MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 VOL. CXXXV
NO. 49
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
FOUNDED 1885
Engineering election fills all vacant seats The four seats have been vacant for months CONOR MURRAY Senior Reporter
University. Following Kao’s departure, ASAM steering committee member and History professor Eiichiro Azuma said the ASAM faculty steering committee looked to other departments to hire someone with expertise relevant to lead Asian American studies, but could not find a replacement, leading faculty members to take on interim positions, includ-
After a six-month long struggle to ensure sufficient Engineering representation on the Undergraduate Assembly, a special election on Thursday night has filled the four seats that have been vacant since April. Engineering sophomores Sydney Baker, Sarthak Jain, Ronak Bhagia, and Arnav Joshi each won a spot on the UA with 98, 72, 70, and 66 votes, respectively. The newly elected representatives will join Wharton and Engineering sophomore Kshitiz Garg on the student government body. Garg was elected as a write-in candidate in the UA general election in April. Wharton and Engineering sophomore Akash Jain and Engineering junior Claud Detre finished in fifth and sixth with 53 and 22 votes each. This election concludes a longstanding effort to fill the four vacant Engineering seats on the UA. Zero candidates formally declared their candidacy for a UA Engineering seat in the April general elections. Garg was elected after a successful write-in campaign, and has since been the only Engineering representative on the body. The Nominations and Elections Committee held a special election to fill the vacancies in September, but again failed to attract any candidates. This prompted the NEC to reform its promotional tactics for the second special elections. NEC Chair and College senior Olivia Crocker said the NEC members directly
SEE ASAM PAGE 7
SEE ELECTION PAGE 7
EMILY XU
The Asian American Studies program has struggled with maintaining leadership since the founding director of the program left Penn in 2017. Josephine Park was named the ASAM program’s interim director in 2018 and was set to serve for a year.
ASAM interim director becomes official leader Josephine Park is also the undergraduate chair of English HAWTHORNE RIPLEY Senior Reporter
After two years without an official director, the Asian American Studies program now has a formal leader in Josephine Park, who assumes this role in addition to being undergraduate chair of the English
Department and teaching ASAM courses. ASAM has struggled with maintaining leadership since the founding director of the program left Penn in 2017. Park was named the ASAM program’s interim director in 2018, and was set to serve for a year. She officially started as formal director this academic year, and will continue to serve in the role next year as well. Now, Park said she hopes to bring in more undergraduates to the ASAM minor,
expand the program’s breadth of course offerings, and recruit faculty members from other Penn departments to ASAM. “We need to be more innovative and work with the deans to find ways of bringing in faculty, and this is a key reason for my interest in postdoctoral fellows and senior visiting faculty,” Park wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian. In June 2017, former Director Grace Kao left her position to teach at Yale
Houston Hall renovations look to foster student community Renovations include artwork and pool tables DANIEL WANG Staff Reporter
After students voiced complaints that Houston Hall was not a student union and instead
essentially functioned as an event space, Penn administrators and student government made plans to renovate the hall to serve its primary role as a hub for student life. The changes, which began last semester, are slated to be ongoing SEE HOUSTON PAGE 6
MELANIE HILMAN
The new renovations include new arcade games, ping pong tables, a foosball table, new seats, and more new artwork on the walls.
OPINION | Penn, safeguard against fraud
Penn’s admissions process is one of the most selective in the world, but the most important principle that must be respected is fairness - The DP Editorial Board PAGE 4
SPORTS | Football falls to Yale in shootout
Penn football hung around with Ivy preseason favorite Yale for most of the game, but eventually fell one touchdown short in a shootout loss. BACKPAGE
KYLIE COOPER
The Penn Museum celebrated Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, on Saturday with dance performances, crafts, and activities. The day-long event brought together people of all ages and cultures to honor deceased loved ones.
SEE PHOTO ESSAY PAGE 3
NEWS
NEWS
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Kelly Writers House to host four authors as spring fellows
New Wharton vice dean encourages student versatility
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