Walk committee seeks input from community

The Diversity on the Walk Committee will hold open forums today and tomorrow to hear student, faculty and staff suggestions on the best way to alter the residential spectrum of Locust Walk. The forum will be at noon today in room 110 of the Annenberg School, and another will be at 5 p.m. tomorrow. Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson, co-chairperson of the committee, said this week the committee scheduled the forum so members can consider ways to make the center of campus more diverse. She said committee members will incorporate the suggestions, along with their weekly discussions, into their report to President Sheldon Hackney later this spring. Committee co-chairperson David Pope said the committee will also listen to suggestions for filling the Castle, former home of Psi Upsilon fraternity. Morrisson will recommend a use for the center campus house to Hackney by the end of next week. Committee members said they do not know how many people will attend the two forums. Black InterGreek Council President Kathryn Williams, who sits on the Locust Walk committee, said the forums are necessary so the University community has a part in planning Locust Walk. She said she is confident committee members will take participants' suggestions seriously. But she added that Hackney is "the most important" person to influence since he will make final decisions about the center of campus. "Regardless of what the president does he has to answer to the University community," Williams said. "[The forums] allow the community to be heard." Williams added, however, she is not sure the forum or the committee itself will have an impact on Hackney's final decision. "Hackney has bigger pressures than us," Williams said, pointing to trustees and alumni and others who give money to the University. Mechanical Engineering Department Chairperson Pope said last night he does not expect many new ideas to come out of the forums.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.