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February 3, 2000 NEWS BRIEFS Realpolitik In his first class, Ed Rendell (C’65) reported that as he prepared to teach his urban studies course Who Gets Elected and Why, he asked his son, Jesse, a Penn sophomore, for advice. “Dad,” Jesse reportedly told his father, “for the opening class, you shouldn’t hold everyone for more than 20 minutes.” And Jesse suggested that if his father planned to hand out lengthy reading assignments, he should indicate which parts were most important. Rendell said that at his son’s latter suggestion — that students would not read all of the assigned material — he looked at him aghast. And as for the 20-minute time limit, well, as anecdote piled on top of anecdote during Rendell’s first class, that went by the wayside too. Spring fever Penn alum Daniel Gluck (FA’92, W’92) and Alison Maddex, Camille Paglia’s main squeeze, will be opening their Museum of Sex at 233 Fifth Avenue at 27th Street in New York this spring. The museum will have an 8,000-square-foot exhibition space, cafe, museum shop, and will also eventually contain a theater and a library with translucent walls. Comedian Sandra Bernhard, fashion designer Todd Oldham, TV host Bill Maher, Paglia and performance artist Annie Sprinkle are on the board of advisers. Undergrad bioethics Undergraduates can now grapple with the ethical issues concerning advances in medical technology. The department of history and sociology of science and the Center for Bioethics offer a new honors concentration in bioethics. In addition to the two required courses — Seminar in the History and Sociology of Science (HSS 400) and Controversies in Bioethics (HSS 6) — the concentration will also include relevant courses from 15 other departments and programs including health care management, philosophy and women’s studies.