August 3, 2017

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3RD, 2017

The Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania

SUMMER EDITION

Patient sues University and physician for sexual assault Tameka Green accused a doctor at Penn Presbyterian of assaulting her ESHA INDANI Senior Reporter

A patient at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, which is part of the Penn Medicine system, sued the University and physician Leonard Rosenfeld last week over accusations that the doctor sexually assaulted her through the aid of hypnosis.

During an appointment in Rosenfeld’s office on the premises of Penn Presbyterian, which is located at 39th and Powelton streets, Tameka Green said he hypnotized her before sexually assaulting her. In addition to using hypnosis, Green alleged that Rosenfeld drugged her “possibly with a benzodiazepine or other short-acting medication,” according to her complaint.

Rosenfeld “is an independent, private practice physician who is not employed by Penn Presbyterian Medical Center or Penn Medicine,” said Patrick Norton, Penn Medicine’s vice president for public affairs. A University spokesperson, Stephen MacCarthy, declined to comment, citing Penn’s policy to not comment on pending litigation.

In a statement included in the complaint, another one of Rosenfeld’s patients accused the doctor of assaulting her. The details of her alleged assault mirror many aspects of Green’s story, including the use of hypnosis.

Green deferred comment to her attorney, SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 2

M. HOOPS COACHES SEARCH FOR RECRUITS PAGE 6

To find success and push change in the modern world, creativity is a necessity that we cannot ignore.

Fifth-year students shocked to hear of eightsemester limit for “all-grant” aid policy VIBHA KANNAN News Editor

Many undergraduate students who are choosing to stay a fifth year at Penn have just learned that they won’t be granted financial aid for that year. For many, this is a direct contradiction of what they were told by Student Financial Services in previous years, though Student Registration & Financial Services states that this policy has been in place since 2008.

Unless any changes are made to this policy in the next few weeks, hundreds of students may not be able to return to campus come August. Many won’t be able to graduate.

As a freshman in 2014, Engineering student Nancy Wong was assured by SRFS that financial aid would be made available for undergraduate students who stay a fifth year at Penn.

“For students who choose to stay a 5th year, there is financial aid available, however, it will have a loan-component built into the package of a few thousand dollars,” an SRFS officer wrote to Wong on March 4, 2014.

Wong, who uses they/them pronouns, was relieved — they had lived with mental illness as a student and wasn’t sure if graduating in four years was a possibility.

“I was depressed and suicidal for much of my sophomore year,” Wong said. “Fall semester, I withdrew from Math 114, and I failed a fine arts class my spring semester.”

Now three years on, Wong is a rising fifth-year Engineering senior. Wong was supposed to graduate in a few months, but a seeming change in SRFS policy now suggests that the “few thousand dollars” in aid that was promised to them in 2014 might turn into $20,000 worth in loans instead.

Wong, along with tens of other students, learned that Penn isn’t offering financial aid to fifth-year students from a Facebook post written by Amy Calhoun, the director of the Integrated Studies Program. Penn administrators said this policy has been in place since 2008.

“Student Financial Services is now enforcing Penn’s official policy that undergraduates can receive (at most) 8 semesters of financial aid, during their undergraduate studies,” Calhoun wrote. “Financial aid will not cover the 5th year of study for a submatriculant — even if the sub mat has not yet completed her/his undergraduate degree.”

The post spawned an uproar in many student groups on Facebook, such as CG@Penn, the computer graphics group and CIS@Penn, a group for computer science.

SEE FINANCIAL AID PAGE 3

WENTING SUN | DESIGN EDITOR

- Jessica Li PAGE 4

5 TYPES OF SUMMER NAP BY 34TH STREET

Trump and Huntsman intersect The two men are contrasting examples of famous alumni SARAH FORTINSKY News Editor

BACK PAGE

CARSON KAHOE | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER (HUNTSMAN), FILE PHOTO (TRUMP)

FREE-PICTURES / CC0

President Donald Trump, 1968 Wharton graduate, has donated barely a fraction to Penn of what Jon Huntsman Jr., 1987 College graduate, has given.

FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

Outside of “Benjamin” and “Franklin,” two names may not be more closely intertwined with Penn than “Huntsman” and “Trump.”

Each name, already associated with the billionaire patriarch of a proud Penn family, gained closer contact in recent weeks as President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Jon Huntsman Jr. to the key post of U.S. ambassador to Russia.

For the Huntsmans and Trumps, the president’s decision this week is the latest linkage between the two illustrious Penn families, who over their decades of interaction with the University have shown noted points of contrast.

Billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr., a

1959 Wharton graduate, donated between $50 and $100 million to the Wharton School, where his name adorns the business school’s signature building, Jon M. Huntsman Hall. His patronage also led to the creation of the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, a dual-degree program between the College of Arts and Sciences and Wharton.

(Daily Pennsylvanian File Photo) President Donald Trump, a 1968 Wharton graduate whose net worth is more than triple that of Huntsman’s, has donated barely a fraction to Penn of what Huntsman has given. No building on campus is named after Trump, and the only mention of him on any Penn signage or property is on a plaque in the Class of 1968 Seminar Room in Van Pelt Library. (Despite his SEE HUNTSMAN PAGE 2

ONLINE 7 DAYS A WEEK AT THEDP.COM

2 NEWS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

New report puts Penn above other Ivies for employability Indeed.com looked at callback rates of graduates RAHUL CHOPRA Contributing Reporter

Penn is the Ivy League institution of choice among future employers, according to a recent report on internship and job site Indeed.com.

The report, which was published last Friday, found that Penn students who posted their resumes got more calls back from employers than did students from any other Ivy League institution.

Penn graduates get calls back from employers at a rate

30.6 percent higher than the average Ivy League student.

Not far behind, Yale alumni hear back 30.4 percent higher than the average Ivy League student, followed by Columbia (20.8 percent), Harvard (12.3 percent) and Cornell (0.54 percent). Dartmouth students hear back 20.1 percent less than average, while Brown students hear back 26.4 percent less than average.

According to the report, Princeton students hear back from employers at the lowest rate — 48.3 percent less than the average Ivy League student.

The Indeed report derived these figures by looking at

10,000 Ivy League resumes and tracking their callback data.

Penn’s top ranking corresponds with a range of other reports in recent years that have found that Penn graduates have a high rate of employment: of 2,085 students surveyed from the Class of 2016, 89 percent secured full-time employment or continued their education at the end of the school year.

Several factors may contribute to Penn’s success with employers. The report indicates that Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication is one of the most prestigious schools for communication in the entire world. Penn’s Wharton School

is also globally renowned and provides undergraduates with business skills not found in many other peer institutions.

The report added that Penn has a unique interdisciplinary focus that not just allows, but encourages students to pursue multiple degrees, often across undergraduate schools. This integrative approach to learning gives Penn students expertise in multiple fields.

Un iversit y spokesp erson Stephen MacCarthy said “as a general rule we don’t comment on rankings, but it is wellknown that employers view a Penn education very favorably.�

FILE PHOTO

Penn graduates get calls back from employers at a rate 30.6 percent higher than the average Ivy League student, according to Indeed.com.

Pa. budget remains incomplete, may cut Penn’s funding The University could lose more than $30 million HALEY SUH Senior Reporter

Penn’s battle to secure funding from the Pennsylvania state budget for the upcoming fiscal year has not ended yet.

The final proposal for the $32 billion budget was passed by state legislators at the end of June. It restored funding of $30.1 million to Penn Vet, which Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf had proposed eliminating in his budget address in February.

But a month on, legislators have yet to agree on a plan for how to fund this proposal. The legislature reconvened in Harrisburg this past weekend to discuss the matter, but have yet to announce a resolution.

Until the budget is balanced — which means the total revenue would be equal to the total expenditure — Penn and three other “state-related� universities will not receive funding. These

LAWSUIT >> PAGE 1

Jared Jacobson, who said in an emailed statement, “Ms. Green feels that she has been physically and mentally violated in a way that no woman should ever have to suffer, and continues to suffer from the experience. The experience has so significantly traumatized her that she may never again be the woman she was before that fateful appointment.�

The Daily Pennsylvanian does not typically reveal the names of possible victims of sexual misconduct, but is doing so in this instance as Green’s name is included in the public complaint, a decision Jacobson said was made “consciously.� “We believe the power imbalance between the defendants and someone like the plaintiff is part of hell a situation like this can take place and it does take place throughout our city,� he said in an email.

Rosenfeld, who was “on call,� Tuesday night, did not return a phone call to his office requesting comment.

As a specialist in internal

PHOTO BY GOVERNOR TOM WOLF / CC 2.0

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed budget would have eliminated $30.1 million in funding for Penn Vet, but a proposal in June restored this funding — still, a final budget decision has not been made.

universities, which are referred to as “non-preferreds,� include Penn State University and Temple University, as well as the University of Pittsburgh.

W hile P e n n s ylv a n i a’s

medicine, Rosenfeld initially received Green as a referral, according to her complaint. She is a diabetic who, while seeking treatment in the Penn Presbyterian emergency room, asked a staff member there for a recommended list of primary care

constitution requires that the state adopt a complete budget by June 30, the last day of the fiscal year, budget impasses can delay the process for months. In the 2015-2016 fiscal year, Pennsylvania passed a

physicians. Rosenfeld was listed among the recommended practitioners, so Green scheduled an appointment with him, according to court filings.

That appointment is where he allegedly assaulted her, forming the crux of her complaint.

FIRST LAST | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

During an appointment with Dr. Leonard Rosenfeld, a patient claims he hypnotized her before sexually assaulting her.

EKTA Indian Cuisine We do catering, take-out, delivery & dinning

Lunch Buet $9.99 Dinner Buet $12.99 Our buet has more items and the freshest ingredients on campus!

Receive a 10% discount on dine-in and take-out orders with your student ID!

Order online at:

ektaindianrestaurant.com Sun - Thurs: 11am to 10pm Fri & Sat: 11am to 11pm 106 S. 40th Street, Phila. PA 19104 | (215) 222-7122

complete budget nine months after its due date in June 2015, making it the longest budget delay in modern Pennsylvania history.

State Sen. Jay Costa and State Rep. Frank Dermody released a

HUNTSMAN >> PAGE 1

light record of donations, Trump has routinely bragged about attending �a great business school" and has noted the power of his business degree.)

(Daily Pennsylvanian File Photo) Both men sent their children and, at times, even grandchildren to Penn. Huntsman’s sons, Jon Jr., David and Paul, all attended Penn, graduating from the College in 1987, the College in 1992 and Wharton in 2000, respectively. At least five of Huntsman’s grandchildren have Penn degrees, in addition to many other spouses and extended family members.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr. have undergraduate degrees from Penn and in May 2016, only a month after her father became the presumptive Republican nominee for president, daughter Tiffany Trump became the latest Trump to graduate from the College.

On the occasion of Huntsman’s likely nomination to the post of ambassador to Russia, The Daily Pennsylvanian looked at the most notable ways Huntsman and Trump’s paths have crossed in the past: October 2011: At a Republ ica n pr ima r y debate, then-candidate Huntsman criticizes Trump’s international trade policy by saying,“I don’t subscribe to the Don Trump school or the Mitt Romney school of international trade. I don’t want to find ourselves in a trade war.�

joint statement, calling it “disturbing� that there is no fiscal revenue plan for the upcoming year by late July. It also noted that state-related universities “are in danger of not receiving any state appropriations this year� if the budget remains in a deadlock. “This bizarre situation is unconscionable,� the statement read. “We have an incomplete budget and Pennsylvania families are wondering what happens next, especially those families preparing to send their children to college in the next few weeks.�

The loss in annual funding would negatively impact the Vet School’s animal hospitals, agricultural research and teaching. “It needs to happen soon,� said Bill Patton, spokesman for the House Democrats. “If it does not get done soon, I fully expect that the universities and the families of thousands of students who attend them will make themselves known, and let us know that we need to get it done.�

Jonathan Madara, eighth-year

veterinary medicine biomedical and graduate student, said the potential reduction in the Vet School infrastructure could have “severe negative impacts� on people across Pennsylvania, since agriculture makes up for a sizable portion of the state’s economy. “From what I understand the potential $30.1 million loss of funding for the veterinary school would be devastating to the teaching and clinical operations of the veterinary school,� Madara said. “In addition to drastic reductions in the operation of the small animal Ryan Hospital in Philadelphia, the large animal hospital (New Bolton Center) in Kennett Square would also be forced to scale back clinical and teaching operations dramatically. These hospitals provide the hands-on clinical education that veterinary students need, as well as the clinical care that clients from around the country travel to utilize.�

University spokesperson Stephen MacCarthy declined to comment.

December 2011: The tension coalitions as a nominee.� between Trump and HuntsOctober 2016: Huntsman calls man’s ratchets up as Huntsman on then-vice presidential canbecomes one of the first two Re- didate Mike Pence to lead the publican candidates to decline Republican ticket after a video Trump’s offer to participate in of Trump making sexually aga GOP political debate Trump gressive remarks is leaked. intended on hosting. HuntsLater that month, Huntsman, man tells Fox News that the who had been a member of debate shouldn’t be “about rat- Penn’s Board of Trustees for just ings for Donald Trump� and that over 20 years, joked about how by having Trump moderate, it the board used to complain that “really dumbs down� the issues there weren’t enoughThe Quakers New York T being discussed. running for presidential office 620 Eighth Trump comments, “I am in an apparent jab at Trump.

For Infor glad [Republican presidential December 2016: Huntsman’s For Rele candidate Ron Paul] and Jon tone when asked about Trump’s Huntsman, who has incon- unorthodox call to the leader sequential poll numbers or a of Taiwan is much different chance of winning, will not be than the one he had about the attending the debate and wast- real estate developer during the ing the time of the viewers who presidential campaign: “As a are trying very hard to make a businessman, Donald Trump is very important decision.� used to looking for leverage in 35 No more 61 Only w ACROSS February 2012: Trump attacks any relationship. A President spoke 1 Given the short Trim, in aTaiwan way as Huntsman on Twitter: Trump is 36 likely to see Brook end of the stick October 2015: Huntsman’s a useful leverage 38 Ownpoint.� (up) Movie 8 Prone nonprofit nonpartisan group Huntsman is later maybe included in 39 Tapes, 62 Back 11 What No Labels hosts an event calledmany a list of possible candidates for Brits don’t spell 41 Impudence, 63 “That’ “Problem Solver Convention�

Trump’s secretary of state. “realize� with slangily for the presidential candidates to March 2017: Huntsman is re- challe 14 500, e.g. therunning taking for come together in a step toward ported to42 beFor in the 15 Natural energy unity and bipartisanship.

Trump U.S. ambassador to Russia.

DO 43 Bacchanals source was among the eight presidenPolitico later reports that 1 Rogue 45 Flower girl, 17 Designer tial candidates from both sides the Huntsman and Trump “have behind sometimes 2 Tower of the aisle, of the 20 total runDolly Girl maintained a cordial relation- (class 47 Like a control ning, who showed up andperfume spoke ship, according to a source with puzzle freak at the event. knowledge of their recent con18 Really stress 3 Desi J 48 Classic sitcom February 2016: Huntsman versations.�

19 Wind sounds 1960s says that he would likely vote for Huntsmansign-off is said to have ac20 Strong Dino, Trump if he were the Republican cepted a likely nomination as connection?

52 Big appetite Billy nominee. ambassador to Russia.

21 Locale in “Do 55 House shower April 2016: Huntsmanthe urges July 2017: The White House 4 His Right Thing�

H&M announcing assas other Republicans 24 “toWhere stitch thereleases a56 statement spark competitor together a winning coalition,�

Trump’s intention to nominate Shannon flows according to a Politico report.

Huntsman57asProviders U.S. ambassador 5 Tarbo 25 One may be featur limited Huntsman also told Thestraight Daily to Russia, butofspells Huntsman’s 6 coverage?

Pennsylvanian that 26 Trump is first name wrong in the state- Coin i Put down

by Lou “best positioned to 29 build new ment.

59 Noodge Disconcert 7 ___ gr 32 Spirit 60 1983 song that 8 Fame begins “Hate 34 Excessively burial sentimental New York City�

9 Took f ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 10 Food proce J A C K S W H A M A S T R O

inform A L O E S H I Y A B A R E D 11 One in K E N Y A G I V E M E A H A N D

in mo E X E C I T E M U T A N T S busine

A N G E P A C E R S B A H R A I N W A S H A I M S 12 Titula

girl L E E D S E E R R A N T A T A G A A B R I D G E D I R R 13 Puma

M I D D L E M O L E B O L A 16 Camp

E S S E G H A N A F L Y N O W flatter H E A L E R S L A G 20 Humo

S T A P L E D A S U O D E S oppos T A K E M Y W I F E B E L I Z E

strang A R E N A I M A Y P L A I N 22 Wishe

B O S S Y G O R E S Y N O D be un

Crossword

Puzzle Answers

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

FINANCIAL AID >> PAGE 1

The SRFS website currently includes a short line acknowledging the limit on Penn’s “grant-based” aid policy to just “eight academic semesters.” That line was not included as recently as March 20, according to an archived version of the webpage.

The page on SRFS’s site detailing financial aid policy was also changed earlier this year.

Formerly, the red banner above the page read, “Penn’s All-Grant Policy.” The site now says, “GrantBased Financial Aid Program.”

This subtle change in terminology also shows up in the Penn Almanac’s annual release of the university’s financial aid budget.

While in March 2016, Penn President Amy Gutmann referred to Penn’s policy as “all-grant,” this phrase is completely absent in the February 2017 release of Penn’s annual financial aid budget. Instead, Gutmann only referred to “Penn’s grant-based financial aid.”

Vice President for Finance and Treasurer MaryFrances McCourt said these changes are not significant, adding that the all-grant and grant-based policies both refer to policies that meet the maximum financial needs of students.

This is not the first time changes in the wording of Penn’s financial aid policy have garnered attention. In 2015, Penn’s”noloan” policy was rebranded as an “all grant” policy, causing some confusion among students.

This specific phrase has just recently been altered again — while the financial aid pamphlet for the Class of 2020 calls Penn’s aid “all-grant,” the same booklet for the Class of 2021 is devoid of that phrase, using only “grant-based policy” instead. This change in wording, while slight, may exact a price from rising fifth-year students like Wong.

Fifth-year students stand to rack up thousands in debt The loans Wong would need to take out to complete their final semester without aid would triple their student debt, they said.

And Wong isn’t alone. Eight students who spoke to The Daily Pennsylvanian said they were surprised to learn that they would be receiving zero grants to complete their fifth year — an apparent contradiction to Penn’s promise of an “all-grant” financial aid program for undergraduates.

Undergraduates extend their time at Penn for a variety of reasons: a leave of absence, financial issues or, perhaps most commonly, because of a dual degree or submatriculation program, which lets students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees simultaneously.

Penn’s four-year graduation rate based on students who began attending in Fall 2010 is 85 percent, meaning over 1,000 undergraduates do not graduate within eight semesters — and with 47 percent of Penn undergraduates receiving some form of financial aid, this new policy could leave hundreds of students struggling to afford their next semester of college tuition.

Eight students who spoke to the DP said they had only learned about this policy change through Facebook or after checking their semester bill online. Students in a Facebook group, “S.F.S. Dispute,” which has connected over 100 students affected by this new policy, also said they had not received any formal notification from the

university outside of their individual communications with SRFS. Senior University Director of Financial Aid Elaine Papas-Varas individually emailed a student, in an exchange later posted to the Facebook group, stating that SRFS is “working very closely with the School of Engineering to determine what resources alternative we have to support you and others.”

“I expect we will have a resolution next week,” Papas-Varas wrote to the student on July 22.

McCourt sent an emailed statement to all Penn students late last month clarifying the eight semester maximum financial aid policy.

“The grant-based financial aid program was created by President Gutmann in 2008,” McCourt said in the emailed statement.

“Since 2008, the policy has consisted of grant aid combined with work-study for a total of eight undergraduate academic semesters.”

Rising fifth-year Engineering senior Dak Song said he was never informed by SRFS or the University that financial aid was only available for eight semesters.

Hoping to submatriculate into the Computer and Information Science Masters program during his fifth year, he reached out to SRFS and met a representative in person in the spring.

“They told me that as long as I maintained my undergraduate status and had undergraduate classes left to complete in my fifth year, I would get a very similar financial aid package with mostly grants and a few thousand dollars in loans,” Song said.

Based on the encouragement of peers who had done the same and with the reassurance of SRFS, Song saved two final undergraduates classes for his fifth year.

When he checked his financial aid package in the beginning of July, Song was surprised to see that all of his grants had been transformed to loans. For the last four years, Song said he only had to pay a small fraction of the tuition. But suddenly, the “few thousand dollars in loans” he had been told about as a submatriculant had turned into more than $50,000 in loans.

“I’m not sure where to get all this money — it’s such short notice, and loans take time to get approved, so it’s hard to know what the next step is,” Song said.

“I also need to go back to campus, because at this point, it’s not just my master’s degree at stake. I still [need] to complete my undergrad.”

When the DP asked McCourt about the emails that students had received from SRFS confirming they would receive levels of similar financial aid their fifth year year, she replied that she “would love to see the written emails that these students have.” McCourt said this financial aid policy has been consistent since 2008.

She also added that Penn remains “absolutely committed to students and their mental health.”

“Those messages written on Facebook about Penn’s financial policies — that’s just not true,” McCourt said.

In one instance, a student who asked not to be identified to ward off potential blowback from SRFS, asked if he would receive “a similar amount of aid” in his fifth year.

An SRFS staffer did not mention loans at all in their response.

SRFS said the policy has been in place for years — so why didn’t people know about it?

Students haven’t been the only

NEWS 3

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017 ones caught off-guard with this policy. Many Penn faculty members also appear to have been unaware of this policy change until recently.

Engineering Associate Dean for Masters and Professional Programs Zachary Ives sent out an email on July 19 regarding the financial aid policy change.

“I wanted to bring your attention an important change in financial aid implementation that affects our submatriculants in the Master’s programs,” he said in an email addressed to master’s program directors. “Let’s please do our best to get the word out on this, since it obviously has significant consequences for our submatriculating students.”

Wong noted that Cindi Buoni, registrar of Penn Engineering’s Research and Academic Services, had also mentioned that she had only recently found out about the policy.

Buoni and Russell Composto, Penn Engineering’s associate dean for undergraduate education, declined to comment, saying it would be “premature for [them] to discuss the current situation” while they are actively advocating for Engineering students affected by the financial aid policy.

Rising fifth-year Engineering senior Fiona La, a submatriculant into the master’s program for bioengineering, said she was never told why the policy had changed.

Her appointment with SRFS on July 21 was canceled that morning.

(Another student interviewed for this article also heard reports of student meetings with SRFS getting canceled).

A few students have been able to work out their financial aid packages with an SRFS advisor already.

Diana Cardenas, a rising fifthyear Nursing senior, said that after emailing her financial aid advisor, her package was changed.

“I asked if there was any way that they could honor their promise” to cover a fifth year, Cardenas said. A few days later, her adviser had revised her package, switching most of her loans back to grants.

Though Cardenas has had success acquiring a different aid package, virtually all other students interviewed for this piece reported the opposite outcome.

And the variety of student experiences with SRFS reflects the University’s lack of a clearly outlined and enforced financial aid policy.

News of this policy change came to light after another increase in Penn’s financial aid budget. In recent years, Penn has repeatedly noted how the growth in the budget for undergraduate financial aid has outpaced the percentage increase in tuition. For fiscal year 2018, the undergraduate financial aid budget is $224 million, a $9 million increase from fiscal year 2017. This increase of 4.9 percent is higher than the 3.9 percent increase in tuition from 2017 to 2018.

But it is possible that some of these policies have been adopted to get students to graduate sooner, said Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert whose work has been published in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“Most of these types of policies where financial aid is capped have been ineffective,” said Kantrowitz. “Instead, it has been shown that students just take on more loans.”

He noted that some federal loan programs extend past four years of

Alan H. Klein Properties The Best Choice in University City

Fairfax Apartments 4247 Locust Street

• • • •

Flexible leases Pet friendly – no fee!

24-hour desk service & security Studio, Efficiency, 1 & 2 BR Apartments • Rent includes heat, hot water, and cooking gas • Parking available for rent www.PennGradApts.com

Call (215) 222-4449 or (215) 382-2000

or email PennGradApts@gmail.com to schedule an appointment.

college, so students often take out more federal loans if they spend more time finishing their undergraduate degree.

“We will, of course, accommodate for those who are not able to finish in four years due to mental health problems or other special needs,” McCourt said.

Martin Deng, a rising fifth-year Engineering senior, said he was considering taking out student loans to finance his last year at Penn. As a Canadian citizen, he faces greater difficulties taking out loans than his peers.

“Canadian education is half the price of college in the U.S., so it’s difficult to get federal loans,” said Deng. “There is an added layer of difficulty here for some students who are not U.S. citizens and were depending on Penn’s financial aid for their fifth year.”

Penn is not the only Ivy League school that has capped their undergraduate financial aid program at eight semesters. According to Yale University’s financial aid website, “students who attend for nine terms are not eligible for financial aid from Yale in their ninth term.” There is an exception made for “reinstated students,” defined as students who withdrew from a semester due to academic or personal reasons.

While students at Brown University are considered for financial aid past eight semesters, their

“level of loan borrowing will be maximized in [the] award before scholarship funds are awarded,” according to the school’s website.

Many of the Penn students who spoke to the DP emphasized that it was not Penn’s new policy that was unfair, but the manner in which the new rule has been enforced.

“Academic advisors and financial advisors really help shape student curriculums and help people plan out their academic lives at Penn,” La said. “With this information not being properly communicated, a lot of people are stuck, unable to come back and finish their undergraduate degree.”

Repercussions felt beyond fifthyear students This policy is shaping how younger students are planning their curriculum. Rising Wharton sophomore Miguelangel De Armas said he might have to overload his classes and forgo courses he found more interesting in order to finish school in four years.

Other students said that the unexpected enforcement of this policy has especially penalized students who are low-income and struggle with mental illness.

Rising Engineering senior Emily Vo has one year of financial aid left, but still has 14 credits left to fulfill. Vo, who has received treatment for bipolar disorder since sophomore year, said taking seven courses a semester will be

impossible.

Vo switched her major from computer engineering to digital media design, a 40-credit curriculum.

“Penn is all this talk about how they are supporting first generation, low-income students and care about mental health, but this policy actively hurts all these groups,” Wong said. “The school is basically saying that if you are wealthy, you can take all the time you need to finish school, but if you aren’t, you better finish your education in four years and get out.”

An email sent by the Bioengineering Department on Tuesday stated that SFS will be allowing ninth-semester submatriculating Engineering students to continue receiving grants for the fall 2017 semester only — which would solve the concerns of those students worried about being able to finish up their undergraduate degrees.

But, the email states, an official policy is still in the works for “legitimate cases” such as students in dual-degree programs or with mental health concerns. It remains unclear whether this ninth-semester cap will be extended to students outside the Engineering School, and a University-wide statement has not been made since McCourt’s email statement last week.

4

OPINION

Creativity is now a necessity

ROAD JESS TRAVELLEDI | On the importance of creativity and why we need it now more than ever

THURSDAY AUGUST 3, 2017 VOL. CXXXIII, NO. 63 133rd Year of Publication AMANDA GEISER Editor-in-Chief MADDY OVERMOYER Business Manager REBECCA TAN News Editor SARAH FORTINSKY News Editor YOSEF WEITZMAN Sports Editor CAMERON DICHTER Opinion Editor REMI LEDERMAN 34th Street Editor JAMIE GOBRESKI 34th Street Editor WENTING SUN Design Editor ZACH SHELDON Photo Editor ZOE BRACCIA Copy Editor LUCY HU Social Media Editor BROOKE KRANCER Social Media Editor

Unsigned editorials appearing on this page represent the opinion of The Daily Pennsylvanian as determined by the majority of the Editorial Board.

All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.

My friend recently inter viewe d Bi ng Chen, an extremely successful 20 09 College graduate and a person I look up to as almost a role model. As an Asian-American English major who landed a job at Google right after graduation and is now an inf luential media entrepreneur, he became the epitome of “making it” to me.

I listened to the entirety of the interview that she recorded for The Sign.al.

As I was trying my best to absorb all his wisdom, there was one thing that stood out to me. He said that “doing anything creative is the most difficult task to undertake.” He said this was harder than anything, even harder than starting a new business or startup, something that he has attempted twice in his career thus far.

Ever y Pen n st udent wants to become the perfect job applicant, and this often means maximizing the amount of “marketable” skills one can develop

by minimizing time spent on creative projects. The way we undervalue art and humanistic endeavors has caused us to undervalue creativity itself. And when we undervalue creativity, we undervalue our future and our potential to solve the biggest issues that face our world today: using creativity means finding unique solutions to difficult problems, thinking in an unconventional way to get the job done.

E nt r e p r e n e u r ia l a nd forward-thinking leaders in business in the United States have taken notice of this. Mark Cuban, billionaire software developer and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said that “creative thinking” will be the number one job skill in the next ten years. In our increasingly technologyoriented world, more and more jobs will be automated in the next few years.

With the real possibility of computers replacing human labor, we need creativity — liberal arts, the humanities,

human thinking — to provide perspective and shape our world.

Traditionally, the focus of public education is memorization and spitting back facts. In general, the education curriculum in our schools feels so limited in scope that students

specific skill set or learning to memorize a course syllabus is not what will prepare us for the “real world.”

Learning how to creatively and adaptively think about different problems is what will truly prepare students for anything they may encounter beyond school and

In a world where tangible, “hard” skills may be highly sought after, the intangible qualities of a creative thinker are even more valuable than one may think. who perhaps don’t learn in traditional ways feel as if they’re lacking or missing something. When our schools hold qua ntitative, numerical scores as representations of our intelligence, where is the room for out-of-the-box thinking?

In reality, learning a

college.

At Penn, we often feel that we must overload ourselves in our education, piling on dual degrees or amassing a wide range of technical classes that we think will secure us jobs in the future. While the pursuit of any sort of education is beneficial and important,

we shouldn’t be afraid to stretch beyond our majors and resume-listed skills — we should take classes that expand our minds, our capacity to entertain new ideas and notions.

In a world where tangible, “hard” skills may be highly sought-after, the intangible qualities of a creative thinker are even more valuable than one may think. Though creativity is not a skill that can be explicitly conveyed on a black-and-white resume, it’s this kind of next-step thinking that will be crucial in finding success in an ever-changing workplace.

Creativity isn’t just for artists, writers, musicians, the “artsy” people of the world. It’s an applicable skill for anyone, regardless of what your study or future path is set in. If Penn offers us the opportunity for an “interdisciplinary” education, we can and should take advantage of all the possibilities that affords — we may just unlock hidden creative abilities that will

JESSICA LI propel us forward in the future.

To find success and push change in the modern world, creativity is a necessity that we cannot ignore.

If the surge of technology indicates more jobs and livelihoods will be replaceable, we need human thinking and perspective more than ever. Now is the time to explore and push the limitations of what we think we know, to forge ahead in new paths we may otherwise not have found.

JESSICA LI is a rising College sophomore from Livingston, N.J., studying English and psychology.

CARTOON

CLAUDIA LI is a College junior from Santa Clara, Calif. Her email is claudli@sas.upenn.edu.

Why doctors need to look past the stats GUEST COLUMN BY BRIAN CARR “You have two months left to live.” The doctor delivered the words with a steel, monotone voice without looking up from his computer. If my uncle wasn’t paying attention, he wouldn’t have realized he was just diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer. After typing a note, the doctor told my uncle his only option was palliative care. He wished my uncle the best, and left. The appointment lasted five minutes. My uncle went home distraught, in part because of the sudden realization he didn’t have long to live, but more so because he didn’t feel he was treated as a human.

The doctor rendered his diagnosis using the five-year survival rate, often considered the gold standard for determining how long treatment will extend the life of a cancer patient. So, patients diagnosed with cancer earlier, or with a cancer that has a treatment available, usually have a higher survival rate, whereas patients diagnosed with cancer later, or with a cancer that doesn’t have a treatment available, have a

lower survival rate. My uncle, diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer, was in the latter group.

By using five-year survival rates to tell patients how long they have to live, doctors ignore one major factor: the patient’s humanity. It ignores characteristics such as a patient’s physical fitness, and more importantly, it ignores intangible aspects such as a patient’s mental status, emotional capacity and relationships.

At Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, pre-doctoral students collaborated with faculty to create a Society of Oral Oncology to take students out of the classroom and into the setting of patient-centered care.

This society aims to bridge the gap between the science needed to understand cancer and the humanity necessary to treat cancer patients, moving towards preparedness in the clinical setting by teaching students the tools to deliver the highest quality care.

One seminar by Dr. Neeraj Panchal, a faculty oral maxillofacial surgeon from Penn

Dental Medicine who also serves as section chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Philadelphia Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, focused on dental clearance

patients with stronger family and community support are more likely to continue their therapy than patients who live alone or are estranged. This seminar, like many others, elucidates how accounting for all

By using five-year survival rates to tell patients how long they have to live, doctors ignore one major factor: the patient’s humanity. for patients receiving radiation therapy for oral cancer.

The discussion focused on how patients’ emotional and mental status changed during radiation therapy, a treatment often leaving patients with scars, difficulty opening, dry mouth and inability to eat, drink or swallow. He also discussed how

dimensions of a patient’s life – not just the diagnosis – influences the quality of patient care.

Luckily, my uncle had a strong community. When he wanted to give up and accept the doctor’s prognosis, his wife encouraged him to see another oncologist. These discussions

with his wife, combined with words of encouragement from his children, convinced him to try to beat cancer. The second oncologist agreed with the initial prognosis, but told my uncle that everyone responds differently to treatment. He said my uncle, a 71-year-old former linebacker from University of Wisconsin-Madison, who bikes during summer and skis during winter, was fit for his age and could begin an aggressive treatment regimen that could extend his life by six months.

Three years later, my uncle died from a metastasis to his liver. This doctor bought my uncle three years; he looked past the statistics, treating my uncle like an individual with strong family ties who could handle an intense treatment plan. During his treatment, my uncle lost sensation to his hands, his ability to bike and his hair. He never lost his smile. When he couldn’t grill at family reunions anymore, he taught his recipes to his children. He started hiking with

his wife to decrease the nausea from chemotherapy. They spent a summer traveling to parks they had never before visited.

To him, the decrease in quality of life was nothing compared to the memories he gained.

Memories he wouldn’t have experienced if he was treated like a statistic.

In medicine, it’s important to know the etiologies and survival rates of different cancers, and the current treatments available to cancer patients. But it’s even more important to learn about the patient seeking treatment. To do this, doctors need to look up from their screens and see patients coming to them in their most vulnerable state. Patients asking for only a few more months to live. And it’s in these moments, with these patients, that doctors need to show their compassion, and deliver the highest quality care possible.

BRIAN CARR is a third-year dental student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

NEWS 5

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017

HUP cited by state inspectors for having dirty bed railings The report didn’t say whether patients were harmed HALEY SUH Senior Reporter

An unexpected corner at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania gave Penn trouble last fall: dirty hinges on bed railings.

In a report made public this month, state inspectors at the Pennsylvania Department of Health found that the janitorial staff at HUP had failed to successfully clean bed railings back in the fall.

The report was based on interviews with employees and photographs taken by physician Hooman Noorchashm, whose wife noticed the problem during her stay at the hospital,

according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Although the hinges exist below the surface of the bed, Noorchashm said the plastic tubes used to deliver medication into the patient’s bloodstream are draped near the bed railings where the debris is found. The state report did not say if patients were harmed by the uncleanliness of the beds.

Noorchshm said he did not think the janitorial staff was at fault, but rather thought it was the way the bed railings were designed that made them difficult to clean.

“You’re going to see debris and crud on those beds because of the way they’re designed,” Noorchashm told the Inquirer.

“This has never been about

[HUP]. This has never been about janitorial services.”

Despite the initial findings earlier in the school year, a formal inspection in May by the Pennsylvania Department of Health determined that the hospital had taken “immediate steps to develop a process for the facility to provide prompt resolution of patient complaints and grievances.”

“Infection control is among our highest priorities, and we are fully cooperative with all regulatory review processes,” said Penn Medicine’s Vice President for Public Affairs Patrick Norton. “We are taking this matter very seriously, and have worked closely with the manufacturer to implement enhanced cleaning protocol to ensure patient safety.”

FILE PHOTO

“You’re going to see debris and crud on those beds because of the way they’re designed,” said Hooman Noorchashm, a physician quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kelly Writers House hosts inaugural summer program The workshop was funded by alumnus Maury Povich MICHEL LIU Staff Reporter

Kelly Writers House hosted its first summer workshop for high school students this July.

The Summer Workshop for Young Writers program brought in rising juniors and seniors from all over the country, with one student hailing from Australia.

For 10 days, these high schoolers attended memoir-writing workshops led by Jamie-Lee Josselyn, the program director and a creative writing instructor at Penn.

Josselyn said the curriculum was a condensed version of her undergraduate introductory creative writing class, “Memoir and Literary Journalism.”

“Memoir-writing is an excellent skill for rising juniors and seniors,” Josselyn said, “because they really are figuring out who they are and they all have stories to tell about

themselves.”

Josselyn, a 2005 College graduate who is also the associate director for recruitment at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, added that since most of the writers in the group were not familiar with personal writing, the genre was a “good common ground” for the group. She also said that having these students share stories about their lives “contributed to them coming together and getting to know each other.”

On top of memoir-writing workshops, participants were introduced to a range of different literary forms, from performance poetry to cartoons and even songwriting. Penn professors and local artists taught many of these “craft sessions.”

While the writing was intensive, the students also found time to enjoy themselves outside of classes. Many participants recalled memories of touring Philadelphia, snacking during “fruit breaks” and bonding in their dorm rooms in Harnwell College House.

COURTESY OF JAMIE-LEE JOSSELYN

On top of memoir-writing workshops, the high school program participants were introduced to a range of different literary forms, from performance poetry to cartoons and even songwriting.

Josselyn said she was pleased with how the program turned out in its first year.

“The idea of doing a summer program has been floating around the Writers House for many years,” Josselyn said.

Participants for this summer workshops were chosen to be “very

intentionally diverse,” stylistically, geographically and socioeconomically, she said. About half the students received full financial scholarships for the program made possible by 1962 College graduate Maury Povich, the well-known talk show host. Without a scholarship, the program costed $2,750 per

student.

Students said they appreciated the group’s diversity.

“All of us are so skilled in different areas that when we came together, we all fed off of one another,” said Alisha Yi, a rising senior at Ed W. Clark High School in Las Vegas.

Hannah Kinisky, an instructor for a craft session about brief literature and a graduate student at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice, said the high schoolers were also diverse in terms of writing experience. While some attendees were familiar with creative writing programs already, for many, she said, the Kelly Writers House was their first exposure to mentorship in creative writing.

Sameet Mann, a rising senior at Northeast High School, said she “probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to pursue more rigorous writing at my high school,” adding that the Kelly Writers House summer program exposed her to different fields of writing and gave her a taste of college life.

Others agreed, including rising high school senior Ilana Cohen from the Beacon School in New York City: “This was an inspiring environment that pushed me out of my comfort zone in writing because the people here were so welcoming.”

Check back on rd August 23 for the Back-to-School Issue

20 days too long? check out thedp.com for all the latest stories

6 SPORTS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

S A G N I H T H N C O U S S A NO OFF SE AN Penn Men’s basketball coaches search for talent across the country MARC MARGOLIS Sports Reporter

In today’s college basketball landscape, there truly is no offseason.

Coaches at all levels flock to AAU tournaments across the country throughout the summer to catch a glimpse of the premiere high school talent.

After a promising season that saw Penn take eventual Ivy League champion Princeton to overtime in the semifinals of the inaugural Ivy League Men’s Basketball Tournament, the coaching staff has hit the recruiting trail to find the missing pieces needed to help the team get over the hump. Games, seasons and championship hopes often hinge on how well a coaching staff can recruit.

Even with the formation of a solid young nucleus, which includes rising sophomores AJ Brodeur, Ryan Betley and Devon Goodman, and incoming freshmen guards Jelani Williams and Eddie Scott, Penn’s coaching staff still needs to find more complementary talent if it hopes to challenge Harvard’s young core of four star recruits in the coming years.

Although the entire offseason is important for recruiting, no month is more crucial than July. During July, the “contact period” lasts the entire month. In addition to the contact period, there are

WILL SNOW | SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

also the “evaluation periods.” Evaluation periods consist of three five-day periods where, according to sbnation. com, “off campus face-to-face contact is not permitted... Coaches can still visit a prospect’s school. Visits to schools are ostensibly for the purpose of evaluation.

Prospects can visit colleges and receive written and electronic communication.”

Though Penn cannot offer athletics scholarships, they can still give recruits permission to issue verbal commitments.

July is also the month in which the most tournaments occur, at both the national and local level. During this time, coaches have permission to evaluate prospects at AAU tournaments. Almost every player on Penn’s roster came to Penn as a result of July recruiting.

“As a staff we were able to see a lot go talented players, we were able to get to some big time events,” Penn assistant coach Joe Mihalich Jr. said. “Specifically the sneaker events, the Adidas Championship, the Nike Peach Jam, of course the Under Armor Championships.”

In addition to the large sneaker events, local events run by the “Hoop Group” in Philadelphia provide addition avenues to SEE RECRUITING PAGE 7

All-Ivy Mason Williams to transfer from Penn

FOOTBALL | Williams

will join Duke Football

COLE JACOBSON Sports Editor

Penn football still has its eyes on the coveted Ivy League threepeat, but the road to making history just got a bit tougher.

On Saturday evening, the Red and Blue program received a bombshell when rising junior and defending first team All-Ivy cornerback Mason Williams announced that he’d be transferring from Penn to Duke for the upcoming school year and joining the football program there. Williams, who led the Ancient Eight with six interceptions in a breakout sophomore season, wrote the following statements on his Twitter account: Williams did not elaborate beyond those Tweets regarding the primary reasons for his decision, calling it a “delicate situation” and merely saying that “I’m sad to leave the University of Pennsylvania, but excited and looking forward to the next chapter in my life.”

However, he did say that head coach Ray Priore had prior knowledge of his situation, thanking Priore for “battling through this” alongside him throughout the spring. When asked for comment, Priore gave the following statement: “Due to personal and family reasons, Mason Williams has decided to step away from the University of Pennsylvania.

As a program, we wish Mason nothing but the best wherever his next step may take him. He gave two outstanding years to Penn football and did everything we asked of him on and off the field. I know this was tremendously tough for him, but Penn football is about family first and we respect and appreciate the difficulty Mason and his family went through in making this decision.”

GRIFF FITZSIMMONS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

After two stellar years as a starting cornerback for Penn football, Mason Williams has announced plans to transfer, forcing the Red and Blue to find their next man up quickly as the 2017 season approaches.

As Priore’s Quakers have embarked on their unprecedented rise from a sixth-place finish in Al Bagnoli’s final season in 2014 to their back-to-back titles in the most recent two seasons, Williams has been one of the most prominent faces of the team’s rapid resurgence.

Earning a starting job immediately as a freshman in 2015, Williams was part of a trio of true freshmen in the secondary that took the Ivy League by storm, joining classmates Sam Philippi and Jyron Walker in the defensive backfield. And by just about any metric, Williams and his classmates made a drastic impact as soon as they stepped on campus.

As a team, Penn saw its defense drop to allowing 26.8 points per game after allowing 31.9 the year prior, with the Quakers impressively rising from 106th nationally in turnover margin in 2014 to eighth in Williams’ freshman year.

Individually, Williams was all over the field, securing 43 tackles with four pass breakups and

asserting himself as a young star to watch.

“Teams have had years where they struggle, and the year before Jyron, Sam, and I came happened to be one of those years.

I will always remember playing with those two, Jyron especially because he was my roommate,” Williams said. “Both guys are incredible athletes. Sam Philippi is the leader and has always been the leader of the Penn defense out on that field. Our top memory as a group has got to be [a 48-28 win at] Brown our freshman year. We led the team in tackles that game [combining for 15 of the team’s 49]. Sam had a couple INT’s and Jyron played like a man possessed. These past two seasons have been successful due to the brilliant coaching staff behind Ray Priore and defensive coordinator Bob Benson, and this next season will be nothing short of a success for this program.”

But even after that stellar rookie season, the Los Angeles native would break out even further in his second year in

University City. Combining his consistent physicality in the run game with a ball-hawking mentality that thrived in Benson’s blitz-happy defense, Williams became arguably the Ivy League’s best cornerback as a sophomore.

Perhaps his best individual performance came when the lights were literally and figuratively the brightest, as he hauled in two interceptions in a “Friday Night Lights” 27-14 upset of then-undefeated Harvard in what was a must-win for Penn to stay alive in the Ivy title race.

But that phenomenal performance under the Franklin Field lights was only a microcosm of what was a fantastic season overall — besides his league-leading six interceptions, Williams’ 46 tackles also ranked fifth on the team, as he ended up being named a HERO Sports First Team Sophomore All-American and was Penn’s only defensive player to be named an ECAC All-Star in addition to his aforementioned All-Ivy honors.

“Last year was a great year for

myself. Most of my success came from the guys around me!” Williams said. “Starting with coach Benson, he is a great defensive coordinator and put me in positions to make plays. Other players like [linebacker] Nick Miller and [defensive end] Louis Vecchio made it easy for a player like me to play fast and hard. The Penn offense was so powerful and scored at will. That allowed my game as well as other defensive players to play more comfortably and at ease. When you know you can score like that, you feel like you can’t lose.”

Needless to say, the impact Williams has made for Benson’s defense has been undeniable.

But while the team will sorely miss its star corner this fall, it’ll be a “next man up” mentality as the competition to fill that spot ensues.

And who might that “next man” be? With Walker returning after two years starting opposite Williams, he figures to be have a very good chance at retaining his corner spot. As for the other spot, rising sophomore Conor O’Brien may be in line for a major promotion — O’Brien actually entered for Walker after the latter was benched after allowing a deep touchdown in the team’s title-clinching win over Cornell, suggesting that Benson and his staff have some major confidence in the second-year player going forward. Beyond them, Eric Markes, Hassan Smith and converted running back Niko France all saw thorough playing time during spring ball.

So despite the understandable disappointment at the shocking announcement, not all is lost for Priore’s squad. Even without Williams, the team’s 10 returning All-Ivy selections are still three more than any other Ivy League team has — and in the secondary specifically, Walker, Philippi and O’Brien will ensure that Benson’s defensive backfield will still have some major talent.

“The Penn football team will

be fine,” Williams said. “Coach Benson knows what he is doing.

You will see the best secondary out on that field. He knows how to win football games.”

As for Williams’ next chapter, the rising junior will join one of the nation’s rapidly improving programs in Durham. Having long been a laughing stock within the powerful ACC — finishing winless in three separate seasons throughout the 2000s — ninthyear coach David Cutliffe has transformed the program in a manner somewhat similar to Priore’s own renaissance at Penn.

After not having made a bowl game since 1994, the Blue Devils reached the postseason in four consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2015, topping Indiana in the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl for the school’s first bowl win since 1960. Though Duke did struggle to a 4-8 mark in the most recent season, it’s no secret that Williams is joining a squad on the rise.

“I’m very excited to be a part of this group,” Williams said.

“The coaches and players have welcomed me with open arms.

I’m ready to begin my career here.”

But no matter where Duke goes from here or whether Williams can fight for serious minutes, one thing is abundantly clear. Though his time suiting up on the field with his Red and Blue brothers has come to an abrupt end, the brotherhood with his fellow Quakers off the gridiron will remain as strong as ever.

“I love all those guys at Penn.

I wish nothing but the best for them. I hope that my relationships with the coaches and teammates at Penn will last, as well as my relationships with the faculty, staff, students, alums, and whole Penn community.

I thank them all so much for making my stay at Penn very special,” he said. “I do not want them to mourn over this. I want them to get another ring. Three straight.”

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

SPORTS 7

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017

Q&A with Houston Astros GM Jeff Luhnow

YOSEF WEITZMAN Sports Editor

Right now, Jeff Luhnow is one of the hottest names in the MLB, but few would have ever saw that coming six years ago when Luhnow began his tenure as the Houston Astro’s general manager (GM).

At the time, the Astros were coming off a 65-106 season that saw them finish last in the entire MLB. From the very beginning, though, Luhnow showed no fear in making bold decisions, firing the team’s manager after another last place year in 2012.

Even though the Astros’ record got even worse the following year in 2013, Luhnow stayed the course and continued to accumulate assets that he hoped would revive the team one day.

It took several years, but Luhnow’s process finally started to pay off in 2015 when the team finished with its first winning season in seven years. Flash forward to the present, and the Astros are leading the American League by over ten games and are heavy favorites to win the AL pennant and compete in the World Series.

Despite all the success he has had in baseball, Luhnow did not even plan to work in the sports industry when he graduated from Penn’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology in 1989. In fact, Luhnow had two different careers before joining the front office of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003.

RECRUITING >> PAGE 6

scout local players.

Per NCAA rules, Coach Mihalich was not allowed to mention any current or former recruits by name or their specific recruiting process.

However, with nearly 20 percent of the current roster from schools within a 45 minute drive of the Palestra, it seems likely that local tournaments have also played a big role in getting quality basketball talent to Penn.

Local players on Penn’s roster include Betley and Goodman, who played high school basketball in the Philadelphia suburbs, and veteran guards Darnell Foreman and Jake Silpe, who played in South Jersey. Although Silpe struggled to find playing time after a strong freshman campaign, Betley, Goodman and Foreman all started the playoff game against Princeton and carved nice roles for themselves by the end of the season. So local talent not only comes to Penn basketball, it also contributes to Penn basketball on the court.

At these tournaments, it is not only important to find talented players but also players that fit into head coach Steve Donahue’s system. “We are always looking for the best possible talent, but of course a big part of what we do is shoot the ball. That’s always attractive especia lly from three,� Mihalich said.

In fact, out of the players who finished the season in the top ten of minutes per game, eight shot better 30 percent

To get a better sense for how his time at Penn has helped shape his success in baseball, the Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with Luhnow over email.

The Daily Pennsylvanian: In an interview with MLB.com, you mentioned that you reached out to Peter O’Malley, a Penn alum (who at the time, was working as both the owner and president of the Los Angeles Dodgers), while you were an undergrad. More generally, though, how do you think your experience at Penn has helped you in your baseball career?

Jeff Luhnow: My time at Penn was an ideal foundation for a career in baseball. I didn’t know it at the time, nor was becoming a baseball executive on my radar screen, but in retrospect it was very important. In obtaining my engineering degree at Penn, I learned to use the scientific method and use information to solve challenging problems. Projecting the future performance of human beings in a sports environment is an extremely complex problem but one that is critical to all sports teams. My engineering background helps me prioritize and understand the work done by our baseball analysts. My degree from Wharton gave me a deep understanding and appreciation for value and what creates and destroys value in companies, industries, and economies. Being able to use and appreciate valuation methodologies applied to sports has been important for me. Also, my first fantasy league was started as I was leaving Penn with several fraternity brothers and classmates and that league (which still exists today) kept

me connected to all the players in the majors and many of the game’s top prospects.

DP: Before beginning your career in baseball, you worked for several years in the general business sector. What made you decide you wanted to move into the sports industry?

JL: I had three careers before baseball. The first was as an engineer, for WL Gore & Associates based in Delaware. I loved my time there and enjoyed being and engineer and making products. The company has a terrific culture and I learned quite a bit about people too. My second career was as a management consultant for McKinsey and Company in Chicago. I worked across many industries and on many different types of studies and further developed my ability to contribute to and hopefully help solve complex problems.

My third career was as a technology entrepreneur... where I learned how to start something from scratch and watch every penny, as well as how to raise money and build a market. At no point was I planning to go into sports or baseball. In the summer of 2003, a former colleague of mine from McKinsey contacted me and put me in touch with the owner of the St Louis Cardinals, and less than a month later I found myself working in baseball. It wasn’t planned but it turned out to be a perfect place for me to utilize my education and my background.

DP: In 2011, the Cardinals won the World Series, and then a couple of months later, you left St. Louis to become the GM of a struggling team in the Astros.

What went into that decision to join the Astros as GM? JL: I spent seven full seasons with St Louis and loved every minute of it, despite the difficult challenges and intense working environment. I was fortunate enough to gain experience in scouting, player development, international and most other areas of baseball operations.

During my time there, the Cardinals went to the World Series three times and won twice.

Five of the seven years the club made the playoffs. I learned a ton about what makes a great organization tick. When I was presented with an opportunity to run the baseball operations of a struggling team, I decided to take on the challenge in hopes of turning it around and trying to have the same type of success as the Cardinals had in the seven years I was there. I knew it would be difficult but I wanted the challenge.

DP: Since starting with the Astros, you have helped bring them from the bottom of the MLB to the very top. What do you attribute your success to and how were you able to maintain confidence in your plan when your first few seasons were very rough from a record standpoint?

JL: The success of the Astros has been the result of many years of hard work by a very talented group of people. To be honest, the keys to our success are similar to what makes any organization achieve its goals (and we are by no means done... we are just getting started). Hiring, developing and trusting the best people is a critical component.

No leader can do it by himself or

from three point range. Though shooting 30 percent does not make anyone a sniper, it does warrant opponents’ respect. On the recruiting trail it is important for Penn to find guards, forwards and centers with respectable jump shots. Forward Max Rothschild was the only player to pose no threat from three point range and still see consistent minutes for Penn last season, though his role was mainly to rebound, defend and provide rest for Brodeur.

Coaching staffs must also implement efficient strategies to see as many players as possible for optimal recruiting. Right off the bat, more important than three point percentage is a potential recruit’s standardized test scores and grades. With Penn offering less admission leniency for talented but underqualified athletes than most institutions, Penn’s coaches will not even consider a player if it is clear they do not have the academic ability. Penn’s academic standards eliminates much of the talent pool from consideration.

Still, the strategy of Penn’s summer recruiting hinges on divide and conquer. It is rare for multiple coaches to watch the same game or be at the same tournament. July is a time where priority recruits are looked at more closely and where lesser known recruits first come onto the radar. It would be inefficient if all the coaches stayed together throughout the month because they would not be able to see as much talent.

A not her rea son Pen n’s coaches watch different games

or attend different events is to allow multiple coaches to evaluate a player in different circumstances. Recruiting is never an exact science and there is always the danger of seeing the prospect on a particularly “good� or “bad� day. Strategizing and allowing different coaches to see a certain player across multiple days and weeks allows the coaching staff to obtain a better perspective on the prospect. They have more opportunities to evaluate a player and how they perform at a consistent level.

Additionally, before coach Steve Donahue and the assistants scatter across the country, the coaching staff has a meeting to outline what tournaments coaches will attend and prospects. Then, throughout July, they are in frequent contact discussing thoughts on players and how they could fit in at Penn.

At Pen n, however, the coaches do not always collaborate with just each other.

Joe Mihalic Jr.’s dad, Joe Mihalic Sr, coached at Niagra for 15 years and has been the head coach at Hofstra since the 20132014 season. “My dad will often recommend players to me for me to look at,� Mihalich said. “Especially ones that are strong academically.�

On the recruiting trail, where Penn competes with other Ivy’s for a select group of players who can get into the Ivy’s academically, collaborating with other coaches almost never happens —though Mihalich has admitted to grabbing a bite to eat with a few rival Ivy League coaches. Using a connection

through his dad is neat way of getting a broader more eyes and ears to evaluate talent.

It is often very difficult to find ways to catch a good glimpse at any one prospect with the sheer number of players at any given tournament.

What is also helpful to coaches is the layout of many tournaments.

JL: My advice to Penn students (and my daughter is currently one) is to pursue a career in an area of passion for you. If that happens to be sports, that’s great but realize that sports jobs are hard to land and you need to have a backup plan.

There are many skills that will help you in sports but can also help you in other careers. Since I’ve been at the Astros, I’ve hired MBAs, MDs, PhDs across various disciplines, psychology majors, physics majors, math majors, english majors and even a few people who never went to college. There is no prescription, but all of these people are passionate about their area of expertise and also about baseball! And we all get along, which helps.

“It can be tough, but what helps is a lot events take place at locations that have up to six courts under one roof,� Mihalich said. “We can catch a couple games without going too far.

There are some events where you can sit in one spot from 8 a.m to 8 p.m and watch games every hour on the hour.�

By the end of July, the

coaching staff knows who they want out of the rising senior class and who they will target in the rising junior class. Officially games are won and lost during the season, but what the staff does in July goes a long way to determining whether Penn will be playing late in March or watching the tournament from home.

Skill Level:

4

6 2 Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) 1 4 5 contains every digit 1 to 9.

5 6 1 4

2 3

9 8 3 4 7

3 7

7 5 2 3

The York The New York Times Times Syndication Syndication Sales Sales Corporation Corporation 3 9 New 2 620 620 Eighth Eighth Avenue, Avenue, New New York, York, N.Y. N.Y. 10018 10018 For For Information Information Call: Call: 1-800-972-3550 1-800-972-3550 6 9 4 Thursday, ForFor Release August 2017 Release Friday, July 21, 3, 2017 prizesudoku

Create and solve your Sudoku puzzles for FREE.

Play Sudoku and win prizes

The Sudoku Source of

NEWYORKTIMESCROSSWORDPUZZLE Edited Edited by

by Will Will Shortz Shortz C Crossword ACROSS ACROSS

1 Children’s ball Alternatives to game

1

olives

6 “Wake Me Up 7 Went Beforefor Youa run Go-Go� band 13 Spanish spread 10 “Told Prefix ya!� with 14 15

-logical

More affected

15 Plants cultivated

16 Drill setting for their sap 17 many 16 Part “Hey of there�

34 “Traffic Crossing 57 Southwest 29 Moving 51 21st in a series ___ Bridge� sch. between male of 24with an (pioneering 1888 enrollment of and female 52 over Neighbor de moving picture) 70,000 32

Sore helper

35 Always, to 33 Shakespeare Old baseball

mascot with a

36 Berate “C� on his cap 35 Turkish Toastertitle 38

components

39 Cut down

arena names:

17 Abbr.

Shown, as teeth 21 Suit

no up side 22 Resident’s suffix 21 Evidence of a 23 hard Ones landing with X-Genes, in 23 Not bogus comics 24 24 Michael Figure onwho the directed the top of Paris’s 2015 film Notre-Dame “Blackhat�

26 Hoosier 25 “That makes hoopsters of us�

27 two Call for cleanup in the Persian 27 Spooky grp.?

Gulf?

28 Like some sent 31 documents Uses cross hairs

38

Major beef

42 Sale tag abbr. source

1990sunit hip-hop 45 Chem.

44 Like white 46 Virus carried by panthers fruit bats

UJ N O H B I P T A R JI A C K R

D O U P O E M O S A LI A D R H AI

D K E W L A L R Y G A R C E E N D

M PT O G W S

T C O H JI O A

H L O E A G R S

E V L TI C O T N EI Q A S R T S E P M I D S

R O W R M E EL N U T I M S OI D A P

H E HI V E A N A B E L A S M I NI S O S R E

A S M S A ET N E T U R S Y O N E C R O R O U M T

Co-Nobelist 48 To be,Yitzhak to with Augustus and Shimon 45

49 for a West 47 Slogan 2002 Grammy African airline? nominee John 52 e.g.

48 Shaman, Popular nail

polish brand

54 Smelting residue

School once 55 Having corner headeda by Mies piece? van der Rohe 49

S M C A H R ET DI N I C E P I C O T U U T R D E O

T M OI N R A A N L D D A O P L G A U Y N S M E T N

SI W L A Y N S T Y R O R U S O P R L D E E A R

FL RI T A P E UI W EA D SY ES S O T H C O A P W A S D C O AZ N TE B EL A SL

LI NI LS T A A N VT E W RI N A RE EX P A O S

O A D C AI E M R A ER AI P N A L N L AI N M O A

Ibiza 58 “The ___ of 54 Horace�

Add subtly 56 Entreaty Used upfor 62 a spouse’s 57 “Hel-l-lp!� emigration to America?

58 Central Makeup problems 65 Bowl 59 “Perhaps�

Past the point 66 of caring 67 No-frills 68 Domineering 69 “AnDOWN Inconvenient Truth� narrator 1 Swift writings 70 Church council

It has four tusks 3 Shows DOWN disregard for 1 Hunky-dory privacy 24 Three-time Discovery N.H.L. M.V.P. magazine subj.

Ovechkin Unidentified 35 Roadwork gossip source, indicator oftenopener 4 Door 56 ItFrench has its philosopher benefits: Abbr. who wrote 6 Toothpaste “Reflections on ingredient Violence�

7 Queen’s 7 residence Greet with disdain 8 Yes, on board Abbr.shouldn’t before 98 Who a colon a “let your and babies grow nameup to be cowboys,� in a 9 1978 Potent #1pot country component, for song short 10 Let up 10 Arid Impetus for a 11 colonial “party�

12 Segue 11 Wolverine’s 13 Let cousin 14 One in a million, 12 e.g.

Hinge 14 Supermodel Instagram and 19 Hadid such 2

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

Rising sophomore Ryan Betley, who attended Downingtown West for high school, proves to be another key recruit after his successful freshman season.despite being injured for much of the start.

herself. Making sure you have a well reasoned strategy and that you stick to a plan (as long as it continues to make sense). Using all the available information that you have at your disposal to make decisions... making that standard across all functions.

These are just some of them, but very important. Sticking to our plan required a ton of patience, not only by me and my team but by our ownership group and our fans. When you are in the trenches of a turnaround, it’s so hard to stick to the plan and not deviate when outsiders begin to criticize. We held our ground, and it’s beginning to pay off.

DP: And lastly, what advice would you give to Penn students who want to pursue careers in the front offices of sports teams?

SUDOKUPUZZLE

41 Word Blue before 18 “Sign Request aid in 43 18 meforup!�

East Africa? or class 42 school Big name in 20 Situation with

WILL SNOW | SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR

ERICENFERMERO / CC 4.0

After graduating from Penn, Jeff Luhnow had two other careers in engineering and consulting before switching to baseball.

Š Puzzles provided by sudokusolver.com

Luhnow graduated from Penn in 1989

P R EA ET R P M L O U N SE Y L O UT S YK

1 1

2 2

3

3

4

4

5

5

6

15 13 18 15

19

21 17

22

18

24 25 22

21

27 25 34

28

29

39

56

11 9

28

31

57 63

47

37

42

54 46

43 47

50 54

64

65 56

66

57

67

68 58

69

59

70

53

33

42 34 46 51

45

32

37

3341

49

14 12

24

36 31

50 41

13 11

20

26

40

12 10

20 23

30 27

49 53

10 8 17

45 36

40

52

7

14

19

4435 39

9

16

26

32

44

62 52

8

.com

No. No. 0629 0616

30 35

43

55 48

7

23

29

38

48 38

6 16

at:

“Daily Pennsylvanian�.

58

59 51

60

61

55

PUZZLE PROULX PUZZLE BY

BY RICH ZHOUQIN BURNIKEL

20 16 Game Majorplayed with 24 cards uncertainty

32 Thomas, 34 ___ “Always one entertainer of a kind� with asloganeer Presidential Medal of 25 of spray 19 Kind Classified key 36 Freedom One of a White to success Housematerial couple 26 “My fault�

33 Tatami until 2017 22 Onetime 37 Writer ___ host with 11 Dish often 27 Subject of Emmys finger- 37 Rogers St. Johns Daytime garnished with pointing 40 “St. Elsewhere� white radish 24 Fared actor Ed ___ Jr. 28 Shield of Athena 38 Salivation 26 Just sits 41 Peter Falk feature stimuli 28 Wordless Who’s there 29 denials 44 Intensifies 39 Flamethrower 47 “Great 30 Green on the optionScott!�

30 ___ Republic, silver screen 50 Harry Potter’s owl state toppled in 40 Radiator 51 Mess up protector 31 1933 Party server

53 43 Cosmetics Big namebrand in owned

by Revlon disposable

tableware 55 Attempt

45 Poi Crocheter’s 56 source

collection

57 Light-years away 46 Anthropologist Rene of 59

“Nightcrawler�

Fossey

60 singer 49 Opera Vulgarian Pinza 50

Bulgarian, e.g.

61 Email button

53 “IBig Apple 63 think,� in texts

airport code

64 Short albums, for 55 short “___ changed�

Online Online subscriptions: subscriptions:Today’s Today’spuzzle puzzleand andmore morethan than7,000 7,000past past puzzles, puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords nytimes.com/crosswords($39.95 ($39.95aayear). year).

Read Read about about and andcomment commenton oneach eachpuzzle: puzzle:nytimes.com/wordplay. nytimes.com/wordplay.

8 STREET

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2017

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

ASK A PRE–FROSH: AASHNA JAIN Were we ever so young?

ANNABELLE WILLIAMS Street: Do you have a favorite meme from the Official Unofficial Penn Squirrel Catching Club?

Aashna Jain: My favorite memes are the ones where Wharton owns its ~snek~ reputation.

Street: Favorite famous alum?

AJ: Elon Musk Street: Weirdest rumor you’ve heard about Penn?

AJ: First floor rooms in the Quad are in the basement—lol wut.

Street: Approximate number of people who have congratulated you on committing to Penn State?

AJ: Almost everyone in India assumes that you’re going to Penn State until you tell them that you’re going to Wharton.

Then they realize that you’re going to an Ivy League college and go “Oh, well then you should’ve said that in the first place.”

Street: Take your best stab at defining scene-y and (please, feel free to give examples).

AJ: Someone who thinks they’re cooler than everyone else, and operate in social circles of very similar people. So they’re like the life of a cooler, more exclusive party.

Street: True or false? Amy Gutmann spends the majority of her time living in Philadelphia.

THIS PENN ALUM NOW HAS AN EMMY NOMINATION ON HIS RESUME

COURTESY OF AASHNA JAIN

AJ: I don’t really know where Amy Gutmann spends her time. (Ed. note: Aashna gets it. Street doesn’t even know.)

5 TYPES OF NAPS YOU TAKE DURING THE SUMMER ITU PICTURES / CC 2.0

Stephen Robert Morse (C’ 07) received an Emmy nomination for producing Netflix’s “Amanda Knox” RAHUL CHOPRA Penn may be soon be able to boast an Emmy–award winning documentary producer among its alumni.

Stephen Robert Morse (C’ 07) has just been nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Documentary or Non–Fiction Special for producing “Amanda Knox,” which is now on Netflix. If he wins, Morse will become the first Penn alum ever honored for this category in the Emmys, which recognizes excellence in the TV industry.

Several other Penn alumni have appeared at the Emmy Awards, including Elizabeth Banks (C’ 96), who received three Emmy nominations, Dick Wolf (C’69), who has won two Emmys, and Candice Bergen (C’ 67), a five–time Emmy recipient.

“Amanda Knox” details the investigation, trial and worldwide media frenzy surrounding the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. The documentary features Amanda Knox, then Kercher’s roommate, describing her conviction for the murder and eventual acquittal on appeal. The film also includes interviews of Raffaele Sollecito, Knox’s ex–lover and co–defendant, and Guiliano Mignini, the Italian prosecutor in charge of the case.

As a graduate student studying journalism at Aarhus University in Denmark, Morse decided to look into the case more closely after booking a flight to Italy to research for his thesis. Although Morse said he was always interested in the case, he had no idea it would lead to a documentary.

“I thought that maybe there would be a story,” he said. After reaching out to Knox in early 2011, Morse and his team began filming the documentary, which was released on Sept. 10, 2016.

Morse started his filmmaking career right on Penn’s campus.

After interning his junior year summer with Ben Katz Productions in Los Angeles, Morse formed Morse Levin Productions with his friend and fellow Penn student, Jeff Levin (C’ 07).

Together, they created Duet, a short film about Philly subway performers. The film, which was produced by Morse and edited by Levin, later won best film in the college house festival and won the best student film category in the 2007 Philly Film Fest.

Levin said Morse had an early talent for producing films.

“He’s this rare person who can find personalities and put them on the screen in an captivating way,” Levin said.

At Penn, Morse majored in English and history.

Morse also minored in Women’s Studies and was, at the time, one of the only men to do so. He was also a columnist for The Daily Pennsylvanian and a Food Editor for 34th Street Magazine.

For his senior thesis, Morse created a 90–minute– long documentary called “Ain’t Easy Being Green” about the 2006 Pennsylvania senatorial election. It documents the efforts taken by Sen. Bob Casey (D– Pa.) and the Democratic Party to oust Carl Romanelli, a Green Party candidate, from the race.

“Stephen did an incredible job putting together a film that portrayed Pennsylvania treatment of third party candidates,” Romanelli said, adding that “having the video documentary allowed people to understand the story.”

Despite having produced an Emmy-nominated documentary, Morse’s full-time job is in the tech industry.

He encouraged students passionate about filmmaking but want to work in a different career to continue to produce films.

“Don’t think if you have a side hustle that it can’t be cool.”

Because summer naps are very different than mid-semester procrastination naps.

JULIETTE PALERMO

1. The “I only survived finals week because I drank three cups of coffee a day” nap. This is one of the first naps that you take over the summer. It is the longest and the hardest to wake up from. You don’t need a nap. You need a week of sleep, but you’ll have to settle.

2. The “I didn’t mean to take a nap but I fell asleep watching Netflix” nap. It’s not the most restful sleep you’ll have and you’ll probably wake up in a groggy daze, but at least you get to sleep.

3. The “I’m sorry I didn’t see your text

LAURAPUIG4 / CC0

I was asleep” nap. This nap usually consists of you sitting on your couch enjoying ice cream and air conditioning and lying to someone about something you didn’t want to do in the first place.

4. The “what the hell else am I supposed to do” nap. Temperatures have soared far above 90, your makeup is dripping off of your face, your deodorant has failed you, your hair is a frizzy, tangled mess causing sweat to run in rivers down your neck and back and you can’t be seen in public.

5. The “are we there yet?” nap. This is the nap that you take when you’re travelling and have no data left. It usually ends with you feeling cramped and uncomfortable.

You’re always extremely relieved when you wake up having reached your destination.

STREET REVIEWS: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Get Street a vodka rocks. And a piece of toast.

ANNABELLE WILLIAMS

America’s first family is back. But their last name isn’t Obama, Trump or even Bush.

It’s Bluth.

Creator Mitchell Hurwitz teased in a recent interview that the return was in part because “stories about a narcissistic, erratically behaving family in the building business—and their desperate abuses of power—are really underrepresented on TV these days”. Fair. Arrested Development, with all the original Bluth family members at the helm, will make its return on Netflix in 2018.

The first three seasons of the show played to its eventual cult classic status. When its first three seasons aired on Fox from 2003–2006, the show garnered widespread critical acclaim but still struggled to find viewers.

In the third season episode Save Our Bluths (SOB), the family within the show hosts a benefit—of course, it’s to benefit themselves—and the acronym jokes ensue. “The Home Builder’s Organization (HBO) won’t

take us!” It’s the culmination of a show that used Ron Howard’s snarky and fourth–wall–tapping narration to speak directly to the audience about what total narcissists the characters were.

Netf lix capitalized on the show’s loyal fanbase and released a fourth season in 2013.

They were able to get the whole of the original cast to sign on, including standouts Por tia de Rossi, Jeffery Tambor (as twins!) and Will Arnett. The Netflix–produced fourth season is worth watching for Kristen Wiig’s deliciously unhinged young Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walters) alone. Despite the continuation of longstanding jokes and Easter eggs, Netflix’s format of telling each episode from one character’s point of view and running them all concurrently while tying threads together in the last episode felt clunky. Though there was a satisfying revelation that most of the characters were in the same places at the same times doing very differently outlandish things, from keeping ostriches in penthouses to a father and son turning into “eskimo brothers” (ed. Note: There’s not even a word for that).

Netf lix used this

non–chronological format out of necessity—scheduling conflicts for the cast abounded and this was only way to ensure that all the characters, particularly the family members, stayed on — and crafted a winding but still smart narrative. Critics bemoaned the lack of cinematic simplicity that had characterized earlier seasons, but the

jokes remained sharp and self– aware, due in part to the inclusion of Ron Howard, narrator and executive producer, as a cast member playing himself.

But the fourth season lacked the “density” of jokes and innuendos and insults that made the first three seasons so damn fun.

Pop culture references will surely update the upcoming

BY-SA / CC2.0

season and put a Netflix production touch on the Fox original. There’s a fourth– season plotline entirely devoted to riffing on how much Michael Cera looks like Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network. And if creator Mitchell Hurowitz’s references to the actual first family signify anything, this season could get a just as political

as the Bush-mocking second season plotlines (ranging from the one with a bunch of Saddam Hussein lookalikes in Bluth model homes to the one with a blurry photo of “WMDs”..

The cutaway gags and self– referential jokes will likely continue in the fifth season.

Whether Netflix will continue the quasi–time–warp narrative style remains to be seen (and probably depends on Jessica Walters’ and Liza Minelli’s current schedules). Many fans hope, though, that a tweet put out by the show’s official account captioned “this time, the Bluths will all be together, whether they like it or not” means that producers will ditch that approach.

If Netflix will learn from the critiques of the so-called “forced humor” that many viewers thought led to the revival’s failing to meet expectations remains to be seen. Netf lix should take a cue from the rapidly paced jokes and gags that made earlier seasons so funny despite minuscule production values and flimsy sets: Arrested Development is so hilarious because it’s a self–aware shitshow.

Let’s hope Netflix gets it right in 2018.