December 6, 2016 by The Daily Pennsylvanian

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Senior wins prestigious Mitchell scholarship

Theodore Caputi will study at University College Cork in Ireland

MANLU LIU Contributing Reporter

MARK SHTRAKHMAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sometimes he’s an aspiring poet hoping to share his work with a literary magazine one day. Other times, he’s an ordinary college student, hanging out with family and friends. Still other times, he’s doing research regarding the use of medications for people with substance abuse, an interest that has earned him first or sole-author publications in many peer-reviewed journals and a prestigious scholarship to graduate studies in Ireland. Recently named a George J. Mitchell Scholar, Wharton and College senior Theodore Caputi plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health promotion at University College Cork in Ireland. Caputi said that he applied to the scholarship because of his specific interest in Ireland’s success at lowering smoking rates, which he hopes to apply to his future work SEE CAPUTI PAGE 2

HOW TO DESTRESS FOR FINALS PAGE 2

Squash’s BG Lemmon overcomes obstacles for program-record season NICK BUCHTA Senior Sports Editor

As students, we do have a say in what goes on in our classrooms, and we should hold our professors accountable. PAGE 4

- Michaela Kotziers

PENN WBB IS GOING HARD IN THE PAINT

If you have the best season in a program’s 87year existence and no one even notices, did it really happen? That’s what we’re at the Ringe Squash Courts to talk about. After a midweek practice, we head to the coaches’ office as if BG Lemmon owns the place. Gilly Lane, the men’s squash coach, gives us the room with a warning — this story is only going to give

Pe n n’s senior captain a bigger head than he already has. We’re about to find out if he’s right. But Lemmon shouldn’t really even be here at all. He shouldn’t be breaking records at Penn. He belongs in Cambridge. At least, that was what the squash world thought his senior year of high school. *** The child of not one, but two, Harvard squash captains, it was a foregone conclusion Lemmon

would continue his career with the Crimson after graduating from the Haverford School in 2012. Harvard coach Mike Way had other plans. Midway through the recruiting process, Way informed Lemmon that he wouldn’t be taking any American players for the Class of 2016. Simple enough. Lemmon was disappointed but shrugged it off — until two weeks later when Way recruited an American. Fortunately for the Main Liner, he only had to wait four more weeks to let off some steam. Competing at the U.S. Junior Open, he got the chance to take on the very kid Harvard had just SEE LEMMON PAGE 8

Penn lacks socioeconomic diversity Study shows zero undergrads from lowest income quintile YOSEF WEITZMAN Staff Reporter

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GIOVANNA PAZ | ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

A recent study conducted by Brandeis University has revealed that the Penn student body is lacking in socio-economic diversity.

Penn places a heavy emphasis on diversity in admissions, but according to a newly released study, undergraduates are far from socioeconomically diverse. A recent survey by Brandeis University of 1,113 randomly selected Penn undergraduates found that among students applying from the United States, zero come from a ZIP code with a median household income in the lowest quintile of income groups. Only five percent of such students come from ZIP codes in the second lowest quintile, while the vast majority of Penn students come from the top two quintiles — over 70 percent. According to these statistics, published in a study titled “Diversity, Pressure, and Divisions on the

University of Pennsylvania Campus,” the Penn undergraduate population does not reflect the socioeconomic diversity of either the United States or Penn’s immediate surroundings in Philadelphia. According to zipwho. com, 20 of Philadelphia’s 46 ZIP codes fall in the lowest quintile of income group, including Penn’s ZIP code, 19104. Penn Admissions was unavailable for comment on this story. The study’s suggestion that Penn is not socioeconomically diverse might not be surprising to some — but the magnitude of Penn’s socioeconomic homogeneity is particularly striking. This was certainly the case for College senior and West Philadelphia Tutoring Project chair, Neha Gupta. While Gupta pointed out that Penn was more diverse in other areas, she was troubled by the survey’s findings. “Penn gets a lot of backlash about not SEE DIVERSITY PAGE 3

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As finals week approaches, students destress in different ways Food and exercise are popular among students BECCA LIEBERMAN Contributing Reporter

It’s the holiday season, but for Penn students, the joy of nearing winter break comes with the stress of preparing for final exams. Finals week is notorious for being a period of frantic cramming, desperate all-nighters and widespread panic. Final exams this year will be held from Dec. 15 to Dec. 22. As these dates approach, students have various ways of coping with the stress that finals may bring. Engineering freshman Katherine Waltman prefers to stay active to keep her mind off of exams. “I have five final exams

total… I think? Or six… shit. I’ll check,” she said. “But usually to destress, I go to yoga. I really like hot yoga or kickboxing. And then I usually go get a protein shake.” Waltman feels that physical workouts and meditation leave her more focused. “But I also destress by eating lots of Insomnia Cookies and drinking some form of tea,” she added. “Typically chamomile — it’s a very calming tea.” College and Wharton freshman Monty Ngan uses food to cope with the stress of exams as well, but he values the social experience of eating with other students. “I’m coping with finals by grabbing food around campus with friends every time we feel down. We make sure everyone is okay, try to help each other out,” he said.

He added that studying with friends allows him to see that other people are stressed as well, and he can always ask his classmates for help if there is something he doesn’t understand. Engineering senior Mitch Fogelson finds that long walks help him destress. “Every 15 or like 45 minutes, I’ll go outside and take a walk around the building wherever I’m studying,” he said. Fogelson added that he makes sure not to stay up too late and conveyed the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. But it is important to remember that final exams do not have to be a source of considerable stress. Engineering freshman Sebastian Peralta says that his stress level regarding finals is “pretty medium.” “I guess it’s not as bad as it

could be because I’m super organized,” he explained. “I jot down exactly what I need to do throughout the day, and then I do it.” College and Wharton freshman Nicholas Strauch has figured out how to minimize his stress as well by not cramming for exams. “Thankfully, I only have two exams,” he said. “However, I have three 15-page papers that I have to do, so that’s been the source of a lot of pressure for me because it all adds up.” His solution is to manage his time and finish his papers early so that he has plenty of time to study for his final exams. “My mindset is that everything can work out, and that everything’s going to work out the way it should,” he said. “Everything’s going to be okay. And that helps

JESS KATZ | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Final exams will be held between Dec. 15-22 this year, and students across campus are doing different things to cope with the stress.

me find peace and get through

life and deal with my stress.”

Transfer students reveal their impressions of Penn’s BYO culture The BYO concept is foreign to transfer students NINA SELIPSKY Contributing Reporter

On any given weekend night, Penn students and countless boxes of Sunset Blush pack restaurants such as Banana Leaf and Ken’s Seafood. The massive flock to downtown Philadelphia is a result of one thing: BYOs. Philadelphia is strict to grant liquor licenses, so many restaurants

choose to be “BYOs,” where customers bring their own drinks. The restaurants serve customers the alcohol without checking identification, as they assume the party is all over 21 because they purchased the liquor themselves. BYOs are a foreign concept to students at other universities. College sophomore Aliki Karnavas, who transferred to Penn this fall from Georgetown University, said, “BYOs don’t exist in DC, so instead people would pregame dinner.” She added that Georgetown’s

social scene is different from Penn’s in general, as it has activities like Greek life on a much smaller scale. “Georgetown only has five frats and their houses are tiny — usually about the size of just the dance floor of a typical frat here — so I was shocked when I came here and there were actually multiple rooms in the frats,” she said. Karnavas said that the closest equivalent at Georgetown to Penn’s Greek life and BYO scene is The Corp, a student-run corporation that manages all of the food locations on campus. “The application process to work for The Corp is really intense, but if you get in you’re pretty much set socially,” Karnavas said. The Corp hosts many parties, but only members are allowed. Karnavas added that the different Corp storefronts also all have different reputations. “The snack bar people were really

chill and the salad place people were super hipster and vegan-y,” she said. College sophomore William Tuseth, who transferred to Penn this year from Middlebury College,

described the differences between attending a small liberal arts college in rural Vermont and a large urban university in Philadelphia. “At Middlebury, the size of the

college and surrounding area plays a large role in determining the social scene,” Tuseth said. “There are two bars in Middlebury that are only for those 21-plus since they are very strict on fake IDs. So, people usually pregame in dorm rooms and then head out to one of the upperclassmen suites on campus, or one of the few off-campus houses.” Tuseth thinks that Penn’s social scene provides something for everyone. “Bars, frat parties, downtowns and BYOs give plenty of options for people,” he said. However, he also sees many ways that Penn’s social scene could potentially limit low-income students. “Obviously downtowns, but BYOs can also cause financial stress for many students at Penn. The one aspect of Middlebury’s social scene I liked more is that most people who wanted to go out could because the cost was so low,” Tuseth said.

using ineffective substance use prevention programs,” Caputi said. Arria introduced him to former Penn professor Thomas McLellan, who is the co-founder of the Treatment Research Institute and was a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Penn before retiring in 2015. Caputi quickly saw the potential for reducing substance abuse among adolescents and started conducting research under McLellan’s guidance. But Caputi’s work has not been so straightforward. “The war on drugs… was largely driven by a sense of ethics: that drug users were bad people,” he said. “When I tell people I’m involved in substance use research, some think that I want to be the ‘moral police’ of drugs.” Caputi fervently denied that notion and said he uses a

public health approach, such as treating addiction like any chronic illness and building up a supportive infrastructure for adolescents so that they don’t feel like they need to use drugs as a way to escape. Aside from his research involving substance abuse, Caputi founded the Penn Leadership Training Institute, which focuses on building leadership skills in Philadelphia’s middle and high school students. “When young people are given leadership training, they feel more connected with their communities … and feel more in control of their futures,” he said. Reflecting upon his academics at Penn, Caputi listed his statistics and statistic computing classes as the most useful towards his career in research. He also credited the necessity of mathematics to understand economics, explaining his decision to pursue both a BA in math from the College and a BSE from Wharton. This semester, however, Caputi is not taking classes at Penn, but is working for the Office of Drug and Alcohol

Policy in the White House. He said McLellan, who was the Office’s Deputy Director from 2009 to 2012, inspired his interest in the internship. Currently, Caputi is studying medication assisted treatment in criminal justice populations. He described his biggest takeaway from the job as “learn[ing] how the federal government uses and considers research to guide the National Drug Control Strategy.” While he enjoys his work at the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy in Washington DC, Caputi said his ultimate career goal is to become an economics professor and researcher. In his lifetime, he dreams of eradicating behavioral health disorders. He sees problems in the divide between research and policy and implementation and hopes to make research more applicable to real-life situations, he said. However, over his last school year at Penn, Caputi wants to accomplish something simple. “It would be impossible to thank all the people who’ve helped me,” he said. But he would very much like to do so.

CARSON KAHOE | PHOTO EDITOR

BYOs are a Penn-unique way of socializing and relaxing with friends. Many transfer students are unaware of this culture, until arriving at Penn.

Live music • Film • Dance • Theater Art Education • Community December 5 (9:00 pm)

Odean Pope & Andrew Cyrille presented by Ars Nova Workshop

December 8 (8:00 pm)

TOO MUCH JOHNSON (1938, 67min) and FÅRÖ DOCUMENT 1979 (1979, 100min) screened by Andrew’s Video Vault

December 9 (9:00 pm)

Philadelphia Science Fiction Society presents author Carmen Maria Machador

December 10 (10:00 am)

Open Discussion: Combating Sexism, Misogyny, and Rape Culture thru Local Activism; all are welcome

(5:00 pm)

Redeemer Tabernacle Baptist Church Christmas Program

December 11 (6:30 pm)

Big Huge Yiddish Dance Party As an alcohol-free/smoke-free venue, The Rotunda provides an invaluable social alternative for all ages.

4014 Walnut • TheRotunda.org

CAPUTI

>> PAGE 1

with substance abuse prevention. “These smoke interventions researched at the university level were translated into policy and cut down Ireland’s smoking rates significantly in the past 10-15 years,” Caputi said. His interest in drug and alcohol abuse prevention began in 10th grade, when he, out of curiosity, researched and wrote a paper about the connection between leadership education and substance use prevention. Unaware of the amount of research already occurring in the field, he sent his paper to Dr. Amelia Arria, a scientist at the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia. “I actually entered the research field because I couldn’t figure out why schools were still

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Penn groups work to get the most out of charitable giving

UA website connects students with service opportunities

Giving What We Can is an effective altruism group

The UA worked PennLabs to create the website

JINAH KIM Staff Reporter

Many Penn students consider themselves savvy investors, putting their money into effective and efficient enterprises. But there’s one place where many people turn out to be surprisingly inefficient — charitable giving. “People really care about performance — they want to know that the charities they’re donating to are really improving the world — but the number of people who actually research performance is only about a third of the people who care about performance,” said College senior Mark Toubman. Toubman is the president of Giving What We Can, an organization focusing on ways that charitable donations can be distributed more efficiently. Giving What We Can is a member of the Penn Effective Altruism umbrella group that was formed this semester. Its other members include 80,000 Hours, which promotes careers with positive social impact, and the animal rights group Penn Animal Advocacy. While each EA member organization has a unique focus, all are dedicated to the idea of “effective altruism” — the ethos that altruism should attempt to do the most amount of good with a given set of resources. This often means promoting charities that work in developing countries. “For example, there’s schistosomiasis... a worm infection in your intestines,” College sophomore Lauren O’Mara said. O’Mara and Wharton sophomore Lindsey Li are the undergraduate chairs of One for the World, an effective altruism organization founded by 2014 Wharton MBA graduates Kate Epstein and Josh McCann. “[The disease] is completely preventable, there’s a drug that you

can get to be cured, but so many kids die every year from it.” Schistosomiasis kills up to 200,000 people a year, and parasitic infection can also increase susceptibility to other diseases like malaria and AIDS. Recent de-worming effects have focused on children, who are particularly susceptible. “The treatment’s only one dollar per kid, and then they have an entire year of worm-free living,” O’Mara said. “For ten dollars, you can save ten kids who have these worms.” In 2015, Americans donated over $370 billion to nonprofit organizations. But the largest recipients of those charity dollars were religious organizations, followed by educational groups including major universities like the University of Pennsylvania, according to information available on the National Philanthropic Trust website. While many people prefer to donate to such organizations due to personal and emotional connections, they do not tend to provide as much direct, measurable impact. Effective altruists are trying to change that. “If you’re already giving, [think] about where that money’s going,” second-year Wharton MBA student Charles Scott said. “Would you put your money into just any random set of stocks, or would you actually do the research

to determine what’s going to give you the best return on your investment?’ Scott, along with fifth-year economics Ph.D. candidate Rossa O’Keeffe-O’Donovan, are One for the World’s graduate co-chairs. Like Giving What We Can, One for the World works to increase awareness of effective altruism, but it also aims for a more concrete goal — the one percent pledge, where students promise to donate one percent of their income to an approved non-profit organization. “On average, people in the US give three percent of their incomes to charity,” O’Keeffe-O’Donovan said. “So what we’re asking is that at least one percent of that should be optimized, should be given to the most effective organizations.” The group projects that after this year’s MBA class graduates, donations through One for the World will reach a rate of over $140,000 yearly. One for the World’s undergraduate branch is more focused on building awareness through small discussion groups and one-on-one conversations. The group is also considering instituting a version of the pledge for undergraduates who receive internships during the summer. “[Penn students] don’t all have the time to volunteer for charity efforts, but we definitely all have the earning potential to donate and...make an impact,” Li said.

CHERRY ZHI Contributing Reporter

There’s a new website to make community service at Penn just a little easier. The Undergraduate Assembly, in collaboration with PennLabs, has been working on Pennvolvement.com — a centralized website to connect students with different volunteer opportunities. Engineering sophomore Aren Raisinghani and College sophomore Kaylee Slusser sit on the Social Justice Committee of the UA and have spent the past year developing this web platform. “There are a ton of opportunities, but many students, especially freshmen, don’t know what to do. Opportunities are very disconnected and all over the place,” Slusser said. “This serves as a tool that connects people with opportunities and centralizes everything”. The closest alternative to this resource right now is G.O. Penn, a portal run by the Office of Student Affairs. “This site isn’t user-friendly, and we wanted to build something with a better interface for organizations to really get their message out there,” Raisinghani said. Before conducting trial runs

DIVERSITY >> PAGE 1

COURTESY OF PIXABAY

Penn Effective Altruism, an umbrella group on campus for charitable giving, was formed this year.

The Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School

Presents the 16th Annual

Real Estate Career Fair Friday, January 20, 2017 Houston Hall 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Open to all Penn/Wharton undergraduate & graduate students interested in pursuing a job or internship in real estate Meet professionals in all areas of the industry, including: development, finance, management, and many more. A great opportunity to find summer intern or full-time positions in real estate. Questions? Contact Ron Smith: smithrk@wharton.upenn.edu; 215-746-4709. The Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center gratefully acknowledges the Jeff T. Blau Endowment for Student Placement, which has helped make this event possible.

being very diverse, where it is very diverse racially,” Gupta said. “But I do think it’s an issue, because I think that there are more forms of diversity than race, and one of them is socioeconomic background.” Richard Gelles, a sociologist who served as dean of Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice from 2003-2014 and coauthored the Brandeis study, also

CARSON KAHOE | PHOTO EDITOR

Undergraduate Assembly sophomores have worked with PennLabs to create a centralized site for students.

with the Netter Center and Civic House, the Pennvolvement team reached out to 50 organizations to gauge interest and is now in the process of onboarding these groups. “Now we need organizations to sign up and post events and opportunities. They can categorize and cross-list their events so students can narrow down their search to different causes or filter them by time commitment,” Slusser said. Currently, the site is working to match students with mostly Penn organizations as well as non-student-run Penn groups that serve West Philadelphia. However, if the site gains traction, it might expand its scope of events and organizations. The UA is trying to get the Student Activities Council Treasurer to integrate Pennvolvement into the funding process for student

clubs and organizations to increase awareness of the platform as a useful tool in recruiting new volunteers. “People don’t tend to get involved [with community service] after freshman year, but a lot of people did service in high school and want to get involved at Penn but just don’t know how”, Slusser said. “Contacting each individual organization is time-consuming and inefficient, so this site can really help improve civic engagement.” With winter break approaching, Slusser and Raisinghani hope that students will take the time to look for new opportunities and clubs. “It shouldn’t be too much of a problem targeting freshmen,” Slusser said. “After first semester, a lot of people take the time to figure out what to take on, so it’s a big market for us.”

expressed concern. “It is a bit worrisome that in the 19 years I’ve been here, I think we have become — because we have become more selective, and more popular, we’ve become less economically diverse,” Gelles said. At the same time, Gelles did not find the findings to be very surprising. He pointed out that as long as Penn places such a high emphasis on standardized test scores in admitting students, the University could not be very economically

diverse. “I think there are many talented students who could do well at Penn who aren’t going to score high on their SAT scores for a variety of schooling reasons and vocabulary reasons and reading materials at home,” Gelles said. “Penn is reflecting what’s going on in society, which is concerning, and that is a have and have-not society. That we are — we’re not even a top 10 percent school, we’re a one percent school.”

OPINION Intervention REID ABOUT IT! | The importance of intervening niceties

TUESDAY DECEMBER 6, 2016 VOL. CXXXII, NO. 118 132nd Year of Publication COLIN HENDERSON President LAUREN FEINER Editor-in-Chief ANDREW FISCHER Director of Online Projects ISABEL KIM Opinion Editor JESSICA MCDOWELL Enterprise Editor DAN SPINELLI City News Editor CAROLINE SIMON Campus News Editor ELLIE SCHROEDER Assignments Editor LUCIEN WANG Copy Editor SUNNY CHEN Copy Editor NICK BUCHTA Senior Sports Editor TOM NOWLAN Sports Editor

As a misanthrope, there’s a truth I’m beginning to accept, and that is that my day is made better by the kindness of strangers. A few months back, I found myself crying in public one day — as I am wont to do — when a stranger approached me. I was sitting in Fisher-Bennett checking my email before I quickly and unexpectedly became overwhelmed by stress and allowed a crescendo of emotionality to take over. As I tried to hide the sobs and the hiccups, a stranger came up and asked if I was okay, and if I needed a tissue. I was taken aback at first. I blundered through some kind of a thank you (“uh, yeah, I’m okay, thank you, thank you”) before leaving out of embarrassment. It made me think of the times when I experienced some kind of personal crisis in public, and how normal it was for nobody to respond. And as an experienced crier, I had never encountered something like this before.

This stranger probably wouldn’t have been able to reduce my stress, or make me feel better about it, but the interaction wasn’t about solving my problems. I was just comforted in knowing that a complete stranger with no vested interest in me could still care. I’ve decided to label this moment an ‘intervening nicety’ because even though it wasn’t a largescale gesture, it was still somehow effective: After leaving the scene, I walked outside and found myself feeling better. I stopped crying, pulled myself together and went to class as if nothing had happened. It’s never easy to intervene. It’s never easy to reach out and be nice, even when it comes to small actions, like holding the door open, saying thank you, picking up a dropped pencil. These actions aren’t particularly necessary, nor are they always sincere. Asking “how are you?” to the local Starbucks barista isn’t going to affect

their life. Being nice can be misconstrued as a nicety, i.e. glib, performative acts that parade as sincere gestures. Being nice is tedious and being extra nice is hard.

gratingly annoying cliché before I continue: Everyone is flawed. It’s almost a habit born out of a necessity to call ourselves flawed, because we need to validate our actions. So I don’t ex-

When a stranger is nice to me, it reaffirms that goodness is real, that it exists, and that I can be a part of it too.“ Sometimes, our actions, instead of being nice, are dismissive. Sometimes we reject being nice in favor of being a straight-up asshole. When you intervene in a stranger’s life, even if it’s just to compliment their purple beanie, it takes something out of you because you’d have to be constantly aware of the people around you. And nobody’s that caring. Let me bring up a mind-

pect all of us to be the most altruistic person in any given situation. But still, don’t we owe it to ourselves to understand that others might be going through, in varying degrees of intensity, some form of stress, grievance or pain? If we start to leave out simple niceties, we fall into a kind of tragedy-of-the-commons situation, where lack of centered responsibility leads to the devaluation of

the social space that we share. I’ve given up on trying to be completely and constantly altruistic, which seems impossible. So, I’ve decided to focus more on little gestures of kindness. Even little things like a nod or a smile can be as equally uplifting as big grand gestures, like helping to carry groceries. Though these things might go unnoticed to some, it is worth it. Every so often, I unexpectedly think of that intervening stranger. Even though now I wish I could’ve gotten the guy’s name so I could say thank you, I realize that the point of that gesture was that it was given without expectation of a reciprocating reward. Intervening niceties work when they happen unconditionally. When a stranger is nice to me, it reaffirms that goodness is real, that it exists, and that I can be a part of it too. Even if it isn’t completely sincere, being nice works — it makes our days

AMANDA REID better. Intervening doesn’t have to be about solving any problems, it can just be about the act itself. In the ensuing couple days, we should try our best not to forget, dismiss or tread on each other. Being present for strangers, and just being nice, regardless of whether or not it helps, will go a long way. We all deserve some goodness, even if it’s just in the form of a nicety. AMANDA REID is a College junior from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, studying cinema studies & English. Her email address is amreid@sas.upenn. edu. “Reid About It!” usually appears every other Tuesday.

WILL SNOW Sports Editor TOMMY ROTHMAN Sports Editor

CARTOON

JOYCE VARMA Creative Director ALEX GRAVES Design Editor ILANA WURMAN Design Editor KATE JEON Online Graphics Editor ANANYA CHANDRA Photo Editor CARSON KAHOE Photo Editor SUSANNA JARAMILLO Video Producer MATTHEW MIZBANI Video Producer CARTER COUDRIET Digital Director KRISTEN GRABARZ Analytics Editor

EMMA HARVEY Business Manager SAUMYA KHAITAN Advertising Manager MEGHA AGARWAL Business Analytics Manager MARK PARASKEVAS Circulation Manager

THIS ISSUE STEVE SHIN Copy Associate HARLEY GEFFNER Copy Associate

SHUN SAKAI is a College senior from Chestnut Hill, Mass. His email is ssakai@sas.upenn.edu.

AMANDA GEISER Copy Associate ALEX RABIN Copy Associate MATT FINE Sports Associate JACOB SNYDER Sports Associate

Classroom politics: A letter to professors

VALENCIA FU Design Associate

GUEST COLUMN BY MICHAELA KOTZIERS

AUGUST PAPAS Design Associate CHRIS MURACCA Design Editor-elect JULIA SCHORR Design Editor-elect JASHLEY BIDO Photo Associate AVALON MORELL Photo Associate GIOVANNA PAZ Photo Associate CHERRY ZHI Deputy News Editor JEFFREY CAREYVA Social Media Associate DYLAN REIM Social Media Editor-elect

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 artwork represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.

Two weeks ago, I wrote an open letter to the English department faculty about addressing current events in classroom spaces. I am lucky to study in an English department that held a town hall and will facilitate more meetings about demands for departmental change, but a letter to faculty might be a singular and even more necessary catalyst in other departments. Going directly to Penn’s administration has been historically ineffective for many students, and thinking locally with departments opens opportunities for more immediate change. I am sharing this letter as a template for students to address their own departments’ faculty. As students, we do have a say in what goes on in our classrooms, and we should hold our professors accountable. Please reach out to me if you want to talk about what that accountability might look like. Dear ________________, Several corners of Penn are opening up as safe spaces for students. Some professors have

made special announcements that their office doors are open. These steps are helpful, but they also present problems. One is self-selection. The students who attend campus gatherings already have at least some sense of how serious and systemic the recent, hateful events on campus really are, and that they have a responsibility to address them. But the students who are not listening either do not realize that they should or do not know how to. By opening up optional spaces for students and expecting that students start all of the discussions, the responsibility is being put in the wrong place. It is discouraging to know that some professors have not directly reacted to campus and national events during class. We understand that you have syllabi and are expected to teach a certain curriculum, but more than scholars, you are educators, and I don’t know if all faculty members are thinking about what that means to their academic department. I am writing this to ask as

urgently and convincingly as I can that professors tell their students to listen and try to understand. This past month has been all too telling of how easy it is for individuals to run

or not to opt into; it needs to happen in class. Especially now, this should take priority. If it doesn’t, that says that it is your job, and by extension also the student’s, to be

As students, we do have a say in what goes on in our classrooms, and we should hold our professors accountable.”

through their time at a university and never think about the true terms of human empathy or respect for another’s life. If the institutions that we prize for collaborative thinking are not the places where we try and find a solution together, then where are those places? This can’t be a discussion for students to choose whether

learning about her relation to academics first and human beings second. You will become one more adult telling students that it is their privilege not to be true problem solvers and to lead the most difficult discourses in their communities, but that it is their privilege to stay removed. If your students are told to keep moving in the

same direction without pause or reflection, how will that translate into the way they live the rest of their lives? It should be made clear that the in-class conversation should not and certainly does not have to entail political bias. We are not suggesting that professors present one political agenda. We are asking you to ask us the hard questions. The political is always personal, and the academic is always political. There are ways of avoiding either of those truths, but if we do, we are avoiding them consciously. If students and professors are not challenged to question and contextualize what we learn together, then we are wasting our time and the intellect in each classroom. We don’t expect you to have all the answers, but in every class you hold, your students are watching. Whether they are personally and politically upset or not, the way that you carry on with your classrooms right now is going to affect the way that they carry

on with their lives. Is there a way to reframe your syllabus to incorporate directly relevant ideas? If not, can you dedicate just 15 minutes at the beginning of each class for you and your students to speak freely? If you’re not sure how to do this, would you meet with colleagues and ask those who might know? Would you ask Penn’s administrators how you could help student groups outside of the classroom? Some professors already have taken action, and others are clearly trying to. The faculty support to make Penn a sanctuary campus has been encouraging. You do have a lot more influence and authority than students — both with Penn’s administration and speaking in your classroom — and we are asking you to treat that influence as a responsibility. Sincerely, __________________ MICHAELA KOTZIERS is a senior in the College studying English.

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NEWS 5

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

Freshmen from warm climates anxious about upcoming winter Many students have little idea on how to prepare BENJAMIN DUKAS Contributing Reporter

As winter fast approaches, students are once again pulling out their snow boots, scarves and gloves to face frigid treks across campus. But for freshmen from warmer climates, the change of weather brings a strong feeling of uncertainty. With a mixture of anxiety and excitement, these students are gearing up for their first winter.

“I used the weather as a reason against [coming to] Penn. I know it sounds trivial, but I actually am quite scared,” said College freshman Lucy Hu. Hu’s hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, never gets below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Bracing herself for her first winter, she and other warm climate natives do not know what to expect. “I knew it would get cold, but not this cold. Like normal cold,” said Nursing freshman Sylvia Kimwei. For Kimwei, who is from Nairobi, Kenya, “normal cold” is 60 degrees

Fahrenheit. “Winter is a bad idea for me,” she said. Frantically attempting to buy all the proper winter necessities, Kimwei and other freshmen like her have little idea how to prepare for the temperature change. “I’ll look at my phone and see the temperature is in the 40s. And I realized I have no idea what this means and what I should be wearing right now,” said Engineering freshman and San Diego resident Mason Elms. For another student, Engineering

freshman Azzam Althagafi, winter is so new that he is learning completely new concepts. Before coming to Penn, he had never heard of snow pants. “Now that I’m here, I am more terrified about winter than I used to be,” said Althagafi, a native of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Others are optimistic about the coming winter. For some, having four distinct seasons is a novel concept. “I chose Penn because I wanted the seasons,” said Nursing freshman and Florida resident Monica Aber.

Many students have never experienced snow and are eager to see if it is as fun as they imagine. College freshman Elena Hoffman has seen snow at ski resorts, but has never seen snow fall from the sky and eagerly awaits the first snowfall. “I am excited to make snowballs and roll around in the snow,” she said. Though she is going home for winter break, Hoffman has always longed for a wintery Christmas. “Living in California you don’t get this quintessential snowy, fire in the fireplace feel. People go to the

beach on Christmas,” she said. Kimwei has also dreamed of having a white Christmas. Her family and other residents of Kenya put cotton balls on the floor around their Christmas tree to create a snowy atmosphere. “I want to see if Christmas is as white and colorful as people say,” she said. Mostly, students are excited to experience their first class cancellation because of snow. When the concept of a snow day was explained to Hu, she said, “I’m excited for that. It’ll be just like the movies!”

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6 NEWS

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

PHOTO FEATURE

KCHECH WINS SOCCER TROPHY After a dominant undefeated season, KCECH were able to use their AC deprivation to their advantage to build an unbreakable team spirit. With team captain and stunning striker, Bruce, defensive destroyer, Prasanna, and Spencer “literally Manuel Neuer” Kersh, the other teams barely stood a chance. King’s Court gladly lifts the intramural college house soccer trophy for this tournament and looks forward to the next season.

Huntsman in the running for Trump’s secretary of state Huntsman once called on Pence to lead the ticket CHRISTOPHER MOUNTANOUS Contributing Reporter

Former Utah Gov. and 1987 College graduate Jon Huntsman Jr. has joined the shortlist of candidates to be President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state, according to an Associated Press report. Tr ump, a 1968 W ha rton graduate, has reportedly moved away from the two previous frontrunners, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. The Associated Press report said some of the president-elect’s allies have harshly criticized COURTESY OF LUKE YEAGLEY

Harvard men’s cross country team put on probation This occurs after men’s soccer team was suspended MADELINE VAZIRI Contributing Reporter

The Harvard’s men’s cross country team has been placed on probation after making sexually explicit comments about the women’s cross country team on an internal spreadsheet, The Harvard Crimson reported. Timothy J. Williamson, a spokesperson for the Athletics Department, told the Crimson, “No other teams have been put on athletic probation” before. The team is the latest in a string of Ivy League sports teams who

have entered the spotlight after making sexist, insensitive remarks in internal team messages. Columbia University’s wrestling team and Harvard’s men’s soccer team each had their seasons suspended last month after similar scandals were uncovered. Members of the 2014 men’s cross-country team created a “crude and sexualized” spreadsheet about female athletes, according to a review by Harvard’s Office of the General Counsel cited in the Crimson. While the current men’s team also made a similar spreadsheet, it was not seen to “denigrate or objectify particular women,” the report found. The men’s soccer team first

made headlines in October for creating lewd “scouting reports” about the incoming women’s soccer team. According to the Crimson, the soccer team is receiving a lighter sentence than the cross-country team because they cooperated with an investigation and because the remarks were deemed less offensive. The athletic probation will not influence the team’s season or competition, team captain Brandon E. Price told the Crimson. The team will be under closer scrutiny, attend training seminars and speak to an outside consultant to improve team culture.

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

Romney as a potential pick and Giuliani’s international business ties have made him an increasingly untenable pick. Huntsman Jr. — son of Jon Huntsman Sr., whom Huntsman Hall is named after — ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and has previously served as an ambassador to China. His support for Trump has not been entirely uniform during the race: After the release of a tape in early October where Trump brags about committing sexual assault, Huntsman called on Vice President-elect Mike Pence to lead the ticket instead. More recently, Huntsman joked at a Board of Trustees meeting in late October about Trump, saying, “I remember sitting in this room twenty

years ago and the great lament was, ‘We don’t have enough Penn people running for politics at the highest level.’” He was drowned out by laughter from trustees and others assembled in the meeting. In a news report from a local Salt Lake City FOX affiliate, Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway commented on the situation on Sunday, saying “More than four but I — who knows how many finalists there will be. It’s a big decision and nobody should rush through it.” The AP mentioned other new candidates for the position, including Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and retired Gen. David Petraeus.

Yale names a building after Penn founder Ben Franklin Some Yale students have criticized the decision TYLER LARKWORTHY Contributing Reporter

Penn isn’t the only Ivy League school where Benjamin Franklin’s legacy lives on. At Yale, the university’s administration has decided to name one of its new residential colleges after the founding father, inventor and founder of Penn, a move that has provoked criticism from the student body, according to a Yale Daily News report. In a press release, the Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications called the move a “product of extensive

input...and careful deliberation” by the Yale Corporation trustees. Students disagreed, with many criticizing the choice of another straight, white male colonial figure as the namesake of a residential college. The Yale College Council released a statement arguing that Franklin is a poor choice due to his lack of connection to the university. Franklin never attended Yale but did receive an honorary degree in 1753. Many students interviewed by the Yale Daily News pointed to a $250 million donation — the largest single gift ever made to the university — by Charles Johnson , who has praised Franklin as a role

model, as the real reason for the name choice. One student denounced the decision to the News as “lazy” and criticized Franklin for holding slaves for most of his life, despite later becoming an abolitionist. Students reacted more positively to the choice of Pauli Murray as namesake for a second new residential college. Murray, a 1965 Yale Law graduate, is the first woman of color to be honored in such a manner. “She was a courageous civil rights leader for over 40 years, a pioneering feminist, a gay woman and a tireless worker for labor rights,” Yale history professor Glenda Gilmore told the News.

Women in Physics Public Lecture Hosted by the Department of Physics & Astronomy

Sounds of Silent:

Listening to the Universe with Gravitational Waves Thursday, December 8, 2016 6:00 p.m. Penn Museum, Widener Lecture Room University of Pennsylvania

Professor Dr. Alessandra Buonanno

Director at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics Head of the Division, Astrophysical & Cosmological Relativity In this lecture Prof. Buonanno will review experimental and theoretical aspects of the quest for gravitational waves, which culminated with the recent discovery by LIGO, and discuss how those new astronomical messengers can unveil the properties of the most extreme astrophysical objects in the universe.

@ THe Daily pennsylvanian

This event is made possible by a grant from the

Fund to Encourage Women (FEW) of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women. https://www.facebook.com/events/1814516968806955/

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

SPORTS 7

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

Watson second in Ivy Offensive POTY vote for second straight year

FOOTBALL | Princeton’s Lovett takes home award NICK BUCHTA Senior Sports Editor

After Penn and Princeton split the Ivy League football title this year, they had one final competition against one another: the Asa S. Bushnell Cup. Awarded to the Ivy League’s top offensive and defensive players annually,

the 2016 finalists for Offensive Player of the Year were none other than the Tigers’ John Lovett and Penn’s Justin Watson. Un for t u nately, l i ke t he last time the two squads met, Princeton came out on top. On Monday, Lovett beat out Watson for the Bushnell Cup, the second straight time Watson has finished second in the award’s voting. Watson led the Ivy League in receptions (89), receiving yards (1,115)

a nd receiving touchdowns (8) on the year, setting Penn single-season records in receptions and yards as the Red and Blue won their Ivy record-tying 18th league championship. T h rough t h ree seasons, Watson is already second in program history in both receptions (205) and receiving yards (2,694) — and is the only player to log multiple 1,000-yard seasons. He also ranks ninth and 12th for career receptions and receiving yards in the Ancient

Justin Watson’s Accomplishments Ranked

Led the Ivy League in: Receptions (89) Yards (1,115) Touchdowns (8)

No. 3 in FCS Receptions-Per-Game (8.9) No. 5 in Yards-Per-Game (111.5) No. 8 in Total Receiving Yards

2nd

for the second year in a row

in Bushnell Cup Voting for second straight year

ONLY Quaker ever with two 1,000-yard seasons

Set Penn Single-Season Records in Receptions and Yards

1 of 25

Eight record books. From 1970 to 2010, the award was given to the overall league player of the year, but, since then, the award has been split between offensive and defensive honorees. In 2015, then-senior linebacker Tyler Drake took home Defensive Player of the Year laurels, but the Quakers have never had an Offensive Player of the Year in the two-winner era. Watson, a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection for the second straight year, is also one of 25 finalists for the Walter Payton Award, given to the FCS Offensive Player of the Year. In total, the Quakers had 14 players named All-Ivy, including six first-teamers. Among them, Watson, offensive lineman Nick Demes, quarterback Alek Torgersen and running back Tre Solomon were unanimous selections. They were joined by defensive back Mason Williams and defensive lineman Louis Vecchio among first team honorees. As a sophomore in 2015, Watson was also one of two

GRIFF FITZSIMMONS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Justin Watson was one of two finalists for Offensive Player of the Year after leading the league in receptions, yards, and receiving TDs.

finalists for the Bushnell Cup, ultimately losing to Harvard quarterback Scott Hosch. Fortunately, he will have a third

shot at the award, returning for his senior year in 2017 as the Red and Blue seek their third straight Ivy title.

Even college housing

Finalists for the Walter Payton Award Presented to the FCS Offensive Player of the year Shun Sakai | Online Graphics Associate

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8 SPORTS

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

LEMMON

Then there was the Naval Academy. Lemmon had some factors to weigh. On one hand, his favorite movie was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Top Gun.â&#x20AC;? He pictured himself a real-life version of Anthony Edwardsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Goose (likely ignoring Gooseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death midway through the film), heading to Annapolis to become a fighter pilot. On the other hand, he would be signing away 13 years of his life if he ended up going there. When push came to shove, he decided he probably shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make that kind of decision because of a movie he liked. So the Naval Academy was out. *** BG Lemmon isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the kind of guy to forget things. And it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just that he holds onto these things internally. He reminds you of them. Constantly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He remembers every junior match he ever played in from when he was like 11 years old, and he knows the stats of everyone on the team â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who they beat, who they lost to. â&#x20AC;Ś No one really cares at all but him,â&#x20AC;? junior Hayes Murphy said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something that he literally holds with him to this day as a 22-yearold senior. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pretty hilarious that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still just bitter what happened when he was 11 years old at juniors. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just something that should be noted.â&#x20AC;? Perhaps it helped that Lemmon carried a chip on his shoulder from the time he joined the Haverford Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and overheard a teammate talking to

>> PAGE 1

recruited. Conveniently, the tournament was in Cambridge, with the Crimsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coaches looking on. on. He got the biggest win of his life to that point, but it came with a catch. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Talk about me being conceited,â&#x20AC;? he joked. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was sweating and I needed to change my shirt for the last game and I picked it up and it was a shirt that said â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m kind of a big dealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on it from â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Anchorman.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I had this huge moral dilemma in the middle of the biggest match of my career â&#x20AC;&#x201D; do I wear this shirt where I look like a douche bag or do I wear the same sweaty shirt? Obviously I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wear the sweaty shirt because it affects my play so I put on the shirt and I won the match in an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m kind of a big dealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shirt. It was the highlight of my junior career.â&#x20AC;? The win was nice, but it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change the reality on the ground. The squash world is a small one â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the assumption had been that he would follow his parents to Harvard. When that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen, he was left with few options. Boston College was viable, but he wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure he wanted to play there. The program wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a strong one, and he lacked the connection to the school he could have had elsewhere. Ultimately, it was a no-go.

his coach and dismissing his potential to rise anywhere high on the ladder. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about more than Harvard or Dartmouth or Haverford. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the ultimate combination of his own personality infused with those past rejections. Talking about it offers a rare moment of rawness that his normal lightheartedness tends to hide. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ever since then â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the competitive side of me â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I just wanted to prove everyone wrong, say that I am worth something, that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t deserve to be overlooked at the time.â&#x20AC;? When he starts to talk about his biggest personal moments at Penn, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team successes he starts with. His answer is one a captain should give. But the more he goes on, the looser he gets. In the process, the real emotions break through. His intensity can be good and bad. More than anything, it drove him in that Juniors match in Cambridge and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the reason why wins over Dartmouth and Harvard stand as some of his proudest personal accomplishments at Penn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;BGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very confident person,â&#x20AC;? Lane added, trying to put a positive spin on his captainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demeanor. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s confident in his ability, confident in his approach. Honestly heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s matured in such a great way over the four years. He adapted to new styles he wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t used to and learned how to play the game.â&#x20AC;? In order to prove the coaches

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MARK SHTRAKHMAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

After a series of highs and lows, Penn squash captain BG Lemmon broke out last year as a junior for a program-record season of 15-2, including a 3-0 run to end his season at the CSA Championships.

who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recruit him wrong, Lemmon needed a new home. While he would eventually get to Penn, that destination would take time to find. So Lemmon did what most people would do in his position. He took a gap year to bartend professionally. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go well. *** After being fired for (unsuccessfully) trying to make a Cosmo (twice), Lemmon decided to retake the SAT and evaluate his options. He knew Penn coach Jack Wyant from father-son tournaments both had competed in over the years, though they never had much of a relationship. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I always wanted to get recruited by him, but Jack never said a word to me,â&#x20AC;? Lemmon recalled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I always got so pissed off at him.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;We just didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t focus on him because at that time, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like his results were good enough for us to recruit him,â&#x20AC;? Wyant explained, adding that Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ties to Harvard also played a role in not initially recruiting him. Still, Lemmon decided to reach out. He sent over his stats and scores, and Wyant in turn asked him for his GPA and transcripts. University City was a little close to home, though, and Lemmon was put off when Wyant went seven weeks without contacting him following their initial exchange. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accurate, I find that student-athletes remember that period a lot more vividly than I do. â&#x20AC;Ś I was recruiting for two teams, both male and female, and at that time I had a threeyear-old, a one-year-old and another son on the way,â&#x20AC;? Wyant said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was busy, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no excuse. The thing is, we were looking at lots of different players and it just took awhile to realize that BG was the right one for us.â&#x20AC;? In the meantime, Princeton came calling. Lemmon made the trek to New Jersey to see what the Tigers had to offer. It were certainly a better program than Penn then â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Quakers hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been able to beat them since 1974. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter. He couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stand it there. Just a short time after his visit to Princeton, Wyant reached back out. He made Lemmon an offer. Naturally, having gone through everything he had to that point, Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response was to play hard to get. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hated my Princeton visit, actually,â&#x20AC;? he remembered. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I was trying to rub it in his face, like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh, I had a great time, blah blah blah.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;Ś Then one week later, I just committed.â&#x20AC;? It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t easy. It took longer than expected. And it was time for Lemmon to go to the next level. *** After the winding road to Penn, it seems like enough of a story to make Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey worth a read. But things were just getting started. Even ignoring some selfinflicted injuries â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including an ill-fated attempt to dive into the water fountain outside of the School of Veterinary Medicine that briefly left him in a neck brace freshman year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and an inexplicable array of health crises, the path to success wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always straightforward. There was still the on-court product that needed some work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sort of a stickler for technique,â&#x20AC;? Wyant said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And BG will be the first to tell you that his technique isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x201D; classic, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll say. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sort of his own individual style.â&#x20AC;? Competing largely at Nos. 6 and 7 on the ladder, Lemmon stumbled to an 8-7 record his

freshman year. Still, Wyant started to realize the potential that was there. He had formerly played in a doubles league with Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dad and had an idea of where things could go, but working with him for a year solidified it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marwan [Mahmoud, the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s No. 1] wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be as good as he is without good players to train with, and BG wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be as good as he is if he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have guys in front of him putting him in the right position to be successful,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say that I knew it in high school, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say that I knew freshman year that he could be clutch for us.â&#x20AC;? His match-clinching win against Dartmouth was a personal high, but it was a visit from the Tigers that stands out. Normally, teams show up to a match at least an hour early. On Jan. 27, 2014, Princeton showed up at Ringe just 20 minutes before the match. Even for a guy roundly mocked for holding grudges, Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anger at the Tigersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; disrespect is palpable almost three years later. Princeton barely showed up; Penn was there to win. The rookie did his part, emerging victorious in his match, 3-2, at the No. 6 spot thanks to a 17-15 win in the final game as the Quakers took down their rival for the first time in 40 years. The win not only marked an immediate high water mark for Penn, it kickstarted a process that transformed a middling program in 2013 to the top tier by 2016. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I came to Penn to play college squash at a top level, but I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of us getting to top five, top two last year,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But [Princeton] was definitely the first moment where I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;OK, we can do something here.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? A significant portion of that journey has been the relationship between Lemmon and now-head coach Gilly Lane. Lane, a three-time AllAmerican for the Quakers from 2003-07, came back to Penn as a full-time assistant starting Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freshman year. Following the conclusion of last season, he was promoted to head coach. Together, the two have overseen the revitalization of Penn squash. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had an influx of talent the past three years that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been here, but the consistent factor has been BG Lemmon. â&#x20AC;Ś Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone through the transformation from his freshman year to where we are now,â&#x20AC;? Lane noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gone from the hunted to the hunters and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone from a very vocal freshman to a vocal but more mature leader.â&#x20AC;? *** The discussion of Lane and Lemmon leads to an extended aside â&#x20AC;&#x201D; driven by the coachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request that Lemmon explain the boldest prediction heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s made at Penn. Lane and Lemmon have gone through a lot together. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve accomplished more than they may have imagined, though an Ivy title has remained just out of reach. Lemmon, however, has yet to live up to a challenge he laid down all the way back in his freshman year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was being a childish, stupid freshman talking smack,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Classic. And Gilly played me and beat me 11-1 or 11-2, and I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Gilly, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you worry. By the end of my four years, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to beat you. No problem. Five-game match, I will beat you. And he just starts laughing at me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Part of me is just like, yeah, it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t true, but I feel like I can get him some day. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s old now, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s getting married, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s starting to get slow. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get him.â&#x20AC;? *** Eventually, Lemmon gets back

to talking about his career. Sophomore year was a letdown. He went 6-10, 2-5 in Ivy play, and was left wondering if heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d even be seeing playing time as a junior. As added justification for his fear, Lemmon found himself hospitalized just before the school year started. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I remember I got the tick bite right here because someone was making fun of my calves, and I was flexing and showing them my calf. And then I noticed there was a dot that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t supposed to be there, and I ripped the tick off and the blood was flowing and I look at my friend and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to get Lyme Disease.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And five days later, I got diagnosed with Lyme Disease.â&#x20AC;? There he was. Coming off a lackluster season. Coming out of the hospital. Needing a selfimposed dry semester to work his way back into form. Against all odds, Lemmon had the run of his life. He opened 2015 with an eight-match winning streak and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let up, finishing out with a 15-2 record including a 3-0 run at the CSA team national championships. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think of BG as being really really good when it matters most,â&#x20AC;? he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had a few hiccups here and there squash-wise, but really heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been fantastic for us and just competed his heart out. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been great for four years.â&#x20AC;? In a career full of flashbulb moments and misadventures, last year was different. There wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that one big win, the one particular match that stood out. Instead, this time, it was a culmination of an entire seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, an entire careerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There were times where I was down and out and I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that all the work I was doing was going to be worth it. It was. It made me mentally stronger, which I think was a huge thing on the court. â&#x20AC;Ś Putting in all that hard work set the foundation for what I was able to do junior year,â&#x20AC;? he said. It was the best season in program history. Too bad no one noticed until more than a month later. *** A few weeks after the season ended, a Penn Athletics staffer realized Lemmonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance was the best ever. By then, it was news too far removed to even cover. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a story eight months in the making, and when it comes time to interview Lemmon, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on top of the world. Which brings us back to the coaches office at Ringe Courts, where Lemmon finally has the chance to talk about last season. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All the hard work I put into changing my game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with Gilly and shortening my swing, changing what I put in my body, how I prepare, what music I listen to â&#x20AC;&#x201D; those little things added up at the end of the year. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a little pissed off I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t 17-0, honestly.â&#x20AC;? Occasionally, he slips back into his captainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mentality. After the interview, he makes sure to text me that his teammates need some love, explaining heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d â&#x20AC;&#x153;be nothing if they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t all significantly better than I am.â&#x20AC;? His follow-up underscores something too easy to forget: Lemmon is a leader. His coaches and teammates are quick to jab at him even though they respect him â&#x20AC;&#x201D; because they know heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take it. Three years of him being around have taught them that, if nothing else. Now heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back. Lemmon has one more season, serving as the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sixth solo captain in the last 30 years. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got a shot to break the record again. And this time, finally, people are watching.

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W. HOOPS >> PAGE 10

“Offensively, I think for both of us, we try to get to the open spot, get other players open and... either dish it to each other, go up for the shot or kick it out [for a three].” Stipanovich said. “Especially on defense, [I’m] the quarterback, communicating for the whole possession, making sure everyone’s in their positions and keeping the energy going throughout the whole game.” Nwokedi agreed, crediting the chemistry between the tandem, on and off the court, for their early success. “We practice well together, read each other. ... We sort of know what each other are going to do. It’s nice [playing next to Stipanovich],” Nwokedi said. To hear McLaughlin, Stipanovich and Nwokedi explain their success is to hear all about the rest of the team around them. Per their assessment, what makes Penn’s post play

SPORTS 9

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

so incredibly dangerous is the three-point shooters available on the perimeter. “I think we have a couple kids that can really shoot the three,” the coach said. “Sydney and Michelle are so good around the basket that [the opponent’s] guards have to double down and leave some space on the perimeter. What they do allows our guards to be successful.” But even with such an array of sharpshooting guards, the most intriguing aspect of Penn’s offense might be the emergence of Nwokedi as a three-point threat. She has six treys on the year and ranks third on the team in shooting percentage from long range. That versatility makes her nearly impossible to defend. So Stipanovich and Nwokedi’s dominance in the paint — and beyond — has put the Ivy League on notice. Penn owns the paint, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.

M. HOOPS >> PAGE 10

season, despite already being at Penn. This left him in a tough position, as he was here, but not yet fully a part of the team, unable to play in any games or even travel to road contests. “It was definitely tough, but I had to learn to embrace it because it was the reality of what my year was going to consist of, just practice,” he said. “But I think I did an okay job, there’s no way to really prepare for it, you just have to be focused on the process and knowing that it’s going to be a long year, but you’re just going to have to stay in the gym and do whatever it takes to get better.” From a program perspective, Penn coach Steve Donahue and the rest of his staff treat pursuing transfers just like any other recruit: if they find someone who is not only available, but fits the system, they will go after them. MacDonald and Wood both certainly fit the bill, as both provide a veteran presence on a young team (MacDonald

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was even named captain this year) in addition to filling the void left by the loss of Antonio Woods. Despite the large transfer class this year, Donahue does not expect transfers to play a large role organizationally moving forward, but rather sees last year as an outlier due to specific circumstances. “I think just coming in it was a very unique situation,” he said. I don’t anticipate transfers being a daily occurrence, I think we’re really comfortable recruiting high school kids now and building our program that way.” Even though the two transfers are rookies on the team this year, their presence is just as important as some of the other older players. They might not have always intended to end up here, but they’re here now, and they’re ready to contribute.

ANANYA CHANDRA | PHOTO MANAGER-ELECT

Before this year, junior Matt MacDonald hadn’t played a game for Penn – but that didn’t stop him from becoming a captain.

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meals as the student travels to New York, Washington and elsewhere to develop professional contacts at magazines, newspapers, publishing houses, broadcast networks and online media. The winner receives unparalleled access to a growing network of Penn alumni in various media who can assist in the student’s professional development.

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FINALS THey’re UPON US The Finals Issue December 13

RECORD-BREAKER

SNUBBED

Squash’s BG Lemmon became an unlikely record-holder after the best season in Penn history

For the second straight year, Penn’s Justin Watson finished second for Ivy Offensive POTY

>> SEE PAGE 1

>> SEE PAGE 7

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2016

Transfers boost Penn M. HOOPS | MacDonald, Wood

take different paths to Philadelphia

JONATHAN POLLACK Sports Editor-elect

W. HOOPS | Nwokedi,

Stipanovich form program’s heart and soul THEODOROS PAPAZEKOS Sports Reporter

Bigger isn’t always better. Just don’t tell that to Penn women’s basketball coach Mike McLaughlin. That’s because McLaughlin’s team has two of the best bigs in the Ivy League in senior center Sydney Stipanovich and junior forward Michelle Nwokedi. Both players have put up incredible statistical performances early in the season, leading the way for the Quakers in points, rebounds and blocks. “Right now, basketball-wise, we’re built around Michelle and Sydney [because] they are two dominant players around the basket,” McLaughlin said. With respect to minutes and assists leader Anna Ross, it’s safe to say that the tandem of Stipanovich and Nwokedi is carrying the Quakers right now. The two combine for over half of the team’s points and rebounds while accounting for all but six of Penn’s blocks. Each plays more than 30 minutes a game, the second and third-most on

the team behind the aforementioned Ross. The stat lines go on and on. Nwokedi is third in the Ivy League in points per game and fourth in rebounds per game, with Stipanovich in eighth and first, respectively. The two are first and second in blocks per game in the Ancient Eight, and in the top 20 nationally, including Stipanovich in tenth. “Coach always stresses to stay disciplined,” Stipanovich said. “We’re not necessarily trying to block the ball, we’re just trying to adjust to every ball we can and going straight up without fouling. We’re really just trying not to foul. I mean blocks are nice, but [that’s not the goal].” Spoiler alert: they haven’t been fouling. The two average about two fouls per game each, which is especially low considering the positions they play. And when they are fouled, they knock down free-throws at around a 75 percent clip. Hack-a-Shaq won’t work on these bigs. In their last game against Wagner, both

Stipanovich and Nwokedi individually had their fourth double-doubles in only six games. Stipanovich is averaging a double-double on the season, with Nwokedi only 0.3 rebounds per game off. “You know I think anything [Sydney] does is possible. She works hard at what she does: she’s always around the basket, and rebounds the ball well. I think it’s sustainable,” McLaughlin said. “I think what you see is what you’re going to get.” What makes their play so impressive, aside from the absurd video-game stat lines, is the way they are getting their results. Neither player is chasing stats – in fact, when told she was averaging a double-double on the season, Stipanovich replied that she had been unaware of the stat until learning about it after the Wagner game. Both players emphasized that they see their roles as simply getting their teammates open looks. SEE W. HOOPS PAGE 9

Penn basketball juniors Matt MacDonald and Caleb Wood are wearing the Red and Blue for the first time this year — but that’s about all they have in common. The two upperclassmen are in their debut seasons with the Quakers after they both arrived via transferring from other schools. But despite their common destination, the processes that each of them went through to get there couldn’t have been much more different. Wood, a 6-foot-4 guard from Reno, Nev., came to Penn this year after spending two seasons at community colleges in California. For him, the community college to Division I school route made a lot of sense. “I didn’t get very heavily recruited out of high school, and on the West Coast it’s more popular to go to a junior college, whereas on the East Coast a lot of kids choose to go to prep schools,” Wood said. “So I chose to go to junior college for two years to get bigger, better and stronger, and then hopefully transfer to a D-I, and that’s what happened.” As for his actual transfer, the process was pretty straightforward, for the most part. As a qualified student to go from a two-year junior college to four-year college, Wood was eligible to play on the team immediately. The process for him was much like the process for high school recruits. “It’s pretty interesting, I don’t know how they found me way out there in the middle of nowhere in California,” Wood said. “But I guess they found me through a recruiting service, and they got in contact with me that way, and we got the official visit set up, and then it went from there. I came on my official visit, and after talking to all of the coaches, I knew that this was the right place for me. ” MacDonald’s transfer was a little different than that. The guard from Eggertsville, N.Y., played his first two years of college hoops at Fairleigh Dickinson, a D-I school in Teaneck, N.J. At the end of his sophomore season in 2015, he decided to transfer, but because he was transferring from a school that was already in the NCAA, certain rules applied. “Once I knew I was going to leave my old school, FDU, basically how it worked out was you get your release to transfer and then schools go about contacting you, which is through your AAU coach, or you yourself personally give your number to other coaches,” MacDonald explained. “My decision basically came down to Penn, New Hampshire, Marist and a few other schools, but I knew ever since Penn called that’s where I wanted to go.” According to the NCAA eligibility rules on the transfer process, students transferring from one NCAA school to another in the same division must spend a full academic year at the school they wish to transfer to before they can play for their new school. The rule meant that MacDonald was ineligible for the entire 2015-16 SEE M. HOOPS PAGE 9

Only six games into Brodeur’s career, a star is born

M. HOOPS | Freshman

center dominates early BREVIN FLEISCHER Sports Reporter

Undoubtedly, there are many people across Penn’s campus and the greater basketball landscape who are surprised by the immediate impact made by freshman AJ Brodeur. Just don’t count the 6-foot-8 power forward or his coach among them. “I won’t say that I saw [this level of success] coming, but I played with a mindset that I’m going to go out there and play like I know how to play,” Brodeur said. “I know that I can have an impact on our team. I don’t think it’s that surprising because I know what I’m capable of.” Penn coach Steve Donahue, the man who has had his eye on Brodeur since he was in ninth grade, agrees with his new star player’s sentiments.

“Of all of the kids I have recruited, I’ve probably gotten to know AJ as well as any of them,” he said. “I’ve seen literally probably hundreds of his games, so I was pretty confident in what we were getting.” This confidence in Brodeur’s abilities turned out to be well-warranted. The freshman dominates each game’s box score, leading the Quakers in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks through the first six games of his career. Donahue attributes this remarkable success to Brodeur’s unrelenting work ethic. “The thing that jumps out at you initially is how hard he plays, and that’s not just during games,” Donahue said. “That’s every practice and every session that we have. He’s completely engaged in everything we do, and he competes at such a high level. I think that’s what you want out of every player.” Brodeur’s high level of intensity did not just stand out to

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Donahue in the recruiting process, however. Coaches across the country were equally enticed by the forward/center’s playing style and demeanor. The impressive list of schools courting Brodeur included most of Penn’s Ivy League rivals along with Davidson, Boston College and Notre Dame. After careful consideration, Brodeur realized that he ultimately wanted to play in the Ivy League, so Penn, Harvard and Yale became his top choices. Of those three, Penn was the school that finally emerged as the right one for him. “Penn made the most sense for me basketball-wise and in terms of where I saw myself, where I wanted to be,” he explained. Although one might think that an impressive stat line that includes 13.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game would satisfy a freshman, Brodeur expects even more. “The next step for me is to go above just making an impact and

to really start to be dominant on the floor,” Brodeur said. “Being around the basket, ripping down every rebound, getting doubledoubles every single game. Those are definitely my goals and my expectations. Even by the end of this season, I want to grow into that. I definitely think that’s possible.” If Brodeur can fulfill these lofty expectations this year, Penn should be well-positioned to attain its ultimate team ambition. “At the end of the season, our goal is to get the Ivy League championship,” Brodeur said. “That’s what we’re all looking forward to. That’s what we’re all working towards. That’s the final goal.” With Brodeur in the program, Donahue already senses that the Red and Blue are more than one step closer to that Ivy League title, because Brodeur’s impact transcends his contributions to the stat sheet. “People watch how hard he works and how hard he plays,”

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Only two weeks into his college basketball career, freshman AJ Brodeur has immediately asserted himself as one of the league’s best.

Donahue said. “They watch him, and they want to raise their level of play.” It is that type of impact that has Donahue bestowing upon Brodeur the highest of praises.

“He has a chance to be one of the greatest players to ever play here.” A prediction like that should put a scare into the rest of the Ivy League. CONTACT US: 215-422-4640