February 6, 2014

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF PENNSYLVANIA

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

Hatcher’s cause of death released His death was ruled a suicide by the coroner

Administration grapples with response to student deaths

BY BRENDA WANG Deputy News Editor College sophomore Elvis Hatcher died Tuesday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 18 years old.

Originally from Miami Beach, Fla., Hatcher was planning to major in mathematical economics, according to his profile on Code Academy, where he was teaching himself computer programming. His father, Kevin, said that Hatcher had always loved math.

Hatcher’s death was ruled a suicide.

His father declined to comment on whether Hatcher had shown any signs of depression.

Hatcher was the treasurer of Pi Lambda Phi. The president of the fraternity, College sophomore Gabe Morales, said in a statement, “Pi Lambda Phi has been truly blessed to have a brother like Elvis.” The members of Pi Lambda Phi have declined to comment further.

Hatcher was a talented musician as well. “He loved to play music and create music,” his father said.

Pablo Abrante, who attended the same high school as Hatcher, said that Hatcher was a guitarist for the rock ensemble and a saxophonist for the jazz band at their school and “was one of the best musicians in both.”

Last semester, Hatcher was the prose editor for Symbiosis, a collaborative student publication which combines the literary and visual arts.

“He was really cool in that he was very well rounded,” College sophomore Gina DeCagna, founder of Symbiosis, said.

Early in his freshman year, Hatcher was a drummer for Yalla, a Middle Eastern drum and dance troupe. His freshman-year French professor, Sophie Degat-Willis, remembers attending one of his performances, calling him a “brilliant musician” who was also one of her “brightest and funniest students.”

“He lived passionately and had a lot of friends who loved him very much,” his father said.

College sophomore Virginia Seymour was friends with Hatcher since the beginning of freshman year.

She remembered that Hatcher could be “fun and spontaneous just as easily as he could be sincere and earnest,” she said in a Facebook message.

“It was like he wasn’t expecting you to be anybody but yourself.” n

CAMPUS RESOURCES COUNSELING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES 215-898-7021 215-349-5490 (Nights and weekends) UNIVERSITY CHAPLAIN’S OFFICE 215-898-8456 STUDENT HEALTH SERVICE 215-746-3535 OFFICE OF THE VICE PROVOST FOR UNIVERSITY LIFE 215-898-6081 REACH-A-PEER HOTLINE (associated with CAPS) 215-573-2727 open from 9pm to 1am

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CAPS continues to push expanded resources; College houses provide support

BY FOLA ONIFADE Staff Writer The University administration is discussing ways to move forward following the second student suicide in three weeks, but details of those talks have not yet been released.

College sophomore Elvis Hatcher, who committed suicide Tuesday, is the fourth Penn student to die since the beginning of winter break.

“We’re a caring community and when you care, you respond in the best way you can and shore up the experts on the ground so all of our students can get all the help that they need in weathering the sadness,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Gutmann, along with Provost Vincent Price and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, sent emails to parents and students earlier this week listing mental health resources available on campus and addressing the stigma surrounding mental health.

“When there are sudden deaths like there have been, we need to really help those who are being stressed by it,” Gutmann said.

As the community copes with the tragic events that have taken place over the past several weeks, different parts of the University are making themselves available to students.

Counseling and Psychological Services continues to take measures to improve its aid to students. “We’ve opened up evening hours and we’re trying to get more efficient in how we help,” CAPS Director Bill Alexander said Wednesday evening. CAPS announced last week that it would be hiring three new staffers for the remainder of the school year and extending its hours.

Many students have contacted CAPS recently, although it is difficult to determine the cause of the increase, Alexander said. However, he thought the influx “might even help to break

down some stigma and maybe people will come that wouldn’t have come before.”

Across campus, groups and organizations are offering their services and resources. The Kelly Writers House has reached out to its members to provide support. A language instructor, who asked to remain anonymous, also emailed her students with a list of campus resources.

“I care deeply about my students’ well-being and would never forgive myself if my lack of reaching out was a contributing factor in an already difficult time,” she said. “I just wanted to let them know about the resources that the campus has for them, also in an attempt to destigmatize mental illness and depression and let them know that it’s OK to ask for help.”

In some college houses, resident advisers and graduate associates have made extra efforts to support their residents. RAs and GAs in Ware College House, for example, stayed in lounges throughout the dorm and left the doors to their rooms open for students who may need to talk, a Ware RA said.

Some students stressed the need for communication both among their peers and from the University.

“I think we have the right to know [because] we are all affected,” said College sophomore Ayla Fudala, who works at the Writers House, which Hatcher frequented.

Others hoped the community could come together to create dialogue about mental health.

“When you see the numbers adding up, it’s a really difficult thing to grapple with,” said College sophomore Antonia Diener, president of Reach-APeer Helpline, a student-run hotline.

“There’s increased emphasis on mental health and wellness on campus, which is obviously something that we need.” n

Mental health coalition brainstorms education Members suggested integrating informative sessions on mental health into NSO

BY COSETTE GASTELU Staff Writer Administrators and student health group leaders convened in Houston Hall on Wednesday night to discuss new methods of addressing mental health issues on campus after student deaths that have occurred in recent weeks.

At the Penn Undergraduate Health Coalition meeting last night, attendees brainstormed several possible courses of action for effectively educating students on the ways in which they can help peers who are dealing with mental health difficulties. Several members of the newly formed mental health subcommittee discussed potentially integrating informative sessions

about mental health into New Student Orientation.

The meeting marked the introduction of that subcommittee, which was formed at the end of winter break.

The subcommittee has organized its efforts into three branches in order to improve Counseling and Psychological Services, expand mental health education policies and erase the stigma surrounding mental health struggles.

Though the overarching goal of the subcommittee is to change the campus culture surrounding mental health, both the students and administrators recognized that they cannot expect immediate results.

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For parents, shock upon learning of deaths Many parents did not know of most of the recent deaths

BY SARAH SMITH Senior Writer As of Wednesday night, many Penn parents only knew about one undergraduate death this year — the well-publicized suicide of College freshman Madison Holleran on Jan. 17. But learning that the total number since winter break climbed to four lef t those who didn’t know stunned.

“This is the first I’m hearing of this,” pa rent Jessica Smith said Wednesday night of the four deaths. “I’m processing. And I’m freaking out a little.”

‘‘

It’s nerve-wracking.

You wonder about the pressure, you worry about what all these circumstances are.”

— Mary Phillips, Mother of College sophomore

As campus reels from the Tuesday suicide of College sophomore Elvis Hatcher — three weeks after Holleran’s death and the deaths of Engineering and Wharton senior Kevin Zhao and Engineering and Wharton junior Josh Singh over w inter break — parents, when informed, worry for their sons and daughters at school. “ It ’s ne r ve -w r ac k i ng ,” s a id parent Mary Phillips of Virginia, whose daughter is a College sophomore. Phillips had prev iously only heard of Holleran’s death and was startled to hear about the other three. “You wonder about the pressure, you worry about what all these circumstances are.”

Penn tries to limit notifications of a student death to impacted st udent com mu n it ies , le av i ng most unaffected parents out of the process. While some wish they’d known so they could have reached out to their children, others prefer Penn’s method.

“You have to balance the privacy of the individual,” parent and 1988 Wharton MBA recipient Jeanne Rossomme said. She preferred the style of the email that Penn President Amy Gutmann, Provost Vincent Price and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli sent to parents Monday night reviewing mental health resources: a focus on the issues, Rossomme said, not the specifics of each death.

“It’s a little after the fact,” Phillips said of the email. “But maybe a reminder’s good.”

Parents threw out suggestions for communication from the University: an email sent to parents and students outlining signs of depression, faster and more accurate infor mation about what had happened in deaths, more avenues for discussion. But ultimately, they said, it just comes down to being able to reach out to their children in what may be a time of need.

The Sunday after the Johnson fa mi ly hea rd about Hol lera n’s death, parent Bill Johnson said, his wife called their children at Penn. “She said, ‘I love you, I love you, if you have anything to talk about, come talk to us.’”

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PAGE 2 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

Obama taps law lecturer for federal judgeship

BY JILL CASTELLANO Staff Writer President Barack Obama announced Wednesday his i nt e nt t o no m i n at e L aw School lectu rer a nd 19 8 9 Col lege g r adu at e Cher yl Krause to the Third Circuit of the United States Court

of Appeals, according to a White House press release.

“Cheryl Ann Krause has displayed exceptional dedication to the legal profession through her work, and I am honored to nominate her to serve the American people as a judge on the United States Cour t of Appeals,”

Obama said in the press release. “She will be a diligent, judicious and esteemed addition to the Third Circuit bench.”

Krause graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English from Penn in 1989.

As an undergraduate, she was a Benjamin F rank lin

Scholar and lived in Ware College House her freshman year. After graduating from Stanford Law School in 1993, K rause clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for Justice A nthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court

of the United States.

K rause has lectured at Penn Law since 2003, where she created and continues to lead an appellate litigation externship.

In 2006, K rause became a partner at Dechert LLP, specializing in white-collar criminal defense and gov-

ernment investigations, the press release said. She also founded the Philadelphia Project in 2011 to improve the quality of education for children with disabilities.

Krause declined to comment on her nomination.

Staff Writer Cosette Gastelu contributed reporting.

Liquid crystals move beyond television

BY BOOKYUNG JO Staff Writer

Liquid crystals are bestknown for their use in liquid crystal display screens. However, Penn professors say their uses in research are expanding.

The molecular configurations of the crystals changes as their environment — droplets of liquid — changes. Therefore the crystals can indicate a shift in their environment.

Usually, the optimal angle for liquid crystal molecules is zero — parallel to the surface of the droplet. However, as the outer solution’s composition changes, the optimal angle also changes, altering the molecular configuration of the liquid crystal.

The chromonic liquid crystal also shows a gradual change in phase and molecular structure as the conditions within the droplets vary.

While most liquid crystals in past research are oil-based, this study focused on chromonic liquid crystals, which are made from an aqueous solution.

It specifically used a solution of organic salt called “Sunset Yellow,” a type of common food

dye. The Sunset Yellow molecules have a plank-like shape that stack up and create columns within the solution. As the temperature and concentration of the solution change, it condenses into liquid crystal phases.

When the concentration continues to increase due to water evaporation, the solution undergoes a transition from nematic to columnar phase, which are two types of liquid crystal phases. During this conversion, the water droplets take a faceted, hexagonal form based on the crystalline structure in the columnar phase.

“Facets are not something we normally see or associate with liquid droplets,” Arjun Yodh, director of the Laboratory for Research and the Structure of Matter (LRSM) and team member, added.

He expects there will be biomedical applications for the discovery, because “these kinds of liquid crystals form in water and can therefore interact with molecules that are closely associated with life.”

“We are taking first steps

towards experiments that can demonstrate [liquid crystals’] use for molecular detection,” Yodh said, as researchers can notice changes in liquid crystals’ environment from the changing arrangement of liquid crystals.

In spite of these discoveries, Joonwoo Jeong, a post-doctoral researcher who worked on the project with Yodh, Tom Lubensky, a physics and astronomy professor and Peter Collings, a physics professor from Swarthmore noted that there are still more properties to reveal.

“We just started with simple symmetric geometry,” he said.

Jeong came up with various new confinements, such as tubes, toroids and shells, in which liquid crystals may exhibit different characteristics from the droplets.

He is in fact currently working on liquid crystals in cylindrical tubes and indicated the possibility for additional novel findings.

“It already shows many interesting phenomena,” Jeong said.

Courtesy of Joonwoo Jeong and Felice Macera/The Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matterl

Director of LRSM Arjun Yodh, Joonwoo Jeong, Tom Lubensky, a physics and astronomy professor and Peter Collings, a physics professor from Swarthmore worked on the project.

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THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 3

‘King of the world:’ Discovering dinosaurs in northwestern China Penn researchers Titanic discoverer discovered a new species of plant-eating dinosaurs speaks at Museum The oceanographer described exploring shipwrecks, research on biblical flood

BY HANNAH NOYES Contributing Writer The Titanic was discovered by accident.

L a st n ig ht , world - r e now ne d o c e a nog r aphe r Robert Ballard told an audience at the Penn Museum about his discovery of the RMS Titanic in 1985. Ballard revealed formerly classified facts about the Titanic discovery during his hour-long lecture.

Ballard discovered the G er ma n batt lesh ip Bisma rck , the lost f leet of Guadalcanal and the oldest shipwrecks ever found in deep water — two ancient Phoenician ships off the coast of Israel. He is a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island and is considered to be an expert on shipwrecks.

Ballard, who was a member of a “Black Ops” sector of the Navy during the Vietnam War, said that his team discovered the sunken Titanic while searching for Soviet submarines that housed nuclear reactors.

“The Pentagon was furious when they found out I found the Titanic,” Ballard said. “I didn’t expect to see chandeliers … or the shoes.”

While the Pentagon was unhappy that Ballard wanted to focus on the shipwreck rather than his naval duties, National Geographic shared his interests. The company wanted to explore more shipwrecks, and asked Ballard to look for the Bismarck.

A f t er d iscover i ng t he Titanic, he recommended building a more detail-oriented robot before they could go inside the Titanic in 1986.

He used robots in a system called Telepresence, which removes the need for human presence during deep sea exploration.

Ballard described Telepresence as “moving my spirit from a fragile body to a body more adept to exploring.”

Ballard added that it was an improvement over his initial ventures to the ocean floor in the 1960s when he had several “near-death experiences.”

Ballard also spoke of the possible existence of the Biblical flood. He found shells in the Black Sea, whose age paralleled the date of the proposed f lood and also proved the Black Sea’s sudden, unexpected transformation from freshwater to salt water. He also discovered ancient walls that were above sea level 8,000 years ago — about the same time of the prophesied flood.

B a l l a r d ’s n o n - p r o f i t , Corps of Exploration, was

Parents worry about their children PARENTS from page 1 Smith wasn’t waiting any longer to touch base with her student. “ I ’m goi ng t o c a l l my child right now,” she said as she hung up the phone.

also a topic of discussion.

The organization consists of scientists, engineers, communicators, educators and students, and its primary objective is to explore the ocean, seeking out new discoveries in a variety of different fields. He emphasized that 55 percent of his team this year would be women and encouraged attendees to check out their website.

The lecture closed as Ballard emphasized the need to explore our oceans, adding that we know more about Mars than we do about our home planet. “We obviously need to explore our own country more, before exploring Mars, don’t you think?” he said.

Ballard’s talk was one of a nine-part lecture series titled “Great Voyages: Travels, Triumphs, and Tragedies.”

The series occurs monthly and includes lectures that invite guests to take a journey across exotic lands and seas. These talks are housed at the Penn Museum, which has sent more than 300 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world.

BY JILL CASTELLANO Staff Writer

Dinosaurs are far from dead for researchers on Penn’s campus.

A team led by two Penn paleontologists has classified a new species of dinosaur named Yongjinglong datangi by examining 14 fossils found at an excavation site in northwestern China.

The uncovered fossils — which include eight vertebrae, three teeth, a left shoulder blade and two right arm bones — indicate that this dinosaur was probably 50 to 60 feet long and still growing.

The new species is part of a group of plant-eating dinosaurs called the Titanosaurs, which were so large that they were named after the mythological Titans. Some other species in this group weighed almost 200,000 pounds.

The fossils, originally found in 2008, were preserved until the paleontology team examined them. The team first compared their remains to the fossils of two other Titanosaurs that were discovered just a mile away from the excavation site. The fossils of the Yonjinglong had many differing features, the paleontologists explained.

Liguo Li, a doctoral student

in Earth and Environmental Science, was first asked to examine the left shoulder blade. “I was the first person to touch this bone professionally. I remember I stood by the side of the table and I told [another researcher], ‘Look at the coracoid foramen!

It’s unique!’”

Most dinosaur shoulder blades bow outward, Li explained, but this shoulder blade was long and skinny, a feature that helped identify the Yongjinglong as a separate species.

The many unique features of the species are outlined in the team’s journal article, which was published in the Public Library of Science at the end of January.

The new species shares more similarities with the later Titanosaurs that were found in South America than the older Titanosaurs found in China, leading researchers to believe that the Yongjinglong lived during the Early Cretaceous period, which was more than 100 million years ago.

“That’s a rather exciting finding,” said team member Peter Dodson, professor of animal biology at the School of Veterinary Medicine. Dodson has an ancient frog species, Nezpercius dodsoni, named after him.

“There’s just an avalanche of new discoveries in China.”

China has had a long history of dinosaur discoveries, Dodson explained. For decades, villagers in central China dug up dinosaur bones that they thought belonged to flying dragons and

Courtesy of Dr Daqing Li and Liguo Li

Penn researchers discovered a new species of plant-eating dinosaur by examining fossils found at an excavation site in northwestern China. would use them in traditional medicines by boiling or grinding them. “Dragon bones” were still sold for 25 cents a pound in the Henan province of China in 2006.

While the United States has been the center of dinosaur discoveries for decades, as of 2007 there have been more dinosaur species found in China than anywhere else in the world, which has to do with increasing enthusiasm and new technology, Li explained.

Brandon Hedrick, a doctoral student in the Penn Department of Earth and Environmental Science who has worked with Dodson in China classifying dinosaurs, has used new techniques like 3D morphometrics and histology to closely examine fossil remains.

In histology, which might be used pinpoint the age of the Yongjinglong, the dinosaur bone is cut up and examined under a microscope.

“Many of the structures are actually still preserved — a lot of the bone cells and growth structures that the dinosaur had when it was alive” remain after it fossilizes, Hedrick explained. “This gives you a much better idea of where this animal was in its growth.”

Even though dinosaurs have been studied for centuries, there is still much that science is trying to figure out, the researchers agreed.

“There are 40 to 50 new dinosaur species found every year across the globe,” Dodson said.

“We’re still at less than the halfway point of discoveries.”

Open House 2.6.14

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Tours, student performances, food, and more

3601 Locust Walk

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PAGE 4 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

Opinion VOL. CXXX, NO. 13

The Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania

130th Year of Publication TAYLOR CULLIVER, Executive Editor AMANDA SUAREZ, Managing Editor JENNIFER YU, Opinion Editor LOIS LEE, Director of Online Projects FIONA GLISSON, Campus News Editor HARRY COOPERMAN, City News Editor JODY FREINKEL, Assignments Editor WILLIAM MARBLE, Enterprise Editor GENESIS NUNEZ, Copy Editor MATT MANTICA, Copy Editor YOLANDA CHEN, News Photo Editor MICHELE OZER, Sports Photo Editor CONNIE KANG, Photo Manager

STEVEN TYDINGS, Senior Sports Editor RILEY STEELE, Sports Editor IAN WENIK, Sports Editor HAILEY EDELSTEIN, Creative Director ANALYN DELOS SANTOS, News Design Editor VIVIAN LEE, News Design Editor JENNY LU, Sports Design Editor JENNIFER KIM, Video Producer STEPHANIE PARK, Video Producer

GIANNI MASCIOLI, Business Manager CHANTAL GARCIA FISCHER, Credit Manager ERIC PARRISH, Marketing Manager

SELMA BELGHITI, Finance Manager KATHERINE CHANG, Advertising Manager

THIS ISSUE AUGUSTA GREENBAUM, Associate Copy Editor JEN KOPP, Associate Copy Editor MONICA OSHER, Associate Copy Editor POALA RUANO, Associate Copy Editor

JIMMY LENGYEL, Associate Sports Editor SHAWN YOUNGSTONE, Associate Layout Editor CLAIRE COHEN, Deputy News Editor

CUTLER REYNOLDS is a College freshman from Arlington, Va. His email address is reynoj@sas.upenn.edu.

Straight outta Compton

A different kind of ‘Heist’

‘SHAT’S SHOTS | What the past weeks teach us about how we judge celebrities who don’t fit a narrative

THE QUAKING POINT | Not every case of white success in the black community constitutes cultural appropriation

irst things first.

Kendrick Lamar didn’t lose the Best Rap Album award at the Grammys to Macklemore because of racism. He did not lose because he is black and Macklemore is white.

He also couldn’t have lost because he was too mainst r e a m — i n t h at c a se , Kanye West’s weird-sounding, genius “Yeezus” would have taken the cake. He couldn’t have lost because of a lack of lyricism — his sk ills have earned him a level of universal acclaim practically unheard of in hip-hop.

No, the Compton rapper lost because his minimalist rap album, “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City,” didn’t stand a real shot against Macklemore’s “The Heist,” what w ith its two bubble -g um number-one hits and its progay rights anthem “Same Love.” Kendrick Lamar lost the Best Rap Album award because of the failure of his narrative to conform to certain standards.

K e nd r ic k ’s lo s s it s el f doesn’t actually mean a lot — the results of the Grammys don’t pa r t icu la rly matter. A lthough the circuit of nationally televised awards shows takes pride in its celebration of quality and modernity, it often lacks both — we’re only two years removed from an Oscars ceremony, hosted by Billy Crystal for the ninth (!) time, that religiously celebrated a silent French film almost no one saw. Add to that the Grammys’ checkered past with recognizing rap talent, and Kendrick’s snub is nominally no big deal.

But the reasoning behind this particular oversight is so egregious, the typecasting of the album so laughable, that one has to wonder whether the Grammy voters even listened to GK MC at all. The album contains no Biggie/Tupac-style turf war

ast August, I was asked to join the Pen n R e ad i ng P r oje c t ’s NS O panel discussion for the incoming Class of 2017. The topic was hiphop and its relationship to poetr y and society. A fter freestyling for the freshmen, I received an awkward yet insightful question about the place of white rappers in a predominantly black genre.

The panel host politely selected a different one.

Though I don’t blame him for skipping over the question, this year’s Grammys made me wish more than ever that I could have attempted a n a nswer. You m ig ht have hea rd about Kendrick Lamar losing to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for Best Rap Album and how Macklemore apologized via text to Kendrick for “robbing” him of the award he rightfully deserved.

Kendr ick took it like a champ. His fans did not. Cultural hardliners have been up in arms, arguing that Macklemore’s “robbery” of Kendrick is an example of white privilege in the music industry. The Huffington Post listed Mack lemore’s success at the VMAs as a prominent case of recent cultural appropriation. Even Stephen Colbert offered his two cents, declaring (albeit with trademark sarcasm) that “white people have officially won rap.”

As if it makes things better, a few brave souls have conceded that, at the very least, Macklemore “knows his place” as an “outsider” in the rap community.

Attributing Macklemore’s success solely to white privilege is unfair. There have indeed been several cases of cultural appropriation this past year — his musical career is not one of them.

The black community has embraced rap for 40 years, both culturally and commercially. Its constituents sell their music to listeners

F

talk and shies away from dwelling on plight with any Boyz n the Hood-esque literal realism. So characterizing it as a typical “urban” album, which many have done, is ridiculous. Kendrick even admits in his poetr y that he doesn’t fit in with any of the surrounding gang culture; he’s very much a “good kid” throughout the album. “Straight Outta Compton” this is not.

On the flip side, to dock an album for not being poppy enough when it contains three top-40 hits — are you sick of hearing “Swimming Pools (Drank)” yet? — is laughable.

‘‘

But the reasoning behind this particular oversight is so egregious, the typecasing of the album so laughable, that one has to wonder whether Grammy voters even listened to [“Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City”] at all.”

To stereotype GKMC because of its creator’s hometown and its Wikipedia page is to fail to understand it. To fail to reward GKMC is to prove your complete ignorance of it.

Another man from Compton, cornerback and noted trash-talker Richard Sherm a n o f t he S e at t le S e ahawks, introduced himself to America with a boastful, coarse-voiced, adrenalinefueled rant seconds after winning the NFC Championship Game. What followed was one of the lesser quality conversations in American histor y. Some bad actors railed against Sherman as a selfish thug based on his

L

AKSHAT SHEKHAR reputation, background and, yes, his appearance. The back lash to the back lash was less gauche, although it stra i ned to ca l l Sher man “articulate” or “wellspoken” as many times as possible and deem him an academic prodigy destined for success based on his performance at a struggling public high school and his Stanford degree.

The realit y of R ichard Sherman lies between these two familiar narratives — that of the rough-and-tumble outspoken jock and the humble feel-good comeback kid. As a long-time Sherman fan, I’ve long appreciated his excellence at his craft and been delighted by his insightful approach to the game. On the other hand, Sherman has an inescapable history of slip-ups when it comes to self-assessment.

Forcefully describing him in terms of one well-worn narrative or another detracts from that complex mixture and distracts from analysis of his on-field performance.

Just as with Kendrick, the story takes away from the product.

At t he end of t he day, both Compton men’s products will overshadow their accompanying narratives: Kendrick’s Grammys perfor m a nce wa s t he most memorable in an otherwise blah show, and Sher man just earned a Super Bowl ring, the ultimate sign of football immortality. What’s left for us to do is to judge future celebrities more perspicaciously and prioritize their work over our sensationalism.

AKSHAT SHEKHAR is a Wharton sophomore from Boston. Email him at ashek@ wharton.upenn.edu.

To stereotype [“Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City”] because of its creator’s hometown and its Wikipedia page is to fail to understand it.

of all shapes and sizes — they perform for and even collaborate with members of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, including whites. They have acknowledged that hip-hop, like any culture, cannot exist in a vacuum.

We should be promoting cultural exchange. That’s how the melting pot works.

To be inspired and inspire in return is the basis of any meaningful social dialogue, so long as such exchange is respectful toward others.

‘‘

If you’re going to criticize Macklemore, don’t do so because it’s white.

Do so because he sold out.”

There’s no question that minorities face unfair disadvantages in many aspects of society. White privilege definitely exists. But isn’t there a difference between cultural transmission and cultural appropriation?

I’m not talking about those who really do abuse the cultural markers of others. I’m talking about people who are open-minded enough to fall in love with cultures beyond their own. I’ve been rapping for 12 years because it genuinely resonates with me — I love the culture of hip-hop as an art form, not an accessory.

If anything, the attention being given to Macklemore’s race is distracting us from a more relevant issue: the ra mpa nt com mercia l ism of mainstream rap. Macklemore was an extraordinary artist before achieving critical acclaim — his songs were often scathingly nonconformist. But in 2013, he sold the rights to “Wings” (a caustic dig on the materialism of basketball shoes) to

JONATHAN IWRY the NBA, who then used it for one of their commercials after completely neutering it of its anti-consumerism.

If you’re going to criticize Macklemore, don’t do so because he’s white. Do so because he sold out.

Ta l ib Kwel i w a s r ig ht when he said that many of Mack lemore’s fans don’t fully understand hip-hop.

They’re unfamiliar with its histor y. As a result, they often buy into trends that neglect the original spirit of the culture, rewarding instead the artists and corporations that have estranged rap music from its tradition of verbal technique and social criticism.

If we want to prevent cultural appropriation, the barriers have to drop on both sides. The majority must be vigilant in ensuring that its curiosity does not devolve into minstrelsy. Likewise, cultural enthusiasts w ill need to br ing foreig ners into the fold by welcoming their interest, familiarizing them with the history and encou rag i ng mea ni ng f u l participation. They’ll have to be comfortable with the ways in which they inspire society at large.

It’s tempting to give the Grammys a super f icial glance (as if the Grammys aren’t superficial already) and blame Mack lemore’s success on white privilege.

Only by taking a closer look, however, can we arrive at a sophisticated understanding — and realize that the issues facing modern rap music are not all black and white.

JONATHAN IWRY is a College senior from Bethesda, Md., studying philosophy. His last name is pronounced “eev-ree.”

Email him at jon.iwry@gmail. com.

Isn’t there a difference between cultural transmission and cultural appropriation?

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THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 5

Courtesy of Wim van Egmond

The winning photo of Nikon’s 2013 Small World photography contest showcases a colonial plankton organism, a creature so small that it is only viewable through the lens of a microscope.

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Images hidden to the naked eye on display

BY SONIA SIDHU Contributing Writer A fungus that looks like shooting stars. A dog’s eye that looks like the moon over a lake. And a fish that resembles a Native American headdress.

Cross sections of biological specimens — “images the naked eye can’t see” — adorn the lobby of the The Wistar Institute at 36th and Spruce streets as part of a Nikonsponsored photomicrography exhibition. Wistar, an independent medical research facility on Penn’s campus, has hosted the Nikon Small World Competition several times in the past.

Photomicrography involves taking pictures of magnified objects through a microscope.

The annual international contest encourages anyone with a microscope to submit an image to the Nikon website.

The competition started in 1977, and winners are selected by a panel of judges that this year included a National Geographic photojournalist and biomedical researchers.

The images will be on display at Wistar until March 7.

T he W i st a r I n st it ut e’s Microscopy Core Facility Manager James Hayden has

placed in the top 20 in the competition 13 times and judged the competition once.

In 1999, his photos took the third, sixth and eighth place awards.

“My particular technique looks for things that look like something else,” he said. “So you look at it and it’s not so much, ‘Oh, that’s a neuron,’ instead it’s more like, ‘Oh, what is that?’”

He emphasized the importance of visual impact, uniqueness and technical proficiency in the judging process. Many of the images in the top 20 use a technique ca l led “ i mage st ack i ng,” which consists of taking multiple photographs in order to add more detail and depth to the image.

Hayden believes that photomicrography does have applications in scientific research, but the photos on display are tailored artistically. The intention is to draw attention rather than to capture all the details of an organism.

The first-place image is a spiral-shaped colonial plankton with detailed grooves.

The second-place image is a close-up of a turtle’s retina that almost resembles red and orange Skittles on a light blue background.

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The first-place photographer and curator of the online Micropolitan Museum, Wim van Egmond, does not work in a lab, unlike many of the other participants. Van Egmond, who is from The Netherlands, has participated in the competition for many years.

Hayden thinks that photomicrography lies at the intersection of art and science.

“The more you experiment with science, the more you come up with these views that people have never seen,” he said.

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PAGE 6 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

All that (Latin) Jazz

Tony Peebles, a 2003 alum, describes his journey from graduation to the Grammys

BY LAUREN FEINER Staff Writer If you asked Tony Peebles to describe his life plan when he was a student, he would have summoned images of stiff suits, courtrooms and bar exams. Today, he is a Grammy award-winning musician.

Peebles, a 2003 College graduate, plays saxophone for the Pacific Mambo Orchestra, a 19-piece Latin Big Band based out of San Francisco.

The band won the Best Tropical Latin Album Grammy, against more prominent artists like Marc Anthony.

His parents were actually quite pleased with their son’s decision to shift directions early on, Peebles said. Both were musicians — his dad a

Meeting is a step toward collaboration COALITION from page 1 “Cultural change takes a long time,” College junior and Penn Undergraduate Health Coalition Representative Elana Stern said. “Other things need to happen in the near future, and that is why we can focus on tangible change in the coming weeks.”

Some members at the meeting suggested ways of changing campus mental health culture by modeling mental health initiatives after programs that have already proven to be suc-

classical cellist and jazz bassist, and his mom a symphony violinist. He had grown up with music but was never pushed into it. Still, perhaps his dad’s “deep distrust of lawyers,” as Peebles termed it, provided a gentle shove.

At 9 years old, Peebles picked up the saxophone at his public school in Ontario, Canada. He excelled in every band he joined, eventually sitting next to college graduates as a junior in high school.

But it wasn’t until college that he began to appreciate music beyond the adrenaline rush of a performance. It was no longer enough to squeeze his passion into a six credit minor, so he decided to become a music major instead.

“It was like life was in the way between me and practicing,” Peebles said. He credits music professor Guthrie Ramsey with changing “the whole trajectory of [his] life.”

Peebles took several classes

cessful.

University Chaplain Chaz Howard pointed to Penn’s promotion of the University’s alcohol amnesty policy as an example of an approach that has resonated with students in the past.

“We know what to do with a friend who is drunk — we make sure to get them the help that they need … I’m not sure that people know what to do when a roommate is having a mental health crisis,” Howard said.

Overall, the meeting represented a step toward increased collaboration between students and administration in regard to mental health issues. “It is important that we address these issues as a community,” Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs Hikaru Kozuma said.

with Ramsey after having first met him at a pre-orientation program. Ramsey remembered how Peebles’ “curiosity grew and he just began to explore a lot of different avenues for his creativity.”

One of those avenues was becoming a founding member of Ramsey’s band, Musicology. “ We were ba nd mates,” Ramsey said. “He was the first college student I had a professional relationship with as well [as a teacher-student one].”

Peebles’ a lso t aught Ramsey’s Histor y of Jazz class during Ramsey’s leave and remembers the “adventure” of teaching a lecture with over 70 students only three to four years his junior.

“He was equally musically talented and intellectually gifted … and not willing to compromise on either level,” Ramsey added.

Peebles moved to the Bay

Area in California, right before joining the Pacific Mambo Orchestra in 2010. He said he was “in the right place at the right time,” subbing for another saxophonist at their second gig ever.

In those early days playing at a salsa club for “three people in the audience” where they didn’t make enough money to cover the cost of highway tolls, no one quite thought they would make it this far, PMO co-founder Steffen Kuehn said.

Gig by gig, they built up a following, eventually raising $11,000 to fund their debut album released in 2012. Soon they were picked up by a booking agency in New York, Columbia Artists Management, that hadn’t represented an artist from the Bay Area since the 1980s, Kuehn said. This led to their first 14 city tour, just a couple weeks before their Grammy nomination was released.

Courtesy of Tony Peebles

Tony Peebles, a 2013 College graduate, is a saxophone player in the Pacific Mambo Orchestra which won the Tropical Latin Album Grammy on January 26.

That was when Kuehn realized “we tapped into something that’s big.” He attributed this breakthrough to the positive chemistry of the group.

“There is no ego in this

band,” Kuehn said. "[Peebles] sounds like Tony Peebles and he doesn’t sound like anybody else,” Kuehn added. “He always contributed to the harmony.”

MEET THE COLLEGE VIPS

Yolanda Chen/News Photo Editor

Last night, students gathered in Houston Hall for College Meet & Greet: The Future of the College, a panel discussion with College professors and the school Dean, which was followed by small group conversations. The panel shared their plans for the future of the College, and answered student questions on their proposals.

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Let’s write about sex, baby.

Wed nesd ay n ig ht’s FEMINISM/S “Sex in Journalism” talk at the Kelly Writer’s House tackled the complicated topic of writing about sex.

Panelists included journalist Julia Allison, blogger Lena Chen, “Foxing Quarterly” online editor Kelsey McKinney and college media scholar Dan Reimold — all of whom have experience writing or studying dating and sex columns.

“For something as almost mundane as sex, there’s so much outrage, and people are so personally inflamed and offended that you would want to talk about it,” College senior Arielle Pardes said. Pardes hosted the discussion and writes The Daily Pennsylvanian’s sex col-

umn, “The Screwtinizer.” “It’s incredible actually how much backlash there was and continues to be over something that everyone does.”

Pardes was inspired to bring together this group of panelists after reading Reimold’s book, “Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism Revolution.”

The conversation continued with an honest discussion of anonymity in sex journalism.

Panelists spoke freely about the consequences their writing had on their personal lives, from dealing with their Google search results to having readers who violate their privacy.

“I had not started the column to get attention. I just started it because I wanted to talk about dating,” Allison said, who has written for publications like ELLE and Newsweek and is now working on her first book, “Experiments in Happiness.”

Chen, who started the popular “Sex and the Ivy” blog while studying at Harvard University,

also talked about how the resulting publicity affected her relationships. Regardless of sex journalism’s potential repercussions, Reimold emphasized the importance of such writing.

“No one is talking about this…as we know, when the adult outlets try to write about what students are doing in their sex lives at colleges, they’re often getting it wrong,” Reimold said. “The columns are not only providing education but they’re doing it in a language you know.”

Although both Allison and Chen wrote under their legal names, McKinney and other sex columnists at The Daily Texan use alliterated pseudonyms that allow them to take on different personas. Example bylines include Sexy Sally, who shares the straight female perspective, and Fabulous Frank, who shares the homosexual male perspective. Characters like these expand the current voices in sex journalism.

“There’s a lot of things I’d like to see featured more [in these types of writings], including a larger diversity of experiences,” Wharton sophomore and audience member Santiago Cortes said.

Reimold shared similar thoughts and explained that he believes LGBTQ student issues are the biggest area to be improved upon.

“Talking about it on a student level doesn’t happen,” he said.

Chen called the topic a “continuing conversation” and explained that she doesn’t know what having sex in college will be like five or 10 years from now, but that she hopes it will include more diverse conversations that include all genders and sexualities.

“Ultimately, a writer has a platform, but the purpose of that platform is not just to tell you about their lives … It’s to start a conversation,” she said.

SP OR TS

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 7

Wong’s dominance has been bedrock for squash W. SQUASH | Freshman’s strong resume has been bolstered by her start to the season

BY COREY HENRY Staff Writer As expected, Penn women’s squash is led in wins by a young Malaysian star. The surprise is that it’s not Yan Xin Tan. Michelle Wong, a freshman from the Sarawak province, has burst onto the scene and played an integral role in the No. 3 Quakers’ 8-2 record this season, as they work towards a Howe Cup. Wong was introduced to

squash through her father, Max Wong, who played recreationally and told her to try it out.

“When I was eight, I was trying a lot of sports,” Michelle said. “Turns out I was good at [squash], so I decided to stay with it.”

Wong terrorized the Malaysian squash circuit. Between 2009 and 2013, she won a total of eight state, national and international championships before her arrival on campus.

This dominance raised eyebrows in the United States and brought colleges out of the woodwork.

Out of all the schools offering spots on their team, one

in particular stood out: Penn.

“It was a great opportunity,” Wong said. “I couldn’t pass it up.”

Wong admitted that having Tan already at Penn had a small impact on her commitment but asserted that it was not the guiding factor behind her decision.

“I’m really kind of an independent person — I don’t need someone to be here,” Wong said. “But it was nice having her here already.”

Once at Penn, she barely missed a beat en route to her 6-0 start to the season. Wong has played most of her young career at the No. 6 position on the ladder, one of the first

matches in the rotation.

“The first round of matches is really great for the confidence of the team,” assistant coach Richard Dodd said. “She’s played a part in getting early momentum for us in matches.”

Up against No. 1 Harvard, Wong made her presence known to the college squash world by k nock ing of f the Crimson’s Julianne Chu, who was ranked 50th nationally at the end of last season. “[Wong]’s been doing really well as a freshman,” Tan said.

“I’m really proud of her.”

“She’s been winning important matches for us,” Dodd added. “When she becomes a senior, I’m sure she’ll be one

of our important assets” And in last Saturday’s crucial 5-4 win over No. 5 Yale, Wong took down Lillian Fast in four games to give Penn its first win in the matchup.

Wong has not shied away from the pressures of playing for a top-ranked squad and has used her athleticism to take down players of all ages and ranks.

Wong’s 8-1 record is good for the team’s lead in wins alongside co-captain Courtney Jones. Together, they have become some of the most reliable producers for the Penn squash lineup. “[Wong]’s put in the hard work,” Dodd said. “She knows

what works for her.”

Despite her many individual achievements, Wong attributes her success to the support around her.

“My team means a lot to me,” she said. “When I play, I play for them.”

Wong a lso has a secret weapon that she uses to make opponents look silly. By using a two-handed backhand swing, Wong has tricked plenty of opponents by taking away their ability to read the way she hits the ball.

“No one can read how she hits it,” Tan said. “It’s really rare.”

A move like that will come in handy at the Howe Cup.

Gymnasts already have a few new tricks GYMNASTICS from page 10

Courtesy of The Columbia Spectator

Columbia coach Kyle Smith has overseen a massive rebuilding effort since he took over the Lions’ program in 2010.

Smith is the first coach to lead Columbia to consecutive 15+ win seasons since Tom Penders did it from 1977-79.

Lions passing Penn in wins and potential TYDINGS from page 10 Red and Blue have revolved around the play of seniors Miles Jackson-Cartwright and Fran Dougherty. If the two are playing well in tandem, as they did against both Princeton and NJIT, the Quakers are able to notch some solid wins.

But come next season, those

Frosh set two single-game block records W. HOOPS from page 10 man set the Penn single-game record for blocks twice within a week’s span, blocking eight shots against NJIT and then breaking her own record with nine against Harvard.

To put that into perspective, Stipanovich blocked more shots in those two games than all but four players in the Ivies have in the entire season thus far.

The latter of those games helped the freshman center earn her third Ivy Player of the Week award, a feat that no

two will be gone. As will Cameron Gunter and Steve Rennard, two of Allen’s cogs off the bench.

Who does Columbia lose? No one.

And if Smith is already getting his players to take a step forward in year two, or year three in the cases of Alex Rosenberg and Cory Osetkowski, the Lions can be expected to be even better with another year under their belts.

But looking at the Quakers, it seems like the team has taken a step back each of the past two years instead of making progress, especially with every player returning after last

freshman in the history of the Ivy League has achieved. And all of this from someone who is just as great a teammate as she is a competitor.

“She’s made a huge impact as a person. She’s very committed, always works on her game,” McLaughlin said. “She’s a great teammate and extremely coachable.”

And to think that this is still just the first year of what could shape up to be an incredible Penn career for Stipanovich.

She already seems poised to break the single-season blocks record, which is a mere 11 blocks away with 11 games remaining.

With so much potential and such success early on, the sky is truly the limit for the headliner of an impactful freshman class for Penn women’s basketball.

season’s 9-21 disappointment.

So you can throw out Penn’s 26 Ivy titles to Columbia’s one.

You can ignore Penn’s 137-86 advantage over the Lions headto-head dating back to 1902.

Because ultimately, if Smith can keep finding ways to get the most out of his recruits while the Quakers stay mired in mediocrity as they have been for the past seven seasons, the perceived gap between the two schools will continue to shrink.

STEVEN TYDINGS is a Wharton sophomore from Hopewell, N.J. and is senior sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. He can be reached at tydings@thedp.com.

Tkatchevand then her full-out “A nd same with Rachel Graham, she does her yurchanko layout half and we did it onto the resi first and now she’s doing it onto 20 cm … if we just get a couple more numbers in, she’ll be ready to compete it.”

In addition to gaining new skills, the facility also makes returning from injury easier.

“Having the new gym is also making it easier for people who have been injured in the past to come back quicker and easier,” Levy said.

It has not been an easy journey but the patience is paying off.

Last year, the team practiced in a back section of the indoor tennis courts along side fencing.

For both sports, the facility was a temporary solution while the renovations were underway.

The gym contained all four apparatuses needed for the gymnastics squad but it had limited resources for those wanting to learn new tricks in steps.

DP FIle Photo

Coach John Ceralde boasts about the Nalitt Family Gymnastics Center’s great atmosphere for players. The gym gives Penn a much awaited homecourt advantage.

“The difference is that we can learn new skills faster and in a safer environment,” Ceralde said.

The gym is one of the nicer colligate facilities.

In addition to the new Nalitt Family Gymnastics Center, the competition equipment, which they compete on in home meets, is also great.

The new facility allows for

the Quakers to host meets, which relieves them from having to travel every weekend, such as they did last year.

Already mid-season, the Red and Blue are utilizing the new equipment well and taking advantage of every inch of the new facility.

“It’s new, so new is always better,” Ceralde said. “It’s all new equipment.”

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SP OR TS

PAGE 8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

Jaskowski plans to keep his grand prize

THE BUZZ: MANO-A-MANO

Who has shone most for Penn?

BY IAN WENIK AND JIMMY LENGYEL

JASKOWSKI from page 10

From The Daily Pennsylvanian’s sports blog, THE BUZZ Penn athletics has seen a number of individuals excel across a wide range of sports during the winter season, but who has stood out the most?

Sports Editor Ian Wenik and Associate Sports Editor Jimmy Lengyel debate: Sports Editor Ian Wenik: That’s a really tough question.

There are plenty of worthy candidates, but I think that I’m going to go with swimmer Rochelle Dong, in a bit of an upset.

It’s hard to believe that she’s a freshman, considering how seamlessly she’s integrated herself into coach Mike Schnur’s 200 medley relay team in such a short period of time.

Add on her consistent strong performances in the 50 free, and you have yourself a swimmer that could potentially be the heir apparent to Shelby Fortin.

Associate Sports Editor Jimmy Lengyel: I agree, it’s hard to choose from some of the great achievements we’ve seen across the winter sports.

In my book the choice is obviously Alyssa Baron (which may be the popular vote).

Baron has been absolutely dominant all season, like she has been every season. She’s racked up 227 points, 101 rebounds, 26 steals and one Ivy League Player of the Week award.

Baron has been a rock for this team and will definitely be close to holding every significant statistical record at Penn before her tenure concludes this season. I think what’s been even more impressive is that she has done all of this while staying out of the spot-

Zoe Gan/DP Staff Photographer

light, giving way to freshman Sydney Stipanovich.

IW: It’s funny, because trying to compare a swimmer to a basketball player is a bit like comparing apples and oranges ... or water and motor oil.

I think the distinction to be made here is that to me, Dong is most impressive because she’s emerged out of basically nowhere. Baron’s been great this year, sure, but did you really expect anything less out of Penn women’s basketball’s cornerstone?

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You could even argue that Dong has been having a better season than Shelby Fortin, which is even more impressive considering Fortin’s track record. Dong is just getting started.

JL: I take nothing away from Rochelle Dong and her achievements this season, but a similar argument can be made about her performance.

Her coach has praised her since day one, and I’m glad she’s living up to expectations.

I think what you have to con-

sider in Baron’s performance is the fact that not only has she been an offensive juggernaut, but she’s made her team better. She’s been much better at spreading the ball around and allowing players like Kara Bonenberger and Stipanovich to flourish.

Again, she’s done all of this out of the spotlight. I only see her getting better as the Ivies go on whereas Dong could stumble due to her inexperience. Either way, both are incredible athletes.

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Wing Bowl first come about?

Sebastian Jaskowsk i: I was reached out to by my coach [running backs coach Steven Downs], and he was looking for someone to compete in the Wing Bowl. They were looking for a guy from Penn, and they figured they’d try and get one from the football team. I guess I’ve got a little bit of a reputation for eating on the team, so he called me up and asked me, and I just took the opportunity.

DP: Did you do any special training for this, or just sort of rely on your natural eating instincts?

SJ: I think it was a little bit of both. I only got a week to train for this. I would literally just bang out two times getting wings, and really just stuffing my face, I guess. But no, I wasn’t doing any formal training going into this ‌ I guess a little practice went into eating wings, but most of it was just natural.

DP: Going into it on Friday, was that your first time ever going to Wing Bowl? Was it something completely new to you?

SJ: It was my first time I had ever gotten to Wing Bowl.

We usually had football or something to do [at the time].

So I’d heard about it, I’d heard it was such a great event to be part of, not just for wings, but with the girls and everything there. It was good to be there for the first time, and espe-

Freshman swimmer Rochelle Dong has been a sensation for Penn in her debut season so far, establishing herself as a top short-distance competitor. Last Friday against West Chester, she easily won the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.71.

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cially being there to eat, too, was awesome.

DP: Was the atmosphere as overwhelming and outrageous as it appears to be for outside observers?

SJ: Yeah, I did not know what I was getting myself into. It actually surpassed my expectations of how crazy it was [going to be]. It’s 5 a.m.

There are probably like 20, 23 thousand people out there, watching people eat wings, so it was pretty ridiculous.

It’s a ridiculous concept, but it was a lot of fun to be a part of, and just seeing all the pageantr y and ever y thing that comes with it.

DP: In the actual competition itself— what was it, 78 wings? — how did you handle that?

SJ: It was actually pretty gross to eat that amount of wings that early in the morning. I mean, the only thing on my mind was winning the competition, because I knew with the competition was a car [as the grand prize]. So, I really just tried to swallow my pride, basically, and just eat as many wings as I can. I knew there was a grand prize of a car, so of course I’m going to get up and eat a lot of wings for that.

DP: And now that you have the Chrysler 200 [the grand prize], what are you going to do with it?

SJ: I’m definitely keeping the car. I don’t have really any incentive to sell it. It’s gonna have a lot of sentimental value when it comes to just showing it off to people, telling them I won it eating wings. I’m probably gonna keep it . I don’t k now how much use I’ll have for a car in the city, but I guess that’s really a good problem to have.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014 PAGE 9

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

online at thedp.com/sports

Columbia basketball closing gap on Quakers May 2, Kyle Smith became the coach at Columbia.

And since each took over, Penn has held the head-to-head edge over the Lions, winning four out of six matchups and finishing ahead of Columbia in the Ivy League standings in each of the past three seasons.

But the gap appears to be closing.

No, Columbia basketball has not passed Penn basketball as a brand.

And when the two squads meet this Saturday, the Quakers may very well blow the Lions out of the water.

But unlike Allen’s 4-13 squad, Smith’s team appears to have taken a leap for-

STEVEN TYDINGS

O

n March 30, 2010, Jerome Allen was hired as the fulltime head coach of Penn basketball. Just 33 days later, on

ward from last season.

After going 4-10 in Ivy play last year, Columbia was picked to finish last again in 2014.

Yet even after losing two tough road games against Yale and Brown last weekend, the Lions still seem poised to rise above their lowly preseason ranking.

Why? The answer is simple: improvements across the board.

Seven of Smith’s players are scoring more points per game than last season, and a group of three sophomore guards has been the emblem of Columbia’s step in the right direction.

Maodo Lo, Isaac Cohen and Grant Mullins have each played a big role in Columbia’s 13-8 start to the year, providing consistent minutes in the starting lineup. Lo and Mullins, in particular, have been scoring forces, providing the Lions with steady points after inconsistency plagued their freshman seasons.

Meanwhile, Penn has seen everything but consistency out of its starting five, and the Quakers’ top sophomores have been no exception.

As one of the Red and Blue’s leading guards, Tony Hicks has seen increased minutes. He has also put up more turnovers and fouls alongside his heightened

scoring role, something that severely limited him in the Quakers’ loss to Dartmouth last week.

And Darien Nelson-Henry hasn’t been able to find consistency either. The 6-foot-11 center has eclipsed 30 minutes in a game just once this year, and a concussion held him out for a stretch around New Year’s.

But more important than the growing pains of Nelson-Henry and Hicks is how reliant the Quakers are on their current seniors.

Watching any game this year, the

SEE TYDINGS PAGE 7

FANTASTIC Sydney Stipanovich FROSH In just one season,

SECOND

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fourth in the NCAA with 3.6 blocks per game

SET TH E Penn p rogram RECOR D

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Graphic by Vivian Lee

Penn is standing tall with stellar Stipanovich W. HOOPS | Freshman phenom is dazzling the Ivies and has contributed by shooting and blocking

BY HOLDEN MCGINNIS Associate Sports Editor Many words have been used to describe Sydney Stipanovich.

Dominant. Outgoing . Spectacular.

But most of all, the freshman center has been a revelation for the Penn women’s basketball team as she has emerged as a star upon which the Quakers can rely.

“She’s had a huge impact for us on both ends of the floor. She can score

from a multitude of areas and you can run offense through her,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “On the defensive end, her ability to change shots and move laterally and play this game without fouling.”

Considering her upbringing, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

“Starting from a young age, my uncle was one of my first coaches and I played with my cousin, Sadie, when I was younger,” Stipanovich said. “But the biggest impact has come from my dad, we would always go to the gym together. Basketball is a big topic in our family.”

And while the story of growing up playing basketball with family mem-

bers may seem like a common one, few players can say that their uncle played in the NBA — as Stipanovich’s uncle Steve Stipanovich did. Even fewer can add that their cousin is in a similar role at another Division I school — as freshman center Sadie Stipanovich is for St. Louis University.

However, like all young players making the transition to college ball, there is a bit of an adjustment period.

“The biggest change has just been the pace of the game,” Stipanovich said. “The players are bigger and more skilled, and the competition is tougher.

The coaches have helped a lot, coming in not knowing what to expect.”

Stipanovich began the season playing significant minutes off the bench,

Penn’s Jaskowski is a happy champ

Q&A | The former Penn football standout tells the DP how he was talked into Wing Bowl by one of his coaches

SEE JASKOWSKI PAGE 8

Sports Desk (215) 898-6585 ext. 147

of the Week honors after her 17-point, seven-rebound performance against Army.

McLaughlin has utilized the freshman center alongside veteran forwards Kara Bonenberger and Katy Allen to create a dominant inside offense. The most notable performances for Stipanovich have come in the past two weeks. In the four games since she claimed a spot in the starting lineup, she is averaging 13.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game.

Though many would like to focus on her offensive skill set, it’s clear that Stipanovich’s defense has made more of an impact this season. The fresh-

SEE W. HOOPS PAGE 7

Tumbling head over heels for new gym GYMNASTICS | Nalitt gym provides huge upgrades to equipment and rehab and boosts morale for gymnasts

BY IAN WENIK Sports Editor Penn football senior cornerback Sebastian Jaskowski is riding high af ter winning a major of f-field honor: a Wing Bowl College Division championship. We spoke with the gastronomically-for tuitous Red and Blue star to discuss the Philadelphia tradition: The Daily Pennsylvanian: So I suppose the first question on my mind — and everybody’s mind — is: How did the idea for you to go to

and though effective still showed many signs of inexperience. She would find herself slightly late on a rotation or out of position for a rebound. Yet, as the season has progressed, all that has changed.

The reasons behind her development? Coach McLaughlin believes it all came down to getting comfortable in the system.

“She’s very comfortable with her teammates now and very selfless,” McLaughlin said. “It came very quickly for a young player. She’s very coachable, all the intangibles are there.”

The results have been impressive.

Midway through the season, Stipanovich began to show what she was truly capable of, earning Ivy League Rookie

Jenny Lu/Staff Photographer

Former Penn football cornerback Sebastian Jaskowski won a Chrysler 200 as a grand prize after consuming a whopping 78 wings to win the College Division crown at the annual Wing Bowl.

Visit us online at theDP.com/sports

equipment for them to do it right away.”

“It’s definitely an improvement and it will help us get to that next level,” Ceralde added.

This new facility is a huge improvement on what the team’s

BY ALEXIS ZIEBELMAN Associate Sports Editor space looked like only two years ago. Some of the highlights are a pit New is always better than old. that connects to a set of bars and a With part of the season already tumbling strip. In addition, there underway, the Penn gymnastics are many more mats and other team is seeing the impact of its new resources for gymnasts to learn facility, the Nalitt Family Gymnas- new tricks in strides. tics Center.

Many gymnasts have already “We have all the equipment gotten new tricks as a result. whether people need to take a step “[ Morgan Venuti] does her back or a step forward,” junior SEE GYMNASTICS PAGE 7 Wynne Levy said. “We have the

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