After years of losses, Penn beats its rival

Harvard 33, Penn 0. Bad news from Franklin Field? No, that score remains Penn 36, Harvard 35, and the Quakers are still Ivy League champions in football. But until recently there was a competition in which Harvard seemed always to shut out Penn, or very nearly so. Since the American Rhodes Scholarship program was instituted in 1904, Harvard has had 295 students named Rhodes scholars, far exceeding all other universities (Yale and Princeton follow, with 200 and 182 winners respectively). Penn students have won only 16 times overall. Harvard has boasted as many as 10 Rhodes in a single year -- a record -- and in the last seven years alone, Harvard students have been awarded 33 of these, the oldest and most prestigious international scholarships -- and Penn students not even one. Harvard 33, Penn 0. This year, of course, College senior Lipika Goyal changed all that. Her well-deserved Rhodes was the first for a Penn student since 1991. And for those who keep count, the tally for the new millennium? Penn 1, Harvard 0. Yes, this year the Crimson were the ones shut out -- for the first time in 70 years. As director of Penn's new Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, I must admit that such fun with numbers is something more than a guilty pleasure, and there is of course some slippage in my little accounting. Competition for the Rhodes is hardly school-to-school, and we must always keep in mind that it is individuals who win these awards, not colleges or universities. Indeed, this was what Elliot Gerson, the American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, reminded Harvard students when several alarmed editorials in The Harvard Crimson bemoaned "the sad state of affairs" of not a single member of Harvard's Class of 2001 being named a Rhodes scholar. Gerson is right. And so is Paul Bohlmann, Harvard's director of fellowships, when he emphasizes that "Rhodes Scholarships aren't simply prizes that schools collect, but opportunities for students." That any university, even one as dominant as Harvard has been, does not "win" a Rhodes in a given year is no reason to panic or mourn or even gloat. Rather, we should admire, win or lose, all the outstanding students who had the courage to test themselves against the best of the best. At Penn this year, we had eight such students, and I'm proud of them all: Ari Alexander (our Marshall winner), Steve Davis, Goyal, Clif Haugen, Enrique Landa, Maria McClay, Jasmine Park and Cam Winton. Still, when it comes to Rhodes Scholarships, it is difficult not to measure yourself against Harvard's record. And so, despite (or perhaps because of ) Lipika's recent Rhodes success, one must ask: Why have so few Penn students won this award? The answer is no secret: Not enough Penn students apply. Simple as that. More numbers. At Harvard, 80 to 100 students apply to be Rhodes scholars each year, and of these about half go forward with the necessary university endorsement. At Cornell, which has won four Rhodes in the last seven years, 50 to 60 students apply annually and again about half are endorsed. Except for the happy outcome, this year at Penn was typical: seven of the eight students who applied were endorsed by the University; five of them received state interviews; three of these reached the regional finals; and one won. No doubt an efficiency of which to be proud, but relying on its lovely symmetry, 7-5-3-1, won't likely improve Penn's performance in winning the Rhodes. To achieve even Cornell's consistency, more of Penn's most talented students must apply. Why don't you apply? I can give you some reasons why you should. Don't apply for Penn's sake. Do it for yourself. Do it because of all your hard work, in and out of the classroom. Do it for the opportunity. Do it for the honor. Do it because there is no better "capstone experience" than a Rhodes (or a Marshall or a Fulbright or a Churchill or a Mitchell). Do it because, whatever the outcome, it is worth your effort. And CURF is here to help you.

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