What's in a slogan?

I remember the first day I arrived at Penn freshman year. As my parents' minivan moved into the left lane of the Schuylkill Expressway, approaching the South Street exit (Exit 40 back in those days, kids), my excitement intensified.

The ride down I-76 East from the Pennsylvania Turnpike had been thrilling: winding, fast-paced and even scenic (quite a different experience from what most of you had coming in from the airport, through the Sunoco fields of the South Philly industrial wasteland). Mine had been an enjoyable trek down from the Pocono Mountains, and, after exiting left, we turned right into University City.

As we passed under the welcoming "University of Pennsylvania" sign painted on the blue rail bridge over South Street, I beamed with pride thinking that University City could be my new home. Truthfully, I initially had some reservations about attending Penn. Specifically, I knew that deciding to live in University City meant placing myself in an environment where I was no longer a member of the political majority, but rather part of fringe group with unpopular views. However, as we approached the Quad, I saw yet another welcome sign, and my fear of not fitting in faded even further.

Years after my freshman experience, first impressions have passed, and I now know Penn to be more politically diverse than I initially assumed. More importantly, as a seasoned University City resident, I am not as intimidated by the newly coined, divisive UCD slogan -- "Left of Center" -- as I would have been as an incoming student.

Today, when entering the campus from virtually any angle, one can't help but notice the new UCD banners and logos, adorning telephone poles, Web sites and brochures, which prominently display the new slogan.

From my perspective, as a conservative, right-leaning student, this new slogan is entirely unnecessary and should be changed because of its political implications.

While it may be true that the majority of people living in University City are indeed "left of center" when it comes to their political views, not everyone is. A slogan such as this alienates conservative students by making them feel marginalized and unwelcome. Some might argue that the word "left" in the slogan is being used purely as a descriptive spatial term, but I strongly disagree. The direction "left" is relative and uninformative and in our American culture carries more political meaning than it does geographic.

Why not use "West of Center?" Are we trying to distance ourselves from our West Philadelphia neighbors? If so, perhaps we could adopt a slogan with racial implications rather than political ones, such as "Lighter than West Philly." If anyone asks, we could claim that it is actually lighter in the morning when the sun rises in the east and that we had no idea anyone would take it to mean anything else! But the truth is, we would be alienating a racial minority. So why is it OK to do the same to a political minority? It is equally polemic to label our community "left" as it is to call it "light."

Whatever the motives behind its authorship, which may have been innocent, the current slogan should be abandoned. Rather than embodying the receptive values of our variegated community, the slogan is misrepresenting who we are. With it we will unwittingly turn away many intelligent, conservative-leaning students, as well as right-leaning businesses and possible investors who could potentially help improve our community.

If indeed conservative students, faculty, staff and businesses are the minority here, then we should actively recruit them to our neighborhood rather than deter them with polarizing, unnecessary slogans. If we, the Penn community, truly value diversity as we purport to, then we, and specifically our administrators, should publicly condemn the slogan and pressure the UCD to have it changed immediately.

When I first arrived at Penn, exiting the Schuylkill Expressway at South Street, University City was, for me, right of Center City. It was a multidimensional community with many different sides and was accessible by a variety of people coming from many different angles. Unfortunately, one frivolous slogan now attempts to homogenize our perceptions and restrict access for some.

Andrew Rennekamp is a first-year Biomedical Ph.D. student from East Stroudsburg, Pa. His e-mail address is andrewre@med.upenn.edu. Any Ice Today Lady? appears on Tuesdays.

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