March 28, 2016

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MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2016

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Penn Bracket 2016 vote at theDP.com/PennBracket

Asian group loses U.Council seat

Students fight for lost seat with online petition SYDNEY SCHAEDEL Deputy News Editor

Five minority groups, including the Asian Pacific Student Coalition, currently have a seat on the University Council. But APSC has not been guaranteed a spot for the upcoming year. The five groups are the Latino Student Coalition, UMOJA, which

encompasses student groups of the African Diaspora, the United Minorities Council, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition and the Lambda Alliance — known informally as the “5B.” In the latest round of elections, the Nominations and Elections Committee voted to fill nine of the 15 seats that are reserved for student groups. Three of the six remaining seats are designated for the Undergraduate Assembly President, Vice President and Speaker, and the

final three seats, known as “flex seats,” are up for grabs as soon as the NEC elects its new board, which then votes on who will fill the flex seats. Sometimes these seats are decided by the end of the spring semester, but sometimes it takes until the beginning of fall. Either way, APSC is now pushing to be guaranteed one of them. But for now, APSC chair and College junior Sarah Cho said the lack of representation among the nine regular

student groups is problematic. “This adds to several prominent Asian-American issues that are on campus and nationwide: the problem of visibility, the problem of the ‘model minority,’ the fact that our issues aren’t heard,” she said. “It’s allowing more serious problems of discrimination and prejudice to fester right under all of our SEE COUNCILPAGE 2

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Penn DINING DIDN’T REFUND FRESHMAN WHO COULDN’T EAT AT DINING HALLS JACOB WINICK Staff Reporter

It might seem natural to dismiss social media activism as being just another empty, attention-seeking hashtag. PAGE 4

F

or Engineering freshman Hannah Sheetz, Penn’s dining experience has been nothing short of, as she put it, “terrible.” Sheetz suffers from severe celiac disease, which causes her to become violently ill when she consumes gluten. Unlike many people who avoid gluten for dietary reasons, Sheetz’s disease has made planning her meals a lifetime struggle. Even tiny amounts of gluten, unnoticeable to many, can leave Sheetz feeling extremely sick.

Although her dietary restriction all but prevents her from eating at dining halls, Penn Dining and Student Disability Services have continually refused to refund her meal plan. According to multiple lawyers interviewed by The Daily Pennsylvanian, her treatment by Penn Dining and SDS may even be in violation of laws protecting students with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act apply to

Penn as a private college because it receives federal funding. The laws require Penn to reasonably modify their policies in order to provide “equivalent access” to benefits for disabled students, said Rutgers Law School professor and disability SEE DINING PAGE 2

-Cameron Dichter

Double tap for activism

Third safety alert in four days sent after robbery

Soph. built a following on Instagram for his posts ELIZABETH WINSTON Staff Reporter

The Division of Public Safety declared the area all-clear after 6 min. DAN SPINELLI City News Editor

A Friday night robbery on the 200 block of 42nd Street spawned the third UPennAlert in four days. The Division of Public Safety issued an alert at 7:26 p.m. and were able to declare the area “allclear” six minutes later. Around 7:04 p.m., Penn Police responded to a robbery at a house on 42nd Street near Walnut. The victim, who was affiliated with Penn, received a visit from the suspect, who claimed that the victim had received a package intended for him, DPS said in a statement on Friday. Even though the package was addressed to the victim, the suspect grabbed it and ran off after a “brief struggle,” DPS said. No weapon was used and nobody was injured. On Wednesday night, DPS sent a UPennAlert after a student was seen leaving Huntsman Hall with a knife. The next day, a series of electrical explosions under 34th Street near Walnut Street spurred another safety alert.

COURTESY OF TAYLOR HAMILTON

College sophomore Taylor Hamilton takes social activism on to Instagram through his passion for drawing.

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College sophomore Taylor Hamilton is turning his passion for drawing into a platform for social activism. Hamilton found a love for drawing when, as a four-year-old, he used to copy the cartoons that he would see on television. Now, he uses his work to draw attention to social injustices. “I mostly want to show in a universally understandable image, for the people who don’t always see the extent of what’s wrong into these certain cases, in a way that everyone can understand,” Hamilton said. At Penn, Hamilton is a part of Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation, also known as SOUL, which he thinks goes hand-in-hand with what he writes and draws about. As Hamilton began exploring his potential as a writer, he found themes that he considered worth translating into artwork.

Originally, Hamilton’s work was on his Facebook account, and only his friends and family had access to his pieces. Eventually, he decided to start an Instagram account to showcase his art. He used the alias “Kiakili” on his account. The word “kiakili” is Swahili for “emotional intellectual,” which Hamilton said fits his personality. “I’m a very free-thinking and thoughtful person who tends to show emotions visually,” Hamilton said. His account was originally recognized for his depictions of famous people, until a drawing that he uploaded relating to police brutality went viral. In June 2015, a video circulated on the internet showing a police officer roughly restraining a bikini-clad 14-year-old for being too rowdy at a pool party in Texas. Commentators argued that the girl would not have been treated with such brute force if she wasn’t black. In response to the incident, Hamilton created a photo depicting the scene that garnered over 1,300 likes on his account SEE INSTA PAGE 3

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