GUEST COLUMNIST: Palestra shooting can't be forgotten

As a victim of the March 1 shooting outside the Palestra, I feel it is my obligation -- not only to myself but to all of you affected by the mind-boggling incident -- to speak out. One month after a stray bullet hit me in the leg while I was working in the Blauhaus, I've finally had a chance to grasp what exactly happened and think rationally about the situation. I am increasingly disheartened by the lack of campus outrage and immediate action resolving the incident. I feel like I am being swept under the rug by the University and have no sense of closure. At the preliminary trial last week, I heard the doctor's autopsy report on the ballistics of the murder and how the bullets had passed through each of the four wounded. If the bullet had traveled a matter of inches in any direction, I easily could have died. The general apathy of members of the University has cheapened my life; I feel used and violated. Do I really have to die for anybody to do anything around here? On behalf of the students who use the Blauhaus and those directly affected by my injury, it is my duty to identify the negligence of the University concerning the situation and to act as the catalyst for the resolution to come. Penn holds important events everyday, bringing positive and potentially negative elements to campus. The Philadelphia Public League high school basketball championship unfortunately brought with it a bizarre act of violence. But refusing similar events with potential for a freak accident is not the answer. The unlikely risk of jeopardizing students should not deter the University from hosting controversial speakers, Spring Fling, the Penn Relays and other such events. This specific basketball game, however, should no longer be held at Penn on the basis of its recent track record. Because this decision raises issues about Penn's relation to the surrounding community, the University should make a point of continuing to develop good relations with West Philadelphia through programs like "Into the Streets" and those that send student-teachers and tutors into area high schools. West Philadelphia should be able to benefit from Penn's resources, both in terms of its people and its facilities. And perhaps in a few years, the basketball game can return to campus. What to do about the Blauhaus is another issue. Granted, every Penn student faces the risks of going to school in the city. Students have the Handbook on Campus Safety and are advised how to protect themselves at all times. But I was shot inside a University building while doing my homework and the incident warrants concern. Like the David Rittenhouse Laboratory for mathematicians and Vance Hall for Whartonites, the Blauhaus is home to thousands of students in different departments. Yet the building does not provide a safe and proper environment for the Fine Arts, Architecture and Design of the Environment students who spend hours there every week. The state of the building is practically immoral, and it is a disgrace that the University has neglected it for this long. It must be clear that this is not an issue of location. Obviously, all buildings can't be on Locust Walk. The Blauhaus happens to be an important University building on the periphery of campus. Actually, it is in reasonable walking distance from both Meyerson Hall and the Fine Arts building. Nor is this an issue of overall campus security, as the police force has improved tremendously over the past few years. Rather, the problem involves the consistent neglect toward an on-the-edge-of-campus building with regards to safety inside, its physical structure and security. Perhaps if I had died the media response would have prompted an investigation into the inadequacies of the facility. First, safety in the area around the building is a problem; there is no direct lit walkway to the Blauhaus. Instead, students must walk through muddy Hill Field at all hours of the day and night. Workers have been tearing up College Green this week to install the infrastructure for lighting in an area that is already well-lit. The noise and eyesore on the nicest day of the spring does not bother me. But if they're going to put in lights on the Green, they should put them on the route to the Blauhaus as well. Security in the Blauhaus itself is also an ongoing problem. The building was broken into at least 14 times this year, and the culprit was finally caught and held by a student until police arrived. After the shooting, a guard was appointed, but he doesn't even have keys to the building. Inside, the working conditions are unsafe. Students commit a slow suicide by breathing the heavy dust. Yes, this is a wood-shop, but there is no adequate ventilation. And in what other University building is smoking permitted throughout? More seriously, a girl received third degree burns while working in the building this fall and has missed the remaining school year as a result. One appointed worker in the wood-shop often has full responsibility for security and dealing with crisis situations added to his obligations as the shopkeeper. The list goes on, but I do not wish to describe the history of problems concerning the Blauhaus in the last 10 years. The building's fundamental inadequacy is quite obvious for anyone who has seen my bullet hole, and I take it personally that nothing has been done toward its improvement. Three weeks before the shooting, issues regarding the inadequacy of the Blauhaus were brought up in a Graduate School of Fine Arts meeting, which University President Judith Rodin attended. After years of problems with the structure, the University once again turned a deaf ear. Although temporary buildings are sometimes adapted for the long term, the 6-year-old Blauhaus still appears more like a storage facility for Physical Plant than an academic space for Ivy League students. After the basketball game, thousands of people marched past the Blauhaus to the subway terminal and Walnut Street. There was no visible police officer stationed directly outside the building to insure the safety of those inside and deter crime. Had the same people marched in front of any other University building the streets would have been lined with police. Are the students on the periphery any less important? This scenario has been hard for me. I am still bewildered. My grandmother's brother was shot and killed in World War II and her son, my mother's brother, died by gunshot in Vietnam when he was nearly my age. Why did they die? Why was my life spared? I cannot answer these larger questions. But to me it is clear that the bullet I took in the leg is a metaphor for all the bigger and complicated issues revolving around the University neglect and isolation of the Blauhaus. It is a wake-up call, but the University keeps hitting the snooze button.

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