Many of May's activities centered around the senior class as it prepared to leave the University. As Commencement keynote speaker, National Endowment for the Arts Chairperson Jane Alexander bid a final farewell to the Class of 1995. In her speech on May 22, she emphasized the importance of art and of supporting the NEA. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, however, took a less serious approach, as he joked with the senior class during his Ivy Day speech two days before. University President Judith Rodin shared in the festivities, participating in her first Commencement as president. And, for the first time in their college careers, the graduating class was able to view Logan Hall without scaffolding. It had been undergoing renovations since 1989. Another campus building, the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, received government approval for construction on May 30. Earlier in the month, the InterFraternity Council and the Greek Alumni Council withdrew their recognition of Psi Upsilon. The fraternity had been kicked out of its home in the Castle in 1990. The mysterious Foundation for New Era Philanthropy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The University had invested over $2 million in New Era over the last two years. And the Mayor's Scholarship controversy came to an end after more than three years of litigation when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. Trying to keep the University ahead of the times, the Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education released phase one of its report on the 21st Century Undergraduate Experience. In a horrible turn of events, the University mourned the deaths of three University students at the end of the month. Emily Sachs, Joseph Walters and John Marshall died, each of natural causes in the last week of May. But on a brighter note, the Penn baseball team swept Yale in the Ivy League Championship playoffs on May 6 to win the Ivy League title.
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