nationalities in the Soviet Union as 131. Mossman said that there is often a disparity between a Soviet nationality's own agenda and its political identity. Professor Rieber then grabbed the attention of the audience by displaying metreshka dolls of past and present Soviet leaders inside one another. He used this as an introduction to the theme of his lecture on the recurrence of reform throughout the history of the Soviet Union, Russia, and the Russian Republic. Rieber predicted the restructuring of the now-arcane Soviet political system would occur mainly through the efforts of "grass roots" movements. Rieber concluded by reassembling the doll and symbolically setting it aside, "closing the book" on defunct Soviet political structures. "It was a well-rounded presentation," College freshman Pricilla Elliott said. "[The format] was very constructive, because each expert complemented the other," College senior and PPU Chairperson Denise Wolf said.
(10/09/91 9:00am)
It can take up to 30 minutes for an ambulance to respond to an emergency call at the University. College seniors Todd Fruchterman and Suzanne Sims have submitted a plan to the University to establish the service, which would cover the entire University community and would be combined with a University Police response. The project would need $190,000 to $205,000 to purchase an ambulance, a supervisor's vehicle, emergency medical equipment, uniforms, insurance, communications equipment and to train 20 people in emergency lifesaving techniques. The University is also asked to pay the Penncorps supervisor. In 1990, University Police received 902 calls for medical transport. Of these, police handled 871 and 92 were handled by Philadelphia Rescue Units. These 92 calls had an average response time of 11 minutes -- far too long, according to Fruchterman. "To wait 11 minutes when HUP is two blocks away is ludicrous," he said. According to Fruchterman and Sims, the response to the Penncorps concept has been positive and they expect a decision from the University in December. Fruchterman said one way to fund Penncorps would be to add a EMS surcharge of $5 to the General Fee. In addition, he said, Philadelphia is considering asking the University to pay for city services "and one of these services is indeed ambulance care." Penncorps also would save money for the University by taking over private ambulance contracts for major University events like football games and Spring Fling where an ambulance is always on call. Sims said the service would allow University Police to concentrate on crime prevention rather than having to ferry students to HUP. "While the police are trained in first aid, a lot are not EMTs [trained for emergency care] and you can't always just put students in the back of a police car," said Sims. "The police are doing a great job with what they have, but Penn students deserve the best service they can get." Fruchterman and Sims are both EMT-certified by both New York and Pennsylvania. They have been involved in pre-hospital care for four and five years, respectively. Fruchterman is also a Nationally Registered EMT and an American Heart Association CPR instructor. Both students plan to attend Medical School next year and they see Penncorps as a great opportunity for pre-meds. "Pre-hospital care helps people to become doctors by giving them a better understanding of the mechanism of emergency transport," said Fruchterman. "It's also a great form of community service." If Penncorps is approved, Fruchterman said that he hopes to recruit 50 to 75 EMTs to staff the corps. "We'll shoot heavily for already-trained EMTs and also freshman and sophomores to provide us with a good base of operations," he said. Training would be done through the PennSTAR Trauma/Flight Program at HUP. Each semester, Penncorps would sponsor EMT training as well as defensive driving, advanced life saving, and CPR courses for students who would like to become drivers or attendants. "Pennsylvania requires 125 hours of training for EMT certification, but we'll fit it into one semester, something like two nights a week, to make it easy to fit into people's schedules," said Fruchterman. In July, Fruchterman drafted a letter to Assistant to the President Nicholas Constan. Constan said last week he liked the plan, but added that it would be "very expensive." Student Health Services Director Marjeanne Collins said that she expects Penncorps to be given "very serious consideration." "I think it's a good proposal, both well-researched and thought out," she said. Collins said she favors establishing either a transport service for the sick and injured or an ambulance corps. One of the main supporters of Penncorps is University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich. "If successful, the plan would provide a public service which really could be beneficial," Kuprevich said. "It would bring health service to campus to prevent overburdening the Philadelphia emergency service." Kuprevich offered to let Penncorps be based in the proposed police headquarters on 40th and Walnut streets and to help coordinate radio communications and dispatching. When he was at Brown University, Kuprevich supported the development of a volunteer ambulance response group. Today, Brown EMS has 57 active members, 50 of whom are undergraduates. Similar programs have been successful at other schools as well, including the State University of New York at Stony Brook. According to Harry Mavromatidis, chief of the Stony Brook Ambulance Corps, the organization handles over 700 calls per year. "We have been extremely successful at providing emergency care to this area," said Mavromatidis. The ambulance corps features 24-hour service and an average response time of three to four minutes. "We usually have a crew out on the road in under a minute," he said.
(10/08/91 9:00am)
Over the past three years, latino students at the University have been battling for a Latin American Studies Department, a major and a minor. During those three years, the University has admitted fewer and fewer latino students, and of those who did come to the University, many left before graduating. But the School of Arts and Sciences Faculty Committee will vote on a proposal for a Latin American Studies minor in early December, and latino students say that approving the minor could make the University a more appealing place for hispanics. And Pam Urueta, president of Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos, said latinos she knew from her home in California refused to even consider the University because there are few latino courses offered. "When courses don't reflect our culture, we feel we are not very important to the University," College junior Urueta said. According to Romance Languages Assistant Professor Jorge Salessi, who helped write the proposal, the minor was approved by SAS's curriculum committee last week and must now be approved by the faculty committee in order to be implemented. "I am very happy the minor has been accepted by the curriculum committee," Salessi said. "This has been a project that has been accomplished collectively with students, faculty and administrators." Salessi said he has no idea if the minor will ultimately be approved, but that things seem positive. "The curriculum committee already approving the minor is a positive sign," Salessi said. According to Urueta, the University approving a new study abroad program in Oaxaca is another positive sign. The program is the first University-sponsored program in a Latin American country, and will begin this spring. "It will help to encourage the establishment of a minor and a department," Urueta said Students participating in the program will gain University credits in Latin American studies. According to Cedillo, if the minor is approved it will be an interdisciplinary study taking courses from the Romance Language Department and the History Department. If a Latin American Studies Department is approved in the future, the interdisciplinary program would be eliminated. Both Cedillo and Urueta expressed high hopes that a department will eventually be established. "If minor is established there will be a push for a major and a department," Cedillo said. "We will start small and gain momentum." But Urueta said there are barely enough classes to fill the minor this semester. Only six courses are being offered, one of which is a graduate course. Recruiting latino faculty to teach new Latin American courses could increase the possibility of establishing a major and a department, Cedillo said. Urueta said latinos are the most rapidly growing minority in the country and the University should realize its courses are not adequate. "Latinos are also important to the history of the United States," Cedillo said. "But we don't realize it because we haven't been taught about it." Salessi said he wrote the proposal with History Assistant Professor Dain Borges at the end of last semester after discussing it with students and the dean and vice dean of SAS. "We all pulled our resources together and decided that the students were needing and wanting a minor in Latin American studies," Salessi said. "And we have the resources to put together a minor."
(10/08/91 9:00am)
"Creation/Destruction," an art exhibit featuring works inspired by last year's war in the Middle East, opened Friday afternoon in the Houston Hall Bowl Room. Choyt's collection consists of 12 oil paintings, seven ceramic pieces, and several prints. The works were divided by mood, with bright and colorful works filling one side of the room while the other side contained works with darker colors. Choyt said that most of his work centers on the seasons and their cyclical behavior. The darker paintings represent winter, death and destruction while the more colorful pieces concern spring and new beginnings. One painting, "The First Season," attempted to convey the image of spring and its connotations with creation, according to Choyt. It contained spirals which represented DNA molecules and the beginning of life. "Life Out Of Balance," located on the "destruction" side of the room, is a dark brown painting of a large tree resting on top of the earth. The tree is surrounded by barbed wire, which Choyt said demonstrates how people try to control nature, and how this control usually leads to death and destruction. Over 100 people passed through the Houston Hall Bowl Room to examine the work on Friday and most said they found the works interesting. "I think it's very powerful," said College junior Jen Marlowe. "I like the darker ones, they have more passion," said College junior Ed Humpherson. "But the other [ceramic] ones would [make better] ashtrays." Choyt said he hopes to teach people to try to improve the world as best they can. "I like to think about a big issue or question and try to answer it through abstract images," Choyt said. "What people create and what they destroy are both related. That's the ideas I wanted to convey through these paintings." The Creation/Destruction exhibit will run until October 28 in the Houston Hall Bowl Room.
(10/02/91 9:00am)
A. One, and that's me, and it's going on my resume. · "Hear ye, hear ye. All students in the College of Arts and Sciences, thou art shit! Your studies are too liberal. The classes you are taking are not providing you with marketable skills. You will not find a job when you graduate college." Yes, fellow College students, this is what Wharton students are saying about us. Even if they don't say it, believe you me, they're thinking it. But don't limit this attitude just to students, because the instructors in Wharton are thinking it too. I've even got friends in Wharton who seem pretty convinced that I'll be begging them for a job a few years down the road. Fortunately, they have already offered me custodial positions. I'm quite grateful. The bottom line is that Whartonites have no respect for the College. Sure, they take classes in the College, but that's because they have no choice. The liberal arts requirement is a pain in their tight asses. A Wharton student's vocabulary contains the word "merger," but not the words "piano concerto." They know Trump, but not Picasso. Wharton students also think that the prestige of this university is seeded in their school. When Wharton students are asked where they go to school, the response is usually, "I go to the Wharton School," not "I go to the University of Pennsylvania." The University of Pennsylvania is another school, in another world. Hell, it's probably not even a member of the Ivy League. I think it's about time for Wharton students to have their attitudes adjusted. It's time for them to come down from their high horses. They need to see the light, the value of liberal arts. On behalf of all students in the College, I'm going to provide some information that will hopefully help cure Wharton students of their econ-o-centricism. First, the prestige of this school can be attributed as much to the College, if not more, than to Wharton. Of the many people who research and rank colleges, one of the most respected is Dr. Jack Gourman. In his book, entitled The Gourman Report, he ranks colleges according to individual departments. What follows is a list of some liberal arts departments at Penn and their respective rankings, as per Gourman's study: American Studies, 2nd. Anthropology, 4th. Arabic, 3rd. Asian Studies, 5th. Chinese, 4th. Communications, 3rd. Comparative Literature, 5th. Economics, 8th. French, 8th. Hebrew, 3rd. Japanese, 3rd. Linguistics, 7th. Near/Middle Eastern Studies, 3rd. Psychology, 3rd. Russian, 4th. Scandinavian, 7th. Urban Studies, 1st. In addition to the preceding College departments, other highly ranked programs are: Astrophysics, 9th; Bioengineering, 2nd; Biophysics, 9th; and Nursing, 3rd. I know all you Wharton students just skimmed the paragraphs above, so go back and read them again. When you're done, try and tell me that this school's prestige lies only in the Wharton School. Several Wharton students have also bragged to me that it is much harder to get into Wharton than the College. Being the skeptic that I am, I decided to call the Admissions Office to verify this alleged statistic. Naturally, the admissions administration refused to disclose a thing. So as far as the student body is concerned, there is no proof of this Wharton brag. Despite all the Wharton bashing, they deserve some credit. The Wharton School has added a language requirement, implemented with this year's freshman class. Maybe a couple of semesters of foreign language will humanize the scoundrels. But it is a long shot. Students of the College, it is up to us. We are the only salvation left for Wharton students. We must teach them respect for the liberal arts. Curt Soloff is a sophomore Communications major from Overland Park, Kansas. Who's The Weasel Now? appears alternate Wednesdays.
(09/26/91 9:00am)
For performing arts fans, it may just be the best deal going. In an effort to boost interest and expand audiences for student productions, the leaders of several student theatre groups are offering a special subscription rate for four shows being produced this fall. Normally, tickets for student shows are five dollars. But the subscription package includes tickets for four shows for $15. Kent Davis, Penn Players chairperson, said this week that the idea for a subscription series was born at a series of informal meetings held last spring at which liaisons from the four groups discussed ways of diversifying the University's theatre audiences. Davis said that the purpose of the subscription was twofold. First, each of the groups felt that they could only attract a certain specific audience to their shows. "It seemed to us that each group had its own audience," Davis said. "But we wanted to broaden that audience so that people would go see several shows and not just the same group year after year." Davis also said that the subscriptions were geared to those who had never been to a student show before. "There are many students who, if they bought tickets to the shows, would have a great time," Davis said. "Our hope was to get these students to buy the subscriptions." Christopher Campbell, a College junior and Intuitons secretary, said that one of the biggest problems with student theatre over the years has been that only theater people go to the shows. Campbell explained that this problem has carried over to the subscription sales. "Theater people think it's a great idea," Campbell said. "But most of them are already in one or two shows and it isn't worth it for them to buy subscriptions." "We're really gearing this to people who have no interest in the theatre other than enjoying a few pleasant entertaining evenings," he added. Campbell said the subscriptions were first available at the Performing Arts table at Center for University of Pennsylvania Identification, but while many people came to the table and found out all about performing arts, few actually bought the subscriptions because students said the shows were too far off in the future. "We have to find people when they are ready to go see the shows and will spend money to do so," he said. Campbell said that he will contact Residential Advisors and Events Managers to see if they are interested in offering subscriptions to their residents. "It's a great way for a whole floor to go see a few shows together and save a good deal of money," Campbell said. Campbell added that as show openings draw nearer, subscriptions will be available on Locust Walk.
(09/25/91 9:00am)
If someone is hurt in Philadelphia, it usually takes 20 minutes for city ambulances to arrive. But Student Health Services Director MarJeanne Collins hopes the University will eventually have its own ambulance corps to provide emergency transit for its 30,000-person community. Such a service could cut response times down to a few minutes. "HUP has all the technology you could need, but it could be half an hour before you reach there," said Collins. Although University ambulances are only in the planning stages, Collins said students have been interested in setting up such an ambulance corps. Each vehicle would be equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as a defibulator to provide electric shocks to restart someone's heart. Collins said Escort Service has a set route which passes HUP, but "they aren't really eager to carry sick people." College senior Ken Tercyak, Chairman of the Student Health Advisory Board, said his committee is very concerned with emergency transportation. Tercyak said although an ambulance corps seems "far off in the future," there are other transportation needs which should be dealt with, including security concerns and the "long walk from the high rises." "We are glad to know Student Health is working on these issues," Tercyak said. Other plans under discussion include the possibility of a prevention van to expand the Student Health outreach programs. Student Health features its "Health Express," an outreach health fair which goes to fraternities, sororities and dormitories to administer cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and eye examinations. "Health Express is our traveling roadshow," Collins said. Another idea is the hiring of a "greeter" to take students through the University health care system. However, all such plans are limited by the amount of available funds.
(09/20/91 9:00am)
Tom Yannone is looking for a hyperbaric chamber. "I heard that Michael Jackson sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber to allow him to sleep one hour a day, and feel as if he had slept a whole night," said Yannone, an Engineering junior. "Unfortunately, I never found one." Yannone's desire for a miracle time-saving device such as the gloved one's is a common one among active students -- for there simply are not enough hours in a day for a student to get enough rest and fulfill the many social and academic obligations that campus life demands. "I find that I don't have enough time in a day too complete my studies, so I encroach on my sleep time with studying," said Yannone. "This makes it harder to study the next day, which makes the problem worse, and the whole vicious circle repeats itself." According to University researchers and psychologists, the rigors of campus life often exact a dangerous toll upon students' sleeping patterns, causing them to adapt erratic sleep habits, thus neglecting an important aspect of their mental and physical health. Dinges, who did sleep research on over 7000 University students during the 1980s, said that students have been sleeping less and less. "From the 1950s to the 1990s, the trend is to sleep less each decade," said Dinges. He attributed this to changes in society, including the fact that it is easier to do things at night, and a priority in college life of participating in many activities. Dinges described a frequently occurring pattern among University students in which they stay up too late, get up early for classes, and overall suffer a "significant" loss of sleep over the week. Violet Kron, assistant director of psychiatry at Student Health, said that students' active lifestyles often cause them to adapt bizarre and irregular sleep patterns. Kron said that some freshmen she spoke with had not slept for up to four nights in a row. Kron also described several students taking an Art History final exam who were so stressed by the prospect of the difficult exam that they couldn't sleep, and yet were exhausted while studying. Andrew Winokur, a professor of psychology and pharmacology, described two major eccentric sleep patterns among University students. In the first, students neglect sleep during the week, staying up late and waking up early, and then "crash" on weekends. In the second pattern, students stay up late and then make up for the sleep by napping in the late afternoon. "With the exception of medical students, undergrads have the most bizarre sleeping patterns," Winokur said. Yannone described one eccentric sleep pattern he devised so that he could squeeze 20 hours of engineering classes and ROTC responsibilities into the short 24-hour day. "Since 1:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. is the quietest time of day, it is the best suited for homework, 1:30 a.m. being the time that Letterman is over," said Yannone. "From 8 a.m. to noon I would go to classes, relax in the early afternoon, have 'dinner' at 3, and then sleep until 12:30 for Letterman." Yannone lamented that his new sleep schedule didn't work out too well. "Initially, it worked for about three days, and I was highly productive," he said. "Eventually, I started getting tired earlier and earlier each day, and started sleeping through classes . . . it lasted about a week." Experts also said that many students take chemical stimulants either in order to fall asleep or to wake up. Kron said that when used occasionally, stimulants such as No-Doz would not have any serious health effects, but he did not recommend it. Kron warned against the common practice of drinking alcohol in order to fall asleep, saying that it was a "bad remedy for sleeplessness." "Although it is a depressant, alcohol is metabolized quickly, and within a short time of sleep it will make you wake up, and you will be awake and agitated as well," said Kron. In order to fall asleep, Kron recommended an old wive's tale that he said actually works -- drinking warm milk before going to bed. "A hot cup of milk will release an amino acid called tryptophan, which is a fine sedative that occurs in milk and milk products," Kron said. University Counseling Service Psychologist Leonard Miller said that erratic sleep patterns are potentially dangerous. "It is not a healthy pattern to be tired all the time," said Miller. "When tired, you have a weaker immune system, you get a lot of colds and are more open to germs." Other than health reasons, the most common negative effect of unhealthy sleep patterns is that it interferes with the learning process, experts said. Dinges said that it is difficult to learn when students do not get enough sleep, since it decreases their attention span. "Sitting and intaking information is most difficult when sleepy," he said. Dinges said he would advise students to take sleep far more seriously, as it affects the main activity of University life -- learning. "It is unfortunate that sleep is treated as a joke by college students," said Dinges. "Sleep, as much as anything else, tremendously effects one's ability to acquire knowledge, and they are paying a lot of money and putting a lot of time into just that." But Miller said that not all people require the same amount of sleep. "It depends on the individual, not the number of hours of sleep," said Miller. "There is no rule." Yannone said that he recently discovered a new sleeping schedule. "I go to bed at 9 p.m., and I feel great," said Yannone. "The 'early to bed, and early to rise' theory seems to work, but the one flaw in Ben Franklin's maxim is that you can't watch Letterman."
(09/20/91 9:00am)
University students who paid in advance for an upperclass facebook, which they were told would be ready early this school year, said last night they are still waiting for the book to arrive. They said no one from the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., which is publishing the book to raise college scholarship money for area high school students, has contacted them to say when the books will be on campus. But Tony Frazier, the president of Alpha Phi Alpha, said last night the students could expect to receive their copies of the $10 book, called Faces in the Crowd, later this month or early next month. But Frazier would not explain the cause of the delay or say why students had not yet been notified, saying, "I can't speak on that at this time." Many students said they ordered the book because, like the Freshman Record, it would make matching names with faces much easier. Many said they expected the book to be ready by now and that it would have been distributed through CUPID or other start of school activities. "It seemed like a very good idea: an updated directory with pictures," said College senior Jonathan Bing, who said he paid for his copy this summer. "But I don't like spending money for something and not getting what I paid for." Bing said because he respected Alpha Phi Alpha for its involvement in past community programs, he was even more surprised by the fraternity's handling of the situation. Besides the delay, some have wondered what the book's producers have done in cases where students have not provided new photos of themselves. A campus mailer last spring said a student's freshman picture would be used unless a new photo was supplied. But former Alpha president Geoffrey Cousins, who organized the project and has since graduated, said at the time he had not confirmed this with the publishers of the Freshman Record. Albert Moore, the University's assistant director of student activities, has said the fraternity would not have access to the actual pictures used in the Record because he does not keep them once they are used. He said if the new book contains freshman year pictures, as one Alpha brother said they "probably did," they were likely taken from a copy of the Record.
(09/17/91 9:00am)
A blind Law School student fell down a 50-foot SEPTA ventilation shaft on 36th Street near Walnut Street yesterday, breaking several bones, according to University Police and other reports. McGinn Security guard Marsha Williams said she saw the blind student tap his cane against a security barrier to the right of the hole. She said he then stepped to the left, into the two-by six-foot opening to avoid the obstacle and suddenly plummeted from sight. Williams said she immediately called 911 and University Police. She said she saw Jeandron leaving the Graduate Towers dormitories at about 9 a.m., and was heading down South 36th Street when the accident occurred. According to witnesses, the metal grate which usually covers the deep shaft has been missing since yesterday. They said they saw the hole left open and unattended overnight. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority representative Jim Whittacker said he "didn't know" why the cover of the shaft was missing, and said SEPTA is currently investigating the incident. HUP Nursing Supervisor Marty Taylor said the 25-year-old Jeandron was very lucky, only breaking the top of his left arm and his left ankle. He suffered no internal injuries, she said. University Police Lieutenant Susan Holmes said that Jeandron also suffered a minor fracture of the spine. Philadelphia Fire Department Lieutenant Jack Christmas said a fire rescue team arrived at the shaft at 9:11 a.m. After medics stabilized Jeandron's condition, he was removed at 9:44 a.m. and taken to HUP. Fire and Occupational Safety Director Jim Miller said his office was told at 2:40 a.m. Sunday that the grate to the shaft was missing. Miller said he forwarded the complaint to SEPTA. SEPTA's Whittacker said the transit authority placed several barricades around the hole after the complaint was received, but did not close the hole. University Police officers guarded the hole yesterday until SEPTA replaced the cover. Whittacker refused to say if SEPTA was concerned about a lawsuit from Jeandron, saying only "if a suit is filed, a suit is filed." Law School administrators said they were very upset by the incident and were doing everything they could to support Jeandron. Law Dean Colin Diver described the incident as "a horrifying fall . . . It is miraculous that [Jeandron] is still alive." Diver said he was trying to get in touch with Jeandron's parents. Law School Vice Dean Margo Marshak called the accident "unbelievably sad," and said she went to visit Jeandron at HUP so that he would "feel that someone who really cares was there."
(09/16/91 9:00am)
The public's growing awareness of acquaintance rape in recent years has spawned a nationwide debate on the topic, but many University students still seem to have widely varying perceptions of the problem's extent on campus. The average prediction was 24.1 percent, coming close to many national estimates that suggest that as many as one in four women may be victims. Responses also ranged widely in the number of women students who said they know victims, with some saying none and others saying "all of them who are sexually active." Overall, 37.5 percent of respondents said they knew at least one rape victim and 46.6 percent said they knew a sexual assault victim. But only 3.7 percent of female respondents said they have been raped by someone they know. Just over 20 percent said they had been sexually assaulted. The discrepancy between these results could be attributed to several factors: that some students may have felt uncomfortable answering the questions truthfully with friends watching, and that a relatively small number of juniors and seniors were polled. Among seniors polled, for example, these percentages increased to 5.5 percent and 33.3 percent. There are no accurate figures for the number of rapes that occur on campus because victims rarely go to University Police, often looking to other groups if they report them at all. Women's Center Director Elena DiLapi said during the 1989-90 school year, the Women's Center saw 20 victims of sexual assault, who then went on to the Victim Support Services department of University Police. Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape reported seeing 40 to 45 during the same time. But between 1987 and 1990, only one student reported a rape to University Police, Commissioner John Kuprevich said. STAAR executive board member Tristan Svare said last night he was not surprised to learn that student estimates of date rape ranged from very high to very low. "Everyone has different experiences," he said. "And many people just don't know how prevalent a problem it really is." He said it is also not surprising that the percentage of women who said they have been date-raped was lower than many national surveys have reported, saying he doubts if all the respondents were honest since many answered the questions while eating lunch with friends. "A lot of the time people aren't really willing to admit [they have been assaulted], especially for something they are going to see in the newspaper." He added the use of the word "rape" in several of the poll's questions may also have affected responses because he said some people are "reluctant to label it rape." The 1,265 students polled on Thursday also expressed strong convictions on several other important questions, including what constitutes rape, who is to blame, and why so few women report the crime. They also gave their opinions on the impact of alcohol on date rape and differences between men and women's sexual activity. The survey also indicated that continuing publicity of the problem has changed their views. More than 80 percent of juniors and seniors who responded said they are more likely to believe a woman has been the victim of a date rape than when they were freshmen. Of the 535 females surveyed, 24 said they had been raped at some point in their lives, and all but four said they knew their rapist. Seven of the 24 are freshmen. Of the 110 women who said they have been sexually assaulted, 40 said the incidents happened on campus. In the case of males, 32 students, making up 4.4 percent of all male respondents, said they were victims of sexual assault up to and including rape. Half of those assaults reportedly occurred on campus. Students' responses suggested several possible reasons for this problem, including alcohol use and differing expectations for men and women. Alcohol's role is indisputable, at least statistically. About 75 percent of the men and at least 55 percent of the women involved in acquaintance rape had been drinking or taking drugs just before the attack, a 1985 survey published in Ms. magazine said. Many University students agree. Over 62 percent of all respondents said they think at least half of all rapes and sexual assaults can be partially attributed to alcohol. But at least one respondent suggested too much attention is paid to alcohol. "Alcohol is not to blame for anything," a female senior said. "Stupid use of alcohol to the point of impaired judgement is." Several students maintained that, although drinking alcohol often leads to problems, the person drinking the alcohol is solely responsible for his or her actions. "Rape is not in any way caused by alcohol," wrote one female senior. "It's caused by a blind misunderstanding of what the word 'NO' means." "Drunk or not, the person committed the rape, not the alcohol," said another respondent. Another source of blame may be the different intentions some men and women bring with them to parties. According to the survey, 41 percent of male students go to parties "looking to have sex with someone that night" at least "occasionally." By contrast, 96 percent of female respondents said they rarely if ever have the same intention and more than 83 percent said they never intend to have sex that night. Males tend to have sex earlier in their relationships, too. While over half of the female students "went out" for at least a year before having sex with their last partner, it took more than a third of the males less than a month to reach the same point. Men and women also had some disagreement on the degree of responsibility a woman bears for rape in certain circumstances. Students were asked to rate the degree of responsibility a woman has on a scale of one to five, five being not responsible at all. If the woman is raped after "dressing provocatively," becoming drunk or going to a man's room or inviting a man to her room, the average of responses, falling between 3.4 and 3.9, indicate that students shy away from blaming the woman. If the woman does not say no clearly, men lean towards saying she is responsible and women lean slightly away from that. In all cases, men were more likely to blame the woman than women were. The Ms. survey found that 84 percent of the men who committed rape said what they did was definitely not rape. Thursday's poll produced similar results. Only 18 male University students of 730 polled, or 2.5 percent, indicated they had committed a sexual assault, while over 5 percent gave no answer. And only 7 percent of males admitted they had suspected their sexual activity may have been "questionable" or "could be interpreted as rape or sexual assault." Nearly 19 percent did not respond to that question. These percentages were clearly much lower than the 20 percent of women who said they have been sexually assaulted. One student who said his activities could be considered "questionable" added: "At this school where people bitch about everything, yes!" But one male junior said he does not let it get to that point. "I always make sure of full consent and immediately stop making advances even if a woman is joking about not wanting sex," he said. Results were mixed about the role fraternities play in the date rape problem, with men being less willing to blame fraternities than women. A slight majority of respondents said fraternities do not deserve all the blame which people tend to assign them. "It's not the actual fraternities, but the stigma of how you're supposed to act at their parties," one female sophomore said. "Even one individual in a frat can give the whole system a bad name." The fraternities are not to blame, said another sophomore, "but those male social ideals that so many seek are to blame, and fraternities by definition are epitomes of those cultural attitudes." If such an incident does happen, the victim soon faces the difficult task of deciding whether or not to report the incident, and if so, to whom. Many who remain silent fear their reputation will be damaged. Many students believe, however, there are sufficient services for rape victims at the University and that these services are moderately well publicized. Over 65 percent of the women polled said they feel there is "a stigma against rape victims." Almost 56 percent of male respondents agreed. Less than five percent of women in the survey who said they were victims of rape or sexual assault went to the police, and two who did went more than a year after being assaulted. "You don't want to be the pin-up Barbie," a student said. "It happens and that's life. Make a deal and you will be the whore of Babylon. Men need their pride." DiLapi agreed that women who have been raped are unfairly stigmatized by society. "People think, 'Why didn't you do something to stop it," she said. ". . . It's a defense mechanism for them so they don't have to realize they are susceptible. [Rape is] not a nice subject. People don't want to talk about it." Many women said they were not sure they would report such an incident, citing various reasons. Some women said they not sure if they would even be able to admit it to themselves. A junior who was sexually assaulted said she decided against going to the police to avoid "embarassment, because society still blames the female and I don't want to be hurt by society's snotty views. Why add salt to a wound?" Many victims polled said they did not file a report for several reasons, including that they did not want to pursue legal action, did not want to tell anyone, and wanted to avoid publicity. And according to the Ms. survey, only 27 percent of the women whose sexual assault met the legal definition of rape thought of themselves as rape victims. Only a little more than half the victims told anyone else, and most of them said they did not use on-campus resources such as Women's Center, STAAR and Women Organized Against Rape. And barely one in five told their parents. Fear of reporting rape can also cause male victims not to tell anyone else. A male who said he was raped but did not file a report said, "Who would believe a guy getting raped?"
(09/16/91 9:00am)
A College junior collapsed Saturday afternoon in the Gimbel Gymnasium weightroom while he was exercising and was listed in satisfactory condition at HUP last night, University officials said this weekend. According to John Henrich, assistant director of recreation, the student completed some exercises, known as lat-pulldowns, took several steps and collapsed for reasons that are still unknown. Four men in the room ran to the gymnasium office and reported the incident to Henrich, who went to assist the student. Henrich said he reached the weightroom to find the student incoherent, but still breathing. Henrich said he ran back to his office to call University Police and rescue squads, and when he returned to the collapsed man, two other men, claiming to be University doctors, were performing CPR on the student. Henrich said the doctors, and another man from the swim team, performed the cardio-pulmonary recitation on the junior until emergency medical workers arrived. According to a HUP spokesperson, the student's condition has since been upgraded to satisfactory. University officials said doctors at HUP are performing tests on the student.
(09/12/91 9:00am)
Masturbation, menstruation, masculinity and menage a trois? This sounds like a job for Student Health Services. Well, would you believe a student performing arts group? How about both? Along with the free condom, ticket buyers will receive a small pamphlet listing the various products, such as birth control pills and diaphragms, that can be purchased from Student Health at discounted prices. "We're hoping to help people get information about everything they always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask," said College and Wharton senior Lori Horowitz, the show's producer. Outside the theatre students will be able to find out about sex in the 1990s, but inside the theatre the show itself will serve as a startling contrast, depicting the sexual attitudes of the 1970s. "The show was written in the pre-AIDS era," said College sophomore Jesse Hertzberg, the show's director. "So much has changed since the '70s and many students may have a difficult time relating to the material." Hertzberg added that he would encourage students who are planning to see the show to look beyond its vulgar language and sexually explicit nature, and examine the inner themes which lie beneath the surface of the spoken words. "Some will come away thinking they've seen a series of disjointed scenes with a lot of people cursing and talking about sex," he said. "But hopefully, most people will come away realizing that the show presented an analytical and critical view of love, sex and relationships in the 1970's." Horowitz said that she hopes the show will be educational as well as profitable. "I thought [the show] would be a way to make students aware of the valuable services available to them," Horowitz said. "Then I thought that giving out free condoms might also sell some extra tickets." Sexual Perversity, which is the first student show to be produced on campus this fall, has been in rehearsal since mid-August -- giving the cast only three weeks to put the show together. "Three weeks go by really quickly," Hertzberg said. "But pressure's good. It constantly reminds you of where you should be and when." Sexual Perversity in Chicago will be performed tonight at 8:00 p.m., tomorrow night and Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available on Locust Walk or at the Annenberg Center ticket office.
(09/12/91 9:00am)
Elsie Effah expected to pay $360 for health insurance this year. Instead, the Engineering senior from Ghana now has to sign up for a $930 plan by tomorrow or she may not be allowed to register for classes next semester. "I don't know where I'll get the money," Effah said this week. Effah is one of a number of international students who had planned to sign up with the Penteco Student Insurance Plan. The plan, which costs $360, is specifically geared to foreign students. But when these students came back to school this fall, they learned the University had rejected Penteco for not meeting University standards. And according to University policy, all students must be covered by a health insurance policy in order to attend classes. Student Health Service Director MarJeanne Collins said she rejected the Penteco plan because it does not cover pre-existing health conditions. State law requires students to have insurance which covers pre-existing conditions. Student Health Director Collins said her office will allow international students who expected to pay for a less expensive plan to delay their payment until November because of the confusion. But first-year Engineering graduate student Sanjay Udani, who had also planned on signing up for the Penteco plan, said it is unfair for the University to have a monopoly on the insurance plans international students can use. "Not giving us a choice is kind of absurd," Udani said. If students do not want to use the University's plan, they will be forced to purchase an individual insurance policy, which is more expensive than the University's plan and other group plans like Penteco. Ann Kuhlman, associate director of International Programs, said Udani is not alone. She said 250 students signed a petition calling for the University to allow foreign students to purchase a plan specifically for them. "There does not appear to be other policies which meet the waiver requirements and are less expensive than the Penn Plan," Kuhlman said. "The changes in what constitutes an acceptable policy has left them without the options that they previously had." The University's plan differs from the Penteco plan because it covers pre-existing health conditions, as mandated by state law, which drives up the premium. Although the general premium could be reduced by making students with pre-existing conditions pay extra, Collins said insurance should be need-blind. "If we're going to have a plan, it has to be for all students," she said. Collins said she understands international students would prefer a plan tailored for them. But she said a separate plan would only make the existing Penn Plan more expensive for everybody else. The $930 premium for the Penn Plan is a $227 increase over last year's plan. Over $100 of the increase went for conversion coverage which will enable students to continue with their insurance after graduation without acquiring drastically higher premiums. Another $48 provides catastrophic coverage of up to $1 million in the event of a serious accident. The rest of the increase is to meet claims costs and medical inflation. "Philly is an expensive city due to the high quality of technological care that is available," Collins said. She added that for the past few years, claims costs have exceeded premium costs. But Collins emphasized the University does not earn any money from the insurance plan. She said an outside actuary has assessed the market and has determined that the University has charged a fair price. Student Health will have an open meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight to discuss the insurance policy in the Penniman Room, second floor Houston Hall.
(09/11/91 9:00am)
Students interested in knowing the weather forecast need not wait until the 11:00 p.m. news to find out if they have to take an umbrella with them to class anymore. Now, they only have to pick up their phones and dial 898-4CST, the University's new, free weather information service. In what is one of the first systems of its kind, the University has combined Accu-Weather, a private weather information service, with voicemail to form a convenient and economical service for students. The service, implemented this fall by the Office of Business Services, had been discussed for a number of years, but due to a lack of technology and prohibitive costs, the project was unfeasible, according to Steve Murray, associate vice president of business services. Based on a survey conducted last year of all 573 and 898 exchange numbers, staff and students ran up a bill of over $30,000 in calls to Bell's weather recording. The new service will cost the University only $3500 a year, which will cover maintenance and Accu-Weather service fees. Murray said business services hopes to arrange a function by early October which would prevent students and staff from dialing the more expensive Bell number. The forecast can be heard 24 hours a day by calling 8-4CST from any campus phone. The information is updated at least three times per day and more often in the event of hurricane or tornado warnings. While many students said they have not tried the system yet, they agreed it will be convenient. "I'm from Texas and I have trouble telling when it will rain," Wharton sophomore Andrew Chen said. "And I can't check the news because I don't have a TV." "I [usually] listen to the radio, but if I didn't, it sounds like it would be a good service to use," said Engineering sophomore Matt Bixler. For those students who haven't yet found the time to call, today's forcast "exclusively for the University of Pennsylvania" is "partly to mostly sunny, breezy and warm, with lowing humidity, high of 84."
(05/30/91 9:00am)
It seems like deja vu. Last year, through a combination of creativity, persistence, and burning the midnight oil, History professor Bruce Kuklick discovered that nine students cheated in his History 451 class, by submitting exact duplicates of certain take home exam questions. During this past semester's 451 class, at least one pair of students again submitted a identical responses to an essay question on an exam. Judicial Inquiry Officer Constance Goodman announced last week that a similar incident by a pair of students was discovered again this year in the same class. The students apparently again handed in duplicate tests, and were discovered in a similar manner. The take home final exam for War and Diplomacy asked each student to answer two questions with each response being five to six typed pages. And again, a teaching assistant noticed that in several of the submitted exams, the typeface varied from one question to the next. "All exams with different typefaces were reviewed," Goodman said Monday. "It was discovered . . . that two students answers to one question were identical." Goodman added that the teaching assistants are still in the process of reviewing all of the exams. Last spring, after five months of investigation, a similar case resulted in 10 students being charged with cheating. Nine received Fs in the course. Five of them were suspended. One student had his diploma withheld and one was cleared. History Professor Bruce Kuklick said last year that the cheating incident in his class "embarrassed and even humiliated" him. Students in Kuklick's class this semester said that Kuklick made it clear that he would not tolerate cheating. "We even had to turn in rough drafts for our research paper," College sophomore Jason Stanard said. "[It was due to]what happened last year." Goodman also said that Kuklick had warned his students that cheating was unacceptable. "I am aware that Professor Kuklick gave the class ample warning regarding any cheating," Goodman said. "Due to his turmoil and dissappointment over last year's case." Kuklick declined to comment this week on the incident since the investigation is still underway. "I've heard . . . that kids think it is a joke to cheat," Goodman said last year. "Somehow we have to change the culture here and have the students buy into the idea that cheating is wrong. We are intent on stopping cheating at Penn." Goodman also said last year that she understands the academic pressures that are placed on students at the University, but rather than cheat, students should seek help from relevant University resources, like the Tutoring Center. In the released confessions of the students last year, all said they were sorry for what they had done and that they would never do it again. All of the students said that they were under academic and personal pressure. "I was looking for the easy way out," wrote one student. "I got overwhelmed by all the work I had to do and couldn't see past it." Staff writer Christine Lutton contributed to this story.
(05/30/91 9:00am)
Longtime minority affairs administrator Valarie Swain-Cade is a finalist in the University of the District of Columbia's search for a new president, according to an announcement made this week by the search committee. Cade is currently an assistant provost and an assistant to the president. Cade, who has been at the University since 1978, called the position "an unprecedented opportunity," adding that she considered being a member of the short list of five candidates for the position an honor. "It's just wonderful to be in the company of so many wonderful people," she said. "It's very early in the process -- at this point I'm very excited." Calling UDC an "extraordinary institution," Cade said the decision will probably not be made until the beginning of July, with candidates facing a battery of interviews at the Washington school before then. "There will be a period over the next month where all of us will have the opportunity to meet the students, staff, faculty at UDC," said Cade, who holds a doctorate in Urban Education and Adolescent Psychology from Temple University. The other four candidates are administrators from California State University at Sacramento, Tuskegee University in Alabama, the City University of New York and the University of California at San Diego. Joann Mitchell, the director of the Office of Affirmative Action, called Cade a "catalyst" at the University, saying that she has been important in many respects. She said that were Cade to leave, "it would be a loss for the institution," but that Cade's impact would continue to be felt through the support systems she has created. "She has been able to impact the quality of life for students, faculty, and staff who are people of color," she said, adding that "it's been an across-the-board impact." Several other administrators declined to comment on Cade's appearance on the list, saying that their public statements at this time could interfere with the process. Cade said that her time at the University has been challenging and rewarding, and were she to leave, minority affairs would be in capable hands. The search process began after the firing of then-president Rafael Cortada after a dispute with university trustees a year ago over the handling of the university. Nor has the search itself escaped controversy. UDC students staged an 11 day protest at the school after being snubbed in their bid for representation on the search committee. Student government leaders eventually were permitted a say on the final decision. The Washington Post contributed to this story.
(05/23/91 9:00am)
From above, it may have appeared as if a raging river had emerged on Tuesday morning and completely hid Locust Walk from view. The seething black current slowly wound its way from Superblock through a half-mile course, with its end flooding into Franklin Field. Closer inspection would reveal the black tide to actually be the University's most recent graduating class, flowing toward commencement ceremonies accompanied by bagpipers and an endless rendition of "Pomp and Circumstance" by the First United States Army Band. Even closer scrutiny would show that the graduates expressed their individuality and sense of humor by decorating their caps. One senior made a last ditch attempt to find a job before graduation by taping the message "4 HIRE" on his mortarboard. Another graduate attached a scale architectural model to his mortarboard. Many taped on an assortment of Greek letters, peace signs and "I MADE IT" messages to distinguish themselves from the masses. The news anchor's speech focused, however, on the Defense Department's restrictions on journalists throughout the Persian Gulf war. Koppel said that although the public may not always find the products of a free press attractive, continuation of such restrictive alternatives to this system could be far more disturbing. President Sheldon Hackney's annual greeting to graduating seniors attempted to strike a balance between the recent "political correctness" movement and the traditional European scientific and creative thought which he said was developed by "DWEMs," or "Dead White European Males." He cited a recent "Doonesbury" comic strip featuring a university president whom Hackney said resembled the past president of an institution "we regularly demolish right here on this field." In the cartoon, the president offers a commencement speech which strives so hard to be politically correct, by editing out all non-P.C. language, that it only says, "Thank you and good luck." Hackney argued that the goal of universities should not be to "transform students," as both the old and the new movements on campus might dictate, but rather to offer students tools to transform themselves. In addition to recognizing the achievements of the University's current graduating class, Provost Michael Aiken conferred seven honorary degrees, including one on Koppel.
(04/25/91 9:00am)
It's been worse than a "don't call us, we'll call you" kind of year for job seekers. Many students looking to get a start on their careers haven't even gotten a chance to be rejected by potential employers. Instead of flocking to campus as in past years, head hunters looking for able-bodied students to fill entry-level positions have become scarcer and scarcer at the University during this year's recession. According to Career Planning and Placement Service Director Patricia Rose, the number of job recruiters that came to campus to hire non-MBA students dropped almost nine percent from last year. And Rose said that MBA recruiting experienced an even greater decrease. She added that these figures don't show the whole picture behind the hiring crunch, noting that even fewer students are getting interviewed by each company, leaving many students without a thing to do with their degree. And permanent positions for graduates aren't the only jobs being cut during the current economic slow-down. Undergraduates are also getting fewer offers for summer internships, according to CPPS Assistant Director Deb Gould, who coordinates summer jobs and internships. She said that while the number of job listings is "certainly comparable to previous years," many of those companies "are not making as many offers as in the past." Qualified students who were counting on summer positions for experience and a little extra cash are finding themselves squeezed out of the market. "Honestly, I'm extremely discouraged," said Wharton sophomore Linda Pressel, who has applied for 35 summer positions and has yet to receive a "solid offer." Pressel said that the scope of job opportunities has narrowed, with recruiters this year looking for students skilled in finance, accounting and insurance. She is searching for a position in marketing or advertising. College senior Jackie Grimm, who has yet to find a job but has interviews set up in San Francisco, said that she is "discouraged" by news of hiring freezes, adding that her search is even harder because of her liberal arts background. "All of my Wharton friends are getting jobs," Grimm said. "Most of my College friends don't have jobs [or] are going to school." She also said she feels the recruiting processes at CPPS are "geared toward" Wharton students. CPPS Director Rose said that the recession is at least partially to blame for the depleted job situation, but added that she is "confident" students will be hired once the economy picks up. "We hope the economy will pull out of the recession soon and hiring will pick up a little bit in the summer," she said. Rose added that while positions may be harder to find, "students are still getting jobs." She also said that graduates-to-be should not be completely discouraged because "a lot of [jobs] turn up late -- especially smaller employers." Gould said that although she senses that the entire process is more difficult this year, she is "not pessimistic."