Open House at New Bolton Center
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UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA Tuesday, September 17, 1996 Volume 43 Number 4 Beyond Belief IN THIS ISSUE Open House at 2 From the President: Minority A spiny cylinder made of 2000 books towers 15 feet Recruitment and Retention at Penn New Bolton Center to the ceiling, where the viewer who peers inside finds a cheerful mystery ...Barbie morphs to middle-age, 3 SAS Acting Dean: Walter Wales; and suddenly she’s ‘Ken’s Aunt’, all struggling flesh Trustees: Buying the Sheraton Even without the live llamas and percherons on parade— against her own underwear...a giant styrofoam baby is 4 Council Topics for September 24 or the opportunity to have one’s favorite stuffed toy both ‘Untitled’ and featureless as only a supermarket Bulletins and Calendar Changes diagnosed and treated by the world’s best veterinarians— bar code can make it... Graduate Education: the University’s New Bolton Center is a remarkable place 8th Annual Career Conference; to visit—if only for the freshness of the Kennett Square These are just three of the 50 high-impact installations Applying Online to Penn BioMed on view at the Institute for Contemporary Art, where mushroom country. But only once a year is the School of Veterinary Medicine’s 5 Deaths: Dr. Dale and Mr. Browne; green and rolling “other campus” open to visitors, and that day is coming: the full title of the show is Beyond Belief: Contempo- The Sellin Collection at Van Pelt Saturday, September 21, from rary Art from East Central Europe. Brought here from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. is Open the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the 6 Convocation: The President and House at New Bolton Center. show clusters the work of 13 artists and groups around Provost Welcome the Class of 2000 the concept that they who have witnessed an era in 8 Speaking Out: More on Escort; New Bolton Center is as old as the which “commonly held” values shifted and A Denial-of-Tenure Complaint Colonial-period Allam House and as new reconfigured with each new regime, will respond by (Graham Walker), with Responses as the latest research laboratories where the questioning the validity of all ideologies. _________________________________________ diseases of farm and food animals are one of the Beyond Belief will be here through October 27, 11-15 COMPASS FEATURES special focuses of the faculty, staff and students. and the galleries at 118 S. 36th Street are open Just for the day, visitors can tour the Large Animal 11 Linking Scholarship and Community Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12 Penn and the Large Hadron Collider Hospital outfitted for horses which, after surgery, can be 5 p.m. except Thursdays, which are “late nights” taken by monorail to a recovery pool where they wake up rub- open until 7. Tours are scheduled Sundays at 1 p.m. 13 ‘Kids Having Kids’ Opens GSE Series ber-shielded and weightless to avoid injuring themselves. With and Thursdays at 5:15 p.m., but can also be 14 Superspeed from Supercomputers; Mr. Pfaendtner’s Bronze in Crew support from the Iams Company for the day’s program, arranged by appointment. Admission is the featured activities include: free for PENNcard holders, ICA members, 15 ‘Into the Streets’ with Freshmen Comment on ‘Who Stole the Dream’ • The Emergency Tent for Injured Stuffed Animals children under 12, and everyone who comes ___________________________________ • Hospital Tours Sundays between 10 a.m. and noon. Other- • Llama Obstacle Course Demonstration wise: $3 general admission, $1 for students, 16 Survey Results: • Six-Horse Percheron Draft Hitch artists and senior citizens. Dining and Amenities • S.P.A.R.K.’s Dog Agility Demonstration 19 OPPORTUNITIES • Southeast Regional Cattlemen’s Association Note for PENNcard holders: the ICA 23 Crime Alerts, Cattle Breed Exhibition terrace welcomes brown-baggers. CrimeStats, Update • Delaware State Police Canine Unit 24 Open House at Demonstration New Bolton Center • Canine Partners for Life Idiom • Oxen-Team Demonstration Matej Kren, • Veterinary Career Information Czechoslovakia Untitled David Cerny • Animal Blood Mobile 1994 Assembling the Czech Republic piece anew for each 1995 of its 12 showings an oversized infant, to date, the artist approximately 8’ high, Both admission and works in the language in styrofoam and parking for the Open House of the country—using, plaster are free. in this case, 2000 hardcovers on loan New Bolton Center is located at from the University of 382 West Street Road (route 926) Pennsylvania Press in Kennett Square, PA 19348-1692. and Van Pelt Library. For information call (610) 444-5800, Ext. 2182. Ken’s Aunt Zbigniew Libera, Poland 1995 detail from an Untitled Installation of modified Barbie dolls 24 ALMANAC September 17, 1995 FROM THE PRESIDENT Minority Recruitment and Retention at Penn As work has proceeded on Agenda for Learning in this way may not be simple, integration of minorities into our higher edu- Excellence, the University’s strategic plan, I quiet or easy. Indeed, the coexistence on one cation system.” have thought a great deal about aspects of the campus of individuals of varied backgrounds Similar sentiments have been expressed plan that need to be fleshed out or clarified. In and divergent ideas is complicated; it re- by many other colleges and universities as a coming issue of Almanac the Provost and I quires hard work and commitment from all they have come to the firm belief that efforts will fill in gaps in the Agenda, as it was concerned. But those willing to reach out will to increase diversity will improve education published last November, by outlining sev- find new and unexpected perspectives, and for all students—not just those from under- eral strategic priorities for the University in real education will occur. represented groups. Consistent with this, they academic areas of critical importance. In this As an institution of higher education, then, have undertaken and funded a wide range of issue I would like to offer some thoughts and we have a responsibility to create and nurture initiatives and programs aimed at recruit- announce several initiatives on the subject of a community of different peoples in which a ment and retention of minority students and minority permanence at Penn. Agenda for true diversity of views and opinions, persons faculty. Racial diversity, in this connection, Excellence clearly says that as part of the and groups is valued and shared. The quality must be seen as a legitimate consideration in University’s drive toward comprehensive of life at Penn must be good for people of all a university’s decisions about the students excellence, we must value diversity and races, ethnicity or other personal or group and the faculty it recruits. It must not be an strengthen our efforts to recruit and retain characteristics. Our goal is not to homog- exclusive consideration, a proxy for quotas students and faculty from underrepresented enize our differences, but to capitalize on and or a rationale for admitting or hiring the minority groups. My desire in this space is to learn from them. unqualified, but it must remain one among provide some details on how we may do this. Moreover, if Penn intends to educate lead- other factors legitimately taken into account. When I came to Penn from the Philadel- ers, as we frequently proclaim, then we must To the extent recent court decisions suggest phia public schools as an undergraduate in recognize and accommodate the diversity of otherwise, I believe those decisions pose a the early 1960s, the number of African Ameri- the society we expect our graduates to lead. real threat to the ability of universities to can students in my class was exceedingly If Penn’s mission is genuinely tripartite— deliver education of the highest quality. small—below one percent of the total. The teaching, research and service—then our ser- In my opinion, we must continue efforts number of non-white faculty at the Univer- vice to a tremendously complex and ever- to recruit students and faculty from under- sity was even smaller. To say people of color changing society demands that we educate represented minority groups and, at the same were “underrepresented,” as we use the term future leaders who come from and partici- time, articulate much better the importance today, is to understate the obvious. pate in that complexity and change. Penn and value of those efforts to our educational Penn was not unique in this regard. Other graduates must be people of many colors and enterprise. Indeed, this is a moment when, prestigious universities in the Ivy League from many backgrounds if they are to lead rather than retreat, we must redouble our and elsewhere were no different. In most and serve society in the future. efforts. According to current figures, the cases, this was not because these universities There is nothing uniform about America: number of matriculants from under-repre- refused to admit persons of color. To the diversity is its calling card. Philadelphia— sented minority groups in the class of 2000 is contrary, in Penn’s case, the University the University’s home for more than 250 lower than the number a year ago, and there awarded its first degree to an African Ameri- years—is a case in point. Some forty percent has been little real growth in African Ameri- can almost a century before I arrived, and of Philadelphians identify themselves as Af- can and Hispanic faculty over the past de- many talented African American students rican American; the percentage is higher still cade. continued to enroll and receive undergradu- among the 220,000 residents of the West This administration has a strong commit- ate, graduate and professional degrees through Philadelphia communities surrounding Penn.