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Sexual assault officer leaves
Chris Mallios was supposed to spearhead Penn’s initiatives CAROLINE SIMON AND ANNA HESS Campus News Editor-elect and Staff Reporter
Penn’s Sexual Violence Investigative Officer Christopher Mallios will be leaving his post at the University less
than one year after his appointment. On Nov. 3, Mallios was elected as one of 12 judges to sit on Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas, becoming only the second openly gay judge to serve. The University announced Mallios’ hiring in January to function as the first Sexual Violence Investigative Officer within the new sexual assault and violence reporting system. The role of the
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officer is to oversee investigations of alleged violence and harassment. In a previous interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Mallios stated that the intention of the office was to provide “a thoughtful, deliberative process that uses interviews and evidence to come to a fair resolution.” Since Mallios’ appointment to the Court of Common Pleas, the University
has not released an official statement announcing that he will step down from his office. However, Director of Student Sexual Violence Prevention Jessica Mertz confirmed that Mallios is leaving the University and will be replaced. Vice President for University Communications Steve MacCarthy said Mallios will be assuming his new position fulltime in January.
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give thanks
With the Penn Thanks Facebook page, you can show your gratitude anonymously JENNA WANG Staff Reporter
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hanksgiving may be just around the corner, but for the Wharton Undergraduate Giving Society, goodwill happens all year-round. Penn Thanks is a Facebook page where students can post anonymous compliments about their friends. The page was started by the Wharton Undergraduate Giving Society’s Membership Committee last fall to help spread positivity around campus. The page has since accumulated around 200 submissions. “We wanted to recognize the givers in the Penn community,” Wharton sophomore and Vice President of Membership Jake Fischer said. “We wanted to create
a platform where they would receive this recognition for their acts of kindness.” Compliments are submitted through a Google Form and then posted on Facebook. The members who manage the page then tag the recipient in the message so they are sure to see it. “It made my month!” College junior Jared Fenton said about receiving his Penn Thanks post. “I mean, it was incredible. It was so nice what the person wrote. I was smiling, and I took a picture of it just to keep on my phone so I could look at it.” College junior Anna Vitti also loved the compliment she received. “I had been having a really rough week,
so it was super unexpected,” Vitti said. “It was just the nicest thing to get, and I was so happy and felt so cared for. I’m really thankful to whoever said that, because I think it takes a lot of confidence and bravery to go out there and say something nice about another person.” Alternatively, Penn Thanks can also be a tool utilized for delivering inside jokes. Wharton junior Bonnie Mai recalls sending an email one day to her dance group, Hype Dance Crew, in which she asked members to come be friendly and greet dancers at a workshop, as it was “something I can’t do because I don’t have a soul,” she said.
The next day, a post on Penn Thanks complimented her on her “beautiful heart.” “I just kind of rolled my eyes,” Mai said. “I’m pretty sure [it was] one of my close friends trying to play a joke on me, so I didn’t take the Penn Thanks thing seriously at all.” Mai said that while she thought Penn Thanks had good intentions, she felt compliments would be much more effective if someone came up to her and said them to her in person, instead of from “behind a computer screen.” SEE THANKS PAGE 6
Administration releases updates on mental health initiatives
Another Rhodes Scholar named from Penn
The Penn Wellness App is currently in its introductory stage
Debi Ogunrinde is one of 11 Canadians to receive the award
CAROLINE SIMON Campus News Editor-elect
JESSICA WASHINGTON Staff Reporter
Last Wednesday, the next installment in Penn’s mental health saga arrived in undergraduate inboxes, detailing several new initiatives and the expansion of current projects. The updates, which were shared by Undergraduate Assembly President Jane Meyer, described a collaboration between the office of the Vice Provost for University Life, the UA and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly to address issues of mental wellness among students. Seven Penn students have died by suicide since February 2013. In response, the campus has seen an explosion of discussion and debate about how to best help students suffering from mental illness and prevent further issues from arising. Students and administrators alike have provided varying solutions to the issue, ranging from last spring’s recommendations from the Task Force on Student Psychological Health and Welfare to the demands on the administration issued this semester from a group of students calling themselves the Hamlett-Reed Mental Health Initiative. Months later, the administration has rolled out a number of new programs, including a wellness app, faculty and staff Wellness Partners, an expansion of CAPS visits during New Student
A second Penn student will go to the United Kingdom on a Rhodes Scholarship next year. On Tuesday, Col lege a nd Wharton senior Debi Ogunrinde received the Canadian Rhodes Scholarship for 2016. This came just a day after College senior Jenna Hebert was notified that she was one of 32 American students to receive the award this year.
DEBI OGUNRINDE
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As soon as we make a choice, we need to be accountable for that choice.”
The R hodes Scholarship is the oldest international scholarship program in the world and is awarded to 89 students from over 20 countries. Ogunrinde, who is Canadian, was one of 11 Canadian students chosen to receive this award. The scholarship is granted to students to attend post-graduate school at Oxford University. Ogunrinde will spend her time working towards master’s degrees in social anthropology and public policy, according to a Penn News article. SEE RHODES PAGE 2
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