Daily Pennsylvanian

Fire Incident

July 23 — A paper on a bulletin board was reported at about 10:15 p.m. to be on fire at Harnwell College House.

Fraud

July 23 — A female student, 26, reported at about 11:15 p.m. that an unknown suspect made fraudulent charges against her bank account on the 200 block of S. 40th Street.

July 22 — A male sutdent, 26, reported at about 7:45 p.m. that someone made fraudulent charges against his bank account at Wachovia Bank, located at 3431 Chestnut St.

Theft

Jult 23 — An unknown suspect was reported at 11:00 a.m. to have removed items and an unspecified amount of cash from a vending machines at Leidy Laboratory, located at 3740 Hamilton Walk.

July 23 — A female unaffiliated with the University reported at about 1:15 a.m. that an unknown suspect took her unattended handbag at Drinker’s West, located at 3900 Chestnut St.

July 22 — A female Penn employee, 33, reported at 5:30 p.m. that someone took her unattended handbag at Starbucks, located at 3421 Chestnut St.

July 22 — A male unaffiliated with the University, 35, reported at about 3:15 p.m. that an unknown suspect took his bicycle by cutting the fence it was secured to on the 400 block of S. 42nd Street.

July 22 — Property was reported at about 2:00 p.m. to have been removed from Allegro’s Pizza, located at 40th and Spruce streets.

July 21 — A female Penn employee, 34, reported at about 1:00 p.m. that someone removed her unattended purse from the back of her chair at Cosi, located at 140 S. 36th St.

July 20 — A boy unaffiliated with the University, 16, reported at about 10:15 p.m. that an unknown suspect removed propety from her residence at Harnwell College House.

July 20 — A male student, 20, reported at about 10:00 p.m. that someone took his unattended cell phone at the Pottruck Fitness Center.

July 20 — Four male Penn employees, aged 43, 63, 49 and 52, reported about about 3:45 p.m. that an unkown suspect took property from secured lockers at the Class of 1920 Commons.

July 20 — A female student, 20, reported at about 10:30 a.m. that someone took her secured bicycle on the 300 block of S. 40th Street.

July 20 — A female Penn employee, 47, reported at about 9:15 a.m. that an unspecified amount of cash was taken from her desk at the McNeil building.

All information provided by the Division of Public Safety.

Penn President Amy Gutmann announced this week that University Trustee and Making History Campaign co-chairs Robert Levy and Diane Levy have made a $5 million gift for faculty support.

The Diane S. and Robert M. Levy University Professorship will go toward the Penn Integrates Knowledge initiative, which recruits scholars from around the world.

PIK professors are always hired with joint appointments between two schools — the Levy professor will hold an appointment at Wharton and another department to encourage interdisciplinary study.

Ten PIK University Professors have been appointed through the Making History campaign, which to date has raised $415 million for the university.

“Diane and I chose to make this gift because we believe that education is critical to addressing major world issues,” Levy said in a Penn press release, “and the complexity of these issues requires the kind of interdisciplinary research and teaching that the PIK professors have come to signify. We are thrilled to help bring yet another exceptionally effective scholar to Wharton and to Penn.”

Robert Levy earned an M.B.A. from Wharton in 1974.

While most recent Penn alumni were prepping for grad school or enjoying new positions at prestigious companies, 2010 College graduate Jimmy Tobias was spending part of his post-college summer locked in a jail cell in West Virginia.

Starting on July 14, Tobias served 10 days at Southern Regional Jail in Beckley, WV. He was charged with trespassing, littering, obstruction of justice and misdemeanor conspiracy after he worked in collaboration with three other volunteers who had chained themselves to a highwall miner — a piece of machinery that sends a 100-foot conveyor belt into the ground to pull out coal — on Massey Energy’s Bee Tree Surface Mine.

Two volunteers chained themselves directly to the miners, while Jimmy and another volunteer were responsible for on-site communication between the volunteers, police officers and Massey security.

Trooper James Mitchell, the police officer who made the arrest, was unavailable for comment.

The demonstration was part of an ongoing effort by volunteers from Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero — two West Virginia-based organizations dedicated to stopping mountain top removal, a common practice in which an explosion or digging occurs at the top of mountains in Appalachia in order to mine for coal.

Though all four of the protestors were arrested — and spent varying amounts of time in jail — they prevented Massey Energy’s mining for about four hours. And ultimately, Tobias said, he believes they halted mining altogether on the day of the demonstration.

Needless to say, Tobias’ summer pastime is a far cry from the more leisurely activities of most of his former classmates. However, according to his friends and colleagues, Tobias — a former Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer — has always stood apart from his peers.

The urban studies major grew up in a small town outside of Detroit — an experience which he found “frustrating” as someone who has loved the outdoors since a backpacking trip at age 14 revealed that “being immersed in the wilderness changes your views of the world,” he said.

In the suburbs, “people are so disconnected from the land and everything that sustains their existence — from the food they eat, to the water they drink, to the air they breathe,” Tobias said.

Once he got to college, though, Tobias said he was able to delve into the activist community.

He helped found the anti-poverty student group Penn Haven, got involved in urban gardening, urban farming and other city-oriented issues such as economic justice and anti-war activism.

“Those were my concerns in Philly because there isn’t too much nature there to fight for,” Tobias said of his activism in Penn’s urban setting.

Jessie Streich-Kest, a 2010 College graduate, met Tobias through Penn Haven. Having spent a year and a half working closely with Tobias on some of the group’s endeavors, she said she was always inspired by his commitment to the causes he fought for.

“It was clear when Jimmy was at school that he was ahead of us in his radicalism — it was very developed,” she said. “It was clear he was going to be really active.”

Just two weeks after graduating from Penn in May, Tobias had escaped the city for West Virginia, where he participated in Mountain Justice’s summer camp for young adults interested in environmental activism.

In West Virginia, Tobias said, he was inspired by the natural “underrated treasures” of Appalachia.

Moreover, he found the campaign “an intersection of environmental justice and human rights. People are poisoned here every day, people are intimidated by the thuggery of the coal corporations and investors.”

A call to Massey Energy was not returned by the time this article went to press.

Tobias’ conviction was clear to other Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice volunteers since he arrived at camp. Charles Suggs, a volunteer who works on press outreach and fundraising, said Tobias brought “good, fresh energy to the campaign.”

Tobias’ strong convictions were tested when he made the decision to participate in the demonstration, especially since he had “no doubt we would get arrested,” Tobias said.

“There was definitely some anxiety,” he added, “but we were committed to this and commitment can overcome fear.”

Looking back on his ten-day stint behind bars, however, Tobias said his experience did not live up to the horrifying myth surrounding incarceration.

Ironically, he said, the worst part of jail was the boredom and the food, while the best part was meeting inmates with all different types of stories.

Now facing an upcoming court date which could serve him with anything from a fine to more jail time, Tobias said, “if I had to go back [to jail] I would, though I wouldn’t want to.”

According to Tobias’ close friend, 2010 College graduate Elena Stein, Tobias’ actions have consequences even more far-reaching than the prospect of his spending more time in jail.

“From the moment he went to jail, every person who knows Jimmy now knows what’s going on. He won’t shut down Massey, but the effects of the past two weeks are multi-layered.”

Penn rowing’s twin stars, Elizabeth and Rebecca Donald, will return home from their trip to Belarus with some bronze to show for it.

The rising seniors’ long summer’s work culminated in a third-place finish Sunday at the World Rowing Under-23 Championship, which began last Thursday.

Germany took the gold medal in the Donalds’ event, the women’s double sculls, with a time of 7:03.47, while Belarus placed second.

The sisters withstood a surge from a duo from Romania, who attempted to chase down the Americans over the final 1000 meters of the 2000-meter event.

“We just drove our legs as hard as we could and didn’t look out,” Rebecca told USRowing.org.

The Donalds qualified for the event with a victory at the trials in New Jersey a month ago. The Massachusettes natives departed for Belarus on July 15 after weeks of training in the U.S.

This past weekend’s event marked the sisters’ first international event. Last year, they won two titles at the USRowing Club Nationals.

Both have also been mainstays on the Quakers’ varsity eight boat since they arrived as freshmen in 2007.

Penn men’s soccer coach Rudy Fuller goes into the recruiting process knowing exactly what he’s looking for.

“When you’re talking about a place like Penn, academically and athletically," he said yesterday, "you’re looking for the best and brightest."

He appears to have found some of ‘the best and brightest’ in his Class of 2014 recruits, which were announced yesterday. But the process of zeroing in on a specific group of kids is a difficult one.

Logic says that you should aim to recruit the best players available, but that’s not the way it usually turns out because the available talent pool is shrunk by both sides of the recruiting process.

On the one hand, the most talented players are not necessarily flocking to Penn, especially without the allure of a scholarship. However, on the other hand, Fuller and his staff also shrink the talent pool because strong academics is one of the main, if not the most important, criteria.

“We obviously start with the academics,” Fuller said. “That really cancels out the overwhelming percentage of the young men out there.”

Once the brainiest crop of talent remains, then it comes down to skill and what Fuller called “the X factor.”

“It’s one thing for us to be interested in the student-athlete, but the key for us is that we want first-rate student-athletes who are passionate about Penn and our program,” Fuller explained.

With the field whittled down even more, several more factors come into play. Experience, leadership and maturity seem like good qualities to look for, but then there comes the more basic X’s-and-O’s criteria, such as positional needs.

“There are certainly some years where we do have to fill a need positionally and so we’ll really make a push to prioritize that position,” Fuller said. “Generally speaking, though, we’re always looking for the best student-athletes that we can find.”

With all this said, a major question remains: How well does the incoming class of 2014 meet some of Penn and Fuller’s criteria?

On paper, at least, the answer appears to be “very well.”

Of the seven incoming freshman to hit the pitch, two — Alex Reddy and goalkeeper Steven Hellstern — were named National Merit Finalists and AP scholars, and the group also boasts a National Merit Commended student in Austin Kinn.

As far as talent is concerned, each member of the group has experience in the Olympic Development Program and many have made noise nationally. Some who stand out include Nicky Yin, who was selected to the U16 U.S. National Team pool and Reddy, a 2010 finalist for Alabama’s Gatorade Player of the Year.

Stephen Baker, a five-time letter winner, is also an accomplished recruit and the forward should help provide a scoring punch to a Penn squad that was tied for fifth last year in the Ivy League in goals scored (22) — a full ten behind Princeton, Brown and Harvard.

“Stephen is one of the top forwards in the 2010 class and is [a] proven goalscorer,” the coach told Penn Athletics. “He can score in a variety of ways and is a constant threat in the attack ... He should make an immediate impact on our team this year.”

The rest of the class includes Jonny Dolezal, whose club team, Lower Merion Velez, advanced to the 2009 National Championship and Ethan Jones, an Oregon product who netted the game-winning goal in the state final.

“I think this is certainly one of our better classes,” Fuller said. “I think it’s a group that’s going to leave a lasting impression on the program going down the road.”

SP Sports Editor Brian Kotloff contributed to the reporting of this article.

Jeremy Lin is not the only Harvard Athletics graduate who had a great week last week.

On the same day that Lin signed with the Golden State Warriors, Crimson swimmer Alex Meyer won the 25K event at the World Open Water Swimming Championships in Roberval, Quebec, Canada.

Yes, Meyer — along with 19 other swimmers from around the world — swam over 15 miles in the 72-degree Lac St-Jean.

And he beat the top international competitors hailing from Italy, Bulgaria, and nine other countries.

Meyer’s five-and-a-half-hour race hardly compares to a pool swim’s longest event —1500 meters — where spectators will often leave the pool area and grab a snack in the middle of the approximately 30-minute race.

But open water swimming is a sport independent from pool swimming. It was declared an official Olympic sport in 2008 in Beijing.

And though the two sports share the same basic premise — swimming through the water from start to finish as fast as possible — they have more differences than one might think.

Pool swimmers, separated from their competitors by lane ropes and given several feet of space to themselves in a lane, never swim against more than seven competitors at once. Pool conditions are always known and rarely change significantly from one pool to another. Each lap is the same distance and swimmers follow a black line at the bottom of the pool to stay straight. Teammates gather on the side of the pool to cheer and signal speed. They swim their own race.

There is no element of surprise.

But open water swimmers must expect the unexpected.

Like Meyer, who was disqualified in last year’s meet after a wave knocked him on top of another swimmer.

Aside from the waves and unclear water, nothing separates the swimmers from each other. Rather, the competition swims in packs — dangerous and aggressive packs. Punches are thrown, goggles are ripped off and backs are clawed.

It’s a vicious sport. Who would want to grab a snack in the middle of that race?

The swimmers do.

In a race that takes more than five hours to complete, the swimmers stop at docks to reenergize. Coaches and volunteers hold out feeding sticks and the competitors swim up and grab food.

The swimmers have several opportunities to visit the feeding docks — and plan those visits strategically, as the 25K race is usually swum as loops of a given distance. The Roberval course was 10 laps of a 2.5K course.

The 25K was the longest race of the meet. Men and women competed in the 5K and 10K races as well. Conshohocken, PA. native Fran Crippen placed third in the 5K.

For Meyer, his victory came from behind.

At the 10K mark, Meyer was in 8th place. By the 15K, he was in the middle of the lead group.

“It is a tight pack and no one is giving an inch or a centimeter,” U.S. National Head Coach Mike Gobrecht reported on Twitter.

But with just over 4K remaining, Meyer pulled ahead of the pack and gained the lead, finishing one second ahead of 2009 champion, Italian Valerio Cleri.

“My plan for the first 10 or 15K or so was to hang in the back and draft really well, pick my feeds really well, kind of lay low and just try to relax,” Meyer said. “But that’s pretty much everyone’s plan.”

Despite the length of the race, watching renowned swimmers go stroke-for-stroke while kicking each other under the water adds drama to the sport.

Though Meyer was the only Ivy Leaguer to participate in the World Championships, Penn’s James Fee and Stephanie Nerby have swam in charity races in Massachusettes, according to Penn coach Mike Schnur.

It is common for distance pool swimmers to transition to the open water, making it possible that the fast-growing sport could soon lead more Quakers to dip their toes into the open water.

Penn Law’s Pepper Hall has been ground up to make room for a new law school building on Sansom Street.

The construction job for the new Golkin Hall ­­— known as the Sansom Street Project — will complete a “10-year transformation of the Penn Law campus,” stated Penn Law Dean Michael Fitts on Penn Law’s website.

The new law school building, will connect the existing Silverman and Tannenbaum Halls, feature a 350 seat auditorium and be LEED certifiable. The building was designed by Boston-based architect firm Kennedy & Violich.

According to Vice Dean for Administrative Services at the Law School Jo-Ann Verrier, Fitts sought a new building in the 2006-2007 academic year after the size of Penn Law’s faculty had increased. “The joke became that our standing faculty were truly standing!” wrote Verrier in an e-mail.

The biggest challenge was to balance the look of the historic Silverman Hall with the newer Tannenbaum hall. “With most of our projects here, we have a design guideline that says we should seek to build buildings of their time … We balanced that idea along with the historic fabric we have on campus.”

Kennedy & Violich achieved balance by choosing the size of the building and its building materials, Kocent said. “They researched and landed on the brick, limestone and marble trim to match the feel of the law school of Silverman,” said Kocent, adding that the building is three stories on the east to match Silverman’s height, and two stories on the west to match Tannebaum’s.

Penn law faculty and students also had a voice in the design through the school’s Building committee, which met with the architects.

“I was an art history major in undergrad with a focus in architecture,” said rising second year law student Craig Olson. “So I was definitely interested in the committee.”

According to Olson, students were able to provide input in how students use the interior spaces of the buildings, which areas seem to be more crowded and what makes student spaces successful.

He added, “I think a lot of people are going to be excited for the roof terraces — one of which will be above the Goat, a new student space…and the other will be on the top of the building.”

The new building will also include a courtroom, funded by a $1 million gift from legal firm Kline&Specter. According to Kline&Specter partner Shanin Specter, he had suggested the court room before the start of the Sansom Street Project.

“I had been teaching trial advocacy at Penn for the last 10 years, and I told the dean a long time ago that I thought the law school needed a new courtroom,” said Specter, an 1984 Penn Law graduate. “He came to me recently and told me that the school was now able to build a courtroom if [the firm] would fund it and so we agreed.”

The court room will be used as classroom setting for purposes such as mock trials. However, it may also be used as the location of Pennsylvania Superior Court arguments. “They have come to the lawschool and used rooms that were much less appropriate,” Specter said.

“We have a lot to do together, the law school and the firm,” said Specter, adding “I love the law school and I love being able to help advance its mission.”

Golkin Hall will open in January of 2012.

‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,’ the old saying goes.

And the saying now rings true on the coaching staff of the Penn women’s lacrosse team, which added resigned Columbia head coach Kerri Whitaker this week.

Whitaker will serve as an assistant under head coach Karin Brower Corbett, completing what amounted to an offseason coaching trade. Penn assistant of the last four years Liz Kittleman left the Quakers in June to take over at the helm of the Lions’ program, which has suffered fourteen straight defeats at the hands of the Red and Blue.

“It’s kind of funny how that worked out,” Whitaker said.

A Ridley Township, Pa., native, Whitaker resigned in May in order to move back home, closer to her family. When Kittleman took over her former Columbia post, Whitaker said she jumped at the opportunity to work at “one of the best programs in the country.”

“Everything has just felt right and I think a lot of it has to do with [the fact that] I’ve always had a lot of hometown pride,” she explained. “So that is something that is really exciting to me, to be a part of that, to be back where I’m from.”

And to be a part of a program that is chasing an elusive national championship, Whitaker swallowed some pride in reducing her role from head coach to assistant, focused primarily on the team’s attack.

But prior to leading the Lions for eight seasons, the Brown graduate served as an assistant at Syracuse for five years, and said she is happy to be working under a coach the caliber of Corbett.

“Karin is someone who for a long time I’ve had a lot of respect for and I’ve admired what she has done with the Penn program,” Whitaker said.

According to Kittleman, Whitaker found the perfect fit.

“I just can’t think of a better person for somebody with Kerri’s experience to work with,” Kittleman said. “I can’t think of one example in my four years with Karin where she didn’t listen to her assistants and take their opinions and their insight to heart.”

Kittleman admitted that Penn is “on a different level” than the program she is taking over, but she is banking on the her belief that “there can be a shift of power in the Ivy League at any time.” Columbia finished 0-7 in league play last season, and has not finished with more than one Ivy win since the school added a women’s lacrosse team in 1997.

Now the ex-Penn assistant is faced with the difficult task of giving a struggling program a major boost. But Kittleman will still side with her former team — with one exception, of course.

“I think I would only root against them once and that would be when we play them,” she said. “With both coaching staffs knowing the other team, I’d like to hope it would be an interesting game.”

Whitaker, meanwhile, is much more confident now that she has joined the winning side.

“I just can’t wait to get going,” she said.

Among the keys to the Penn football team’s Ivy title last season were staunch defense and Kyle Olson’s performance under center.

But the most overlooked area of a football team — the offensive line — may in fact deserve the most credit for bringing the trophy back to University City. And the strength of that unit in Penn’s case lies right in the center of the field.

Monday, Quakers center Joe D’Orazio was one of 87 players named to The Sports Network (TSN) Preseason Football Championship Subdivision All-America teams, earning recognition for his often unnoticed efforts. But in typical o-lineman fashion, D’Orazio discussed his selection as a collective rather than an individual honor.

“[On] the offensive line there’s no stats. It’s not really an individual position,” the senior said. “When the team does well, it’s because everyone does well together.”

That doesn’t mean that an individual can’t stand out from the group. And in this case, D’Orazio has earned the admiration of Penn offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Jon McGlaughlin.

“[Center] is probably the most demanding position with the exception of quarterback,” McGlaughlin said. “[D’Orazio is] the guy that is there every single snap taking care of the football and getting everybody on the same page.

“It’s no surprise that he’s captain,” the coach added. “He’s had that kind of leadership role with our team for quite a while.”

Yet D’Orazio wasn’t always considered the centerpiece of a line, or even a Division I contributor. Many schools, including some Ivy schools, viewed him as too small for the next level coming out of Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s Prep high school.

A strong work ethic helped him overcome his slight stature (6’2, 270 pounds) and has now led him to third-team All-America status.

“He’s someone that is committed to the game and is a really, really smart football player,” McGlaughlin said. “He’s never going to be a big offensive lineman, but he’s certainly a very strong, well-conditioned, talented athlete.”

D’Orazio, who said he’s kept the Ivy schools that passed on him “in the back of [his] mind,” noted that facing off with 2009 first-team All-American Joe Goniprow every day in practice was huge in his development.

“The hardest guy you have to go against, having him at practice just makes you that much better,” D’Orazio said. “I never played against anyone in his league.”

Now, D’Orazio has been placed in the same ‘league’ as the best D-IAA players in the country. The 2009 first-team All-Ivy selection is the Ivies’ lone TSN team representative — the Southern Conference led with 15 All-Americans, while Villanova had the most first-team selections with three.

The Quakers’ center expressed his discontent with the Ancient Eight getting “overlooked,” adding that the conference boasts “players that are just as good as any of the other guys named to that list.”

Such is life as an offensive lineman in the Ivy League, but at least D’Orazio has brought attention to a Quakers’ line that allowed the fewest sacks in the Ivies last season.

With five players with starting experience returning, McGlaughlin said that this fall’s line is in good shape.

And, as the coach reiterated, “you can’t be a good offensive lineman if you’re not part of a good offensive line.”

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is listed as ‘out of compliance’ with 14 city regulations, according to a report based on a Food Facility Inspection conducted in mid April by the Philadelphia Department of Health.

According to Penn Medicine, the oversights have been corrected.

“Out of compliance” status means that the food handling practices of a facility violate the standards of operation and management required by Philadelphia’s public health officials.

Critical violations of the city health code — more serious than normal violations ­— at HUP included raw chicken being found above ready-to-eat foods, refrigeration temperatures of 54 degrees rather than the required 41 to prevent bacteria growth and a dishwasher that did not heat utensils enough to properly sanitize them.

Philadelphia hospital kitchens average six violations each in their most recent quarterly inspections by the city health department, according to a July 23 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

HUP Spokeswoman Susan Phillips offered insight regarding the FFI report. “Hospital kitchens are quite different from other institutional settings,” said Phillips, explaining further “They must be able to provide food for general consumption by the public, including hospital staff, as well as accommodate individual patient selections.”

According to Phillips, because of the complex demands HUP’s cafeteria must contend with, the facility out sources its food services.

“Given both the volume and complexity of hospital food service,” said Phillips, “specialized vendors have emerged to better meet these challenges and many, if not most institutions contract out their food services. HUP’s food services are contracted to Morrison.”

In regards to April’s inspection report, Phillips was confident that the areas in question have been carefully addressed and corrected.

“Any items identified in the most recent reports as needing improvement were either corrected at the time of the inspection or within a few hours,” Phillips said, adding, “as with any inspection, the findings cited reflect a single point in time and are not an indicator of overall quality.”

“We welcome inspections and work closely with the inspectors and our vendor to maintain a safe environment.” Phillips said.

This week, copyright law saw a major change that could benefit students in a number of ways when the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was renewed and expanded to protect the use of video clips for educational and other noncommercial purposes, such as documentary filmmaking. The DMCA renewal also covers exemptions in noninfringing uses of smart phones, video games and ebooks.

Previously this law — which was established in 1998 — only allowed media studies or film professors to use encrypted digital media from the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, making other noncommercial uses of film clips illegal and inhibiting students from using clips in an educational setting the same way professors might.

We support this update to the legislation, which now allows any college or university professor, as well as film and media studies students, to use short portions of any motion picture — not just those limited to educational libraries — for educational purposes. While the new legislation does restrict usage to motion pictures only, excluding slide shows and video games, we appreciate that the renewed legislation allows both professors and students to use high-quality film clips to effectively engage in criticism or commentary about motion pictures.

Not only does the legislation expand usage of clips for educational purposes, it also allows for documentary filmmaking and noncommercial videos. No doubt students will be able to take advantage of these further exemptions in contexts beyond the classroom. The renewed regulations are well aligned with established fair use principles, and we look forward to seeing more students’ and professors’ remix videos as a result without being hindered by ulterior motives.

The over six million iPhone users in the United States can celebrate new exemptions to the Digital Media Copyright Act — as can some Penn Professors, but for different reasons.

On July 26, the Librarian of Congress announced exemptions from laws barring access to copyrighted works, outlined in the DMCA.

The decision will now allow all professors to bypass the copy protection on clips of DVDs for use in class as well as media students for coursework. It will also excuse iPhone users who hack or “jailbreak” their phone to download third party applications blocked by Apple, according to Peter Decherney, associate professor of Cinema Studies and English at Penn.

Passed by Congress in 1998, the DMCA criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control to DVDs and digital media, which by extension made it illegal for a professor to make a copy of a clip from a DVD to show to a class even for educational purposes, Decherney explained.

The decision, which was due nine months ago, was necessary because “the DMCA was actually harming people,” said Decherney, who believes such copyright laws threaten education.

Every three years, the copyright office has a rule-making allowing people to apply for an exemption from the DMCA.

“Very few” people applied for such exemptions in 2000 and 2003, according to Decherney.

In 2006, Decherney testified in a Copyright Office hearing at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and secured an exemption for “any media stored in the library of a film or media studies department,” according to Annenberg School of Communication website.

“I was the only person testifying in 2006 against all the lobbyists,” Decherney said.

In 2009, Decherney was glad to have more support on his side, as he and others testified against Time Warner, Inc., the Motion Picture Association of America and other lobbyist groups.

“I was intimidated at first,” Decherney admitted, but “we had a perfectly legitimate argument ... Their arguments were kind of silly.”

Decherney said he believes exemptions should be expanded even further, perhaps to elementary and secondary schools, and for material other than DVDs, such as high definition technology and encrypted streaming on the internet.

“Limiting it only to DVDs…hurts scholars and students that are working with current media,” said Decherney.

Decherney plans to begin the process to “renew and expand the exemption” in the next ruling at the end of 2011.

Kenny Goldsmith, a lecturer in Penn’s Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, has taught courses on what he calls non-creative writing and was less impressed by the ruling.

“When was the last time you ever heard of anyone who didn’t rip a CD or a DVD?” he asked.

“I think it’s actually ridiculous. This is why laws are insane. People do what they want to do regardless,” he said. “The law is ten years behind reality. It shouldn’t even need to be passed.”

Kevin Casey, of Stradley Ronon’s Intellectual Property Law firm, said about 95 percent of people infringe on copyright daily when they used the copy machine — and probably “[don’t] even know it was illegal.

Additionally, all copyright infringement is hard to police, he noted.

Case noted that while it will now be legal for a professor to circumvent the access controls to get to the content and show it to a class, it will still be illegal to infringe the copyright. For example, the professor cannot make a copy of the DVD and sell it to someone else.

“It takes away one block for those people who do want to use the content in a non-infringing way. Now you’re doing it legally instead of illegally. If anything, it gives you peace of mind.”

Six other classes of works — including video games, some computer programs and eBook —will no longer be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls until the next ruling in 2012, according to the United States Copyright Office website.

Apple will open a new store in Center City July 30 at 5:00 p.m.

The store, located at 1607 Walnut St., will only open for three hours until 8:00 p.m., its regular closing time from Monday to Saturday.

An Apple spokeswoman told Philly.com that 1,000 t-shirts, unique to the store and printed only for its grand opening, will be handed to the first 1,000 customers.

According to an Apple press release, customers will be able to test Apple’s entire product line hands-on.

The store’s opening comes right after the announcement of new iMac models and a new product, the Magic Trackpad.

The Penn Literacy Network — a program in the University’s Graduate School of Education — hosted several elementary and middle-school teachers from Detroit for a week of teaching-based workshops.

News of PLN workshops spreads to school districts mostly through word of mouth, according to PLN Director Bonnie Botel-Sheppard,

“Detroit came to us because of a woman named Dr. Kimberly Bates from publishing company Harcourt, which had a contract with Detroit schools,” Botel-Sheppard said. “Kimberly went to this event last year and told us we needed to reach out to Detroit. So we went for it.”

The workshops, which according to Botel-Sheppard aim to engage students through reading, writing and talking, were well-received by the visiting teachers.

“I’d heard of the University of Pennsylvania but I didn’t have any expectations,” said Rebecca Pietrzak, a Spanish teacher for K–8 students in Detroit. “Not until the minute I walked through the door and did the first day’s exercises — right off the bat I said, ‘Wow I can’t wait to come back.’”

The workshops help place teachers in “the child’s seat,” Pietrzak said. “We had to write stories, and they asked us to share our stories,” she continued, explaining that children’s learning processes were being modeled to them through writing strategies.

Pietrzak was not alone in her praise of the program. The workshops have led fifth grade teacher Chalena Beasely to “completely” overhaul her lesson plans.

“I think I was teaching the content and I wasn’t teaching the students,” she said, describing how PLN taught her to better engage her classroom. “It doesn’t matter what I’m saying or what I’m doing if they’re not saying and doing, they’re not learning.”

One strategy Beasely learned, called “living sentences” would help students learn subject-verb agreement, she said. “They speak the way I do when I don’t have my ‘teacher voice’ — I can turn it off and on, but they can’t,” she explained.

The strategy allows students to, in groups, “rearrange, co-construct, and play around with” words in a sentence. “It’s very different from me putting a power point on. You are forced to participate in that lesson,” Beasely said, adding that engagement is crucial when students’ personal lives are in disarray. “You know, it could be that they slept in a car last night — and now you’re trying to teach them subject-verb agreement?”

According to Botel-Sheperd, part of the program’s success since its 1981 inception is the network created. Teachers are invited to the program, Botel-Shepherd said, and then go on to lead workshops in other districts. However, there are still challenges to overcome — such as funding in an economic crisis and the political climate toward teaching.

“If the political climate is against our own philosophy it makes it difficult to move forwards. And it happens a lot¸ where teachers are regulated and told to do things that run contrary to the research,” Botel-Sheppard said.

“Nevertheless, we’re getting some good groups going, and we try to work around that,” Botel Sheppard said.

“I loved the program,” Pietrzak said, adding “I wish this were mandatory — it keeps you connected to the student.”

It was a zoo out there in 2008, when I first showed up on campus, mattress pad and shower caddy in tow. For Penn’s Class of 2014, however, freshman fall might be a whole new animal. Or no animal at all.

No, I’m not talking about changes made to the Penn Reading Project. I’m talking about elephants and donkeys, and this year’s political landscape — or utter lack thereof — on Locust Walk.

If all goes according to trends in American politics, this year’s student voter turnout and political enthusiasm won’t come close to what Penn saw in 2008. But letting trends be trends is not how citizens in a participatory democracy should function, even in a midterm year.

Penn in August 2008 was a Penn full of signs and sign-wavers, of shouting Democrats and Republicans and independents, of frantic voter registration left and right. According to statistics from Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), nearly 53 percent of 18- to-29-year-old Pennsylvanians voted in the 2008 election — and after a historic campaign season, the nation’s first black president was elected on a message of hope and change. Nationally, youth turnout in 2008 was up two percentage points from the 2004 presidential election, which pitted Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry against incumbent President George W. Bush.

Clearly, much has changed since 2008. To begin with, there is no Barack Obama on the ticket. In addition, 2010 is a midterm election year, and midterm elections in this country see significantly less voter turnout than presidential elections. Comparing 2010 to 2008, “the fact that there’s going to be less voting and less political activity is pretty much guaranteed,” CIRCLE Director Peter Levine said.

Political scientists have various reasons for the perennial drop, which essentially boil down to midterm races lacking a national focal point in which people want to invest time, money or interest. Add this to the empirical fact that young voters turn out in fewer numbers than the general populace in any election, and the outlook for youth turnout this fall is bleak at best — even among educated voters, who, according to CIRCLE data, tend to turn out in higher numbers than their less-educated peers.

Why do fewer young Americans vote than older Americans? Penn political science professor Marc Meredith highlighted the importance of social pressure in explaining why people vote. “To some extent, if the rest of your peer group isn’t voting, you might feel less of an intrinsic social desire to go vote, because you don’t feel like you’re not obeying the norm of voting,” he said. “When you age and all your friends are voting, ... you might feel more like you have to go vote because you want to uphold this norm in your group.”

This midterm season has already seen low youth turnout numbers: special elections in three states saw rates well below 2006 numbers. No turnout data exists for May’s Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, but Penn’s commencement ceremonies took place the day before the primary, meaning most students had already left campus by the time Election Day rolled around.

If we just shrug and let things play out as they will, there will be a moderate to low turnout on campus in this fall’s general election, coupled with moderate to low enthusiasm. But empirics, fortunately, are just empirics, and the way to change them is as simple as filling out a form and checking some boxes. Registration for the Nov. 2 general election is open until Oct. 4 in Pennsylvania. I’ll see you at the polls.

Jared McDonald is a rising College junior from Denver, Colo. He is the DP city news editor. His e-mail address is mcdonald@theDP.com.

Whether you agree with Sarah Palin’s politics or not, she sends an inspiring message in her recent ad known as “Mama Grizzlies.” She encourages woman voters to stand up and fight for their children and their country, to prove that women can get things done. While it is clear that women today have taken that message to heart, the tangible results are less certain.

In The New York Times last week, columnist Nicholas Kristof reported that, for the first time in history, men no longer dominate the American labor force. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women were the majority of payroll employees for the five months that ended in March. Women occupy just over half of professional and managerial positions in the country.

Kristoff argued that this phenomenon is partially because three-quarters of the Americans who lost their jobs in the recession were men. But he also pointed to another explanation: perhaps women are “simply better-suited than men to today’s jobs.” He cited Hanna Rosin from The Atlantic, who argues that today’s postindustrial economy values predominately female attributes like social intelligence and communication over men’s physical size and strength.

But have women actually achieved equality -— or even, as Kristof suggests, superiority — in the work place? Jerry Jacobs, professor of sociology, doesn’t think so. He said the number of women in male-dominated professions hasn’t changed significantly. Rather, the number of those positions has decreased, while the number of secretaries, daycare workers and other female-dominated positions has increased.

“The labor force remains segregated by sex,” he said. “We think now that there are lots of women that are lawyers and doctors, ... there is no longer an uneven distribution of men and women across fields. But if you think about it, there are lots more secretaries.”

Still, there is no denying one fact: women are climbing the academic ladder. The National Honor Society reported that about 65 percent of its members are girls. According to a 2010 report from the Center on Education Policy, in math boys and girls are about equal, while in verbal skills 79 percent of elementary schoolgirls can read at a proficient level compared with 72 percent of boys.

At the college level, women also hold their own. According to Jacobs, American women receive more college degrees than men, as well as better grades in school. Women make up a slight majority at several top universities — such as Harvard College, Yale University and Penn.

At Penn, the female average GPA for spring 2009 was 3.45, while the male average was 3.37. According to College Dean Dennis Deturck, 54 percent of the College of Arts and Sciences is female, and slightly more women than men have been selected for Phi Beta Kappa from the College over the last few years.

And while the percentages of women in Wharton and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences remain on the lower end, those numbers are on the rise. Ellen Eckert, of SEAS undergraduate admissions, said the class of 2014 is 36-percent female, while the school was only 36-percent female at the end of 2009-2010.

But the steady rise in female performance at Penn over the past few years has not yet translated into tangible results in the workplace. In 2008, the average starting salary for College men was $5,043 higher than that for College women. Though salaries for both sexes went down over the next year due to the recession, the gender gap widened: on average College men received $7,263 more than College women. Likewise, Wharton men graduated with a higher starting salary on average than Wharton women by about $3,432 in 2009.

So Penn women, take a stand. We’re better-educated and perform better in school than men. Let’s translate that stellar academic performance into professional equality. Kristof may think we’re well on our way, but we can do better.

Lara Seligman is a rising College senior from Wynnewood, Pa. She is a former DP assignments editor. Her e-mail address is laracs@sas.upenn.edu.

Plans are underway to keep the Wistar Institute on the map as an internationally recognized cancer research center.

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission had a number of development proposals to discuss at their routine meeting. One was the presentation of the “Institutional Development District Master Plan Amendment” — a proposal that would allow the Wistar Institute to erect a new, state of the art research facility.

The project will involve the demolition of a portion of the 1975 structure at 36th and Spruce Streets and the construction of a six-story research tower in its place.

Staci Goldberg, the director of communications at the Wistar Institute, spoke about the potential of the new structure.

She said, “The project will enable Wistar, recognized internationally for its cancer research and vaccine development, to expand its research programs and public outreach, and recruit new faculty.”

Martin Gregorski of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission gave the presentation at Tuesday’s hearing and offered that this new facility will help keep Wistar “competitive” with other research institutions.

“It’s going to allow Wistar to update their facilities,” Gregorski said.

The proposal was “well received” by the committee, Gregorki said after the hearing, adding that the new structure will have little to no effect on the surrounding community outside of Penn’s campus.

“There is not much impact on the community outside of Penn because it’s right in the heart of campus” Gregorski said.

Currently, the Wistar Institute property at 36th and Spruce consists of a late-Victorian terra cotta and brick building constructed in 1894, and a Cancer Research Building and vivarium constructed in 1975.

The new six-story structure will include a three-story sky-lit atrium, a 200-seat, sloped-floor lecture hall, state of the art laboratories and parking for more than 7,400 cars.

According to Goldberg, the construction process should be well underway by mid 2011.

After observing the scarce water resources in South Africa, 14-year-old Brittany Young knew she wanted to do something to help. She did not realize that providing this aid would turn into her life’s work.

In 2007, Young — now a rising sophomore in the College — created A Spring of Hope, a non-profit that drills wells for rural African schools in order to improve student health and promote education at a grassroots level.

Last week, the organization finished fourth place in a Facebook competition led by Chase Community Giving. A Spring of Hope was granted $100,000, which the charity will use to advance its aspiration of widespread water availability.

When Young first visited Beretta Primary School in the Acornhoek area of South Africa, she was shocked by the amount of students that fit into each classroom and the lack of school supplies. What impacted her most, though, was the extreme dearth of water.

A government truck would occasionally deliver water to the school, but it would never be enough water for the school’s dying garden or to clean and feed the students, she explained in an e-mail.

“I vowed to Lynette Sithole, the principal of Beretta, that I would do everything within my power to improve the conditions at Beretta Primary,” Young wrote.

Young kept her promise, and within a year she raised $10,000 — enough to build A Spring for Hope’s first well at Beretta Primary School.

Young and her friends traveled to South Africa that summer to create a documentary about the transformed environment. The documentary fueled the growth of Young’s mission, and ultimately led to the creation of five new wells in South Africa and one in Uganda.

“In a few days, it may be 6!” she wrote. Young is currently in South Africa overseeing and helping with well building, as she tries to every summer.

Penn’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy acknowledges the importance of clean water and applauds Young’s work.

“Community access to clean water is an essential component of access to health and community,” Global Public Health and Research Director Carol McLaughlin said.

“Since most women and children spend several hours a day collecting water instead of going to school or tending to crops, water access makes an economic impact as well as a health impact,” she added.

Young plans to major in English, but knows that A Spring of Hope is her life’s calling.

“The foundation is everything I love: working with people, solving problems, thinking critically, and even design, marketing, writing, and visual media,” wrote Young.

During her time at Penn, Young hopes to gain as much as possible from the resources the University offers. And has already worked with students, alumni and professors to learn and to develop her ideas.

Recent College graduate Jimmy Tobias has been in jail for the past week after taking part in a protest affiliated with campaigns Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice to stop mining on West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.

As part of the demonstration Tobias, a former Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer, chained himself to a highwall miner on Massey Energy’s Bee Tree Surface Mine in West Virginia along with three other volunteers. He was arrested Wednesday night along with his fellow protesters, but ultimately halted Massey Energy’s mining for about four hours.

Tobias, who moved to West Virginia two weeks after graduating from this May, was unavailable for comment from Southern Regional Jail in Beckley, WV.

However, in an open letter posted last week on Climate Ground Zero’s web site, Tobias condemned society’s “money worshipping,” which he said ultimately leads to the destruction of the earth.

“As a member of the generation coming of age, I refuse to take part in that idolatry. I along with many others refuse to sanction the desecration of this earth, our home, and its inhabitants for the sake of a greasy buck,” Tobias wrote.

Tobias is currently being held at $ 3,500 bail on counts of trespassing, littering, misdemeanor conspiracy and obstruction of police activity. One of his fellow protestors was released on bail last Friday, while the other two are still incarcerated.

Sex Offense

July 16—Indecent exposure was reported at about 9:30 a.m. on the 3900 block of Delancey Street.

Assault

July 12 — Donnell Moore, 34, unaffiliated with the University and of the 1200 block of S. 32nd, was arrested at about 6:30 p.m. for allegedly striking a male Penn employee, 39, with an open hand.

Robbery

July 13—Two 15-year-old male juveniles were arrested shortly before midnight for allegedly forcibly removing personal items from a male Penn employee, 23, on the 4200 block of Spruce Street.

July 12—A female unaffiliated with the University reported at 4:00 p.m. that an unknown suspect displayed a knife and took various personal items from her person on the 3200 block of Ludlow Street.

Vandalism

July 13—A man unaffiliated with the University, 26, reported at about 6:30 p.m. that an unknown suspect vandalized an air conditioner on the 4200 block of Pine Street.

July 11—A male employee, 27, and a female employee, 33, reported at about 10:15 a.m. that someone vandalized their vehicles at Penn Tower Parking, located at 399 S. 34th St.

Theft

July 16—An unknown suspect was reported at about 8:15 p.m. to have removed a secured bicycle from the 4200 block of Sansom Street.

July 16—A male student, 29, reported at about 2:45 p.m. that someone took his unattended books and briefcase from a bench on the 3800 block of Locust Walk.

July 15— A female student, 20, reported at about 5:30 p.m. that a wheel from her secured bike was removed by an unknown suspect on the 3400 block of Market Street.

July 13—Someone was reported at about 6:00 p.m. to have taken an unspecified amount of case from a vending machine in Cohen Hall.

July 13—A man unaffiliated with the University, 88, reported at 5:15 p.m. that an unknown suspect took an unspecified amount of cash from his shirt pocket and fled on the unit block of S. 40th Street.

July 12— Someone was reported at about 11:00 a.m. to have removed merchandise without paying from American Apparel, located at 3651 Walnut St.

July 12 —Michael Eck, 37, unaffiliated with the University and of the 1400 block of Newkirk Street, was arrested at about 5:15 a.m. for allegedly entering the secured vehicle and removing the GPS device of a female Penn employee, 30, on the 200 block of S. 33rd Street.

All information provided by the Division of Public Safety.

— Victor Gamez