February 4, 2016

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016

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SOCIALISM

pULLS OUT. Hillary Clinton is a terrible presidential candidate.” - Louis Capozzi PAGE 4

KICK IT UP A NOTCH BACK PAGE

REVIVED Three hundred and fifty marchers gathered to protest, marching westward down the streets of Philadelphia. From City Hall to 37th and Walnut streets, activists condemned the Institute for Cooperative Research, accused of conducting research for the United States to support the country’s effort in the Vietnam War. The protestors, students and professors alike hailed from across the Northeast and represented Penn, Yale, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Temple. It was Oct. 16, 1965. Joel Aber, the leader of Penn’s newly formed Students for a Democratic Society, labeled the building a “genocide factory,” “designed to implement the murderous plans the Establishment wishes to employ,” according to a Daily Pennsylvanian article at the time. Counter-protesters taunted the activists as they traversed the streets, screaming “Commies,” “Draft-dodgers” and “Traitors.” The night before, folk singers and speakers stood downtown above a crowd of over 1,000. “I admit being a traitor,” cried a singer. “I am a traitor to imperialism, neo-colonialism, murder [and] torture.” Hours earlier, Penn administrators had worried about Penn’s under-wraps research and the threat of civil disobedience. Letters between campus officials revealed concerns that student activities could include throwing themselves on the stairs of “the University’s hidden, top-secret bacteriological warfare unit.” On Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, Students for a Democratic Society restarted at Penn. Advertisements on Facebook asked, “Do you want

Controversial anti-Vietnam War group Students for a Democratic Society finds a resurgence on campus this semester

REBECCA HEILWEIL Staff Reporter

SEE SOCIALISM PAGE 5

Making higher-level math more fun Professor Robert Ghrist uses cartoons to illustrate math SAHIL KUMAR Staff Reporter

Penn students and researchers set their sights on Cuba

Penn In Havana study abroad program took its first trip last year SYDNEY SCHAEDEL Deputy News Editor

From the moment they arrive on campus, Penn students dream of spending part of their college years in Paris, London or Madrid. Not many plan to spend time in a nearby country whose relationship with the United States has been marked by conflict for the past several decades. But recently, certain students have opted to step out of their — and their country’s — comfort zone. As hostility between the United States and Cuba has declined and travel has become easier over the past few years, students and faculty from all areas of Penn have taken advantage of the opportunity to visit and learn SEE CUBA PAGE 2

GUYRANDY JEAN-GILLES | ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Professor Robert Ghrist wrote a 45-page book with various cartooons as a way to teach higher-level mathematics.

“Funny Little Calculus Text” sounds more like a children’s book than the title of a Penn professor’s latest book. But for professor Robert Ghrist, a playful title is just one aspect of showing people that math can be fun. Ghrist, a member of the Penn Integrates Knowledge program, wants to make higher-level mathematics more accessible to the masses by developing new methods to make math more enjoyable. He hopes to renew people’s interest in mathematics and help develop a new generation of mathematicians.

One of the challenges that Ghrist faces is that most fail to see what makes math interesting by itself. Wharton freshman Max Slosburg, for example, believes that math can be interesting, but also sees it as too difficult to study and not worth pursuing by itself. “There are a lot of things you can do with a math major, but you can also do a decent amount of those things with other majors too,” Slosburg said. “So I know that a math major would help me pursue my career in the business world, but I think a major in, say, finance would help me the same way, and I would struggle less in college.” To combat these popular opinions, Ghrist has developed new tools that show people how interesting and fun SEE MATH PAGE 3

Trump nominated for Nobel Prize Peace prize nomination on Monday was anonymous MITCHELL CHAN Senior Reporter

Despite his tough stance on ISIS and his promises of strong military action, some view Republican presidential candidate and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump as an arbiter of peace. On Tuesday, he was anonymously nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination letter was sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, where the Nobel Peace Prize is

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awarded annually. A copy was also sent to Peace Research Institute Oslo Director Kristian Berg Harpviken, who has leaked some of the letter’s language. The letter reportedly praises Trump’s “vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, ISIS, nuclear Iran and Communist China.” The nomination comes shortly after Trump lost the Iowa Republican caucus to Ted Cruz. During his campaign, he has repeatedly promised to take tough stances against ISIS, Iran and China. In December, he made headlines by

proposing a travel ban on all Muslims entering the United States. Although official lists of Nobel Peace Prize nominees can not be released for 50 years, this year’s nominees reportedly include Pope Francis, Edward Snowden, a Greek island that welcomed Syrian refugees, an escaped ISIS sex slave and negotiators who helped end decades of civil war in Colombia, according to Harpviken. The Nobel Peace Prize’s selection committee receives over 200 nomination letters every year. To be valid, the Nobel Foundation requires that submissions for the prize come from past

Nobel Peace Prize winners or members of national legislatures, international courts, professors in various social sciences, active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committees, according to the Nobel Prize website. Trump’s controversial nomination is the latest chapter in Penn’s long history with the Nobel Prize. A total of 28 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with Penn, including 12 alumni. The last — and only — person from Penn to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Martin Luther King, Jr., who briefly went to Penn as a graduate student and received the award in 1964.

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February 4, 2016 by The Daily Pennsylvanian - Issuu