State funding for Penn Vet remains in flux amid antisemitism concerns, legislative ‘envoy’ Although no vote has been scheduled yet, Penn Vet and Pennsylvania House Democrats remain hopeful that the school will continue to receive funding
State funding for Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine has yet to be restored following the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ decision to withhold funding over concerns about antisemitism.
Uncertainty over state funding has continued to loom over Penn Vet since state House Republicans struck down $31 million in funding in a December 2023 vote. Although no vote has been scheduled at this time, Penn Vet and Pennsylvania House Democrats remain hopeful that the school will continue to receive funding — including both the withheld funding and proposed funding for the next fiscal year — as it has since 1889. Penn Vet’s Chief Communications Officer Martin Hackett wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn Vet has remained engaged with the General Assembly since the vote in December 2023, in hopes of regaining the $31 million withheld for fiscal year 2023-24 and implementing proposed funding for fiscal year 202425. Hackett added that Penn Vet has continued to provide services to Pennsylvania throughout the impasse. “Given our role in protecting animal and human health from threats — such as avian influenza in poultry and, more recently, dairy cows and humans — we remain hopeful that state officials will see the benefit of continued investments in our work,” Hackett wrote.
In a statement to the DP, Nicole Reigelman, press secretary to state House Speaker Joanna McClinton (DPhiladelphia), wrote that “[state] House Democrats remain hopeful that a vote may still succeed to get 2023/24 funding to the veterinary programs and students at our only veterinary school, however House Republicans continue to block those funds.”
Reigelman added that state House Democrats recognize the important role that Penn Vet plays in Pennsylvania’s “thriving agricultural sector.”
In a December 2023 floor debate about the funding,
Committee, which is composed of trustees, deans, faculty, and students. The Consultative Committee identifies “priorities, issues, challenges, candidate qualifications, and other factors important to the constituencies represented by the members of the committee,” according
the NLRB’s voter list requirements.
Over 50 people expressed their support for Penn graduate student workers’ unionization movement at a rally in front of College Hall on Wednesday.
The rally was led by GET-UP in conjunction with the Penn chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Penn Museum Workers United, and United RAs at Penn. The groups organized their demonstration in response to an “eleventh-hour attempt by the university administration to thwart the graduate workers’ union election.”
Earlier this week, the DP reported that the unionization election for graduate student workers would be rescheduled to May 1 and 2, a two week postponement from the original scheduled date. The rescheduling came two days after the election was postponed indefinitely.
“There’s sort of two sides to my feelings right now,” sixth year Biology Ph.D. candidate and GET-UP organizer Luella Allen-Waller told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “It’s excitement for the new election, and its ever-deepening frustration with Penn’s attempt to delay this democratic decision making.”
A University spokesperson said the election was rescheduled due to the National Labor Relations Board’s issuance of an Order on April 10, which stated that an additional group of Ph.D. students is not permitted to vote in the union election. The NLRB determined that the election needed to be postponed from its original date because of the time needed to comply with
On April 15, the University and the union agreed to a stipulation rescheduling the election.
“The election has been postponed for administrative reasons beyond the control of any party to the election,” the spokesperson wrote. “Since receiving the NLRB’s April 10 Order, Penn has fully cooperated with the NLRB to identify alternative dates for the election this semester. Penn encourages all students who are eligible to vote to learn as much as possible about this significant issue and to vote.”
On April 9, over 200 Penn faculty members affirmed the graduate students’ right to organize by signing a support statement drafted by the Penn chapter of the AAUP, History and Sociology of Science professor Harun Küçük highlighted the significance of ensuring fair wages for graduate students. “The hardest topic to talk about is also the most important, which is monetary compensation,” he told the DP. “Although Penn has recently increased the graduate stipends by a substantial margin, we are still relatively behind our peers. This calls for something to be done, and our students have decided to take matters into their own hands.”
Professor of Russian and East European Studies and Political Science Mitchell Orenstein expressed optimism for GET—UP’s future achievements.
“I think that the best proof that the unionization efforts have worked at Penn is the
responsiveness of the administration before the union is officially voted on,” he said. “The student group has already made a major impact and I believe they will continue to do that.”
GET-UP has been pushing for a fixed election date since last October, when over 3,000 student workers filed union authorization cards with the NLRB. Since then, the organization has faced multiple delays to the election, including last week, when the election was abruptly postponed days before students were scheduled to vote.
Kyla Mace, a fifth-year graduate researcher in the Biomedical Graduate Studies program and GET-UP organizer, spoke about her disappointment due to the election postponement at the rally. “My union was supposed to have our election today. I should have cast my ballot already. I should be escorting people to the polls,” she said.
Clancy Murray, a fourth-year Ph.D. student and GET-UP organizer, expressed similar disappointment with the slowdown. They criticized the administration for “trying to delay and deny our rights to this democratic process.”
“The recent union organizing surge in high education speaks to a need for more democratic representation,” Murray added. “We need more democracy in universities, the decision making should not be in the hands of trustees and donors, but rather should be in the hands of the people who make this university run.”
Columbia University’s leadership underwent questioning from the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce during an April 17 hearing about antisemitism concerns on campus.
In many regards, the hearing resembled the December 2023 hearing in which Education Committee members grilled former Penn President Liz Magill about the state of antisemitism on Penn’s campus. While Columbia President and former Penn professor Minouche Shafik avoided responses similar to those that contributed to Magill’s resignation, she was charged with allowing Columbia to become a “hub of antisemitic behavior and thought” in recent months.
In the hearing, which lasted more than three hours, four Columbia University officials — Shafik, Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Claire Shipman and David Greenwald, and antisemitism
UA-funded grief support group launches at Penn with speakers, peer mentors
The program’s rst event will be held today in Irvine Auditorium, where one speaker will discuss the power of community support in times of grief
MARGOT SCHNEIDER Staff ReporterA new Undergraduate Assembly initiative aiming to support students through times of grief will launch on April 18.
The grief support program was organized in conjunction with the Penn Wellness Student Coalition, the Office of the Vice Provost, and a number of student groups. It will include peer support, the distribution of gifts and grief resources, and the promotion and publication of existing wellness resources through Wellness at Penn. College sophomore and elected UA member Nicole Muravsky, who is also a staffer for The Daily Pennsylvanian, said that the idea for the group was introduced in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Muravsky said that while the program was originally set to launch in the fall, it was expedited due to the recent death of College sophomore Nathaniel Gordon.
Muravsky said that she connected with Associate Vice Provost for University Life Sharon Smith to develop the group after Smith proposed aiding grieving students with care packages. Smith recalled a grief support club called Actively Moving Forward, which used to exist at Penn. Actively Moving Forward was a branch of a national organization founded by Perelman School of Medicine professor David Fajgenbaum, who is also a Medical School and Wharton graduate.
Fajgenbaum will speak about his connection to grief support systems on college campuses at the program’s inaugural event. The event, which will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall at Irvine Auditorium, will focus on the power of community support and the implications of grief.
Fajgenbaum started the first chapter of the Actively Moving Forward program during his undergraduate years at Georgetown after losing his mother, according to Muravsky. It grew to become a national organization, and a Penn chapter was started when Fajgenbaum arrived at the University as a graduate student.
Muravsky added that the virtual format which Actively Moving Forward adapted to during the pandemic could be a reason for why grief support programming has faltered on campus.
“We plan to work closely with Dr. Fajgenbaum and campus partners to reestablish Actively Moving Forward at Penn while extending its offerings beyond what it once was,” Smith wrote to the DP.
Members of the UA worked with the PWSC and other wellness-focused groups to propose a budget and a timeline for creating the infrastructure to support impacted students, according to Smith. The program was approved for a $20,000 budget from the UA reserve fund.
College junior and PWSC co-chair Camellia Bùi, who is a former staffer for the DP, said that while many wellness resources are available to Penn students, she has noticed a stigma surrounding them. “Students, especially when they are distressed, don’t have the capacity to use [these resources],”she said. “I think we should set up a system to support students when they’re in their most vulnerable moments, and they can’t advocate for themselves.”
Multiple people involved in the group said that they plan to expand the initiative’s operations in the future. Wellness at Penn Director of Integrated Care Initiatives Batsirai Bvunzawabaya said that the program will iterate through phases — the first of which prioritizes the resources and items provided when students have experienced a loss. “We’re hoping that, over time, we can start having group discussions,” Bvunzawabaya added. Smith wrote that peer mentorship, workshops, and events will hopefully be implemented in future semesters to provide “resources for grieving students and create shared space[s] to connect with one another.”
Bùi is currently helping publicize the program, adding that she has helped facilitate connections between the UA and Penn Benjamins, Reach-a-Peer Line, CogWell, and the Body Empowerment Project. She hopes to introduce an academic component to the support provided — describing the “current academic policy around grief and grieving” as “not very strong.”
The peer mentors for the new initiative currently consist of volunteers accumulated by those connected to the UA, PWSC, and students who attended a grief support session after Gordon’s death, according to Muravsky. The support session was held earlier this month in Houston Hall, where students impacted by the loss received grief support baskets containing snacks and workbooks and were given information about existing University resources, College sophomore and peer mentor Noah Milad said.
Milad said that he was personally affected by Gordon’s death, adding that the mentors “want to be people that students can go to in their time of need.”
“I feel like it’s those simple things that really make or break certain situations … they make you feel strong for going through that grief and processing it,” he said.
Milad said that because of the support he felt from the mentors during the grief support session, he decided to volunteer for the program to provide similar support and care to other grieving students.
Andrew Hagy, who is a member of the College’s Class of 2026 and is currently on a gap year working as a mortician, also attended the session following Gordon’s death and said he subsequently decided to volunteer as a grief peer support mentor. Hagy said that he hopes to provide peer support, recommend resources about grief, and serve as an empathetic friend — citing trends at elite universities which have shown high rates of depression.
“That is really what’s frustrating to me about this — it is both hyperlocal and also ubiquitous in the sense that these problems are not unique to Penn, but [these recent events] are uniquely Penn’s,” Hagy said.
Bùi added that while she was made aware of the effort Penn puts into supporting those directly affected by a loss after Gordon’s death, she has noticed a lack of general support for students aware of the loss but not directly affected.
“This is a community that people have not traditionally taken care of, and this is a place where [the grief support group] can have an impact,” she said.
PENN VET, from FRONT PAGE
Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Bryan
Cutler (R-Lancaster) said that the University must do more in terms of “rooting out, calling out, and making an official stance on antisemitism” before he could support funding for Penn Vet.
Following the Dec. 13, 2023 vote, five Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives formed a task force to address antisemitism on Penn’s campus. The members of the task force include Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/ Fulton), Rep. Aaron Kaufer (R-Luzerne), Rep. Rob Mercuri (R-Allegheny), Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Bucks), and Rep. Tom Jones (R-Lancaster/Lebanon).
On Dec. 20, 2023, Cutler wrote to Interim Penn President Larry Jameson and Penn Vet Dean Andrew Hoffman to inform them about the formation of an “envoy” in response to “months of disturbing reports of antisemitic activity” and a lack of immediate change on campus.
At the time, Cutler said that the envoy will work with Penn to receive University support for legislation at the state level, a review of student organization and University spending, and a statement from the University that condemns antisemitic behavior and calls for genocide.
Admitted students explore Locust Walk during Quaker Days festivities on April 13.
Quaker Days welcome over 1,400 admitted Class of 2028 students to campus
Programming included an opening ceremony at Irvine Auditorium, a student life fair on Locust Walk, campus tours, and panels on speci c schools and programs SAMANTHA
Over 1,400 newly admitted students visited Penn’s campus for Quaker Days from April 11 to April 13, with the all-day events continuing despite wind and rain.
Programming this year featured an opening ceremony at Irvine Auditorium, a student life fair on Locust Walk, campus tours hosted by the Kite and Key Society, and panels directed towards specific schools and dual-degree programs. Each Quaker Day ended with the “The Last Hurrah,” where students gathered in the Palestra and watched several performances by student groups at Penn.
Several incoming students told The Daily Pennsylvanian that they appreciated the opportunity to learn about Penn’s academic offerings and experience the activity of campus life firsthand.
Penn released its admissions results for regular decision applicants on March 28, following a recordbreaking cycle with over 65,000 applications. 1,515 students registered for Quaker Days and 1,475 attended across the three days, a Penn Admissions representative wrote in a statement to the DP.
Other events open to incoming students included a tour of the Penn Museum, 60-Second faculty lectures, and a spring research symposium hosted by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. The weather did not significantly impact the programming of the event, and activities that were planned to take place outdoors remained outdoors.
“We’d been planning for the possibility of rain for many weeks, so we had appropriate back-up plans and a lot of rain ponchos to share with our guests,” Penn Admissions wrote.
Incoming Engineering first year Karina Gupta said that she initially “didn’t want to be here” because of the weather, but her mood quickly lifted after the rain stopped.
“We were all talking about how much of a difference weather makes on your view of the school,” Karina said.
“We were like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s so depressing.’ But as soon as it became sunny outside, we saw people walking around, and everyone just seemed happier.”
Karina is a triplet whose two other siblings were also admitted to Penn. One of them, incoming Wharton first year Gia Gupta, accompanied her to Quaker Days, as their other sibling had visited the day before. Unlike Karina, Gia is not yet set on coming to Penn, but she said that her Quaker Day experience “definitely” positively influenced her decision.
“From everyone I met, everyone seems so kindhearted and welcoming,” Gia said.
She added that her favorite part of the day was walking on Locust Walk and experiencing campus in full swing.
“I think what’s really nice is that it creates a space for serendipitous interactions,” Gia said. “When you’re walking around, you can just find someone else walking near you and talk to them. It allows you to bond with other admitted students and talk to them about if they’re interested in choosing Penn.”
For incoming Engineering first year Harini Thiagarajan, the academic programming was her favorite part of Quaker Days. She said that she enjoyed the Engineering Campus tour at Levine Hall, where she was able to visit the labs and other engineering facilities at Penn.
“You could see a bunch of students just being very involved and hands-on with their research at labs,” Thiagarajan said. “I thought it was really cool to be able to be in that space.”
Incoming Engineering first year Christian Kim has also not yet completely decided on coming to Penn, but he said that Quaker Days was “helpful” in his decision making process.
“I liked learning about the school and seeing the campus because I just like seeing and making sure that I can envision myself here in the future,” Kim said.
Topper,
Pennsylvania House Education Committee, previously told the DP in December 2023 that he believes conversations with the University and the Board of Trustees will be vital to move forward.
“We need to establish and regain a bit of trust that we can feel comfortable with the University’s code of conduct with where they stand on certain fundamental, basic human rights issues,” Topper said.
In response to a request for comment on the activity of the envoy in recent months, Reigelman, on behalf of McClinton, wrote that “it has no authority in the legislature.”
“After using unrelated hot-button political and social issues as an excuse to grandstand and withhold funding from the University of Pennsylvania, the ‘task force’ House Republicans announced in December was just another political stunt,” Reigelman wrote.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024 I LECTURE 3–4 PM, RECEPTION TO FOLLOW
All five members of the envoy, and Cutler, did not provide comment on the status of the envoy despite multiple requests for comment from the DP.
In his fiscal year 2024-25 budget proposal announced on Feb. 6, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro allocated more than $33 million in combined funding to Penn Vet and Penn Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases — the same amount allocated in the current fiscal year.
Reigelman wrote that “budget negotiations will start in
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California, too, along with being of a similar ethnic background. Of course my demands were limiting and inane, yet I remained intransigent for a while longer. Weeks of scrolling through admitted students’ Instagram pages and Facebook profiles left me hopeless, as it felt as though everyone had already found a roommate, and my world was crashing down because I waited too long.
memories of the one we were living together. Living with someone is a privilege: one I never knew I needed and would benefit so much from. By living with someone from such a different life than your own, you learn a lot that you never would have otherwise, and a lot about yourself, too. Living with Nina has taught me so many things about her diverse cultural background, ranging from holiday traditions to at-home remedies for all different types of problems. And of course, this was a two-way street. I felt so honored to be able to teach Nina all about my Armenian heritage, educate her about my people’s pressing issues of today, and introduce her to the luxury that is Armenian cuisine. We learned from and enriched one another, and those lessons cannot be found in a classroom.
past few semesters, different construction projects have shifted the typical choices newly admitted Quakers have to choose from upon their acceptance. It is unfortunate that so many students will be stripped of the infamous Quad experience, yet it’s evident that similar experiences can be recreated in the other college houses. Whatever building you live in, it’s what, or rather who, is inside that really matters.
Penn’s first-year college houses are known for fostering a sense of community, whether that’s across your hall or among all the students in the establishment. Your resident advisors (RAs) will ensure that you meet and mingle with people on your floor, introducing you to students from all walks of life. But one of the easiest ways to really find a community is by simply looking inside your own room. In my experience, the greatest community I found as a first year was in my roommate, who is now my best friend.
Before arriving at Penn, I was not as open-minded as I am now. Being here has instilled in me the important quality of impartiality and a willingness to try new things. But when I was still a callow and naive high school senior, the idea of moving so far away from home only left me seeking familiarity. I was insistent on finding a roommate very much like me, unquestionably from
For a while, I considered the benefits of a single room. I would be able to have my own space, never worry about getting along with someone I didn’t know, and live a very comfortable first-year experience. And while all these pros definitely could’ve made my first year at Penn more seamless at the beginning, I am ever so glad that I chose the uncomfortable option.
I reached out to an admitted student named Nina in May of my senior year. Nothing about her resembled the image of the perfect roommate I had crafted in my head before, and for that, I am most grateful. Nina was from London. Her ethnic background consisted of Norwegian, Japanese, and British roots, and she was good at math – none of our interests or characteristics were lining up. Yet, somehow, through back and forth conversations on Instagram, we felt comfortable enough to agree to live with each other for our entire first year.
Without ever meeting up beforehand, we met for the first time in Philly, in the almost midway point between our hometowns, Los Angeles and London, and the rest was history. From the day we moved in, we clicked perfectly and treated every single day as another amazing opportunity in our journey together. Nina could not have been more different from me, and every day, we displayed our differences and embraced them all.
We shared stories of our lives back home and created
Please sit down and just exist
I remember running at Pottruck Health and Fitness Center once in the snowy winter and turning my head slightly to the left to admire an ordered line of beautiful runners. Amid athletes, newcomers, adults, men, and women, I noticed a common denominator: everyone was wearing AirPods while glued to a screen. Everyone but me. Why do we maximize every valuable moment of downtime for mindless entertainment, leaving no space for mind-wandering? Why do we value overstimulating distractions over contemplative introspections?
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with an energizing song or a cathartic movie; I may be atypical for finding solitude on the treadmill inherently fun. Yet, there must be some truth in my alienation. We are all simply stimulation junkies, victims of a hedonistic culture valuing consumption at the expense of reflection and entertainment at the expense of solitude. Yes, perhaps I am extreme, but you do not need to go far to realize this is Penn: where people only talk, work, or consume. Why do we not shut up, sit down, and just exist?
I suspect that part of the need for constant entertainment stems from the need for constant achievement: Penn students exist contingent on their accomplishments. If I take away your doing from you, what is left? Who are you without your goals? The harsh truth is that the answer for many of us is simply … nothing. And so we do. We listen to the morning podcast, music between classes, Netflix at Pottruck, and TikTok at night. Yet, this is only short-term crisis management. The root cause may well be discomfort.
Most of you seem scared to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of being left alone with nothing but yourself, not the least because that requires vulnerability and touch with your kaleidoscopic self. At worst, you are incapable of dealing with it. It is no surprise then that all you do is try and suppress it. There is no better distraction than stimulation, and Penn is, by definition, a restless machine handing you stimuli.
Once again, I do not hope to be extreme or to generalize. However, I argue that it is vital to learn how to deal with simply being by yourself, especially given that the number of hours you spend
Being able to learn from the people you live with is an incredible privilege and opportunity. Now, as a sophomore, I still live with Nina in our high-rise housing. We also live with our other best friend, Maya, who also hails from a far-away place and represents her own cultures beautifully. Her Lebanese and Syrian heritage and Dubai roots add to the multicultural landscape we’ve built in our apartment and have added so much to the life lessons we share with one another. The three of us regularly indulge in our cultures’ fine cuisines and delicacies, often coming home excited to share something we found on campus that resembles the food we have at home. Living with them has been the best part of my Penn experience.
Of course, I have to acknowledge how lucky I am to have met someone as amazing as Nina before arriving at Penn and someone like Maya shortly after moving in. Not everyone will love their first-year roommate, and many may find their relationship with their roommate to be one of the negative aspects of their Penn experience. But I strongly believe that whether your firstyear roommate turns out to be your best friend, or the person you awkwardly pretend not to notice on Locust Walk every day, the experience will be worth it.
To stress this even more, ask any one of my friends who have had the “horrible roommate experience,” and you’ll see that they just laugh about it now that it has passed. Your roommate will give you character, even thicken your skin — just give it a try. And who knows, you may end up as lucky as I did by finding your own Nina and Maya.
SOSE HOVANNISIAN is a College sophomore majoring in Communications and minoring in History and Consumer Psychology from Los Angeles, Calif. Her email is sosehova@sas.upenn.edu.
alone increases proportionally with age, with a scary jump after graduation. If you think it sounds disheartening, let me be pragmatic: note that solitary time does not correlate with feelings of loneliness until a person spends 75% or more of their waking time alone. So is the solution to isolate yourself and become a monk in Thailand? No (or maybe).
As essayist William Deresiewicz puts it, “Solitude is to loneliness what idleness is to boredom.” I do not think loneliness is a panacea. If you are lonely, please seek company and social time. If you are not lonely, what I advocate for is making time for genuine solitude. I simply ask to learn the difference between purposeful and purposeless alone time and recognize the value in both. They are not exclusive — they are complementary. Find the balance that works for you. What helps me is to find random moments in my day to just exist. Lunch alone? I mindfully eat staring out the closest window. Class finishes earlier than expected? I sit down in a chair for a few minutes and do absolutely nothing. I am still finding my way, but I now think twice before judging the guy sitting alone at 1920 Commons or instinctively pulling out my headphones to overfill every hole in my life with videos and random phone calls.
The point is, I am profoundly scared that a senior can graduate next month, summa cum laude with an Ivy League degree, and yet know nothing about themselves and how to be at peace. Penn can teach you multivariable calculus and discounted cash flow analyses, but only you can teach yourself introspection and dare to stop the grind for a second.
What matters at the end of the day is how
Penn has an unhealthy burnout culture. We strive to achieve academic success at all costs ignoring sleep, mental health, extracurricular activities, and more. It is no secret that Penn has one of the most depressed student populations among top colleges in the country, and this burnout culture, fueled by academic pressure, is a significant part of the reason.
What exacerbates that culture is how most people appear to always be on top of things. No matter how much we are going through, we put up a Penn Face and pretend that we are cruising through the semester. Everyone around us seems to be feeling good or doing well.
While we cannot change this somewhat toxic external environment, we can make our own lives easier. One important way to prevent burnout is to be less ambitious during course registration. According to upperclassmen, it is easy to underestimate the workload of our schedules. When we pack our primary cart with five or six course units, we think we can handle it, just as easily as everyone else seems to. Even if we cannot, we tell ourselves that we will have the good sense to drop a particularly difficult course in time. The choice to take it pass/fail also prompts us to be even bolder.
But more often than not, our classes turn out to be harder and more time-consuming than we expect. Still, many of us are not going to drop a class that only has a few slots and is hard to get into. When we see others who seem to tackle heavier workloads, we also are more willing to grind than accept our incompetence. Towards
the end of the semester, when we stare at an assignment or paper at 12 a.m. in a library, we realize how exhausted we are and regret our course registration decisions.
Some of us did not get all the classes we had hoped for when open enrollment started on Tuesday. If the class is needed for successful progression inside the major, then it is definitely worth the effort to request permission on Path@Penn, get onto the waitlist, and contact the registrar or the professor. But if your schedule is already looking packed, and the class is not a must, there are other options.
You can just forget about the class for now and take it later, especially if the class is not a prerequisite for other classes. If you are a first year or sophomore, is there really a rush to take 4000- and 5000-level courses that count towards a concentration or an accelerated master’s? We can instead budget time for extracurriculars, friends, or ourselves. We have four to six more chances to take a class, but we have only one chance to live our college life to its fullest.
Another option is to replace it with another class that does not count towards the major. The Daily Pennsylvanian recently listed a few courses that are interesting and easy. If any of these courses satisfies one of your unfulfilled general education requirements, it is worth a try.
As finals season approaches, you might be grateful for a class that you did not get, dropped, or switched into at the last minute.
Sexual assault: Out of sight, out of mind?
M’S MANIFESTO| By not investing in sexual assault resources, Penn enables rape culture
I started this article wanting to write about Women’s History Month — intending for it to be commemorative and empowering — definitely on a lighter note. I stumbled upon the topic of sexual assault, thinking I could write about Penn’s resources and history with the issue. I was horrified to find a pile of articles and blogs describing rape culture at Penn. I could not believe the extent to which rape had become normalized for people to start referring to it as a culture, almost as casually as you say dating culture. I shouldn’t have to be writing an article like this: asking Penn to stop enabling rape so much as for it to become cultural.
According to the last AAU Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct conducted, 25.9% of undergraduate women reported nonconsensual sexual contact involving physical force. The data is alarming — it means that a fourth of the undergraduate female population has experienced sexual assault.
As one of the wealthiest institutions in the country, Penn definitely has the money to invest in better resources to provide support to sexual assault survivors. However, this is not apparent in the stories survivors recount. Farah Sayed, a sexual assault survivor, stresses that she felt incredibly alone throughout the whole process, not backed by any of the services Penn fancies itself to have — including the Penn Women’s Center and the LGBT Center.
Both the PWC and LGBT center directors are aware of the importance of sufficient funding to support survivors. An increase in funding could fix staffing issues, ensuring survivors have confidential resources at all times and making investigative processes more efficient. However, allocation of funding for these resources doesn’t
seem to be Penn’s top priority, but not due to lack of cash flow.
Even though I made several attempts to contact people in those centers and Penn Violence Prevention to obtain more information on funding, no one replied. The lack of effective response from Penn resources leaves a lot to the imagination for a service that should be available 24/7.
The Title IX office has also proved to be inefficient. Administrators took over a month to reply to Sayed when she attempted to report what happened to her. In the end, she was unable to file a complaint because her case did not meet the bar established for consideration. Again, this was not an isolated incident. “I need to know if this is a concerted effort by Penn to cover up sexual violence on campus, or a few isolated incidents,” asked someone on Reddit, referring to the unresponsiveness of the Title IX office.
Under the Trump administration, Title IX was modified to the extent that it becomes almost impossible for survivors to cite their cases. It tightened the conditions for which a case should be taken into account: The assault must be objectively offensive and severe. However, this obliviates the fact that most of the time sexual harassment is not considered directly offensive; for instance, not all sexual harassment involves forced touch. This does not make any other statutes less valid. Additionally, Trump’s alterations declare a case can only be taken if it occurred on campus, again ignoring the fact that sexual assault can take place off campus. Though the Biden administration has spoken about making amendments, no change has yet occurred, leaving survivors powerless before a very impersonal and bureaucratic structure.
While Title IX is government-mandated,
universities are free to establish their own policies. Additionally, universities like Penn are backed by a powerful and wealthy board of trustees capable of financially committing themselves to the University’s causes. Penn could, for instance, invest and make investigative processes more efficient and lower the bar for taking cases. They could also take cases even if they happened off campus. Penn could improve Student Health Services to be better equipped to deal with sexual assault cases. Now, survivors are forced to go to North Philadelphia if they need a rape kit, which only adds to the trauma and emotional distress. Sadly, gender violence is a reality. But Penn ignoring rape culture won’t make it go away.
The exam you will probably fail: Climate literacy
GUEST COLUMN| Why do students with such high standards fall short when it comes to the environment?
As a kid, it is easy to imagine a picturesque future: a long and beautiful life full of all of the things you have ever wanted. But at a certain point, life experiences reveal the unpredictable nature of the world and the damage that we, as humans, have done to it. We live, learn, work, repopulate, and say our goodbyes. So, when is it time to recalibrate and realize
that this life we dream of isn’t guaranteed? It can’t be guaranteed with the threat of an irreversible climate fiasco looming over us, regardless of socioeconomic background, religion, age, gender, or political party. The record-breaking frequency and intensity of wildfires, hurricanes, and floods should not become normal as society continues operating
In defense of the humanities
business as usual. We are the generation that has been dealt a heavy deck of cards, and we are not prepared for what is yet to come.
Surprisingly, many college students do not understand the causes or impacts of climate change. Interdisciplinary coursework is highly encouraged at Penn, and many students take required foundations and sectors of knowledge to buttress their academic portfolios. Penn has the capability and opportunity to implement a climate literacy graduation requirement across disciplines in order to positively impact individuals and the environment at large.
Any student in higher education can benefit from courses focused on the changing environment, solutions, and impacts, whether they intend to be a politician, healthcare worker, or investment banker. Michael Mann, an inspiring environmental scientist and Penn professor, says that in order to combat the forces of inaction, we first need to recognize them. The forces of inaction include institutions that choose to ignore global climate change instead of facing it head-on, since we can’t make meaningful change without a collective effort.
Climate denial is threatening scientific communication and can be addressed and reframed through education. 49% of Americans are either cautious, disengaged, doubtful, or dismissive when it comes to climate change — as opposed to those who are concerned and alarmed — according to Global Warming’s Six Americas.
Some would argue that requiring climate literacy in higher education will not target the doubtful or dismissive typologies because they are harder to reach. Most climate deniers are older, conservative, uneducated men who do not think that climate change is real, or actively
ERIC’S EYE| The humanities are often overlooked and not given the credit they deserve
“Have fun being unemployed.”
“It is not important to society.”
“I have so much more work than you.”
“Your classes are easy.”
As a college student studying history, these are all comments I have received. You do not need to be a humanities major to know that these beliefs exist; just look at social media. Online memes and Instagram reels about STEM majors attacking the liberal arts is a part of pop culture. The field of humanities being in decline recently has helped push an idea that these fields are not needed, important, or conducive to getting jobs. This negative stigmatism couldn’t be more wrong.
STEM majors often argue that their jobs are more important to society and have greater value. It is indisputable that what they study is important, especially in a world where technology is advancing rapidly. That being said, graduates who major in the humanities hold some of the most important jobs in the world.
U.S. presidents including Bush, Biden, and Kennedy, Supreme Court justices like Kagan and Sotomayor, as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are just a few examples of college history majors. Politics is full of humanities majors, and their decisions have a huge impact on the entire country. Studying humanities does not just lead to a job in politics — there are numerous CEOs and entertainers that have studied history. It goes to show that a humanities education can be applied to so many fields and that our degrees allow us access to fields where our skills are useful.
While some may argue that the humanities are easy, that is simply not true. My classes have little to no room for error. With some requiring a 94% or more to receive an A, a few questions wrong on a midterm or points off a paper can immediately drop me down a letter grade. Last semester, I took a class where the quiz average was a failing grade, and there was no curve. Does this seem so easy
now?
Writing long research papers, reading hundreds of pages a night, and having to comprehend ancient writing thoroughly is no easy task. However, I enjoy research and writing, especially on topics
I find interesting, which is one reason I appreciate my field of study -- just like a computer science major enjoys coding. Although some argue that the skills I learn are not important, when it comes to reviewing a paper or a cover letter, people love to have humanities majors look over them. We all choose our majors based on what we want to study, not for others. I am proud to be a history major. I always wanted to study history, and my writing, research, and argumentative skills have all drastically improved since I began college. Penn is home to world-class departments and has some of the best faculty in their respective domains. Every day, I am impressed with the work my history professors have done, and I am lucky to be able to learn from them. Although rankings are subjective and not needed to know that Penn’s history department is world-class, College Factual ranks Penn the thirdbest history department in the nation. This proves the strength and rigor of the humanities on our campus. One should not assume that because their field of study is considered more difficult, they could easily pursue any other field of study. For example, just because a quantitative problem set may be considered more difficult than writing a paper, it does not mean that a good engineer is automatically a great writer. Many on our campus are quick to attack Wharton students because they also perceive their work as ‘easier,’ but skills learned in engineering do not necessarily transfer over to finance or accounting, for example. We must respect all majors! There is no need to bash on other fields of study. You may believe that your major is more important, more difficult,
Not only are their sexual misconduct responses toward victims lacking, but also traumatizing and emotionally draining. Penn must invest more of its resources into sexual assault prevention and restoration. It’s absurd that an institution with so much wealth and political power still leaves survivors isolated and is unresponsive towards an issue as relevant as a campus with rape culture.
MARIANA MARTINEZ is a College first year studying English and classical studies from Bogotá, Colombia. Her email is marmari@sas. upenn.edu.
endorse climate-related conspiracy theories. Regardless, addressing misconceptions about climate change in an academic setting prevents the spread of misinformation and increases positive agency and advocacy. The inoculative structure of “prebunking,” or exposing disinformation strategies, as described by Stephan Lewandowsky, is proven to effectively change the way that people process information without attacking or alienating an audience.
Environmental journalist Wolfgang Blau uses his expertise in communications to emphasize the inclusion of climate change within all forms of media, which extends to education. Exposure to the interconnectedness between climate change and daily life can give way to a generation of climate literacy. If students are prepared to encounter content containing extreme weather events, heat-trapping pollutants, and environmental policy, they will be better equipped to synthesize and apply this information to their lives productively.
It is time for students to shuffle their hand and draw their own cards by demanding that Penn reexamine graduation requirements to include courses attributed to deeply understanding climate communication, misinformation, and literacy. If we fail to adapt, we will not only give up our existence but also our right to a comprehensive education.
BEAUE BERNSTEIN is a College sophomore studying environmental studies with a concentration in sustainability and environmental management from Orange County, Calif. Her email is beaue@sas.upenn.edu.
and more time consuming, but why attack others? People may use this to reassure themselves that they are doing more than others, but it does not help anyone.
I believe that my major is important because it helps me understand economic patterns and ideologies that have been effective and ineffective. History encompasses far-reaching aspects of life and many fields of study — it is not just remembering dead guys and dates. Understanding the past has allowed me to understand the story
COLUMBIA , from FRONT PAGE
hearing amid accusations of plagiarism.
In her written submission to the Committee, which was filed before the hearing, Shafik said that she is “personally frustrated to find that Columbia’s policies and structures were sometimes unable to meet the moment” in addressing campus antisemitism. She added that the university’s disciplinary policies and system were “not designed to address the types of events and protests that followed the Oct. 7 [Hamas] attack [on Israel].”
In her opening remarks, Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) claimed that “Columbia stands guilty of gross negligence at best, and at worst has become a platform for those supporting terrorism and violence against the Jewish people.”
Early in the hearing, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) asked the question which led to criticism of Magill, Gay, and MIT president Sally Kornbluth — whether calls “for the genocide of Jews violate Columbia’s code of conduct.”
All four witnesses immediately answered in the affirmative.
Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) congratulated the Columbia leaders for responding to the committee members’ queries better than Magill and Gay did, citing their readiness to condemn antisemitism.
“You are saying the right things,” Bean said. Greenwald, a 1980 Wharton graduate and chair of the Wharton Alumni Executive Board, served on the Columbia presidential search committee that selected Shafik and was elected as co-chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees in late 2023. He said the university appreciated “the opportunity to assist the committee in its important effort to examine antisemitism on college campuses.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — whose line of questioning prompted the most scrutiny of the three presidents who testified in the December 2023 hearing — was seemingly unable to replicate a similar attention-grabbing moment with
Shafik. When questioned about disciplinary action against Mohamed Abdou, a visiting professor who posted pro-Hamas remarks on Oct. 11, 2023, Shafik stated that the professor would “never teach at Columbia again.” Shafik, however, refused to condemn the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic when pressed by Stefanik to discipline students for saying it. Her response was instead that “we are looking at it.”
Another target of questioning was Columbia professor Joseph Massad, a longstanding critic of Israel and scholar of Palestinian Christian descent. Republican representatives accused Massad of “glorifying” the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in an article which described it as “awesome.”
When pressed by Stefanik to commit to removing Massad from a leadership post, Shafik hesitated before responding “I think, I would, yes.” After the hearing, a university spokesman told The New York Times that Massad’s term as chair of an academic review panel was already set to end after the current semester.
Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.), who referenced the biblical book of Genesis and mandates to protect Jewish students, asked Shafik, “Do you want Columbia University to be cursed by God?”
“Absolutely not,” Shafik replied. The hearing took place amid escalating tensions on Columbia’s campus, with over 100 pro-Palestinian students occupying the main lawn as Shafik testified. Some of Columbia’s
Jewish faculty members warned against the “weaponization” of debates around antisemitism, arguing it could hinder open discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Columbia is under investigation by both the House education committee and the United States Department of Education regarding alleged civil rights violations on campus. Penn is also under investigation by the Committee, and was formerly under investigation by the DOE before its investigation was dismissed due to the existence of a lawsuit with the same allegations.
The House education committee has already scheduled a followup hearing next month focused on public school systems in New York; Montgomery County, Md.; and Berkeley, Calif.
Fels graduate, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker talks public safety, voting at Penn Dems event
Parker spoke to an audience of approximately 60 people about public safety, combating the drug epidemic, and encouraging voter participation
PAIGE RAWISZER Staff Reporter
Penn Democrats hosted an event with 2016 Fels Institute of Government graduate and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker on Monday night.
Parker spoke to an audience of approximately 60 people at the Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics about public safety, combatting the drug epidemic, the housing crisis, Philadelphia’s education system, and encouraging voter participation. The event was moderated by College sophomore and Penn Dems Vice President Nica Smith.
Throughout the event, Parker emphasized her commitment to "mak[ing] Philadelphia the safest, cleanest, greenest big city in the nation" — a key focus of her administration. She spoke about her decision to not use federal funds to support needle exchange programs or safe injection sites within the city, but clarified that she supported overall harm reduction efforts.
"The city has continued to invest in one set of prescriptions on the health care continuum for dealing with the issue in the City of Philadelphia," Parker said, referencing needle exchange programs in the city. "Where we haven’t invested is in long-term care, treatment, and housing.”
Parker also acknowledged how her focus on a "holistic approach" would be a change from previous administrations.
“I’m not criticizing anyone because that’s not the kind of leadership I would like to embrace. There was just a different style," Parker said. "I am not simply going to invest in the status
quo, where things remain the same. The ecosystem that I’m talking about building now, guess what? It doesn't exist right now.”
Parker also spoke about how she is using “intergovernmental cooperation” — a phrase she used on the campaign trail — to implement policies.
After an audience member asked how she planned to get community members to trust her plans, Parker said that those whose “affirmation matters” most to her were the “people who have lived there for decades and decades, and nobody listens to them.”
“If we just keep it right here and maintain the status quo and not expand further out into the city, the people who are out here, who are living with this, they are forced to live with this because socially and economically they don’t have the ability to move," Parker said. "That doesn't even just lack compassion and empathy for me. That’s pompous. It’s arrogance and it's ignorance because you are not taking into consideration the people whose real-life, lived experience is closest to the pain.”
Parker also shared her own experience with student loan debt — saying that she "will be paying back student loan debt to the University of Pennsylvania until [she was] dead for [her] master's degree" — and highlighted her focus on economic mobility.
“We have to have vehicles for people to have access to a path to self-sufficiency,” she said.
Parker emphasized the importance of democratic participation, saying that the upcoming
election in November is a fight to "close the gap between the haves and the have nots." College first year and Penn Dems Communications Director Steve Yang told The Daily Pennsylvanian after the event that Penn Dems wanted to bring Parker to come speak because it would be an “amazing opportunity.”
“It was amazing — being a school in Philly — being able to have the mayor come to speak to us and hear what she has been doing for the past 100 days in her administration,” Yang said. College sophomore and President of Penn Dems Ellie Goluboff-Schragger expressed the importance for Penn students to “understand what goes on in the city.”
“Local races really affect what goes on locally in the city, so I think it is really important for Penn students to understand what’s going on in the city and to be connected to local politicians,” Goluboff-Schragger said to the DP.
Alum reflects on service as member of nominating panel for Philadelphia school board
Andy Toy discussed his career trajectory in Philadelphia, the board’s nomination process, and Parker’s nal selection
GABRIEL HUANG Contributing Reporter1980 College graduate Andy Toy, who served on the nominating panel for the recently announced Philadelphia Board of Education, reflected on the importance of public education and the considerations that shaped the panel’s selection.
On April 1, 2016 Fels Institute of Government Graduate and Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker named nine members — including three Penn alumni — to the Philadelphia Board of Education. Parker chose the board members from a list of finalists submitted by the 13-member Educational Nominating Panel, which met throughout February and March to recommend 27 names.
In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Toy discussed his career trajectory in Philadelphia, the board’s nomination process, and Parker’s final selection.
to the Faculty Handbook.
Former Penn President Liz Magill resigned on Dec. 9 of last year amid backlash over antisemitism controversies. Three days later, former Perelman School of Medicine Dean Larry Jameson was appointed interim president. 130 days later, no Consultative Committee has yet been announced.
In comparison, former Penn President Sheldon Hackney announced his resignation on April 19, 1993, and the Board of Trustees announced the formation of the Consultative Committee on May 4 of that year — 20 days later.
When former Penn President Judith Rodin announced that she would be leaving the University on June 26, 2003, the Board of Trustees created the Consultative Committee two months later on Sept. 9, 2003.
Former Penn President Amy Gutmann announced her resignation on July 2, 2021, and the Board of Trustees appointed the Consultative Committee on Sept. 7, 2021.
The Consultative Committee must include at least four current trustees, four faculty members, one dean, one undergraduate student, one graduate student, and
At Penn, Toy earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in economics. Since then, he has been involved in a variety of organizations dedicated to Philadelphia public policy. This includes serving as a commissioner on both the Mayor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs and the Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission. Currently, Toy works as policy director at the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations.
Toy has also been heavily involved in Philadelphia education. Before serving on the Education Nominating Panel, Toy co-founded the Philadelphia Public Giving Circle — a fund dedicated to providing grants in support of the city’s public schools — and served on the Philadelphia Public School Notebook, a nonprofit news service on Philadelphia education.
“I believe in education as an equalizer among people,” Toy said. “The importance of having a good education cannot be underestimated.”
For Toy, serving on the Education Nominating Panel was particularly important because of his many personal ties to Philadelphia public schools.
“It was an honor to be chosen as someone that’s been involved in education over some years,” Toy said. “I’m a public school graduate, my children both went to public schools in Philadelphia, and my mom was a public school teacher in Philadelphia for 35 plus years.”
Through the nominating process, Toy said that the Nominating Panel conducted over 60 interviews and ended up choosing 27 finalists from 121 applicants. From this list, Parker ultimately chose 13 individuals to serve four-year terms on the Board of Education, beginning on May 1. The nominations consisted of four current board members and five new members.
“It was a hard process,” Toy said. “[We] met some really, really great people who are deeply committed to education in Philadelphia who had a lot of skills and talent.”
According to Toy, the Nominating Panel was looking
one staff member. The faculty members are chosen by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, and the rest of the members are selected by the committee chair — the chair of the Board of Trustees.
As the next step in the process, the Board of Trustees chair will then select members from the Consultative Committee to join a Search Committee. The role of the Search Committee is to identify and recruit candidates who meet the criteria outlined by the Consultative Committee.
The Search Committee will then make recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, who will present a final nomination to the Board for all Trustees to vote on.
“We need to remind ourselves that it's a lot easier to do a presidential search and a presidential transition when they're scheduled,” professor of education and history Jonathan Zimmerman said. “The departure of Liz Magill was entirely unscheduled, and it was without precedent in the history of the institution.”
Gutmann’s departure, unlike Magill’s, was planned. On June 30, Gutmann’s contract was set to expire after a 2016 extension made her the longest-serving President in Penn’s history. Magill’s tenure was the shortest of any Penn president, at only 526 days.
Magill’s resignation announcement came amid unprecedented national scrutiny over her remarks at
for individuals with a deep dedication to education and the ability to put significant time toward serving on the Board of Education.
“It’s a very large time commitment,” Toy said. “Most of them understood, but I think some didn’t really understand how much of a commitment until they really got into the interview process.”
Toy also emphasized that the nominating panel was looking for candidates with diverse skills and experiences, both in education and other fields.
“Schools are a huge undertaking beyond just the teaching part,” he said. “It’s a very large operation so we were really looking to make sure there was diversity there too.”
Three of the selected members — 2012 Wharton and School of Social Policy graduate Chau Wing Lam, 1973 College graduate Joyce Wilkerson, and 1972 College graduate Joan Stern — are Penn alumni. Toy praised all
three as “great candidates” and noted that each was very different in “backgrounds, age, and what they bring to the table.” Toy expressed hope that the new Board would work to expand the resources available to the Philadelphia school system. Recently, the Philadelphia School District was projected to run a $407 million deficit for the upcoming school year. Toy emphasized that the Board would have to work to gain the trust of Philadelphia residents.
“Part of the Board’s role is to really make sure that in their governance, people have confidence in what’s going on,” he said. “It’s a hard job.”
While recognizing Penn’s support for West Philadelphia schools, Toy also encouraged Penn to extend its support for local education beyond West Philadelphia.
“I think there are opportunities to support more schools across the city, not just in your backyard,” he said.
a congressional hearing of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and two months after several alumni and donors called for her resignation following the Palestine Writes Literature Festival and Hamas' attack on Israel.
Minutes after Magill’s resignation, former Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok — who oversaw the last presidential search — also resigned. He was succeeded on a permanent basis on Jan. 4 by Raghavendran, the former chair of the School of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors.
In a guest column published in the DP in February of this year, Bok stressed that the search for Magill’s successor will look very different from previous presidential searches. He wrote that the turmoil last semester "shattered" the idea of broadly shared values across the University, which have driven previous searches.
He explained that while the Consultative Committee held thorough discussion throughout the search, several major beliefs involving Penn's free speech policies, shared governance, and faculty and student diversity "did not require discussion or debate."
Former professor of practice at the Graduate School of Education Joni Finney explained that it is not unusual for the presidential search process to take a long time, especially in times of turmoil, and that the role of an interim president is to stabilize the University.
“I am not at all surprised and it's taking some time, and I would actually hope it takes longer,” she said. “I think we need a couple of years to figure this out.”
She explained that the Board specifically should take time to define its role at the University.
“They need to look at the structure and composition of the Board itself — including the number of board members — and really make sure the board is putting Penn first,” she said. “The board is the governing body for the University, and they've got to figure out their own role in all of this. I think it's become very confused.”
A recent analysis by The Daily Pennsylvanian found that Penn's Board of Trustees — which has 50 members — is the second-largest in the Ivy League, and exceeds both the Ivy League average of 37 members and the national private institution average of 28 members.
Zimmerman also said he believes that more faculty engagement in the process of the presidential search would be better for the University.
“Faculty have become progressively less involved and less powerful in decision making, and administrators become progressively more powerful,” he said.
It remains unclear whether the Board has begun assembling a Consultative Committee and when the process to select Penn’s next president will begin.
SULLIVAN, from BACK PAGE
races was all that mattered to him, with his desire to win overpowering the fear of losing.
The seemingly natural confidence Sullivan had in his abilities propelled him through every possible sport growing up, but, eventually, rowing became his sole focus. Despite his high level of interest, Boston Latin School, Sullivan’s high school, wasn’t exactly known for its crew program.
“Rowing was big in the sense that there were a lot of kids that did it. Not to say that we were especially good at the sport,” he admitted.
This hurdle only further encouraged Sullivan to push himself, eventually declaring that he wanted to race 2,000 meters in under six minutes — something most rowers can only dream of. Since then, Sullivan has done everything to keep this goal in reach with an unwavering focus.
As is the case for many athletes, coming to Penn was a huge adjustment for Sullivan. Before entering university, student-athletes are accustomed to being the best among their peers in high school. Yet, since Penn is filled with the best from all over, Sullivan had to confront a feeling of imposter syndrome early on. Sullivan quickly got over this, however, and readjusted his training to not only match, but to transcend the talent of his teammates.
“He doesn’t get caught up in extraneous things, he just thinks, here’s what I want to achieve … [and is] able to focus on what needs to happen to achieve that goal,” Cheryl said.
Fellow junior heavyweight rower Charlie Jones described him as “consistent” and “a rock,” who never budges from or loses sight of his goals. The first to arrive and the last to leave, Sullivan always puts in the extra practice to better his times.
An example of his commitment comes with his pre-practice rituals. To most rowers, the most boring part of rowing practice is carrying the oars from the boathouse to the river. Rather than share the load with his teammates, Sullivan bikes to the boathouse every morning before the rest of the team to carry the 40 oars down to the river by himself. Jones further spoke of Sullivan with a quiet reverence, continuing to applaud his incredible work ethic.
“He’s always doing everything right. He’s always getting the right amount of sleep. He takes care of his body. And he goes hard every single day,” he said.
Originally coming from a lower-ranked high
school rowing program, one could argue that Sullivan started further behind than his teammates. Not one to be deterred, he has since surpassed everyone else on the team, having recently become one of the fastest rowers in the country. His current 2,000m personal best is 5:49, a time on par with Olympic-caliber rowers.
“He has blown everyone out of the water,” Jones said.
Building on his athletic success, Sullivan has learned that succeeding as a student-athlete requires more than just athletic ability. It requires a careful balance of attention to academics, athletics, and life, something that Sullivan originally struggled to find but has since perfected. Even when considering his Olympic prospects, something that would blind most athletes with excitement, Sullivan tries to treat that aspect of his life with equal value to the rest.
“It would be a great honor to [row in the Olympics] and that is the goal. It’s just … for me, now, it’s thinking about how will life fit with that?” he said.
Sullivan clearly has tunnel vision, but only for the most important things in his life, which he sees as rowing, school, and his relationship with his mom.
“I don’t know who I’d be if I wasn’t as close to my mom as I am … I think just everything about me is in some way shaped by her,” he responded when asked about their closeness.
His teammates consider this relationship one of Sullivan’s best qualities. When asked about his favorite memory of Sullivan, Jones recalled a moment when he and Sullivan were in the middle of a conversation after a successful race and Sullivan abruptly left to celebrate and spend the rest of the day with his mom.
“ This speaks to his character,” Jones said. “He has got to be the most genuine and nicest [person] of any[one] that I’ve met from any group on campus.”
Between his talent, charm, and intelligence — as he currently plans to major in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics — Sullivan will certainly make a name for himself wherever he goes, and in coach Al Monte’s opinion, he is just scratching the surface of his abilities.
“That kid has more levels to unlock, physically, emotionally, mentally. I think on the physical side, he’s going to do all the work,” Monte claimed.
Penn students may know Sullivan from his white blonde hair, which his mom Cheryl considers his defining quality, but within four years time, they may very well know him as the Olympian who walked by them on Locust Walk. Relying on his foundations of family, confidence, and hard work — Sullivan looks to push past the finish line on his way to greatness.
POOL , from BACK PAGE
of Trustees approved over $14 million for the renovations in their March meeting, which is all of the funding for the project.
Although students are not involved with the project, Long said that a collaboration event with the Office of Student Affairs and Student Life is happening to celebrate the end of an era for Sheerr Pool and the plans for club sport relocations.
“We’re working with Student Affairs and Student Life to do an end of year dive-in movie — essentially presenting a movie in the pool — to celebrate the end of the school year and Sheerr Pool,” Long said. “[Regarding club aquatics] we’re still working with the Philadelphia area to identify where our sport club teams are going to go. However, we’re in a decent place with that. We hope that they don’t feel that impact as much and are excited about the new renovation as well.”
The dive-in movie event will be held at Sheerr Pool on May 1 from 7-9 p.m., while the pool is closing for renovations at the beginning of July.
CRAIN, from BACK PAGE
Finneran Pavilion to face off against the Wildcats, Perkins won’t be with them. He’ll be there, but on the other sideline — facing his former team. Last week, Perkins announced his transfer to Villanova, leaving the Quakers without their highest scoring freshman of all time.
Perkins isn’t the only key player leaving the Ivy League this offseason. Yale’s Danny Wolf, coming off a First Team All-Ivy selection, will be elsewhere next year. Reigning conference Rookie of the Year Malik Mack will be taking his talents to Georgetown. And last year, Jordan Dingle — coming off of a season where he finished second in Division I in scoring and earned Ivy League Player of the Year — left Penn for St. John’s during the offseason. None of these players were graduate transfers looking to cash in on their final year of eligibility, either. They all had eligibility remaining with their former teams.
The Ivy League prides itself on having a certain appeal to prospective players. A common refrain coaches and administrators tell recruits is the “40-year benefit, not just the four-year benefit” of playing at an Ivy League school. This is what the conference says helps it stay relevant in the modern age of college athletics.
I have no idea whether Perkins — or any of
PERKINS, from BACK PAGE
finishes in the Big East. Villanova entered the offseason with a hole in its backcourt after losing starting guards TJ Bamba and Justin Moore. Perkins enters with an immediate chance to start for a prestigious team in a high-level power conference, and has a shot to play in the national tournament — which didn’t seem to be a reality at Penn. Staying within the Big 5 means the Red and Blue will face off against Perkins frequently, with the move being especially ironic after this year’s matchup between the two. Perkins’
the other transfers — will be receiving scholarships or significant name, image, and likeness deals with their new schools. Whatever they are receiving, though, I applaud them for it. Athletes have a limited window of opportunity to make money off their skills, and they should cash in on that as much as possible, including by starting in college.
But I can’t help but feel slightly melancholic thinking about what it means if the best players in Ivy League men’s basketball will leave every year. The idea that a team will stay together and develop for several years at a time always held an allure for me.
The Ivy League is great — I’m so happy to have gone to Penn, for so much more than just sports. But it isn’t great to think about the fact that my school seems to be in a conference which is little more than a minor league, a feeder system that has its best players poached each offseason. Again, let me reiterate: I have absolutely no problem with any player who leaves the Ancient Eight for greener pastures elsewhere. But these transfers are degrading the quality of the conference.
The college basketball world at large won’t change its NIL or scholarship approach. So, the Ivy League is at a crossroads. It can stick to its old ways at the risk of having a lesser quality product, or it can adapt. And it should make a decision soon, unless the conference wants to fall even further behind.
22-point performance in the Penn win catapulted him onto the national scene early in the season, after which he said he was inspired by former Wildcat Jalen Brunson. Now, he will follow in Brunson’s footsteps at Villanova, and attempt to take them back to the tournament and beyond.
As for the Red and Blue, they will be searching for a lot of answers next year in the remainder of the offseason. With both Slajchert and Perkins playing elsewhere, the Quaker backcourt loses its two best scorers from a disappointing 2023-24 season. Freshman guard Sam Brown will be expected to fill a much larger role with his two counterparts gone, after scoring 10.9 points per game and starting for the majority of the season.
In high-scoring series, baseball falls to Cornell
The Quakers’ conference record drops to 6-6 with the defeat
TYLER RINGHOFER Sports AssociateSpring has finally arrived in Philadelphia, bringing with it warm weather, hot bats, and a whole lot of scoring. Despite windy conditions, both Cornell and Penn baseball could not be cooled off as they lit up the scoreboard over the weekend.
In the end, Cornell outpaced Penn, winning the series 2-1 in what proved to be an exciting back-and-forth affair. The Red and Blue (14-17, 6-6 Ivy) entered the series hoping to get back into the win column. However, defense and pitching proved to be the Achilles heel for a struggling Penn team.
On Saturday, the Big Red (10-13, 8-4 Ivy) put the Quakers on notice, opening the doubleheader by driving in four runs in the first inning. In the ensuing innings, Penn would respond with a flurry of runs of their own, notching six runs in four innings to take a two-run lead. Senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler homered to deep center, bringing his tally to an Ivy League-leading 15 home runs on the season. Henseler is the all-time leader in home runs for both Penn and the Ivy League at 47 homeruns, and his latest shot extended a Quaker lead that would ultimately hold with the Quakers winning the opener by a score of 6-5.
Later in the series, Henseler also recorded his 200th career hit, becoming the third player in Penn program history to reach that mark. “[It’s] super gratifying, [and I’m] grateful for all that,” Henseler said of the achievement. “At the end of the day, we didn’t come out on top, and that’s always going to be what’s really in the front of my mind. Wherever I can help this team win is where my priority is going to be. The hits come along with that a little bit sometimes.”
During the second game of the doubleheader, both teams continued to pile on runs in the first few innings. On the mound for the Quakers was junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Dromboski, who was the Ivy Pitcher of the Year in 2023. But this season has been an entirely different story, as Dromboski has yet to record a win. That streak persisted on Saturday as the Quakers became entangled in a shootout with which they could not keep up.
In the seventh and eighth innings, Cornell’s Caden Wildman hit back-to-back grand slams, plummeting the Quakers into a 13-run hole. In the end, the 18-9 defeat marked the most runs the
Quakers have surrendered in a game this season.
“It’s just a matter of guys making pitches in certain counts. When you get a guy 0-2, the advantage is really supposed to swing to the pitcher,” coach John Yurkow said. “I just feel like we haven’t been executing enough pitches and that’s what it’s really come down to.”
On the final match day, it was evident that the Red and Blue would have to match Cornell’s firepower. Once again, scoring came in barrages and waves. Cornell jumped out to an early lead of 4-0 behind a home run by Cornell’s Kevin Hager. The Quakers answered right back with a few runs of their own, chipping away at the lead to make it 4-3.
“In all those big innings, it’s been a lot of self-inflicted mistakes. It was hit by pitches, its
