Letters to the Editor

An apology from a Penn fan

Dear Editor:

Jeff Greenwald, ("Penn fans use good humor, bad judgment," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 12/7/04) does a service to his University. I am a rabid fan of Penn

basketball, but on Saturday, I was a bit too rabid. I was not involved in all of the vulgar chanting at the LaSalle game, but I was part of enough to be ashamed. I cannot offer an apology for all of my fellow fans, but to those who were harmed by our actions at the Palestra and the horrifying event which

spawned them, I offer my own.

But it is more than that. I want Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb to watch Peyton Manning and sit down on the bench after a touchdown. I want college athletics to start being an incubator for student athletes and good people first and a multi-million dollar business second. I am tired of rape scandals, academic scandals, corruption scandals and the de facto payment of players. I am sick of hearing about steroids in major league baseball and fights with fans in the NBA. And yet, on Saturday, I was no better than all of that. It is sad to find that the decline of American sports is as much in our stars as in ourselves.

So the Penn basketball tradition continues to bring credit to this University, not least through the camaraderie and passion among its die-hard fans, but we should be thankful we have a coach like Fran Dunphy and a sports editor like Jeff Greenwald to remind us of why.

Justin Raphael

College '06

Space for PAC rehearsals

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to Tuesday's article ("Campus groups put strain on space," DP, 12/7/04), which describes many performing arts groups' difficulties with finding practice and performance space. I am aware of a potential solution to this problem right in Penn's own backyard. On the corner of 42nd and Spruce streets is the vacant St. Andrews Collegiate Chapel building, part of the block-long seminary complex which Penn owns and currently uses for its Penn-Alexander elementary school and Parent-Infant Center. The main building on that land, the chapel, has sat empty for years, and I have heard of no plans to use it for anything in the near future.

The chapel would be a perfect place to create a new performance and practice location for Penn's ever-multiplying performing arts groups. In the '80s it was converted to a dance practice hall and still has the wood over the floors from that time. Aside from the main hall, with its high, painted ceilings and wooden, illuminated pews running along side, there are three stories of offices which could be used for smaller practice rooms or what have you.

Last year I spoke to a head administrator in the Facilities & Real Estate Services Department about renovating and utilizing the space and he said he would get his people right on it, but of course to no avail. I did some research and discovered many grant-giving organizations that might even help pay for the restoration, considering the historic and artistic value of the paintings and architecture inside the chapel.

I feel that if the PAC and other performing arts groups went to Facilities & Real Estate Services and started pushing behind a real plan, maybe the one I have describe here or something else feasible, they will be able to get the space they deserve. I would be willing to help in whatever capacity I can to accomplish both the preservation of the St. Andrews Collegiate Chapel and the realization of a more concrete and viable performing arts location for Penn's performing arts community.

Jason Lewis

College '04

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