ABSTRACT
Reneé stepped down from the chair in 1978. A power vacuum followed into which several contenders, some of whom had never before shown interest in anything beyond their own affairs, were eagerly drawn. In the late 1960s a few coed communes were put together in houses surrounding the campus. The number of such communes grew rapidly in the 1970s, until at least a tenth of the juniors and seniors lived in them. The communes at the University of Pennsylvania were an abbreviated and diluted version of the communes more commonly portrayed as having formed in the countryside. Virtually all students were supported by their parents and knew they would leave their communes when they graduated. The student was clearly very upset and anxious, and her companion nodded in what looked like unquestioning and also concerned appreciation for this bit of information on one of the important professors in the department.
