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How academic success affects federal aid Students must maintain a cumulative 2.0 GPA AMY LIU Staff Reporter
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National scandal raises questions about the role of wealth in admissions process Penn students react to admissions scandals GIANNA FERRARIN Senior Reporter
As information continues to surface from scandals both nationwide and at Penn, students are raising questions about the role money plays in the admissions process. On March 12, 50 people were charged in one of the biggest admissions schemes ever uncovered by the federal government. Although Penn was not among the institutions named in the Justice Department’s documents, former Penn men’s basketball coach
Jerome Allen testified just days before the national scandal surfaced that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Philip Esformes, a father of a Wharton senior, to recruit his son to the team. Some students said the scandals have generated broader discussion on affirmative action, legacy admissions, and family donations to the University. College junior Maggie Zheng said the scandal prompted conversation in a Student Committee on Undergraduate Education meeting on Sunday. “It’s kind of amusing for students who have been criticized that
‘they only got their spots because of affirmative action’ because there are generally a lot of accusations against students of color or lowerincome students,” Zheng said. “The reality is that the people who are stealing the spots or getting them unfairly or legally are rich, wealthy people who are white,” said Zheng, who is also the political chair for the Penn Association for Gender Equity. Zheng said that SCUE members also discussed the perceived advantage of students whose families have donated to the University. College junior Luke Yamulla said that while bribery is a more “outrageous and absurd” case,
family donations and legacy admissions are legal avenues for money to play a role in admissions decisions. “I think even if it’s not straight up bribery it’s still a problem with donations,” Yamulla said. “That’s not to say that everyone whose parents donate to the school doesn’t deserve to be here necessarily, but you can’t deny that there’s an advantage to those whose parents are wealthy enough to drop them - in the case of Jon Huntsman Jr – millions of dollars.” Yamulla referenced the bribery allegations as well as recent tuition SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 8
At Penn, Laverne Cox talks privelege and mental health Cox is on Orange is the New Black MADDY STROHM Contributing reporter
Television actress Laverne Cox talked about her experience as a transgender woman of color and her activism efforts Tuesday night in Irvine Auditorium. At the event, which was hosted by the Social Planning and Events Committee, Cox
also spoke about the trauma she has faced and her focus on mental wellness. The actress is best known for her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix show “Orange is the New Black,” and is the first transgender woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show. She was also the first openly transgender person nominated for a primetime Emmy award. The conversaSEE LAVERNE COX PAGE 9
ANNIE LUO
Laverne Cox (left), the first transgender woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream television show, speaks at Penn.
While navigating federal financial aid, students are expected to keep their academic performance in check. Students struggling with their academic work may find their federal aid in jeopardy, and although Penn has some measures to prevent them from losing their aid, many students are unaware of these federal guidelines and the resources Penn offers. To receive aid programs, such as the Pell Grant and work study, students must meet their school’s satisfactory academic progress, a policy which is federally required. For Penn students pursuing a bachelor’s degree, maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress requires students to keep a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0, completing all required credits within six years, and successfully completing at least two thirds of the courses attempted in an academic year. Wharton and College sophomore Saxon Bryant said he was not aware of the University’s SAP policy, which he said has not come up in discussions with his financial advisors. Most conversations with
Student Financial Services tend to be “focused on aid and not on academics,” Bryant said, adding that concerns about academics and their ties to financial aid are common across first-generation, lowincome students. “If you’re going through a tough semester or if there’s some sort of need on your life requiring more of you, you don’t have the luxury of thinking of more than still staying in your classes and still staying on top on your grades,” Bryant said. “You no longer have the full array of options afforded to many students to be your best self.” FGLI students experience aspects of academic pressure that are unique to their background, Penn First Advocacy Chair and College senior Lyndsi Burcham said. “You’re probably here because you want to uplift your family in some way or improve the future of your future family,” Burcham said. “There’s a lot of pressure to do well so you can be successful and change the narrative of your family.” Students who fail to meet SAP by the end of one academic year will not be eligible for federal aid the following year, Varas said. Penn also does not provide additional SEE GUIDELINES PAGE 8
Anti-violence group to join University Council Consent Collaborative will have a seat this fall ASHLEY AHN Staff Reporter
Consent Collaborative, the umbrella group for all four sexual violence awareness
organizations, is the first antiviolence group to be given a seat on the University Council, which is composed of students who regularly meet with administrators. The move comes after the Trump administration’s SEE COUNCIL PAGE 9
GIOVANNA PAZ
Group’s Leaders (left to right): Nico Carrino, Caitlin Doolittle, Kellie Ramdeen, Sophia Griffith-Gorgati, and Salomon Villatoro.
Hearing set for Wednesday postponed in lawsuit against Penn over student death Olivia Kong died by suicide in 2016 JULE COLEMAN Deputy News Editor
A lawsuit filed against Penn over the death of former Wharton junior Olivia Kong, who died by suicide in April 2016, is progressing into its discovery phase in which both parties
compile and review evidence before the trial. A discovery hearing scheduled for the morning of March 20 was called to address disputes about what information a
OPINION | Meet demand for CIS
“Limiting students’ access to introductory programming courses may especially disadvantage students from groups underrepresented in computer science.” - DP Editorial Board PAGE 4
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Sophomores Eduardo Malinowski and Cole Sichley both hail from the same hometown and have the same major, giving the two a close bond. BACKPAGE FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM
party can or cannot obtain from another party, or what information is within “the scope of discovery,” according to court documents. Carol Shepherd, one of the lawyers represent-
ing the Kong family said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian that the hearing was later canceled after both parties agreed to take their disputes about the scope of discovery
NEWS Franklin Field and Palestra set to undergo renovation
NEWS Inside Penn’s class with an NFL Brandon Copeland
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outside the courtroom before a private moderator. The Penn student’s parents filed a lawsuit against the UniSEE LAWSUIT PAGE 3
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Franklin Field and the Palestra set to start renovation in 2019 Seats, windows, and ventilation will be upgraded SIDDARTH TUMU Staff Reporter
Franklin Field and the Palestra, which have hosted some of Penn’s most memorable football and basketball games, are set to be renovated over the next year as the historic venues continue to age. As the third iteration of Penn President Amy Gutmann’s longterm campus renovation plan approaches its midpoint, Facilities and Real Estate Services is in the process of developing improvements to seating, ventilation, and windows for the storied stadiums. The renovations will take place over the course of 2019 and 2020, after the stadiums had consistently appeared as areas in need of upgrades. Franklin Field’s capacity will be reduced in fall 2019, but the
ZACH SHELDON
Franklin Field’s capacity will be reduced in fall 2019 due to the renovation, but the renovations will not disturb this year’s Commencement or Penn Relays, which are hosted in the venue.
renovations will not have an impact on this year’s Commencement or Penn Relays, which are hosted in the venue. The Palestra
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renovations are also scheduled for summer 2020 to avoid conflicts with indoor sports. Jennifer Wetzel, director of De-
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sign and Construction at FRES, described the Franklin Field renovation as a “concrete restoration project.”
The concrete in the lower east and upper south seating areas will be revamped and restored. The restoration of these areas marks the second phase of the larger seating restoration project at Franklin Field, and comes three years after the refurbishment of the upper north seating area. Wetzel said the project is slated to be completed between June and December 2019 and will have some effect on seating availability for home football games next fall. For the Palestra, plans include upgrading heating, installing new air conditioning, and replacing windows. Construction is scheduled to begin after commencement in spring 2020 and is slated to end by September 2020, Wetzel said. The renovations are part of FRES’ efforts to implement ongoing building maintenance, with the department monitoring
the exterior of every building on a five-year cycle to ensure structural safety, University Architect Mark Kocent said. “We periodically review the conditions of all our buildings,” Kocent said. “We keep a database of those conditions, and [the Palestra and Franklin Field] have continued to reappear as needing reinvestment.” Penn Athletics, FRES, and the University’s central leadership were involved in the development of final renovation plans, Kocent said. Associate Athletic Director for Facilities Noah Gustkey added that the athletics office is considering potential renovations to Hollenback Annex — an indoor training facility — and Penn’s Boathouse. Gustkey said these plans would be implemented after September 2019, when the squash facility’s renovation is expected to be completed.
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Inside Penn’s class with an NFL star Students praise Brandon Copeland’s new course FELIX LI Contributing Reporter
Every Monday evening, students taking URBS 140 study personal finance with an NFL football player. The course is co-taught by 2013 Wharton graduate Brandon Copeland, a linebacker for the New York Jets, and is titled “Inequity and Empowerment: Urban Financial Literacy.” Copeland is joined by Brian Peterson, who received a doctorate from the Graduate School of Education in 2013 and now serves as director of the Makuu Black Cultural Center. The course is being offered for the first time this spring semester. Students currently enrolled said they appreciate the class for its practical life lessons and pragmatic approach to personal finance. They highlighted the course’s small, discussion-based style and said it covers skills that are important for every Penn student to have. “[Copeland is] an amazing teacher; he’s very comfortable with talking to us,” Wharton freshman Jadah Daley said. “He wants us to share our stories and for us to be active participants in the class.” Daley added that the class has changed the way she thinks about finance and money. “I realized how much of this information I’m going to be able to use in the future,” she said. “[I’ve learned] how saving money is really important. It’s better to start earlier than later.” Copeland, who works in real estate and on Wall Street, said the course is designed to provide
PHOTO FROM BRANDON COPELAND
The course is co-taught by 2013 Wharton graduate Brandon Copeland, a 27-year-old linebacker for the New York Jets, and is titled “Inequity and Empowerment: Urban Financial Literacy.”
students with the knowledge to empower themselves financially and understand the context behind their decision making. During the three-hour class, Copeland lectures about a practical aspect of personal finance and discusses the societal and historical issues that underlie financial inequality. “My focus in the class is on the inequities, and the connections to wealth growth and financial literacy,” Peterson, who also received a bachelor’s degree in the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1993, and a master’s degree in 1997 from the GSE, wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “It’s important for all of our students to understand that it’s not just a willful financial illiteracy or a ‘poverty mentality’ but deep and cumulative structural impediments that restrict access to resources and opportunities.”
Many students said they would recommend the class to their friends, no matter what school they are in. The course has no prerequisites and is open to all Penn undergraduates. Copeland said he hopes to offer the class every spring but cannot be certain that’s possible due to his athletic schedule. “There hasn’t been any other class that kind of gives you the basics of doing your taxes, even like retirement funds — things that you need to know once you graduate,” Engineering senior Lamis Elsawah said. “It’s just more real.” To create the course, Copeland said he drew from his own experiences with financial decisions he made as a professional athlete and an investor, adding that he chose the topics based on knowledge he wished he had before.
“My goal for [the class] is for the students to be able to approach these major life decisions with confidence and clarity,” Copeland said. “A lot of people just, well, we learned this stuff when it’s too late. And you’ve already made the big mistake. My goal is to help these kids avoid those mistakes.” While enrollment was initially capped at 20 students, Copeland said 180 students requested the course on Penn InTouch last fall, prompting him to add 10 additional slots for seniors. He added that he has set aside some sessions as “open classes” for anyone in the local community to attend, ask questions, and join the discussion. Copeland has also assigned a project for his students to go to a local high school and teach students the financial skills they have learned.
LAWSUIT
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versity almost exactly two years after her death, claiming that Penn did not take proper actions in preventing Kong’s death. The lawsuit alleges that Kong and those close to her informed the University on nine separate occasions that Kong was having suicidal thoughts. Carol Shepherd of the Feldman Shepherd law firm in Philadelphia is representing Kong’s parents, Xianguo Kong and Zhao Li, in the litigation. A date for the new hearing with a private “discovery master” has not been set, Shepherd said. The discovery disputes began when Penn’s defense team requested access to the computers, iPhones, and iPads of Kong and her parents. Shepherd and her team objected to this request. “We objected because we think that’s going way, way far afield and that they’re not allowed to just sort of peruse everything that the parents are doing on their own computers that obviously may not have anything to do with Olivia or the facts that occurred in just a several day period of time in 2016,” Shepherd said. Penn’s attorneys did not respond to immediate requests for comment. Penn spokes-
person Stephen MacCarthy wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian that the University does not comment on pending litigation. Attorneys representing Kong’s parents have requested and received from Penn documentation including Penn’s emergency protocols related to suicide and Kong’s CAPS and medical records. Penn’s attorneys have “requested background information about Olivia” from her parents, Shepherd said. Shepherd added that she has taken the depositions of the several CAPS employees and Wharton advising staff who spoke with Olivia in the days leading up to her death. According to the complaint, Kong told Penn support staff she was distressed about being behind in her classes and missing the withdrawal deadline. Shepherd said filings from proceedings with the private moderator will not be available to the public. “All I can say about that is that we’re confident at this stage that the evidence demonstrates that Penn failed Olivia at every level,” Shepherd said. The projected conference settlement date is set for Feb. 3, 2020 and the trial date for May 4, 2020, according public court documents.
Penn and Phila. strive for sustainability The city and the U. aim to fight climate change CAMI DOO Staff Reporter
In Penn’s most recent Climate Action Plan 2.0, Penn President Amy Gutmann outlines a proposal to make the University carbon neutral by 2042. In 2016, the City of Philadelphia also declared its goal of reducing the city’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Both Penn and Philadelphia have their own sustainability offices, and similar to their carbon emission targets, Penn shares the city’s overall goals while setting its own stricter guidelines. As a university with a smaller reach than the City of Philadelphia, Penn can set more ambitious targets to combat climate change. The two offices share a close but informal relationship, with Penn following the city’s building code requirements while also launching its own initiatives. Dan Garofalo, Penn’s Director of Sustainability, said he also meets several times a year with Philadelphia’s Sustainability Office Director Christine Knapp to share plans and update each other on their progress. While Garofalo pointed to areas where Penn and Philadelphia’s efforts diverge in their specific focus, such as neighborhood clean-ups and improving community access to resources, he also said the two share the broad aims
FILE PHOTO
The two offices share a close but informal relationship, with Penn following the city’s requirements while launching its own initiatives.
of fighting climate change. “If you look at it by initiatives, we’re trying to do things that they’re trying to do,” Garofalo said. “We’re supporting their overall goals: improve efficiency, reduce energy use, improve recycling.” Penn is required to fulfill certain Philadelphia sustainability laws, Knapp said, including the Energy Benchmarking Law. This law requires buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to send the city their energy and water consumption data, which is then made public. Knapp also mentioned codes that require any new buildings to be “much more efficient” than the ones built in the past. “That was a real success for the city and the state to update the building code for all commercial buildings being built in Philly,”
Garofalo said. Beyond these regulations, Philadelphia’s Sustainability Office has launched the Greenworks Initiative, which has eight key plans including improving access to clean drinking water and achieving zero waste. A subset of this initiative is Greenworks on the Ground, which encourages institutions such as universities to help reach the “visions” of the plan, through actions like purchasing local food and encouraging public transportation usage. Although participation in Greenworks is optional, Garofalo said he has reviewed the initiative and has copies of their latest publications. Founding faculty director of Penn’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Mark Alan Hughes also helped develop Greenworks when he worked for the city. Garofalo said his office was
monitoring long-term goals set by the city and state governments. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s goal for the city is to cut carbon by 80 percent by 2050, which Garofalo said was similar to the targets of Governor Wolf and some municipalities. “Amy Gutmann’s goal for Penn is carbon neutral by 2042. So these [goals] are very close,” Garofalo said. “If anything, ambition is a little higher than the city’s in that regard.” William Braham, director of Penn’s Center for Environmental Building & Design, referred to Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability as “ambitious” and “strategic” in its use of resources, considering its title of the poorest big city in America. “Penn has been remarkably inventive and also ambitious in setting up its sustainability plan,” Braham said. Garofalo said he was putting the finishing touches on a new five-year climate sustainability plan that will be released in fall 2019. “We haven’t finalized that yet, but we’re definitely looking at what the city’s doing and trying to align with the long-term goals of Penn’s carbon neutrality goal,” Garofalo said.
CLASS OF
All graduating students may pick up announcement cards from their schools beginning Monday, March 25th Students in the College of Arts and Sciences may pick up their announcement cards Monday, March 25th - Friday, March 29th 2 - 4 pm College Office - Cohen Hall You must bring your Penn I.D. Limit: 8 announcements cards and envelopes per student. These cards are for mailing to family and friends as announcements only. Tickets are not required for admission to the Commencement ceremony on May 20th Office of the University Secretary
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OPINION
THURSDAY MARCH 21, 2019 VOL. CXXXV, NO. 17 135th Year of Publication JULIA SCHORR President SARAH FORTINSKY Executive Editor BEN ZHAO Print Director SAM HOLLAND Digital Director ISABELLA SIMONETTI Opinion Editor MADELEINE NGO Senior News Editor THEODOROS PAPAZEKOS Senior Sports Editor GILLIAN DIEBOLD Senior Design Editor ALICE HEYEH Design Editor JESS TAN Design Editor LUCY FERRY Design Editor TAMSYN BRANN Design Editor GIOVANNA PAZ News Editor MANLU LIU News Editor MAX COHEN News Editor DEENA ELUL Assignments Editor DANNY CHIARODIT Sports Editor MICHAEL LANDAU Sports Editor WILL DiGRANDE Sports Editor KATIE STEELE Copy Editor TAHIRA ISLAM Copy Editor DANIEL SALIB Director of Web Development AVNI KATARIA Audience Engagement Editor CHASE SUTTON Senior Multimedia Editor MARIA MURAD News Photo Editor ALEC DRUGGAN Sports Photo Editor SAGE LEVINE Video Producer
Takes on the admissions scandal
GUEST COLUMN | Student athletes aren’t to blame for flawed admissions
F
ollowing the nationwide college admissions scandal, featuring wealthy parents photoshopping their children’s faces onto athletes’ bodies in order to make them more attractive candidates to prestigious schools, a conversation surrounding student athletes and their “unfair advantage” has taken center stage. Last year, after I would tell people I was attending Penn in the fall they would often ask if I was playing a sport. I found myself saying, “Yes! But, I’m a walk-on!” in order to cut down the looks of judgment that I would have gotten by simply saying “yes.” Had I just said “yes,” a look that said, “Ohhh, that makes so much more sense” would spread across their face as if playing a sport here diminishes the accomplishment of admittance. Then, a floodgate of patronizing questions, questions that I still hear from my peers at Penn, would follow: “So your admittance was basically a shoo in? What was your GPA? Your SAT score? Did you even have to submit an application?” This infers that a student athlete’s route to admission is a cakewalk; it says that they deserve to be here less than their peers since there are designated slots for them at Penn. This condescending attitude not only permeates my home town, but in the classroom, and around the nation. There’s no doubt that athletics plays a big part in admissions, but it should. Especially at a school like Penn. Researchers including William Bowen from Princeton University, Eugene Tobin from Hamilton College found that an athlete is 30 percent more likely to be admitted into a university than a non-athlete with the same academic record. However, student athletes are deserving of this “boost.” The athletes at Penn and at our Ivy league peer institutions worked extremely hard in high school to reach a level of recruitability. Not only were they working hard on the court, field, and track, but they were studying to reach an academic standing where Penn would deem them academically suitable. Contrary to popular belief, (minus any illegal activity taking place) not just anyone can get into this school as a student athlete. Not only do athletes work hard to get here, but they display Penn’s excellence on a national stage. With Nia Akins being runner-up in the 800 meters at the Indoor Track and Field Nationals, our No. 10 ranked women’s lacrosse team consistently making the national tournament, or our
t’s been one week since the college admission scandal broke. I was in the midst of working on a high school junior’s college list, making sure it was balanced with a good mix of “likely,” “target,” and “reach” schools, when my phone started buzzing. My first message came from a Penn alum — yes, I stay in touch with my Penn friends. The Facebook messenger post stated, “Holy cr*p. Are you hearing about this huge admissions fraud case? Turn on CNN.” As I ran to turn on my television, two more texts came in with simi-
comes with competing with Penn across our chests. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to study at such a distinguished school while competing against some of the country’s best athletes. However, there should not be this lingering question about whether or not student athletes deserve to be here. Our belonging and existence at this acclaimed university is justified and should be celebrated instead of questioned. In 2015, The New York Times published an article titled “In College Admissions, Athletes are the Problem.” This anger is misplaced. Because actually, in college admissions, wealthy families shamelessly bribing and buying their way into schools is the problem. Instead of looking at the students who spend countless hours practicing their athletic craft and balancing practice on top of grueling school work and extracurriculars, the recent scandal has shown that it is time place the blame elsewhere.
lar messages. I stood silently as the charges were announced. In the meantime, my phone was blowing up with emails, texts, and other messages from, it seemed, everyone I’ve ever known. By now, everyone has seen the pervasive stories, covered from every angle, of this college admission scandal. The last week has been unbelievable. The amount of chatter on our college admission talk lists and private Facebook pages (yes, most people my age use Facebook!) has been constant. Everyone has an opinion, something to say about the scandal. Remember though, the man at the center of the scandal acted criminally. He was not a counselor associated with any of the professional organizations (Independent Educational Consultants Association, Higher Education Consultants Association, National Association for College Admission Counseling). Rather he was a crooked businessman who simply claimed to be a “college counselor.” My colleagues in our professional organizations work hard to help students find the “best fit” colleges. We help with everything (creating college lists, preparing for interviews, brainstorming essays, discussing summer opportunities — basically we explain the process to students who really don’t know how to begin approaching it), and we teach students how to go through the “front door.” Was I surprised to hear this scam being exposed on television? Well, although it was certainly appalling to turn on the news and watch this outrageous scandal unravel, I have to admit that I wasn’t really that shocked. Each year, reports surface on students cheating on the ACT and/or the SAT, and counselors exchange frustrated stories about students and parents suspected of fabricating parts of their applications. But I think the astonishing fact here is how many people were complicit — the scope was unprecedented. There were numerous coaches, parents, and others who went along with this scheme.
NIA CALDWELL is a College freshman from Houston, Texas. She is a member of the women’s track and field team.
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LETTERS Have your own opinion? Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com. Editorials represent the majority view of members of The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. Editorial Board, which meets regularly to discuss issues relevant to Penn’s campus. Participants in these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on related topics.
I
men’s basketball team beating Villanova and getting replayed on ESPN all night long, you can’t ignore the exposure that Penn Athletics brings the school. Despite national athletic success, Penn athletes do not get preferential treatment as some might think. The academic rigor here slows down for no one. Penn athletes don’t have athletic scholarships, special dorms, or state of the art cafeterias as many Power 5 student athletes get. Here, we get a free Penn Athletics T-Shirt, a blue water bottle, and the utmost pride that
SAM MITCHELL Podcast Editor
MICHEL LIU Design Associate
GUEST COLUMN | A counselor’s take on the admissions scandal
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How in the world did Singer convince so many different parties to participate? How could this not have been detected earlier? College admissions has become an intense, stressful process. Parents sometimes lose sight of the fact that their children can be successful, if they perform well, at any college. They get caught up in the competitive frenzy of highly selective college admissions, and they look for ways to “beat the system.” These particular parents were unusually brazen; they didn’t think the rules applied to them. But these parents weren’t thinking ahead — how was their child going to perform and how would their morale suffer when they struggled to keep up with the students who were admitted based on their merits? The parents involved did their kids a huge disservice, and this story won’t go away for a long, long time. I doubt there are many scams going on as extensive as this one. But there are always going to be people looking for a “back door” and a way to “push” their child into a highly selective college. So, what’s ethical and what isn’t? We all know life isn’t fair, and nobody has ever claimed the college admission process is just. If you have an honest advantage, then you can use it. For example, if you are part of one of the under-represented minority groups, let the college know. If you are a first-generation student or coming from a rural area, you have an advantage. If you are a legacy applicant and the college you are applying to gives legacies a second look, then let them know. If your mom is an esteemed professor at the university, you have a leg up in the process. If you play the harp, and the school needs you, you may get admitted with a slightly lower academic profile. But cheating is always wrong. Having someone take your standardized tests for you is unethical — there is no gray area. Claiming you are an athlete when you aren’t is a bold-faced lie. Families should be able to use their internal radars to determine what’s acceptable and what’s not. And if they can’t figure out that hiring someone to take the SAT for their student is wrong, or pretending their nonathlete teen is a recruited athlete, then they have a real problem. What now? Colleges should take a firm stand on this. The coaches should be fired (and it looks like all were either dismissed or suspended), the parents should face appropriate charges, and this admission counselor (who doesn’t seem to have been affiliated with any of the professional groups like IECA, HECA, NACAC) should be held accountable in the legal system. As for the students, it seems like some really had no idea what was happening while others were in on the scheme. The colleges have to decide how they want to handle the students. But it is going to be tough remaining on campus when your peers know that you were admitted under false pretenses. Let’s hope this large-scale publicity will stop others from doing something like this in the future. LAURIE KOPP WEINGARTEN is a Wharton graduate, Penn parent, and a Certified Educational Planner (CEP), and independent educational consultant for One-Stop College Counseling, a company she co-founded.
Admissions scandal shows importance of affirmative action
T
he college admissions scandal that came to light last week, in which the privileged were found to have bought their way into the nation’s top universities, in some cases even by going to such extremes as falsifying students’ races and ethnicities, has opened yet another chapter in the seemingly endless debate on affirmative action. Is this current spate of wealthy students, who many believe took the spots of those who are more qualified (or at least more eager) to attend, going to face the same backlash that students of color receive daily for being recipients of affirmative action? The answer to this question should be that these issues cannot even be compared. One is a group that has economic and skin color privilege, while the other is a group that has been historically disadvantaged in every aspect of life. The former should face harsh disapprobation, while the latter should be strongly supported, in order to help level the radically uneven playing field. However, instead of acknowledging that our higher education system is a business nurtured by capitalism — showing its overt favoritism for the wealthy by willingly accepting bribes — all too many are using this scam to
STIRRING THE POT | Racial inequality isn’t just going to fix itself
bolster the denunciation of affirmative action, maintaining that in our “meritocratic society,” nobody, no matter the circumstance, deserves a “leg up.” This outlook not only overlooks this country’s history of discrimination, particularly in education, but also fundamentally misinterprets the role and purpose of affirmative action in today’s racist society. After hundreds of years of slavery, followed by segregation, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration, there is no doubt that today’s black population is inherently disadvantaged compared to its white counterparts. And in a country where the ancestors of most white students attended college long before the enslaved ancestors of most black students learned how to read, it is safe to say that education is one of the many ways in which this inequality is most prevalent. Affirmative action, first mentioned in President Kennedy’s 1961 Executive Order #10925, was designed to help reverse this history of inequality and oppression of black people, as well as diversify classrooms and universities in order to create a more meaningful and valuable education for all. However, in the 1978 U.S. Su-
All too many are using this scam to bolster the denunciation of affirmative action. preme Court case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Justice Powell’s plurality opinion shifted the rationale for affirmative action away from ameliorating the adverse effects of past and current discrimination, placing greater emphasis on the educational value of diversity. The result of this shift is the flawed approach to affirmative action that we see in our universities today, where colleges don’t disaggregate their data on black students by ethnicity, nationality, and socioeconomic status, and thus aren’t conscious enough of which black students they admit. A New York Times article looking into Harvard’s eight percent black population noted that only one third of those students are African-Americans — descendants of slaves — while the remaining two thirds are a combination of West Indian and African immigrants, children of those immigrants, and children of mixed-race couples. Similarly, the National Longitudi-
nal Survey of Freshmen found that native black students are half as likely as second-generation African and Caribbean students to attend elite institutions. However, it is the former group that is the intended beneficiary of affirmative action, as it has experienced great adversity in the form of segregated housing, inadequate schools, poverty, and racism, due to generational trauma induced from the aftermath of slavery. In fact, in grim irony, it is this country’s slaves who were responsible for building the very universities that their descendants are not able to attend. Incredibly, although the Longitudinal Survey suggests that the makeup of the black population at Harvard is comparable to that at Penn, Penn’s admissions office does not provide these statistics. In fact, Penn doesn’t even take ethnicity and nationality, let alone socioeconomic status, within the black population into account; it just provides the percentage of stu-
HADRIANA LOWENKRON dents that self-identify as “African American/black” — a mere seven percent. Former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson even said that, although the University “takes note” of students’ backgrounds, it doesn’t “involve [itself] with exact roots.” While Penn is undoubtedly patting itself on the back for not getting wrapped up in the current college admissions scandal, it still has a long way to go to ensure that its affirmative action policy benefits its students. The University needs to do more than just provide a checkbox that says black — it has to create a truly diverse student body by recruiting black students from all racial subgroups. Racial inequality isn’t just going to fix itself. HADRIANA LOWENKRON is a College freshman studying urban studies. Her email address is lowenkron@thedp.com
5
Penn must meet rising demand for computer science classes THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN EDITORIAL BOARD
A
dvanced registration began on Monday, and the availability of CIS classes continues to be a hotbutton topic among students. In the past few years, the number of CIS majors at Penn has risen from 400 to about 1,000 students. But at the same time, the number of seats available in many of the Computer and Information Science Department’s most popular courses has remained constant or only slightly increased. Across universities nationwide, the number of CIS majors has more than doubled since 2011, and more than tripled since 2006, according to the Computing Research Association. The number of nonmajors in CIS courses has increased at an equal or greater rate. High demand for these courses — from CIS majors, CIS minors, and students taking CIS courses as electives — has left Penn students struggling to satisfy major and minor requirements because they are stuck on long waitlists for mandatory courses. In the spring of 2018, there
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were more than 377 students on the waitlist for the CIS elective “Applied Machine Learning,” which caps enrollment at 150.
University’s stated commitment to interdisciplinary studies. Penn’s policy allowing students to take courses across the four undergraduate schools is an empty promise if many of the Engineering School’s most popular courses are effectively closed off to non-majors and minors. Limiting students’ access to introductory programming courses may especially disadvantage students from groups underrepresented in computer science. “When you put any kind of barrier in place in terms of access to computer science majors, it tends to reduce the num-
ber of women and students of color in the program,” Harvey Mudd College President Maria Klawe told the New York Times earlier this year.
Limiting students’ access to introductory programming courses may especially disadvantage students from groups underrepresented in computer science.”
Re gi st er to da y!
Penn’s policy allowing students to take courses across the four undergraduate schools is an empty promise if many of the Engineering School’s most popular courses are effectively closed off to non-majors and minors.”
The maximum enrollment for this course has only increased by 25 seats since fall 2015. And even when students get into an introductory CIS course, teaching assistants are so overloaded that there are wait times of more than an hour to get help on homework assignments. The CIS waitlist system gives priority to CIS majors and a lower level of priority to undergraduates pursuing CIS as a second major or a minor. Consequently, students interested in taking a CIS course as an elective have even greater difficulty getting off course waitlists. This runs contrary to the
In response to student interest in gaining programming skills, the CIS Department said in spring 2017 that it was working to create a “richer selection” of CIS courses that would appeal to non-majors. But by fall 2018, the department had scrapped these plans, citing its struggles to meet demand for existing courses and online programs. The University is well-aware of these problems. In the past, CIS Department administrators have told the Daily Pennsylvanian that they are “painfully aware of the high demand” but simply do not have the resources to meet this interest. It is unacceptable that the University has allowed this problem to spiral out of control, failing to add faculty to the CIS Department even as the gap between demand and course offerings has increased drastically. No student should have to drop a second major or even a minor because they are unable to enroll in the courses they need to graduate on time. Penn must take immediate steps to hire more faculty in the CIS Department in order to meet demand for courses in the field.
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hikes in a recent post on Penn’s meme Facebook page, Official Unofficial Squirrel Catching Club. Yamulla added that discussion about the scandals should not focus on the individual students whose parents were involved, but rather on larger inequalities in the admissions process. “Outrage should be directed more at the collective admissions process and demand schools like Penn, like USC, Yale, to expand their programs like Questbridge
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 to even out the playing field a bit more,” Yamulla said. Engineering senior Eden Harris agreed that the scandals raise questions about legacy admissions and said the news “didn’t come as a shock” to her. Harris added that the scandals reveal inequalities in the resources students of different socioeconomic backgrounds have access to when applying to college. “It can be really defeating for someone who worked so hard all throughout school to get to college and find that some people’s parents just paid their way in,” Harris
said. Harris is also a board member for Penn First, an organization for first-generation, low-income students, which hosted a town hall on Tuesday about affirmative action, legacy admissions, and the recent scandals. Recent updates have uncovered ties between the Jerome Allen case and the national bribery scandal. Esformes, who bribed Allen with $300,000, also sent more than $400,000 to the charity run by William “Rick” Singer, the college consultant at the center of the national college admissions scandal.
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institutional funding to replace federal grant money if a student fails to meet SAP. SFS sends a “warning letter” to students who do not meet SAP by the end of one semester, which is not required by federal law. Paul Richards, director of communications in the Division of Finance, said, however, it is rare for the University to send these letters. These students are then able to improve their standing the following semester to keep their aid. Nearly 50 percent of Penn undergraduates receive financial aid. Because Penn has a need-based aid policy, many students receive a combination of federal and University funding, Senior University Director of Financial Aid Elaine PapasVaras said. Papas-Varas said SFS and the undergraduate schools review each student’s situation individually, on a nearly caseby-case basis. Students who lose their aid may also follow an appeals process, which allows them to describe any extenuating circumstances they
experienced over the academic year. “If something happened that’s detrimental to the student or family that prevented them from being successful — serious illness, death in the family, major catastrophe that impacted home or — all those things are taken into consideration,” Varas said. While some FGLI students have also expressed worry that they would lose their aid if they took a leave of absence, Varas said a leave of absence is not counted within the six years they are required to finish their undergraduate studies under federal law. “[Leave of absence] doesn’t get counted in the maximum time frame,” Varas said. “They’re not getting aid in those years. However long or however many they take, it doesn’t get charged against them. The clock starts again when they return to school.” Nursing sophomore Sydney Steward said she was unaware of the academic requirements for federal aid, and urged SFS to be more transparent about SAP. “I’d like to see the statistics for how many people who go
under the microscope to get their case analyzed are actually able to able to go back to school,” Steward added. Wharton freshman Elijah Fullerton, who identifies as highly aided, said that even students who were not at immediate risk of losing their aid have felt nervous about these federal mandates. “I feel that even though I’m far removed from being at risk, the mindset is so pervasive that even though you’re doing well, you have this massive anxiety hanging over your head,” Fullerton said. “People here are already working to achieve the highest GPA they can.” Bryant said he believes academic and financial aid advisors should work together more often to prevent students from losing their aid and inform them about these policies. “For me personally there hasn’t been a lot of overlap,” he said. “If I have a tough course load, my financial aid doesn’t know that. If my financial situation is in a rough spot, my academic advisor isn’t aware. There’s no way I can get some holistic advice. I’m not sure how to remedy that.”
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Penn program helps underrepresented students get Ph.D.s Program aims to increase diversity in mathematics
“I didn’t start as a math major, so I didn’t feel prepared enough to enter straight into a Ph.D. program upon graduation,� Saleem said. “I applied to the Bridge program so that I could get a stronger foundation.� The Bridge to Ph.D. program was started in 2017 by Mathematics professors Ryan
Hynd and Philip Gressman, as well as former Physics professor Larry Gladney and School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Eve Troutt Powell. “In general, there are many good women and minority Ph.D. students, and there’s a lot of competition for those students among all the great uni-
versities in the country,� Hynd said. “And so we thought in addition to trying to attract those students, what’s a way that we can strengthen the pipeline to our program?� The program is tailored for students who may not have obtained the most rigorous mathematics background as high school students or undergradu-
ates. To this end, Hynd said he and Gressman select students through two rounds of interviews rather than relying solely on GRE scores, looking for students they believe have the potential to complete Ph.D. degrees. “They may have the aptitude, they just may not have the experience,� he said. Gressman said relative to other disciplines, math tends to be more cumulative, so gaps in education lead to far-reaching consequences in the future. “It’s really hard to come in and do well in calculus if you didn’t have adequate preparation in algebra,� Gressman said. “And it just multiplies as you go further and further along.� Second-year Bridge to Ph.D. student Juan Lanfranco agreed that educational gaps make it difficult for underrepresented students to pursue graduate study in mathematics. “A big issue is getting to the starting line,� Lanfranco said. “I didn’t go to a good high school. I didn’t go to a good junior high school. There’s a lot of factors.� The Bridge to Ph.D. program helps alleviate some of these barriers by providing full tuition coverage and a stipend, Gressman said. “While they’re here for these two years they can focus on their studies,� Gressman said. “They don’t have to have jobs,
the group formed in spring 2018. Essex, a member of all four Consent Collaborative constituent groups — Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention, the V-Day Campaign, Penn Anti-Violence Educators, and Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault— plans to push for discussions surrounding changes to sexual violence policies at Penn. The United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ proposed changes to Title IX, which were released in November 2018, include requiring full hearings, live crossexamination between the accuser and accused, and higher standards
of evidence. Essex said the proposals were “laughably un-survivor centered� and an “extraordinary oversight� of survivors’ voices and wellbeing. “Whenever these policies are made, it doesn’t seem like any of the powers have spoken to a survivor, which I think is something that is hugely missing from the conversation,� Essex said. Since several constituents of the Consent Collaborative are survivors of sexual violence, having a seat on the council will facilitate conversations between survivors and administrators, Essex said.
Undergraduate Assembly President and College senior Michael Krone, who observed the nominations and elections, said Consent Collaborative’s voice on the University Council was timely in “today’s national and political climate.� “As we are in the midst of the Association of American University Survey on Campus Climate and Sexual Misconduct and Title IX rollbacks, the NEC saw that it was really important to give a voice to those advocating for survivors of sexual misconduct as well as those who are working to advocate for policy for survivors for prevention
of interpersonal violence on campus,� Krone said. Essex said “right from the beginning� in spring 2018, Consent Collaborative eyed a position on the University Council. College sophomore and NEC co-Vice Chair Frances Paulino said Essex was “stellar in the interview� and clearly differentiated Consent Collaborative’s purpose on the council from that of Penn Association for Gender Equity, which was an initial concern of the NEC. PAGE has consistently occupied a seat on the council and is also the umbrella group for one of Consent
DANIEL TAN Contributing Reporter
COUNCIL
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proposed changes to Title IX have come under fire for reducing universities’ responsibilities in investigating sexual misconduct. College senior Bella Essex will represent Consent Collaborative on the council beginning fall 2019. The University Council is a body of student leaders and administrators that meets monthly and is made up of 16 undergraduate representatives. The Nominations and Elections Committee decided on Feb. 17 to offer Consent Collaborative a seat after
LAVERNE COX >> FRONT PAGE
tion was moderated by Tiffany Thompson, an associate director of Penn’s LGBT Center. Cox spoke about media exposure and its positive and negative impacts on people’s everyday lives — while her work has increased the visibility of transgender individuals, it has not fully erased stigmas. “It’s complicated because, just because I am on the cover of a magazine does not mean the everyday lives of transgender people are not still in peril,� Cox said. “To really change the landscape, they can’t just be included in the media but fully into society.� While Cox said many people view her as a trailblazer, she emphasized that she built on the success of other transgender actors who came before her, including Candis Cayne, the first openly transgender actor to have a recurring role on a prime time television show, and RuPaul, a popular drag queen and television personality. When she started her acting
ARI STONBERG
Second-year Bridge to Ph.D. student Neda Saleem (pictured) explains a math problem. Bridge to Ph.D. allows students from underrepresented backgrounds to prepare for fast-track admission to Penn doctoral programs.
career, Cox believed that fame would alleviate the trauma she experienced as a transgender woman of color. She ultimately realized, however, that healing could only come within, which led her to focus more on her mental wellness. “Everyone has trauma,� Cox said. “How do we care for ourselves, here at Penn?� She emphasized the importance of self-care and said she works on her own mindset through somatic therapy, which focuses on relieving anxiety through different areas of the body. “It is crucial because the pressure never goes away,� Cox said. “It is about how we handle what happens to us.� Attendees agreed that Cox’s message of self-care was important for Penn students to hear. “I thought Laverne Cox coming to Penn and talking about mental health was crucial in showing that mental health can affect everyone,� Nursing senior Alyssa Vaccaro said. “It was so important to hear her talk about self care and the importance of being able to pro-
vide that for yourself.� College sophomore Margarita Ortiz said she liked how Cox managed to talk about “hard hitting issues with a sense of comfort and eloquence.� “It was inspirational to hear such a successful woman discuss parts of her life that we could relate to,� Ortiz said. Cox is SPEC Connaissance’s spring keynote speaker, a slot held in previous years by actor and comedian Alec Baldwin and comedian Hasan Minhaj. Cox has also previously spoken at Penn — in 2014, Cox was the keynote speaker for QPENN, the annual week-long celebration of LGBTQ culture on Penn’s campus. Concluding her talk, Cox emphasized the dangers of division within the nation and the importance of inclusivity. “In the world we live in now, disability is stigmatized, criminalized and targeted,� Cox said. “There is a sense of divide in this country and as we go out into the world and we have conversations, we should try to encourage people to choose love and not fear.�
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Collaborative’s groups, ASAP. Essex said while there are overlaps between PAGE’s mission on gender equity and Consent Collaborative’s on sexual violence awareness, PAGE aims to cover more aspects of gender equity than just sexual misconduct. “For there to be representation for the work of anti-violence to represent survivors is important for everyone and it is an exciting moment to be able to coordinate with the University on level which we haven’t gotten to do yet,� MARS President and College senior James Hiebert said.
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Mathematics has traditionally faced issues of inclusivity — according to a recent New York Times report, there are only “perhaps a dozen black mathematicians among nearly 2,000 tenured faculty members in the nation’s top 50 math departments.� Now, a Penn program aims to change this statistic. Penn’s Bridge to Ph.D. initiative, now in its second year, allows students from underrepresented backgrounds to earn a master’s degree and prepare for fast-track admission to Penn’s doctoral program in mathematics. The program offers full coverage of tuition and fees, a $25,000 annual stipend, and personal mentorship to prepare students for graduate school exams and job placement. There are currently five students in Penn’s Bridge to Ph.D. program. Three students are in the second year of their master’s degrees, while two students started the program this year. Second-year Bridge to Ph.D. student Neda Saleem said she applied to the program after realizing midway through her undergraduate studies at California State University, Northridge that she wanted to study mathematics.
they don’t have to pay tuition. I think that’s a huge thing.� Students and faculty agreed that beyond financial support, individual mentorship is a key component of the Bridge to Ph.D. program. “[Hynd] knows that I’m learning, and that’s also really helpful because sometimes in math, you get this feeling that you should know everything all the time,� Saleem said of her mentor. “He makes me feel like it’s okay if I ask questions about things, if I don’t know it right away.� Saleem added that she has learned a lot from the program, as it helped fill in gaps from her undergraduate education and figure out which areas of mathematics she is interested in studying. “I definitely learned a lot,� Lanfranco said. “The course load is pretty heavy, but it really pushes you. When you come in, you have to hit the ground running.� Professors and students also said increasing diversity in mathematics is crucial for the academic field. “Any time you have people out there who have the interest and the ability to participate in that project, but they are being held back for other reasons — being held back for economic access, because of access to the proper education — society as a whole is losing out,� Gressman said.
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10 SPORTS
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
Solid pitching performances lead the way in Penn’s sweep of La Salle SOFTBALL | Quakers didn’t give up a run in either game JACOB WESSELS Associate Sports Editor
One game at a time, one base at a time. Penn softball used strong pitching and small-ball offense on Wednesday afternoon to sweep Philadelphia rival La Salle, defeating the Explorers by scores of 3-0 and 5-0. In the first game, strong pitching and good early offense gave the Quakers (9-8) an early lead that they would hold for the entire game. Freshman starting pitcher Julia Longo set the tone for the Red and Blue in the first inning, striking out La Salle (5-12) leadoff hitter and junior shortstop Emily Conway on just four pitches. A diving catch on a foul ball by sophomore catcher Sarah Ketring would finish off the 1-2-3 inning and give the Quakers their first at-bats of the game. In the bottom of the first, Penn was able to get to La Salle sophomore starter Morgan Orlowski early and often with a two-out single up the middle by senior designated hitter Sarah Cwiertnia and a walk by sophomore third baseman Lucy Yang. The Quakers would string together three more two-
out singles, the last of which was a bloop single into right by junior left fielder Clare Sebastianelli that would drive home two. “Scoring early in the game is really helpful, it just takes a lot off the pitchers shoulders. It’s nice knowing that the offense is going to be there to support us and if we give up a run it’s not the end of the world,” Longo said. The Quakers would continue the singles streak in the second, as a pair of hits from freshmen Julia Schneider and Emma Nedley gave them runners on first and second. After two wild pitches, Schneider came around to score to give the Red and Blue a 3-0 lead. “We are a very station-tostation team, so it’s crucial that we are able to hit the ball on the ground and move runners,” Cwiertnia said. On the hill, Longo continued her dominance, allowing just one hit and striking out three in four innings of work. After she was done, the Quakers turned to junior Jennifer Brann who was equally effective, finishing off Penn’s shutout with three lockdown innings and two punchouts. Perhaps the cool afternoon breeze took some of the pop out of each team’s bats; La Salle would finish with just two hits to the Quakers eight,
and all 10 hits were singles. “I was really effective moving in and out on them,” Longo said. “My screwball is probably one of my most effective pitches, so early in the game I was able to jam them inside. By the second and third inning, they started backing of the plate, so I needed to use my curveball.” The second game was much of the same with both teams putting runners on base. However, they both failed to generate any real scoring chances. With Penn sophomore starter Abigail Abramson trading zeros with La Salle freshman pitcher Cailey Joyce, the game was scoreless entering the bottom of the fourth. La Salle removed Joyce from the game, and the Quakers once again worked to manufacture runs against the new pitcher, senior Marlo Roadcap. Three walks loaded the bases for freshman shortstop Ashley Waco with just one out. Waco would bounce a swinging bunt up the first-base line, and Explorers sophomore first baseman Ashley Mendenhall played for the inning-ending double play by attempting to tag Waco before throwing home. However, sophomore Kayla Ketring, who was serving as a pinch runner, raced home to beat the throw. Penn soon
CHASE SUTTON
Freshman starting pitcher Julia Longo allowed just one hit while striking out three batters in four innings on Wednesday. The win marked the first-ever collegiate victory for the Arlington, Va. native.
tacked on two more runs as Schneider roped a two-RBI single to right, extending the lead to 3-0. “Early in the game, we did a really good job of having quality at-bats and putting the ball in play. Even when people did get out, they were hard hit balls,” Cwiertnia said. “Eventually the ball will start to fall in a spot where nobody is.” With the bats finally heating up, Penn got back to business
against Joyce, who re-entered the game for La Salle in the fifth. A double by Nedley, followed by a single from senior second baseman Sam Pederson, put two on for Kayla Ketring. The sophomore lined a shot that bounced just inches fair and would find the left field corner, driving in both runs with a two-RBI double. With the way Penn had been pitching all day, this knock would be the one to finish off the Explorers.
The Quakers’ pitchers would finish the double-header with 14 shutout innings, striking out 11 and surrendering just eight hits. “The pitching sets the tone,” Cwiertnia said. “It gets us in the mentality of how the game is going to go, and I think they did a really good job today.” The team will look to keep up the strong performances on the mound as it prepares for Harvard at home this weekend.
Women’s golf shines with third place finish at William & Mary Senior Christina Park tied for third overall in tournament PARKER JONES Sports Reporter
The start of the week meant the beginning of the spring season for Penn’s women’s golf. The Quakers traveled to Williamsburg, Va. for the annual William & Mary Intercollegiate Tournament, which is played on the Kingsmill River Course, a course that has hosted some of the world’s best players on the PGA and LPGA tour. Kingsmill River played host to a two-day, 54-hole spring season opener for the Red and Blue. In previous years, the Quakers have been successful at this tournament, and this year they had another strong showing. “It felt great to be back in season with the team, and we’re getting back into the swing of things,” freshman Mary Shin
BROMANCE >> BACKPAGE
time around each other,” Sichley added. “I think it translates well. The team is pretty close in general and I think that our relationship is similar to the team’s in that way.” Their common interests also extend to the classroom, where they have both chosen the same major out of the many that are offered. “It kind of subconsciously influenced both of our decision to become econ majors,” Sichley said. “We saw what we were going through, [and] we’re both on
said. The Red and Blue started off the tournament near the lead after the first 36 holes, ending Monday tied for second place with High Point University, just eleven strokes behind Seton Hall University in first. The Quakers shot a tworound score of 625 after the first day, with junior Christina Park finishing in seventh place after shooting a combined 152 for eight over par, good for best on the team. Out of the 79 golfers in the tournament, three of the Quakers were ranked in the top 20 after the first day. Shin finished tied for ninth place after shooting a 154 while sophomore Rina Jung sat in 19th, shooting a combined 159. “Although the weather during the first day was not the best, we fought hard during the rounds and had a great start,” Shin said. Tuesday’s final round brought more individual suc-
cess for some of Penn’s golfers. Park ultimately finished tied for third after shooting a 77 in the final round, while Shin rounded out Penn’s top ten finishers tied for ninth with a final round score of 82. Park was just behind the top two golfers, Mia Kness from Seton Hall and Sarah Khan of High Point. Overall, the women’s team could not clinch the first place spot and ended up in third with 936, just eight strokes more than High Point, who claimed second place, and 18 strokes above first-place Seton Hall. With the strong finish, the team is only more confident about its ability to compete with the opposition this season. “We’re in great shape and are looking forward to a great rest of our season,” Shin said. The Quakers are optimistic moving forward, as they will travel to Winter Gardens, Fla. for the two-day Harvard Invitational on March 29 and 30.
this path so we thought might as well keep it rolling.” As far as on the field, Malinowski had a strong first season with the Red and Blue and was even named an All-American. Despite being a rookie, his gameplay showed no signs of struggling from the adjustment to college baseball. It was during this breakout year that his friendship with Sichley really got going. “It was actually kind of helpful being able to relate with a bunch of stuff and tell people that we were both from Houston,” Malinowski said. “[We’re] both doing this and we’re getting
through it together, so it was nice being able to relate.” As a pitcher, Sichley is quite a force to be reckoned with on the field. Hailing from The Woodlands, Texas — a quick trip north on I-45 from Houston — Sichley was a standout in high school and led his team through four great seasons. Since coming to Penn, he has continued his winning attitude on and off the field. His friendship with Malinowski has helped him through his journey on the team, as well as in navigating Penn and Philadelphia overall. “It’s definitely an adjustment to going to a school so far away,
PHOTO FROM PENN ATHLETICS
Freshman Mary Shin tied for ninth, with a three-round score of 232, at the William & Mary Intercollegiate on Monday and Tuesday. Shin tied for the third-most birdies and posted the fourth-best par 5 scoring average.
but I think what influenced me the most was the education,” Sichley said. “I knew that the Ivy League really interested me and the coaching staff here is just great. A lot of the guys here are from Texas, so you got the guys who you can relate to from home, and knowing that a couple guys in the class already were from Houston was a relief.” Outside of the time they spend on the field, the pair share some of the things they like to do in their free time as well. “We hang out, we play a lot of Fortnite, Apex Legends is taking over, a lot of studying, and just hangout talk about baseball,” Sichley said. Whether playing on the diamond or in class, Malinowski and Sichley are an inseparable duo. As teammates and friends, their chemistry will undoubtedly be an asset to the team’s performance.
LEHIGH
>> BACKPAGE
senior third baseman Matt McGeagh. After Penn loaded the bases, Phelan walked to bring home Petersen and stretch the margin to nine. Freshman second baseman Craig Larsen then drove in two additional runs with an RBI single to right-center field, and Phelan was the last Quaker to score in the sixth inning when Malinowski was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Trailing 12-0, the Moun-
NICOLE FRIDLING
Sophomore Eduardo Malinowski has continued his solid play from last season, posting a .339 batting average with four triples this year.
tain Hawks finally found a way to put runs on the board in the eighth inning. Senior left fielder Ryan Malloy grounded out to score freshman third baseman Gerard Sweeney before Rother singled to center field to bring in sophomore second baseman Eric Cichocki and cut the deficit to 12-2 as the two teams headed into the final inning of play. Petersen added a 13th and final run for Penn in the ninth frame, and while the score capped off an impressive offensive showing for the Red and Blue, the pitching performance
was just as responsible for the big victory. Freshman pitcher Joe Miller (2-1) got the win for the Quakers, keeping Lehigh off the scoreboard in his six innings of work on the mound. Freshman pitcher Seth DeVries got the game’s final three outs to seal the win. Next on the docket for Penn is a three-game series against Harvard (8-4). The Red and Blue will welcome the Crimson to Meiklejohn Stadium on March 23 for a Saturday doubleheader before returning for game three on Sunday.
THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN
SPORTS 11
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019
Players to Watch: Six athletes set to stand out this weekend Wrestler Anthony Artalona has gone 26-5 this season JACKSON JOFFE Associate Sports Editor
Even though the basketball season is coming to a close, other winter sports teams still have competition ahead. Here’s a look at six impressive athletes who can make a big impact this upcoming weekend in their respective events. Jordyn Mannino — Gymnastics Sophomore Jordyn Mannino has made strides in her second season for the Red and Blue. She has set new career highs this season, posting a 9.725 mark in the vault in March. She has also been remarkably consistent for the Quakers this year, and her efforts have been recognized — she was named Eastern College Athletic Conference Specialist of the Week for the first week of February following a 9.675 score on the bars and a 9.800 floor score at a dual meet at Yale. She was also named ECAC Coaches Choice
FLIGHTSCOPE >> BACKPAGE
play, the offense is averaging just over nine runs per game. Through their early nonconference slate last season (15 games), they averaged just over 4.5 runs per game. This could be explained by the level of competition the hitters have faced or inflation due to huge offensive outbursts, such as a 19-run game against Lafayette, but it’s still a significant jump in overall offensive production. Maybe it’s not just the availability of data that has changed for Penn this season. “[We’ve been] spending a lot of time as a group, coming up with an offensive philosophy and a culture that we’ve created,” Yurkow said. “We have meetings once a week to sit down and talk as an offensive
Award winner on Jan. 23. Natalie Yang — Gymnastics Freshman Natalie Yang has excelled all season long on the beam in her first season with Penn. She has posted a minimum score of 9.700 in all meets this season, including four scores of at least 9.800. Yang earned a career-high 9.875 — the top score of the meet — against Southeast Missouri. Along with Mannino, she was honored as ECAC Specialist of the Week for the first week of March. Despite being just a freshman, Yang has emerged as one of the Quakers’ top performers this season. Mannino and Yang will certainly be crucial to the Quakers’ success at the ECAC Championship in Ithaca, N.Y. this weekend. Anthony Artalona — Wrestling Anthony Artalona has quickly become a freshman sensation — and for good reason. He’s 26-5 this season and has been competitive against some of the top wrestlers in the nation. He dropped a contested 5-2 match
to Duke’s Mitch Finesilver and a 7-5 match against Matthew Kolodzik, both of whom are ranked in the top 10 nationwide. The star freshman posted two 20-point wins this season despite battling injuries. The Florida native has been resilient in matches this year, and that could play to his advantage this weekend in Pittsburgh. Carmen Ferrante — Wrestling Artalona has garnered a lot of hype during his freshman season, but freshman Carmen Ferrante has quietly amassed an impressive record of his own. Ferrante, who is ranked No. 18 in the country at 132 pounds by InterMat, had an accomplished high school wrestling career before coming to Penn this year. Ferrante has compiled a 24-8 record this season, and has the fastest takedown on the team this season — a 1:04 takedown of Notre Dame’s Kyle Quinn. He was the runner-up at the Keystone Classic in November and put up a fighting effort in a 9-4 loss to Princeton’s Pat-
rick Glory, who is ranked No. 9 in the country. He also leads the Quakers in team points this season with 44. Artalona and Ferrante will both represent Penn this weekend at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships. It’s the first time in program history that the Quakers’ only qualifiers are freshmen. Sean Wilson — Men’s Fencing Men’s fencing has struggled for the most part to fill the big shoes of senior Justin Yoo, who announced his intention to take time off to prepare for the Olympics. Sophomore Sean Wilson, though, has put up impressive numbers as an epée this season. He has posted the fourth-highest winning percentage on the team (.604) behind Yoo, freshman Emon Daroian, and junior Conor Mills. Wilson has struggled as of late — especially in Ivy League play — dropping his last three matches against Princeton, Yale, and Columbia after starting the year 2-1 against Ivy squads. If Wilson wants a shot
NICOLE FRIDLING
Freshman Anthony Artalona has notched two 20-point wins and competed with the nation’s best in his first year with the Red and Blue.
at a high NCAA Championships finish this weekend, he will need to get back on track. Nicole Vaiani — Women’s Fencing Junior Nicole Vaiani dropped only one match in Ivy League play and is just one season removed from finishing ninth last season at the NCAA Champi-
onships, where she became an honorable mention All-American. Additionally, she went 13-5 at the Philadelphia Invitational earlier this season. She’ll need to keep up those strong performances to be successful this weekend at the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.
group and see what we want to be good at, what we want to be known as, as an offense.” There likely won’t be a significant uptick in offensive production due to insights gleaned from the FlightScope data this season, but gathering this data over the course of this year and into the fall could be meaningful in shaping the team’s approach next year. “Hopefully the more we use it and the more data we collect, we’ll be able to use those numbers and make some adjustments,” Yurkow said. The data analysis on both the pitching and hitting sides will most certainly need a wider breadth of information before noticeable change can be made. Regardless, Penn baseball is on the right track and ahead of the curve in the Ivy League.
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THE BASEBALL ISSUE THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 VOL. CXXXV
NO. 17
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
FOUNDED 1885
Quakers dominate Lehigh on Wednesday to extend win streak to seven Penn raced out to an early lead en route to a 13-2 win JACKSON SATZ Associate Sports Editor
Don’t look now, but the Quakers are streaking. With its 13-2 victory against Lehigh on Wednesday afternoon, Penn baseball secured its seventh consecutive victory. In those seven games, the Red and Blue have put 10 or more runs on the board five times and won four games with double-digit
margins of victory. The Quakers (10-4) got going early in the second-inning with two-run home run by senior catcher Matt O’Neill to take a 2-0 lead, and the Red and Blue never let the Mountain Hawks (8-9) back into the game. O’Neill, who went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in on the day, extended his career home run count to 17, a figure that leads all active players for Penn. The offense did not show up in every inning for the Quakers, but when it did, it was explosive: In the fifth and sixth innings alone,
the Red and Blue put up 10 total runs. The fifth inning saw the Red and Blue cross home plate four times after sophomore infielder Eduardo Malinowski, who turned in a 2-for-3 hitting performance with two RBI, got things flowing with another homer to left field to make it 3-0. After RBI singles by freshman center fielder Tommy Courtney and junior outfielder Peter Matt extended the Quakers’ lead to five runs, senior fi rst baseman Sean Phelan flied out to center field to score Courtney and round out the inning’s scor-
ing. In the sixth frame, the hot bats continued to get even hotter. Malinowski again opened the scoring; after hitting a double to left center field and stealing third base, the sophomore reached home on an error by Lehigh freshman catcher Casey Rother to bring the lead to 7-0. Sophomore catcher Jackson Petersen, who hit in the designated hitter spot on Wednesday, kept things rolling with an RBI single to right field that scored SEE LEHIGH PAGE 10
CHASE SUTTON
Senior catcher and captain Matt O’Neill started things off for the Quakers with a two-run home run, extending his career count to 17.
Penn ahead of curve with new technology Red and Blue using datatracking radar system ISAAC SPEAR Associate Sports Editor
Sichley and Malinowski have much in common off the field REBEKAH CANTY Contributing Reporter
On and off the field, teammates build relationships that they hope will last forever, but not many bonds are stronger than the bond that Penn baseball’s Cole Sichley and Eduardo Malinowski share. The former roommates turned housemates are entering their second baseball season as Quakers with a friendship that rivals few others. Malinowski and Sichley are both from Houston and are majoring in economics at Penn. They share a similar love for their team, Texas,
In a time when a large number of collegiate programs around the country are fully committing to analytics, Penn baseball is following suit. Now, as the first Ivy League squad armed with FlightScope Strike, a portable tracking radar system, the Quakers are beginning to gather more data than ever before. The machine has so far been utilized to track the hitters and pitchers in offseason practices, and it’s just starting to be used in games as well. Pitching metrics such as horizontal and vertical break, spin rate, and revolutions along with hitting metrics such as launch angle, exit velocity, and carry distance are becoming increasingly important for improving player performance, and FlightScope Strike tracks all of these and more. The FlightScope Strike machine uses Doppler radar to track the trajectory of pitched and batted balls. After each pitch, scores on all of the various metrics appear on a tablet included with the machine for the coaches to analyze
and Fortnite. Their similarities run so deep that they were playing baseball together before they even realized it. “We didn’t [know each other] until we both committed,” Malinowski said. “It’s funny because we played against each other every single year and didn’t even know and then finally he ended up pitching against me in a game.” Since then their relationship has blossomed into a friendship that is representative of the the team as a whole. “We knew each other a little bit in high school, played against each other a couple of times, and last year we obviously spent a lot of SEE BROMANCE PAGE 10
in real time and give the players live feedback. “It’s been helpful in letting our guys know their feedback immediately,” assistant coach Will Kaufman said. After a full practice or game, the data for all hitters and pitchers is compiled in a spreadsheet for the coaches to analyze and create visualizations from. It won’t just be the coaches pouring over this data, however. Penn Sports Analytics, which mainly assists with data analysis for Penn men’s basketball, is entering the baseball world by delving into the FlightScope data. “Those guys are really bright, and they’re great to work with, I think we’ll have something a bit more structured going into next year,” coach John Yurkow said. The adoption of this technology represents an overall shift in the coaching philosophy of the team. The most successful hitting techniques in recent years have placed an emphasis on getting the ball up into the air to increase home runs and balls hit to the outfield, as opposed to the traditional method of cutting down on the ball. The early returns for Penn baseball have been promising on offense. As the Quakers near the start of Ivy SEE FLIGHTSCOPE PAGE 11
PHOTO FROM DAVID MAYBERRY
JESS TAN
Penn baseball will enter Ivy League play as the only team in the conference to be using FlightScope Strike, a tracking radar system.
Meet the three freshmen who earned starting spots for Penn
The trio has excelled in new environment so far this year PAUL HARRYHILL Sports Reporter
Don’t look now, but the Quakers are streaking. With its 13-2 victory against Lehigh on Wednesday afternoon, Penn baseball secured its seventh consecutive victory. In those seven games, the Red and Blue have put 10 or more runs on the board five times and won four games with double-digit margins of victory. The Quakers (10-4) got going early in the second-inning with two-run home run by senior catcher Matt O’Neill to take a 2-0 lead, and the Red and Blue never let the Mountain Hawks (8-9) back into the game. O’Neill, who went 2-for-4 with
two runs batted in on the day, extended his career home run count to 17, a figure that leads all active players for Penn. The offense did not show up in every inning for the Quakers, but when it did, it was explosive: In the fifth and sixth innings alone, the Red and Blue put up 10 total runs. The fifth inning saw the Red and Blue cross home plate four times after sophomore infielder Eduardo Malinowski, who turned in a 2-for-3 hitting performance with two RBI, got things flowing with another homer to left field to make it 3-0. After RBI singles by freshman center fielder Tommy Courtney and junior outfielder Peter Matt extended the Quakers’ lead to five runs, senior first baseman Sean Phelan flied out to center field to score Courtney and round out the in-
NICOLE FRIDLING
As of Tuesday, Penn baseball freshman starting shortstop Josh Hood is batting .365 and has nine extra-base hits in just 13 games this season.
ning’s scoring. In the sixth frame, the hot bats continued to get even hotter. Malinowski again opened the scoring; after hitting a double to left center field and steal-
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ing third base, the sophomore reached home on an error by Lehigh freshman catcher Casey Rother to bring the lead to 7-0. Sophomore catcher Jackson Petersen, who hit in the desig-
nated hitter spot on Wednesday, kept things rolling with an RBI single to right field that scored senior third baseman Matt McGeagh. After Penn loaded the bases, Phelan walked to bring home Petersen and stretch the margin to nine. Freshman second baseman Craig Larsen then drove in two additional runs with an RBI single to right-center field, and Phelan was the last Quaker to score in the sixth inning when Malinowski was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Trailing 12-0, the Mountain Hawks finally found a way to put runs on the board in the eighth inning. Senior left fielder Ryan Malloy grounded out to score freshman third baseman Gerard Sweeney before Rother singled to center field to bring in sophomore second baseman Eric Cichocki and cut the
deficit to 12-2 as the two teams headed into the final inning of play. Petersen added a 13th and final run for Penn in the ninth frame, and while the score capped off an impressive offensive showing for the Red and Blue, the pitching performance was just as responsible for the big victory. Freshman pitcher Joe Miller (2-1) got the win for the Quakers, keeping Lehigh off the scoreboard in his six innings of work on the mound. Freshman pitcher Seth DeVries got the game’s final three outs to seal the win. Next on the docket for Penn is a three-game series against Harvard (8-4). The Red and Blue will welcome the Crimson to Meiklejohn Stadium on March 23 for a Saturday doubleheader before returning for game three on Sunday.
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