THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Can SEPTA survive the papal visit?
MILESTONES FOR PENN GSE AND MED SCHOOL
After surviving a website crash and numerous delays, tickets will be sold by lottery system VAMSEE MUPPARAPU Staff Reporter
Public transit users will need to get extra lucky in order to get around Philadelphia during the pope’s visit. SEPTA announced on Wednesday that it will use a lottery system to sell 350,000 Regional Rail Passes for the weekend of Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia. The lottery, which will be hosted by Amazon, will be held through the SEPTA website on Monday, Aug. 3, from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams said in the July 28 press conference that everyone has an equal chance of receiving a pass and that applications are not impacted by the time of submission. TicketLeap, a Philadelphia-based online ticket sales and marketing company, will review all entries once the lottery is closed to remove fraudulent and suspicious entries. Interested riders can only submit one entry, but, if selected, can purchase up to 10 tickets for $10 each. Applicants will be able to enter their top three preferred rail stations, however they are limited to only the 18 Regional Rail Stations that will offer train service the weekend of the pope’s visit. All other Regional Rail Stations will be closed. Emails will be sent out on Aug. 6 to the SEPTA lottery winners notifying them that they have three days to purchase the tickets online. SEPTA’s preparation for Pope Francis’s visit on the weekend of Sept. 26-27 began once the pope confirmed in November of 2014 that he would attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. On June 16, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, along with officials of SEPTA, Amtrak, PATCO and other agencies announced that Regional Rail trains, subways and trolleys would run truncated routes that weekend, stopping at only 31 of the usual 282 stations. Their plans went quickly awry.
Penn GSE celebrates 100 years, Penn Medicine celebrates 250 years YASMEEN KABOUD Staff Reporter
Two of Penn’s 12 schools — the Graduate School of Education and the Perelman School of Medicine — recently celebrated important milestones. GSE celebrated its centennial this past year, marking 100 years since its official founding in 1914. Originally, the school had just nine undergraduate courses taught by three professors. The official centennial
kickoff celebration occurred in September 2014 with a lecture and conversation with Dr. Louis W. Sullivan. And throughout the past year, Penn GSE has hosted several symposiums, alumni events and seminars discussing topics ranging from race and poverty to human trafficking. In March the Penn GSE Education Alumni Association named the 2015 EAA award recipients. According to the Penn GSE website, the awards are intended to “honor the accomplishments of GSE alumni and other education professionals” and that they “recognize outstanding contributions to Penn
GSE and the field of education.” The recipients were honored on campus at the Centennial Celebration in May. President Amy Gutmann and GSE Dean Pam Grossman led the recognition of the GSE’s 100 years of accomplishments during Penn’s Alumni Weekend in May. “Ever since I was named dean of the School, alumni have been contacting me to tell me how much they loved GSE and their programs. I look forward to meeting many more amazing alumni at the celebration and learning how they are making a difference as we anticipate GSE’s next 100 years,” said Dean
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Students of all ages flood campus for summer programs Activities range from biomedical research to teaching kids about tech
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Penn students who stay on campus for the summer taking classes or researching for professors are amongst a diverse set of visitors: 7-year-old kids to rising high school seniors who are getting a taste of what it’s like to walk on Locust. Biomedical Research Academy Each year, 104 budding biomedical researchers take part in the three-week non-graded, non-credit Biomedical Research Academy. The Academy is managed in part by the pre-college program company, Summer Discovery. While 94 of the students pay for the program, 10 are scholarship students selected from the Philadelphia School District by the Penn coordinators. In the morning, the students sit in lectures, learning about disease mechanisms and hearing Penn faculty talk about their research. In the afternoon, students participate in hands-on experiments to learn about cells. For example, they determine their blood type through isolating DNA in their cheek cells. “We don’t do new, cutting-edge research in the lab … but it’s new to them. They think it’s pretty cool to be able to determine their blood
Penn professors participate in ultramarathon Team of five professors won first place, ran a combined distance of 143.82 miles
BRYN FERGUSON Staff Reporter
And so we arrive at ridiculous and irreconcilable paradoxes — how can John Lennon be both a champion of peace and a wife-beater?”
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NEW BUILDINGS POPPING UP
Grossman. Prior to Alumni Weekend, Penn GSE hosted another Centennial Celebration event in which notable actress, playwright and social commentator Anna Deavere Smith performed a piece from a work-in-progress play about the school-to-prison pipeline. Smith is best known for her role as Nancy McNally on The West Wing and Mrs. Akalitus on Nurse Jackie. “The themes that resonate in her work — equity, diversity, community — have animated the work of GSE faculty and students
LAVI BEN DOR Staff Reporter
the dual-degree Jerome Fisher Management and Technology program, designed for high school students. The 50 to 55 students who are admitted into TSI every year have a chance to stay in the Quad and take classes in the Engineering buildings and in Huntsman Hall. Many are rising high school seniors, but a select few rising juniors are also admitted. The culmination of the program is the creation of a go-to-market product. Participants use their engineering skills to create working prototypes and their business skills to market the products. Parents are invited to a product fair, where the products can win awards like “Most Innovative.” “Each year the products have become more and more advanced,”
While some Penn professors may choose to take advantage of the summer to relax, several recently braved heat and humidity to complete in an ultramarathon, running a combined distance longer than five marathons over the course of a single day. A team consisting of Wharton professors Amy Sepinwall, David Zaring and Nicolas Cornell of the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department, Philosophy professor Daniel Singer and Graduate School of Education professor Betsy Rymes won first place and a $2000 prize in the 24-hour endurance relay of the 2015 Back on My Feet in24 Philadelphia Race Challenge, held from July 18-19 on the Schuylkill River Trail in Fairmount Park. The race raises money for Back on My Feet, a group that supports rehabilitation for the homeless through running. The professors ran a combined distance of 143.82 miles by completing 17 8.46-mile laps in just under 24 hours. According to Singer, the team came together relatively spontaneously:
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type from cheek cell DNA,” said Linda Robinson, the program coordinator and a Penn biology lab coordinator. Students also participate in a Journal Club, in which they are taught by a Penn post-doc student or graduate student to read journal articles. Robinson said she often sees Penn freshman coming into Biology 101 and Biology 102 who were participants in the Biomedical Research Academy. “It seems like most students do the program since they want to come to Penn,” she said. Management and Technology Summer Institute Another pre-college program that attracts many Penn hopefuls is the three-week Management and Technology Summer Institute, the for-credit summer incarnation of
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said January Wuerth, the administrative director of the M&T Program. “Typically, all the projects [in the past] have been geared toward students, such as how to not lock yourself into your dorm room. Now the projects are for a wider audience.” Wuerth added that students become “very close-knit” over three weeks and build strong connections for the future. “We have seen a large number of the [TSI students] apply to Penn, whether for M&T or a single-degree in Wharton or Engineering or the College,” she said. Endevvr Some summer programs are less conspicuous than those held in Penn’s main campus buildings. One summer program, held in the rooftop lounge of Rodin College House, is where 35 students have been building real companies throughout July. Endevvr, an independentlyrun program in its third year of
operation and its first year of operation at Penn, teaches rising juniors and seniors how to become entrepreneurs. Past programs were held at MIT in 2013 and Georgia Tech in 2014. “A lot of [the students] want to start companies but they just don’t know how,” said Jill Klinvex, the Chief of Creative Design at Endevvr. “They don’t have the necessary skills at the moment but they have the potential, and they know that.” In the morning, students are taught classes on all elements of business by founder and Managing Director Martin Miller. In the afternoon, students have structured time to work on their companies and meet with mentors. In the evenings, they are also encouraged to teach their peers new skills. At the end of the five weeks, the students pitch their companies to investors for funding. “We absolutely love Penn. Everyone is really helpful,” Klinvex said. “The startup community in Philadelphia is actually huge, which we weren’t expecting at all.”
Klinvex also said that a lot of students are motivated to come to Penn. “A lot of [the students] apply to many summer programs and the reason why a lot of them chose [Endevvr] is because they want to go to Penn. Pretty much someone goes on a tour of the campus every day,” she added. “Quite a few of them have been repping a Wharton shirt.” Penn Gems While Penn is home to many overnight programs for the summer, Penn GEMS — Girls in Engineering, Math & Science — is one of many day camps that operate at Penn. The local girls accepted to the program — rising seventh, eighth and ninth graders — are split into three tracks. The first two are based on age, and within those tracks, the students are exposed to six divisions of engineering. For example, in the bioengineering lab, the girls make DNA necklaces and in the material sciences lab, they make ice cream. The third track is for those interested in robotics, and gives students
THE SUMMER PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
the chance to spend the whole week in the robotics lab building and fighting robots. “[Penn GEMS] is our attempt to give middle school girls the opportunity to have exposure to engineering, math and science in a supportive environment where they can see other girls who have very similar interests,” Program Director Michaile Rainey said. “We are trying to combat the shortage of women in engineering … we think that this is an environment that is safe, that’s nurturing, that builds community,” Rainey added. “We also have counsellors who are undergraduates here in engineering and [the girls] can kind of see what their aspirations can ultimately reveal for themselves … it’s really more about the pipeline.” iD Tech Camps Another day camp in the science industry is bringing students as young as 7 years-old to campus. iD Tech Camps are run at 90 college campuses across the country for six week-long sessions. Students ages 7 to 17 can choose to spend the week on either coding
and app development, robotics, game design, 3D modelling, digital photography or web design and filmmaking. Students put together a project to show their parents at the end of each week. At Penn, the camp is located in Houston Hall, though campers also go play games on the lawn near the Button. “It’s incredible, the impact it makes,” said Karen Thurm Safran, the vice president of marketing and business development at iD Tech. “They go back to school learning skills that can actually help them with school.” Summer Mentorship Program Not focused on any one discipline, the Summer Mentorship Program is a four-week opportunity for minority and first-generation rising high school sophomores and juniors in the Philadelphia area to be exposed to the opportunities of higher education. Four out of the five days in the week, students visit five of Penn’s schools: The School of Dental Medicine, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, The Law
School, the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. Each school provides its own programming to give students a chance to discovering what studying the discipline is like. For example, in Engineering, students learn to refurbish computers, install software and perform basic web design, in the Law School, students read court documents, testimonies and briefings and in the Medical school, students learn about various neurological diseases and brain traumas. The remaining day of the week is spent in the SMP office, where students are provided with resources on the college admissions process, including essay writing workshops and SAT prep. Program Director Gail Oberton said students think the program is “amazing” and many are motivated to apply to Penn afterwards. “To date, for our SMP alum since 2009, our college enrollment rate is 89 percent,” she said. “And out of that cohort of 2009 we have approximately over 30 students who have attended or graduated from Penn.”
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NEWS 3
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015
Six new campus buildings to be completed by 2016-17 The New College House near Hill headlines various construction projects LUIS FERRE SADURNI Staff Reporter
With the majority of Penn students away from campus this summer, the University’s construction activity has increased conspicuously all the way from the Schuylkill River to 40th street. By the beginning of the 2016-17 academic year, the University is scheduled to complete at least six of its varied construction projects. While new buildings and renovations are sometimes taken for granted by students, the development of new construction projects is an intricate one that involves different University stakeholders. The centerpiece of the University’s ongoing construction is the New College House — located on Chestnut Street between 33rd and 34th streets — which is expected to be completed by August 2016. The $127 million project will house 350 students and include a dining facility, common spaces and a courtyard, according to Penn’s Facilities and Real Estate Services. The New College House, along with all other major construction projects, are part of the University’s campus planning strategic vision called Penn Connects. To
make all the projects envisioned in the 35 year plan a reality, FRES consults closely with Penn President Amy Gutmann and the deans of the different schools and centers — all of who have to ensure funding for new projects. Architects and engineers at FRES then oversee the construction and renovation of new buildings, while also contracting outside firms. “Everything was very carefully calibrated [in Penn Connects] and also very carefully coordinated with the development people for fundraising purposes. We were careful to only envision based on what we thought our development capacity was of raising money, with some stretch goals,” said 1982 College graduate Mark A. Kocent, the principal planner at FRES. When considering any particular project, Penn works to cohesively integrate long-term campus planning goals, fundraising strategies, structural designs, construction and, finally, the operation and maintenance of new projects. Kocent specified that both FRES and Gutmann were very involved in the selection of the architectural firm — Bohlin Cywinski Jackson — that ended up sketching the designs for the New College House. The same firm has also worked on planning and designs for the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City and the
ILANA WURMAN | PHOTO EDITOR
The New College House, which is expected to be complete by August 2016, will house 350 students and include a dining facility, common spaces and courtyard.
pavilion that currently houses the Liberty Bell, according to Kocent. Another building, The Perry World House — which will be located on 3803 Locust Walk next to the Kelly Writers House — is scheduled to be completed by April 2016. The new building — with an estimated $18.7 million construction cost — will house many of Penn’s global initiatives and will have an auditorium, classrooms and offices. The new building will be a renovation and expansion of a historical cottage built in the 1850s, one of the oldest buildings on campus according to Kocent. When constructing on or around antique buildings, Penn seeks to harmonize contemporary design with the
existing historical structures on campus. “We encourage architects to design buildings of contemporary times, buildings of their age,” said Kocent. “[The should] have the feeling or the DNA of being part of Penn, yet it should look like a contemporary building.” Both Kocent and Michael J. Dausch — executive director of design & construction management at FRES — pinpointed the designs of Golkin Hall, the ARCH and the Music Building as examples of this balance between traditional and contemporary aesthetic envisioning. Not only will Penn students witness new academic and residential buildings next year, but landmark
administrative buildings as well. The 49-story, 730-foot FMC Tower — located by the Schuylkill River on 30th Street and Chestnut Street — is expected to be completed by June 2016. The $385 million tower will house the global headquarters of FMC Corporation, 260 extended stay luxury apartments and four floors of administrative University offices. The FMC Tower is part of the University’s overarching plan to continue expanding Penn’s campus east towards and across the Schuykill River. Penn Park and the University’s ongoing construction in the postal lands by the river are a testimony to that. In fact, Penn is currently constructing Pennovation Works across the river on
the intersection of 34th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue. According to the Penn Connects website the “twenty-three acre former heavy industrial site offers the opportunity to accommodate a variety of uses that support the academic and research mission of both University clients and third-party commercial tenants.” Kocent reasoned that the University has hit its limits in its expansion west because of the West Philadelphia residential areas and north because of Drexel’s growing presence. East towards the City seems to be Penn’s new frontier. “It’s natural for institutions like ours to continue to evolve and I think what we have tried to do is to have a much better balance with the community,” said Kocent. Another significant building, the $81.6 million expansion of the Mod 7 Chiller Plant — which supplies air conditioning to other campus buildings — is expected to be finished by the summer of 2015. The $66.6 million Neural and Behavioral Sciences Building — located on 38th Street and Baltimore Avenue — is expected to be completed by spring next year. Both the $1.5 million fourthf loor studio renovation of Meyerson Hall and the full demolition and replacement of the existing track at Franklin Field are expected to be completed by September 2015, rounding up the rest of construction around campus.
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Opinion
THURSDAY, JULY 30 2015
THE SUMMER PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
The language of the resume
VOL. XXXII, NO. 10 The Sunmer Edition of the Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania
32nd Year of Publication SHAWN KELLEY, Editor-in-Chief KATIERA SORDJAN, Opinion Editor JESSICA MCDOWELL, News Editor
STEVEN TYDINGS, Social Media Director
CAROLINE SIMON, News Editor
TOM NOWLAN, Sports Editor
DAN SPINELLI, News Editor
COREY FADER, Summer Street Editor
ILANA WURMAN, Photo Editor
MIKAELA GILBERT-LURIE, Summer Street
KATE JEON, Design Editor
Editor
JENNY LU, Design Editor
LETTERS
HAVE YOUR OWN OPINION? Write us! The SP encourages guest submissions from the Penn community. Submissions can be up to 700 words long. The SP reserves the right to edit for accuracy, clarity, grammar and DP style. The SP does not guarantee publication of any submission. Send submissions to Opinion Editor Katiera Sordjan at sordjan@thedp.com.
The SP wants to ensure that all content is accurate and be transparent about any inaccuracies. If you have a comment or question about the fairness or accuracy of any content in the print or online editions, please email corrections@thedp.com.
W
ith the beginning of this year’s fall semester looming just a month away, thousands of undergrads are purchasing their textbooks, contacting their professors and preparing themselves for the first sentence they’ll encounter upon their return to Penn: “What did you do with your summer?” Innocuous as the inquiry may seem, to many of us, it is a loaded question. In managing Penn, I find it easy to become locked into the interviewee mindset. Our thoughts and experiences are supposed to impress, to elevate us above the competition. But, really, is this all they are meant to do? As Penn students, I believe we’re exposed to a dangerous — albeit practical — psychology, the need to convert each of our experiences into the language of resume. The bewilderment and wonder of our trips abroad is extricated as we transmute them into “international travels for the express purpose of enriching sociocultural understanding.” Our art project dalliances are robbed of their whimsy as we repurpose them to function as “practical experience in the field of graphic design.” And, when we are confronted with a moment in our life
TESTING: ONE, TWO | Summer without an internship
feet and aching back muscles only to crawl into bed and rest for the next day’s shift. I was not using any of the knowledge I’d accumulated in my courses at Penn, and much of the work was mentally tedious, unfulfilling. It was manual labor — something I’d thought below me as an Ivy League student. A regression from my graduation into academia. But I grew to appreciate it, especially in hindsight. There’s DAVID MARCHINO a quiet pride in running a store, in satisfying the customers. I still of hobbies, casual interests and light up when I think back to the fantasies. I am not calling for the appreciative nods of the construc- students of Penn to spend their tion workers, the gentle smiles time from campus foolishly — of the nurses and the big hopeful only challenging them to recall eyes of the children who strolled that enlightenment exists outside into my store. Sure, it was a mod- of the professional world, too. est help I was providing, bagging Growth and wisdom can be found their Tastykakes and Combos, but anywhere — in the errant road trip I have since come to realize that across the country, in the humble personal growth is not endemic occupation of the store clerk, in only to the professional setting. I the sandy faces of the festival wore no tie, attended no confer- crowd or even at home in the unences, but I grew in that store, and latched text of a book. Experience learned to take pride in the small is what you make it. Professional, casual, make it meaningful. Make successes and praise. A life is not lived with the in- it worth holding on to. tention to fill a resume, nor are we meant to weigh experience solely DAVID MARCHINO is a rising in terms of professional applica- College senior from Philadelphia tion. When we commit ourselves studying English. His email to our work as so many of us have, address is dmarchi@sas.upenn. it is easy to forget the importance edu.
that cannot be cut-pasted into a compact little grid swept under the prestigious bold ink “WORK EXPERIENCE,” there is uneasiness. Guilt. The anxiety that arises from the dreaded internshipless summer. I speak as someone who has tried to navigate the professional side of summer off. I have filled out the applications, written the cover letters and interviewed too many times only to be rejected again and again. And, in the face of all this rejection, I was forced to confront that which I as a Penn student have been groomed to deplore. Free time. What once amounted to little more than 10-minute breathers between classes, clubs, fitness and work suddenly filled my entire day. Life — bold, unstructured life — smacked me in the face, daring me to make something important out of its chaos. In summer 2014, I got a job, and not at as a research assistant or as a high school mentor. An honest-to-goodness full time job at a convenience store, like high school all over again. I wiped windows, stocked freezers and mopped bathrooms 40 hours a week as my boss grumbled behind me, “Spotless this time, brainiac.” I returned home with throbbing
The “Wild” craze
C
heryl Strayed’s book “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” has sold over 1 million copies, held a place as number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for seven consecutive weeks and was recently adapted as a film starring Reese Witherspoon. Of course, no best-selling story of self-empowerment would be complete without a spot on Oprah’s Book Club reading list. Strayed’s book has inspired many to lace up their hiking boots and go on a trek of self-discovery on the Pacific Crest Trail. After a rough first day on the trail, Strayed entertains the idea of turning back but ultimately hikes 1,100 miles of the PCT. I, however, couldn’t make it past the first sentence of her book: “The trees were tall but I was taller.” It is clear throughout that Strayed is not particularly concerned with the protection of the world responsible for her healing. This anthropocen-
LEFTOVERS | The trail offers more than just escape
trism, a view that humankind is at the center of all existence, helps fuel an attitude that condones the continual recreational use of natural spaces without commitment to their preservation. When Strayed begins her journey in the Mojave Desert she can’t even
outdoors,” this kind of message overlooks the difficulty and skill required in a 2,000 mile thru-hike where one must take heed. The fact is, Strayed’s inability to lift her pack, her initial lack of knowledge of using an outdoor stove and pitching her tent is not something to
It is clear throughout that Strayed is not particularly concerned with the protection of the world responsible for her healing.” lift her pack because it’s filled with so many superfluous items, a banal metaphor for her emotional baggage. The film’s portrayal of Strayed’s inexperience is placed in an endearing light. Perhaps this is an effort to humanize and democratize outdoor spaces. While I applaud the effort of increasing accessibility to the “great
be glorified as part of her journey or written off as innocuous. Traffic on the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s website, the main hub for information regarding the trail, has increased by 300 percent. Because of the huge influx of hikers, the southern entry point has placed a cap of 50 hiker permits each day. The drought in
California has also meant that water sources have dried up and hikers must be prepared to carry an extra supply. The PCTA has referred to this as the “Wild Effect.” To me, it’s not so clear what is so unique and distinctly powerful about Strayed’s “Wild.” There is no dearth of quality and timeless nature writing. But, it quickly becomes apparent that Strayed’s transformation has nothing to do with the trail that enabled it. At no other point in the film adaptation is this made more clear than when she has a onenight stand with a man in Ashland, Oregon. In taking off her clothes, he lays eyes on her bruises, chafing and blisters from the trail. In this moment, some crunchy dude is making visible the scars of her perseverance. And the PCT? Well, it’s somewhere under the weight of Strayed’s misfortune. Even though less than $5 of the average American taxpayer’s money is used to access and preserve the U.S.’s national parks system, these
public lands remain a gated community in many ways. Given the problem of accessibility, who am I to make a value judgment of the individuals that endow the inspirational women’s lit genre and have begun their own journeys on the PCT? If all “Wild” did was get more people hiking, then I can’t say I have much of a problem. While Penn is full of its fair share of the archetypal health conscious millennial, the outdoor activities offered at Penn are far and few between and raise cost issues for potential — and possibly less experienced — participants. For better or for worse, it’s the insipid truth that we need people like Strayed to remind us of this. However, we have to remember that national parks didn’t always exist for our use, and their continual survival is not something to be taken lightly. These lands had to be fought for, preserved and deemed an important and inextricable part of the American landscape.
CLARA JANE HENDRICKSON So I’ll roll my eyes at the PCT traffic and say I’ll find the path less traveled. But, it’s time to concede to the truth that the only final frontier that remains is our decision to tend to the wild space that is left.
CLARA JANE HENDRICKSON is a rising College senior from San Francisco studying political science. Her email address is clara@sas.upenn.edu.
The death of the author
D
oes it matter if Drake doesn’t write his own lyrics? Does it matter if Shakespeare never really existed? Does it matter if Phil Spector, producer of the Beatles, was convicted of seconddegree murder and is now serving out a life sentence? It’s difficult to separate art from artist. In our culture, the artist is more than just a person — they are an institution, a myth, a force of nature. We see the artist as a vessel through which the creative force manifests. And so we arrive at ridiculous and irreconcilable paradoxes — how can John Lennon be both a champion of peace and a wife-beater? How can Ezra Pound be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and a fierce anti-Semite? There are a couple problems with the underlying assumptions of these questions. First, we judge art based on some set of values like beauty, complexity and original-
A NUMBERS GAME | Do ghostwriters matter?
ity, which may be quite a bit different from the set of values with which we judge people: honesty, compassion and diligence. There is no reason why the kinds of qualities that make good people necessarily make good artists, but we instinctively feel that this should be the case. At least a little bit of this attitude can be attributed to our desire for justice — we believe, generally incorrectly, that good artists are good people because they deserve it. The second, deeply related problem is that we assume that the meaning of art is solely the intention of the artist. If this were true, then in appreciating art we would have to begrudgingly admit the craftsmanship of whoever created it. And, for example, it is difficult for most people to accept that author Orson Scott Card, a proud homophobe, taught us a lesson about compassion. Luckily for us, this assumption doesn’t have to be true — you can accept themes
of friendship and humanity in “Ender’s Game” without accepting any of the implicit endorsement of homophobia. Many of us groaned in high school English classes — or the writing seminar — when overen-
These are all systematic methods of understanding the meaning of art in a certain context, even if that context is not the one in which the art was created. Perhaps “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen” wasn’t technically meant to be
There is no reason why the kinds of qualities that make good people necessarily make good artists, but we instinctively feel that this should be the case.” thusiastic teachers, desperate to fill 40 minutes, read far too much into books to find meaning that wasn’t there. But in a way, they were teaching us a lesson about the wide world of literary theory. An English major will tell you that there are a hundred ways to read a book: through post-colonialism, feminism, Marxism to name a few.
a gay anthem. But I’ve heard it sung as one, and when you think about it for a minute or two, you can probably convince yourself that it works as one. You can choose to boycott R. Kelly’s music on moral grounds, but if you don’t at least appreciate its catchiness, I think you’ll be the one missing out the next time “Ignition (Remix)” comes on.
In Roland Barthes’ essay “Death of the Author,” he puts forth this very idea, claiming that we must give the audience the power to create meaning in art. I believe we can take this idea even further. There is plenty of music that one can say has no creator, entire genres like process music or ambient music. Is this art? What about fractal art, beautiful visuals created by algorithms in which the role of the artist is simply to write JAY HAVALDAR some code and let it run? I believe all this art has meaning and beauty, even at the point at which the bor- of this space are. Perhaps to you, der between art and artist begins to the possibility that Drake’s lyrics may be ghostwritten forever ruins break down. To some, art has only the mean- your workout jam “The Motto.” As ing the creator intended. To others, for me, I’ve always found truth in art is the product of a historical the words of French poet Stephen moment. When we use the word Mallarmé: “It is language which art, we mean a method of dis- speaks.” course, a state of mind in which we appreciate the beauty and mean- JAY HAVALDAR is a rising ing of something in a way no other Engineering junior from Dix Hills, animal probably can. You can de- NY studying math and computer fine for yourself what the rules science. His email address is
havaldar@seas.upenn.edu.
Want to be an opinion artist for The Daily Pennsylvanian this fall? Apply at bit.ly/Fall15Art Special thanks to Summer Pennsylvanian artist Anneka DeCaro!
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Penn falls 13 places in second iteration of global health report card Report assessing universities’ commitments to global health gives Penn a C+ NIRUPA GALAGEDERA Contributing Reporter
Don’t stress too much over your B in calculus — Penn gets bad grades too. The University Report Card: Global Equity & Biomedical Research, released in April, gave Penn a C+ for its efforts in advancing global health. This score positioned Penn 21st out of 59 American universities, in terms of research allocation to neglected diseases, commitment to sociallyresponsible licensing and global health education opportunities. “Nearly a third of humanity
does not have regular access to essential medicines, and in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia, this figure rises to over 50%, leading to ten million deaths annually from treatable diseases,” Executive Director of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines — who compiled the report card — Merith Basey said in an email. “Meanwhile, universities are public institutions whose medical research is primarily funded by government grants that come from taxpayer dollars,” she said. “They have a duty to the public to fulfill their social missions and ensure that the results of their research are available to those who need them most,” she added. UAEM is a student-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that university research
and commercial outputs reach the people steeply affected by the high prices of life-saving drugs. UAEM first released their report card in 2013. The original report card was met with criticism for having a limited scope and a misleading representation of information. Since 2013, the advocacy group has revamped their methodology and presentation of results to more clearly indicate the specific aspects of global health that the scoring system assesses, such as neglected diseases research and intellectual property. The report card assesses schools in three distinct areas of global health commitment: innovation, access and empowerment. Report card data collection consisted of online research by UAEM members as well as surveys filled out
by the academic institutions themselves. Metrics covered a wide variety of global health indicators including percentage of grants and publications allocated to neglected diseases, proportion of non-exclusive licenses and the availability of global health degree programs and courses. While Penn’s letter grade remained unchanged in the second iteration of the report card, Penn’s position relative to its peer institutions fell. Though the original report card also gave Penn a C+, it ranked 8th among its 54 fellow universities, compared to its rank for 2015. In the 2015 report, Johns Hopkins University received the highest letter grade given, an A-, and was the only university to achieve that score. Penn was one of ten
universities to receive a score of C+. Lack of response by the University to survey questions posed by UAEM regarding global access licensing contributed to the low score. Regardless, some students feel that the report card suggests areas of improvement for Penn to better serve the medical needs of the world’s poor and to remain competitive with other leading institutions. “As our grade reflects, more work needs to be done, said rising College junior and Executive Vice President of MedX Sophia Tareen. MedX is a student organization for those interested in healthcare. MedX also functions as Penn’s UAEM chapter. “Penn and MedX should strive to streamline the process
of knowledge and tech transfer. More than anything, [we] should use this grade as an impetus for change, not simply to help ourselves, but to improve the state of global health overall,” she said. Rising College junior and President of MedX Albert Hong agreed with Tareen and said that the discrepancy in medical treatment between those who can pay for it and who need it complicates the matter tremendously. “Unfortunately, healthcare is an intricate web of money and incentives. Penn’s report card score highlights this complexity, which is good because we need to educate students about this so that they can make the best decisions possible when they are healthcare leaders in the future,” he added.
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MARATHON >> PAGE 1
Sepinwall told Cornell about the race, and he then invited Singer to join him. Cornell and Singer eventually recruited Zaring and Sepinwall for their team, and when the four of them met to plan out their strategy for the race, they ran into Rymes, whom Singer knew, and got her involved as well. The race took place on a hot weekend, with temperatures averaging in the mid-80s on both days, according to the National Weather Service, providing an extra obstacle for the competitors. “Running in the heat is a lot harder than running in normal temperatures, so we struggled quite a bit,� Singer said. “When we finished our [first few laps], we were like, ‘Whoa, this is going to be tough.’ There was no wind at all, and there were wafts of heat coming off the river. I was sweating buckets, so at a couple of points I had to stop and walk for a second because it was too hot to [run]. For me, it was the hardest running I’d ever done.� Cornell said that he was able to enjoy the experience even despite the challenge that the heat brought. “It was fun to be out there with so many people, and it was really hot, which made it difficult. I enjoyed the legs that I ran in the middle of the night much more than I did legs in the middle of the day,� Cornell said. “For me, running had always been a solitary sport, where it was all about my individual goals, so it was fun doing it with a team and trying to support others.� The team members each had their own motivation for doing the race. Cornell said that he entered the race just for fun, while Rymes said that she was drawn to it because she had never gotten the chance to run together with teammates and also supported
COURTESY OF DANIEL SINGER
The participants included Wharton Professors Amy Sepinwall (far left), Nico Cornell (left), Philosophy Prof Daniel Singer (center), GSE Prof Betsy Rymes (right) and Wharton Prof David Zaring (far right).
the goals of the group organizing the event, Back on My Feet. “I really like the organization that runs this relay, and I’d run in their races before. It’s a group that helps homeless people get back on their feet through running. People volunteer to run with homeless people and get them help with addiction and things like that, so it’s a good cause,� Rymes said. For Singer, the event was the culmination of a goal that was over half a decade in the making. Singer said that he struggled with his weight while an undergrad at Penn but took steps after entering graduate school to eat healthier and exercise more. When a
colleague asked him whether he was participating in the Couch to 5K program, which is designed to train people to go from relative inactivity to running a five-kilometer race, he came up with the idea of doing his own “Couch to 50K.� Singer has run several marathons over the past few years and finally achieved his goal during the ultramarathon, running four laps for a total of approximately 54 kilometers. “For me, that’s huge; it took a little while to sink in. I still kind of feel like a fat person inside, and I’m not, but I was overweight for my whole life until graduate school. So it actually took me a
little while after I finished to be like, ‘Nope, I just ran 34 miles, I am not a fat, unhealthy person anymore,’� Singer said. “The thrill of winning [the race] is a lot more special for me, and I’m glad that I finished it.� Rymes said that she found the experience of working together with a team to finish the race to be an enjoyable one. “The whole time I felt like I was involved with the race, because we were texting each other; when somebody would finish [a lap], we’d get a text,� Rymes said. “The feeling of finishing and seeing my teammate waiting for me to go and do his lap: that’s a really cool feeling. It’s
very motivating knowing that just doing it by ourselves, so it’s someone’s there waiting for you really nice to find kindred spirits to finish, and the faster that I do who have the same type of mindmy lap, then the more [time] they set.� have to do theirs.� Singer said that the satisfacRymes added that the race tion of completing and winning gave her a chance to interact with the race made the whole The chalNew York T Penn professors with whom she lenging experience worthwhile 620 Eighth would not normally get to work. for the team. For Info “It’s a cool way to get to know “I think everyone was prettyFor Rel other faculty. I’m in the School excited to have won — it’s a of Education, Dan’s in Arts and pretty crazy thing,� Singer said. Sciences and the other three “Afterwards, we went out [to professors are in Wharton, so I celebrate], and everyone was on would never have met them oth- a real high. We didn’t look like erwise, and it’s a really fun way people who were just up for 24 to get to know them, so I hope hours running, we looked like we’ll do it again nextACROSS year,� people 36 whoMiley had Cyrus just woken hit up 66 Toy co Rymes said. “People who run are and were fresh, because “Party in thewe were that o 1 With 20-Across, ___� the M sort of weird, and we’re used to really excited.� chocolaty Atlanta
Crossword
ANNIVERSARY
>> PAGE 1
across the school’s history. By bringing multiple perspectives to a topic, she provides a compelling exploration of pressing social issues,� Grossman said. GSE Centennial gear is available online with a twenty percent discount for those who use the offer code GSE100 at check out. The store includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and bags all embossed with the Penn GSE logo.
COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
SEPTA
>> PAGE 1
SEPTA originally planned on selling interested Regional Rail passengers a $10, one-day special pass for each day of the Pope’s visit on their website beginning July 15. SEPTA officials said at the time that sales would be limited to about 150,000 Regional Rail passes. However, by July 15, sales for the one-day Regional Rail passes were pushed to the following Monday, July 20, with officials stating that 175,000 passes would be sold at $10 each, with sales limited to 10 per purchase and available only online. Officials also stated that 750,000 three-day papal passes for subways, trolleys, and buses for non-rail passengers on September 26-28, would go on sale online on July 27. The online sales of train passes
were further delayed the morning of July 20, when SEPTA’s website was rendered inoperable shortly after the online sales of train passes began. After opening the sales on their website at 9 a.m. that day, the transit agency was forced to suspend them because customer demand overwhelmed their website’s capacity. Williams stated that most papal Regional Rail passes remain unsold. The following day SEPTA announced that it would not sell the papal Regional Rail passes for the remainder of the week, without confirming whether it would fix the site or hire an outside vendor to sell the passes online. SEPTA redirected the Daily Pennsylvanian’s request for comment to a press conference on July 27, where officials could answer questions by the media. Only an hour before the 3 p.m. press conference, SEPTA cancelled it
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without explanation, with SEPTA announcing a plan to reschedule in the future. The following day, SEPTA finally announced its plan for resuming online sales of the papal passes through the lottery system. It is also set to announce information on about 50,000 papal passes available for the Norristown High Speed line and the 101 and 102 trolleys as early as next week.
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SAY YES TO IMPROV CLAIRE SCHMIDT Have you ever had the pleasure of witnessing an Italian astronaut lost in space? Or maybe a chainsmoking duck? I have, and man, it is a blessing. There is truly no other way I could see myself spending my summer than in an improv class in which two people have decided they will waddle around the floor of a small building in Center City, portraying vaguely accented, manic, chain-smoking ducks. Just fantastic. I am not very good at improv and do not pretend that I am. But I signed up for this class because my summer was turning out to be as aimless and confused as freshman me trying to make it to my classes on time. So I joined an improv class. As we obviously all know, the main tenet of improv is “Don’t say no! Say yes” and accept what’s happening. So I said yes to improv! Yes to actually doing something with my summer! Yes to actually trying! Yes to being mildly uncomfortable in a scene where I’m supposed to be in love with my 60-year old classmate! The other fantastic part of my class was that those two smoking waterfowl weren’t the only fun (read: kind of crazy) people in my class. I spent eight weeks learning improv with the best, most comprehensive collection of difficult personalities and occasional nice people that I could possibly imagine in my wildest purgatory-style semi-night terror. There was Jake, a person I could literally only describe as a man-child. He had the clothes and oddly-shaped crotch distribution of an assistant middle school gym teacher, and the disposition of said teacher’s asshole students who spend their days torturing him for his lack of ambition. He was the kind of guy who would take a scene between a brother and sister and decide instantaneously that the brother’s house was on fire from a mafia attack and the
sister was an ignorant prostitute, usually to the mutual confusion and/or panic of everyone in the class, teacher included. Jake also made it clear that he didn’t just do improv — he “performed.” And because of his “performance,” he was an “artist,” and “artists” can totally make grotesque rape jokes in their “artform,” and if people get offended then it was their own fault for not appreciating “art.” Then there was s George. I had a sneaking suspicion that George perhaps signed up for this class without knowing what improv was. Or perhaps he walked into the wrong room and was too scared to leave once it had started, secretly wishing he was in his intended class, “ Managing Your Anger in the Workplace,” or “How to Write the Next Great American Sailing Novel” (incidentally, I have written the next great American sailing novel, entitled “Milly and the Silly Boat”—available at your local sailing-specific bookstore). George did not like acting, nor did he like pretending, nor, it seemed, did he like human interaction. But if he could “say yes” to improv, then I could too. I made the smart and also really mean decision to try and find people who were worse than me at improv so I could at least try to do better than them, and I found some. They were the metaphorical amputees who I, the metaphorical (or perhaps real) asshole, would use as bait and subsequently overtake to escape the onslaught of the bear chasing us. I sought out people like Steve, who initially appeared to be a quiet, nervous, unassuming guy. So I latched onto him, congratulating myself for the achievement of not being the worst one in the class, my ambition and drive hovering dangerously close to zero. But to my great chagrin, Steve turned out to be awesome. By the end of the class he was making the entire class laugh every time he performed, making me a simultaneous asshole and mediocre improviser (but I
did just use the word chagrin, so I may at least have the tiniest bit of drive). Marielle was one of three girls in the whole class, and was generally awesome. She was sincere! Funny! Chill! And was once called a slut, whore, bitch and pussy in three consecutive scenes with guys who took it upon themselves to make her a cheating wife almost every time! Who wouldn’t “say yes” to that! The rest of the class were well-meaning, professional, normal humans with adult jobs who took this class to A) escape being at home on a weeknight, B) fulfill their “dream” of learning improv ever since someone at a Christmas party last winter told them they might be good at it or C) they got a gift card to the theater. Their professionalism and general contentment with their lives was, of course, abhorrent to me and my inability to make any decisions about my life, so I steered clear of them and their “lives” and “general fulfillment.” I am now done with my improv class, free to spend my Thursday nights from six to eight doing whatever other exciting thing I have going on in my life (I’ll probably watch a rerun of the 2009 VMAs or something). But what did I learn this summer? Many things, although perhaps nothing more relevant and helpful than actual job experience. I learned how to successfully avoid becoming friends with your classmates (passed with flying colors!), how to physically maneuver people in front of you so you don’t have to participate in scenes, how to self-publish your own maritime-themed adventure novel and how to “say yes!” So if you ever need someone to pretend to be a sassy aunt named Cheryl, I’m your girl. Well, I’m your girl until I can’t think of anything else to say, at which time I will stand there, resolute and uncomfortable, until someone saves me. But I didn’t say no, exactly. Just a half-hearted “Yes….. and….?” But I did it! I said yes!
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I KNEW WHAT
SHE MEANT BY MICHELLE GASSMANN
“I just went on the worst date of my life!” The girl standing in front of the desk was a fellow staff member, and I knew her tangentially from various training functions and staff meetings. She wasn’t talking to me, quite as much as she was talking at the co-worker sitting next to me. My co-worker and I looked at each other, then back at the girl in front of us: “what happened?” She explained. Hadn’t we heard of the hot new dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel? “It’s great. And it’s not just for hooking up,” she touted. On this app she had met what my cousin would have referred to as a “potential”: a guy who had the prospect of becoming a long-term boyfriend (maybe even husband); he had to be gainfully employed (preferably as a doctor or lawyer), moderately good-looking and meet-the-parents ready. If he were a house, the realtor would call him “turn-key”. The bagel-app-that’snot-Tinder date was a doctor. But was he cute? “Sort of”. Close enough. What was the problem? “He kept trying to make out with me and it was only the first date! I told him I was uncomfortable but he was really pushy. And weird. I tried to hint that I wanted to go home but he, like, insisted on going for a walk. It was just … he was weird.” That did sound like a terrible date. My co-worker and I made sympathetic “oh” sounds throughout her account. “That IS weird.” We nodded. We echoed and validated her sentiments, as any good pair of soundingboards would. But this girl was a woman of the now! An Ivy League daughter of the post-gender normative Tinder age; one bad date with a doctor really just means a chance to meet a Wharton MBA,
a budding corporate attorney, or a financier. She eventually dismissed this questionable rendezvous, once all sympathies had been exhausted, with a shrug. “It’s okay. I’m actually talking to another guy I met on here. We’ve been talking for a while, I almost felt guilty about going on this date. I like him. We get along really well and he seems really sweet. He’s studying finance.” T he sounding -boards agreed, this was good news. “Where does he live?” “Baltimore.” “That’s doable. Where does he go to school?” She huffed. That was the only problem. He didn’t go to a very good school. “I really like him, but … It’s just, I go to Penn. And he doesn’t go to a very good school. I just feel like I worked really hard, you know? I’m an intellectual! I mean, like, because I go here I have a certain set of standards. I just feel like —” My co-worker had been nodding along softly. The B agel-Meets-Tinder girl s to p p e d m i d - s e nte n c e when she caught what must have been a look of disapproval on my face. “You go to Penn right?” “Me? Yeah. I go to Penn.” As someone who had transferred from a “not great” school, I felt my face beet red. It was only then I realized I had started to frown. Shamefully, I wondered just how hard she had really worked. A million questions raced through my mind: Had she ever seen poverty? Were her parents alumni? Did she go to public or private school? Did she have tutors? Had she ever gone to school hungry? I felt angry that going to a “good” university had become a burden, which she carried only to elevate her status above others. “Oh,” she laughed nervously, “I just thought
maybe you didn’t go here and that would have been awkward. Well, anyway, you know what I mean.” I knew what she meant. And when had we started throwing around the word “intellectual” so loosely? I like to think of positive personality traits as a sort of reverse Schrodinger’s Cat: you may or may not be [funny/nice/intellectual], but as soon as you have to say you are any of those things, it means you’re not. I've never met a genuinely funny guy who had to tell me he was funny; I knew he was funny because I was laughing. I have certainly never met an intellectual with the audacity to claim herself as one. I tried to brighten up. “At least he studies finance,” I offered weakly. Did I really just say that? I felt the implications of my words weigh heavy on my face: nothing cleanses the stench of a mediocre education quite like earning potential. She continued to lecture on the merits of her self-importance, as I retreated into my phone. Any success socializing with someone who implied going to Penn made her categorically better than someone who didn’t would prove a hollow victory. She had played into everything I hate: the institutionalization of identity. Her work was hard and wor thy, because it had been done at an Ivy League scho ol. Her ac ade mic curiosity rebranded “intellectual” because Penn is a liberal arts college: its job is to produce intellectuals. This line of thought discounts that institutions are made by its collective members. Penn does not make you. You make Penn. Work hard and be intellectually curious for your own sake – the University will be better for it, but don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re better simply for going to the University.
THEDP.COM | THE SUMMER PENNSYLVANIAN
FOOTBALL >> PAGE 10
the Quakers will play two midweek games in 2015. Penn’s annual clash with crosstown rival Villanova had already been shifted from Saturday, Sept. 26 to Thursday, Sept. 24 to avoid conflict with the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia. Both of the two weekday games will kick off at
7 p.m. All other contests on the Quakers’ slate will be Saturday day games. Most will start sometime between noon and 1 p.m., save for the Oct. 3 home matchup with Dartmouth and the Oct. 17 showdown with Columbia in New York, both of which will kick off at 3:30 p.m. The Columbia game will be particularly compelling, as new
SPORTS 9
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015 Columbia coach and recent Penn retiree Al Bagnoli will coach his first-ever game against his former squad. The Quakers certainly hope that their play in its televised games will be worthy of the national stage — last season, the Quakers dropped their two broadcast games by a combined 27 points, part of an underwhelming 2-8 overall campaign.
THOMAS MUNSON | DP FILE PHOTO
MINOR LEAGUE >> PAGE 10
a learning experience of some sort.� Glenn and Bossa r t both feel the environment in which they have played has helped make them better ballplayers. Bossart had the opportunity to catch David Buchanan, a twoyear member of the Phillies’ major league starting rotation, while the pitcher underwent a brief stint in the minor leagues as he returned from an injury. Glenn credits the high level of competition he has faced and the instruction he has received from the Angels as contributing to the rapid improvement he has undergone since joining the Owlz. Minor league baseball is often made out to be a difficult experience. While Major League Baseball players take home some of the highest salaries of any athletes, minor leaguers often receive a fraction of that money. Furthermore, buses — not chartered team planes — are the preferred mode of transportation, with
SQUASH
>> PAGE 10
coaching, which allowed for a quick rapport. “Having known them, knowing their styles, it definitely helped me, it was an easy transition for me, just knowing them as individuals and having been with them as teammates before, the dynamic has already been set,� Lane said. “My role was more to get them in the frame of mind mentally before each match.�
many rides exceeding 10 hours. Healthy and tasty food is either rare, expensive, or both. And, since baseball has an extensive minor league system consisting of many levels (Rookie League, Single-A, Double-A and TripleA), many at the lowest levels can feel that a journey to the Major Leagues is insurmountable. However, little of this has fazed Glenn and Bossart. “The minor league life is definitely an interesting lifestyle,� Glenn said. “I am sure there are many things one could complain about, but I frequently find myself distracted by my appreciation of the game and for my opportunity to be living out a childhood dream. The conditions of this lifestyle are insignificant compared to my faith in God, and my opportunity to play professional baseball in the Los Angeles Angels organization.� Bossart adds that the minor league lifestyle doesn’t live up to the bad reputation that it has. “There are long bus rides, but the Phillies organization takes care of the players,� the
catcher said. “We are fed twice a day at the clubhouse and have many healthy options to choose from, which makes staying in shape and in tip top form much easier.� Outside of baseball, both players also appreciate the settings in which they are playing. Williamsport is the home of the Little League World Series, in which the best Little League teams from around the world meet each year to crown one team champion. Many will remember Philadelphia’s own Mo’ne Davis’s outsta nding performance as last year’s tournament. “I can imagine it is going to be an awesome experience,� Bossart said. “I can’t wait to go catch a few games whenever the time comes.� Likewise, Glenn has enjoyed playing baseball in the friendly community of Orem. “The fans are wonderful, the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains is breath-taking, playing baseball everyday has been fun and the facilities are incredible,� Glenn said. “I really could go on and on.�
While he holds that the individual competitions were different from collegiate events, the team events on the international stage remind him of college squash. “When the team competition began, it had the feel of college matches, where you’re playing for something bigger than yourself. Representing the United States for me is at the top of the list in terms of what you do in sports, and for me the next thing is representing the university that you go to.�
Lane is looking forward to continuing his role with US Squash, where he believes he will coach again in the future, possibly in a different capacity. He will work toward adding more to his impressive professional squash resume. Per Penn Athletics, as a player he won three Professiona l Squash Association titles, reached eight PSA Tour finals and held a world ranking as high as 46th — the second-best ranking ever for an American.
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MATTIS
organization’s All-Academic team. Both of Mattis’ teammates also recorded strong spring track seasons featuring NCAA appearances. The inclusion of three Penn field athletes on the team is indicative of the overall emergence of the team’s field program in recent years, and of the team’s throwing program in particular. Only a few
>> PAGE 10
remarkable years from a Penn athlete in recent memory. However, Mattis was not the only Penn field athlete to be recognized by the USTFCCCA, as rising junior thrower Noah Kennedy-White and rising senior jumper Tom Pitt were both also named to the
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short years ago Penn struggled to even field a throwing squad; now, with Mattis at the helm, Penn’s throwing squad is something of a national force. Mattis and the rest of Penn track and field will get some time off until the beginning of indoor track in the winter, but cross country is right around the corner, with the Big 5 Invitational set to be held on Sept. 11.
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Franklin Field will host a pair of nationally televised games this fall when the Quakers take on Princeton (during homecoming) and Yale (on a Friday night).
Rising senior Sam Mattis has won a variety of accolades at the discus, including Outdoor Field Scholar Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
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THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015
Living life in the minor leagues
Sam Mattis no stranger to awards M. TRACK | Discus thrower
named Athlete of the Year COLIN HENDERSON Sports Editor
they participated in summers between school years. Glenn has had to make the added transition from starting pitcher to reliever, but again, he credits his quick adaptation to the new role to his time in summer leagues. “Last summer in the Cape Cod League I had a similar transition from a starting role to a relieving role,” Glenn said. “I think having undergone this period of adjustment once before has really helped me this season. “Every outing I have had so far here in the Pioneer League has been
Competition may be over for rising senior Sam Mattis, but that hasn’t stopped the awards from continuing to roll in for him. With the dog days of summer approaching an end, the star discus thrower has been named male Outdoor Field Scholar Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the highest academic award distributed by the organization. The award comes on the heels of a mind-boggling year for Mattis, both on and off the field. Once again, Mattis impressed in the classroom — pursuing a Wharton degree and ending the year with a cumulative GPA of 3.43 (an above-average mark for the school and a cut well-above the 3.25 standard needed to qualify for the award). But this came as no surprise, as he has already been named Academic All-Ivy in 2014. What did come as more of a surprise were his further successes off the field and outside of the classroom, as the thrower took advantage of his relative downtime in the fall and winter. Mattis earned the title of this year’s “Mr. Penn” as the top male participant in the University’s annual body-building competition. But where Mattis truly made waves this year was in — unsurprisingly — his spring track campaign. Coming into the 2014-15 season, Mattis was already a two-time Heptagonal Championships champion in the discus and an All-American in the same discipline. Dominance at the Ivy League level was no longer Mattis’ priority — dominance at the national level was. He hinted at the possibility of this dominance in his indoor season, racking up some surprisingly successful results in disciplines other than the discus. However, a lukewarm start to the outdoor season briefly tempered expectations that he would make a run at a national title. As always, though, Mattis found a way to peak late in his outdoor season, throwing for a meet record at Heps and tossing a school-record 62.48-meters in Eugene, Ore. to take home the 2015 national title in the discus. Mattis’ most recent accomplishment — becoming the first Ivy-Leaguer to be named USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year — tops off one of the most
SEE MINOR LEAGUE PAGE 9
SEE MATTIS PAGE 9
COURTESY OF WILLIAMSPORT CROSSCUTTERS
Catcher Austin Bossart, who was taken in the 14th round of the MLB draft after graduating from Penn this spring, has found success in his first season in the minor leagues with the Williamsport Crosscutters, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate.
BASEBALL | Penn grads
adjust to professional league
STEVEN JACOBSON Staff Reporter
This sum mer, Penn baseball alumni Austin Bossart and Ronnie Glenn have taken their talents from the Ivy League to the Minor Leagues. Bossart and Glenn recently began their professional baseball careers after being selected in June’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Bossart, a catcher taken in the 14th round by the hometown Philadelphia Phillies, has been playing for
the low-A Williamsport Crosscutters. Glenn, a left-handed pitcher who went to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the twenty-second round, was assigned to the Rookie League Orem Owlz. “Honestly, it has been a fairly smooth transition coming from Ivy League baseball,” Bossart said. While noting that pitchers across the board consistently throw harder, he added, “I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the transition, which in my mind is a credit to the high level of play in the Ivy League.” Bossart has transferred the excellent play that won him co-Ivy League Player of the Year honors this past
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spring to the Crosscutters, as he has batted .365 in 52 at bats for Williamsport. Glenn has also pitched well, as he has won a team-high five games for the Owlz and struck out a dominating 30 batters in just 21 innings. While the game they play is the same, both have had to adjust to new roles and a new lifestyle. After playing almost exclusively on weekends for the Quakers, Glenn and Bossart now must play a game (or possibly two) each day. While this is different from college baseball, it hasn’t been a radical change for either, as both experienced similar playing schedules in the collegiate summer baseball leagues in which
Assistant at Penn, head of natl. team SQUASH | Coach Gilly Lane
heads the natl. squash team
JACOB ADLER Staff Reporter
FOOTBALL | Three Quakers
games will air on natl. TV
TOM NOWLAN Sports Editor
Can’t make it to Franklin Field to watch Penn football live in action this fall? Don’t worry. The Quakers announced this week that the team will play three of its games on national television. The Quakers’ home showdown with Yale will be shown on the NBC Sports Network while its contests at Harvard and against Princeton will be broadcast on the fledgling American Sports Network. The Yale game features an extra wrinkle — it will be played on a Friday night, Oct. 23. It will be the first time Penn has played on a Friday night since the Quakers took down Princeton 14-9 on Nov. 7, 2008, a game which was broadcast on ESPNU. The Friday contest also means that SEE FOOTBALL PAGE 9 SEND STORY IDEAS TO DPSPORTS@THEDP.COM
COURTESY OF PENN ATHLETICS
Gilly Lane, an assistant coach for Penn squash, guided the US national men’s team to a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan-American games. ONLINE AT THEDP.COM
Earlier this month, Penn squash assistant coach Gilly Lane coached the US men’s team to a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. Lane, who graduated from the College in 2007 after earning All-America, All-Ivy and team MVP honors all four years at Penn, served as a player-coach for the men’s team last year in the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival, where the men qualified for this year’s event by placing third. The head of the US national teams, Paul Assaiante, wanting to maintain continuity between the 2014 and 2015 events, offered Lane the men’s head coach position if he did not make the team as a player. “I jumped at the chance when they put it out there to me,” Lane said. “It was kind of an easy decision.” His main duty in Toronto was to ensure the comfort of his team members prior to each match. He has previously competed against the three men he was SEE SQUASH PAGE 9 CONTACT US: 215-422-4640