Sandy Smith

The stage was dark at the Annenberg Center far too often when Michael Rose arrived at Penn three years ago. Since then, he’s lit up the stage not only at Annenberg, but in Irvine Auditorium and other places on campus.

  It was just a carton of soap pads. Then Andy Warhol copied it. After that, it became an icon that forced everyone to ask anew, What is art?

It’s official University policy that everyone deserves respect in the workplace. But making sure that happens isn’t so much a matter of administrators handing down decrees as it is one of colleagues letting each other know where the boundaries are.

  George Weiss (W’65) has said yes to Penn again — in a big way. Weiss’ Say Yes to Education foundation has donated $20 million to the University to enhance campus life, support faculty and strengthen financial aid.

In the early days of what became the United States, colonial settlers and Native Americans studied and broke bread together at such places as Harvard, William and Mary and Dartmouth. Now, more than three centuries later, one would be hard pressed to find Native American faces among the students and faculty of these schools and their peers, including Penn.

We may never see the likes of Bill Clinton again. And that, journalist Joe Klein (C’68) suggested, would be a real shame. Klein — the once-anonymous author of “Primary Colors,” the roman à clef of the ’92 Clinton campaign — was the featured speaker at a Fox Leadership Program forum on “The Clinton Legacy and the Future of the Bush Presidency” Jan. 23.

The competition to get into Penn gets stiffer with each passing year. Just how much stiffer is reflected in this year’s early-decision admissions figures.

It is often said that genius goes unrecognized in its own time. It is also often said that giants are unrecognized in their home towns. And sure enough, both of these clichés surfaced as two world-renowned architects were honored in their home town Jan. 18.

It is often said that genius goes unrecognized in its own time. It is also often said that giants are unrecognized in their home towns. And sure enough, both of these clichés surfaced as two world-renowned architects were honored in their home town Jan. 18.

A third of the way through our interview, Lipika Goyal (C’01) got a feeling of déjà vu. “I feel like I’ve said the same quotes in every publication that’s come out,” she said in response to a question about her summer research in India and Ghana. She’s been answering similar questions in one interview after another since her Rhodes Scholarship award was announced.