November 17, 2015 by The Daily Pennsylvanian

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

HILL’S $80 MILLION

MAINTENANCE M AY H E M Part 2 of 4

FACELIFT

SEE PAGE 4

Penn Student Government shares annual updates, goals The State of the School was held in Harrison for the first time SOPHIA LEPORTE Staff Reporter

On Monday night, students filled the Harrison Rooftop Lounge to hear Penn student government leaders answer questions about their current projects and future goals. The event began with the presentation of the Penn Student Government State of School Awards. Jessica Mertz, Penn’s director of student sexual violence prevention and education, won the administrator award. The student award went to Wharton and Engineering senior Alexandre Kleis, president of the Assembly of International Students. The meeting continued with the Nominations and Elections Committee President Devin Grossman, a Wharton senior, delivering pre-submitted questions from the student body to a panel of representatives from the six student government committees. An important question that many committees discussed was about mental health and how the student government groups are addressing the issue on campus. Undergraduate Assembly President and SEE STATE OF THE SCHOOL PAGE 3

It’s time for FRES to clean up its mess so that students and FRES employees can stop suffering from its disorganization.” - The Daily Pennsylvanian PAGE 6

GRAPHIC BY GABBY ROTHSCHILD | DESIGN ASSOCIATE

This is the first major renovation to Hill in 55 years JEFFREY CAREYVA Deputy News Editor

How much does a makeover cost? For Hill College House, the price is $80.5 million, but Hill’s renovation is more like a full-on structural surgery. After the 2016 Commencement, Hill will shut down and undergo substantial renovations throughout the entire 550-bed college house. A few renovation highlights are the much-sought-after addition of A/C, remodeling of all bathrooms to be private and gender-neutral, new club rooms, an upgraded and technologically integrated study space and a revamped dining hall.

This upcoming renovation project is the first of its magnitude that Hill will have experienced since the facility was completed in 1960. The building was originally designed by architect Eero Saarinen, who also designed St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and the TWA Flight Center at JFK. One of the major costs of the renovation is the upgrade to its heating and electrical systems and the addition of air conditioning. An overhead shaft will provide A/C throughout student bedrooms, Mariette Buchman, director of Design and Construction at Facilities and Real Estate Services, said. University Architect David Hollenberg said it was a challenge to find space for the A/C, but they managed to implement it without reducing the size of student

bedrooms. But FRES, Residential Services and College Houses &amp; Academic Services have much more in mind for the renovation. The cost reflects the amount of work that has to be done to refresh Hill to 21st-century standards. “For a full renovation like this with so much infrastructural work being done, [$80 million] is really not a bad cost,” Buchman said. “Upgrading labs costs more per square foot.” Another large expense is the elevator and several lifts that will be added inside the building, making Hill more accessible and opening up more rooms to disabled students. Borrowing from the success of the recent renovation of Gregory College House, Hill will feature a large club

lounge that will act as a casual recreational space. The club lounge will feature kitchens, games like pool and foosball, televisions and the typical lounge furniture, designed to bring all residents together. In order to make studying in the house more convenient, Hill will have a new study center equipped with six private group rooms with monitors. There will also be a “tinker room” for residents to design and innovate. “It will be a place — near the Engineering School — for students to work on design projects and just be creative,” Executive Director of CHAS Martin Redman said. SEE HILL PAGE 2

Car bursts into flames on 38th Street

GYMNASTICS ISSUE BACK PAGE

CONNOR AUGUSTINE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

On Tuesday around 6 p.m., a car was on fire on 38th Street between Chestnut and Sansom streets. The entire hood was crushed in by the time firefighters put out the flames, and the car was towed away shortly after. The Division of Public Safety did not respond to an information request by publication time.

ONLINE 7 DAYS A WEEK AT THEDP.COM

2 NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

Find peace and serenity through SHS for free

Meditation helps protect students from stress HANNAH NOYES Staff Reporter

I arrived at the Office of the Chaplain on the second floor of Houston Hall with a minute to spare. Inside the room, a group of about 10 people took off their shoes and took a seat on the pillows or chairs provided around the space. I took a seat on the “floor chair” — basically a pillow with a back — and closed my eyes. I often find myself in Student Health Service; somehow I am extremely susceptible to breaking ribs, getting strep throat or suffering from the common cold. In these somewhat frequent visits to Student Health, I have stared at the various posters on the walls, encouraging me to “Ask for a condom!”

and “Get vaccinated!” Another poster had caught my eye on my last visit. “Free Meditation sessions,” it read. I chose to attend one this Monday. Sitting in the quiet space of a Platt rehearsal room in Houston with soft music playing, it was easy to let my mind wander. That morning alone I attended Flywheel, drank three lattes and interviewed a source for another article all before 10 a.m. But my morning is not out of the ordinary for your typical Penn student — we are constantly in motion. Even with little work to consider during downtime, it is difficult to truly forget everything you are worrying about without letting your mind wander to schoolwork. This meditation class is meant as an hour escape, with Sandi Herman, M.S., health and wellness educator at Student Health

as your guide, to unplug and live in the present. Herman stressed a couple of important points about her meditation philosophy. The idea of kindness toward yourself and compassion toward yourself is a work in progress, she said. We must be present and here for ourselves, then we can be there for other people, she added. Herman started working in SHS at the end of 2007, offering individual guided mediation and stress reduction sessions, and she started running group sessions about five years ago. Sessions are open to both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and staff. Sessions are held Mondays at noon in the Office of the Chaplain in Houston Hall and Thursdays at noon on the lower level of the Graduate Student Center. In the session, we were constantly encouraged to smile and

HILL

EC ON

EN T

THE

>> PAGE 1

D MILE

TH RIF

E T STOR

Clothing, appliances, books, furniture, household items, and more! Monday–Saturday 10AM–8PM

214 South 45th Street (Between Locust & Walnut) 215.662.1663

To donate, call 215.662.1663

An art room, a central laundry room, three music practice rooms and an exercise room with a yoga studio will also be added. “We’re still keeping the normal lounge spaces, but with the other space in the building we’re trying to be a lot more intentional with and offer programming residents want,” Director of Residential Services John Eckman said. To respect the student demand for privacy, floor restrooms will be redone to offer unisex bathrooms with private toilet and shower rooms. Another factor of the $80 million price tag is the landscaping work that will be done around the building to beautify the moat

breathe in tandem with our eyes closed. Herman explained meditation is not “falling asleep” but

“waking up.” In the beginning of the session when Herman fell silent,

I found myself thinking of the five-page paper I have to write, how I haven’t done laundry in two weeks, wondering if this is going to be like the meditation I attempt to do at yoga or some hippie, spiritual experience. At the end of the session, I felt like a weight had been lifted. I missed a class after the session to interview Herman, but I wasn’t worried about it, even though I never skip that class. Despite the lack of peace going on around the entire world last weekend, I felt a sense of calm and that I was living in the present. At the end of our interview, Herman shared this message: “You can come for as long as you want, it’s OK. Come when you can and leave when you can. This is something that you don’t have to compete or compare yourself to other people. You just have to be present.”

and connect Hill to New College House. The specifics of Hill’s dining hall are still being planned, Director of Communications and External Relations for Business Services Barbara Lea-Kruger said. But it is likely that the dining hall will be split into several different areas of its current space, instead of being clumped together, she said. A major goal of the renovation is to maintain Hill’s historic character. “It’s also a historic preservation project,” Eckman said. The windows will be repaired, rather than replaced, and the bridge leading into the building will be taken apart and redone. CHAS has had an active role in the design process and is

surveying current Hill residents to help choose the all-new furniture. The colors in the building will be refreshed to match the original finishes, and everything will be repainted. Along with new furniture, bedrooms will have new floors, doors, outlets and lighting. At its creation, Hill was meant to give off a feeling of protection like that of a castle, with its moat and bridge entryway. It first functioned as a all-female dormitory. The interior of the building was modeled off of a medieval Italian villa to help create a sense of community and activity. Dorm rooms are small, and lounge space is common in order to encourage students to socialize and interact, according to FRES. The Hill renovation will be the first time a college house has

been closed for a whole year to undergo improvements and maintenance. The opening of the New College House gives the freedom necessary to do so, Eckman said. While Hill is under renovation construction, residents who would have otherwise lived there will have the first opportunity to live in the New College House, which is set to open for fall 2016. Hill is expected to reopen for fall 2017. The hope is that Hill will not feel second-class beside the New College House, Hollenberg said. “We don’t want to take away from what works in the building, and what works is how successful it is in getting people to form great community. All we’re going to try to do is to enhance that even more,” Eckman said.

OLLY LIU | ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

SHS holds meditation sessions Mondays at noon in the Office of the Chaplain and Thursdays at noon at the Graduate Student Center.

www.TheSecondMileCenter.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATE! - The DP Staff

theDP.com

Do well by doing good.

Do you want to use your Penn education to make a difference in the lives of others? Do you have an idea for a commercial venture that has a positive social impact? Could you use $100,000 to help turn your idea into a reality? If so, then the President’s Innovation Prize is for you. Upcoming information sessions, held in the Fireside Lounge (2nd floor of the ARCH building): Tuesday, November 17, 3:00 PM Thursday, November 19, 4:00 PM Thursday, December 3, 4:00 PM

Deadline: February 2016

Application information can be found at www.upenn.edu/curf

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

NEWS 3

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

Philosophy course sees new instructor mid-semester Current prof. Ian Fleishman sees himself as a ‘curator’ RUIHONG LIU Staff Reporter

During the middle of this semester, students in Philosophy 247 welcomed a new instructor for the class centered on the theory of Karl Marx. In an effort to maintain continuity in the class , the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures has helped students through the transition. “The previous professor had to withdraw from the class and as a department we came together to

find the best possible solution in the situation,” said Catriona MacLeod, chair of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. “So we asked our colleague Ian Fleishman to take over the class and he has done extremely well with it.” Assistant Professor of German Ian Fleishman, the course’s current instructor, brought a variety of perspectives to the role. “I saw my role as curating the class,” Fleishman said. “There are plenty of Marxists and Marx experts on campus, and I started out by reaching out to them and I had really an overwhelming show of supports from everybody involved.”

Fleishman appreciated the guest lectures delivered by professors from other departments, including History professor War ren Breck man, English professors David Kazanjian and Jean-Michel Rabaté, Urban Studies professor Andy Lamas and many more. “All of them have their unique perspectives and unique expertise within the field of Marx and Marxism,” Fleishman said. “This brings a great diversity of perspectives to the class and allows students an incredibly rich and nuanced understanding of the texts,” he added. The cast of guest lecturers mirrors the make-up of the class, which is

cross-listed in German, Philosophy and Comparative Literature. The sudden switch of instructor left both the department and Fleishman little time to prepare for the transition. MacLeod said that switching professors in the middle of a semester is a rare occurrence in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, which she has chaired for two terms. “I haven’t personally had any instance like this in the past,” she said. “As a chair, one of the tasks is to be very responsive in situations that affect our undergraduate teaching. So I basically prioritized that situation that week so that it would be resolved

as quickly as possible.” Fleishman found that taking on a course midway through the semester was different than his typical path as an instructor. “Normally you got a lot of time to prepare a class. I usually spend months on a syllabus and reread all the material before ever bring[ing] it to the students,” Fleishman said. “You know exactly where everything is going.” Fleishman hugely appreciates students’ active engagement in the class, adding that the revised course structure has given them a unique sense of ownership. “It’s becoming one of my favorite classes this semester because

the students are so great,” he said. Once every few weeks, Fleishman would break students up into smaller groups for “think tanks,” where students workshop their response papers and discuss guest lectures in greater depth. “Naturally, it was intimidating to take on a new course midsemester, especially one that takes on such difficult material,” Fleishman said. “But thanks to an engaged and intelligent group of students and the wonderful support of my colleagues, it has turned out to be one of the more exciting and memorable courses I’ve taught so far at Penn.”

Wharton keys in on the importance of storytelling in leadership Co-founder of Pig Iron Theatre Company led session STEPHANIE YANG Staff Reporter

It may be time to add storytelling to your resume. On Friday, a group of Wharton undergraduates ventured to Irvine Auditorium for a full day of learning how to use storytelling to develop their leadership abilities. Quinn Bauriedel, co-founder

STATE OF THE SCHOOL >> PAGE 1

College senior Jane Meyer discussed the creation of Penn Wellness, an umbrella organization for different wellness groups on campus as well as other communities like religious or Greek groups in order to ensure there is collaboration between all types of students on mental health. College senior and Student Committee on Undergraduate Education Chair

of the Pig Iron Theatre Company, led the session conducted as a part of the ongoing Wharton Leadership Ventures. Bauriedel opened the afternoon with a petition for the practical value of storytelling as a leadership tool. “Stories are a medium to engage and connect with audiences, applicable in any avenue of life,” Bauriedel said. “When you’re making a pitch using a story, you’re delivering some kind

of value that people can latch on to — and appealing to their desire to be a part of something greater than themselves.” Bauriedel then led the 18 participants through a series of exercises meant to hone their abilities to read audience cues and speak with confidence, charisma and depth of character. The Whartonites jumped from one unconventional activity to another, drawing upon their more theatrical sides to provide

a four-minute description about a single bite of food, tell and attempt to translate short stories told in foreign languages and map out their lives on a sheet of paper. Wharton senior Sarah Kho, an advisory board coordinator for Wharton Leadership Ventures, found storytelling’s role in communication to be a crucial takeaway from the day. “A huge part of being a good leader is being able to convey a vision or image. A majority of our

communication is nonverbal, and the exercises helped draw out in detail how people can effectively express their messages through tone of voice or body positioning,” Kho said. Bauriedel’s workshop ultimately emphasized the idea that powerful stories are necessary precursors to success. In the final activity of the day, individuals mapped out their life stories on a piece of paper. Fellow participants then pointed out themes

they recognized, overwhelmingly identifying extreme highs and lows as points of commonality. “This exercise made it clear that the best stories come from points of transition in our lives,” participating Wharton freshman Hannah Gay said. “When the lowest lows start to turn around or when the highs falter — these are the growth experiences that, if told engagingly, can motivate and inspire others.”

Laura Sorice mentioned SCUE’s efforts to address the academic and educational side of mental health, which are currently being looked into through public opinion surveys from students. 2019 Class Board President Toto Nguyen added that there will be an event for freshmen on Dec. 10 to try to reduce stress before finals begin. Another important issue was the recent Association of American Universities sexual violence survey results. Meyer mentioned

the new Penn Anti-Violence Educators program, which trains peers to go to lounges or General Body Meetings of any group on campus to deliver information about what to do in situations involving sexual assault or how to help others facing similar issues. The UA is also focused on trying to make sure that sexual assault resource information is reaching freshmen and that the recent sexual assault resource guide is accessible for them as well as for other students.

Sorice responded to a question regarding daily racial aggression in classrooms by saying that SCUE is currently engaging with the administration to make sure that the students know there are individuals who they can talk to if they ever feel as if their academic experience is being compromised due to a marginalizing situation in class. Sorice also brought up the Academic Resources Project that seeks to ensure all students are being rewarded proper resources

regardless of whether they are first generation, low-income or from a minority group, as these groups of students often do not receive the same academic resources as others. Wharton senior and Social Planning and Events Committee representative Victoria Zhao discussed SPEC’s efforts to make programming more affordable and to try to repurchase tickets from students who cannot attend events in order to try to make sure resale prices are not

too high. The event ended with attendees choosing between four different breakout sessions. The topics that attendees could discuss were “How to Improve the Academic Experience at Penn,” “Increasing Diversity and Access in Representation, Academics and Beyond,” “How Can Student Government Fund My Club, Event, and Initiatives” and “Creating Inclusive and Innovative Clubs, Events and Programming.”

Present

The Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. Memorial Lecture BY THE

BRANDING THE DREAM: RACIAL DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF NEOLIBERALISM by

Kendall Thomas Penn Arts and Sciences’ Knowledge by the Slice lunchtime series offers educational talks led by insightful faculty experts. Did we mention there’s pizza? So sit back, relax—and have a slice on us.

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK...ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES BETHANY WIGGIN

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GERMAN AND DIRECTOR, PENN PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015| NOON–1 P.M. IRVINE AUDITORIUM, CAFÉ 58 Bethany Wiggin is an associate professor of German languages and literatures and the founding director of the Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities. PPEH was created in 2014 by Wiggin and Leah Davidson, W’16, as a fresh and unique forum for work on environmental issues. With support from the Penn Arts and Sciences’s Dean’s Office, the Green Campus Partnership, and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, the program offers competitive year-long research fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students across all Penn’s schools and is hosting a series of five major public events this year outlining the role of the environmental humanities. Knowledge by the Slice Live If you can’t make it to the lecture, you can watch Knowledge by the Slice live online! Visit www.sas.upenn.edu/slice/live to learn more, sign up for an email reminder, or view the lecture. You can also view past Knowledge by the Slice lectures here: www.sas.upenn.edu/slice

Nash Professor of Law Director, Center for the Study of Law and Culture Columbia University Kendall Thomas is Nash Professor of Law and co-founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Culture at Columbia University. He is a co-editor of Critical Race Theory:The KeyWritings that Founded the Movement and What's Left of Theory? Thomas was an inaugural recipient of the Berlin Prize Fellowship of the American Academy in Berlin, Germany. He is a founding member of the Majority Action Caucus of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, Sex Panic! and the AIDS Prevention Action League. He is also a former member and Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Gay Men's Health Crisis.

Thursday November 19, 2015 5:30 PM University of Pennsylvania Law School Silverman 240A 3501 Sansom Street

For more information, contact the Center for Africana Studies at 215-898-4965 or visit our website at https://africana@sas.upenn.edu

~ FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC ~

If you require reasonable accommodations, please provide at least 5 days notice.

No heat, no water

4 NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

Shoddy infrastructure, cheap budgeting and incompetent management are the cause of frequent water and heat shortages in the Penn College House system

NEWS 5

MAINTENCE MAYHEM Part 2 of 4

DAN SPINELLI City News Editor-elect

PAT GOODRIDGE | ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

n Halloween weekend, Rodin College House’s water system offered far more tricks than treats. At 11:09 a.m. on Oct. 31, residents were notified by an email from Associate Director of Strategic Planning at Residential and Hospitality Services Nathan Cockrum that water had been cut off in rooms ending in -11 due to “a significant leak.” By 10:23 p.m., rooms ending in -12 also lost water. The next day at 9:57 a.m., water shut off in rooms ending in -13 as well. “We are going backwards in our efforts,” Cockrum wrote. Eleven minutes later, things got even worse. “Unexpectedly, we are experiencing a buildingwide hot water outage,” Cockrum wrote. Hot water was finally restored at 2:05 p.m., capping off a 27-hour odyssey of increasingly frantic emails, water shortages and reversals. *** During the late fall and early winter months, leaks, water outages and broken radiators are regular complaints in the Penn College House system due to the frequency of broken and frozen pipes. This past month alone, Rodin and Harnwell College Houses were affected by multiple water shortages — including, most severely, water from a sewage leak dripping into Harnwell’s mezzanine. These frequent mishaps — usually written off in emails to residents as the fault of a leaky valve or broken pipe — are endemic to a broader neglect of infrastructure within college houses, according to interviews with 10 Facilities and Real Estate Services workers, some with decades of experience responding to maintenance requests from students. The high rises undergo frequent water shortages, the employees said, because Penn installed a cheap, inefficient water heating system that was ill-fit for a building where residents often shower at similar times. Despite cyclical problems with water shortages and frequent staff complaints, the same inefficient water ventilation system was put into each high-rise building. The employees said it is also being installed in the new college house on Hill Field. Students reporting no heat in their rooms face a more perilous bureaucratic problem: tight budgets. Employees said they were dissuaded from, and even instructed not to respond quickly to complaints of “no heat” so FRES management could stay within its allotted budget. “It’s like the management does not care about the students,” said Jim, a FRES employee with decades of experience in dealing with ventilation and air conditioners.

How many times can we apologize? My heart goes out to these kids because their parents are paying so much to live here." - Jim FRES mechanic Like most of the FRES maintenance workers interviewed, Jim declined to use his real name out of fear of being disciplined by his supervisors for speaking to a newspaper. *** The battle between management and the FRES mechanics over declining infrastructure reached a fever point last November, when a series of hot water shortages in the high rises sent enraged employees complaining to their bosses. A Daily Pennsylvanian article from Nov. 20 reported three hot water shortages in Rodin College House, including two instances where the whole building lost hot water. The article quoted FRES Executive Director of Operations and Maintenance Ken Ogawa saying, “Ongoing maintenance and repairs such as these are usual in a building that is 40 years old and houses more than 750 people.” Behind the scenes, FRES employees said the article caused a stir among management as they urged employees to fix the problem quickly to avoid any continuing bad press. Jim and Lou, another FRES mechanic, both went to Ogawa and pointed to the overworked, cheap water ventilation system as the cause of continued malfunctions. The high rises have been renovated in recent years, but the water vents haven’t been updated. “They did [the buildings] in stages so they put the same system in each of the high rises. And in

all three buildings, the systems they put in are just horrible,” Jim said. Jim went to Paul Ostrander, an operations manager, before the Nov. 20 DP article to express his concerns with the deteriorating water vents in the high rises. He urged Ostrander to lobby FRES higher-ups to replace the ventilation system and to ensure that it wasn’t put into any new college houses. Ostrander reportedly rebuffed his concerns, saying that management had hired an engineering firm to look into the cause of the shortages. Ostrander deferred comment to a FRES spokeswoman, who declined to comment on his behalf. FRES has hired three different engineering firms to identify the root cause of the shortages, but they have yet to propose a solution. “Each time we think we’ve fixed it, we haven’t fixed it,” Ogawa said in an interview. After seeing Ostrander, Jim approached Ogawa about the frequent shortages in an attempt to convince him to abandon the engineering firm consultations in favor of a system-wide overhaul. “[Ogawa’s] response was, ‘The building has an old system, and it’s a 45-year-old building.’ The building itself [is old], but it’s just been renovated.

All mechanicals and all the systems are less than 10 years old,” Jim said. The employees interviewed believe the use of engineering firms is a wasteful way to mask the systemic inefficiency undergirding the system itself. By opting for piecemeal reform instead of a system-wide overhaul, they think shortages will continue to cyclically occur. Other mechanics have also reached out to Ogawa directly in an attempt to convince him to replace the high-rise water vents. When Lou met with him, their meeting reportedly took on an aggressive tone. “[Ogawa] kept telling me, ‘My engineers say it’s this.’ I kept saying, ‘It’s not that.’ So two weeks later, [Ogawa] said, ‘The hot water’s out,’ and I said, ‘Go frig yourself, and call your engineer,’” Lou recalls. “[Ogawa] called me an asshole, basically, because I told him it’s not that.” Ogawa, who wouldn’t comment specifically on Jim or Lou’s remembrances, said that the problem is not related to the age of the building itself. “We don’t believe it’s a material condition issue but haven’t figured out what the problem is,” he said, adding that mechanics and contractors have both made a “number of repairs” in the buildings.

*** There is hardly a consensus among University administrators on whether there even is a problem with the water system in the high rises and, if so, how to address it. Ogawa said that the problem may be related to the division of budgets within Penn Business Services, which hires FRES to perform repairs in residential buildings. There are separate budgets for “maintenance and renovation” and “capital projects.” Penn spent $350 million in the last 12 years on capital projects for residential buildings, Executive Director of Business Services Doug Berger said, though it was unclear if this value included extra-budgetary investments. Despite the employees’ argument that the shoddy hot water system is an infrastructure problem, repairs have been limited to the maintenance and renovation budget. If the problem could be designated as a capital projects issue, more resources could be used to address it. Berger said that, despite the division of budgets, all of the money for maintenance and capital projects comes from Penn Business Services. Representatives from Penn Business Services also disputed the notion that there was a systemic

problem affecting more than one building. “Our understanding is that we do have a problem in [Harrison College House] that has been difficult to diagnose,” said Vice President for Penn Business Services Marie Witt. “It’s not across the high rises.” Penn Business Services has not received a request from Ogawa, or anyone else from FRES Operations and Maintenance, to devote more money to fixing the water system in any building. “I haven’t had him come [ask for money] for Harrison,” Berger said. “They’re still evaluating what it may take [financially].” Anne Papageorge, the vice president for FRES, was not even aware that there was a concern over the hot water system in residential buildings. When asked if she had heard that some employees were concerned with the state of the water system, she replied, “I have not. This is actually a surprise to me.” She expressed confusion over why the workers had not brought their worries to her before. “Why wouldn’t they come to me? I don’t get it honestly. I have tried to express that I have an open door,” she said. Maintenance supervisors actually did repeatedly inform their bosses of their concerns about the hot water system. In emails acquired by the DP, a former FRES area supervisor reached out to an engineering firm to purchase replacement parts for the hot water system in 2011. The supervisor emailed his boss, shift operations manager Mike Francis, for approval to purchase the parts, citing the need for the machines to have “redundancy,” or duplicate parts to use in case of a leak. In an email from February 2013, Francis did not give permission to purchase replacement parts. According to Jim, the parts were eventually purchased this year and installed in Harrison and Harnwell, but not in Rodin. It was unclear why Papageorge was not aware of the conversation among her underlings about possible repairs to the water system. Despite the recent installation of redundancies in the water systems in certain buildings, maintenance workers still expressed little faith in the system’s ongoing capacity. “The problem with the high rises and the hot water was shit-poor engineering,” Jim said. Other employees voiced similar criticisms.

“They’re not set up for continuous use. In an office building where you don’t use them much, they’re fine. But they don’t work for a 20-story building with high demand. It’s just proven. They don’t work,” said recently retired FRES mechanic Mike Patruno, the only employee interviewed that used his real name. The system is clearly complex, but no one seems to be able to — even after years of maintenance repairs — get a handle on possible solutions. “There’s a lot of different components to that system,” said Paul Forchielli, the assistant director for residential projects and quality assurance. “The heat exchangers in the basement feed the hot

“‘Would it be acceptable for you guys to wait six days for a service mechanic?’” Jim recalls asking. Francis deferred comment to a FRES spokeswoman, who declined to comment on his behalf. Francis reportedly said that budgetary concerns had to restrict the amount of effort Jim’s team put into responding to heat shortages. Jim followed up on his concerns with Ostrander but was again rebuffed due to budgetary constrictions. He was enraged, he said, to hear in June that the budget had a $90,000 surplus. Ogawa denied that any maintenance requests are delayed or ignored because of budgetary concerns but admitted that budgetary projections in

"The problem with the high rises and the hot water was shit-poor engineering." - Jim FRES mechanic

water, but that’s not necessarily the only component to the system.” During the course of multiple interviews, FRES employees repeatedly expressed how frustrating it is to be the public face of a dysfunctional system. “We’re the ones that have to keep going back in the same buildings with the same kids three or four times, and it’s just like, how many times can we apologize? My heart goes out to these kids because their parents are paying so much to live here,” Jim said. Lou said that his tense encounters with Ogawa and other managers over the hot water shortages incited them to transfer his assignment from the high rises to other residential buildings. “I’m running out of buildings for them to move me to,” he joked. *** Another internal uproar arose over a series of radiator outages last winter. Jim, who heads a team of six workers, responds to problems with airflow and radiators. Last winter, they had to respond to 150 complaints of no heat. Jim said his supervisors urged him to delay responding to work requests in order to keep FRES within their allotted maintenance budget. “They’re looking at our budgets and wondering: How can we keep this down?” Jim said. “[They] won’t give [us] any overtime. [They’ll] just keep deferring maintenance and putting off issues for as long as [they] can.” Jim’s frustration boiled over in a conversation with Mike Francis, another shift operations supervisor.

the winter may not align to the result at the end of the fiscal year in June. He confirmed that the past year did run a minimal surplus. “They stockpile it all year long. They scrimp and save by not providing the students the service that they paid for and cause unhealthy conditions, and then they use that money for something else,” Jim said. *** Regardless of their time on the job or mechanical specialty, all employees interviewed reported similar roadblocks and obstructions in FRES’ hierarchy of managers. A report to an area manager that goes unheeded often gets passed on to an upper-level supervisor, which eventually reaches Ogawa. Frustrated employees may jump the chain of command straight to Ogawa which, he admits, may contribute to growing tension between managers and workers. The employees said that speaking to the DP is their last option, given their concerns for student safety and repeated blockages in management. “This has been culminating for years. You’re our last recourse because we’ve already gone to management,” Jim said. Other employees said they would have come to the press earlier if not for previous retaliation by management for speaking to reporters. “We’re in jeopardy here. This is my family that’s gonna lose out on this deal because I’m trying to protect students,” Lou said. “[FRES doesn’t] care, but I do. And the more we try to care, the more [FRES] sets us back.”

OPINION FRES needs to clean up its mess

tuesday NOVEMBER 17, 2015 VOL. CXXXI, NO. 103 131st Year of Publication MATT MANTICA President JILL CASTELLANO Editor-in-Chief SHAWN KELLEY Opinion Editor LUKE CHEN Director of Online Projects LAUREN FEINER City News Editor KRISTEN GRABARZ Campus News Editor CLAIRE COHEN Assignments Editor STEVEN TYDINGS Social Media Director

Editorial

acilities and Real Estate Services’ continual struggle to maintain quality living standards in campus buildings, publicized in a four-part series in this week’s issues of The Daily Pennsylvanian, comes as no surprise to most students living on campus. By the time students graduate, they’ll probably have dealt with or know someone who has dealt with any one of a number of problems that plague campus housing: Plumbing issues. Heating issues. Airconditioning issues. Mold issues. The list goes on. The breakdown of infrastructure — as well as relations between administrators and workers — has been persistent for years, manifesting itself most re-

cently a few weeks ago when sewage water spilled out of the ceiling in Harnwell College House’s mezzanine lounge. These recent articles bring to light the systemic, long-term reasons for residents’ ongoing building woes: poorly planned and outdated infrastructure and management that prioritizes money-saving above all else — including student and worker safety. As members of the Penn community, many of whom live on campus, we are dismayed that student comfort and safety seem to be so low on FRES’ list of priorities. Strains of black mold — a fungus that poses serious health risks — were found in a room in Sansom West and, due to a breakdown

in communication, took almost a week to be removed. Workers constantly spoke of disagreements with management regarding what action was sufficient to resolve certain issues — in

We find FRES’ pennypinching with regards to these issues — which range from inconveniences (no heat) to potentially dangerous (unidentified black mold?) — unacceptable,

Concerts in Penn Park and festivals like Skimmerfest … are not nearly as essential to student life as upholding a decent standard of safety in our homes.” one particularly disturbing anecdote, a worker spoke of contractors being ordered to hook sewage water that had leaked up to a nearby water fountain. Needless to say, that’s disgusting.

especially since FRES actually ran a $90,000 surplus last year. But this isn’t just on FRES. When speaking to the DP, FRES administrators like Anne Papageorge and

Ken Ogawa often seemed as if they were merely trying to avoid going over the budget that the University allots them. It’s appalling that Penn — which had a budget of $3.18 billion in fiscal year 2015 — doesn’t allocate more funds toward costs that directly impact student life. Concerts in Penn Park and festivals like Skimmerfest certainly provide fun experiences for students, but are not nearly as essential to student life as upholding a decent standard of safety in our homes. Part of the persistence of the long-term problems documented in the series lies in the fact that the buildings were flawed from the beginning, when they were installed with inefficient water ventilation sys-

tems to save money. Rather than fixing the problem — recurrent hot water shortages that defy continual attempts to fix them — by implementing a system that actually works, administrators have doubled down with band-aid solutions. What’s worse — they’re installing the same system in the New College House, which clearly indicates that the administration doesn’t care enough about students’ troubles to actually do something about them for the future. On-campus housing struggles have gone on for too long at Penn. It’s time for FRES to clean up its mess so that students — and FRES employees — can stop suffering from its disorganization.

PAOLA RUANO Copy Editor RILEY STEELE Senior Sports Editor

cartoon

COLIN HENDERSON Sports Editor LANE HIGGINS Sports Editor HOLDEN MCGINNIS Sports Editor CARTER COUDRIET Creative Director KATE JEON Design Editor JOYCE VARMA Design Editor HENRY LIN Online Graphics Editor IRINA BIT-BABIK News Photo Editor ILANA WURMAN Sports Photo Editor TIFFANY PHAM Photo Manager MEGAN YAN Business Manager SAM RUDE Advertising Manager ALYSSA BERLIN Marketing Manager EMMA HARVEY Analytics Manager MAX KURUCAR Circulation Manager

THIS ISSUE KATARINA UNDERWOOD Associate Copy Editor HARRY TRUSTMAN Associate Copy Editor ELAINE LEE Associate Copy Editor

SAM SHERMAN is a College senior from Marblehead, Mass. His email is samsherman6@sas.upenn.edu.

AMANDA GEISER Associate Copy Editor JIANING WANG Associate Copy Editor NICK BUCHTA Associate Sports Copy Editor

Blurred Lines

TAMARA PRABHAKAR Associate Design Editor ANNA TANG Associate Design Editor GABBY ROTHSCHILD Associate Design Editor STEPHANIE DIXON Associate Design Editor PAT GOODRIDGE Associate Photo Editor JULIO SOSA Associate Photo Editor TOMMY ROTHMAN Associate Sports Editor THOMAS MUNSON Associate Sports Editor

letters Have your own opinion? Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com. 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 artword represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.

t’s one of the mostheard phrases on any college campus, rotely recited to hopeful applicants when they ask what the college environment is really like. The double major you didn’t know you were choosing when you chose Penn. A phrase that over time becomes so familiar you stop questioning it: Work hard, play hard. Yeah, we’ve all heard it before, but it’s a little more stringent at Penn. Here it’s not just about working hard and playing hard — it’s about working the hardest and playing the hardest, which often leads to getting hit the hardest. But this is not an addendum to the saying. It’s not listed as a side effect in super tiny script or by speaking at superhuman speed the way things are in medication commercials. No, it goes unmentioned, uncatalogued in the carefully cultivated Facebook albums, Instagram posts and casual conversations of the student body. We

growing pains | What ‘playing hard’ and social media have in common proudly uphold our dual designation as a prestigious Ivy League institution and the biggest party school in America without really thinking about what it means to bear those two weights. Sometimes I consider all of the obligations and roles I need to keep balanced: good student, good friend (to both my friends at Penn and those from back home in a different time zone), good sister, good daughter. Not to mention a good coworker, a good member of different organizations and a good citizen. I need to take advantage of every opportunity offered by Penn and achieve the best grades I can while taking the most classes possible in order to get the most out of the massive sum of money my parents are investing in my education. I need to work out — to clear my head but also to remain in some proximity to fitness. I ought to explore Philadelphia, because it would be a shame to live here for

four years and only be familiar with the same four blocks. I want to join clubs and organizations and rise to leadership positions within them so as to pursue my passions, try new things, gain experience and beef up my resume. It follows that I’m expected to

heard acronyms on Penn’s campus (which is saying a lot). And every weekend hearing stories about people blacking out, drinking themselves into incoherence, waking up and not remembering what happened the night before. Playing hard is blurri-

The we-can-(and must)-do-it-all culture at Penn demands that I should partake in whatever ‘playing hard’ means” land a plumb summer job or internship that will prepare me for some mystical future career. This means networking and applications. And on top of all of this, the we-can-(and must)do-it-all culture at Penn demands that I should partake in whatever “playing hard” means. Like making BYO one of the most-

ness. Clouding of memory. Maybe that’s what allows us to keep working hard. To keep doing all that we do, we have to forget that we did it — and that we’re going to have to keep on doing it. And thus we cope. Playing hard uses the exact same tactic as social media. Social media has amnesia when it comes to hard

times, let alone the hardest of times. It catalogs a shimmering collection of images claiming to portray what college and life are like: glitzy venues, parties with friends, beautiful clothes and scenery, expensive food photographed at artsy angles, impressive internships won. It seamlessly glosses over the moments before, in-between and after — in other words, what most of college is actually like. Because after all, college is not just about balancing work and play. It’s about balancing work, play and everything else. We’re accustomed to living our lives in flashes with Instagram, photos of an instant in time, and Snapchat, images that are here one moment and gone the next. Social media gives us the ability to disregard, obscure, minimize and edit out the times we didn’t like so much. But more than anything else, it allows us to make it seem like everything we have comes easily to us. No one takes photos of the be-

EMILY HOEVEN hind-the-scenes. Of the hard times. And as such, we don’t know how to deal with them. We aren’t equipped to handle them or even to admit that we go through them at all. We take pictures of our smiling faces without showing our shaking knees. In our day and age, it’s not enough to live a successful life in real life — one must also live a successful virtual life. Might as well add that weight to the balance too. EMILY HOEVEN is a College sophomore from Fremont, Calif., studying English. Her email address is ehoeven@

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

NEWS 7

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

Penn’s GRASP Lab receives $5.5 million grant Department of Defense funds drone-like research

MITCHELL CHAN Staff Reporter

A new research grant could reopen controversy around drone research at Penn. Earlier this month, Penn’s groundbreaking General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Laboratory received a $5.5 million Department of Defense grant to develop autonomous flying robots that could be used in the military’s drone program. Established in 1979, the GRASP Lab has long been a center of robotics innovation and systems research and was already working on autonomous systems when it received the grant from the military’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. The development and military use of drones has long attracted controversy on college campuses, including Penn’s. Last spring, a

coalition of Penn student groups launched a movement calling for divestment from companies that profit from displacing people through war or violence, including at least one drone manufacturer. Meanwhile, a local organization, Brandywine Peace Community, has been campaigning against drones for years. This year alone, Brandywine held two public demonstrations against the GRASP Lab’s drone research, during the Penn Relays in April and Homecoming earlier this month. “[The] University of Pennsylvania is a major military researcher in robotics and drone applications,” demonstration organizer Marge Van Cleef wrote on Brandywine’s website. “Let the UPenn community and the public know what else in taking place at UPenn.” But while the lab may receive military funding, GRASP’s research remains purely academic. That means that anything it does with the grant, like all research

conducted at Penn, will be subject to the stringent standards and protocols that govern Penn research. “Research that is performed under grants from the Department of Defense is governed by the same principles as projects funded by other federal funding institutions,” Office of the Vice Provost for Research Director of Research Initiatives Michael Borda said in an email statement. Borda added that Penn faculty who receive Department of Defense funding are free to publish and share their research and that other scholars can access and discuss such data. Additionally, the new grant specifically calls for automated robots that are capable of finding and choosing targets independently and without human intervention. This contrasts with conventional drones, which require at least one pilot to operate them, albeit from a distance. This distinction can make the conversation more complicated, Penn Law School professor Claire

Finkelstein said. Autonomous systems like the ones GRASP is building can challenge traditional notions of responsibility if something goes wrong. “Suppose an autonomous weapons system goes and kills somebody it’s not supposed to kill. Who’s responsible if the autonomous weapons system has made its own decision?” Finkelstein said. “Is it the designer of the system? Is it the programmer of the system who builds the system according to specific designs? Is it the person who deploys the system knowing its design and its capacities?” Nevertheless, she believes that automated systems, if applied to weapons technology, can have valuable applications, namely by limiting the number of human soldiers that are put in harm’s way during combat. “If it can be done safely and in a way that maintains meaningful human control, you are taking another flesh and blood human being out of harm’s way,”

Finkelstein said. Finkelstein also emphasized the difference between basic research and its use by subsequent scientists. For example, while the GRASP Lab is ostensibly creating autonomous flying robots with a humanitarian use, there is nothing stopping the military from using that technology in a future weapon. That future use, however, is out of the GRASP researchers’ control. “Because of the nature of technology, there may be a dual use for the research they engage in. What purposes people put the research to in the future is nothing that anyone can control,” Finkelstein said. If the GRASP Lab’s research is one day converted into weaponry, it won’t take place at Penn. Weapons research is typically classified and conducted in secrecy away from a university’s main facilities. Penn has not engaged in such research for decades. “The only grants that researchers at Penn are getting from the

Department of Defense are essentially grants to work on really basic science or analysis,” political science professor Michael Horowitz said. Horowitz, who used to work at the Department of Defense, also sees potential value in applying robotics research to military technology. “One of the benefits of some of these technologies is that as they become more reliable and more precise, they help the American military not just be more effective but be more effective in a way that reduces collateral damage and civilian casualties in war,” Horowitz said. He added that it is important to distinguish between military drones that are used for combat and those used for surveillance in war zones. The majority of military drone operations perform surveillance, and fewer drones can fire missiles than many people realize. “It’s the drone strikes that make the news,” Horowitz said.

Turner Series highlights growing demand for social impact Various Wharton programs are now meeting this desire JACK CAHN Senior Reporter

What do billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Wharton students have in common? Both have a reputation for their relentless drive to make money — and lots of it. But when Ackman came to speak at Penn on Monday as part of the Turner Social Impact Executive Speaker Series, neither he nor his audience was focused on making money. Instead, they talked about giving it away. This emphasis on using business acumen for good, students and faculty say, has become the norm at the

Wharton School, a school best known for its data-driven approach to finance. “Our goal is for Wharton to become known for social impact, just like other schools are known for innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Allie Ilagan, a spokesperson for the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. “Ideally, everyone graduates equipped with some type of knowledge to incorporate social impact, whether you’re going into banking or consulting.” Wharton’s focus on social impact has been demanddriven. As millennials began to fill the ranks of Wharton’s MBA classes, more and more students were looking for an opportunity to do good. In

2010, now Managing Director Sherryl Kuhlman helped found the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, whose staff has since grown to include 11 employees. “Social impact is a growing force at Penn,” College and Wharton sophomore Emily Zhen said. “Millennials don’t want to just go to work and do their job. They want to see the impact of their work and see that they can have a purpose and also be profitable.” Zhen is an example of the impact Wharton’s programm ing and initiatives have had on students. When she came to Penn, Zhen says she didn’t know much about social impact, let alone impact investing and social entrepreneurship. But since her arrival, she has

met world-class mentors and has been exposed to a variety of educational programs. Today, Zhen is an active member of the Wharton Social Impact Advisory Board and has worked as a Social Impact fellow at the Wharton Social Impact Initiative conducting climate research for the White House. She’s had the opportunity to consult for two nonprofits through her work with 180 Degrees Consulting, a student-led consulting group on campus. More and more Wharton students are getting involved in initiatives like Zhen’s. Every year, Turner’s social impact events are oversubscribed as students pile into auditoriums to learn about giving back.

On the undergraduate level, the Social Impact Consulting group is one of the most elite groups on campus. Meanwhile, 200 MBA students — or a third of Wharton’s incoming class — attended the introductory meeting of the Wharton Social Venture Fellows this year. Only a fraction of those students will be accepted to the exclusive Locust Walk Investment Partners, the group’s investment arm that injects capital into growing social ventures. This exclusivity is a key feature of Wharton’s social impact efforts. “We’ve seen the student demand has grown a lot more sophisticated,” Ilagan said. “Because we’re Wharton, we’re using the skills and knowledge

and resources that we have here, and that’s how were making an impact.” But despite this growth, Wharton’s efforts are far from perfect. Many Wharton students are still not involved in any social impact programming, and many of the Wharton Social Impact Initiative events are attended by a “niche” group of students, Ilagan said. As demand grows, however, and more funding goes toward social impact, Ilagan expects social impact efforts to expand in breadth, depth and reach. It might be time to trade in the notorious Wharton Slytherin T-shirts for some Gryffindor apparel. “We want to be the social impact school,” Ilagan said.

PHOTO FEATURE

A BRIGHT LIGHT AFTER A DARK WEEKEND The Assembly of International Students arranged a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the tragedies that occurred in Paris, Beirut, Baghdad and other places in the world. Featured speakers included Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel and AIS President Alexandre Kleis.

theDP.com

* Free admission before 1am with Penn ID *

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 11pm - 3:30am | 21+ to enter

Book Your Exclusive Event at Club Pulse Drink specials available for private parties info@pulsephilly.com

1526 Sansom St.

215-751-2711

KONHEE CHANG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

serving Philadelphia

for over FIRST LAST/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

years!

City’s Most Popular Indian Buffet Lunch Buﬀet $9.95 Dinner Buﬀet $12.95

CREATIVE • BALANCED • SIMPLE 1608 SOUTH STREET • PHILADELPHIA, PA 215-790-0330 • ENTREEBYOB.COM

Welcome Welcome 15% oﬀOF CLASS OF CLASS with this ad Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp. Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp.

2016

For Fast Fast Delivery Delivery Call Call Expires 215-386-1941 For 215-386-1941 12/18/2015 * Closed Mondays*

For Fast Delivery Call 215-386-1941

4004 Chestnut Street or Order Online @ newdelhiweb.com Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp. Exp.2/23/12 4/11/12 Exp.

8 SPORTS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

Former Quakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; star back, but not to compete Strausbaugh brings Penn pedigree to coaching role JONATHAN POLLACK Sports Reporter

Same face, same place. Former two-time Penn gymnastics co-captain and 2013 College graduate Kirsten Strausbaugh has returned to her alma mater, this time as the Quakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; new assistant coach. Strausbaugh replaces Kim Parsons, who was at Penn for three seasons, as an assistant under head coach John Ceralde. For Strausbaugh, it is almost natural that she is back and contributing to the program that she had so much success in as an athlete. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had such a great student-athlete experience, and, to be honest, I love the sport and couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let go,â&#x20AC;? Strausbaugh said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just want to have an impact on the girls and make sure that they are having the same student-athlete experience that I had.â&#x20AC;? Even while she was away from Penn, Strausbaugh contributed to the team. The Virginia Beach, Va., native served on the Penn Gymnastics Sports Board, which

EXPECTATIONS >> PAGE 10

ones to beat in the Ivy League, they are far from complacent. Rather, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hungry. For Ceralde and his team, adding just one Ivy Championship ring to their fingers is not enough. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We definitely want to challenge ourselves and try and be a better team and qualify for NCAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s,â&#x20AC;? Ceralde said. Amongst the gymnasts, the desire to get better is just as strong. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We just got our rings, which was motivating for everyone,â&#x20AC;? junior floor specialist Rachel Graham said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our freshmen got to see that, and everyone is so excited going into season knowing that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re strong and training hard.â&#x20AC;? Senior captain Emily Paterson

helps to fundraise and generate support for the program. In her time as a student-athlete at Penn, Strausbaugh built an impressive competition resume, with both individual and team accomplishments. She led the team to consecutive Ivy Classic championships in 2011 and 2012 and consecutive ECAC titles in 2012 and 2013. She was also named Pennâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Valuable Gymnast twice as well as the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Inspirational Gymnast. Strausbaughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most successful year as gymnast at Penn came during her senior season in 2012-13 when she was an NCAA Regional qualifier, ECAC Gymnast of the Year and Pennâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Strausbaughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal experience with the Quakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; program will surely come in handy in her new coaching role. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think my experience here, since I was at Penn, I think that will be the biggest impact just because I know the school-gymnastics balance,â&#x20AC;? she said. Strausbaughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s familiarity with the program is certainly a big advantage in the eyes of the coaching staff, as she already knows the ins and outs of Ceraldeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s system.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kirsten, as a student-athlete, she was a co-captain for two years, she understands the program, she understands my coaching philosophy and she brings a lot to the table,â&#x20AC;? Ceralde said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I feel that now that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on the other side I think that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to bring another level to the program. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think bringing her back on board will help us elevate ourselves.â&#x20AC;? Strausbaugh represents a familiar face for team members, one that they are already comfortable with. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She really understands the program, and the continuity in the coaching staff right now is unbelievable,â&#x20AC;? junior Rachel Graham said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone just gets along great and is so excited to have her.â&#x20AC;? Senior Amber Hu agrees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not new here, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just in a new position,â&#x20AC;? Hu said. Strausbaugh spent last season as the associate head coach of the Florida State University Club Gymnastics Team, an experience that she feels helped prepare her well for coaching at the college level. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s working with all different types of personalities, especially

concurred. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re coming out of the gate ready. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited.â&#x20AC;? In the meantime, the Quakers will have to temper some of that enthusiasm, as the bulk of the meet season is still two months off. Save the intra-squad Red vs. Blue meet on Dec. 4, Penn will not compete against another team â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ivy or otherwise â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until the Lindsey Ferris Invitational against George Washington on Jan. 17. In a conference where the champion is often decided by mere tenths of a point, matches and titles can be won or lost in the details. Thus, every so often the team treats its practice like a meet to prepare for the high-stakes environment gymnastics competitions entail. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do little mini mock-meet sort of events,â&#x20AC;? said assistant coach Kirsten Strausbaugh, a 2013 Penn gymnastics graduate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At

the beginning of practice we will warm up like in competition, and they will have to present like they would in competition so that pressure factor kind of goes into practice in general before meets just to prepare them mentally.â&#x20AC;? With luck, the feeling of excelling in a competition environment is just as engrained to the Quakers as their routines are in each gymnastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s muscle memory. And given last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrow .300-point win over Brown at the Ivy Classic, it appears that those meet simulations are paying off for the Red and Blue. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone has the potential to do really well, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who does the best on that day,â&#x20AC;? senior Amber Hu explained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It really comes down to consistency.â&#x20AC;?

SUDOKUPUZZLE

9 6 1

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

9 6 7 8

Solution to Previous Puzzle:

ÂŠ Puzzles provided by sudokusolver.com

9 4 7 5 8 1 3 1 9 2 3 7 8 9 5 The New 4 York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 7 3 1 Call:6 1-800-972-3550 For Information

ACROSS 1 Earthquakerelated 8 Some Impressionist paintings 14 You might put a fist through it 15 Things to wear 17 Art supplies since 1903 18 Looney Tunes character with a strong Southern accent 19 Gluttonous sort 20 Requiring constant reassurance 22 As a result 23 Belligerent son of Zeus 25 NNWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opposite 26 Never-beforeseen 28 â&#x20AC;&#x153;___ Last Bowâ&#x20AC;? (Sherlock Holmes story)

30 Plain ___ 32 Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ___ Dam 35 Kindergartnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stickum 36 Flapper accessory 39 Director with three films on A.F.I.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s list of 100 greatest movies, all of them silent 41 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Henry VIII, I Amâ&#x20AC;? band 43 Cowboy nickname 44 Give a speech 46 Coupes and sedans 47 Repulsive 48 List-ending abbr. 49 Uses a divining rod 53 PC key 55 Unsubtle performers 59 Southernmost Great Lake

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE P L A N

A L P S

R A G U

P I L L

O V E R

O B E Y

J A M A D A B O T

W S A A T I R A R S E R Y A U G W R A P E T A C K E T Y A A A P N E S S S P A E S L G E M O X S

S T I R

I F A T C O A T

S H A H

Y J U E O Z S K I Y M E O A R S P U P E L B L U L L O F S B I G S M O G E T A E S T A T S E R O P L E R Y L E S

D A H O N E T T Y M U I R

I S E E

A R M Y

O L D E

N O P E

N O O K

60 Nebraskaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest city 62 Farrow of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Zeligâ&#x20AC;? 63 â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Little Foxesâ&#x20AC;? playwright 66 Laundromat fixture 68 Make room for 69 Sanctifies with oil 70 Discards 71 Actual amount paid DOWN 1 Ali G portrayer ___ Baron Cohen 2 Ballgame bobble 3 Public relations concern 4 Reticent 5 Project Apollo destination 6 Reason for missing work 7 Stops 8 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Back to the Futureâ&#x20AC;? hero Marty 9 Lotion ingredient 10 Yuletide quaff 11 â&#x20AC;&#x153;I Love Lucyâ&#x20AC;? role 12 Barb in a bush 13 Fabric used for suits 16 Fall in winter 21 ___ vu 24 Quick on the uptake 26 Start the pot 27 Ogle 29 Smitten 31 Arthur of tennis 32 Parliamentary output

8 15

20 24 28

55 61

62 67

69 70

PUZZLE BY PATRICK BERRY

33 Ship, to its captain 34 Stuff rubbed on skis 35 â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the ___ Colonyâ&#x20AC;? (Kafka story) 36 Fishermanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purchase 37 Not fooled by 38 Blockhead 40 Eye piece 42 A lot 45 Uniform-wearing group

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your favorite place to compete besides Penn? Cornell

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your favorite place to eat on campus? Metro Bakery

48 53

59 63

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your professional athlete crush? Sam Mikulak

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your favorite class? Public Health

47 51

VAULT SPECIALIST EMILY PATERSON

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Daily Pennsylvanianâ&#x20AC;?.

No. 1013

21 25

at:

prizesudoku.com

ILANA WURMAN | SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR

Although junior Rachel Graham primarily contributes to the gymnastics team as a floor specialist, she was an integral part of the Quakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ivy Classic title in 2015 thanks to a strong performance on beam.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your favorite professional sports team? New England Patriots

The Sudoku Source of

Edited by Will Shortz 1

and the Quakers look to recreate the success the program had back when the new assistant coach was an athlete.

Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best athlete alive? Nastia Liukin

Create and solve your Sudoku puzzles for FREE.

NEWYORKTIMESCROSSWORDPUZZLE We asked some favorite Times crossword contributors, â&#x20AC;&#x153;What would you like to do in a daily Times crossword that has never been done before?â&#x20AC;? This weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s puzzles, Monday to Saturday, are the result.

the biggest experience that I took from working at Florida State.â&#x20AC;? Now, with the season just around the corner, Strausbaugh

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; s your favorite Penn team to watch besides your own? Football

Play Sudoku and win prizes

For Release Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Crossword

college girls,â&#x20AC;? Strausbaugh said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little bit different than working at clubs with the 18-andunders, so I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really

30 SECONDS WITH:

Skill Level:

3 1

DP FILE PHOTO

In her time competing with the Red and Blue, Kirsten Strausbaugh â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who graduated in 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; led the team to two Ivy League and two ECAC championships. She now returns to Penn as an assistant coach.

48 Component of natural gas 49 Indira Gandhi International Airport site

57 Bowlful next to a restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cashier 58 Most prudent, as advice

50 Show the ropes to

60 Dollar bills

51 Radioerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do itâ&#x20AC;?

61 Foppish neckwear

52 Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stay on the shelves

64 â&#x20AC;&#x153;___ in the Morningâ&#x20AC;? (radio show)

54 Badge wearer

65 Fruit drink suffix

56 ___ acid

67 Fruit drink brand

Online subscriptions: Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/studentcrosswords.

Mention this ad and get: $7 cheese pizzas* Friday 4pm - close & ALL DAY Saturday 50Â˘ wings on Sundays & Mondays $10 off your order of $50 or more Like us on Facebook for Daily Specials! Follow us on Instagram @PoweltonPizzeria Follow us on Twitter @PoweltonPizza

2 cheese pizzas* & a 2-liter of soda for $17.99 *toppings extra **cannot combine with other offers

3635 Lancaster Avenue | (215) 387-1213 | www.thepoweltonpizza.com

>> PAGE 10

junior floor specialist Rachel Graham said. The NCAA’s lone serious r ule rega rding gym nasts’ music is that all song lyrics must be silenced during the routines. As a result, competitors have a lot of freedom in choosing their respective tracks, evidenced by the musical diversity displayed in the Quakers’ selections. “It really depends on the person,” said Graham, who plans to primarily use music from classical group The Piano Guys during the 201516 season. “We have a lot of different genres on the team right now, and that’s going to be pretty cool because we have some hip-hop, we have other strings–” “And then we have some very elegant, dance-y routines [while] some are more fun and energetic,” senior vault specialist Emily Paterson added.

highbrow ego food & drink film feature music arts lowb highbrow ego food & drink film feature music arts lowb highbrow ego food & drink film feature music arts lowb

DO DO DOYOU YOU YOUPAY PAY PAYPER PER PERVIEW? VIEW? VIEW?

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

FLOOR

FILM FILM FILM

ST STST

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

“We have a couple of people who have popular songs, big pop songs like Lindsey Stirling, so we have a pretty good variety.” While the gymnasts have freedom to choose their own music, the process isn’t as simple as athletes opening their iTunes accounts and choosing a song they like. Com mu n icat ion b et we en coaches and athletes is crucial, as all involved with the program want the gymnasts to find a perfect balance between an elite performance and an enjoyable time. “It comes down to the fact that the coaches really want the girl on the floor to love her music,” Paterson said. “If she loves the music, she’s really going to get into it and show off, and it’s going to be a lot better for everyone. So it’s usually a mutual agreement.” “It’s usually music that fits your dance style, rather than the kind of music you just listen to every day,” Hu added.

And once music is chosen, Graham says, it’s usually set in stone: “We stick to our music generally for like two years, just so that we have our dance totally down and can be totally consistent.” Although coaches have the power to veto song choices if they don’t feel them to be beneficial to athletes, this is rarely necessary, as the gymnasts and coaches strive to be on the same page. The few exceptions to this, however, may come in the form of the freshman class, as Penn’s seven newcomers will enter the collegiate level for the first time and adjust to the culture changes from the youth level. “Sometimes freshmen will come in with a different style, since club is a little more limited with its music types,” said first-year assistant coach and two-time Penn captain Kirsten Strausbaugh. “In college, you have a little more of

Film Film Film polled polled polled you you you totofitond fifind nd out out out how how how you you you are are are getting getting getting your your your Sunday Sunday Sunday afternoon afternoon afternoon

TT T

*Must be equal or lesser value. Valid until 12/15/15

Both located at: 3734 Spruce Street 215-222-5055

Why Wh W

leave leave leave thethe comfort thecomfort comfort of of our ofour our beds beds beds to totoAirPennNet AirPennNet AirPennNet account. account. account. Wouldn’t Wouldn’t Wouldn’tyou you you askask Amy askAmy Amy Gutmann) Gutmann) Gutmann) watchwatchwatch-tional tional tiona $2 of of popco ofpop po notnot not inclu in tions). tions). tions T inging seven ingsev s lessless less than tht many many many co paid paid paid serv se inging ing inte in buffering bufferi buffe immunit immun imm and and and most mm inging ing to towt watching watchi watch onon Mega onMe M Not Not No to price price price to t Dine-In, Dine-In, Dine-In, Catering Catering Catering &&Delivery &Delivery Delivery thethe big thebig pi b savings savings savino Happy Happy Happy Hour: Hour: Hour: Mon-Fri Mon-Fri Mon-Fri 5-7 5-7 5-7 students studen studew services service servic r Lunch Lunch Lunch Special: Special: Special: Mon-Fri Mon-Fri Mon-Fri $8.95 $8.95 $8.95 movie movie movi th tween tween tween $1 Early Early Early Bird: Bird: Bird: Sun-Thur Sun-Thur Sun-Thur $10.95 $10.95 $10.95 dependin depend depe Netfl Netfl Netfl ix ix o Moral Moral Mora of judge judge judge if yi

34TH STREET Magazine December 1, 2011 34TH STREET Magazine December 1, 2011 34TH STREET Magazine December 1, 2011

1 COUPON PER CUSTOMER. NOT VALID W/ OTHER OFFERS. VALID ONLY AT SPRUCE ST. LOCATION. VALID UNTIL12/15/2015.

BUY ONE BAG OF CANDY OR NUTS, GET A SECOND BAG FREE!*

SPORTS 9

FRESHMEN the mainstream music without hit it. ANTHONY BYANTHONY ANTHONY KHAYKIN KHAYKIN KHAYKIN movie movie movie fifixes. xes. Here’s Here’s Here’s what what wewe learned. learned. learned. >>we PAGE 10 BYBY words, andfixes. you can get thewhat “When you do the one-and-acrowd to hough be hough more involved.” half you’re opening yourself up hough wewe all weall know allknow know thethe thewatch watch watch Hugo Hugo Hugo in in theaters. intheaters. theaters. And And And weweweyou you you guess guess guess then then then that that that Penn Penn Penn stustustu47 “We definitely suggest to NCAA teams are being brought for more of a deduction,” StrausInternet Internet Internet is isfor is forfor porn porn pornfit fithis t fi this t this mold mold mold of of overworked of overworked overworked Ivy Ivy Ivy dents dents dents would would would prefer prefer prefer to to get to get their get their their their best ability,” added head down to a 9.95.” bough said. “For them they are (thanks (thanks (thanks Avenue Avenue Avenue Q),Q), Q), thethe theLeague League League students students students well, well, well, with with with only only onlyRomCom RomCom RomCom fix[between fionline xfixonline online with with with freefree free coach John Ceralde, winner Penn’s freshmen will help deciding throwing] bedroom bedroom bedroom is no is is no longer no longer longer the the the only only only about about about 17% 17% 17% of of Penn of Penn Penn undergrads undergrads undergrads streaming streaming streaming websites websites websites like like like SideReel SideReel SideReel of four Ivy Classic championbring the Red and Blue up to the biggest skills they have or area area area being being ceded ceded ceded to to digital todigital digital territerriterri-watching watching watching movies movies movies at the atatthe Rave theRave Rave evevev-and and and Ch131 Ch131 Ch131 rather rather rather than than than pay pay pay forfor for ships in being his nine-year tenure where their competitors have just doing the 9.95 and doing it with the Red and Blue. “We been. Strausbough noted that at services safe.” tory. tory. tory. ForFor For every every every girlgirl with girlwith with daddy’s daddy’s daddy’seryery semester. erysemester. semester. services services provided provided provided byby Netfl byNetfl Netfl ix and ixixand and try to match them tobrowsing their per- ononon But least four ofabout the newcomers will The question then becomes AmEx, AmEx, AmEx, window window window browsing browsing But But how how how about about the the other theother other ste-steste-Redbox? Redbox? Redbox? sonalities.” be performing Yurchenko fulls. whether or not it’s worth it movtomovgo Fifth Fifth Fifth Avenue Avenue Avenue hashas been hasbeen been replaced replaced replacedreotype, reotype, reotype, thethe one theone one that that that says says says all all colall colcol- While While While 75% 75% 75% of of us ofus watch uswatch watch movThe coaches’ suggestions Ultimately, the rule change for the one-and-a-half to get the with with with online online online shopping. shopping. shopping. And And Andlege lege lege students students students areare poor? arepoor? poor? The The The freefree freeiesies online, iesonline, online, nearly nearly nearly 50% 50% 50% paypay pay forforfor can end up being crucial to was made to force a greater level extra half-tenth in start value. FYEs FYEs FYEs everywhere everywhere everywhere have have have virtuvirtuvirtumovement movement movement of of information of information information made made made it. it. I it. hear I I hear hear Horrible Horrible Horrible Bosses Bosses Bosses — a— the team’s performances, as of difficulty for the 10.0 maxi- Do the risks outweigh the— re-a a ally ally ally been been been rendered rendered rendered useless useless useless (pun (pun (pun possible possible possible by by the by the interweb the interweb interweb makes makes makes new new new release release release on on iTunes on iTunes iTunes — — is — hysis is hyshys- 3.1% every minute detail of prepmum start value. Now, instead wards? 3.1 3 intended) intended) intended) with with with the the the existence existence existence of of of terical, terical, terical, but but is but isis a ration matters in a spor t of a Yurchenko full, gymnasts “The top schools in the where wins and iTunes losses are need to perform the same vault nation to do Whose Whose recommendations recommendations recommendations do do you doyou take? youtake? take? have theitability thethe multifarious themultifarious multifarious iTunes iTunes store. store. store. Whose it worth itworth worth thethe the routinely decided fracthe one and a half, so now they 25% 2 50 50 an extra half twist to gain Things Things Things areare no areno different noby different different here here here 50with 1.5 1.5 1.5 salads salads salads at at at 47.7% 47.7% 47.7% Other Other tions ofPenn, points. extra 0.05. have toOther play theirSweetgreen hand to do the at atPenn, at Penn, where where where thethe the Rave Rave Rave gets gets gets back that 40% Sweetgreen Sweetgreen 40% 40 40While 40 “[Music c h o i c e] is to 40% the average human, one-and-a-half to get the 10.0 A Friend A Friend A Friend nearly nearly nearly half half half thethe the traffi traffi traffi c for c cforfor thethe the it it it would would would extremely important,” Strausa half-tenth of anything might start value,” Ceralde said. Cinema Cinema Cinema Studies Studies Studies 25 midnight midnight midnight screenings screenings screenings of of blockof blockblockhave have have cost cost cost if if if 30not 30 30seem like much, in this Major Major Majorthis is a decision each baugh said. “Ever y time While 26.2% 26.2% 26.2% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% buster buster buster hits hits hits like like like Twilight Twilight Twilight as Hulu as as Hulu Hulu I had I I had had seen seen seen it it it Professor Professor Professor or be TAor or TA TA a gymnast goes out there, sport it can make all the differ- team will making for itself, 20 20 does does thehave the the dayday day after after after thethe the newest newest newest 20ence. in inin theaters? theaters? theaters? itdoes does an impact on theStreet Quakers’ most popular Street Street the judging, whether orairs. not extra half-twist not only vault will remain the full. episode episode episode of of30 of 30Rock 30Rock Rock airs. airs. This This This 10 10That Ramen Ramen Ramen noonoonoo10 *Students *Students *Students surveyed surveyed surveyed werewere were they’re enjoying themselves Only will tell to aren’t seearen’t how allowed allowed to choose totime choose to more choose more moredles makes makes makes sense. sense. sense. WeWe We Penn Penn Penn students students students requires greater height and allowed dles dles aren’t es es seven esseve se than onethan option. oneone option. option. and presenting their routine but also a more diffi- itthanplays out and whether the rule 0speed, 0 0 areare are tootoo too busy busy busy procrastinating procrastinating procrastinating that that that bad, bad, bad, I I Ievery every every sem s well. cult landing: the blind landing, change helps the Red and Blue. on on Penn on Penn Penn InTouch InTouch InTouch and and and designdesigndesignguess. guess. guess. tic tic prove tic pro p “Bottom line, they defiwhich draws its name from the What’s for certain, though, is inging ing funny funny funny lacrosse lacrosse pinnies pinnies pinnies forforforentertainment entertainment entertainment accessible accessible and and and The The average average average Penn Penn Penn student student student watch towat wa nitely want tolacrosse enjoy their fact that the accessible gymnast’s eyes do The that Penn’s freshman talent will to to the the the clubs clubs clubs we’re we’re we’re involved involved involved in in to in to to inexpensive inexpensive inexpensive to to anyone to anyone anyone with with with an an an (who (who (who is anything is is anything anything but but but average, average, average, if if if than than than at at music and have a good time.” not see the floor before her feet be valuable for time to come.

30 PRETZELS FOR $9

free bag of candy or nuts

How HH

• 215.387.8533 • •215.387.8533 PattayaRestaurant.com PattayaRestaurant.com PattayaRestaurant.com 215.387.8533 • University • •University 4006 4006 4006 Chestnut Chestnut Chestnut Street Street Street University City City City

8 88

presents

A BOOK TALK by

KENNETH L. SHROPSHIRE

DAVID W. HAUCK PROFESSOR PROFESSOR OF LEGAL STUDIES AND BUSINESS ETHICS DIRECTOR, WHARTON SPORTS BUSINESS INITIATIVE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Tuesday

November 17, 2015

5:30 PM

3601 Walnut Street

In Sport Matters: Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports, Wharton professor and frequent media commentator Kenneth L. Shropshire takes a sober look at the unique leadership challenges facing sports organizations today and in the process offers a snapshot of where we are as a society in terms of comprehending and healing destructive ideas about race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and perceived “difference.” Light refreshments will be provided For more information, contact the Center for Africana Studies at 215-898-4965 or visit our website at https://africana.sas.upenn.edu FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC If you require reasonable accommodations, please provide at least 5 days notice This event is co-sponsored with the Penn Bookstore

In cooperation with the Center for the Advanced Study of India and Perry World House

Kings Court English College House presents

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NOW International Development Event Series

with Professor Philip Nichols Department of Business Ethics and Legal Studies

LUNCH PROVIDED

November 17, 2015 12:00–1:15pm HUNTSMAN HALL, F45

RSVP HERE

*A*A*A sim of of 100 of100 10 P surveyed survey surve their their their film fi

SPORTS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

GYMNASTICS ISSUE Floor event features diverse music choices COLE JACOBSON Sports Reporter

When Penn’s gymnasts hit the floor, expect the music to be bumping. While three of the four women’s gymnastics events contested at the collegiate level — vault, beam and bars — are performed in absolute silence, the f loor routines offer athletes the opportunity to choose their own accompanying music. Consequently, the event gives a unique chance for competitors to bring some fun into their performances, and Penn’s gymnasts plan to take full advantage this season. “Floor is of one of the most exciting things to watch for us,” said senior Amber Hu, who primarily competes in the bars and the beam. “They want the crowd to get into it, because knowing that people are into it makes it that much better.” The f loor can be thrilling for those competing as well, as the good vibes from the upbeat event unite the team and provide exciting conclusions to each meet. “One of the best parts of competing is that the team lines up on the end of the floor when you finish your floor routine, and then you come run down the line and highfive everybody at the same time,” SEE FLOOR PAGE 9

FLOORING

ILANA WURMAN | SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR

THE COMPETITION

Rookies may vault Penn to top NCAA rule change may help Quakers this season ALEXIS ZIEBELMAN Senior Sports Reporter

Out with the old and in with the new. With seven rookies on the roster this season, Penn gymnastics’ freshman class will play a greater role in competitions this year than previous classes have in the past. And the largest gap they fill for the Quakers is on vault. “We have a strong freshman class,” head coach John Ceralde said. “They’re looking good on their events right now, and we’re definitely looking forward to seeing them on vault particularly.” First-year assistant coach Kirsten Strausbough agreed. “Vault is something that in the past we’ve lacked on,” she said. “It’s exciting to see some freshmen coming in with some

big skills that will make us more competitive in the NCAA, not just the Ivy League.” While Penn historically has struggled to attain sufficient difficultly to be competitive with other schools, the talent of this freshman class should help to bridge the divide. And a change in NCAA rules regarding the degree of difficulty of a particular vault may favor this particular freshman class. The most popular vault in NCAA women’s gymnastics is a Yurchenko layout full (a round-off onto the board, back handspring onto the table and a layout with a full twist). Earlier this year this vault was devalued from its previous 10.0 start value to 9.95. “Other schools, they had 10.0 start values across the board,” Strausbough said. “Sometimes we would have 10.0 start values, but our other girls would start at 9.8 or 9.9. Now all the other SEE FRESHMEN PAGE 9

SEND STORY IDEAS TO DPSPORTS@THEDP.COM

Consistency could spell title defense Quakers seek another Ivy Classic ring in 2016 LAINE HIGGINS Sports Editor

COURTESY OF PENN ATHLETICS

In 2015, coach John Ceralde led Penn gymnastics to an Ivy Classic title. Now, he looks for a strong vault from his freshmen to build on that win. ONLINE AT THEDP.COM

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This is essentially how Penn gymnastics approaches each upcoming routine, practice and season, except with one key caveat. The twist? The Quakers expect the exact same result year-in and year-out. In the past five years, that resuls has been the Ivy Classic title. Since the 2010-11 season, the Red and Blue have taken home three of the last five de facto Ancient Eight crowns. In turn, Penn gymnastics has become synonymous with success.

During his 10 years with the program, coach John Ceralde has built a team with a tradition of winning and a core value of consistency. In practice, that means performing clean routines with sharp technique each day. At meets, that means performing for the judging panel like you do in practice. Broaden the timeframe and that translates to winning three Ivy Classics in the past five years. If anything about the Quakers’ gymnasts is clear, it’s that they’ve been nothing but consistent. Down at Rockwell Gymnasium, winning championships is a way of life. “The idea is that we just want to continue our winning traditions,” Ceralde said. “So we just want to be consistent.” Even though the Quakers enter the 2015-16 season as the SEE EXPECTATIONS PAGE 8 CONTACT US: 215-422-4640