March 3, 2015

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Factoring race into research Black Ph.D.s face disparate treatment in the sciences DAVID CAHN Staff Reporter

Universities like Penn have seen dozens of protests in the aftermath of Ferguson, and student activism continues to call attention to national race relation issues. But some racial issues

hit even closer to home at universities, right in the field of academia.

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, a postdoctoral researcher at the Luo Lab in the Department of Neuroscience, who received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from Penn, said academia is hostile to blacks. He identified three structural roadblocks that impede black success in the sciences: graduate school admissions, an inability to

get research funding and professional humiliation.

Equally educated blacks are less likely to have their research grants approved by the National Institutes of Health compared to whites by 10 percentage points, a 2011 study by Donna Ginther and colleagues found.

Zahra Parker, a Nigerian Ph.D. student in her final year studying cell and molecular biology, said blacks

benefit from affirmative action in the sciences. Nonetheless, she believes blacks feel isolated in academic environments where there are few black professors, are turned off by a competitive and aggressive culture and are disadvantaged from the get-go due to a legacy of discrimination that goes back centuries.

SEE RESEARCH FUNDING PAGE 5

D A O R B A D L O B A TA N

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Students’ experiences in Cuba, Ecuador and Tanzania for the semester DIA SOTIROPOULOU Staff Reporter

With its urban sophistication, cultural proximity and plentiful Wi-Fi, Europe’s status as a first-choice study abroad location is hardly astonishing.

Of the regions that hosted Penn study-abroad students for the 2013-2014 academic year, Europe overwhelmingly led the pack, netting a whopping 59 percent of all participants. But at the same time every year, a number of intrepid souls toss Euro glam and routine creature comforts to the wind, opting for study-abroad programs slightly more

off the beaten path.

“In many cases,” Director of Penn Abroad Barbara Gorka said, such students are “self-selecting” and “might want to be doing something different.”

They may choose a specialized program with comparatively few applicants or even petition the study abroad office to have a new program approved.

Sometimes, if students are studying an uncommon language, Gorka continued, they are all but required to go to a country that receives less Penn traffic. Often, she added, it’s “a little bit of both” — an “academic rationale” combined with a thirst for the unfamiliar — that propels students to relatively untrodden corners of the globe.

Here, a trio of Penn juniors who opted for atypical destinations — two still abroad and one freshly returned — discuss their study-abroad experiences, and the frustrations and enchantments of being immersed in an entirely new culture. They touch upon everything from dazzling day trips to the surprising quirks of internet deprivation. Their narratives are tinged with the marvelousness of the road less traveled.

Hannah Watene University of Iringa, Tanzania Spring 2015 About two weekends ago, Hannah Watene nearly made an enemy of a lion.

SEE STUDY ABROAD PAGE 2

EMILY CHENG | NEWS DESIGN EDITOR

Admissions office receives influx of file requests

New UA budget up for Hey Day, down for NSO The budget allocates $2,275,000 to fund student groups on campus ELLIE SCHROEDER Staff Reporter

Students can view their files electronically for half an hour

The Undergraduate Assembly’s new budget for the 2015-2016 school year will make next year’s Hey Day more affordable for students, but their support for NSO has fallen.

Throughout February, the UA held its annual budget meetings in order to delegate nearly $2,275,000 to fund student groups on campus in a relatively smooth and speedy process. Last year, the UA’s final budget was not approved until late March.

The junior Class Board, which plans Hey Day festivities, successfully advocated for substantial increases to its budget. Overall, the junior Class Board — which manages the second largest class board budget behind the senior class — saw its budget increase to $20,190 from $17,200.

Specifically, the allocation for Hey Day, a longstanding tradition for juniors, increased by 2,900 percent from only $200 last year to $6,000, which will make the event more affordable by subsidizing student contributions. Junior Class President Jesus Perez said that currently, only 9 percent of Penn students approve of the out-of-pocket cost of Hey Day, which totaled $35 last year.

The UA also decreased New Student Orientation funding by 40 percent, an amount that traditionally pays for late night events in Houston Hall. UA Treasurer and College senior Amanda Acosta-Ruiz said that the change in funding reflects a shift in priorities

CAROLINE SIMON Staff Reporter

COURTESY OF MICHELANGELO CARRIERI | CREATIVE COMMONS

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SEE UA BUDGET PAGE 3

FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

In the midst of regular decision application evaluations, Penn’s Admissions Office has diverted some of its focus to applicants who have already been accepted.

Ever since a group of Stanford students discovered a way to request access to their admissions files through the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act in

Others … need more convincing in order to develop the courage to overcome the fear of judgment and hostility.”

January, college students all over the country have been invoking their legal right to view their records — and Penn students have been no exception.

As of Feb. 22, the Admissions Office had received over 140 FERPA requests. Before the Stanford students posted a step-by-step guide on the internet, the yearly average was only five.

Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said the Admissions Office is in the process of accommodating the SEE FERPA PAGE 3

MORE THAN A RACE BACKPAGE

- Kassidi Jones PAGE 4

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TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

STUDY ABROAD >> PAGE 1

COURTESY OF MEGAN BRIDGES

Junior Megan Bridges in Santiago de Cuba.

COURTESY OF HANNAH WATENE

College junior Hannah Watene made chapatti, a local flatbread, in Iringa, Tanzania.

COURTESY OF SAM FRIEDLANDER

College junior Sam Friedlander (far right) and her host sisters tested out yarn goods at an artisanal market in Cuicocha Lake, Ecuador.

“We went on safari to Ruaha National Park,” Watene said, “and one of the lions we saw was just lying in the grass next to where we pulled up ... if any one of us had stepped out of the car, we would’ve stepped on it!”

Her group succeeded in making an elephant irate the same day.

“She threw a huge piece of tree bark at us. We thought she was going to charge the car,” Watene laughed. “ ... we had to have a Maasai guard with a gun escort us everywhere at night because of our proximity to the animals.”

Such weekend excursions are nothing out of the ordinary in Iringa, Tanzania, where Watene is currently studying with the Council on International Educational Exchange.

A College junior and doublemajor in International Relations and African Studies, Watene had sought out a study-abroad program that would allow her to gain experience in Swahili, the language she is taking at Penn.

She attends class with local students at the University of Iringa on weekdays and is currently enrolled in “Kiswahili,” “Field Research Seminar,” and “Managing Community Development Programs.”

The last of the three involves a field trip every Tuesday to a community venue, most recently to a center for domestic violence victims. And in April, Watene will be traveling to the Mufindi region to conduct field research on the empowerment of local women through microfinance.

Until then, she’ll have a broad array of activities to keep her occupied in Iringa. “After classes we have free time to go into town ... it’s about a 15-minute bus ride and there’s a couple restaurants and a coffee shop that we hang out at.

Mostly it’s to get to the Wi-Fi,” she laughed.

There’s “rugby on Wednesday with a group of expats, and volleyball on Saturdays at a dairy farm,” she added. “We do so many hikes and outdoor things because we’re in a mountainous region.”

She said the weather “is literally

presents

A Book Talk PROFESSOR KENNETH L. SHROPSHIRE Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

SPORT MATTERS: Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports

Tuesday March 3, 2015 5:30 p.m.

3601 Walnut Street This event is being held in conjunction with the Penn Bookstore.

Light refreshments will be provided.

In the new book, Sport Matters: Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports (Wharton Digital Press), Wharton professor and frequent media commentator Kenneth L. Shropshire takes a sober look at the unique leadership challenges facing sports organizations today, and in the process offers a snapshot of where we are as a society in terms of comprehending and healing destructive ideas about race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and perceived “difference.”

Kenneth L. Shropshire is the David W. Hauck Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Faculty Director of its Wharton Sports Business Initiative and Professor of Africana Studies. He has consulted with the NCAA, Major League Baseball, National Football League, and the United States Olympic Committee.

Follow him @KenShropshire.

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

perfect in Iringa.” The temperature hovers between 75 and 80 degrees each day, she said, and “we’re in the rainy season too, so anytime it gets past 80, it usually rains and cools things down to a nice 70s.”

She described the cultural vibe as group-oriented and open-hearted — if occasionally somewhat cramped. “Things are a lot less focused on individual autonomy,” she explained. “If you’re on a bus, there’s no such thing as personal space. People will be packed in, halfway sitting on your lap, asking you to hold their child.”

However, “people are very polite and extremely curious,” she continued, and “always tripping over themselves to accommodate the guests in any way.”

“It’s very much a community culture,” she said. “[When] you are eating food ... it is customary to invite anyone near you to take some” – even if he’s a stranger on that same bus.

The food, she said, is quite similar to Indian cuisine. “There’s a naan-bread type of bread called chapatti, and there’s a lot of rice and meat stew and beans ... there’s a specialty on campus called chipsi mayai which is basically a frenchfry omelette,” she said.“We were skeptical at first, but it’s actually really good.”

Her favorite experience thus far, however, was one that felt a little closer to home.

Her program director decided to host a Super Bowl party, streaming the game off the internet. “He grilled for us, we made guacamole, his cook made tortillas and we had a nice assortment of Swahili and imported American foods.” The game was to begin at 2:30 a.m. local time; classes were scheduled to start only a few hours after that.

“We napped and woke up in the middle of the night in time for the game,” Watene said.

One quick power nap later, Watene was ready to join her 8 a.m. class as a new day broke over Tanzania.

Sam Friedlander SIT, Ecuador Spring 2015 When asked to highlight a particularly memorable experience from her time thus far in Ecuador, Sam Friedlander hesitated. “I rode a pregnant horse bareback up a mountain with my host family,” she

said finally with nonchalance.

Friedlander, a College junior studying linguistics, is in Ecuador with the Development, Politics and Languages program offered

by SIT. The program is a relatively unstructured one, and Friedlander had to go petition Penn Abroad to have it approved.

It wasn’t exactly a breeze. “The hardest thing I did ever in my life,” she laughed, wasn’t getting into Penn, but having to write a 20-page petition on why the SIT program was a better fit than anything offered by Penn Abroad.

“Most of Penn’s programs have you studying in a university,” she explained, “and I didn’t really want that.” She added that more conventional programs would feel like “doing Penn, but somewhere else.”

With SIT, “we have a lot more freedom,” she said, as the program setup is a highly mobile one, and program participants are not tied to a particular university.

Classes take place in informal, improvised settings; at one point, Friedlander said, a class of hers was taught for two weeks in a rented room in a preschool. Another was taught “while we were hiking in the cloud forest” — a mountain forest with a persistent cloud cover due to Ecuador’s elevation.

Friedlander has been learning about the area’s most prominent indigenous language, Quechua, and about the power dynamic between Quechua speakers and Spanish speakers. The program’s most recent phase has brought her to Quito, the capital, where she has been for only a few days.

Her routine involves classes in the mornings, returning to her host family for a copious lunch — the central meal in Ecuador — and exploring the city.

For the final month of the program, she said, classes are to be replaced by work on an independent research project. Friedlander admitted she was a bit concerned about the curt instructions: find somewhere to live in the city, determine a topic and write a paper on it. She said she plans to get ahold of and partner with an organization when the time comes.

As for the horse episode, “my host family had a hacienda [a ranch],” Friedlander explained, and she had accompanied them there one day on a visit. No saddles were available, so she was given the

smoothest ride — a pregnant mare.

Outings in the city are lower-key and somewhat less equine. When asked about her plans for a given evening, Friedlander shrugged.

She may just go see a movie with her host family, she said.

“You never know what you’re going to do when studying abroad, I’ve learned,” she laughed.

Megan Bridges Universidad de la Habana, Cuba Fall 2014 Megan Bridges is on a selfprofessed mission to demolish misconceptions about Cuba.

The island nation hadn’t even been on her radar as a study-abroad option; originally, Bridges had wanted to go to Spain.

Then she learned about Cuba’s exceptional healthcare system in a Spanish class at Penn — one it has achieved “with far fewer financial and material resources” than the United States, she said.

“Cuba is one of the few countries in the world to cover all the costs of sexual reassignment surgery, hormonal therapy” — something “so progressive for a country the U.S. basically shits on,” she added with a laugh.

Deciding to investigate further, Bridges got on a plane from Miami in the fall of 2014 with a Penn Abroad-sponsored program bound for Universidad de la Habana.

Cuba’s cultural peculiarities made themselves evident before she had a chance to leave the ground. At Miami International Airport, she said, “all the way at the end of the terminal was a section just for people going to Cuba,” and a line had formed with “carts full of TVs and other technology ... just because they’re so hard to get in Cuba.”

Once she arrived, she was plunged into a sometimes-surreal environment shaped by decades of cultural incubation. Instead of the advertisements plastering every surface in U.S. cities, she said, she was met by potent propagandistic messages. “You’re always reminded of the revolution, about Castro, Che Guevara,” she said.

The Communist revolutionaries are very much alive in the language of the locals, and it is easy to find patriotically-themed products at Havana’s markets, she said.

SEE STUDY ABROAD PAGE 3

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To get around town, there are maquinas – meticulously maintained cars from the 40’s and 50’s that travel on fixed routes around Havana. “Cuban mechanics are among the best in the world because they can’t get new parts,” Bridges explained. For the sum of 40 cents, a Havanan can pack into one of these duct-tape-festooned rides and go anywhere in the city.

Bridges’ own quarters were conveniently placed. She lived at a group house full of American students in the Vedado neighborhood, a stone’s throw from downtown and 15 minutes from the beach and from the university.

However, Havana living presented some unique challenges.

“High-speed internet is illegal in homes,” Bridges explained.

The only way to access the internet was to obtain a special card from a hotel, she said, but these were limited in number and expensive. Telephone calls were also difficult to make — Bridges wound up calling her mother twice during her stay.

However, “being so isolated — not having internet, feeling disconnected,” she said, made the housemates “a lot more committed to each other.”

The Americans — a jumble of around 30 students from Penn, Tulane, Harvard and assorted other schools — bonded over breakfast and dinner, which they took together at banquet-style tables, and during blackouts, another local signature.

Despite the group house’s backup generator, “there were blackouts all the time,” Bridges said, frequently resulting in hours-long rum-sipping sessions on the porch.

The Vedado house was not free of its drama; “there were times when people were sick of other people in the house,” she admitted, laughingly.

The students at Universidad de la Habana were not the most receptive to foreigners, Bridges went on, so the Americans for the most part kept each other company.

But Bridges was nonetheless able to witness what she had come to see — one of the world’s best public health systems at work.

Each block, she said, had a medical unit, with all services provided free of charge. Cuban doctors do not enjoy the exceptionally high salaries they do in the U.S. and are driven more by a sense of public service than anything else, she said.

Though life in Cuba is far from invariably rosy, she concluded, the foul rap the country has earned in the U.S. is a decidedly undeserved one. And though Bridges acknowledged she was in a “relatively privileged position,” she did not once feel, she said, that the government prevented her from seeing “the real Cuba.”

enormous volume of FERPA requests. “We have been working through the process of getting in touch with those students,” he said.

Students have primarily been sending emails to the Admissions Office with a letter based on an internet template provided by the Stanford students.

“They’re cutting and pasting what they saw on Buzzfeed and they’re sending it to us,” Furda

>> PAGE 1

said.

However, Furda believes that providing students access to their records is moving the Admissions Office away from other priorities.

“That takes time away from us for evaluating Quaker Days, likely [letters],” Furda said.

Nursing freshman Delaney Jenkins requested to view her admissions files nearly 45 days ago. She said that the Admissions Office prompted her to arrange an appointment to go to the office and view her files

FERPA REQUESTS RECEIVED

JAN. 22

electronically for a limited 30 minute period. Her time slot is scheduled for this Friday.

“I was always really curious about how admissions works in general,” Jenkins said. “Now I think it’s going to be interesting just to go and see.”

Jenkins believes that students should have the right to view their admissions records.

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and that they will focus on funding newer projects instead.

Meanwhile, the senior class stressed its disappointment over low funding for Feb Club. This year, the Senior Class Board spent $3.25 per student per event on Feb Club events, which left the majority of funding coming from third party outsiders solicited by class boards, or from students.

For every dollar spent on Feb Club, 27 cents came from the Class Board budget, 50 cents had to be sought from funding sources other than Class Board and 23 cents came directly from students.

Vice President of Finance for the junior Class Board and Wharton junior Patrick del Valle said that students have come to him and told him that they wrote about participating in Feb Club in their application essays when applying to Penn, but that they cannot afford to participate due to the event’s high out-of-pocket cost.

“Coming to Penn can’t guarantee you access to these Penn traditions that are integral to the Penn experience,” del Valle said. “Right now those are not available to all students.”

An amendment was filed to the original budget proposing that $20,000 from the Spring Fling Carnival line item — half of the originally allocated sum — be transferred to the Senior Class Board. They later changed their request to $10,000, though the amendment failed to be approved by the UA, partially due to concerns about the very short amount of time that the Social Planning and Events Committee was given to prepare a counterargument to the request.

For the first time ever, this year’s UA budget includes $2,000 to fund International Student Orientation in the hope that the University will decide to extend ISO from one to two days. The amount pledged by the UA represents only a portion of the cost of the extra day, which they estimate would cost $10,000 in total. However, if the University does not extend ISO, the money will be used towards Feb Club instead.

The budget for Spring Fling increased by a little over six percent, totaling $157,700. Additionally, the Student Activities Council budget, which funds most student groups on

SCUE NEC Mert UA

campus, increased by 6.65 percent, suggesting the moratorium barring new clubs from SAC funding is unlikely to be reinstated. This figure is likely to grow even more in the future, since the UA operates based on a conservative estimate of the amount of money the Board of Trustees will grant them.

For the first time, the Budget Committee had a series of meetings in the Fall with UA-funded groups to start discussing budgeting earlier, which led to a quicker process during the formal proceedings, Acosta-Ruiz said.

She also encouraged groups to work together in drafting budget amendments and focus on compromise. For example, SPEC and the UA compromised and passed a joint budget resolution to help fund a UA retreat.

“I was focusing on communication and making sure every party had ample opportunity for feedback,” Acosta-Ruiz said, adding that the budget process went very smoothly this year compared to years in the past.

“Everyone has a right to know — not just why they got in, but how they got in — and how the process works,” she said. “It’s so secretive and so mysterious.”

Students who wish to view their files should contact the Admissions Office via email.

The office is legally required to provide access within 45 days of the request.

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The annual College House survey is open from now through Monday, March 16, and you can give us feedback on how the people and programs in the College Houses are working for you.

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OPINION Mental health in black communities THE VISION | Yale’s 20th annual Black Solidarity Conference stresses the importance of mental health and wellness for black students

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015 VOL. CXXXI, NO. 25 131st Year of Publication

MATT MANTICA President JILL CASTELLANO Editor-in-Chief SHAWN KELLEY Opinion Editor LUKE CHEN Director of Online Projects LAUREN FEINER City News Editor KRISTEN GRABARZ Campus News Editor CLAIRE COHEN Assignments Editor STEVEN TYDINGS Social Media Director PAOLA RUANO Copy Editor RILEY STEELE Senior Sports Editor

T

his year’s Black Solidarity Conference upheld a specific mantra: “The Ties That Bind: Unique in Our Blackness, One in Our Struggle.” For three days and three nights, students from colleges across the country joined together to uplift each other. Driven by a passion for our people, we gathered in New Haven to celebrate our differences and bond over our similarities. Many of us found that our experiences on various college campuses were eerily similar in the way that they made us feel. In discussing the obstacles that we have faced, we were able to encourage each other to keep pushing. Our days were filled with workshops to discuss these issues as a group.

Among the workshops on activism and micro-aggressions, a surprising number of workshops focused on a topic often omitted in black communities: mental health.

While Penn has made an ef-

fort to emphasize the importance of taking care of one’s mind and body, the negative stigma behind mental illness in the black community could be too deeply rooted to allow black students to feel comfortable with seeking treatment.

Speaker Hakeem Rahim

of the brain; it’s not an illness of the mind.” It attacks a person’s ability to think, feel and behave normally. Like any other malfunctioning organ, the brain is something for which to seek medical or professional treatment. There should not be any shame attached to seeking said help,

experiments in which black people were purposefully exposed to syphilis and then denied treatment. Because of a lack of education on the subject, people may easily misunderstand mental disorders. Spiritually, many black people lead a faith-based lifestyle. I cannot count all of

In discussing the obstacles that we have faced, we were able to encourage each other to keep pushing.” recounted his story of being an Ivy League student living with bipolar disorder. Hakeem had experienced panic attacks and depression since he was 17, but only sought professional help when he had a manic episode early in his college career. He was hospitalized and briefly treated in an institution where he found the proper medication to stabilize him. He affirmed, “Mental illness is an illness

and yet many in the black community are tentative about doing so.

Hakeem then broke down the stigmas that he believes make black people so hesitant to seek professional help.

He attributed the resistance to historical, educational and spiritual reasons. Historically speaking, black people have had a number of reasons not to trust America’s medicinal system, such as the Tuskegee

the times I have been told to “pray away” a problem. Some people simply do not have access to the facilities needed to treat mental illnesses. African Americans and Mexicans have the lowest rates of treatment for depression; African American women have the lowest rates of treatment out of everyone. The black community needs to disassociate weakness with treating a serious issue. The real courage

lies in seeking the help one needs when one needs it. The destruction of the “crazy” and “weak” stereotypes attached to mental illness is a matter of life and death.

In the Year of Health, Penn dedicated the month of January to self-care. The newly reformed Counseling and Psychological Services attempts to make itself more available to students of every color. Still, the stigma stands. Penn’s approach to mental health may work for some, but others will need more convincing in order to develop the courage to overcome the fear of judgment and hostility. A major aspect of the Black Solidarity Conference was stressing the need of black college students to support each other in every feasible way. Simply pointing a friend on campus in the direction of CAPS or other professionals is a key way to keep each other healthy and sound. Black is beautiful and strong, and

THE VISION neither of those qualities are negated by the need to seek help when help is necessary.

With all of the resources on this campus made available to the students, I would hope that people, especially black people, feel comfortable with taking advantage of said resources and taking care of

KASSIDI JONES is a College freshman from Hartford, Conn. Her email address is kasjon@sas.upenn.edu.

“The Vision” is a column for unfiltered black voices at Penn that appears every Tuesday.

HOLDEN MCGINNIS Sports Editor LAINE HIGGINS Sports Editor COLIN HENDERSON Sports Editor

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NICK MONCY is a College junior from North Miami, Fla. His email address is nickmon@sas.upenn.edu.

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Unsigned editorials appearing on this page represent the opinion of The Daily Pennsylvanian as determined by the majority of the Editorial Board.

All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.

LETTERS Have your own opinion? Send your guest column to Opinion Editor Shawn Kelley at kelley@theDP.com.

Why we need both theory and practice in education THE IDEALISTIC PRAGMATIST | We can do more to embrace theoretical and practical approaches in education simultaneously

A

s students at Penn, Benjamin Franklin’s espousal of both practical and theoretical education and their intersection in the foundation of the University has hardly escaped us.

While this approach was not there right away from Penn’s foundation, it has since become a defining characteristic of the University — one repeatedly emphasized by President Amy Gutmann, numerous deans and others speaking for the University.

To some, this excitement about interdisciplinarity between academic areas may appear but a marketing trick for the University to attract students who are indecisive about their majors, but to others, the idea is imbued with a far greater importance, one which it indeed deserves.

In many other systems of higher education around the world, students are to choose one subject to study before applying to college, and they subsequently have to apply specifically to a pro-

gram exclusively devoted to that particular subject, with little flexibility thereafter.

The liberal arts system popular in the United States is different in the sense that it gives students the ability to explore, combine and connect subjects in a variety of ways, a freedom which has a value often overlooked. At a

narity and diversity in both knowledge and application.

To anyone who has read about his life, the seeming ease with which he moves to whatever new intriguing problem or cause that catches his interest is — even more than it might seem — astounding and a source of inspiration. When I myself

and elsewhere — reminding ourselves of this possibility to apply ourselves in a wide range of ways is, I believe, quite warranted. While we are no longer in the 18th century, and while it is more difficult to be strong across the disciplines, striving to find diverse applications to specific causes important to

At a place like Penn, the access to a range of both the more theoretical academic subjects as well as the more applied … provides us with a multitude of opportunities to build interdisciplinary bridges ….“ place like Penn, the access to a range of both the more theoretical academic subjects as well as the more applied and practical subjects provides us with a multitude of opportunities to build interdisciplinary bridges — opportunities embraced by some, but left uncontemplated by others.

Ben Franklin himself, a true polymath, exemplifies the power of interdiscipli-

read Walter Isaacson’s popular biography about Ben’s long life, I found his ability to make a difference by applying himself to different areas and causes, motivated by a desire to make a change, surprisingly refreshing. This may seem like a cliche, but especially in the rationalized society of today — where constructed and imagined barriers exist in universities

us should still be highly regarded, and we should by no means limit ourselves in this respect.

By thinking about their knowledge and skills in terms of how they can apply it to some cause with the intent of making a difference, and tailoring their curriculums accordingly, some students at Penn are already finding the benefits in this approach,

but many still have not seized the opportunity. A traditional idea in progressive education, going back to advocates like John Dewey, is the role of the practical end of the things to which we dedicate ourselves, no matter whether it is in a more applied or theoretical subject. Acknowledging that making a difference in the 21st century often depends on the conception of novel and innovative approaches, the value of an approach characterized by the importance of interdisciplinarity and the marriage between the theoretical and applied sides to knowledge, with its aptness for finding new insights, is not difficult to grasp. Indeed, a place like Penn not only offers the ability to pursue this very path, but with its active advocacy of approaches of this nature, offers an extraordinary opportunity to do this.

Elementary as this message may seem, the fact remains that many of us remain constrained by barriers in terms of both our acquisition

OSCAR A. RUDENSTAM and application of knowledge and skills. Much like Ben Franklin did in his time, we would do well to move across these if we want to bring about substantial change and make an impact.

OSCAR A. RUDENSTAM is a visiting junior from Tokyo, studying economics, sociology and business. His email address is osru@sas. upenn.edu. “The Idealistic Pragmatist” appears every other Tuesday.

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

RESEARCH FUNDING >> PAGE 1

Graduate School Admissions Before applying to Ph.D. programs, students must identify potential mentors with whom they can conduct their research. Finding a Ph.D. mentor may be more difficult for black students, research shows.

A 2014 study conducted by Wharton professor Katherine Milkman found having an identifiably black name in an email reduces the likelihood of a positive response from mentors for men, but may increase the chances of a positive response for women in the sciences.

“To even get into grad school, you have to prearrange this relationship before you apply,” Abdus-Saboor said. In the study, “The white names got, ‘Sure I would love to work with you, yeah you’re on campus, let’s meet tomorrow.’ But the black names, they got no response, or ‘no I’m busy,’ or, ‘I can’t take any new students,’” he said.

Parker said her experience applying to Penn was highly positive. Not only did both professors she reached out to get back to her quickly, but she was offered a position in one of the labs before even applying for admission.

“I think it’s unique to Penn,” Parker said. “I think a lot of the biomedical programs across the country want to fill a quota. The folks at Penn believe you are a person. There’s a very specific and tailored program for you, based on your experiences.”

Abdus-Saboor agreed that his experience at Penn has been very positive. “My time at Penn was really good actually. I had good mentors, good support — black, white, Asian, Indian — people really bent over backwards to support me, to help me, to make sure I did well,” he said.

In fact, it was during the summer after his junior year of college, when he came to Penn for a summer program meant to engage minorities

in the sciences, that Abdus-Saboor decided that he wanted to get a Ph.D. These programs are a “a step in the right direction,” he said. “It will hopefully increase the critical mass.”

Research Grants In the sciences, the phrase “publish or perish” is thrown around quite often. It means that to rise up in the ranks, academics must publish important research consistently.

Research grants are especially important in the sciences, where they are used to pay professor salaries.

“In the sciences, the currencies are the research grants. In the Perelman School of Medicine, a professor is typically paying anywhere between 50-90 percent of their own salary based off research grants. The only way to stay afloat in the sciences is to get these research grants,” Abdus-Saboor said.

“We’re not saying that people are bad, that people are evil people. But we do harbor these biases that are inherent from the media, the way we are socialized,” he explained.

Parker said her experience on this end is very different. She said she is advantaged in applying for grants because she is black and the National Institutes of Health is looking to increase minority participation in the sciences.

“They like to hear the story, we started at the bottom, and now we’re here,” she said. Parker said this sentiment seeps through in grant reviews. She noted a specific grant in which the reviewer noted the importance of “bridging the gap.”

Professional Humiliation In a recent article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice John Jackson recounted a lunch he had with many accomplished black academics. He wrote, however, that many of them shared that “down to a person, they felt under-appreciated, disrespected and dismissed as scholars. They had achieved everything,

DOCTORAL STUDENT FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center 2015 Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowships for Research on Human Decision Processes and Risk Management The Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowship program of the Wharton Risk and Decision Processes Center provides grants to the University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. students who are pursuing research in decision making under risk and uncertainty. The fellowship awards range from $1,000 - $4,000 and funds may be used for data collection, travel, and other direct research expenses (not stipend support).

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TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015 yet they felt that many of their white colleagues treated them with little more than contempt or utter indifference. It was disheartening to hear.”

Abdus-Saboor said many black professors feel that they face a career “full of constant humiliation, constantly being put down, constantly not being selected for promotion.”

He said that many black professors are not selected for tenure, because they were not part of the right social circles. “All along they weren’t invited to the social networks, they weren’t invited to the dinners, they weren’t invited to the beach trips,” he said.

Abdus-Saboor said that most black students leave academia after getting their Ph.D.s. “Most of the people in the EE Just Society [a club for black Ph.D. students], none of

them stay in academia, they all get out,” he said. “I know I’m going into hostile territory.”

“I think that when we talk about race in the sciences, and how race plays a role in your success in this field, it’s like 50-50. Fifty percent your work, who you are surrounded by, and 50 percent your race,” Parker said.

However, unlike Abdus-Saboor, Parker does not attribute the lack of blacks in the sciences to a hostile culture, but to a history of discrimination.

“We came in at a disadvantage.

I think it just comes from years and years and years of being marginalized,” she said. “I don’t think it’s something that can change overnight because the culture is so deep-seeded in science.”

NEWS 5

6 NEWS

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

Marc Platt: From Penn to Hollywood and back again Alum produced Wicked and Into the Woods CLARE CONNAUGHTON Staff Reporter

Superstar producer Marc Platt, namesake of the Platt Performing Arts House and 1979 College graduate, has worked in television, film and on Broadway — but his roots are at Penn.

Responsible for blockbusters like “Wicked,� “Legally Blonde� and, most recently, “Into the Woods,� Platt has not forgotten his involvement in performing arts during his time as a student.

The Daily Pennsylvanian caught up with the mega-successful producer to reflect on Penn and discuss works-in-progress.

Daily Pennsylvanian: What was the performing arts scene like when you were at Penn?

Marc Platt: There was a

very, very active performing arts scene when I went to Penn — many, many student productions that were highly visible on campus. And many, many kids participated in them, and the productions were very good and ‌ always very well attended.

DP: Why did you decide to open the Platt Performing Arts House?

MP: I think there was a real need for it. I met my wife at Penn — we were both in the performing arts, many years ago. Penn is dear to our hearts, as an institution. It’s also where I learned an awful lot of the skills that I still employ today, as a producer. It’s where many of my friends, my lifetime friendships were made.

When Penn was looking for more rehearsal space, because there was obvious need for it, going back many, many years, my wife and I donated what became the

Platt Rehearsal Room in Houston Hall. And then, a few years later it was clear that there was still more need to really have a centralized place where a band could work, so it was a gift we were happy to make because it spoke to us both in terms of our history together at Penn. Many of my kids who have attended Penn were involved in the performing arts, a capella groups and such.

It felt like a great extension of ourselves, of our interests, of our experience, of the institution that we hold very dear.

DP: How do you stay involved with Penn today?

MP: I stay involved mostly through my kids, who have since graduated, through my nieces and nephews who are still at Penn.

But mostly, probably through my wife who is a trustee of the University, who is also head of Penn Alumni. That keeps me certainly

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Wharton is giving students hundreds of dollars to pursue their passions.

Wharton Passion Projects is a new pilot program created by the Wharton Dean’s Undergraduate Advisory Board. The program provides students with up to $300 to pursue projects they are passionate about. Out of the 44 applicants this semester, seven fellows were chosen, working on a total of six different passion projects.

WAB member and Wharton senior Moses Soh said the fellows

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have a film called “Ricki and the Flash� coming out in August, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. Then in October, I have a film directed by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Hanks coming out called “Bridge of Spies.� I’m currently at work on a film that will be directed by Ang Lee, who has won three Academy Awards, most recently for “The Life of Pi,� based on a novel called “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,� and that starts shooting in April.

The “Wicked� film is — the development of the film is underway, so we’re working on the script, the screenplay, and when I think it’s ready and it’s sort of where it needs to be, to serve the basis for a great film, then we’ll push forward on the film. But it’s coming, and it is underway, it’ll just be some time.

This Q and A has been edited lightly for clarity.

are all pursuing a variety of different interests. The purpose of the program is to choose projects that would not already receive funding from the University. “No startups, no research, just passions,� Soh said.

College and Wharton junior Julie Adam is a Passion Projects fellow who is taking online cooking classes through this program.

Adams has always loved cooking, but she has always cooked mostly vegetarian foods. “I’m kind of intimidated by meat,� Adams said. “I just don’t know how to cook it.�

Adams started a food blog called Stovetop Story, but she did not want all her recipes to be vegetarian. “There’s so much more to my passion that I could explore.�

She applied for the Wharton Passion Projects to finally pursue her dream of becoming a global cook. “It gives me that global cooking knowledge that I’ve been lacking,�

Adams added. “Through this passion project, I’m going to get this global understanding.�

The fellows are able to discuss their unique projects every other week at roundtable meetings. Although they are pursuing such different interests, they are inspired by each others’ projects.

Wharton junior Majid Mubeen is a participant who said he enjoys learning from his respective fellows. “They’re all doing cool stuff that I couldn’t even fathom,� Mubeen said. “I’m hoping to learn from them.�

Mubeen’s personal project is writing and performing a 30 minute one-man show. Mubeen has been performing small shows like this since he was 13 years old, but he was inspired to take it further. “I thought this was really cool because it can provide me a framework and motivate me and put me around people that are doing sort of off the walls sort of stuff as well,� Mubeen said.

The program gives students a forum to learn from each other. “It provides a platform and community

for all the people doing different stuff,� Mubeen added. “It’s a community that influences you to be more of yourself.�

Although the WAB usually focuses on academic initiatives, they discovered the benefit of these projects. �We found that side projects give you a great release point, especially when things are a little bit hectic in the semester,� Soh said.

The program gives students a way to apply what they learn to things that really matter to them. “We want to grow and support the culture of intellectual curiosity on campus,� Soh added. “I think it’s amazing how many diverse interests we have coming in, but, especially when you get really busy, it’s easy to lose sight of all of it.�

He said that the program is not about the money — it’s about the people. “We can do all this to support a culture of curiosity and talking about what everybody else is doing,� Soh said. “I think we would be doing some good to the world.�

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think of Penn performing arts groups and the worldwide recognition they have been getting lately?

MP: I’m delighted to hear that they’re in “Pitch Perfect 2,� as is my son Ben Platt, who was one of the stars in the first one. I think it’s great — anything that gives Penn exposure is terrific and it’s not surprising that Penn always attracts really interesting and talented kids, so to hear that one of the groups is getting some public exposure outside of the campus community is terrific and not completely surprising.

DP: Do you have any exciting upcoming projects? There are lots of rumors about a “Wicked� adaptation in 2016. What can we expect?

MP: Oh, gosh. [laughs] Well, I hope they’re all exciting. I just had a film called “Into the Woods� come out. This year, I

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very attuned to and familiar with the goings and comings of the University as it continues to evolve, and maintain itself as one of the country’s — well, one of the world’s leading institutions.

I’m always interested in individuals who are at Penn or who have come from Penn. In my career in Hollywood, I’ve hired very many individuals who graduated from Penn, all of whom are doing very well in Hollywood, I might add ‌ I have an internship program, that I always try to take a current student or two from Penn in the summertime. It’s a great internship program, it keeps abreast as to what’s going on at Penn. From time to time, we’ll get a request to speak or to participate in programs at the University, which I’m always happy to do.

DP: Penn Masala, Penn’s Hindi a capella group, is featured in “Pitch Perfect 2.� What do you

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M. LACROSSE >> PAGE 8

against Maryland, as the Terps have junior Kyle Bernlohr in goal, the top goalkeeper in the nation through four games.

In Penn’s net, coach Mike Murphy seems to have figured out the goalkeeping situation moving forward.

Junior Jimmy Sestilio started and played the entire game against Penn State after splitting time in goal with senior John Lopes during the team’s previous games.

Another question mark for the Quakers entering the season was their performance on face-offs, an issue that plagued the team down the stretch last year. Junior midfield Rob Savage has been taking the majority of face-offs for the Red and Blue this season with moderate success, going 37-for-70.

Following its two losses last week, a win against Lafayette would do wonders to get Penn’s season back on track.

UGLY STATISTICS IN PENN BASKETBALL Another week, another pair of losses for Penn basketball. While these games were undeniably improvements from the double-digit defeats to Yale and Brown two weeks ago, they still provided a few ugly statistics that aren't for those with weak constitutions.

Without further ado, here's the summary from yesterday. (Pictured: Coach Jerome Allen)

Worst streak in program history

7

straight Ivy games lost

First time in program history

3

consecutive seasons of finishing under .500

Previously: Penn had never lost Previously: Penn had never won fewer more than two straight to Brown than three Ivy games in a season

4

straight losses to Brown in the past two season

2

Ivy wins so far in Penn’s worst ever start to Ivy play

ILANA WURMAN | SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR JOYCE VARMA | SPORTS DEISGN EDITOR

COCHRAN-FIKES

Cochran-Fikes’ years at Penn.

It was an age in which the runners flew and the records fell.

“The freshman race usually preceded the varsity race,” Cochran-Fikes recalled. “So in the freshman race I would set the school record, and then later that meet in the varsity race my friend Karl Thornton would set the school record.

“That would go on every time. I can’t tell you how many times we set and reset records.”

When Cochran-Fikes ran the mile in 3:55.0 in the spring of 1974, it was the 15th-fastest mile that had been run up to that point that year.

Additionally, it was the fastest mile of any African-American runner

JONES

games or help lead comeback efforts Jones made his first career start on in recent weeks.

Saturday at Yale. The freshman class “To his credit, he stepped up and has become a consistent force in the made some plays for us,” coach Quakers’ lineup, making an impact Jerome Allen said after the loss to right away unlike freshmen at other Columbia. “I think it’s documented schools. what he brings to the table in terms “When we came in, we all set our of being a legitimate threat on the sights on the now,” Jones said. “We perimeter. I wasn’t shocked how he all just knew we were going to try to shot the ball.” make an impact this year, and I feel While Penn lost its first matchup like we’ve been working everyday with Columbia, acting like we’re the game helped not freshmen.” reveal one of the Despite the hidden gems of clear improvement the Quakers’ reto his personal cruiting class. game, Jones still He’s a Penn Since injuring his has a ways to go guy. He’s a left elbow, Jones to become a fully has averaged 9.25 well-rounded Penn Quaker points per game, player. ... He’s waited providing a more “ T he f i rst his turn. ” consistent impact thought is can he while cementing defend and who is - Jerome Allen he going to guard,” his presence on Penn coach Lintulahti said. campus according to Allen.

“Obviously, other “He’s a Penn teams will try to guy. He’s a Penn Quaker,” Allen said exploit that to some extent. We’re after the Columbia game. “He’s great trying to make sure [we have] anin the locker room. He’s part of the swers for that on the defensive end of fraternity. He’s a part of campus; he the floor.” has a ton of friends and he mixes and Looking at Jones, it’s obvious mingles. Couple that with basketball, that he could add some muscle. he’s patient. He’s waited his turn.”

After all, despite his 6-foot-7 frame, Over the past few weeks, Jones the lanky freshman is listed at only and the freshman class have pro- 175 pounds. And while Jones has vided a glimpse of a brighter future been the hot hand from long range for the Quakers. Alongside fellow in recent games, he had a six-game first-year players Antonio Woods, stretch mid-season where he didn’t Darnell Foreman and Dan Dwyer, score a single point. If the Arizona

that year.

Cochran-Fikes was acutely aware of his status as a prominent African-American athlete. Although black runners would come to dominate the distance running scene in later years, they were mostly confined to sprinting, shot putting and discus throwing during this era.

“I would go to a cross country race in high school with 200 to 300 guys showing up at the starting line,” Cochran-Fikes said. “And I’d be the only black runner.”

Given the fact that he was winning most of those races, he could not pretend that people did not notice his skin color.

“I can’t say that it didn’t carry

a heavy weight, because it did,” Cochran-Fikes said. “It was there.

You knew it was there. And there “I think it’s probably fair to say was no way you could get away that in comparing my high school from it. But I don’t think I allowed career, my college career and my it to negatively impact my running, open career, in terms of success my schooling or anything else.” within those categories, regrettaRather, he hoped it could make a bly, I’ve never been able to top my positive impact on others. high school career,” Cochran-Fikes “I did hope that I could be a said. role model of sorts,” he said. “To “But college was no drag either.” change stereotypes. To let people Under coach Jim Tuppeny, know that there were black disPenn’s track and field and crosstance runners.” country teams had an almost After graduating from Penn with unprecedented reign of success majors in political science and reliin the early 1970s. The Red and gious studies, Cochran-Fikes was Blue won the outdoor Heptagostill unsure of his intended career nal championships seven years path. Although he leaned towards in a row, including all four of athletic administration, he had already changed his mind once before, briefly studying at seminary before college before deciding that the priesthood was not for him.

Because he felt he still needed to grow and learn more b efo r e choosing his ultimate vocation, Coch ran-Fikes followed some of his college friends into the Marine Corps.

“The education that you get just from the people that you interact with [in the military], the diversity that you’re presented with, is unbelievable,” Cochran-Fikes said.

In addition, the Marines gave Coch ran-Fikes his first taste of athletic adminCOURTESY OF PENN ATHLETICS ist r at ion.

He Before becoming Penn’s Athletic Compliance officer, Elton Cochran-Fikes, pictured here with former Director of was responsible Athletics Steve Bilsky, set numerous records for the Quaker track team from 1970-74. for scheduling

>> PAGE 8

>> PAGE 8

last time the Quakers have won.

The following night at Columbia, the freshman shot the lights out by making seven three-pointers, matching his total from his previous 10 appearances.

At the postgame press conference, Jones shrugged off the injury, as only he can.

“I think it’s been helping me out,” he joked. “Since I did have it, I’ve been making everything. I don’t know what to say about that. It doesn’t bother me too much, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

The lanky forward plays a very specialized role for the Red and Blue, forcing opposing teams to game plan specifically for his ability to shoot the trey.

“We know he’s a shooter,” Lintulahti said. “He stretches the floor, whether he is making shots or not.

Just his presence on the floor opens things up for other guys.”

By the time Jones made his way to Columbia in early February, his ability to shoot the trey was already well known within the Ivy League.

Jones is fourth in the Ancient Eight in three-point shooting percentage, the only freshman in the top 10.

Game by game, Jones makes his way off the bench and gets immediate attention from the opposing team. But despite the extra attention, he continues to make shots, using the three-point line to keep Penn in

SPORTS 7

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

activities and directing the operations of the Marines’ wrestling, fencing, baseball and track teams.

It was these experiences that helped convince him to pursue career in athletic administration.

“I think I’ve always been a rules kind of person,” Cochran-Fikes said. “I’ve always wanted to know the rules, follow the rules, things of that nature. So I was not interested in doing anything that was impermissible.”

Beyond that, however, CochranFikes has always held an interest making rules more accessible.

One of his first assignments after completing his Marine training was to help revamp the training process for the Marines’ Officer Candidate School. He made an effort to eliminate some of the crueler practices in the training that caused unnecessary injuries.

As Penn Athletics’ compliance officer, he has tried to simplify the rules in a similar way, working with the NCAA to remove some of its more stringent regulations on what athletes can and cannot do.

After being honorably discharged from the Marines as a First Lieutenant in 1977, CochranFikes returned to Penn while he simultaneously worked for the University and received his MBA from Wharton in management policy and planning.

In 1982, Cochran-Fikes accepted a job at Harvard to become assistant athletic director and a coach for the women’s cross country and men’s and women’s track and field squads. He enjoyed remarkable success coaching both sports and was named the New England NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 1983.

In 1986, however, CochranFikes received an offer from his alma mater to return as associate director of athletics. It was one he simply could not refuse.

“What made me want to come back here was the fact that it was Penn,” Cochran-Fikes said. “It was home.”

SPACIOUS

native wants to stay in the Quakers’ lineup moving forward, consistency needs to be the name of his game.

“I’m still working on a lot of things right now,” Jones said. “You’ll see I’ll go through streaks where I don’t shoot the ball as well. You can always get better as a shooter.”

So what does the finished product of Jones look like? When asked, Lintulahti said he hopes he looks like Kyle Korver, the prolific shooter that has helped the Atlanta Hawks take the NBA by storm.

“I brought him in to watch film.

We watched Kyle Korver specifically,” Lintulahti said. “On the offensive end but with Kyle Korver, people who know better than I do say he’s an outstanding team defender.”

In the end, Jones may not end up reaching Korver’s level. But each of his shots brings Penn closer to its ultimate goals. Three points at a time.

TODAY’S

While Cochran-Fikes misses coaching immensely, he does not ache to run competitively again himself.

“It’s a lot of work, to involve oneself in athletics,” CochranFikes said. “So do I miss it? No. It was a lot of work. I don’t want to work that hard anymore.”

However, he does find himself envisioning the final race of his competitive running career from time to time.

After the United States announced that it would boycott the 1980 Olympics, Cochran-Fikes, who had hoped to compete for the US national team, stopped training. However, a friend convinced him to run one last mile at that year’s Penn Relays.

While Cochran-Fikes finished with a lackluster time, he received a standing ovation from the crowd when it was announced that he had run his final race.

“That was the perfect ending,” Cochran-Fikes said.

But perhaps Cochran-Fikes’s greatest achievement at Penn came when he met his wife, Doris, at the end of his senior year. After meeting Elton for the first time at the induction ceremony of the Friars Senior Society, Doris later extended an open invitation to Elton to have dinner at her house.

“It was nothing specific,” Cochran-Fikes said of the invitation.

“But, like a typical hungry male, a couple of nights later, I thought, ‘It’s dinnertime. Let’s see if I can find Doris’s house.’

“So, she invited me over, we talked, and we’ve been talking ever since.”

Upon their marriage, Elton incorporated Doris’s last name, Cochran, into his own name, and she did the same with his. She has also worked at Penn for a number of years and currently serves in the admissions office.

“She’s been my best friend for over forty years now,” CochranFikes said. “I couldn’t imagine being without her.”

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THE

The Daily Pennsylvanian Sports Blog

BUZZ theDP.com/theBuzz

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

Freshman takes shots at future

M. HOOPS | Sam Jones has impressed

with his three-point shooting

STEVEN TYDINGS Sports Reporter

TODAY IN SPORTS

HISTORICALLY BAD

M. LACROSSE

After two more losses, we take a look at the historic lows experienced by Penn basketball

at Lafayette Easton, Pa. 4:30 p.m.

MORE M MO ORE OR >> SEE PAGE 7

THA TH HAN JUS UST A

ILANA WURMAN | SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR

Freshman forward Sam Jones has emerged as one of the Ivy League’s top shooting stars.

On a freak play while practicing for Penn basketball’s early roadtrip to Cornell and Columbia, freshman forward Sam Jones felt something wrong with his elbow.

He soon learned that he had torn ligaments in his left non-shooting elbow, leaving him the option to have surgery and end his season or keep playing.

Instead of taking the easy way out, Jones kept going, deciding to wait on possible surgery.

“It was a concern,” assistant coach Mike Lintulahti said. “I think we were all respectful of Sam’s options but selfishly glad he decided to gut it out.”

The 6-foot-7 freshman from Arizona had played a limited bench role up to that point, logging fewer than 10 minutes in five of the six games going into Cornell. But the weekend after his injury was not another pair of five-minute, zero-point efforts.

In fact, it was the best weekend of his young career.

Jones drained a clutch three-pointer to put Penn ahead in the final minute against the Big Red, the SEE M. HOOPS PAGE 7

RACE

COURTESY OF PENN ATHLETICS

While an athlete at Penn, athletic compliance officer Elton Cochran-Fikes set twenty-five school records and won seven Heptagonal medals.

Administrator set records in 1970s STEVEN JACOBSON Sports Reporter

As a bookish, unathletic high school freshman, Elton Cochran-Fikes shuddered at the idea of anything having to do with sports.

Little did he know that, less than a decade later, he would become the first Ivy League athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes.

Now Penn’s athletic compliance officer, Cochran-Fikes set twenty-five school records, won seven Heptagonal medals and twice was named an

All-American as a middle distance runner for the Quakers’ track and field team in the early 1970s. Stints in institutions as diverse as the Marines and seminary took him from Virginia to Harlem to Harvard and everywhere in between.

Yet, despite the places he went in life, Cochran-Fikes could always return to the place where he felt most at home: Penn.

Born in a small North Carolina town, Denis E. Fikes — as he was known back then — was raised as the youngest of five children in a singleparent household. Although his older brother and sister were both actively

involved with sports, Elton shied away from physical activity as a result of a sprinting race against his sister that ended poorly for him.

“I just got destroyed,” CochranFikes laughed. “Absolutely destroyed.”

Embarrassed, Cochran-Fikes sought comfort in his schoolwork and did not even think about participating in athletics until his freshman year of high school. Before that year, he learned that his school would require every student to be part of a sports team.

That notion terrified Cochran-Fikes to no end — until he learned that the coach of the freshman track team was none other than his sister’s old boyfriend, Eddie.

“I was thinking, well this is great!”

Cochran-Fikes said. “I can just sign up for the track team. I don’t have to do anything, I’ll just hang out with Eddie.

“That was my plan.”

Things did not go according to plan, however, as Cochran-Fikes finished second in his first half-mile race of freshman year.

After refining his running technique with the help of Eddie and his other coaches, Cochran-Fikes went on to win all but three of his races as a sophomore and lost only once as a junior in New York City’s highly competitive track and field scene. As a senior, Cochran-Fikes won every race.

SEE COCHRAN-FIKES PAGE 7

Quakers seek to end skid M. LACROSSE | Penn

travels to Lafayette HOLDEN MCGINNIS Sports Editor

ALEXIS ZIEBELMAN | SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER

Senior attack Chris Hupfeldt — who was a key contrbutor last season with 16 points — will be looked upon to spark the Red and Blue offense against Lafayette and help get his team off of its losing schnide.

SEND STORY IDEAS TO DPSPORTS@THEDP.COM

ONLINE AT THEDP.COM

It isn’t quite the start to the season that Penn men’s lacrosse hoped for.

Losses last week against then-No. 11 Maryland and Penn State dropped the Quakers (2-2) out of the USILA Coaches Poll entirely. But the Red and Blue will have a chance to bounce back on TODAY Lafayette Tuesday as Penn will travel north (1-2) to face a Lafayette 4:30 p.m. team that has taken Easton, Pa. on a tough schedule so far this season.

The Leopards (1-2) faced off against ranked opponents in two of their first three games, losing to both No. 9 Army and No. 20 Colgate. The Quakers, though unranked, will offer yet another stiff challenge for Lafayette as the Leopards host a game at Fisher Stadium for

the first time this season.

Sophomore attack Jason Sands leads the way for Lafayette with 10 points, eight of which have come on assists, this year while fellow sophomore Eric Joseph has scored a team-high five goals. The Leopards have only scored 7.67 goals per game, due in large part to a three-goal outing against Army.

On Penn’s side, senior attack Chris Hupfeldt will look to continue his offensive success after notching his first career hat trick against Penn State. Junior Nick Doktor led the Quakers in points last season with 42 and has already amassed 18 through his first four games in 2015.

Doktor, Hupfeldt and the rest of the Quakers’ offense will go up against Leopards goalkeeper Matt Cortese, who has been effective even in Lafayette’s losses. Cortese has saved 57.3 percent of shots on goal against him, a mark that ranks 12th in the nation.

However, Cortese won’t be quite as tough a test as the Red and Blue had SEE M. LACROSSE PAGE 7 CONTACT US: 215-422-4640