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(02/24/97 10:00am)
By Josh Callahan CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- While Penn's road trip, which went from surprisingly good to suddenly frigid, could be compared to the Northeast's weekend weather, it would be more appropriate to examine the way the Quakers' play closely mirrored the performance of sophomore Paul Romanczuk. His strong overall effort was the key in Penn's win Friday at Dartmouth and the big halftime lead against Harvard, but it was his foul trouble in the second half Saturday night which gave Harvard an opening to exploit. Romanczuk's contribution to the Quakers' inside game is often overlooked by the Penn faithful agape at Geoff Owens' size and Michael Jordan's drives to the hole, but the weekend's games showed that it is Romanczuk who is the catalyst inside. Friday night, he shot 4-of-5 from the field en route to a 14-point, six-rebound game. Additionally, by being a consistent force down low, the sophomore forward attracted the defense inwards, which led to more open shots for Garett Kreitz. Romanczuk's success was due to his ability to stay out of foul trouble. Having racked up a staggering 80 personal fouls -- fouling out five times over the season -- Romanczuk has no one to blame but himself for his average nightly court time of only 26 minutes. Besides causing him to land on the bench, his foul troubles decreased his ability to maintain defensive intensity. Friday night, Romanczuk was whistled for only one foul in an eight-point, four-rebound first half. He ended the game with only three fouls in 32 minutes as the Quakers went on to squeak out a 72-69 win. He took high-percentage shots and drew numerous fouls on offense and he controlled the flow of the game on defense as well. In the final four minutes, Romanczuk drew a foul going for a rebound, started a scramble that led to another rebound, and had an assist. Romanczuk's defensive hustle directly led to six of the Quakers final eight points. Romanczuk's play was again key in the Quakers' 17-0 run in the first half against Harvard, resulting in an 11-point halftime lead for the Red and Blue. Showing patience and excellent shot selection, Romanczuk was 4-of-4 from the field and picked up only one foul in 16 minutes. His presence, along with Geoff Owens, was key in shutting down Harvard's inside scoring leader Kyle Snowden. Snowden scored just two points in the half despite playing all 20 minutes. Snowden got his revenge in the second half and in overtime because Romanczuk fell victim to a sudden rash of fouls. After fouling out with 6:21 left and Penn leading 49-43, Crimson senior Kyle Snowden scored five straight points to bring Harvard within one. Romanczuk played just four minutes and scored two points in the second half, and his overtime stat line was a long line of zeros. With Romanzcuk planted firmly in his chair, Snowden scored 17 points and grabbed 12 boards in the final 25 minutes. "I thought when they lost Romanczuk with five minutes to go that was absolutely huge," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "He's such a big focus for them. To find some strength and fight over the last 10 minutes to get the game close and get into overtime was very satisfying." Romanczuk played about 20 seconds during those final 10 minutes, giving Harvard the edge they needed inside to pull even in regulation and dominate the overtime.
(02/10/97 10:00am)
George Mboya, for bricking his two go-ahead foul shots with 2.9 seconds remaining? Paul Romanczuk, for fouling out only 13 seconds into overtime? Geoff Owens, for failing to do anything against Brian Gilpin, except get four personal fouls in 18 minutes on the hardwood? Garett Kreitz, for bucketing only two of his nine three-point attempts? The correct answer is as simple as inexperience. Besides being an excellent ball club, Dartmouth is the most senior-laden squad in the Ivy League, with four starters playing in their final seasons. The Quakers, however, are the youngest. To break down Saturday's matchup, it clearly was a game of young, raw talent versus an experienced ballclub. And when it came down to the wire, the veterans won out. The Quakers lack of experience has reared its ugly head in a number of ways this season. The most costly -- lack of a transition game. In past years, Penn has wowed audiences with no-look passes and fast-break points. More importantly, Penn's transition was crucial in building momentum and leads. While this year's squad is one step slower than last season's team, the Red and Blue's team chemistry has yet to develop to the level it was in the past. Case in point: last night in the second half, Penn had a four-on-two situation, Jamie Lyren kept the rock in traffic and failed to score. Meanwhile, Michael Jordan was wide open on the weak side running the court with Lyren. The Quakers have also shown their green nature by panicking in crunch-time situations. Penn has often been unable to get a respectable shot off, or even been able to look for one under the pressure of time. After Mboya missed his free throws and got his own rebound in the paint, he panicked. Instead of calling a timeout or putting the ball back up in the air, Mboya looked very confused, and only was able to dish the ball to Jed Ryan well beyond the three-point arc. The lack of experience shouldn't be that surprising with three freshmen and two sophomores starting the game. Kreitz and Lyren are the only legitimate basketball upperclassmen who receive playing time. What the Quakers do have, however, is a plethora of talent. The Ivy League is a conference where most success is a direct result of experience. While Penn and Princeton trade off championships, the rest of the best has traditionally been squads with juniors and seniors. The seniority of the Big Green was very apparent on Saturday. Seamus Lonergan was constantly grabbing his teammates to offer words of advice. Point guard Kenny Mitchell had some positive words for Jordan after the game. Both were prime examples of leadership -- leadership gained through experience. That is why Dartmouth and Harvard will come in third and fourth this year, but next year, after Dartmouth graduates four starters and Harvard graduates three, they will not be the teams trying to fend off the Tigers and the Quakers. The Quakers do not have an on-court leader. Despite being captain, Lyren does not see enough time anymore to act as a leader. Kreitz and Romanczuk are the closest the Red and Blue have to a leader who has the ability to get their teammates fired up during the course of a game. Princeton, on the other hand, is a unique team in that they do not get noticeably better with experience, the squad gets better as players enter and leave the program. This is due to the fact that the Tigers execute their slow-down game plan to perfection every year, and that game plan never changes -- even with a new coach. The Tigers are the same team this year that they were last year, and they will be the same team next year, even though Sydney Johnson will graduate. The Quakers, on the other hand, have no choice other than to improve with no one graduating. This is not a rebuilding year talent-wise, but it is a rebuilding year experience-wise. And next year, when the Quakers have twice the experience and improved talent, they will be in prime shape to make another run for the crown.
(11/19/96 10:00am)
The issues raised in the news analysis "Seeing double: Facilities plans may overlap" (DP, 11/15/96) and the editorial "Long-awaited overall overhaul" (DP, 11/15/96), and in the editorial "First priority: Academics" (DP, 11/18/96), are important and your readers deserve some clarification. At last Wednesday's University Council meeting, I brought the campus community up-to-date on the expansive and fresh thinking taking place about the quality of campus facilities, the condition of student residences, recreational opportunities and retail amenities in the area surrounding campus. More important, though, was my emphasis on the principles and goals that underlie the planning process: · A vibrant, attractive and safe campus; · Control over strategic properties in the areas surrounding campus and the highest and best use of our existing real estate; · Facilities that support the academic initiatives articulated in the "Agenda for Excellence," our strategic plan; · Contemporary high-quality student residences; · Greatly expanded recreational and retail opportunities for the campus community; · And robust economic development to support community revitalization. These build on the master planning principles articulated in 1992 by Venturi, Scott Brown. I said, too, with great emphasis and diagrams that we will expand to the east and south of campus, and that we will work with the community to enhance areas north and west of the campus. There is, I said, a great deal of difference between the words "expand" and "enhance." My comments to Council stressed that in a resource-scarce environment, our campus and its facilities absolutely must serve and advance our most critical teaching and research missions. Where they do not, we must be prepared to challenge assumptions and prepare plans for investments or reinvestments that realign our physical assets with the "Agenda for Excellence." Space planning and academic planning are not in competition. They must go together. I also pointed out to those at the Council meeting that some of the planning on these issues is well-advanced, and well it should be. We will, for example, open an exciting new bookstore complex with mixed-use features that will revitalize the 36th and Walnut streets site that is presently a parking lot. We have also made several strategic real estate acquisitions that will shape campus expansion over the next 50 years. And we are accelerating our efforts to work with our good neighbors west of campus to ensure that West Philadelphia is a stable, exciting community of homeowners and responsible tenants for decades to come. Clearly, too, some planning is preliminary. We do not have firm plans, for example, for renovation of student residences or construction of new residential facilities on campus. Do we know where we have problems? Yes, and I identified several in my remarks to Council, but as I said, we will wait for the results of the Biddison-Hier study before we make those decisions. Indeed, the text of your coverage of my remarks to Council refutes its own premise that there may be potential conflict between our residential work to date and the Biddison-Hier study. As your reports stated in several places, I spoke about "potential" plans to build new dormitories. I said renovations "may" target the grad towers, the Quad and Stouffer. Again, we must wait for the results of the Biddison-Hier study before we make decisions. That is why we hired them. I did not, nor would I, ever suggest that the heart of the campus would move away from Perelman Quad. When this beautiful student complex is completed, the heart of the campus will be wonderfully obvious to all of us. Sansom Commons will not conflict with the Perelman complex. Instead, new retail and restaurant developments on Sansom Street will complement Perelman and add luster to the central core of the campus. That is why they are being master-planned together. But perhaps most troubling for me were your editorials, which posed a false choice between "aesthetics" and "academics" at Penn. Nothing could be further from my mind or from the plans of the Board of Trustees. We must seek excellence in all that we do here -- certainly in our academic programs and the facilities that support those programs, as well as in facilities that house us, provide important student services, serve the faculty and provide recreational opportunities. There is much to accomplish, but we will. This is an exciting time at Penn. And, we will continue to consult broadly with the campus community and report on our progress.
(11/04/96 10:00am)
For the first time all season, the Quakers actually looked more fired up than the opposing team. And the Red and Blue's success on Saturday was indicative of that enthusiasm. Looking back at each game this season, Penn has always been the quiet team -- from the pre-game warm-ups to the post-game press conference. When the Quakers and their opposition each took the field to stretch and run some last minute drills, it was always clear that Penn had no life and perhaps no game face. Every time Colgate or Brown or any other school with a mediocre record took the field for warm-ups, they took it by storm. With brute shouting, synchronized clapping and piling together in a frenzy of energy, every other squad the Quakers faced showed the intensity and adrenaline it takes to win a football game before the action even started. With the Quakers, they always came onto the field clapping. But after that, they stretch silently, quietly break off into individual units and finally huddle together without any of the heart seen by their foes. And during the game, it has been much the same way. The Penn bench does inch down the sidelines following their drives, but, from the first snap of the first play, you rarely see any true interest in the game, with the exception of the occasional big play. When facing Penn, the Columbia sideline was always enchanted with each and every play. You could see it in the Lions' faces and actions. You could see it in their play on the field. But you could not see it on the Red and Blue sideline. That trend continued after the game as well. Watching the Quakers coaching staff after a win is like watching the Quakers coaching staff after a loss. Penn coach Al Bagnoli and the players never show any content over winning a football game. And even though that might show just how much of perfectionists Bagnoli and the Quakers have become, it also shows that they don't take the time to actually acknowledge the win. Watching every team that has beaten the Red and Blue in the press conference, the coaches and players have expressed complete satisfaction -- despite the poor play in one area of the team. Columbia coach Ray Tellier was patting his players on the back. Brown coach Mark Whipple had a big smile on his face. Even Dartmouth coach John Lyons, after what could be the sloppiest played game in the 1996 Ivy League season, was obviously proud of his team. But Saturday was a different story -- and it showed. Although the Quakers were still all-but silent in warm-ups, they were still louder than the Elis. During the opening plays, everyone -- on and off the field -- was celebrating a five-yard run, a first down or a good, clean reception. Emotionally, it was a completely different Penn team on the field. And in the press conference, Bagnoli even showed signs of relief, if not satisfaction. Bagnoli even complimented his team's play, without the usual references to having to check the videotapes first. And while Bagnoli's team did play (for the first time) worthy of praise, it was apparent that it would from the moment they took the field. Whether it was the homecoming crowd which spawned such spirit or just a sense of urgency, the fact remains that the Quakers seemed to care about winning for the first time all season. If Penn can keep up that spirit, it is a sure thing that they will continue to improve.
(10/18/96 9:00am)
To the Editor: Bailey claims "University President Judith Rodin and English Professor Al Filreis currently strive to force academics on students in their dorms." If he is referring to the EFFECT program for undergraduate research, currently centered in Van Pelt College House, he couldn't be more wrong. As a former Van Pelt resident who worked very hard to get EFFECT (then CAUSE) off the ground, I'd like to rectify this misperception. The EFFECT program was organized by students. Only interested students need participate. It provides a forum in which researching students can get together socially to discuss their work. The group sponsors talks and panels open to the entire University community; the first talk, given recently by Steven Morgan Friedman, was extremely well-attended by EFFECT members and non-members, by Van Pelt residents and non-residents. No one bludgeoned students into going. The program was created by students, for students, and no one is "forcing" these students to bring academics into their living space. Kieran Snyder Linguistics Graduate Student College '96 n To the Editor: I beg to differ with Lee Bailey's opinion about Hill House ("Creating community," DP, 10/4/96). I am a sophomore Upper Class Board member at Hill, back for a second year of warmth and camaraderie. When I moved into my double room at Hill last year, I reacted in much the same manner of disdain and disappointment expressed by those who view Hill, but never get a chance to live in it. I envied the more spacious rooms of the Quad and Kings Court/English House. Time passed and I came to love Hill for its friendly atmosphere, blend of students and delightful facilities. The true specialness of Hill House lies in its suites. Each of Hill's five floors is grouped into three to four suites of approximately 20 students each, with graduate students in charge. It has been said that the smallness of Hill rooms compels students to get out and study together in the bigger, brightly lit suite lounges. Being part of a suite, though, means more than just hanging out with the people on your floor. A strong bond of friendship, trust and suite loyalty forms within each suite so many students feel comfortable leaving their doors wide open. Roaming the halls of my floor, I discovered the amazing pool of students that makes up the Hill community. During my (many) study breaks, I would take advantage of my floormates' "open-door policy" and pop inside random rooms. I met a wide variety of students, with various cultures, hometowns, majors and hobbies. The international representation especially impressed me. I was exposed to several firsts, such as using my fingers to eat rice with curry, provided by one Indian friend, and trying real, bitter Swiss dark chocolate that another friend brought back after his visit home to Switzerland for Christmas. My friends from the Quad visited my room last year, and were amazed at Hill's diversity. They confessed that the Quad was less diverse, filled mainly with students from the tri-state area. Finally, I offer up my praise to Hill's many facilities -- including the computer lab, library, music room, PIT (recreation center) and commissary -- and to the outstanding student staff responsible for their existence. These, and the free summer storage returning Hill residents get in Hill's basement, are just some of the reasons why I decided to come back as a member of the Hill UCB. I helped freshmen move into "Hill, Sweet Hill," pushing and pulling cartload after cartload of their belongings. It was tiring, but in the end, it was worth it all just to see the thankful gleam in their concerned parents' eyes and to hear their enthusiastic praises of Hill House hospitality. I thought to myself, "My sentiments exactly." Phoebe Choi College '99 A 'thoughtless' take on race To the Editor: Brad Boetig's guest column ("One nation, separate and unequal," DP, 10/7/96) was an inconsistent and thoughtless attempt to determine the reasons behind the "sad state of affairs" within the African American community. Boetig says equal opportunity does not exist in America. But he goes on to state that African American men make up a large percentage of the American prison population because they do not pursue educational or occupational opportunities available -- which he already admitted do not exist. If African Americans are not granted the same educational opportunities as their white counterparts and are subjected to crude, dilapidated and overcrowded schools, how are they to even fathom the idea graduating as president of any Yale University class? Boetig has no right to use his meager 10 weeks' experience in a housing project as a foundation to denounce African American mothers and fathers as unfit parents. After work, Boetig went back to his home, in his neighborhood, without knowing what it is like to live in that type of situation for generations. If racism is not the undercurrent of the lack of equal opportunity in this country, Boetig wouldn't have seen such a large number of black people living in that housing project. African Americans are not "whining about the white man's racism." We are recognizing its existence, something Boetig should have thought about before he put pen to paper. Yaminah McKessey College '00 Remarks anger students To the Editor: We would like to respond to some points in your article "Prof slams Israel on human rights" (DP, 9/30/96), and to make a few corrections and elaborations for your readers. One of Middle Eastern History Professor Bashara Doumani's techniques, used to disarm listeners, is making the issue of Palestinian rights a racial one. Doumani seeks to manipulate the American public, sensitized to racism, into misplacing their trust and sympathy. The article begins with Doumani's insinuation that anti-Arab racism is the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when he says every Palestinian in Israel must carry an identification card citing his religion and race. Only Palestinans without Israeli citizenship must carry such cards; a bulk of Palestinians do have Israeli citizenship. In the last Israeli elections, Arabs played a pivotal role, almost winning the election for Shimon Peres. These people enjoy full rights as Israeli citizens, and carry regular Israeli papers. Religion -- which is on everyone's papers -- is important in matters such as burial, if the government must take care of it, or government functions, such as performance of marriage or divorce, which is under the auspices of the Orthodox Jewish rabbinate. Its members need to know if someone is Jewish to know what rites to perform for him or her. Doumani's statement that because "die-hard activists don't see a way out," it is now up to average citizens to take a stand, even in armed conflict, is nothing less than insane. He is trying to justify Palestinian police using guns given to them by Israel, not to fight Hamas, but rather to overwhelm and kill Israeli soldiers, who are supposed to be their "partners in peace." The lying, prevarication and historical revisionism on the part of seemingly credible academics like Doumani and Tarbieh is very much responsible for many of the West's distorted perceptions of Israel and its share of the blame in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, Israel does not have huge reserves of natural resources like oil to give it the credibility needed to withstand these sometimes blatant lies. It only has the status of being the only democracy anywhere in the region -- which is why people like Doumani and Tarbieh have the freedom to pull press stunts like these. Dave Crystal President, Yamin Nachon College '99 More on campus safety To the Editor: How many more students have to become victims before the University takes drastic security measures? Blue-light phones and 10 more police officers just are not enough. On October 5, we were walking from the High Rises to a sorority house on 40th and Walnut, when we were attacked by several boys who chased us down the street and pelted us with glass bottles. Where were the police? According to a Penn Police officer, the department is already overextended and severely understaffed. Police are working without a contract. Is it any wonder their morale is nonexistent? As an urban university we need a strong police force. This necessitates hiring more officers and giving them contracts. It appears the University is willing to spend money on needless projects, but is ridiculously frugal when it comes to campus security. Who needs a Perelman Quadrangle when we are too afraid to walk there? It's time for the University to make campus safety a priority. Jennifer Chachkes College '99 Felicia Platt Wharton '99 n To the Editor: Just wanted to inform you of yet another armed robbery, of three students at the corner of 46th and Pine streets. I defied the recent trend of graduate student migration into Center City by moving back to West Philly this fall? big mistake. Hopefully, an increased police presence in West Philadelphia will prevent this community from becoming entirely uninhabitable. Olivia Johnson Medicine '99 The opposite message To the Editor: Your editorial "With all deliberate speed" (DP, 10/2/96) praised the speedy action Penn administrators are taking to address safety and security issues. It's a pity that the headline communicates the opposite message. As anyone familiar with the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision should know, the phrase "?with all deliberate speed" does not mean "Do it right away," but rather "Take as much time as you need." The justices used the term to indicate that they would not insist on immediate action to desegregate the schools, but trust local officials to find the most expedient way to do so. Certainly this is not what you and other concerned students are asking now about safety, nor is it what you are commending the University for in your editorial. Sandy Smith News Officer Penn News and Public Affairs
(10/17/96 9:00am)
The better team won Saturday for no other reason than the fact that Paris Childress can't throw a football straight. By some accounts, that is exactly what happened with the Lions facing third-and-long and trailing 19-13 on their first and only overtime possession. Columbia's coaching staff, after a careful review of the Quakers' defensive tendencies, decided to send "four receivers vertical." Or in layman's terms, they told everybody to go deep. Now Childress, the Lions' sophomore backup quarterback, had already thrown three interceptions on the day, including two gifts to Penn nickelback Joe Piela, who returned them for a combined 132 yards and a touchdown. (That would make Piela the top offensive player on either team Saturday.) So, of course, with the game on the line, it was again Piela who Childress picked on when he stepped up in the pocket and floated the ball in the direction of Lions wide receiver Dennis Lee, who was cutting toward the middle at the three-yard line. Piela, who is not necessarily known as a speedy cover guy, appeared to be in perfect position to make a play and force fourth down and salvage the game and be the proverbial unlikely hero. Except the ball wasn't where it was supposed to be. Childress's pass, like so many of the balls he threw Saturday, sailed off the mark -- a bit behind his target. Lee reached back and snatched it, spun left and, in a split-second whirl, tumbled into the end zone to a chorus of stunned silence. Kick the extra point. Automatic. 20-19. Game over. End of story? You would like to leave it at that. Call it a fluke, a lucky bounce, an old-fashioned, that's-the-way-the-cookie-crumbles. But to do that would do Columbia a disservice. It would ignore the fact that the teams who win the ugly ones -- and be assured, Saturday's game was not easy on the eyes -- are the ones that give themselves a chance to win. And therein lies just about the only difference between Penn and Columbia on Saturday. Both teams turned in gritty defensive efforts to carry the load for their dysfunctional offenses. Both teams were as likely to score on defense or special teams as on offense. Both teams tried to run the football, and both teams made costly mistakes in the passing game. Both teams drew enough flags to decorate the United Nations. The difference on the scoreboard was exactly one point, and that one point was entirely a matter of fundamentals and concentration. It was a matter of executing the easiest play in football, the gridiron's equivalent of the intentional walk -- kicking an extra point. True, if you consult the Elias Sports Bureau or some other statistical authority, you will find PATs are occasionally blocked or even missed. But there isn't any actuarial chart that can account for the three Columbia players who waltzed through the heart of the Penn offensive line so fast they had time left over to do the Macarena before smothering Penn kicker Jeremiah Greathouse. Brett Bryant got credit for the block, but he just happened to be leading the conga line. As Penn coach Al Bagnoli later observed, "Greathouse never had a chance." They say that no football game is ever won or lost on a single play, let alone a point-after. Well, whoever they are, I'm betting they were somewhere other than Franklin Field Saturday afternoon, because if Greathouse has a chance to kick that extra point, it's knotted at 20, and they still might be in overtime. But he didn't and it isn't and they aren't, and the plain fact is the Quakers now stand at 2-2 -- 0-2 in the Ivies. Each offensive possession is an adventure. Injuries have taken their toll on a defense that was already inexperienced behind the front five. After four games, it is clear Penn is not the team that won 24 games in a row, nor should anyone expect it to be. But what the Quakers' faithful should expect is that their football program live up to its reputation for being well-coached and fundamentally sound. It is acceptable for Penn to be beaten, but not for the Quakers to beat themselves. And by my account, that is exactly what happened. Allow me, then, to correct myself. The better team won Saturday for one very good reason. Columbia gave itself a chance to win.
(10/11/96 9:00am)
From Kristopher Couch's, "Nothing But the Truth," Fall '96 From Kristopher Couch's, "Nothing But the Truth," Fall '96The National Endowment forFrom Kristopher Couch's, "Nothing But the Truth," Fall '96The National Endowment forthe Arts is not necessary toFrom Kristopher Couch's, "Nothing But the Truth," Fall '96The National Endowment forthe Arts is not necessary topreserve culture in America. From Kristopher Couch's, "Nothing But the Truth," Fall '96The National Endowment forthe Arts is not necessary topreserve culture in America. I like Sesame Street, too. We all remember watching Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, the Count and some guy crawling through the desert repeating, "Agua. Agua." Well, we need water, all right -- a good dose of it in the face. But slipped into the emotional appeal to save Sesame Street is a demand to save the federal funding for the arts. That includes not only the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but the National Endowment for the Arts. What's the difference between an educational show like Sesame Street and the NEA? Allow me to explain. Let's start with the numbers. The CPB started in 1969 with a total appropriation of $5 million. In 1992, Congress re-authorized the CPB with a three-year, $1.1 billion appropriation. The NEA was established in 1965, and its budget would grow from $2.5 million to $162.5 million for fiscal 1995. Are you Statistics students noticing a pattern here? While the e-mail petition stated that "government officials believe that the funding currently going to these programs is too large a portion of funding for something which is seen as 'unworthwhile'," it's not really about the money. It's estimated that more than $9 billion of private gifts go to the arts each year. Even in the case of the bloated federal budget, the NEA's $162.5 million is important more for its symbolism than for the dollars involved. So what's the big deal? I'm sure every American is willing to give a little bit of money for federally funded art if it means Big Bird can stay. Before you go digging into your pockets, read on. The NEA's charter legislation set "encouragement of excellence" as its number one criterion for doling out money, followed by "access to the arts for all Americans." Keep this in mind. You may be familiar with the NEA-funded showing of "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano, at the University's Institute of Contemporary Art two years ago. If Serrano wants to drop a crucifix into a tank of urine and call it art, he certainly can; this is a free country. The catch is, we are paying him to do it. Other NEA-funded artwork includes Joel-Peter Witkin's "Maquette for Crucifix," a naked Jesus Christ surrounded by obscene sado-masochistic imagery and portrayals of corpses and body parts. A Suzie Silver film titled "A Spy" depicts Jesus Christ as a naked woman with exposed breasts. The NEA authorized $20,000 for a project in a Lewiston, N.Y. park "to create large, sexually explicit props covered with a generous layer of requisitioned Bibles." Karen Finley is a performance artist known not only for smearing her nude body with chocolate, but for burning an American flag on stage while chanting "God is dead." A dangerous double standard exists here. Any art that includes a positive portrayal of religion violates the separation of church and state, while federal funding of attacks on religion is "artistic expression." Maybe you're thinking, "No big deal, I'm not that religious anyway." But who will back you up when the government funds anti-Semitic art? Who will defend you when the government gives money to an artist who burns a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. while chanting racist slogans? This has nothing to do with censorship. It's about sponsorship. Take a look at what else our tax dollars are paying for; it gets worse. Beyond the anti-religious art, the NEA has repeatedly funded artists whose favorite subjects are sex, urine and blood. Annie Sprinkle performs at NEA-funded venues, where she masturbates on stage with various sex toys and then invites members of the audience to explore her private parts with a flashlight. Performance artist John Fleck's act includes publicly urinating on a picture of Jesus Christ. Shawn Eichman's "Alchemy Cabinet," shown at an NEA-funded exhibition, displays a jar with the bloody fetal remains from her own abortion. The performance by Ron Athey at the NEA-funded Walker Art Center caused Congress to sit up and take notice. Athey sliced into another man's back with a knife, mopped up the blood with towels and sent them on clotheslines over a horrified audience. Athey then had two female assistants weave acupuncture needles through his scalp, after which he pierced the women's cheeks with steel spikes. NEA Chairperson Jane Alexander, Penn's 1995 Commencement speaker, defended the Athey performance -- and Congress responded by cutting her budget $4 million. You may be thinking: "Who is this guy to say what is art and what is not?" Exactly. Forgetting for a moment federal budget shortfalls and the NEA's crazy funding decisions, the American government shouldn't have the right to dictate what is art any more than I do. The irony behind this whole argument is that worthwhile art sponsored by the NEA and shows that register high ratings on PBS, Sesame Street included, generate more than sufficient revenue from donors, grants and product marketing. Sesame Street doesn't need your money; only art that could never generate private donations needs the government to step in. Don't let anyone use Big Bird as justification for keeping the NEA. Let's give Oscar the Grouch the option to move into a new studio. I know what we can put in his empty trash can.
(09/30/96 9:00am)
Al Bagnoli's decision to take the ball out of quarterback Steve Teodecki's hands last weekend wasn't much of a surprise. And that was exactly the problem. Going into that season opener at Dartmouth, the Big Green coaching staff was well aware of Bagnoli's fear of having Teodecki lose the game in his first collegiate start. Bagnoli's philosophy of running the ball on first down, running the ball on second down and running the ball on all but the longest third-down situations actually worked for the first half of last week's game. Jasen Scott rushed for 165 first-half yards, while Teodecki's offensive contribution was reduced mostly to placing the ball in Scott's hands. Teodecki's first-half statistics: 2-of-8 for 15 yards. More importantly, the Quakers were within five points of the preseason Ivy League favorite on the road heading into halftime. The Quakers lost a four-point lead in the waning seconds, falling 24-22, mostly because the offense failed to kill any time off the clock, allowing the Big Green chance after chance to score on the exhausted defense. The untested senior quarterback ended the afternoon having attempted only 17 passes, completing seven for 114 yards. Like Bagnoli hoped, Teodecki did nothing to cost Penn the game. He didn't throw any interceptions. He didn't fumble. He didn't miss an absurd number of passes. But he didn't help the team win, either. And that was something Bagnoli tried to fix in Saturday's game against Colgate. By the end of the first half, Teodecki had already attempted 17 passes, just one less than he attempted in the entire game against Dartmouth. His final stats -- 15-of-29 for 151 yards and one touchdown -- hardly suggest an all-Ivy gunslinger. But they do lead one to believe that Bagnoli is slowly letting loose the reigns on his quarterback. Equally significant, Teodecki spread the passes among seven receivers -- a far cry from last week when all but one reception was pulled in by Mark Fabish. Bagnoli and offensive coordinator Chuck Priore also got Teodecki to step out of the pocket by throwing in some bootlegs and quarterback sneaks. It appeared the coaches were trying to fit the offense to Teodecki's strengths -- rolling out, scrambling, passing on the run -- than fitting Teodecki into the offense. Perhaps the biggest disappointment from the Quakers' sideline was the torrential downpour that hit Franklin Field during the first half. The slick pigskin and the slippery turf combined to create near-impossible passing conditions. Reluctantly, Bagnoli shifted his offensive focus to the running game until the skies cleared up. Nonetheless, Bagnoli sent a message to his players and to opposing teams. He is confident in his new quarterback, and he plans on tweeking the system to create a more equal balance between the passing and running games. The play-calling in the Dartmouth game was typical Bagnoli. He has always been very protective of his quarterbacks. He doesn't want to seem them fail too early in their careers. It's not so much his fear that their confidence will be shattered as much as his need to have control. And right now, control means going with those players who have succeeded before -- namely the running backs. Two years ago, when Mark DeRosa was taking his first snaps as quarterback of the Quakers, Bagnoli eased him into the system much the same way. In DeRosa's first game, he only threw 22 passes, 14 of which were completions and none of which were interceptions. Back then, Penn won the game, defeating Lafayette, 22-7. And as everybody now knows, DeRosa went on to earn honorable mention all-Ivy honors that season. In his two years as quarterback, he finished second on the Penn all-time passing chart, just 69 yards behind his predecessor, Jimmy McGeehan. He compiled a 16-3 record as a starter, leading the Quakers to one undefeated season and an Ivy League championship. Bagnoli can only hope that the Teodecki project goes so well.
(09/11/96 9:00am)
Heather Tillet's success replacing Heather Glick is key In Feeney's system, the setter runs the offense as a quarterback does in football: she calls and directs the plays, and, when things are clicking, the setter is in firm control of the action on the floor. No one ran the Penn attack better than Glick, who is now playing professionally in France. In her four years as a Quaker, Glick racked up 3,584 assists. So good was Glick that, according to Feeney, she was worth three or four points each game. Feeney knew that one day she wouldn't be able to rely on her ace, so she has been preparing for this day. Tillet got plenty of reps in practice even with Glick ahead of her on the depth chart, and the elder Heather worked with the younger Heather in the spring to fine tune her technique. Of course that is all fine and good, but it does not substitute for live game action. "The biggest question mark is how long it will take her to feel comfortable, and that's just going to come through match play," Feeney said. In an ideal world, Tillet would have received a lot of court time last year in preparation, but for a variety of reasons that did not happen. Tillet played in just five games, although she performed well (58 assists and 17 digs) in her limited action. Initially, Feeney wanted Glick to break Penn's all-time assist record. Glick needed 931 more assists at the beginning of her senior year to break the mark. While that was a good bet going into the campaign (she recorded 988 the year before), it was in no way a sure thing. But the real reason for Tillet's lack of floor time, Feeney concedes, is that the Quakers "played so inconsistently," they needed Heather Glick on the court. Glick won't be there anymore, and Feeney has been been busy getting Tillet up to par. Right now, the coach says, Tillet is going through "growing pains" and has technical adjustments to make. In the early going, Feeney admits, "we may take our lumps." One might suspect the biggest challenge for Tillet may not be the technical adjustments, but rather the pressure of being a focal point of the team after being merely a footnote the past two years. And the fact that she's coming after one of the top player in Pennsylvania volleyball history cannot make things any easier. Tillet, however, rejects this premise. "I don't know if I call it pressure," Tillet said. "Glick was a great mentor for me and helped me a lot. I feel confident in myself." Tillet shows this confidence on the court by taking control verbally during games. Feeney believes she is an even better communicator than Glick was on the court. And at 5-foot-6, Tillet is also a bit taller than Glick, which is usually an advantage in volleyball. But comparing Tillet to Glick is not really fair. Glick was the focal point of the team her four years, while Tillet is just one of many lights. Tillet is not expected to carry the team like Glick was, and other players will have to elevate their games if Penn is going to compete for the Ivy title. And maybe the lack of a superstar will actually help the Quakers as they can no longer rely on one player to carry them through their struggles. After all, for all of Glick's accolades, Penn did not win an Ivy title in her tenure. One thing is certain -- Tillet is anxious to make her mark. "I feel like I've had two years to sit back and observe?" Tillet said. "I'm ready to step up."
(08/08/96 9:00am)
while politics and world news may not be as exciting as the Olympics, they are just as important. After the pageantry of the Olympics, returning to regular programming on NBC is almost a letdown for many people, including me, this week. Millions of viewers tuned in to see Kerri Strug hop on one leg, Michael Johnson run like the wind and Amy Van Dyken swim her way to multiple golds. For two weeks, despite all the complaining about commercialism, NBC's coverage and Atlanta's transportation problems, nothing else mattered. I'd come home from work, and immediately flip on the television. Then my family and I would sit, completely enamored of the entire spectacle, for hours on end. Families across the country did the same thing. Now, all of that has come to an end. But now, I wonder, how many of those viewers who spent night after night cheering their favorites on, will tune into the main event in television coverage next week? How many even know that the Republican Convention is beginning in San Diego on Monday? How many, more importantly, care? It's incredible to me that for two weeks, Americans can be as patriotic as they come, shouting "Go USA" at their TV sets, while in the next few weeks, those very same people will have no or little interest in the future of the country they support so vigorously. It's ironic, in a way, that the Summer Olympics coincide with presidential election years. After all, no matter how much campaign stumping Bob Dole has done in the last two weeks, how many bills Congress was trying to pass or how many times President Bill Clinton was trying to act presidential in the hopes of getting votes, most American citizens could really care less since they have something supposedly more important to watch. Instead of choosing presidential candidates, they've been trying to decide which sport they like best: softball, diving, rowing or table tennis. Welfare reform? What's that? There's nothing wrong with putting life aside to get caught up in something like the Olympics, though it would be nice if people realized that life throughout the world went on even when athletes were gathering to participate in world competition. But now the Olympics are over. And sadly, I think many people -- way too many people -- are not going to pay any more attention to news, politics and the world around them now than they did during the Olympics, when what mattered most was who the Dream Team was going to beat next? November is only a few short months away and the presidential election is usually first shaped by the upcoming conventions. In 1992, President George Bush found himself in a deep quandary when Pat Buchanan angered many and offended others with his convention speech. President Clinton, however, showed himself to be a "new" candidate ready for change. Vice President Al Gore didn't even look as stiff during those few days. But for most Americans, the next important thing on television will be fall premieres of their favorite sitcoms. News-wise, the only piece of important information to many fans of the USA is whether Kerri Strug will give up her amateur status -- or maybe, just maybe, the results of the TWA Flight 800 investigation. Neither convention gets gavel to gavel coverage on a station like NBC -- you can only get that on CSPAN, or maybe CNN. And they aren't as exciting or invigorating as Johnson's 200 meter dash. But they're just as important -- if not more so -- to us as Americans. A quick look at The Daily Pennsylvanian or even, if you're brave, The Philadelphia Inquirer or The New York Times might help, even if you can no longer check the medal count list. Call me a political science nerd or just call me a journalist, but I know that I will be glued to my television set as Dole announces his running mate, and Clinton tries to salvage a presidency that's received such mixed reviews. They may not have the drama or tears of an Olympian's dreams, but the conventions and campaigning and debating will determine, at least in part, the direction our country will take in the next four years -- where we'll be when we are gearing up for the Olympics in Sydney. At least give it a flip of the remote. Then maybe stay there for a few minutes and watch. The Republican convention starts on Monday and the Democrats begin their hurrah on August 26. Stay tuned.
(08/01/96 9:00am)
you should seize the day and keep your list of regrets as short as possible. Up above 43rd on Locust, Koch's was always a bit of a hike. There was always more of a wait than I had time to spare, Everything there cost more than I could afford to spend. Every time I did, though, it was worth every inch walked, every minute wasted, and every penny spent. The rolls were fresh. The meat was highest quality and it was packed thick. The sandwiches, once assembled,were worthy of Dagwood Bumstead himself. There's more to the place than sandwiches, too. The milkshakes are the thickest and richest I've ever had anywhere. I hated potato salad until a friend convinced me to try it there. Just like with any great business, there was more to it than just the product. Koch's was closer to the atmosphere I knew back in small-town Vermont than the one I am used to finding here in metropolitan Philadelphia. The Koch brothers, Bob and Lou, were as friendly as human beings come, making the hour-plus spent in line go by more quickly with free cold-cuts and Lou's god-awful puns. What's more, they recognized their customers, and always greeted people they had seen before with a relaxed familiarity that made you feel like you were in the company of friends. When Lou Koch died of a heart attack this past fall, cards came pouring in from all over the city. When Bob reopened the deli a few days later,he personally thanked everyone who sent one. I kept meaning to take my parents there when they came to visit, but I never did. There were many weekends when I could've afforded to do and didn't. I always assumed that thee would be another opportunity. As is always the case with that assumption, eventually I was wrong. So one more piece of the Penn I fell in love with is gone. This is a big one, so it gets to me a bit more than it should. This is hardly the first bit of my Philadelphia that has been lost. When I came here there was a club called the Chestnut Cabaret. It wasn't that fabulous a place save for the fact that on many a boring weekend it would host the sort of show that one normally had to go to the Trocadero to see. I still fondly recall the three hours of a bluegrass band called Allgood spent jamming there in front of a tiny crowd. Tiny crowds were the reason that the Chestnut Cabaret closed its doors. When the doors reopened, it was renamed Fubar, and now it is the sort of asinine dance club where overdressed jarheads get drunk off overpriced, crappy beer and do pelvic thrusts to the time of god-awful techno music. A cozy little place with a cozy little name became twisted and deformed like a thalidomide baby. Judging from my indictment of Fubar, one might guess that I'm the sort who absolutely hated (hates) Murph's. Lousy beer, overcrowding and grime are not the traits which attract me to a bar today. Murph's, however, was my first bar, and, like a first love, it will always hold a special place in my heart. Having been good and well behaved and studious in high school, I hadn't so much as smoked a cigarette when I came to college. My liver lost its virginity at Kappa Alpha and was finished off in the basement of Murphy's Tavern. There was a certain magic to a bar where a baby-faced 17 year-old could approach the door nervously holding out his PennCard in place of an ID, and have the bouncer wave it aside saying, "Quit wasting my time and get the hell in there!" I haven't been there in a long time. Like I said, my taste of atmosphere has changed. I've heard that since they were busted last year, they've started carding on a regular basis. That's a shame. My sympathies are with the incoming freshmen who are as dorky as I was and won't get the chance to have the same huddles in a Rolling Rock soaked booth, the same hook-ups in a dark and grungy corner, the same raucous sing-a-longs to "Piano Man" through a Jaegermeister induced haze. All these made my life that much richer, and it's a shame that those to come won't be able to share in them. I feel the same sympathy for all the Penn students who never had the luxury of walking no further than 38th and Chestnut to see one of their favorite bands. I feel even more sympathy for all those who'll never know the joy of sinking their teeth into a Koch's sandwich and washing it down with a milkshake. Yarislav (the malevolent spirit who lives in my laptop) is glaring at me as if to say, "If you get anywhere near a point, make it!"I'll sum it up with a piece of advice to all those who will be arriving in just over a month. The point is one that everyone has heard a million times, but is still every bit as true on the million and first" CARPE DIEM. Seize the day. If you do something that turns out wrong, you can almost always put it right, get over it, lean from it, or at least deny it. Once you've missed out on something, it's gone. The world waits for no one. It has its own schedule and either you keep up or get left behind. This is the point in your life when things around you begin changing a bit faster. The old will be replaced by the new, and often time the new will never be quite as cozy as the old was. People in your life will come and go a lot faster then they did before. There will be the girl who you never got to say the right words to, the band you never got to see live, the winning streak you never got to cheer on, the bar you never got to stumble home from, the brilliant retiring professor whose class you never took, the relative you never got very close with? It's a long list no matter what. Try to keep it as short as possible. Just before I finished writing this, I was told that I had been misinformed. Koch's isn't closing forever -- just for the rest of the summer. When September comes, get your ass over there and have a sandwich, because you never know?
(06/30/96 9:00am)
Chevy Chase, MD No, the most successful Quakers team over the winter was the underappreciated Penn wrestling squad. This year's team blitzed its way to a 10-0 dual-meet season against Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association foes, then conquered a 14-team field at the season-ending EIWA championship meet. That tournament was the climax of a metamorphosis for the ages. In the early 1980s, when now-coach Roger Reina wrestled for the Quakers, things were so bad that serious rumors swirled that the program would be dropped. The big turning point came in 1986, when Reina was hired as head coach. Penn finished with a dual-meet record of 6-14 in Reina's first season as coach. But the year after that, with his own recruits comprising a majority of the team, the Quakers leaped to 10-8-1. Talk to Reina about the improvement of the program since then and the word "pioneer" will come up multiple times. It is an apt metaphor: a few good men delving into the confused wilderness that was Ivy League wrestling and paving the way for those who would follow. That is why, when asked to talk about the heroes of this year's championship, Reina brought up three guys not even on the team anymore -- 1995 graduates Gary Baker, Brian Butler and Gonz Medina. Those were the guys who decided to come aboard in 1991, when the team was still struggling to escape from the cloud of mediocrity that had enveloped it since the mid-'70s. What a run that cast had. In 1994, they led Penn to its first Ivy League title since 1972. Last year, the senior season for the trio, the Quakers had serious notions of an Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championship-meet title for the first time in school history. But of the five Penn wrestlers that reached the semifinals at Easterns, only one advanced. The Quakers finished fifth. "It was a heartbreaking way for them to end their careers," Reina said. "But they certainly left their mark." The '94 team set a standard for the teams that followed in more ways than one. Of approximately 200 wrestling programs across the nations, the Quakers had the fourth-highest cumulative GPA. The team was as proud of that as it was of its first Ivy title in 20 years. More proud, maybe. It was an achievement in keeping with the philosophy Reina drills in his wrestlers from the moment he recruits them. Every wrestler will be expected to make a full commitment to academics in addition to doing everything he can to improve as an athlete. The resulting program is proof positive that success in athletics and success in academics are not entirely irreconcilable after all. It is because of all this work and sacrifice that goes into being a wrestler that the team does notice the lack of attention and appreciation on the part of the Penn community at large. Having conquered the EIWA, Penn then set its sights on the nation's elite. Seven wrestlers competed in the NCAA nation-championship tournament this season, the most they have sent in recent memory. But Penn seemed overwhelmed by the surroundings, finishing a disappointing 33rd. Now Reina wants to be a force to be reckoned with on the national level. Next year looks like it could be the year. Each of the past three seasons, Reina has brought in a top-20 recruiting class. This year's recruits are shaping up to be of similar caliber. Next year, then, the Quakers should have as talented a roster from top to bottom as they have ever had. It is the just desserts for a program that has undergone nearly two decades of misery, for all the work and sacrifice put in by Reina and the "pioneers". It could truly be a year to remember. The question is, Will anyone be watching?
(06/30/96 9:00am)
Sewickley Hts., PA Quakers men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy, like every coach, loses out on prized recruits all the time. And despite Dunphy's remarkable success against the Tigers on the court, Penn often loses to Princeton in the all-important recruiting wars. Last year, Dunphy lost out on his top recruit, guard Brian Earl. The former Shawnee (N.J.) High School star rejected Dunphy's offer, opting to play for Pete Carril. And in 1993, Sydney Johnson, who Dunphy recruited, also opted for the orange and black, where he has matured into an all-Ivy guard. But Carril stepped down as Princeton coach this year, turning over the big desk and reserved parking space to his long-time assistant Bill Carmody. When the change was announced, Carmody promised that he would continue Carril's famous slow-it-down half-court offense, complete with back-door cuts and 34-second sets. But when Rocca explained his reasons for spurning Penn, he cited Carmody's promise that the Tigers would play a new style of basketball as a major factor in his decision. "Coach Carmody is a lot different that Pete Carril," Rocca claimed. Right from that first press conference, it was hard to believe Carmody would be Pete Carril II. It's a no-win situation for Carmody. If he wins, it will be because Carril laid all of the groundwork. If he loses, it will be because he messed with Carril's system. So despite his public comments, Carmody will likely open up the offense to some degree and implement his own system. Carmody doesn't want to be just a button-pusher in Carril's master plan. He wants to leave his own mark on Ivy League hoops. And if Carmody does loosen the reins and go with a more up-tempo system, then the Ivy League may be entering a new era. And that could be very good news for the rest of the Ivy League. The true magic of Carril's system was that it produced consistent winners with only average talent. This past season, both Penn and Dartmouth had better teams on paper. In Ivy League Player of the Year Ira Bowman, all-Ivy center Tim Krug and second-team all-Ivy guard Donald Moxley, Dunphy surely had the best core of stars in the conference. Throw in solid role players like sharp-shooter Garett Kreitz and low-post banger Paul Romanczuk and the Quakers starting five could make a case for being the Ivy's best. The Big Green answered with its inside-outside combo of 7-footer Brian Gilpin and Sea Lonergan, the league's leading scorer, along with a strong stable of complimentary players, including point guard Kenny Mitchell and gunner P.J. Halas. At best, Princeton had the third-best talent in the Ivy League. Yet the Tigers were league co-champions, won the one-game playoff with Penn and knocked off defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But without Carril, what is the future of Princeton basketball? Four starters return from last year's squad -- all-Ivy center Steve Goodrich, all-Ivy guard Sydney Johnson, guard Jamie Mastaglio and Earl. But how much of their success was a result of Carril's wizardry, and how much was skill? The answer to that question may not sit too well with Princeton fans. That by no means takes away from the Tigers players' accomplishments. Someone has to execute the game plan. But the same starting lineup coached by anyone other than Pete Carril would never have won an Ivy crown or beaten UCLA. Princeton can have Mason Rocca. But what the Tigers really need is Pete Carril back.
(05/30/96 9:00am)
understand the relative significance of the different aspects of their lives and maintain self-loyalty. Now is the summer of our discontent. And it has to be. Go ahead, ask me how I know. We're now back at graduation. This is not my graduation; these are not my necessities being packed. They belong to my brother. I am only here for manpower -- an extra body to load boxes into our car, open eyes and strong hands to split the drive back home. I hear all the, "I'm looking for work in the x field" and, "I really want to be a y." Their voices waver, their eyes dart -- their lack of security a perfect accessory to their gowns and mortar boards. And these are some of the hardest working, most dedicated people on the planet. Where are they going now? The Gestapo of Life are marching all of them onto Franklin Field, and I am lucky enough to watch. I shouldn't have to sacrifice a summer in the name of a career. I shouldn't have to put myself against older, more qualified, and possibly more deserving people at this stage of my life. So I won't. I'll go my own route, work at my own pace and do what I love to do. Fuck misery. I won't commercialize. But I'm still rapt by the immensity of the whole thing. Flashback with me a few days to the Monday before graduation. I'm on the nine-train headed uptown in New York City. I need a place to live this summer because only a few days ago I was told I have an internship with a newspaper in Greenwich Village. This gig doesn't pay, and I'm halfway up to Harlem thinking, "what am I doing here?" I gather I'm on my way across some threshold when the nine-train seems like a pleasant place compared to the outside. Forty minutes amidst people who just don't care, and now I'm alone at 116 and Broadway. I know -- it's worse than this somewhere. This city is only big when you think about it, and when you're there alone, all you can do is think about it. And I'm still thinking, maybe to ignore the heat, about places like the South Bronx, Brownsville, or Queensbridge -- and those names: Bernhard Goetz and John Starks, Eleanor Bumpers and Colin Ferguson. I've just signed the lease at Columbia University, and I can't believe that I'd look too out of place if I were to grab the next person I see and ask them why I'm doing this. It's the thing we do. It's the God we pray to at night and the Devil that calms us when we wake up. It's the man that we pawn our soul to now so we can buy it back later. It's all the zeros at the end of our paycheck. It is, if nothing else, a sense of serenity. But sometimes it isn't. It can be a polar opposite. It is the dues we pay now to not pay them later. Hate now and love later: your punched ticket to contentment. Nine-train downtown. I swear to God, walking down Lafayette in the Village I see Harold from "Kids." ("Wassup, Harold!" I yell, and he is kind enough to mutter something before he grabs his skateboard and crosses to the other side of the street. Maybe I can fit in here.) Uncertainty and loneliness are no longer an issue -- it's too damn hot. Hope the office is air conditioned. It is, Allah be praised, but now what? The paper's office is like a mausoleum. "Steal this paper!" everything says, but maybe it ought to read "Fuck misery! We won't commercialize!" I'm telling you, the place was dead like yesterday. Then again, I did come by unannounced. (They weren't finished making all of their preparations for my arrival.) But I just wanted to get a lay of the land -- Lewis and Clark my way from Morningside Heights to the Village and then put my feet in the water. You all know what it's like going into something blind, and I couldn't let myself -- out of dignity and fear -- be thrown to the lions without at least a shield. My boss has to be someplace in a few minutes, so it's in and out. I spend more time waiting to get in than I do in the actual offices. I get to see what her cubicle looked like, whatever that's worth. I know where I'm going. I know where I'm living. I hope and pray I know what I'm doing. So now, Why? Here it is. Let's jump ahead two months: it's before twilight, and I'm sitting in Washington Square Park, having a snack before I head out for the evening with some friends. I'm wearing my Bulls jersey (no fear of retribution) and now that the sun is on its way down, the heat has started to dissipate. A lot of people in this park, billions more around it. A few I recognize, the rest I'll probably never see again. The day was long -- I had a lot of busy work to do, and more for tomorrow. But I'll meet my crew soon, perhaps see a picture, perhaps get kinda drunk. Whatever. I'll work hard tomorrow, this work will be useful down the road, and I'll imagine what sort of rewards this one summer will bring. But still, all summer, I've refused to let this take over. I haven't forgotten that I'm a kid. But before I fantasize, I wonder why, even if I love everything about this, I'm clawing and slaving and not sleeping just for a scrap of work no one else wants to do. I love this, remember? And I'll feel like hell, because I won't have an answer. But it will save me, knowing that I can ask that question.
(05/06/96 9:00am)
Twins Jill and AndreaTwins Jill and AndreaCallaghan are bringing theirTwins Jill and AndreaCallaghan are bringing theirsister act to Penn next fall As the Callaghan sisters line up on either side of the field for the Morrestown High girls' soccer team, opposing teams tremble in fear as they realize that are facing not one, but two of the best high school players in the state of New Jersey. Morrestown High School has been a girls' soccer powerhouse over the past four years due in large part to the play of identical twins Jill and Andrea Callaghan. Actually, Jill and Andrea are two of three triplets -- the other sister, Crissy, is a fraternal triplet. The sisters are two of the best players ever to play at Morrestown High School, located in the South Jersey suburbs. Between them, they scored 202 goals and dished out 106 assists during four varsity campaigns at Morrestown High, a soccer power that compiled an 87-13-6 record and won a pair of state championships in the Callaghan era. "When we met him, Penn became one of our choices," Jill said. Baker recruited the sisters for Penn as he coached them and played a big role in their decision to become Quakers. "We were both pretty much set on Penn from the start," said Andrea, who added that they were also recruited by local schools such as Rutgers and Trenton State. "We weren't looking to go to a top soccer school. We're both hoping to play a lot and we were looking at academics first." If the Callaghans, or anyone else, impress in the pre-season practices, they can expect to receive plenty of playing time. "I don't care if they're a freshman or a senior, my best 11 players are going to start. Indeed, Penn is not one of the top programs in the country. However, the squad has turned things around recently. Last season the Quakers posted the first winning season in their five-year history with an 8-6-2 record. But they can still use help in the Ivy League where they finished 1-5-1. Baker has said that he would like Penn to be the best in the Ivies after his third recruiting class. The Callaghans are key parts of the second. The coach expects the sisters to have an influence on the offense, a group that was inconsistent last year. Particularly important is finishing, the ability to take chances when they are presented.. "Both are blessed with quickness and speed," Baker said. "They receive the ball well, they score goals and they can blow by people on the dribble. They're the type of players that finish chances up front." The new Quakers are looking forward to joining the program in its ascent. "The team all felt they were getting better and better," Jill said after visiting campus. "I'm excited to go there and help change things." Playing together, as they have since age five, the Callaghan sisters are hoping to make their mark at Penn. "Since we were in kindergarten, we've played together," Andrea said. "We've learned to work really well together." In fact, all four Callaghan sisters played soccer. However, Jill and Andrea have emerged as the strongest players. Their older sister no longer plays and their fraternal triplet, Crissy will be playing at Trenton State next year. Although the sisters did not plan to go to college together, their interest in the school grew for much the same reasons. And as they got to know Baker and Penn, the choice became obvious for both of them. "I think it basically just happened that way," said the girls' mother Jacquelyn Callaghan. "It was not intended." And although the sisters will be on the same campus and on the same soccer team, they will not be rooming together. "That way, they can go their own ways and make their own friends," their mother said. "We don't get along at all," Andrea said. "We stay away from each other and we compete a lot. We're going to try to keep a distance off the field." "We both already know that off the field we're going to try to find our own friends and go our own ways," Jill agreed. On the field, the sisters play well together and provided their high school with an excellent offense. "They're very competitive, but they're also very close," Morrestown High School coach Glen Porter said. "Their passes were almost telepathic." The Quakers are getting two players who are coming off excellent high school careers. Jill scored 99 goals and Andrea scored 103 goals in high school playing left and right wing respectively. That put them twelfth and ninth in career goals scored on the all-time South Jersey list. The Callaghans were hoping to be the first sisters to both score 100 goals in their careers. Andrea's 100th goal came with a few games left in the season. "When I first scored it, I didn't even realize it was my 100th," Andrea said. "After the game is when it really hit. I was really happy, it was a big accomplishment." After that, Andrea and the rest of the team tried to get Jill to the century mark also. "It was a disappointment because I came so close," said Jill. "But, I'm more happy that we won States. I'd rather us both [had scored 100], but I'm glad she did." The Callaghan triplets led Morrestown High to two state championships in their junior and senior years in high school and the team was ranked No. 1 in the nation for about a month during their junior year. They were named co-players of the year in South Jersey this year and they each won a Most Valuable Player award in the past two years. "They've been an integral part of our team for four years," said Porter. "They'll be a big plus to the [Penn] program. I was very glad to see them go there. We're going to miss them an awful lot." As the Callaghan sisters join the Penn community in the fall, they hope to find their own niches off the field. But as they have for their whole lives, they will be working closely together, as teammates, on the field.
(04/17/96 9:00am)
Quakers men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy, like every coach, loses out on prized recruits all the time. And despite Dunphy's remarkable success against the Tigers on the court, Penn often lose to Princeton in the all-important recruiting wars. Last year, Dunphy lost out on his top recruit, guard Brian Earl. The former Shawnee (N.J.) High School star rejected Dunphy's offer, opting to play for Pete Carril. And in 1993, Sydney Johnson, who Dunphy recruited, also opted for the orange and black, where he has matured into an all-Ivy guard. But Carril stepped down as Princeton coach this year, turning over the big desk and reserved parking space to his long-time assistant Bill Carmody. When the change was announced, Carmody promised that he would continue Carril's famous slow-it-down half-court offense, complete with back-door cuts and 34-second sets. But when Rocca explained his reasons for spurning Penn, he cited Carmody's promise that the Tigers would play a new style of basketball as a major factor in his decision. "Coach Carmody is a lot different that Pete Carril," Rocca claimed. Right from that first press conference, it was hard to believe Carmody would be Pete Carril II. It's a no-win situation for Carmody. If he wins, it will be because Carril laid all of the groundwork. If he loses, it will be because he messed with Carril's system. So despite his public comments, Carmody will likely open up the offense to some degree and implement his own system. Carmody doesn't want to be just a button-pusher in Carril's master plan. He wants to leave his own mark on Ivy League hoops. And if Carmody does loosen the reins and go with a more up-tempo system, then the Ivy League may be entering a new era. And that could be very good news for the rest of the Ivy League. Even when Penn was in the midst of its back-to-back-to-back Ivy League championship seasons, the most unpleasant two games on every Ancient Eight team's schedule were those against Princeton. The Quakers were going to beat you -- that was never a question. But the Tigers could degrade you and make you look like third graders. Holding your opponent to 40 points, but still losing will do that to a team. But the true magic of Carril's system was that it produced consistent winners with only average talent. This past season, both Penn and Dartmouth had better teams on paper. In Ivy League Player of the Year Ira Bowman, all-Ivy center Tim Krug and second-team all-Ivy guard Donald Moxley, Dunphy surely had the best core of stars in the conference. Throw in solid role players like sharp-shooter Garett Kreitz and low-post banger Paul Romanczuk and the Quakers starting five could make a case for being the Ivy's best. The Big Green answered with its inside-outside combo of 7-footer Brian Gilpin and Sea Lonergan, the league's leading scorer, along with a strong stable of complimentary players, including point guard Kenny Mitchell and gunner P.J. Halas. At best, Princeton had the third-best talent in the Ivy League. Yet the Tigers were league co-champions, won the one-game playoff with Penn and knocked off defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But without Carril, what is the future of Princeton basketball? Four starters return from last year's squad -- all-Ivy center Steve Goodrich, all-Ivy guard Sydney Johnson, guard Jamie Mastaglio and Earl. But how much of their success was a result of Carril's wizardry, and how much was skill? The answer to that question may not sit too well with Princeton fans. That by no means takes away from the Tigers players' accomplishments. Someone has to execute the game plan. But the same starting lineup coached by anyone other than Pete Carril would never have won an Ivy crown or beaten UCLA. Princeton can have Mason Rocca. But what the Tigers really need is Pete Carril back.
(04/11/96 9:00am)
After meeting coachAfter meeting coachCissie Leary at a USTAAfter meeting coachCissie Leary at a USTAevent, Preety SorathiaAfter meeting coachCissie Leary at a USTAevent, Preety Sorathiachose to attend Penn When Preety Sorathia and her family moved to Louisiana, their apartment was conveniently located next to a tennis court. Sorathia was a chubby nine-year old and had never played tennis before, but her mother told her to pick up a racquet so she could get some physical activity. So her tennis career began with her father tossing tennis balls to her every day after school. "Tennis just started out as a fun thing to do for exercise," Sorathia said. "I was not really serious about it." But after returning to her home state of New Jersey and playing for a few more years, Sorathia did become serious about tennis and began playing tournaments. Sorathia played No. 1 singles for Eastern High School for two years, but spent most of her time traveling around the country participating in USTA sanctioned tournaments. Because of her relationship with Leary and her desire to go to school in a city, Sorathia decided to become a Quaker. "I wanted to recruit her for a long time," Leary said. "She has the kind of character I was looking for in a player and is a good person to build a team around." By the end of her junior career, Sorathia was burnt out because of all the playing and traveling she had done. But immediately upon joining the Penn team, she regained her love for the game. "Playing in college was a big change from competing at the junior level," Sorathia said. "There is a great emphasis on the team and not the individual, and I really liked that." Another huge adjustment Sorathia had to make was playing doubles in addition to singles. In high school and at tournaments, she only played singles and was purely a baseline player. After a few weeks of practice into her freshman year, Leary told her that she would be playing No. 1 doubles. "I could not believe it," Sorathia said. "I told her that she was crazy. And for the first semester, I did not know where to stand or how to play. But eventually I got better." Indeed she did improve, and by the end of her junior year, Sorathia and her partner Barrie Bernstein were named first-team all-Ivy and were ranked sixth in the region and 39th in the nation. Sorathia has also showed much improvement at the singles position. Starting at No. 4 singles as a freshman, she moved up one spot in each subsequent year until reaching the No. 1 position this season as a senior. "She has matured quite a lot as a player," Leary said. "She is much more consistent and plays the game of tennis instead of just hitting the ball." Sorathia achieved her greatest success last year at the No. 2 singles position. Finishing the Ivy League spring season with a 7-0 record, Sorathia was the only No. 2 singles player in the conference to be awarded first-team all-Ivy honors. In addition, Sorathia won her flight at last year's ECAC Championships, helping the Quakers win the ECAC team championship and achieve a No. 10 ranking in the East Region's final poll. "I played some of the best tennis of my life," Sorathia said. "I worked really hard, and I was very proud of my play." This year, because she is playing stronger competition at the No. 1 singles position, Sorathia has not had the same brilliant record of years past. Against some of the best players in the Eastern Region, she has amassed a record of 9-10, including 1-1 in the Ivy League. This somewhat mediocre record, however, is not indicative of her quality play. "I'm a fighter," Sorathia said. "I may be down, but I never give. And I make my opponent win the match." Sorathia's contributions are not limited to her efforts on the court. On a team with only one other senior -- co-captain Beth Brady -- Sorathia has taken on a leadership role. That role will be especially important for the rest of her senior year, because after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament last weekend against Cornell, her playing career at Penn has most likely come to an end. Even though Sorathia may no longer compete as a Quaker, her tennis playing days are certainly not over. "I love the game," Sorathia said. "And no matter what, I will always play it."
(03/25/96 10:00am)
Two years later? (continue from page 1) Residential Living employees and student workers usually check IDs and work at dormitory reception desks during the day. But Allied officers fill both these roles during the late night shift which runs from midnight to 8 a.m. "Previously there was a security marshal and a desk receptionist during the graveyard shift," Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said. But now there is only one security officer who covers both posts during early morning hours. Algard said this change was a "cost-conscious initiative" that was made since the volume of "people traffic" in the early morning is low. "You have to base it on the transaction rate -- how many people have come and gone, how can you correctly monitor the traffic and not have any violations," he said. But some students believe that one officer on duty may not be sufficient. "There should be more security after midnight," Nursing freshman and Quadrangle resident Christine Puglia said. "I can't see them being able to stop anyone if they're alone." Some students said they have witnessed guards sleeping during this period. College freshman Joanne Piesieski said she saw an officer sleeping more than a month ago as she exited the Quad early one morning. Although four Allied officers were fired for sleeping on duty soon after the firm came to the University, most students said they have never seen an Allied officer asleep. "I've seen them reading with walkmen, but never asleep," College junior Florence Yeh said. Although guards are permitted to participate in other activities while on duty as long as they are mentally alert, Algard said that sleeping on the job is a serious offense and is usually cause for immediate termination. Algard emphasized that Allied officers must be able to handle the number of people entering the gate, which often involves paying total attention to the entrance gate. But he said that if guards are able to read, listen to the radio or talk on the phone while effectively monitoring incoming students, then they may do so. Many students said they have noticed that some security officers do not look up to make eye contact with people entering the dorms or ask to verify their picture IDs. College freshman Jeff Barkoff said that he usually shows his picture regardless of whether or not the security officer requests to see it. "I show my card," the Quad resident said. "But I realize they don't generally look up." Quad resident and College freshman Paras Shah noticed security officers were "more strict" about asking to see photos after an intoxicated Physical Plant worker entered the Quad without showing ID last month and harassed students. A Residential Living employee was on duty at the time. Yeh, a High Rise South resident, said she is occasionally asked to show her picture when she enters the dormitory. "I think checking pictures is good as a precautionary measure, but it's not necessary," she said. EXPANDED ROLE More than a year ago, Allied's role in University security expanded when they were hired to secure other campus locations in addition to residences. Rodin's master security plan created "Community Walks" to boost coverage of the most frequented areas of campus. According to Algard, security officers patrol these walks in an effort to prevent crime by making their presence known while also reacting properly to incidents that occur. Each of the five Community Walk stretches is patrolled by one Allied officer from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. The Department of Public Safety also assigns Allied security officers to other locations, such as the transit stops at 3401 Walnut Street, Gimble Gymnasium and the David Rittenhouse Laboratory building, along with several campus parking lots. According to Algard, certain other locations, including Chats and the Franklin Building, pay to have Allied secure their facilities. And there are three kiosks presently in operation along Locust Walk, where guards are stationed to answer questions and keep order during the daytime. Allied Officer Salustiano Rosario, who mans the kiosk at 37th Street and Locust Walk, said his main duties are to provide information and campus maps and to "to keep an eye on" any "suspicious looking" people. Allied officers are not armed but are trained to call University Police in the event of an emergency. Rosario said he recently had to call the police when a homeless man was verbally harassing students on the Walk. But many students are not aware of the purpose behind the kiosks and have never made use of them. Yeh said she had never noticed the kiosks, which are located at 33rd, 37th and 40th streets along Locust Walk. "I don't know what they do," Shah said of the officers who monitor the kiosks. "I guess they're there for emergencies." But others said they believe the presence of guards on Locust Walk has a positive preventative effect on crime. "If there were no guards, there would probably be people walking around with machine guns robbing everyone," College and Engineering sophomore Evan Witt said. "The guards don't have anything to do," he added. "They're bored but their visibility is good." College sophomore Allison Price agreed that Allied's presence makes a difference. "I definitely feel safer because of them," she said. ALLIED'S SUCCESS Many administrators said they believe that students feel secure on campus largely as a result of Allied's efforts. "Students feel on the whole very comfortable with Allied and with residential security in general," Simeone said. Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said many students feel safe, "especially those who take appropriate precautions, as is important on an urban campus." While many students agreed that they feel safe on campus, some did not credit Allied officers for giving them that impression. "I feel safe on campus, but it's not because of them," Puglia said. "They're never around when you need them." Shah said he rarely sees guards on Locust Walk. "If something happens to me, I would want [a guard] to be there," he added. McCoullum said she believes Allied is an improvement from its predecessor. But she said she also hopes to see more University-wide training and procedural standards set for security in the future. "I hear lots of good things and I hear some concerns," the vice provost said. She added that she hopes to conduct a formal evaluation of Allied next year. "The anecdotes are not enough for me," she said. "It is important to have hard data on performance. This is a perfect time for formal assessment." TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES Algard admits that there is always room for security improvements, many of which can be accomplished through increased and better technology. "If there is technology that I can apply to give the same amount of safety and if I can create a savings in that, then I may be able to pull security officers and reemploy them somewhere else and make them more useful," he said. He has proposed one such technological improvement that will allow him to evaluate the efficiency of roaming guards. Under the plan, guards would contact a central control room electronically every time they complete a circuit of their assigned route. Public Safety officials would then be able to use the ratio of completed routes to incidents to determine how effective the roaming guards are. "If the frequency rate goes up and the incidents go down, it says the tactic is working," Algard said. "So if it doesn't, we have to regroup." Ideally, guards would be located where they prevent the most crime while helping students to feel safe. But Allied supervisor Bernard Uqhardt noted that it is often difficult to measure the effectiveness of roaming guards. "It is hard to put a quantitative number on how many crimes you have prevented," he said. Another technological advancement that may put guards into more visible position on Community Walks is an automated system of residential security. But some students do not feel comfortable with the idea of automated ID checkers. "I'd rather have people there," Price said. And Puglia said that although automated ID checkers "sound like a good idea," they should not be substitutions for the guards, especially in case of emergency. "There are certain ways to get around everything," she added. "There should be a guard at hand."
(02/27/96 10:00am)
"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." --Rebecca West Feminism has been getting a bad rap lately. It has been well documented that many women are loath to call themselves feminists today, even women who are feminists by definition. My own mother, who has forever pushed me to succeed and now, along with my father, supports me both financially and emotionally in my quest for higher education and knowledge, told me that she does not consider herself a feminist. "What are you then?" I asked. I have forever described myself as a feminist, because I believe that, as a woman, I am equal to any man. Period. That is what being a feminist means in the purest sense of the word. The original feminists were women like Margaret Sanger, champion of the birth control pill, who found a method to let women have control over their own bodies, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who pushed America to ratify the 19th Amendment and let women's voices be heard. These were not militant women, only defenders of a woman's right to be equal to men. In her book Who Stole Feminism?, Christina Hoff Sommers questions the negative connotation that the term feminism now carries. She writes that many women who now call themselves feminists are under the belief that America is holding women back and not allowing them to be free. But, she writes, "not everyone, including many women who consider themselves feminists, is convinced that contemporary American women live in an oppressive 'male hegemony.' " This oppression, which many so-called feminists see everywhere, spurs angry anti-men, anti-establishment rhetoric that many mainstream women find hard to swallow. Sommers continues on to say that "the large majority of women, including the majority of college women, are distancing themselves from this anger and resentfulness. Unfortunately, they associate these attitudes with feminism, and so they conclude that they are not really feminists." As a Sociology major, I have taken a number of courses taught by Sociology professors that were cross-listed with the Women's Studies Department. Last semester, I took such a class at the graduate level. The class was composed of about five undergraduates and 15 graduate students; there were only three men. Throughout the semester, I spoke with a few of my undergrad classmates about our level of discomfort with many of the class discussions. We felt that many graduate students in the class had taken very radical positions, and as a result, they were not willing to listen to our more moderate views. One friend was hesitant to mention that she wanted to quit working after she had children, for fear that the class would think less of her and try to convince her otherwise. After preaching that every woman had to find solidarity with and look out for all her fellow women, I found the attitudes of some students in this class extremely contradictory. If these women were feminists, I was not sure that I wanted to be associated with them. I found myself falling into the same trap I have often faulted others for succumbing to: How could these women hold such extreme views and be the same as I? On the last day of class, we went around the room to each express our opinion of the coursework and class discussion. Disheartened after being personally attacked for views I had voiced earlier, I remarked that having seen so-called feminism, I was not sure that I could include myself as one of its supporters. For days after saying this, I received e-mail messages from women in the class begging me to reconsider. Some believed all women could find their own take on feminism, while others agreed with me about the radical nature of the class. All were frightened to lose one of their own. Every woman should be able to call herself a feminist if she believes she is capable of achieving anything a man can. This applies to things as basic as changing a light bulb to those as complex as flying to the moon or performing open-heart surgery. When I was growing up, my parents always told me I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up. I believed them. By putting such faith in me, their daughter, they declared their own feminism. Because of my experiences last semester and with certain other radical groups, I am able to understand why some of my contemporaries are frightened of the term feminism and what they think goes along with it. But they are wrong to feel this way. Everyone, male or female, can be a feminist and work to ensure that women retain equality with men in everything from sports to law to entertainment. That is not to say that we need to have quotas or politically correct language. It is enough to guarantee that opportunity exists for both sexes. Do not be afraid to call yourself a feminist. I promise you, if you believe that the woman sitting next to you in class deserves to be here as much as you do, you are a feminist, whether you call yourself one or not.
(02/27/96 10:00am)
To the Editor: In any event, in Crystal's second column, his leitmotif (if he can really be said to have one) seems to be encapsulated in what I would call "The Conflation of the Century," which attempts to fuse Farrakhan's speaking at Howard University with the reaction to O.J.'s acquittal with the criticism directed at Crystal's first column. The linchpin holding these three different and enormously complex events together? Simple, unthinking loyalty to the race, which -- in a very different context -- Harvard professor Cornel West has called "The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning." Here we ought to pause for a moment and savor Crystal's insufferable melange of hauteur and limitless reductionism, a melange which would no doubt be the envy of any presidential candidate. Clearly, this is nonsense. Farrakhan's popularity is one matter, the reaction to O.J.'s acquittal is another matter, and believe it or not, the criticism directed at Crystal's first column is quite another. It is racist, stupid and immature to assert that African Americans criticized Crystal's column for the same reasons that they might (or might not) go to hear Farrakhan, or for the same reasons that they might (or might not) have cheered O.J.'s acquittal. Simply put, Crystal's first column was criticized because his analysis lumbered about like a dying troglodyte, grunting, whimpering and blindly, savagely, striking out in all directions. If, at the first signs of criticism, Crystal is going to run and hide behind the skirts of a mean-spirited reductionism, he's not fit to write about the weather, much less about race. Sprinkled throughout the second column are the words Negro and Caucasian, no doubt used because Crystal believes these are the scientifically endorsed (read: objective) names for the races that he believes exist. Without even touching on the limits and abuses of racial objectivism, let alone on the historical relationships between science and race or language and identity, I will simply say this: Perhaps in Staten Island, you can use the word "Negro" and get away with it. In West Philadelphia, however, I would watch that. Brennan Maier College '97 Maintain educational excellence To the Editor: In response to yesterday's article on tenure ("The road to tenure," DP, 2/26/96), I have one brief but important point which I feel should be made. In this article, College Dean Robert Rescorla comments on the fact that "the decisions made [in the tenure process] are necessary to maintain the University's excellence in education." I think that this is just the point that my fellow Undergraduate Advisory Board members and I have been trying to make, specifically on behalf of Gregg Camfield. While I realize that publication is important, both for professors and for the institutions in which they work, Penn has a unique gift of connection between many of its professors and its student body. Losing professors like Gregg Camfield (and, of course, many others who are being reviewed for tenure) means losing this gift. As a member of the UAB, I know that I do not speak alone. Also in reference to yesterday's paper, I would like to applaud Shawn Walker, not only for her tireless dedication to the English Department and especially to the new Writers House, but also for her courage in rebuffing an unfair editorial. As the President of Quaker Boxing (a student organization which, despite 20 years of active membership, has only recently been recognized by the University), I know how difficult it can be to get things done at Penn, especially for a small student group. I therefore commend Shawn for her efforts in seeing an idea through to fruition and for her bravery in defending it. I guess the question, then, is to write or not to write. I, for one, think the answer depends on the context. After all, how can we punish some for not writing and then berate others for trying to? It just isn't fair. Matthew Robinson English Undergraduate Advisory Board College '96
