September 30, 2015

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

A BROKEN

Penn behind peers on sexual assault education

CULTURE

Survey results show Penn students lack confidence in administraion CAROLINE SIMON Deputy News Editor

According to the largest survey on sexual violence at college campuses ever administered, Penn falls short of its peers in educating its students about sexual assault and fostering an atmosphere of safety. The American Association of Universities’ Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct, whose results were released on Sept. 21, was conducted at 28 schools, and every Ivy League university except Princeton participated. Compared to those other schools, Penn students were less familiar with the University’s sexual violence policies. Among all institutions, 24 percent of respondents were very or extremely likely to understand their school’s SEE AAU COMPARISON PAGE 3

STUDENTS BOYCOTT WESLEYAN PAPER

Only 30 percent of sexual assaults at Penn are reported ISABEL KIM Deputy News Editor

About a third of Penn female undergraduates say they’ve been sexually assaulted, according to the results of the American Association of Universities’ Campus Climate survey, whose results were released on Sept. 21. Specifically,

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27 percent of female undergraduates have experienced “nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching involving physical force or incapacitation” since entering college. But there’s an interesting discrepancy when the statistics are examined more closely: Only 30.7 percent of women who said they were sexually assaulted while at Penn actually reported it by senior year — a small fraction of the total number of women.

At the same time, 58.1 percent of students overall believe that a report will be taken seriously by the administration, raising the question of why Penn students don’t speak up. For one, it’s not a Penn-specific issue, according to Jessica Mertz, Penn’s director of student sexual violence prevention and education. “Instead of looking at what it is about Penn culture,” Mertz said, “what is it about campus cultures in general that create a

higher risk for sexual assault?” The AAU survey suggests that it isn’t because students don’t believe in the university’s ability to advocate for them. Rather, it’s because they don’t believe that what happens to them is serious enough to report or important enough to go through the hassle. “It gives us data in here about the reasons students don’t report, and it’s actually SEE REPORTING PAGE 5

60-second pitch nets student startup $10,000

Perhaps the university ought to protect students from their own bad decision-making by taking some options off the table.”

Competition was hosted by former AOL CEO Steve Case JENNA WANG Contributing Reporter

— Theodore L. Caputi PAGE 4

NUMBERS ON THE BOARD BACK PAGE

COURTESY OF RISE OF THE REST

Penn Engineering student William Duckworth (far right) won $10,000 as part of Steven Case’s Rise of the Rest pitch competition.

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On Tuesday, Penn startup Fever Smart won $10,000 at a student pitch competition. Fever Smart was crowned the winner of the first-ever Rise of the Rest student speed pitch competition at the National Constitution Center in downtown Philadelphia. Penn Engineering senior William Duckworth, CTO of Fever Smart, beat out nine other finalists and over 75 initial applicants in the competition, which was hosted by former AOL CEO and Revolution Ventures Chairman Steve Case. “It feels great,” Duckworth said. “I went out there and pitched first. I was worried, but it felt great to win and be able to go up and accept the giant check.” Duckworth, along with Wharton seniors Aaron Goldstein and Collin Hill, are the founders of Fever Smart, a company that develops small, non-invasive

temperature monitoring systems. The $10,000 prize, presented by Revolution Ventures and Blackstone Charitable Foundation, will go directly towards their startup. “We’ll probably use [the money] to keep working on funding some of our [business-to-business] platforms,” Duckworth said. “We’re doing a pilot program with Walgreens right now, and we’re working on expanding our clinical presence as well.” At the competition, student teams rattled off 60-second “speed” pitches, followed by 60 more seconds of questions from Case and a panel of judges. The students’ presentations, while short, impressed the judges. “Students are as sophisticated at solving complex problems as some of the high gross entrepreneurs I come across around the country,” said Amy Stursberg, executive director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and a judge of the student pitch competition. “Some of [their] companies look really exciting and interesting.” SEE PITCH PAGE 5

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