THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2015
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
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Leaving behind barriers
YOLANDA CHEN/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
President Amy Gutmann speaks at a University Council meeting in February during which she introduced the Task Force on Student Psychological Health and Welfare.
Students face stigma, administrative difficulties associated with taking leaves of absence SOPHIA WITTE Senior Reporter
Last spring, College freshman Kathryn Dewitt was facing her own crisis amidst a semester marked by two student suicides in three weeks. The peak of her crisis — a hospitalization related to her mental health — happened just a few days after the death of then-College freshman Madison Holleran, who lived on the same floor as her. Even though her personal issues had been culminating for months, the thought of taking a leave of absence from Penn had never crossed her mind. “Penn thought it was best for me to take
SMOKES’ BOUNCER’S SECRETS PAGE 8
time to take care of myself, but I wasn’t in my capacity to hear their reasoning that it could be a good option,” Dewitt said. “When you only see people doing amazing things and graduating in the typical four years, you don’t see a leave as part of the typical Penn experience. I thought it was far too deviant, too abnormal.” While Penn students take leaves of absence for various reasons, including working on a political campaign and pursuing a startup idea, those dealing with mental health issues stress that leaves must become an acceptable step for students to take on the path to graduating. The Task Force on Student Psychological Health and Welfare — created in the wake of six student suicides over 15 months — advised the University in February to not only clarify its policy on leaves of absence, but to address the stigma associated with taking time off
from school. While each of the undergraduate schools has worked to emphasize the consistent process for taking and returning from a leave, many students hold that the administrative complications of taking a leave, coupled with students’ own perceptions about taking time off, prevent them from making decisions that may be best for their wellbeing. “There’s a need to create campus unity about leaves of absence,” Dewitt said. “I have hope that work can be done so that students recognize that leaves can be important and normalized at Penn.” Feeling caught in an ‘only option’ position Along with medical complications from asthma that left her hospitalized, Dewitt’s crisis last spring came out of a combination of family issues, difficulties with the social transition to Penn and
academic struggles in classes in which she had hoped to major and excel. “On top of everything, seeing my academic dream, and generally my set plan, disintegrate was kind of hard,” she said. “A lot of mental games were going on from it all.” Though Dewitt knew staying at Penn was worsening her mental state, she did not seriously look into the possibility of taking a leave. “Even before coming back for second semester, I was caught in the duality of not wanting to be at Penn, but also not wanting to be at home,” she said. “I didn’t see another alternative to staying at Penn, and it’s never a good place to be feeling like you’re in an ‘only option’ position.” After being released from the hospital for mental health reasons, students are highly encouraged by the administration to take time off. In Dewitt’s case, she left
Trading paychecks for work experience ELLIE SCHROEDER Staff Reporter
I vowed, once again, to never come out. PAGE 4
THE STATE OF PENN ATHLETICS BACK PAGE
SEE LEAVES OF ABSENCE PAGE 7
CAREERS
The pros and cons of unpaid internships
- Katie Sgarro
the hospital to find her PennCard deactivated and her dorm room locked. Rob Nelson, Penn’s executive director for education and academic planning, said students dealing with many overlapping pressures or personal difficulties often fail to see the potential benefits of taking a leave. “When students are facing any combination of high-pressure situations and putting a lot of pressure on themselves, it can feel like [leaves] are punitive,” Nelson said. “But in reality, they’re there to help students get out of those situations and handle the problem in order to come back and succeed.” Penn gave Dewitt a chance to prove that she was well enough to continue her semester. With family pressure to resume classes, coupled with an internal sense of
DP FILE PHOTO
After a summer internship at Equis Funds Group, a private equity fund in Singapore, Wharton junior Connie Chen returned back to the United States $5,000 in debt. Despite receiving funding from Penn’s International Internship Program, Chen said the fund only covered her transportation and some small living expenses. Pricey housing in Singapore and the cost of living meant that even with the funding, she was still in debt for the summer. Like many Penn students, Chen returned
Dining dollars disappoint, Penn students say Dining dollars are the monetary equivalent of regular dollars
SEE DINING DOLLARS PAGE 2
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SEE INTERNSHIPS PAGE 10
#Wharton’s social media strategy The social accounts target potential, current students and alumni
JEFFREY CAREYVA Staff Reporter
Penn Dining’s Meal Swipe Conversion Policy has some students questioning the value of a dining plan. Until the end of April, any student who signs up for a fall meal plan may convert 10 to 50 meal swipes into dining dollars at a rate of $4.75 per swipe. This value is lower than a meal swipe’s value on any year-long meal plan by a significant margin. Swipe equiva lents ra nge from
in the fall with real-world experience and empty pockets. Chen spent a lot of the summer organizing basic Excel spreadsheets and making preliminary calculations. But she also gained some rewarding skills, such as researching how to best allocate the company’s $50,000 corporate social responsibility fund. “The job just sounded really good, so now that I have that on my resume, it’s much easier to maybe get something through PennLink this summer,” Chen said. Chen chose the internship because it aligned better with her long-term goals, even though it led to financial loss in the shortterm.
BRYN FERGUSON Staff Reporter
DP FILE PHOTO
The Fresh Grocer is one of the establishments that takes Drexel’s DragonDollars but not Penn’s dining dollars.
When it comes to Wharton’s social media strategy, what may seem like a one-man show is in fact a large operation. Stefan Frank is the director of new media communications at the Wharton School, namely the director of the school’s social media. He oversees the team of people creating the posts seen by social media users, from future Whartonites to proud parents to others across the globe. SEE WHARTON PAGE 9
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