THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014
Bills and barriers:
Greek life, beyond the sticker price Financial assistance is available, but it may not be enough
INSIDE
LAUREN FEINER Deputy News Editor
OPINION POLITICIZING HALLOWEEN COSTUMES Dressing up as ‘Native warriors’ and ‘geishas’ for Halloween reduces other cultures to caricature
PAGE 4
SPORTS
Last year, having a social life was more stress-inducing than carefree for Brittany. For Brittany — a full financial aid student and College junior— paying sorority dues was more than a matter of asking her parents for money or digging into her own paycheck to make up the difference. While many of her peers didn’t think twice about going to BYOs and buying Fling tanks, Brittany had to keep careful tabs on all of her expenses. “It definitely wasn’t something I could do on the side,” she said of Greek life. Brittany deactivated from the sorority in the middle of last semester after realizing that her lifestyle on an installed payment plan was not sustainable. “Greek life started to feel like a burden,” she said, “but a burden you pay for.” But Greek leaders say that just like tuition isn’t $60,000 for everyone, the sticker price on sorority and fraternity membership isn’t necessarily the price that everyone pays. Forms of aid are available in Greek chapters across campus, ranging from partially or SEE GREEK PAGE 3
QUAKERS IN MATCHUP OF BROTHERLY LOVE Senior Matt Schwartz will line up against his twin brother and Columbia BACK PAGE
Restitution paid in Pottruck theft case JILL GOLUB Staff Writer
The former director of Pottruck, Amy Wagner, paid a final installment of $10,000 in restitution to Penn and will now have her criminal record expunged, after she was charged with takSEE POTTRUCK PAGE 7
Nursing student creates video game to end water scarcity PATRICK ZANCOLLI Contributing Writer
With 1.2 billion people playing video games worldwide, the gaming community is a powerful entity to transmit messages and ideas across the globe. Penn Nursing graduate student Matthew Lee is using a video game he created in hopes of reducing water scarcity worldwide. Lee’s game is a finalist in the 2014 G20 Global Business Challenge. His team, AFK Studios, is comprised of
Penn administrators, coming to a party near you A new task force aims to address heavy drinking on campus HARRY COOPERMAN AND JOE LI City News Editor and Staff Writer
If your off-campus party gets out of hand this weekend, you might hear a Penn administrator knocking
on the door. After an increase in hospital transports and several reported instances of off-campus violence this semester, including the incident that resulted in Penn football wide receiver Cam Countryman, a College junior, being charged with simple assault, the Division of Public Safety is forming a task force to reduce off-campus
2011 HOSPITAL 2012 TRANSPORTS 2013 FROM 2011 TO NOW 2014
violence and excessive alcohol consumption. Starting this weekend, administrators from the Campus Environment Task Force — including coaches from Penn Athletics, staff from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and members of other University deSEE TASK FORCE PAGE 2
TOTAL NUMBER OF
year to date
THE MONTHS WITH THE MOST HOSPITAL TRANSPORTS IN 2013 AND 2014
2013
248 266 258 208 TOTAL NUMBER OF LIQUOR LAW VIOLATIONS
2014
April
34
34
August
27
40
September
47
50
November
42
Arrests
2011 29 2012 2 2013 6 Disciplinary referrals
2011 196 2012 245 2013 212
UNKNOWN
Source: Division of Public Safety Graphic by Kate Jeon
SEE CHALLENGE PAGE 6
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Gutmann championed partnerships with schools JENNIFER WRIGHT Staff Writer
When Amy Gutmann became president of Penn in 2004 , she ushered in a new era of local engagement with the Penn Compact. “We cherish our relationships with our neighbors, relationships that have strengthened Penn academically while increasing the vitality of West Philadelphia,” Gutmann said in her inaugural address. “We will build on the success of the Penn Alexander School to strengthen public education in our neighborhoods.” Since the Penn Compact, the University has not duplicated the school’s relationship with Penn Alexander. Penn not only helped found the school, but also provided curriculum advice and guidance and continues to give about $700,000 to the school annually. But throughout the 10 years of Gutmann’s presidency and the many tumultuous changes in the School District of Philadelphia, the partnerships between Penn and schools in West Philadelphia have grown substantially. Director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships Ira Harkavy said that since Gutmann became president, Penn’s tone toward engagement has changed dramatically. Rather than just addressing local engagement, it has become what Penn is all about, he said. “President Gutmann built upon and extended previous efforts and took the lead towards new creative, innovative and promising directions,” Harkavy said. One way to quantify Penn’s growSEE GUTMANN PAGE 2
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