Fall Cheers and Jeers

CHEERS:

•To the University on its rise to No. 4 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Although some have questioned the rankings' merit, they serve as a reminder of how far this University has come over the past ten years.

•To the University for completing construction on the Pottruck Health and Fitness Center and Huntsman Hall as well as finishing Quad renovations on schedule and on budget. We also cheer the University for finally opening the Bridge movie theater, albeit two years late.

•To the University for opening both the LGBT Center and the Center for Africana Studies, two major steps in developing a diverse, tolerant campus.

•To the Penn football, volleyball and men's soccer teams on their Ivy League championships this fall.

•To Ed Rendell on winning the governorship of Pennsylvania. We are confident that he will bring the same spirit of change to the state that he brought to the city of Philadelphia during his two terms as mayor.

•To Physics Professor Raymond Davis Jr. on his Nobel Prize, the second in two years for a Penn professor and a well-deserved honor for a lifetime of service.

•To the Center for Community Partnerships for its long overdue national recognition, coming in the form of a No. 1 ranking in the annual U.S. News survey of service-learning programs.

•To Walter Annenberg for yet another generous donation to the Penn community. His September gift of $100 million to the Annenberg School for Communication was the latest in a long line of donations from the late benefactor.

JEERS:

•To the University for its inability to maintain stability at the top of its health system. Robert Martin's departure marks the third time in three years the system has lost its CEO.

•To University security for allowing the breach that led to an early morning Quad assault of a female student in September.The correct steps have been taken toward resolving a situation that should never have occurred in the first place.

•To the University for appealing the National Labor Relations Board decision in favor of graduate student unionization, delaying the inevitable elections and worsening relations with its graduate student body.

•To the University for continuing to ignore the pleas of students and leaving the high rise elevators in disrepair.

•To the University for further delaying long-awaited renovations to Bennett Hall.

•To the University for installing goalposts that cannot be torn down, causing a serious safety hazard last month and embarrassing its student body on national television.

•To the Division of Public Safety for delaying the creation of a Penn Police civilian review board, which was promised in the wake of a racially-charged incident last January.

•To the Philadelphia School Reform Commission for handing over control of 20 city schools to Edison Schools, Inc., despite the company's continued financial problems and a poor track record. Its struggles are a hindrance to the revitalization of the city's schools.

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