MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Divesting from displacement Controversy sparked after group asks U. to divest from orgs that displace people JONATHAN BAER Staff Reporter
In early March, Penn students voted to pass a referendum for Penn to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Last
PHEATURE: RANGHOLI PAGE 2
week, a coalition of student groups announced their plans for a different divestment proposal, but this time it’s a bit more controversial. Eight student groups — Penn Arab Student Society, Penn for Immigrant Rights, Penn Students for Justice in Palestine, Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation, Penn Amnesty International, Penn Non-Cis and the
Student Labor Action Project — announced in a Daily Pennsylvanian guest column on March 30 a new divestment movement called Penn Divest from Displacement, which proposes the University divest from corporations that profit through practices that displace people. Penn Divest from Displacement identified seven companies involved
in “human rights abuses related to the displacement of peoples.” The companies listed are involved in such fields as the private prison industry, drone manufacturing and the weaponization of bulldozers used against Palestinian homes in the West Bank. The final point is where much of the SEE DIVESTMENT PAGE 3
Kimmy
goes to
The common theme [among Ivies] is a lack of relevancy of student government to the lives of the average student voter.” - The Daily Pennsylvanian PAGE 4
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PENN SPEC Connaissance will host a talk by Ellie Kemper on April 21 ELLIE SCHROEDER Staff Reporter
If you’ve already binge-watched the first season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” on Netflix, you’re in luck. Star of the new series Ellie Kemper, who plays Kimmy, will speak at Penn on April 21 in an event produced by the Social Planning and Events Committee. She is expected to discuss her career and experiences, and students will be able to interact with her in a question-and-answer session. The new series was co-created by writer and comedian Tina Fey, best known for her role on “Saturday Night Live,” and television screenwriter Robert Carlock, a former writer for “Saturday Night Live” and “Friends.” Season one of the series hit Netflix in March and was quickly met with high ratings and critical acclaim. Kemper was involved in improv and comedy groups as an undergraduate at Princeton University and has been SEE KEMPER PAGE 9
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Righting wrongful arrest
Student awarded $80,000 for 2011 Occupy Phila. arrest DAVID CAHN Staff Reporter
On Thursday, a Penn doctoral candidate was awarded $80,000 in compensation after his wrongful arrest in the 2011 Occupy Philadelphia protests, according to a philly.com article. Sociology Ph.D. student Gregory Harris was arrested in 2011 for assault after allegedly elbowing a police officer while he observed an Occupy Philadelphia protest for his dissertation. On April 2, a federal civil court jury found that Harris was wrongfully arrested. In 2011, Municipal Court Judge Karen Simmons dismissed all charges against Harris, which included aggravated assault, riot, recklessly endangering another person and resisting arrest. She ruled there was not enough evidence to demonstrate that Harris, who was in the middle of a large crowd, intentionally injured the police officer in question. Occupy Philadelphia was a movement about income inequality that began after the financial crisis in 2008. The movement’s goal was to highlight the impact of inequality on “the 99%.”
Many obstacles for individualized majors Complex policies turn students away from pursuing the route
JOE LI Staff Reporter
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Penn student Gregory Harris was arrested during the 2011 Occupy Philadelphia protest after allegedly elbowing a police officer.
Harris was arrested along with 51 other demonstrators at Dilworth Plaza when Philadelphia Police decided to clear the Occupy encampment. The jury decided not to award
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Harris punitive damages, which are damages intended to punish the City of Philadelphia for wrongdoing, his lawyer said. It did award him $80,000 in compensatory damages.
The individualized major is listed among the College of Arts and Science’s roughly 60 existing courses of study, but only a handful of students pursue the option. Each year, typically fewer than five students graduate with an individualized major — in 2012 there was only one. Students interested in an individualized major must go through a series of procedures much more complicated than declaring an existing major. Declaration forms for existing majors are usually one page long, but the individualized major application is a thick stack of paperwork including instructions for the declaration process, forms to request faculty advisors and worksheets for which classes to take.
“We want this to be a very serious application. It’s not something you can just walk in the office and declare, without doing all the research and deliberations,” said Hocine Fetni, assistant dean for academic advising in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Every month I have about 10 students come to me and say they are interested in doing an individualized major. But after I explain to them the process, most of them are not interested anymore.” Not everyone agrees with the school’s policy. One of them is College junior Merv Arnold-Lyons, who attempted to pursue an individualized major but was turned away by the process. Arnold-Lyons was interested in combining studies of psychology, design and marketing, which relate to his start-up called Hangify, a social networking mobile app. Arnold-Lyons recalled his meeting SEE MAJORS PAGE 9
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