Daily Pennsylvanian

Penn students learned about nonviolent activism from Afghani high schoolers over breakfast yesterday.

The Penn Women’s Center hosted a dialogue with a group of students from Marefat High School near Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Afghani students — who ranged from freshmen to alumni ­— ­came to the U.S. through the efforts of the National Constitution Center. They are spending the week touring the East Coast, said Shaina Adams-El Guabli, program and outreach coordinator of the Women’s Center.

The students are visiting Penn because they want to learn about what life is like in an American university, according to Adams-El Guabli.

“However,” she added, “it’s also about the things they could share with us.”

The idea behind the visit was for both groups of students to share their experiences in an intimate setting, Adams-El Guabli said.

Marefat High School, which was founded in Pakistan in 1994 before it moved to Afghanistan in 2002, is the only Afghani high school of its kind, the school’s Co-Founder and Headmaster Aziz Royesh said.

Aside from literacy, the school’s main focus is to teach its students about humanism and democracy and to promote human rights, he said.

The impact of the school, however, reaches beyond its 2,500 students.

“The views of their families and the entire community is changing,” Royesh said. “Marefat High School is a symbol of that change.”

This focus on human rights was apparent in the events of April 2009, when the Marefat students protested against Sheikh Mohsini Kandhari’s “Rape Law” — a piece of legislation that, if passed, the United Nations said would have allowed the Afghani government to legalize a husband’s rape of his wife.

As a result of the students’ activism, members of the community verbally abused them, stormed the school and made threats to end Royesh’s life.

In Royesh’s view, however, the incident was positive because his students “stood and raised their voices, and saw the results of that,” he said.

After months of both domestic and international pressure, the law was drastically amended and its most discriminatory points were removed.

Despite their victory, the atmosphere of the dialogue was not a celebratory one, as many of the Afghani students broke down in tears when speaking about their experience.

The Penn students who were present were deeply moved by the Afghani students’ passion, College senior Rosa Cui said.

“What really amazed me is how far these students are able to look into the future,” she said.

The responses to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” were as varied as the students themselves: there was a future dentist, an architect, a sociologist and an artist.

“They are the new generation,” Royesh said.

While Egypt is probably not the typical college-students spring-break destination, a group of 25 students, including myself, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to visit the country for spring break.

Organized by the Wharton Arabian Gulf Business Association, the aim of the trip was to experience both the cultural and the economic facets of Egypt.

Most members of the group wanted to experience a culture so foreign to our own, or make their own impressions of Egypt instead of “relying on the negative perceptions we normally get of the Middle East,” according to Wharton sophomore Christina Zima.

The group was comprised of students from across all four Penn schools who had expressed an interest in the region in their initial applications to attend.

Last year, WAGBA organized a trip to Dubai. Egypt was chosen this year because “it plays an important role in the Middle East,” Wharton senior and the trip’s main organizer Yousuf Saif said.

“Egypt is poor, but it has a growing economy,” he said.

With that in mind, WAGBA organized meetings with several important players in the Egyptian economy, including the Governor of the Central Bank Farouk El Okdah, Managing Director of Citadel Capital Aladdin El Afifi and the CEO of Beltone Aladdin Saba, all of whom are Wharton alumni.

These corporate visits included discussions of the Egyptian economy, and what we talked about was certainly visible as we traveled throughout Cairo, the capital city.

“Egypt is definitely a country in the midst of change,” College sophomore Sara Cannon said. “There are such huge differences between the shiny corporate buildings we visit and the crumbling buildings that most people live in, and that was what made our discussions about the Egyptian economy so interesting.”

After our corporate meetings each day, we would travel across Cairo to visit the popular tourist spots.

Our first day included a visit to the Cairo Museum and dinner on a boat on the Nile River. The next day, we saw a light and sound show that takes place every night in front of the three main pyramids in Giza.

As we often did not have enough time to go back to our hotel and change after the corporate visits, we sometimes found ourselves trekking across Cairo in our formal business wear, including the day we visited Old Cairo and the Coptic Museum — which meant we drew even more attention from the local Egyptians than most tourists.

The following days were a whirlwind of activity, including a visit to the American University in Cairo, a desert safari and a day trip to Alexandria, which Cannon described as “the most beautiful place on the Mediterranean” — a sentiment that most of the group shared.

“Trips like this broaden perspectives, especially if you’ve never visited a developing country,” Saif said at the end of our stay. “And I think everyone learned a lot, especially considering what a diverse group we had.”

As primaries for the 2010 U.S. Senate elections draw closer, Democratic groups on campus are beginning their efforts to get students involved and aware of the races in the weeks to come.

The Penn Democrats, along with Penn for Sestak and Penn for Specter, will be working hard to get out the vote before the semester comes to an end, according to Penn Dems President and College sophomore Emma Ellman-Golan.

Despite the fact that the primary is particularly important for Democrats this year, Penn Dems’ main goal is still to win in the general election come November, she said.

However, a buildup in enthusiasm for the May 18 primary election will translate to more interest when it comes time to face Republicans in November, she said.

As such, the Penn Dems will begin voter registration initiatives this week. Group members will be stationed on Locust Walk working to register students of either party to vote.

Pulling for specific Democratic Senate candidates — to face likely Republican candidate Pat Toomey in the fall — are the Penn for Sestak and Penn for Specter groups.

College sophomore and Philadelphia County Coordinator for Students for Sestak Ted Koutsoubas said the campaign’s efforts at Penn will focus on getting Congressman Joe Sestak’s name out to students.

In addition to working with Penn Dems to register voters, Koutsoubas, a former Daily Pennsylvanian photo manager, said Penn for Sestak will coordinate canvassing, flyering on Locust Walk, information sessions and other “meet-and-greet activities” to help get Sestak elected.

He said there will be a bigger push leading up to the primary election, when both campaigns will set forth strategic goals. In the end, he said, “people will choose Sestak because of principles.”

Meanwhile, College freshman Graham White, the campus coordinator for incumbent and former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter’s campaign at Penn, said the group will focus on recruitment in the next few weeks. Penn for Specter will be on Locust Walk looking for new members, and in April, will focus on “getting out the vote,” he said.

Although Penn Dems will not endorse a Senate candidate in the primary election, the group is working now to bring as many Democratic candidates to campus as possible so that students know the importance of the primary, Ellman-Golan said.

She added that though the group will be working to register voters for either party, it will encourage students to check a party box so they can vote in the primary elections.

Penn Libraries is currently testing the new version of Blackboard, set to be released to the Penn community during the first summer session.

Blackboard 9.0 has been uploaded to the library’s test server, where staff members “will test functionality, upload plug-ins … and become familiar with the new look and feel,” Penn Libraries Director of Public Services Marjorie Hassen wrote in an e-mail.

Next month, selected staff members across the University will test the program further before presenting the new version to faculty.

Blackboard 9.0 has a new, more interactive user interface with a “drag-and-drop” feature, customization capabilities and a user “dashboard” that provides course notifications and alerts, Courseware Manager and Educational Technology Librarian Amanda Chudnow said in February.

On Monday night, nine College seniors in the final stages of writing their honors theses gathered on the third floor of Van Pelt Library. They wanted answers.

The seniors are part of a 17-person History honors thesis class that is leading a charge to protest the tenure denial of their thesis seminar advisor, Ronald Granieri.

An assistant professor of modern European history, Granieri was recently denied tenure in his second and last chance to apply for the standing. He originally applied last year in his sixth year of teaching at Penn.

His students — many of whom call him a mentor, a friend and the best teacher they’ve had at Penn — say the University’s decision raises serious questions about its commitment to quality teaching.

“Over the past year and a half Professor Granieri for all of us has been the most amazing teacher, honors director [and] support mechanism,” said Aro Velmet, a College senior in the seminar. “It seems terribly puzzling that a professor who is this well respected by undergraduates, has won this many teaching awards, is under threat of leaving the University.”

School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell declined to comment because of the confidential nature of the faculty appointment and promotion process. The exact reason for Granieri’s tenure denial is unknown and is not likely to be available to the general public.

SAS tenure decisions go through many review processes before receiving final approval by the Trustees. Granieri’s application was approved by the History Department, the first stage. It was rejected at the SAS level by the Personnel Committee, a group comprised of a chairman and 12 faculty members representing the humanities, natural and social sciences.

At those stages, the faculty consider an applicant’s research, teaching and service to the University. Though there is no fixed formula for weighting those variables, research is considered to play a substantial role.

Once an application has been rejected by the Personnel Committee, the only way it can make it to the next committee — the Provost’s Staff Conference, a group composed of the provost, deputy and associate provosts and a group of deans — is to be forwarded by the dean of the school, in this case, Bushnell.

If Bushnell does not forward the application, Granieri’s position will be terminated in June. At Penn, assistant professors like Granieri are given a seven-year contract when they are hired that expires unless they receive tenure.

But the students aren’t satisfied with silence from the administration. With the support of nearly 80 students and recent alumni who have contacted them in support of Granieri, the group is demanding answers. They are seeking an explanation for the decision.

“We’re not trying to anger anybody or go behind anybody’s back,” said College senior Zac Byer, a member of the seminar. “We’re trying to shed light on a process that has a bearing on somebody’s profession, somebody’s career and somebody’s family.”

Velmet said one of the group’s goals is to solicit experiences from other undergraduates in which a popular teacher has been denied tenure. He said there is a “contradiction” between the University’s commitment to teaching excellence and the tenure denial of faculty members who have won awards for teaching. Granieri, for instance, won two teaching awards in 2006 and another in 2008.

Students pointed to the most recent issue of the Penn Arts and Sciences Magazine, which contained an article by Bushnell on the importance of this “fundamental mission of the School.”

“We fear that decisions like these on the part of the College will chip away at the most important academic component of undergraduate student life at Penn,” said College senior Daniella Rohr, co-chair of Penn’s History Undergraduate Advisory Board.

And students consistently point to Granieri’s teaching as the source of his popularity among students. Daniel Rubin, a 2008 College alumnus, called Granieri “one of the best lecturers of any class I’ve ever been in.” College senior and seminar member Maia Liechtenstein called him “everyone’s favorite history professor” and a “mentor.”

“We think that he has made an invaluable contribution to our undergraduate education. It would a shame and a great loss to Penn to see him leave,” College senior and seminar member Daniella Mak said.

Their sentiments seem to be shared by the faculty as well. Kathy Peiss, the History Department chairwoman, could not comment on the process of tenure consideration in her official role as department chair. She did, however, say that, as a colleague, “I think that [Granieri] earned tenure at Penn and that his being denied tenure is a loss for the University and especially for the students.”

And combined with the recent retirement of diplomatic historian Bruce Kuklick, the departure of Granieri will leave a large gap in one of Penn’s most lauded departments.

As for Granieri, this unprompted outpouring affection by his students has been touching.

“I am gratified and flattered by my students’ concern,” he said. “I certainly want to stay at Penn if at all possible. With all respect for the University, its leadership and its institutions, I hope that a way can be found to reverse this decision.”

Penn is a community of communities. For many of us, our Penn experience is defined by the limited circle of the groups we’re involved in, the majors we choose and the parties we go to. What’s missing is the sense that we are all part of a community of undergraduates at Penn who can achieve much more when working with fellow student groups or in neighborhoods foreign to us.

This week, you’ll read other “vote for me” articles promising a better Penn. One thing that sets me apart is that I think being Undergraduate Assembly Vice President is about more than just establishing relationships with the leaders of groups. It’s about reaching out to communities — both informal student communities and communities in Philadelphia. Hence the slogan “PanInTouch.” I want to make Penn and Philadelphia a more vibrant home for all of us by creating physical spaces to congregate, reaching out to students on a face-to-face level and connecting groups to each other and to University resources.

First, I want to work with UA Steering committee and administrators to create spaces where students and groups can gather. This includes spaces for prayer, international students and performing arts, as well as bolstering hubs such as the ARCH. I also want to build the community through more flexible meal plans for upperclassmen to dine with others, on-campus parties and gatherings, reducing the stigma of West Philadelphia among Penn students and expanding late-night dining west of campus.

Second, I will use the role of VP not just to work with the communities within Penn and UA Steering, but to push the entire UA to engage with individuals on a grassroots level. This starts with knocking on every single freshman door after New Student Orientation, an initiative I headed last year, and continues by empowering UA members with the tools to connect within their own niches.

One of the UA’s greatest accomplishments this year has been shifting its focus from passing flowery-languaged proposals to working directly with students who haven’t had a strong voice at Penn. I will ensure the UA integrates its work with students’ needs — rather than having student needs be shaped by the UA — starting with making meeting content more publicly accessible, encouraging Steering members to author resolutions and put them on our agenda and bolstering follow-up work.

Third, I will connect groups with University resources and with one another. Campus-wide events like Spring Fling are too rare. Whether through mobilizing students for the 2010 census or integrating Athletics’ Quaker Days into residential life, I will identify and develop these connections. I will also reach out to student advocates uninvolved in student government and use UA resources to join forces so that we can maximize tangible change next year.

Of course, this platform is just the beginning: listening to you is core to my job and to my platform’s evolution. A significant portion of the job deals with spontaneous day-to-day decisions, which is why it’s crucial to have a VP with not just a clear principled vision for Penn, but also experience and proven results.

That’s where my background comes in. When my peers and I felt the need for increased low-income student access to Penn, I reached out to the CEO of QuestBridge to successfully help make Penn a partner and later helped make Penn the first Ivy to produce Spanish financial aid materials. When we saw waste, I initiated programs for sustainable bathroom products, donations of leftover Dining Dollars and non-disposable Hillel silverware. When the administration wasn’t listening to high-rise elevator complaints, I helped garner hundreds of signatures to capture the administration’s attention.

I hope to be inTouch with you for details about topics you care about. And please be inTouch so that together, we can strengthen Penn’s tight-knit niches while bonding the larger Penn community.

Mark Pan is a College junior, current UA Communication Director and candidate for UA Vice President. His e-mail address is markpan@sas.upenn.edu.

Ten cents more for a subway ride may not seem like much. Over time, though, those extra dimes can add up.

That’s certainly SEPTA’s intention. By planning to raise the price of tokens for buses, subways and trolleys by 10 cents, as well as making other fare increases, SEPTA could raise an estimated $22 million in additional revenue. But the fare hike will also add up for the customers who use Philadelphia’s very lackluster public-transportation system to get to work — and for the Penn students who use SEPTA for everything from internship commutes to quick rides to restaurants.

We’re not criticizing SEPTA for raising fares. It’s not a bad idea — that is, if SEPTA uses the money it raises from the increase to make necessary renovations.

If SEPTA is going to institute a fare hike, no matter how small, it needs to improve the quality of its service. Renovations to SEPTA are long overdue. Vehicles could use upgrades, stations could be cleaner and a card-swipe method of paying for rides would make traveling less of a hassle. When judged against other cities, such as New York and Washington, SEPTA’s quality and convenience pales in comparison.

SEPTA provides a valuable service to the city. The inconvenience caused by SEPTA’s shutdown during the strike last fall proves just how valuable. Improving the system could only make it more important to city residents. A fare increase must do more than take a toll on residents.

This past weekend, I decided to partake in a Philadelphia tradition that, for years, I have struggled and failed to understand: the Erin Express. Featuring buses that transport you from “Irish” bar to bar, it is the ultimate way for Philadelphians to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

While on this extravaganza, a couple unexpected things happened. Throughout my day of travel, I spent time and had fun with Philly residents without being surrounded by a crowd of fellow Penn students. As a result, I got to know Philadelphia and its residents a little better. More importantly, I got to know a little more about what Philadelphians think of Penn students. And it wasn’t pretty.

Every time someone discovered I was a Penn student, I got the same kind of response — a slight sneer and mild disgust. The word “prick” came up at least once.

My initial reaction was mild indignation. I am no stranger to spending time in the city, so I’ve always known that Philly residents and Penn students aren’t best friends. But this wasn’t about your usual town-gown relations. It was about a deep-seeded dislike for Penn students.

Now, it’s definitely true that Penn students are far more invested in their community than almost any of our peer schools. After all, we were rated the No. 1 neighbor school last year in a national survey. And, when it comes to why many distrust Penn, you can make an argument that it’s not about us — it’s about increased real-estate and retail prices and general socioeconomics. But this disdain was not about the University.

It was about Penn students. After a day on the Express, I think I understood, maybe for the first time, that good community relations are not just about helping Philadelphia. Because Penn students are really good at that. We’re just not good at actually being Philadelphians.

Something a recent graduate told me the other day highlighted this: He said he was excited to live in Philadelphia after graduation because he had never known it while at Penn.

As Wharton senior Laura Boudreau puts it, we are all members of a Penn community that we love. But we seldom give a second thought to the Philadelphia community we also belong to.

This is something Boudreau has been thinking about for some time. She still remembers a letter to the editor than ran in The Summer Pennsylvanian in 2008 that discussed this very issue. In it, a Philadelphia resident and Penn employee discussed the blatant disrespect that Penn students show Philadelphia.

“Even though Penn participates in various recycling and other ‘green’ efforts, the sloth of the off-campus students is atrocious,” he wrote.

We’re so caught up in Penn that we forget we’re part of Philly. Many of us vote here. We have as much a say in the City’s next mayor as someone who has lived here for 40 years. We need to stop thinking of Philadelphia as something there for us to exploit when we feel like it.

Maybe this strained relationship is the same at every school. In fact, I would argue that, for the vast majority of schools, it probably is. But since when is that a reason for Penn students to not care about something?

It starts with the little things, not the big ones. It’s cleaning up after your parties (and not leaving broken glass all over your sidewalk). It’s partaking in fun Philadelphia traditions — like the Express — and getting to know Philadelphians. It’s about treating City Hall the same way you would treat College Hall. After all, if what everyone said this weekend was right (“Penn students are too smart for their own good”), then this really shouldn’t be that hard.

Juliette Mullin is a College senior from Portland, Ore. She is the former Executive Editor of the DP and editor of The Report Card. Her e-mail address is mullin@dailypennsylvanian.com. In Case You Missed Me appears on Tuesdays.

With regards to abuse against women, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice Lanny Breuer said “whether it be 1 in 5, 1 in 4, 1 in 10,” it is “simply shocking” and “unacceptable.”

Breuer visited Penn Monday for the “Collaborating to Combat Violence” event as part of a five-person panel that presented and discussed issues surrounding violence against women and how Penn’s various groups are addressing the topic.

While most panel members were Penn-based, Breuer participated as a representative of the Department of Justice’s March Madness Tour, an initiative developed to increase awareness of the roles of federal, state, local and university institutions to prevent acts of violence. Eight Department of Justice representatives will be visiting 11 schools across the country throughout the month, including Harvard, Brown and Stanford Universities.

The Department of Justice “approached us to be one of their tour stops since we are recipients of a three year Department of Justice grant, and because we have been actively engaged in violence prevention,” Penn Women’s Center Violence Prevention Educator Jessica Mertz wrote in an e-mail.

Throughout the event, panel members discussed their roles in preventing and raising awareness of sexual, dating and other forms of female-targeted violence.

Breuer spoke about how “the federal government has an important role,” but emphasized that the “government alone can’t stop violence on college campuses.”

Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush, Education and Training Coordinator of Women Against Abuse Azucena Ugarte, former One-in-Four President and College senior Joshua Pollack and Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention founder and College junior Liat Fleming-Shemer made up the rest of the panel, providing for an “inter-generational panel of distinguished guests,” according to Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum.

“The event spoke to the wonderful collaborative efforts from the federal to the student level,” Fleming-Shemer said.

Mertz explained that the Penn Women’s Center, along with the Office of Alcohol and Other Drugs, the Division of Public Safety and VPUL, collaborated in planning the event.

From Women Against Abuse’s legal services, domestic violence shelters and a 24-hour hotline to One-in-Four’s presentations across campus intended to “get guys to understand their own behavior,” the panel covered a wide range of resources available to students.

College senior Rachel Squire found it “reassuring” to see that “there are so many different parts of the Penn community that really do care about this.”

According to Pollack, the event was “effective,” particularly because it “didn’t try and hide that abuse and assault still goes on and that there is still work to be done.”

There will be more events on the topic in the future, Mertz wrote, including Take Back the Night, an annual event hosted by ASAP set to take place on April 8.

For the first time since the 1945-46 season, the Harvard men’s basketball team will be heading to a postseason tournament.

But it won’t be competing in either the NCAA Tournament or the National Invitational Tournament.

Since Cornell clinched the Ivy League’s only guaranteed NCAA tournament bid well before spring break, the Crimson were forced to wait until Sunday to learn that they had earned a spot in the second-annual CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

After receiving national attention early in the season following a narrow loss to then-No. 13 Connecticut and a win at then-No. 17 Boston College, Harvard seemed poised to challenge defending League champions Cornell for a berth in the Big Dance.

Meanwhile, the strong performance of powerhouse guard Jeremy Lin and the early success of high-profile coach Tommy Amaker — who led Michigan to the NIT title in 2004 and the tournament’s runner-up spot in 2006 — added to the team’s allure.

But the buzz surrounding the Crimson nearly vanished with the start of conference play.

Losses to Cornell and Princeton destroyed their chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament as conference champions. And though it seemed feasible for the Ivy League to receive an at-large bid to the tournament when Cornell cracked the top 25, the Big Red’s 79-64 loss to the Quakers erased that possibility.

So after finishing the season in third-place in the Ivy League, Harvard (21-7, 10-4 Ivy) must settle for the CIT — one of two postseason tournaments that invites mid-major teams that have been excluded from the NIT.

The Crimson will play their first round match of the tournament tomorrow night against Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. The Mountaineers recently finished second in the Southern Conference tournament, falling to Wofford, 56-51.

Tigers pounce into the CBI
After a six-year drought, Princeton will round out the trio of Ivy teams making postseason appearances.

The team’s second-place finish in the Ivy League was good enough to earn it a spot in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) tournament.

The Tigers have participated in 23 NCAA tournaments and have five appearances in the NIT, but this is their first time competing in the CBI, which began in 2008.

The team will enter tomorrow’s match riding a four-game winning streak. Its 20 wins this season was Princeton’s highest total since 2004, the same year that it last attended a postseason tournament.

Princeton will host Duquesne at Jadwin Gymnasium tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the tournament’s first round.

The Dukes (16-15) finished eighth in the Atlantic 10 conference and recently suffered a loss to St. Bonaventure in the first round of the A-10 tournament.

Princeton and Duquesne have only faced off twice in history, with Princeton emerging victorious from their last meeting in the 1973 Eastern College Athletic Conference Holiday Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The winner of tonight’s game will face either Hofstra or IUPUI March 22 in Hempstead, N.Y.

Penn students heading to the nation’s capital will soon have a new inexpensive travel option.

Starting March 21, megabus.com — an intercity express bus service — will offer a route between Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

Megabus.com CEO Dale Moser said there is a “high demand” for a bus route between the two cities.

Of the services popular among students, BoltBus does not offer routes between Philadelphia and Washington, while New Century Travel and Apexbus do.

With the addition of the new bus route, “the demand is being met,” Moser added. “Obviously, this will help tourism.”

Buses will depart daily from Philadelphia at 3:05 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 1:45 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. Travel time between the two cities is an estimated at two and a half to three hours, according to a megabus.com press release.

As a promotion of the Philadelphia-Washington line, the company is offering $1 to $5 seating on the new route. Regular prices range from $1 to $11. Customers who make early reservations have a better chance of obtaining lower pricing, according to Moser.

The double decker buses offer free wireless internet, plug-in outlets, accessibility features for disabled persons.

They also “give off seven times less carbon dioxide than a standard automobile and take less than a pint of fuel per passenger mile,” Moser said.

By taking a bus instead of an individual car, passengers can help decongest highways, he explained.

“You save money in your pocket, but you’ve done all of these other things for the environment at the same time,” Moser said.

Megabus.com began service in the Midwest in April 2006 and on the East Coast in March 2008, according to Moser.

“I’ve taken buses to New York before, and as far as I can see, they’re just as nice as the train and cheaper,” Engineering freshman Lena Abraham said of megabus.com.

Mike Murphy is no stranger to the Maryland lacrosse team.

The former Duke defenseman has had many opportunities to face off against the Terrapins, but yesterday was his first as head coach of the Red and Blue. But he will likely have to wait until next year to earn his first win.

During a cloudy afternoon showdown in College Park, Md., No. 10 Maryland (5-0) shut down the Quakers late in the fourth quarter and pulled away with a 10-7 victory.

Going up against the undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse, Penn (4-3) wanted to avoid a repeat of last year when they were steamrolled on their home turf, 9-2.

But it’s a different season, and it was a different story.

Though Murphy’s squad trailed the whole game, Penn was always within three goals and was down by just one well into the fourth quarter.

It was then that the Terps clamped down defensively, holding the Quakers scoreless for the final 10:42, while adding two goals of their own to seal the victory.

“We just never made that play … to tie the game and go ahead, and I thought we were,” Murphy said. “We had the momentum, we had the energy, we were playing pretty well. Then we just couldn’t quite get over that hump.”

Draw-control specialist Justin Lynch, whose dependability has been tested by tough competition all year, won 10 of 21 face-offs.

The senior, who has taken all but 16 of his team’s face-offs, has come away with the ball at a 55 percent clip.

“I’m just [trying] to … get the ball, bring it to our offense and let them do their job,” Lynch said.

“They’ve been doing a great job this year so the more opportunities that I can get them off of face-offs, the more successful we’ll be.”

While Lynch gave Penn sufficient opportunities for possession, the difference in the game came down to ball control in the open field.

By halftime, the Quakers had given up 12 turnovers to the Terps’ six. The Red and Blue finished with 21 overall.

In addition to committing far fewer turnovers, the Terps were able to create more scoring opportunities by picking up 45 ground balls compared to the Quakers’ 30.

Maryland outshot Penn, 33-20, behind another impressive outing from Grant Catalino.

Catalino, a pre-season All-American honorable mention, finished with two goals and four assists.

Though Catalino was the clear difference maker for the Terps, offensive production for the Quakers was more spread out. Six different players scored goals, led by senior Rob McMullen, who had two.

After a tough nonconference schedule that included three nationally ranked opponents, the Quakers now have the opportunity to prove themselves in Ivy League play.

The Red and Blue face No. 4 Princeton Saturday and No. 7 Cornell — last year’s NCAA runner-up — the following week.

“I’m not sure our team is aware of how good we can be,” Murphy said. “We just need to execute better in those key moments.”

Though its offensive lineup features just three seniors, the Penn baseball team is far more experienced than the players’ ages reveal.

Coach John Cole will return 9 offensive players that had significant starting roles last season in addition to all but one member of his pitching staff.

Star seniors Tom Grandieri and William Gordon, who led the team in batting average and home runs last season, respectively, will return to the field, as will senior Todd Roth, who looks to anchor the pitching staff.

While the seniors will provide veteran leadership, the sophomore class boasts experience of its own.

Sophomore Derek Vigoa — the reigning Big 5 Rookie of the Year — started in all 41 games last season.

In addition, five of the 14 hurlers who saw action during this season’s opening road trip were sophomores. With one transition year already under his young pitchers’ belts, Cole is looking for them to make a leap from their rookie seasons.

“That’s going to be no secret to our success,” Cole said. “We gotta have guys step up … and you look for that improvement, especially a big jump from freshman to sophomore year.”

Sophomore pitchers Vince Voiro and Chris McNulty will be among those counted on to make that “jump.” Though both posted earned run averages in the mid-sixes last season, the duo has shown promise thus far.

“[They’ve had] very good command … they’re not walking people … and they’re only going to get better,” Cole said.

And though many of the faces on the diamond this season may be the same, the Red and Blue are hoping for a better outcome this time around — the Quakers finished just 17-24 last year and held a 5-15 conference record.

Their Ivy performance placed them last in the Gehrig Division, which constitutes the Quakers, Princeton, Cornell and Columbia.

Penn also placed fifth in the Ivy League with a 6.74 ERA and coughed up a league-leading 77 errors, 14 more than the next highest total (shared by Harvard and Princeton).

While the miscues on the field may have exposed some of the inexperience of the team, Cole thinks the team had other issues as well.

“We didn’t pitch really well as a staff last year,” Cole said. “We were injured … [and] we lost a lot of games late.”

And yet, despite Penn’s struggles as a team, some individuals put up near-historic numbers in the ’09 campaign and will be looking to duplicate their successes.

Grandieri hit 19 doubles, which was just two shy of tying a school record. Vigoa was right behind him, with 18.

Gordon, meanwhile, belted 10 homers during his junior season — a single-season total that tied him for third-place in school history.

On the mound, Roth will be looking to rebound from a somewhat down year. After posting 1.98 and 2.32 ERAs in his first two seasons, respectively, Roth went just 2-2 last season with an ERA of 7.26.

For the Quakers to make noise in the Ivy League, improved pitching all-around and continued offensive success appear to be the keys.

Their two toughest Ivy foes will be Cornell — picked by Baseball America to win the Gehrig Division — and Dartmouth.

The two teams duked it out last year for the Ivy championship, with the Big Green takng two of three to secure the crown.

If the Quakers want a shot at a title of their own, they will have to bounce back quickly from their season-opening road trip, when they went just 2-5.

“It’s such a short season, that you gotta get off to a good start or else you get behind the eight ball quickly,” Cole said.

Three international Penn students were held in a Panama airport while returning from an Alternative Spring Break trip to Costa Rica.

The students were held for three hours because they did not have appropriate Visas.

The group’s plane, which was scheduled to land in Colombia for a connecting flight back to New York Sunday evening, had a mechanical difficulty and instead landed in Panama.

Upon arrival, the three undergraduates who did not have American passports were first told to remain on the plane, and then they were guided to interrogation rooms in the Immigration Offices.

“The officers were quite inappropriate in terms of what they were saying to us,” a College sophomore, who asked to remain anonymous, said. The officers were making offensive jokes, and there was “a lot of tension,” she added.

Shama Jamal, one of the other students detained, said most of the problems were related to the language barrier.

“Not being able to speak in Spanish, it was hard to know what was going on,” she said. “The conversation got heated up because there was a language gap.”

When the students were released, a different immigration officer escorted each of them to a hotel.

The officers, who took control of the students’ passports, remained at the hotel all night and took the students back to the airport the following morning.

The entire group returned safely to New York Monday afternoon and will be back in class today.

The Interfraternity Council voted March 3 to allow a new fraternity chapter on campus and to change its expansion policy, according to IFC President and Wharton junior Christian Lunoe.

Alpha Phi Delta, a national Italian-American heritage fraternity, will rejoin the Greek community at Penn after gaining a majority of votes from fraternity chapter presidents and executive board members of the IFC, pending approval from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

Lunoe wrote in an e-mail that the amount of time it will take for Alpha Phi Delta to become established on campus will depend on how it works with OFSA and the University, as well as how quickly the fraternity can “get things organized.”

The fraternity has a history at Penn. Alpha Phi Delta began colonizing on campus in 1992 and received official recognition from the OFSA in spring 1995. But between 1998 and 2000, the fraternity “faded out” as membership dwindled, according to OFSA Director Scott Reikofski.

Although fraternity recruitment numbers have remained constant in recent years, Lunoe said the IFC wishes to expand the number of fraternities on campus to offer students more diverse options for Greek life.

“A heritage-based fraternity like Alpha Phi Delta could potentially target students who would not have initially considered joining a fraternity,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The IFC also voted to amend the expansion policy in its constitution — a change which Lunoe said will make it easier for fraternities to join the Greek community at Penn.

However, Lunoe added that the new amendment to the expansion policy will not apply to Alpha Phi Delta.

The new policy establishes a system in which fraternities wishing to join the IFC will be automatically added to the bottom of a queue, but the IFC president may decide the appropriate placement of queued fraternities. The fraternities will be able to petition for priority within the queue once per semester.

A vote to determine the number of queued fraternities will be held in March for the fall term and October for the spring term.

Although the Penn men’s tennis team goes to southern California every spring break in search of sun and tough competition, this year it returned with something far more important: team chemistry.

The Red and Blue went 2-2 in their four matches last week, defeating California-Riverside, 7-0, and Gonzaga, 5-2, while suffering its first losses of the season against both Loyola Marymount and California-Irvine by the score of 5-2.

“We won the matches that we were supposed to win, and the matches we lost we were supposed to lose,” said starting freshman Jason Magnes.

More important than the final results, however, was the bonding experience that the Quakers (9-2) found during their trip.

The Penn men’s tennis team is particularly diverse, featuring players from three continents and using freshmen, sophomores and seniors in the starting lineup. This diversity, in addition to the sport’s individualistic nature, makes it difficult for the team to build the unity typical of most athletic squads.

Magnes said the trip was vital to the development of team chemistry.

“Spending time off the court with other players … translates to trusting them when it comes to the matches,” he explained.

The Quakers will need their newfound unity during Ivy League play, which begins in less than two weeks.

“The Ivy League is really going to be a grind,” Magnes said. “We’re going to have to fight to win those matches.”

My name is Alyssa, and I have a problem. My beverage of choice is always Diet Coke. One friend estimated that, when not sleeping or at the gym, the probability that I have a Diet Coke in either my hand or bag is around 80 percent. (It’s probably closer to 30 to 40 percent, but there’s no denying it’s my trademark beverage.) But despite my admitted over-consumption of soda, I’m still — very tentatively — in favor of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s plans to levy a tax on sugary beverages.

In case you missed it in the pre-break midterm haze, as part of the proposed 2011 Philadelphia city budget, Nutter included a two-cent-per-ounce tax on beverages that use a caloric sweetener — including soda, sweetened iced tea, energy drinks and flavored water. For a two-liter bottle, it could raise the price by almost 100 percent. Nutter says he’s using the tax to highlight Philadelphia’s obesity problem; by shaming soda drinkers, his rationale goes, the number of guzzlers will go down and, therefore, so will the rate of obesity. Either way, it will help close the city’s massive budget gap.

The tax is far from perfect — and doesn’t work the way sin taxes, like those on cigarettes, normally do — which is why I’m not crazy about it. As editorials in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News have pointed out, the sensible place for the tax to be charged is, of course, at the sales counter if you wanted to deter people from buying the drinks for health reasons. But a sales tax hike requires approval from the state legislature, so instead Nutter is taxing the retailers before the soda is sold to the consumer, essentially nullifying any shaming power that the tax holds. Instead of passing the tax onto the consumer by taxing the specific beverage, as the mayor’s office is encouraging, the easiest thing for a smaller retailer to do is simply apply the tax across the board, raising the price on everything the retailer sells just a little bit.

But in response to this debacle, the Soda Lobby (I never thought I’d use that phrase) has tried to change the focus from public health to the economy. It has lined up, a la Big Tobacco in Thank You For Smoking, warning us all about the Bad Things that will follow: lost jobs, shuttered factories, crying starving children.

Give me a break. The fact is that we do have a fat problem in Philadelphia. According to a 2008 survey recently referenced in a City Council Hearing, the average rate of obesity in children across the city is 57 percent, and that number reaches 70 percent in some neighborhoods. About 64 percent of adults are obese, too. Focusing on the short-term economic twists, or even quibbling about how this tax is going to work, misses the point.

Nutter isn’t the only one to notice this in recent weeks. First Lady Michelle Obama visited Philly and even visited a Fresh Grocer (apparently, they’re not plagued with rumors about health code violations in other parts of the city) as part of her nationwide effort to combat childhood obesity.

The mayor’s current plan isn’t perfect — ideally, I’d be really in favor of a sales tax at the point of purchase, as well as a sales tax on other sugary, fatty foods, and serious investment in getting more grocery stores and health education in poor neighborhoods — but it’s a start. The proposal has gotten the conversation on obesity and sin taxes going again. And, honestly, a small tax hike applied across the board in Philadelphia isn’t the worst budget move we’ve seen in the past few years. Remember when we almost closed the libraries, or when the doomsday Plan C almost took effect last fall after last year’s budget fiasco? If this is what we’ve got to do, I’ll take it.

Alyssa Schwenk is a College senior from Ottumwa, Iowa. She is the former Editorial Page Editor of the DP and editor of The Report Card. Her e-mail address is schwenk@dailypennsylvanian.com. That’s What Schwenk Said appears on Mondays.

Imagine if the 76ers, the Eagles or the Philadelphia Orchestra chose to routinely offer men a lower ticket price than women just because, well, just because. Pandemonium would ensue. Lawsuits would be filed, boycotts staged. Heads would roll. That type of ridiculous discrimination just isn’t acceptable in this country these days.

If you’ve been to at least a few club parties, I’m sure you’re familiar with “the Y-chromosome tax.” My friends and I coined the term to refer to the difference in cover charges that men must pay to enter the same nighttime venue as women. It’s an accepted practice in our society today. Neither men nor women really oppose the preferential treatment that females receive at night spots, but that hardly makes it appropriate or justified. Favorable pricing at clubs and bars for women — strictly on the basis of gender — is at the very least wrong, if not illegal. In fact, it may be one of the most blatantly discriminatory practices in the United States, our beloved beacon of justice and equality.

I’ve even tried to rationalize the pricing from a context of fairness. But although there remains a sizeable wage gap between men and women, it would be ridiculous to view discounted club pricing as some sort of redress akin to affirmative action policies in hiring and college admissions. Aside from implying that women are less capable of affording a $10 cover, lower club prices do nothing to thwart income disparities or break glass ceilings.

So what’s “the Y-chromosome tax” all about then? I’m not a fan of assumptions, but it’s reasonable to assume that low-price covers and drink specials for women are strategies these businesses use to ensure an abundance of female patrons and thus to entice more men to attend, extorting them through higher-priced entry fees and drink prices.

American laws are clear on gender-based discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed official discrimination on the basis of several individual characteristics, including gender, in almost all facets of American life. But for some reason, the Act exempted “private clubs,” leaving individual states to legislate that arena. The challenges that have arisen to “ladies nights” have led courts in several states, including Pennsylvania, to declare these practices illegal.

Based on my experience, though, enforcement of the Pennsylvania court’s ruling in Philly has been paltry at best. When my friends and I have hit some of the hot spots Penn students frequent, there have been times when the door attendants whisked the clientele wearing miniskirts and heels right in, charging nominal fees at most, before they charged higher fees to the clientele wearing button-downs and loafers.

Bleu Martini, one of Old City’s most frequented lounges, has developed a formula that encourages women to attend, but not at the expense of their male counterparts. On Thursdays, the lounge’s designated Ladies’ Night offers no cover for all of its clientele and half-priced discounts on menu items like sushi, salads and several of its tropical martinis, selections that women typically purchase more than men. With the regular menu prices still priced to ensure profit, the club has created an environment where men will probably end up spending a reasonable bit of money, but not just because they showed up with Adam’s apples.

Irrespective of its legality, offering women lower admission prices is an effective method. And most guys would be reluctant to openly oppose it because, let’s be honest, whining over girls getting something for free just isn’t manly. But one form of discrimination often gives way to another. I love partying with scores of fun women as much as the next man. I’ve just never met one that was worth compromising my inalienable rights.

Jonathan Wright is a College senior from Memphis, Tenn. His e-mail address is wright@dailypennsylvanian.com. Wright-ing on the Wall appears on alternate Mondays.

On the surface, the box scores show a 2-5 record for the Penn softball team’s spring break stand.

But a closer look reveals a persistent squad that consistently fought back in the late innings.

Head coach Leslie King attributed the team’s losing record to the fact that the games in Kissimmee, Fla., marked the team’s first matches played outdoors.

“It always takes some time to get the linkup between our outfield and infield going as fluidly as we would like,” King said.

But something clicked for the Quakers in their first game, a 1-0 victory over South Dakota (4-10).

Sophomore Chelsea Ott pitched a shutout to lead the defensive effort for Penn.

The game’s lone run came in the sixth inning when freshman Brooke Coloma singled to push across junior Alisha Pyrstowky, who led off the inning with a double.

However, the momentum didn’t hold, as later that day Penn succumbed to Youngstown State, 10-3.

It was neck and neck for the first two innings, with the Penguins (5-8) scoring two in the first inning and Penn quickly tying the score in the second.

But YSU rebounded with three runs in the top of the third, and it was smooth sailing for the Penguins thereafter.

The next day’s twin bill resulted in two more disappointing losses. The Quakers suffered a nail-biting defeat against Butler (3-2) that went into extra innings and a comeback that fell short against Detroit Mercy.

Against Butler, the Red and the Blue held a strong 3-0 lead until the fifth inning, when the Bulldogs evened the count. Both teams scored in the seventh, but the game ended in the bottom of the eighth on a wild throw that allowed Butler to score the decisive run in a 5-4 loss.

Penn immediately plunged into the nightcap with Detroit Mercy. Battling back from a six run deficit, Penn was able to score six runs in the last four innings, but ultimately lost, 8-6.

Penn continued producing late runs into the next day.

In its initial game against Bryant (1-11). the team fell into a 2-0 hole early but rallied in the final innings, securing a 3-2 victory. The winning run came on a double by junior Hilary Sheridan.

Later that day, the Quakers lost to Wagner. Down 6-0 in the fourth inning, the Red and the Blue once again railled for a win. Penn delivered five runs in the fifth inning but still came up short in the 6-5 loss.

The team’s final three scheduled contests were cancelled due to inclement weather.

The last game Penn played before the rain arrived resulted in a 6-1 loss to Butler.

“We would’ve liked to have those last 3 games, because I think we were getting better and better,” King said. “Our team has a lot of fight in them. They just don’t give up, and that is very encouraging as a coach.”

Penn women’s tennis embarked on a spring break trip to San Diego hoping for a string of wins but came back reminiscing about something quite different.

The inevitable team bonding on a long west coast trip proved to be a more important takeaway than their 1-2 record for the trip.

“I know it’s a cliché, but what stood out the most was the team experience, which is extremely positive and can only help,” coach Sanela Kunovac said.

The Quakers escaped East Coast weather and traveled to the University of San Diego Invitational on Thursday to compete against three teams over three days.

On the first day of the contest, Penn was swept 7-0 against its host, San Diego.

Kunovac, however, was proud that the team faced a challenging opponent and did not stop competing.

“We are a young team playing against a nationally ranked team in their home court, and outdoors,” she said. “These should have been recipes for disaster. Instead, they were a step in the right direction for us.”

After the hard loss, the Quakers returned the next day to defeat Portland, 4-3, in a fierce match that the coach identified as a real testament to the teams spirit.

On the final day of competition, Penn fell to San Francisco 4-0. The team’s record dropped to 4-8 on the season.

While the Quakers know they have to improve, the tournament provided the squad with a new perspective.

“Knowing that your teammates are fighting with you shoulder-to-shoulder, literally court-to-court, is really going to help us coming into the Ivy season,” Kunovac said.