TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Kesha leaks Fling announcement
SPEC explains early release of concert lineup ELLIE SCHROEDER Staff Reporter
On Saturday afternoon at 3:59 p.m., fewer than 20 individuals in the entire student body were aware that pop artist Kesha would headline
this year’s Spring Fling concert. By 4:10, nearly all 10,000 knew. On Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., while many students were enjoying St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Kesha posted to her Facebook page, saying “Want to win a pair of tickets to see Kesha at the University of Pennsylvania on April 17th?!” and inviting her followers to enter a
selfie contest. Kesha did not explicitly state she would perform at Spring Fling, but students were quick to realize what her status meant and even quicker to spread the news. “I probably got six texts in one minute,” College freshman Sarah Hinstorff said. “Every group chat I’m a part of blew up with the news.”
College freshman Courtney Dougherty had a similar experience. She was at a Frisbee tournament when she received a text message from a friend and told her teammates the news. “Within 30 seconds almost everyone else got texts confirming that it SEE KESHA PAGE 2
EMILY CHENG | NEWS DESIGN EDITOR
Consulting remains popular career path for Penn graduates JOE LI Staff Reporter
Consulting is usually associated with opulence and constant traveling, yet thousands of Penn students seek consulting jobs every year for more than superficial motivations. “People like the breadth of the industry and the breadth of the business problems you work on. Every few months, you have a new project and a new client. You are learning about new industries and developing new skills,” Director of Career Services Patricia Rose said. “This is very attractive to graduates who are just starting out and don’t have much experience with any particular industry.” College junior Joy Zhang will intern with Deloitte Consulting this summer. Part of her duty during the internship will be to research on compensation structure for company employees, a topic related to her studies in psychology and economics. Before the internship, Zhang’s first experience with consulting was a public policy case competition, held by the Philadelphia mayoral office to help solve the problem of millennial retention. “Consulting is a great learning opportunity to explore different areas. You can work on different projects involving different industries. I want to start broad as a generalist and then get more narrow through time,” she said. “Consulting also gives me a sense of responsibility to solve real problems for my clients, and you can interact with other bright people from different
THE CONSULTING
CRAZE
SEE CONSULTING PAGE 8
Is Franzia poisonous?
Student groups address mental health culture on campus
High levels of arsenic found in some wines
They acknowledge it takes more than the administration to make change
HANNAH NOYES Staff Reporter
JENNIFER WRIGHT Deputy News Editor
Last month, the Task Force on Student Psychological Health and Welfare’s report focused on “cultural change.” But some students have already taken up this mission. Whether it’s a documentary about mental health on campus or the growth of the upcoming Mental Wellness Week, over the past few years, students are increasingly engaging in conversations about the topic. Counseling and Psychological Services Director Bill Alexander said the “volume and intensity” of student focus on mental health has grown in the time since he became director in 1999. The CAPS Student Advisory Board, for example, is one of the groups that has existed for a number of years but has grown from a small number of students to more than 30 members. But while the interest might be growing, some students still feel disconnected. Last year, following six student suicides in 15 months, College senior Meredith Stern was struck by the lack of dialogue around mental health on campus. She
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A lawsuit being filed in California alleges that some inexpensive boxed wines were found to contain high levels of arsenic.
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SEE MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 3
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Penn students might want to opt for bottled wine over Franzia this weekend, following the high levels of arsenic discovered in the popular drink. According to a CBS News article, a lawsuit is being filed in California accusing some of the country’s top selling wines of having up to five times the maximum amount of arsenic allowed
All of us … have a responsibility to question and engage with these horrific acts of violence.”
by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. As more speculation emerges in the media around the arsenic report, Penn students are asking themselves if consumption is safe — Are the days of BYOing Banana Leaf with several boxes of wine over? “As gross as it [the arsenic] is, will it really stop me from drinking it at a BYO once in a while?” Madeline, a Wharton sophomore who did not want to use her last name, said. “Probably not.” SEE FRANZIA PAGE 7
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- Jameel Mohammed/The Vision PAGE 4
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TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
Alternate Spring Break sends students to Florida
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On Saturday afternoon Kesha’s Facebook page revealed that she would be performing at Penn on April 17.
KESHA
>> PAGE 1 Penn students participating in Alternate Spring Break spent their break addressing the issue of human trafficking.
The group learned about human trafficking in the U.S. BENJAMIN ZOU Contributing Reporter
While some Penn students
were partying away in Mexico and others were at home binge-watching Netflix, some students spent their spring break making a difference. Among them: the participants in Penn’s Alternate Spring Break trip.
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This year’s Alternate Spring Break trip took participating Penn students to Clearwater, Fla., where they spent a week addressing the issue of human trafficking in the United States. The group partnered with the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, participating in educational seminars as well as community outreach events. “Human trafficking is an important issue and one that many people don’t realize exists domestically as well as internationally,” said Tilyn Bell, a College junior and co-leader of the trip. “Whenever human trafficking is discussed in the United States, sex trafficking is usually the only form that’s brought up. Labor trafficking is a huge problem in the US and internationally but is rarely discussed.” Throughout much of the trip, students learned more about domestic human trafficking and its effects on families, businesses and the community at large. “I was particularly shocked to learn that 20.9 million people are trafficked internationally a year,” Pallavi Wakharkar, a College sophomore and trip co-leader with Bell, said. “In the U.S., estimated profits from human trafficking are as high
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as $9.5 billion, which is stunning. “We as Americans don’t really recognize human trafficking as a problem that takes place on our soil — but it does,” she added. College sophomore Olivia Graham also found the educational component of the trip eye-opening. “Education is a really powerful thing, and this trip definitely helped show me that,” Graham said. “We were able to fight against trafficking in the only way that was really possible — by raising awareness — seeing as this issue is only in its beginning stages of being recognized and dealt with by the U.S.” As the trip progressed, students spent more of their time implementing what they had learned to spread awareness for the issue. Activities included distributing flyers, speaking face-to-face with local business managers and protesting on a beach. For Bell, this trip as well as the others she has gone on with Penn Alternate Spring Break, has significantly changed the way she views the world. “I have gone on three breakaway trips and I have come back from each one as a more compassionate and well-informed human being,” she said.
was Kesha,” she said. SPEC Concerts planned to announce the Fling artists on Sunday evening using a YouTube video, but the surprise announcement forced them to alter their plans. SPEC Concerts co-Director Suvadip Choudhury said he received multiple messages from friends just minutes after Kesha’s post telling him the information had been leaked. He immediately contacted the other directors, and they decided to quickly release their video online to take advantage of the release hype. Kesha’s sudden Facebook post was not the only problem SPEC had in rolling out this year’s Fling artist announcement. The YouTube video that they created was taken down due to copyright violation soon after SPEC posted it online. “Currently it is being blocked on copyright for one of the songs, and we are hoping to get that block removed,” Choudhury said on Monday evening. “We are waiting to get approval on some changes that we made.” Although keeping the
lineup a secret was not stipulated in the contracts of either artist, Choudhury said the release was something they tried to coordinate with them. “The book ing agency was fully aware of when we planned to release, and they communicated that with the artists’ management,” he said. “I can’t comment on where that information was lost.” Members of SPEC Concerts say they are more focused on the student response to the announcement than the release itself. “These things happen,” Engineering sophomore and SPEC Concerts co-Director Kelsey Simet said. “In the end it’s about making sure Penn students are happy and not about the release date.” SPEC’s newly implemented “f lash sign-up” ticketing process began today, when SPEC posted a form to sign up for floor passes on the Facebook event page for the concert at 12:50 a.m. Inevitably, many students were disappointed after today’s allotment of 50 spots were taken in a little over 20 seconds. Students who still want floor passes will have six more chances to reserve a place.
BY THE
Penn Arts and Sciences’ Knowledge by the Slice lunchtime series offers educational talks led by insightful faculty experts. Did we mention there’s pizza? So sit back, relax—and have a slice on us.
MICRO-SOCIOLOGICAL INGREDIENTS OF CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP RANDALL COLLINS
DOROTHY SWAINE THOMAS PROFESSOR IN SOCIOLOGY
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015 | NOON–1 P.M. Irvine Auditorium, Amado Recital Hall What does it take to be a charismatic leader? Collins is a social theorist whose research includes the macro-historical sociology of political and economic change; micro-sociology, including face-to-face interaction; and the sociology of intellectuals and social conflict. His study of violence used data from photos and videos as well as close ethnographic observations to show the micro-techniques and contingencies through which some persons won, lost, were stalemated, or kept their distance. Knowledge by the Slice Live Can’t make it to the lecture? Now you can watch Knowledge by the Slice live online! Visit www.sas.upenn.edu/slice/live to learn more, sign up for an email reminder, or view the lecture. You can also view past Knowledge by the Slice lectures here: www.sas.upenn.edu/slice
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NEWS 3
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
Engineering and Law Schools to launch new dual-degree program
MENTAL HEALTH >> PAGE 1
chose to create a documentary about the topic for her Cinema Studies final. “It felt rather silent and that felt strange to me,” she said. She wanted her piece to be a “conversation starter.” In her work, she learned about student groups that deal with the topic of mental health. “It seems like there may be resources out there that we can use other than official University resources like CAPS, but I don’t think they are advertised enough,” Stern said. Director of Outreach and Prevention for CAPS Meeta Kumar said the increased collaboration between groups is helping to increase their presence. “That has been really great to see that they can support one another and really organize and then in that sense have a much wider impact,” she said. For exa mple, Tuesd ay night, the Penn Neuroscience Society will co-host a panel on the neurobiology of mental
health and illness with Active Minds, Creative Spaces and the Penn Consciousness Club. These groups grapple with the challenge of creating a legacy — one that might help to make the “cultural change” that the task force is recommending. “The outcome is going to be long-term,” Kumar said. “You have to have the imagination and the tolerance to say ‘the work that I’m doing may not quite yield all of the outcome right away,’ but that you’re passing it on.” A not her act ive ment a l h e a lt h g r oup, C ogWel l , started back in 2006 in collaboration with CAPS and the Vice Provost — before the hyper focus on the topic on campus. But new initiatives still emerge. Penn Benjamins, a peer-counseling group started by students and trained by CAPS therapists, is set to start next fall. Active Minds, a national club that started at Penn in 2000, launched a blog called “Pennsive” last spring where students can share their own exper iences dea ling wit h
EMILY OFFIT Staff Reporter
Penn is adding another dualdegree program to its repertoire, this one between the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Penn Law School. In fall 2015, the two schools will launch a completely new one-year program that will provide a master of laws degree for students in the Engineering graduate school. Unlike going to law school, the one-year program will not license students to practice law, but will give them a legal background and training in their respective fields. A similar dual-degree program already exists for students in the Perelman School of Medicine and for students in Wharton’s graduate school. “I came into this with a great conviction that lawyers need to learn about technology,” said professor of Law, Communications and Computer and Information Science Christopher Yoo. “But what I’m discovering is that engineers need to learn about business and law policy.” This program is unique in its field. Professor of Computer and Information Science Jonathan Smith believes this program will receive a high yield in terms of its accepted applicants, just as the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology does for undergrads. “There are very few schools that combine a first-class engineering school and law school with the kind of interest that we have on this campus,” Smith said. Although the law school will not be officially accepting applicants until the fall, second year law student Lucas Tejwani is currently enrolled in the program. “Tech companies and the government are in a complicated relationship,” Tejwani said. “I am really interested in Internet privacy and data security, and these ideas were particularly topical when I entered law school.” Tejwani is a guinea pig in this program. While he does agree that law and engineering have many differences in terms of class expectations, he argues that there is some cross-over as both involve “synthesizing smaller building blocks in a calculated way to make a final product, like a legal brief or a software product.” Yoo explained that the course load for those who choose to do this joint degree is not easy and that the students will be “pushed outside their comfort zone, but will find it very rewarding.” Smith agreed, saying the intersection of the two fields is especially important today. “You want innovation, but you don’t want elephants driving mice out of the way,” he said. “You need to know about monopolies, innovation in the computer science domain, and the technology in sharing things effectively.” Yoo also describes a huge need for professionals with background in both degrees as they enter the working world.
and “be human.” “I think we are working towards the culture change, but I don’t think it necessarily comes from the task force,” she said. “Often the people who are making the policy are removed from it,” Rajagopal said. Both Alexander and Kumar said there should be a twoway conversation between students and the University in mental health awareness. “The faculty and staff might want to or be very well meaning and think of things, but they will always need to rely on students to guide them,” Alexander said. But the task force did not include any students on its panel. “We are part of this Penn community and we are the ones that can create the culture and we can shift the cult u re,” Rajagopa l sa id, adding that the best thing the University can do is fully support the clubs devoted to wellness. “Students can do a lot, but the administration has a big role in validating the culture change,” she said.
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One-year program combines technology and law
mental illness. Active Minds President and College junior Devanshi Mehta said the club sees its mission as being “the liaison between the student body and the mental health community.” She said she’s noticed increased motivation amongst members, especially with regards to advocacy and education. Still, she said, there is a limit to what groups can do. “As students, we’re not licensed to provide therapy,” Mehta said. “As students what we can do is provide peer counseling. We can do the education and mental health awareness events.” College sophomore Tara Rajagopal, a leader in the Penn Consciousness Club, said the club’s intention is to also be a resource on campus. Recently, it has collaborated with other campus groups and taught breathing techniques and mediation. While Rajagopal praised the expansion of CAPS and the establish ment of the HELP Line, she thinks the University should let students know that it’s okay to relax
“Agencies are hungry to hire people like this,” he said. This is not the first time Penn Law and the Engineering School have collaborated. Since 2013, the two schools have offered a joint-degree program allowing students to earn a Master of Engineering or a Master of Computer and Information Technology and a Juris Doctor at the same time. “We appreciate these combinations,” said Joseph Sun, the vice dean for academic affairs for the Engineering School. “For the right students it’s the right path to provide a program of education that meets students’ interests in engineering and legal policies.”
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OPINION No one is safe
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 VOL. CXXXI, NO. 33 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 HOLDEN MCGINNIS Sports Editor
THE VISION | The myth of meritocracy in the time of violence
O
ne of the ideas most integral to America’s conception of itself is the idea of meritocracy. It’s a seductive one, aligning well with what we’d like to believe about our nation and ourselves. It allows us to deeply commit to the notion that our successes are solely the dividends of our own skills and abilities and, conversely, that others’ failures are results of their own inadequacies: their thug personalities, their music, their pathology. Every so often though, we are struck by a case that challenges this narrative, unearthing the entrenched forces that produce the injustices that we see almost every day. One such case was the recent beating of University of Virginia student Martese Johnson by police last week. As it happens, I have known Mr. Johnson since I was in eighth grade, and while we certainly are not best friends I know him well enough to know that he is a man of incredible in-
tegrity. So when an image of Martese’s bloodied face peering up from a cobblestone sidewalk came scrolling lazily down my newsfeed last Wednesday, I have to admit that I was shocked.
stead promoting cross-cultural understanding, an ideal that liberal America purports to believe in. Put simply, he did everything right. It goes without saying that this incident made me
of success that will protect me from suffering the same fates of less privileged people like Mike Brown and Eric Garner. This case forces me to recognize that the people I know, my aspirations, my
… I think the emotion that most characterizes the reaction to cases like these is not anger, but fear.” I can speak personally when I say that Martese is level-headed and that it is his incredible work ethic that has led him to become both a Gates Millennium Scholar and the ONLY black student to serve on the UVA Honor Committee. While in high school, he maintained an excellent GPA and provided a positive example to myself and others. Though he used his position on the Honor Committee to advocate for black people, his language was far from incendiary, in-
seethe with anger, but I think the emotion that most characterizes the reaction to cases like these is not anger, but fear. As I watched Martese repeatedly cry out “I go to UVA!” in hopes that the officers would treat him better, I realized that any semblance of security I’ve managed to squeeze out of my student status is indeed its own polite fiction. I realized that I too am invested in the idea of meritocracy, believing implicitly that the work I do while here will furnish a level
education, my worldview, my politeness, my willingness to look the other way, my status as an alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy, my student status at Penn, my accolades, my accomplishments, my button-up shirts in pastel colors, my love of Ira Glass and Godard; none of this will save me — something that truly terrifies me. I think this case terrifies us all, especially those who want to believe that we have progressed as a people, because it seriously threatens
our own self-conception. If someone so utterly unassailable could be treated with such brutality, perhaps we aren’t actually the good people we like to believe that we are. So we look for ways to disassociate from these examples that threaten the comfortable myth that we’ve subscribed to. That’s why people were so quick to latch onto false reports that Martese had a fake ID — they wanted to make it about him and not themselves. Ultimately though, the solution to this paradigm will come as we force ourselves to deal with the truth as it exists, not as it makes us feel comfortable. All of us, especially those who purport to be activists and allies, have a responsibility to question and engage with these horrific acts of violence. What struck me most about the video of Martese’s arrest was not his treatment by the police. Rather, it was the white onlookers who shielded their eyes as they
THE VISION nimbly leapt past his body, content not to see or deal with the tragedy at their feet. We cannot continue to ignore our place in the violence that surrounds us, unless we are willing to accept that in so doing, we ensure that it will continue unabated.
JAMEEL MOHAMMED is a College sophomore from Chicago, Ill. His email address is jmoham@sas. upenn.edu. “The Vision” is a column for unfiltered black voices at Penn that appears every Tuesday.
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SAM SHERMAN is a College junior from Marblehead, Mass. His email address is samsherman6@gmail.com.
ALLISON LITT Associate Copy Editor JULIA FINE Associate Copy Editor
Reconsidering religion in society
BECKY TAYLOR-ASHFIELD Associate Copy Editor NICK BUCHTA Associate Copy Editor
THE IDEALISTIC PRAGMATIST | Why religion can be held accountable for shaping our society for better or for worse
TOM NOWLAN Associate Sports Editor CATHERINE SAID Social Media Producer COSETTE GASTELU Social Media Producer JESSICA MCDOWELL Deputy News Editor
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.
I
n her Wall Street Journal article published last week, “Why Islam Needs a Reformation,” Ayaan Hirsi Ali suggests key areas of reform for Islam to overcome what she sees as its oppressive and extremist elements. To Hirsi Ali, a seasoned critic of religion and especially Islam, being berated for her views after making them known to the world is much more the norm than the exception, and most often, one can be sure that it is not only the extremists who are the culprits. Few would disagree with the view that, in the 21st century, religion remains an intricate and controversial subject. In the debate on Islam, which has been revitalized in the media recently, spurred by the activity of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram in Nigeria as well as a series of terror attacks, the question of whether Islam is inherently promoting oppression and extremism has constituted
a particularly inflammatory vein in the public discourse. “It is foolish to insist [...] that the violent acts committed in the name of Islam can somehow be divorced from the religion itself,” argues Hirsi Ali in the article, tar-
a power tool veiling political non-religious undercurrents. But is Hirsi Ali right? If we take a moment to consider how religion is often treated in the public discourse, we might see that there is some legitimacy to Hirsi Ali’s
ideas. Every individual human being should be treated as equal, and rightly so, but this emphatically does not apply to ideas. Further, religion is far more than an individual relationship to faith, but something that has
Considering religion in isolation, or in a strictly theoretical and individualized sense, fails to consider the very real effects religions have on societies in the world.“ geting the popular sentiment that there is nothing or little in Islam itself inherently at fault in the problems we see in the Middle East today. “We in the West need to challenge and debate the very substance of Islamic thought and practice,” she urges. Opponents of this view hold that the problems are mainly or exclusively of a non-religious nature, and that what ostensibly seems to be rooted in religion is merely
claims. One could very well argue that we do often treat religion with a sort of immunity. We are free to believe what we want, the reasoning goes, and since religion is a personal matter, it is not to be an object of criticism. This is true, but only partially. A common mistake we make is to extend the idea of human rights — the categorical view that all humans are free and equal — to the realm of
tangible influences in political, social and other realms of life as well. Considering religion in isolation, or in a strictly theoretical and individualized sense, fails to consider the very real effects religions have on societies in the world. Hirsi Ali, as we can see, is indeed making a cogent case when she argues that we cannot divorce a religion from its real influences in society. Here, she argues, that Islam
does promote oppression and extremism, behaviors that are in conflict with Western liberal ideas. It must be noted that oppression and extremism are behaviors we hold as undesirable based on our own value judgments, and it is crucial to understand that even our most fundamental beliefs about human rights, and our interest in upholding them, are precisely that — value judgments. Inherent in making these judgments is also the idea that our beliefs are superior to those views we see to promote oppression and extremism, lest we should have moral relativism. This is echoed by the views of the American philosopher William James who argued that when we justify having a belief, it is imperative for us to consider its benefits to ourselves and society. No matter whether one agrees with Hirsi Ali’s views about the degree to which Islam is promoting oppression and extremism, it is neces-
OSCAR A. RUDENSTAM sary for us to see that any set of ideas, regardless of whether they are religious, political, cultural or of some other kind, are prone to have real effects on society. Religion, for all its sanctity and tradition, is no exception.
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.
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NEWS 5
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
Credit for community service? At Penn, it’s possible Netter Center summit outlines ABCS offerings PATRICK ZANCOLLI Staff Reporter
Coinciding with the first day of advanced registration for fall 2015, a summit held on Monday highlighted unique course options for Penn students. The Netter Center for Community Partnerships held its 12th annual ABCS Summit at the Shotel Dubin Auditorium in Penn Hillel. “The Summit is a way to showcase all ABCS work to the entire university,” ABCS Coordinator Janee Franklin said. ABCS, or academically based community service, courses are classes offered across the different schools at Penn for credit that integrate a service component into the academics. ABCS courses are “a way to enhance [students’] education,” Franklin said, as they prompt the question, “How do I use my college education to make a difference in the world?” The afternoon began with an open-house showcase of ABCS courses presented by students and
staff. At the beginning and end of the Summit, students presented “more in-depth snapshots” of research they did as part of their ABCS courses, Franklin said. The Netter Center brought back its ABCS Panel to the Summit this year. The panel presented how the classes have impacted the community and evaluated ways to improve the program. College sophomore Nicole Ventrone presented a showcase on URBS 323, “Tutoring in Schools: Theory and Practice.” The course is taught by Jackie Kasher, and it focuses on urban tutoring, especially literacy, Ventrone said. The class meets once a week in the evening for discussion, and students volunteer as tutors in Lea Elementary School twice a week. Ventrone said she was happy with her tutoring experience. “We’re really lucky that the teachers at Lea are really open to us working with their students,” she said. ABCS courses like URBS 323 really “[show] Penn’s involvement with the community,” Ventrone said. Nursing juniors Chantal Low and Sophie Mintz, TAs of NURS
299, presented their course at the Summit as well. Low and Mitz played an instrumental role in bringing NURS 299 to ABCS. Before the class existed, they volunteered on their own and later brought their volunteer experience to ABCS to help create a new opportunity for nursing students. “Coming to Penn, I was dying to take these ABCS classes,” Mintz said. Both her and Low expressed the importance of health care students to spend time in the community to enhance their science knowledge. “It is part of our responsibility as nurses and Penn students to reach out and share our knowledge of science with the community,” Mintz added. ABCS offerings are not limited to strictly classroom work. Nursing senior Erin Held, for example, shared her experience working with MUSC 018, “Music & Social Change,” as part of her work-study grant. In the program, Penn students go into Lea Elementary School and West Philly High School four times a week and work with local students in music programs such as chorus, band, and orchestra. The best
part about her experience with MUSC 018 has been “seeing the kids have something they enjoy,” Held said. ABCS courses have even inspired students to create their own organizations to serve the West Philly community. College sophomores Liza Lansing and Jessica Abrams created “Swipe
Out Hunger” as a result of their experience in Ira Harkavy’s course, URBS 178. “Swipe Out Hunger” addresses the problem of food insecurity in West Philadelphia. Since so many kids are on required meal plans here at Penn and their swipes go to waste, Lansing and Abrams designed this program to allow students to
use unwanted meal swipes to help solve this problem. “We could not have done this without the help of Dr. Harkavy,” Lansing said. “Basically he sat down with us and said ‘what’s mine is yours,’” in terms of resources. “I hope students will consider them during advanced registration,” Franklin said.
PATRICK ZANCOLLI | STAFF REPORTER
The Netter Center for Community Partnerships held its 12th annual ABCS Summit on Monday.
SFCU fraud still under investigation ANNA HESS Staff Reporter
Since 15 members of Penn’s Student Federal Credit Union fell victim to fraud earlier this year, the union as well as the Division of Public Safety have not issued any update on the investigation or on the outcome of the investigation. On Feb. 24, the SFCU issued members an advisory from DPS alerting them of an investigation into the fraud. At the time, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said accounts were robbed of anywhere from $400 to $1,600, with most cases involving a $400 to $500 loss.
Rush also said the unauthorized transactions were committed mostly outside of the Philadelphia area, as far as Las Vegas, Florida and Canada. It was unclear whether the information was stolen online and whether the cases are connected. DPS declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. The SFCU responded to a request for comment with a statement that said members are not considered liable for the fraud if they report it in a “timely manner.” The SFCU deferred further comment to DPS. The Office of Information Security has been consulting with DPS and SFCU to identify
potential threats to credit cards in an effort to help inform the ongoing investigations, Information Security Officer Joshua Beeman wrote in an email. Beeman added that the most common methods of fraud over the last year include skimmers, which take information off scanned credit cards, and large scale data breaches such as those that recently occurred at Target and Home Depot.
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SFCU student accounts were robbed of anywhere from $400 to $1,600, with most cases involving a $400 to $500 loss.
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6 NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
PENN STUDENT GROUP
BRACKET
This year, the DP is putting a spin on the classic “March Madness” tournament. 32 of Penn’s student groups will compete via popular vote in OUR bracket.
??? Asian Pacific Student Coalition | Assembly of International Students | Black Wharton Undergraduate Association | Bloomers | College Republicans | Counterparts | Government and Politics Association (GPA) | International Affairs Association | Lambda Alliance | Latin@ Coalition | Mask and Wig Club | MERT | MUSE | Nominations and Elections Committee (NEC) | Penn Band | Penn Democrats | Penn Dhamaka | Penn Masala | Penn Quidditch | Penn Taiwanese Society | Penn Vegan Society | PennSori | Penny Loafers | PennYo | Punch Bowl | ShabBatones | Strictly Funk | Student Activities Council (SAC) | UMOJA | Undergraduate Assembly (UA) | United Minorities Council | Wharton Women
??? YOU DECIDE WHO WINS. www.thedp.com/PENNBRACKET
THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN
Former congressman shares political advice Rob Andrews discusses his career with Penn students JOHN BARTLETT Contributing Reporter
It takes a congressman to know Congress. On Monday night former Congressman and Penn parent Rob Andrews spoke to students for the first of the Government and Politics Association’s four events this week. Andrews’ daughter, Jacquelyn, is currently a senior in the College. Andrews retired last year from the House of Representatives, where he represented New Jersey’s first congressional district for 24 years. He said since then, he has spent much time reflecting on his political career, and the changes in the social and political climate during his tenure. Andrews talked about how current social concerns include getting women and minorities more involved in professional settings, and he showed optimism on the progress being made. “Congressman Andrews spoke a lot about bipartisanship and taking yourself outside your comfort zone, which we at GPA really try to do when we foster dialogues between different political views,” GPA president and College sophomore Sarah Simon said. “So I really appreciate him talking about how important that is.” When asked about financing political campaigns, something he did much of during his 24 year tenure in Congress, Andrews stressed that the source of such funding is important. While some big name companies may be willing to donate huge sums
of money to one party or another, another approach to fundraising which Andrews supported is receiving small donations from many sources all across the country. Such a strategy often looks better to the general public, he said, for it keeps politicians away from the impression that they are allied with a specific business. Andrews’ campaign funds have been called into question in the past. He resigned last February amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into his use of campaign funds. He was also named one of the most corrupt members of Congress in 2012 and 2013 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. In addition to describing the current social and political climate in America, Andrews also reminded listeners of their increasing role in society and politics going into the future. Talking about issues and expressing a desire for authorities to make changes about them are a good step, he said, but he also urged students to take action in changing their own behavior and take command as they grow into roles of greater responsibility over the coming years. GPA members were impressed by Andrews’ speech. “Congressman Andrews had a lot to say about our generation for the present and the future in terms of civic engagement and improving the communities around us,” Jisoo Kim, a College freshman and GPA member, said. “It was empowering to hear from someone who has served over 20 years in Congress and has maintained a high level of expertise in a wide variety of fields.”
NEWS 7
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
New app is Tinder for tastebuds Nibbly matches users with new restaurants LILY JONES Contributing Reporter
For those Penn students who would like to expand their dietary horizons, look no further. New options are only a swipe away. Startup mobile application Nibbly is a new destination for anyone interested in finding new restaurants that fit their tastes. Formerly known as Lettuce, the company was founded by 2013 Wharton graduate Andre Borczuk and his high school friend Andrew Hitti. The pair recently raised $100,000 in funding with the help of Zalmi Duchman, founder of delivery website The Fresh Diet. The funds came from Duchman as well as friends and family and the Director of Entrepreneurship at Columbia University, Hitti’s alma mater. Duchman contacted Borczuk and Hitti after reading about the company online. Nibbly is directed at audiences from around the world, especially young office workers and frequent travelers, but the app was also created with college students in mind. “We are trying to make it really easy to become a foodie and it’s a good time to start when you’re in college and you’re in this new place,” Borczuk said. The app’s users are not expected to be familiar with the local dining scene. In fact, Borczuk himself has never been a food expert. “Being a new foodie, it’s kind of scary because ... you don’t know what’s good,” he said. Many Penn students feel the same way when they first come to Philadelphia and don’t know where to eat.
“As a transfer student to Penn, I was originally unsure of the food options in and around University City,” Colleen DiStefano, a College sophomore said. “After I downloaded [Nibbly], I quickly learned that there were various options available to me.” Borczuk and Hitti believe that Nibbly’s mobile-friendly presentation makes the application stand out from other, more generic food review websites such as Yelp. “If you’re on a desktop computer, [Yelp] makes perfect sense, but on a phone it’s really not great,” Borczuk said. Nibbly’s clean layout allows users to access information about restaurants easily on smart phones and tablets. “As a foodie, I’m always looking to try new restaurants,” DiStefano said. “Once I discovered [Nibbly], I was excited to explore new places to eat at based on what I was in the mood for.” The app also connects users with similar interests, serving as a form of social media. The software allows for the creation of taste profiles based on the user’s price range, location and favorite types of food. Its layout is similar to those of popular dating sites such as Tinder. Users swipe restaurants right or left based on the information they are given about the restaurant, including menu, hours and reviews, among other things. A swipe to the right indicates an interest in the restaurant. “The user interface is super similar to an app I’m so ... familiar with, Tinder, which has really allowed me to parse through restaurants efficiently and find some great spots I don’t think I would have come across otherwise,” College junior Nick Zaza said. “For any Tinder enthusiast like myself, this app is a complete right swipe.”
FRANZIA >> PAGE 1
A recent Forbes article suggests that worrying over the report is not necessary. The lawsuit compares levels of arsenic in wine to the legal arsenic limit in water, which is based on the average person’s consumption of 2 liters of water a day. A person would have to drink about 2 liters of Franzia a day for it to be harmful, and at that point, the potential liver damage would be a more pressing issue than the
toxin, the Forbes article said. The wines tested in the st udy included Fra nzia White Grenache and Trader Joe’s White Zinfandel. Joseph Baur, an assistant professor of the school of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, was also surprised by these findings. “As far as I am aware, no one really knew the level of arsenic in most wines, and it’s surprising that it would be above the limit considered safe for drinking water,” Baur wrote in an email.
theDP.com
HOLY WEEK Schedule of Services
Palm Sunday • 29 March 10.30 am Procession of palms and passion reading Wednesday in Holy Week • 1 April 7 pm Tenebrae: Service of Light and Darkness Maundy Thursday • 2 April 7 pm Joint service with footwashing at St. Mary’s at Penn, 3916 Locust Walk Good Friday • 3 April 7 pm Service with solemn reproaches The Great Vigil of Easter • 4 April 9 pm Blessing of fire and light, service of readings, and communion
PUPPIES!! AT PENN!!
...need we say more?
Easter Sunday • 5 April 9.30 am Breakfast 10.30 am Festival service with communion 3637 Chestnut Street www.uniluphila.org
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Check out this week’s feature in
8 NEWS
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
Racing with Penn Electric
‘Swipe Out Hunger’ this Wed. One swipe increases food assistance by over double
competitive race car that is fully functional and better-equipped than REV0, I also want to grow the team, keep everyone involved and share my insights and passion with my teammates,� said team manager and Engineering junior Manfred Reiche. “Besides getting to do doughnuts in the Citizen’s Bank stadium parking lot during the race car driving tests, I come back to work here every day because I’m not just building a car,� Engineering sophomore Daniel Shanks said. “I am learning each step in the creative design process and then manufacturing my own designs.� COURTESY OF SADE OBA Shanks, who has some exStudents in the Penn Electric Racing Team built an electric race perience working on go-carts car that can exceed 100 miles per hour. back home in Indiana, relishes the opportunity to work with The team’s car is known from last year’s competition, high-end 3D machines and the Penn team is ramping up welding equipment, which is a as REV1 manufacturing on REV1 and major upgrade from the handpushing towards the finish line. saws and hammers he is used JONATHAN WEYAND Contributing Reporter One of the major modifications to. the team is making to REV1 is And while some team memWhile they might not be able to make the car lighter. On the bers have a lot of experience, use it on their endless trek down back of REV0, there were two many people who join Penn to the Engineering quad, a team huge engines and a very large Electric Racing have never of 35 Penn students have hand- battery pack weighing the car even thought about power train, built an electric race car that down. And while last year’s suspension or even cooling syscan exceed 100 miles per hour. car could reach top speeds of tems, let alone how to actually The car is known as REV1 100 mph, the formula racing design and build these car comand is the second vehicle built competition is not necessarily ponents from scratch. by the Penn Electric Racing all about speed. Race cars are “I always bring people in the team. Last year, the team com- graded on endurance, accelera- shop and show them what we do peted in the Formula Society of tion and change of direction. As here because I want to educate Automotive Engineers student a result, the team built just one and encourage students about races for the first time. The engine, sacrificing speed in the incredible opportunity to Penn team designed and built favor of a more dynamic, du- build a car from the ground up,� their own electric car, REV0, rable car. Engineering junior Parth Patel and competed at the race in On this team, it is not just said. Lincoln, Neb. about how fast the race car can Patel is the only electrical “Last year was a feeling out accelerate from 0 to 60, but also engineer on the team. He hopes year for us, and this year I really how efficiently it can reduce the buzz circulating around believe that a top-three finish is emissions to zero. Still, the the team’s latest race car will within reach,� said Adam Fara- Penn Electric Racing team has encourage others to join in the baugh, one of the team leaders a lot more in mind than speed future. and an Engineering senior. and efficiency. With the knowledge gained “In addition to building a
LOWELL NEUMANN NICKEY Contributing Reporter
Still frustrated about all your leftover meal swipes at the end of each semester? Now you can put them to good use. Swipe Out Hunger, a national organization that combats food insecurity by encouraging college students to donate leftover meal swipes, will officially launch at Penn on Wednesday. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. students can pass by the Gourmet Grocer at 1920 Commons to donate up to two meal swipes to local nonprofit Philabundance. A second event is scheduled for April 28. The program is a result of the efforts of College sophomores Liza Lansing and Jessica Abrams after they realized the extent of hunger in Philadelphia. “A lot of people don’t understand what food insecurity actually is,� Abrams said. “Many of these people pay bills, rent and other expenses
CONSULTING >> PAGE 1
backgrounds.� Wharton and College sophomore Chris Wu said consulting is a good “entry point� for fresh graduates to figure out their career passions, but this might not necessarily be a positive trend. “The industry is very general, so you can of course learn a lot of things, but I think that consulting has turned into a vortex that sucks people in. It feels like if you don’t know what you want to do, you just go do consulting,� he said. “I think it’s better to be purposeful and have a reason
SUDOKUPUZZLE
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Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.
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“The brilliance of the Swipes model is in its simplicity,â€? Jared Fenton, a College sophomore, said. Once a student donates their swipes, they can “choose either 5 or 10 food items that they would like to donate to hungry families in West Philadelphia,â€? he said. Bon AppĂŠtit will partner with Philabundance to distribute the food to those in need. Philabundance is the largest nonprofit food bank in the Philadelphia/ Delaware Valley area and provides assistance to a round 75,000 people a week. Lansing and Abrams are also encouraging students to take the “$4 Challenge.â€? This challenges students to live on the average federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits a recipient receives. Penn students can also increase a beneficiary’s food assistance by more than double with a simple meal swipe donation. “One swipe amounts to more than a day’s worth of an individual’s SNAP benefits,â€? said Lansing.
for why you are doing your job.� According to career plan survey reports from Career Services, consulting has consistently ranked as the second-most-popular job — after investment banking — pursued by Penn students. And the industry appeals to more than just Wharton students. For majors ranging from chemical engineering to philosophy, politics and economics, consulting firms are constantly the top hirers. “Consulting actually draws on people from different backgrounds. The diversity is what the clients are paying for. They want to have people with different ideas to help
with their problems,� said College and Wharton senior Linda Li, who was the former vice president of the Wharton Undergraduate Consulting Club. Li will take a full-time job offer for a consulting firm in New York after she graduates. Students are also attracted to the broad range of consulting firms that exist. “We normally think of consulting as management consulting and firms like McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group,� Rose said. “But there [is] pharmaceutical consulting, technology consulting and so on. There are different firms doing different work that have particular niches. That’s why you see consulting attracting students from all majors.� Statistics have shown that, in the past few years, the share of consulting in Penn students’ post-graduation plans has been shrinking slightly year by year, partly due to the rise of technology related careers and start-ups. Nevertheless, Rose said consulting will remain popular for the foreseeable future. “I have been here for 30 years, and consulting has been popular since I got here,� she said. “There will always be consulting and it will always be a popular career choice.�
125 South 40th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 921-9580 store
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before realizing they won’t have enough left over for food.â€? “We want to disentangle homelessness and hunger,â€? she added. It was during their freshman year that Lansing and Abrams first heard about Swipe Out Hunger, which was founded at University of California, Los Angeles. The pair knew they wanted to bring the organization to Penn but struggled to find the proper channels to go through. They turned to their professor, Ira Harkavy, who is also the director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, to finally get the ball rolling. “At first we couldn’t even get a meeting on our own ... We just didn’t know where to start,â€? Lansing said. “Dr. Harkavy really showed us how to navigate the Penn bureaucracy.â€? But once they were underway, things started falling into place. “We found out that Bon AppĂŠtit is actually a very proactive company when it comes to caring about and working with students,â€? Lansing said.
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NEWYORKTIMESCROSSWORDPUZZLE
Edited by Will Shortz
Crossword
ACROSS
26
1 Enemy
of the pictured animal 4 Items checked at the airport 8 Talk, talk, talk 11 *Fruit juice brand 14 Managed care grp. 15 Wife of Charlie Chaplin 16 Hero war pilot 17 7’6� Ming of the N.B.A. 18 Kellogg’s Cracklin’ ___ Bran 19 Like Superman’s vision 20 First U.S. color TV maker 21 Pi follower 22 2000 novelty hit ‌ or a hint to the answers to the nine starred clues
27 28 31 35 36 37 38 41 42 43 44 45 49 50 51 52 53
___ pro nobis Tristan’s love, in Camelot Singer Guthrie They convert hides to leather Car radio button Remove, as a dictator Feminine suffix Pago Pago islander Diplomacy “Don’t ask me!� Suffix with Dixie Curb’s place Clock radio toggle switch Hydrant attachment Flips a coin Sgts., e.g. Decorative pitcher *Relentless pursuer
A B A T E D
L E I A M O R E N O
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M E R C A T O R R E T R A X T A C O I N K O U N T U R G Y T S P O O O A K F O R C E O D L E R O E A D R A T E E N T R D S A
H A C K S
I N K Y
J E S T D E M A R E A T S L K A I E G R R S A U E N I M E E M P T A E E D D D
O A T E R S
D R E A M A B H O O U A T R J F A L I O L
Skateboarder’s challenge
59
Wonder product
60
59-Across, after crisping
I E L S E P A L L E G E
L A U D E D
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W E E D
1
4
65
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66
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35
5
6
19
29
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69
One coming down for a landing?
44
DOWN 2 Indian
nursemaid
3 Pooch
in Oz
4 *One
working on a canvas?
5 Largest
pest
8 Busch
10
*Darwin’s ship
11
Firebug
12
Frequent vacation locale for Obama
13
___ point
23
Dress to the nines, say
24
Jacob’s twin
32
33
34
61
62
63
21
31 36 39
37
40
41 43 45
46
47
48
49
51
57
58
54
52 55
59
60 66
67
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69
PUZZLE BY BRUCE HAIGHT
25
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___
9 Narrative
13
25
65
29
7 Greet
12
17
64
blood
6 Annoying
11
27
30
50
56
10
24
53
1 *Grub
9
20
23
38
68
8 16
26
42
7
15
22
28
Mannerly man
3
18
Luau entertainers
67
2
14
64
vessel
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE E N T S
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No. 0217
30 32 33 34
Went from one seat to two, maybe Lend a hand Entertain, as with a bedtime story Madagascar primates Lined up Box up *Volleyball position
39
Slippery as ___
40
Middling
45
Like the Incas
55
Unspecified degrees
56
*___ nose
1960s Borgnine sitcom title role
57
“Likable� prez
58
Write
47
*Kind of skirt or haircut
61
Sick ___ dog
Spartans’ sch.
62
48 54
“___ put it another way ‌â€?
One going on foot in the mountains?
63
Norse god of war
46
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