THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2015
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Students survive Amtrak crash
Rising Engineering senior recounts his experience on the train DAN SPINELLI News Editor
At least one Penn student was in the Amtrak train that derailed two weeks ago.
Engineering senior and former Daily Pennsylvanian staffer Josh Pearlstein was seated in the third car of Northeast Regional Train No. 188, which was traveling from Washington, D.C. to New York before it went off the tracks. Eight passengers died in the accident, with all other passengers being
accounted for now. Pearlstein boarded the train at 30th Street Station and planned to get off in Newark, N.J. He had been on the train for about 10 minutes before he felt the car going too fast around a bend. “It didn’t occur to me that the train was going too fast until we turned,” he said.
Trains are generally restricted to 50 miles per hour upon entering the curve, Robert Sumwalt, a National Transportation Safety Board official, said in a news conference. The Amtrak train was clocked at 106 mph — over twice the speed limit SEE AMTRAK PAGE 2
PENN GRADS ENCOURAGED TO MAKE “TANGIBLE DIFFERENCE” Samantha Power told graduates to find a “world outside Penn” CAROLINE SIMON News Editor
At the 259th Commencement Ceremony at Franklin Field, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power warned the Class of 2015 about international problems — and provided tangible ways to solve them. “The world outside Penn’s walls leaves a lot to be desired. That is diplomatic speak for things are really screwed up,” Power said. “But there are four ways that — no matter the field or the profession, the country or the scale — you can improve your odds of making a tangible difference in a world that needs you.” Power used real-world examples from past and present to encourage graduates to “act as if,” “know something about something,” “bring others along” and “humanize your cause.” She illustrated her points by discussing topics that ranged from Boko Haram extremist violence and Ebola outbreaks to Benjamin Franklin’s SEE COMMENCEMENT PAGE 5
The Class of 2015 gathers on Franklin Field for the 259th Commencement Ceremony, featuring United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.
COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Where it all began: Students revisit their freshman hall
Pitching in: Penn Masala appears in Pitch Perfect 2
Three years later, the hall reunites for Hey Day
The a capella group was the only real college team in the film
JESSICA MCDOWELL News Editor
LAVI BEN DOR Staff Reporter
The narrow and normally stuffy hallway of Riepe College House is now completely claustrophobic. Almost 20 students are crammed into the winding space, dressed in their bright red T-shirts and styrofoam hats. They haven’t all stood together in this hall for two years. The students, now juniors, all met when they lived in this hall their freshman year. Now, as they celebrate Hey Day after three years at Penn, they’re back to pay their old stomping grounds a visit. I’m pressed up against the wall firmly as they crowd around me. Rising College senior Spencer Jaffe, who has appointed himself my guide for the day, gives me a breakdown of his friends’ freshman personas. “So all of us lived here, in this hall, our freshman year. We are all still really close friends, and all of us still live with other people from this hall,” he says excitedly. He’s ready to elaborate, but one of his former hallmates cuts him off affectionately. “Spencer, she’s not taking notes. Do you
Few Penn students can say that they have appeared in a film that had the biggest-ever opening for a musical movie. But when “Pitch Perfect 2” debuted on May 15 and earned almost $70 million over its first weekend, the members of Penn’s South Asian all-male a cappella group, Penn Masala, earned that distinction.
SEE HALL PAGE 8
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COURTESY OF CHETAN KHANNA
Penn Masala joins the cast of Pitch Perfect 2 at the movie’s premiere
MENTAL HEALTH POLICY PAGE 8
… we should stop pretending that what we’re doing now is enough …”
Almost a dozen Penn Masala members appear in the movie, which is a sequel to the 2012 film about competitive collegiate a cappella singing, as the Indian national team at the world a cappella championship. They, along with several other ensembles from around the world, performed Journey’s “Any Way You Want It.” Each group in the sequence sang their portions of the song in a language of the country they represented. The film’s director and 1996 SEE MASALA PAGE 3
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— Annika Neklason PAGE 4
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