April 27, 2023

PHOTOS BY ABHIRAM JUVVADI AND NATHANIEL BABITTS

Penn graduate student workers rallied for better working conditions, financial security, and protection against discrimination.

Nearly 2,000 student workers push for union

Hundreds of student workers, community members rallied outside Van Pelt Library citing inadequate support

Over 200 graduate student workers rallied outside of Van Pelt Library on April 26 to advocate for improved working conditions, financial security, and protection against discrimination. The rally comes after the group, which is called

Penn has largest pay gap between Ph.D. student stipends, presidential salary among Ivies

Penn’s average Ph.D. student stipend is 1.23% of its president’s salary

ANMOL DASH Staff Reporter

Penn leads in faculty and presidential pay among Ivy League universities but lags behind its peers in graduate student stipends, according to an analysis by The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The analysis found that the pay gap between Penn graduate students who receive stipends and the University's president was the highest among all Ivy League schools and Philadelphia area universities. Penn’s average Ph.D. student stipend is 1.23% of its president’s salary, while the average graduate student stipend across the Ivy League is 2.53% of the average president’s salary. On average, graduate student stipends among other Philadelphia universities are 3.58 percent of the president’s salary.

"The University has always been committed to providing competitive salaries, and compensation for all classes of employees is evaluated regularly relative to peer institutions and the general marketplace," Penn spokesperson Ron Ozio wrote in a statement to the DP.

The DP used publicly available data from University tax forms for the most recent publicly available

See SALARIES, page 7

Senior Penn admin. asked to deliver testimony in Mackenzie Fierceton lawsuit

Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein, who played a key role in the investigation of Fierceton, is one of the officials likely to be deposed

KATIE BARTLETT Staff Reporter

Two senior Penn administrators have been asked to testify in Penn graduate Mackenzie Fierceton's lawsuit against the University.

In an ongoing personal injury lawsuit filed on Dec. 21, 2021, Fierceton — a 2021 School of Social Policy & Practice and 2020 College graduate — accused Penn of discrediting her status as a first-generation, low-income student and unjustly withholding her master’s degree after she became a Rhodes Scholar. In a move that revives an ongoing legal battle, on April 3, Fierceton filed a motion to compel depositions from defendants Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein and Office of General Counsel's Senior Vice President Wendy White, as well as former Interim President Wendell Pritchett.

A pre-trial discovery hearing has been scheduled for May 3, where lawyers representing Fierceton and the University will be present to cross-examine witnesses. The subject of the hearing is Fierceton's motion to compel, Philadelphia Discovery Court Manager Peter Divon wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

In a counter-filing dated April 18, Penn opposed Fierceton's motion to compel depositions from Winkelstein, White, and Pritchett, calling the motion "without merit" and accusing Fierceton of failing to put "reasonable and good faith effort" into resolving disputes between parties. The filing indicates that the two parties were planning for Winkelstein, White, and Pritchett to deliver testimony in June.

VIDYA PANDIARAJU AND HALEY SON Staff Reporters

Graduate Employees Together at the University of Pennsylvania, announced on April 24 that over 1,900 Penn doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate student workers have signed authorization cards to form a union. The group is hoping to join the United

Auto Workers union. At the rally, graduate students, union leaders, politicians, and other Penn employees shared testimonials in support of the group's unionization effort. See UNION, page 7

In her initial lawsuit, Fierceton alleged that there is a connection between the University’s accusations towards her and her attempt to determine whether the 2018 death of SP2 graduate student Cameron Avant Driver was the result of limited accessibility in campus buildings. The lawsuit also called Penn's investigation of Fierceton's FGLI status a "sham" and

See FIERCETON, page 7

Students raise concerns about professor’s approach to teaching course about gender and sexuality

The Anthropology department said Theodore Schurr should no longer teach the course in 2019, but he is still teaching it

DEDEEPYA GUTHIKONDA Senior Reporter

Some students have raised concerns about an anthropology course on gender and sexuality, alleging that the professor made insensitive and transphobic remarks during classes.

In 2019, the Anthropology department determined that professor Theodore Schurr should no longer teach ANTH 1040: "Sex & Human Nature" after receiving complaints from students about offensive remarks he allegedly made in class, College first year Haydr Dutta said. But the course was taught by Schurr again in 2021 according to Penn Course Review, and it is being taught this semester — where students have continued to raise concerns.

Dutta, who is familiar with concerns regarding the course, said that students enrolled in the course have voiced their concerns to the LGBT Center, the Anthropology department, and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies program.

Executive Director of Communications at the School of Arts and Sciences Loraine Terrell told The Daily Pennsylvanian that SAS "is aware of these student concerns but has no further comment at this time.”

Schurr, the Title IX office, and the Chair of the Anthropology department did not respond to the DP's request for comment.

The course, which double-counts to fulfill the College's Cultural Diversity in the United States Foundational Approach and the Living World sector requirement, has nearly 190 students currently enrolled with a maximum enrollment of 200 students, according to Path@Penn.

Dutta and a College junior, who requested anonymity after citing fear of academic retaliation, said that a Title IX process had been conducted against Schurr when he taught the course in 2019. Following this process, the conclusion was reached that he would no longer teach the

course. Schurr, however, is still teaching the course.

The College junior said that she has been in contact with the Title IX office about a complaint against the professor.

ANTH 1040 has not been cross-listed with the GSWS program since 2019. Associate Director of the GSWS Program Gwendolyn Beetham told the DP that the program's leaders felt the course did not meet the program's standards for teaching about gender and sexuality.

"We are not only concerned that we're in compliance with rules and regulations around gender and sexuality, but we actually want to have a space that is affirming to

students who are transgender and who are gender expansive," Beetham said. "If we know that a course, or a space is not, then we try to work together with our students to address that."

Beetham said she wishes there was a more streamlined process for students to report course concerns to the University.

Dutta said they had concerns regarding racist connotations in some of the course material discussing evolutionary psychology and biology.

See PROFESSOR , page 7

PHOTO BY RACHEL ZHANG

Students have raised concerns about an anthropology course on gender and sexuality.

PHOTO BY ABHIRAM JUVVADI

Penn Dining is now strictly reinforcing its policy that staff confirm students’ identities before accepting their meal swipes.

Penn cracks down on PennCard checks at oncampus dining locations

The increased enforcement has prompted student criticism, though Penn says there has been no policy change

SHAURYA SINGHI Staff Reporter

Students criticized Penn Dining for reinforcing its policy of instructing students to show their PennCards before being allowed to swipe at dining locations.

Many Penn dining halls and facilities — including Falk Dining Commons at Penn Hillel, Houston Market, Starbucks at Class of 1920 Commons, and McClelland Dining — have cracked down on the policy since Wednesday by placing signs and instructing dining hall workers to employ stricter ID checks when students are swiping in. Some dining hall workers, including those at Gourmet Grocer and Hill College House, have asked students to hand over their PennCards to be manually swiped in, rather than instructing students to tap the scanner themselves.

Barbara Lea-Kruger, the director of communications and external relations of Penn Business Services, said that there has been no policy change.

“The policy has always been to present a card and have our staff confirm the identity of the diner,” Lea-Kruger said. “We have noticed as the year goes on that more students are forgetting their cards or not showing their cards or staff does not

Penn sends disciplinary notice to student founder of

dining swipe exchange platform

The platform, Swipe Exchange, let students list and bid for meal exchanges at Houston Market

check so the signs are, as they state, a reminder to everyone. Again, this has always been our policy.”

However, students told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the stricter reinforcement of this policy has hampered their ability to have full control over their meal plan and sell or buy meal swipes. Some students on dining plans have long used their meal swipes in order to grant other students access to dining facilities, including when students have run out of their guest swipes.

“I don’t think this policy makes sense,” College first-year Sam Tausner said. “If one student has an excess amount of swipes that they already paid for at the beginning of the year, they should be allowed to use them however and for whomever they want.” Wharton and Engineering first-year Teena Bhatia echoed Tausner’s sentiment, saying the policy’s newfound enforcement prevents students from having autonomy over their dining plans.

“I don’t really agree with this new policy because I don’t think it’s a big deal who is using the swipes,” Bhatia said. “Those swipes would have eventually been used up by the owner, so I don’t see how it would make a difference to the dining halls.”

Kruger said that regular swipes may only be used by the dining plan participant, as included in the Terms and Conditions of the dining plan.

The policy not only affects the purchasing of swipes but also causes inconveniences in a wider range of scenarios, College first-year Ahaan Chhatwal said.

“[I]f I want to get my girlfriend food without her having to move out of her room, that’s not possible anymore,” he said. “Whether it’s my card or someone else’s card that’s swiping shouldn’t make a difference.”

According to College senior James Parente, the policy could cause a significant impact on the social life of students.

“Limiting students on the dining plan with how they can use their meal swipes not only limits their autonomy as growing, learning adults, but also removes the aspects of social gathering and the need for human connection that every human strives to have,” he said.

DAVID ZHANG Staff Reporter

On April 12, a Wharton junior launched a meal swipe exchange platform. Eight days later, he received a disciplinary notice from the University.

The platform, Swipe Exchange, allowed students to list and bid on meal exchanges at the retail dining location Houston Market. Its functionality was based on the ability of users to scan QR codes to pick up food purchased with a meal swipe, which allowed Swipe Exchange to put students selling and bidding on swipes into contact with one another once a seller

accepted a bid.

On April 20, Swipe Exchange's founder, Wharton junior Arham Habib, received a disciplinary notice from Penn’s Center for Community Standards and Accountability. The notice, which was obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian, said that Habib's platform was "in violation of Penn's meal plan policies" and instructed Habib to immediately disable the platform or face possible disciplinary action.

A spokesperson for University Life wrote that they cannot comment on judicial processes due to privacy concerns. According to Swipe Exchange's website, its operations are now “temporarily suspended.”

CSA's notice to Habib stated that he needed to schedule a meeting with a CSA case manager to “clarify the specifics of the incident and review the possible options for resolving the matter" — otherwise, his academic records could be placed on disciplinary hold. The notice also stated that Habib has not yet been charged with a policy violation and that the matter “may or may not lead to disciplinary action.”

Habib told the DP that the policy of forbidding student exchanges of dining swipes is “egregious and unfair.”

“On principle, it doesn’t make sense for you to not be allowed to sell something you own," Habib said. "The dining plan is already overpriced relative to options around campus, and it’s economically unfair to force students onto it and not let them sell or offer swipes to friends."

The recent increasing popularity of exchanging meal swipes has partially resulted in Penn Dining’s tightened policy of ensuring students are using PennCards that belong to them, which has sparked opposition among students.

According to Habib, he had envisioned a virtual swipe trading platform since Penn first enforced mandatory dining plans for sophomores, believing it would help to “reduce some of the wasted swipes.” He materialized this idea after his gap year, during which he said he became a better developer after working for a startup.

“I realized that if you use screen recordings instead of screenshots, you could actually exchange meal swipes without being in person,” Habib said.

The platform worked by allowing for bidding between buyer and seller. According to Habib, setting a fixed price at $6.00 did not appeal to many users, as people could visit Penn’s food trucks as an alternative, so he decided to create a bidding system. Based on the cost of student meal plans, a meal swipe averages to $17.00.

“For example, if you want a meal for $4.00, you can put a $4.00 bid into the platform, and then you see if there's any seller that matches with you," Habib said before the platform was suspended. "I think it's a more intelligent approach, and I'm curious about what people end up deciding the fair value of a swipe is."

Habib said that he thinks Penn’s policy of only allowing students to use meal swipes for themselves is inefficient and creates more food waste.

“The policy contributes to waste by forcing premade food to go to waste. It’s pathetic that Penn is standing in the way of efficient, economically inclusive, and student-led initiatives,” Habib added.

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The meal swipe exchange platform, Swipe Exchange, was suspended following a disciplinary notice from Penn.

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

UC Townhomes residents call settlement a win but express concern about details of agreement

During the conference, five residents spoke to a crowd about how they are pleased with the allocation of land to affordable housing, but want more agency

NINA DILWORTH Staff Reporter

University City Townhomes residents and advocates called the recent settlement between the property’s developers and the city of Philadelphia a victory, with some caveats.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, the residents said that while they consider the settlement a win, it is only the first step in a continued struggle to preserve affordable housing. During the conference, five residents spoke to a crowd through loudspeakers, before moving to the streets to voice their demands.

The settlement, which marks the end to a lawsuit between IBID Associates, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, and the City of Philadelphia, requires IBID to transfer a 23,595-square-foot parcel of the land to the City for the development of 70 permanently affordable units and community green space.

However, residents who were fighting to preserve the entire Townhomes property said that this allocation — which comprises about 20% of the 2.6-acre property and can be used to create up to 75 units with a mix of one, two, and three bedroom units — is insufficient.

“Less than a fifth [of the property] is not nearly enough to meet the great need for affordable housing in our community,” Sheldon Davids, a member of the People’s Townhomes Resident Council, said. “Nonetheless, this is still a victory. Had we not fought back, we would likely have received zero percent of this site for affordable housing.”

Residents also expressed disappointment about the affordability standards that the settlement lays out for the allocated affordable housing. In the settlement, IBID and the city agreed on rent limits for each unit that are most affordable for residents whose income is between 60 percent and 80 percent of the average median income, opening up the property to people with higher incomes.

The residents said that they will continue to fight for the property rent limit to be most affordable for residents whose income is at 30% of the average median income. They said that rates based on 30% will allow all the current residents to remain in the community after redevelopment. With the current rent limit targets, the residents said that seniors and residents living on fixed incomes would be left behind and forced to relocate.

Penn extends next year’s winter break to accommodate spring holidays

Penn’s winter break for the 2023-2024 school year will start on Dec. 21 and end on Jan. 18

RYAN WOLFF Contributing Reporter

Penn’s winter break will be eight days longer for the 2023-24 academic year, with classes resuming on Jan. 18. Winter break next school year will last 27 days, according to the University academic calendar. This is more than a week longer than winter break for the 2022-23 year, which lasted 19 days and ended on Jan. 11.

The Office of the Provost wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Penn extended winter break so that “the last day of classes, reading days, and final examinations occur after the Passover holiday.”

In 2024, Passover will occur from April 22 to April 30 – significantly later than usual. The last day of the spring term will be May 14, as compared to May 9 for the 202223 year. Commencement will take place on May 20 for the Class of 2024.

An analysis by the DP this January found that Penn has the fewest days off — defined as weekdays between the first day of the fall term and the last day of final exams in the spring — when compared to other Ivy League universities and peer institutions in the Philadelphia area.

College first-year Tyler Trang said that this year, some of his friends started winter vacation before him and returned to school after him.

“With our short break, I didn’t really have as much time

to relax back at home because I had to travel,” Trang said. “It felt very quick.”

The length of Penn’s winter break has historically fluctuated from year to year, from 19 days to just under four weeks. Students have said that shorter breaks contribute to burnout and pose logistical problems for international students in particular, for whom traveling home is often more costly.

College first-year Mia Antonacci said that she appreciates having a longer winter break next year.

“It would be nice to have more time with my family during the break between semesters, especially for students who have longer travels back home,” Antonacci said. The extension comes mostly from days added at the end of break; the 2023 fall semester will end only one day earlier than the fall semester in 2022.

Engineering first-year Aeshon Balasubramanian, who lives on the West Coast, said that he is uncertain the change “would really make much of a difference” for his travels back home.

“If [winter break] started earlier, then we’d dodge more of the Christmas traffic,” Balasubramanian said. For the 2024-25 school year, the calendar indicates that winter break will be 26 days long.

The speakers also said that the tenant fund of $3.5 million to address relocation costs was not enough money, noting that the funding will be taxed. The money, administered by the nonprofit United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, is equivalent to about $50,000 per household.

“This payment may seem like a large amount of money to working-class people, but let’s be clear, this is a far cry from the equitable compensation for being pushed out of your community in the name of greed,” Davids said.

Under the settlement, IBID is allowed to begin demolishing vacant units on the site. Beginning Aug. 15, IBID can also file eviction cases against residents still living in the Townhomes.

After addressing the provisions of the settlement, the residents said that their vision for the future of the Townhomes includes keeping the site permanently affordable, offering improved disability accommodations, multiple-room units, community-oriented and green spaces, and encouraging resident participation in the planning process.

“From the day that we made the decision to opt out of the Section 8 Agreement after nearly 40 years of operating the Townhomes, our preference was to build a campus that would create jobs, including jobs for residents of the West Philadelphia community, and generate major new investment in the city,” IBID previously wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The calls come as UC Townhomes residents have joined with Penn and Drexel students and housing activists to organize against the sale since it was announced. At Penn, student organizers and community members have held demonstrations demanding University support for the residents during the Class of 2026’s Convocation, President Liz Magill’s inauguration, and this year’s Homecoming football game.

As part of the settlement, Penn will help fund a coalition to provide support services to the tenants along with other University City institutions.

Davids said that this settlement illustrates the extent of the affordable housing crisis in Philadelphia and highlighted the UC Townhomes as a culmination of these collective struggles.

“We are the canary in the coal mine,” Davids said.

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

The Coalition to Save the UC Townhomes organized a press conference and rally at 40th and Market streets on April 21.

PHOTO BY ADAM BENNETT Penn’s winter break for the next school year will last 27 days, which is more than a week longer than this year’s.

Cultural arson: Book banning endangers intellectual freedom

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In the midst of my visit to Yad Vashem last summer, I approached an exhibit with books scattered across a shallow divot in the floor of the concrete building. They are symbolic of the over 25,000 books destroyed by the Nazis in 1930s Berlin preceding World War II.

I stood beside my fellow visitors in silence as we watched eerie footage of the national event: A mob of people saluting Hitler’s reign of terror while they cheerily threw heaps of books into the fire — setting ideas, history, and lives aflame with them.

Thousands of pages were obliterated, blackened with ashes instead of ink. This act of censorship marked the very beginning of a period of extensive oversight contributing to the massacres of Jews, nomadic groups, and many others. The video concluded with a quote by Heinrich Heine: “Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.”

Immediately, I was brought back to the news of escalating book bannings in 2021 and 2022. I quickly recognized that book banning and book burning are means to the same ends: Erasing history, suppressing culture, and preventing freedom of thought by deliberately limiting access to information.

It is a tyrannical method to keep the public at bay, to maintain subservience to a regime without rebellion, and to preserve a status quo curated by the few in power. Those who ban books want a complicit, submissive society.

Inherently, the implications of book banning move beyond primary schooling. Book purges are problematic for institutions of higher education because students’ deficiencies in sociocultural capital in their primary years trickle into their post-secondary education. This perpetuates disproportionate gaps of information to stunt well-rounded, diverse thinking.

The History

Last January, by a 10-to-0 vote, Art Spieglman’s Pulitzer-winning graphic comic novel ‘Maus: A Survivor’s Tale’ about the Holocaust was banned by a school district in Tennessee for “nudity” and “profanity.”

Spiegelman used animals as characters instead of people to symbolize the hierarchical views of Nazis – Jews as mice and Germans as predatory cats. The “nudity” in question was in reference to one minuscule image in the comic when the author’s mother was found to have committed suicide.

The school district claimed that they were protecting children from offensive imagery while simultaneously flattening the larger messages of the novel and disregarding how Spiegleman unveils the unspeakable through a unique literary medium. It should be a given that works on the Holocaust are bound to contain unpleasant imagery. Ironically, banning a book highlighting fascism is a form of fascism itself.

Maus was just one of 2,532 instances of individual books banned between July 2021 and June 2022 alone, according to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans list – a record high.

Among others deemed inappropriate were:

Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ is set in the Reconstruction era and depicts slavery’s horrors and legacy with sexually explicit and violent scenes.

‘Gender Queer’ by Maia Kobabe details Kobabe’s personal journey in their gender identity formation, aimed to be a “useful and touching guide on gender identity,” according to its publisher.

Both books are understood to be inappropriate for students by their critics when, in actuality, they are anything but. The intent of these books is not to promote dangerous ideologies or movements, but to work against them. Awareness of these stories has the potential to prevent and reduce inequality through unique lenses.

Because stories generate emotional connections, they inspire us to act to overcome hatred. Those opposing these books would recognize that, if only they read beyond the snippets they are deliberately citing out of context in efforts to manipulate and obstruct the broader meanings of the materials.

If you take a look at the PEN America list of banned books, there is a clear-cut trend: Intolerance and exclusion buttress these efforts.

The books that were challenged or banned last year and into this year contained common themes of “LGBTQIA+ content,” “divisive language,” and “anti-police messag[ing],” were considered “sexually explicit,” dealt with topics such as history, or were centered around protagonists of color.

Evidently, minority voices that have persistently sought to amplify their stories are under profound attack as their identities are vanishing from the shelves that they fought so long to be on. They have become the direct targets of efforts to micromanage education as a proxy to further oppress historically marginalized groups. In essence, then, banning books restricts history to the lenses of those who have always had voices, or, in other words, the winners. Students crave information. These removals send a message that certain stories should remain untold, forgotten, and hidden. In turn, students of these marginalized identities may then feel this way about themselves.

And now, in 2023, the fire continues to burn as more books are up for contention in Texas and Florida. But this fight is also occurring in our backyard: Pennsylvania is ranked 3rd for having the most banned books in the country, and districts including Central Bucks County challenged over 60 books in February. Further westward, another Pennsylvania school district, Central York, continues to add to its list of over 300 banned books, primarily relating to minority groups.

The Harm

There are extensive risks to censorship, especially as book banning targets marginalized groups to conceal unsettling — but true — injustices of the past and present.

Although some proponents of book banning may argue that educational curricula should not be politicized through these books, human rights are not political, and neither is teaching history through personal narratives that cannot be encapsulated in textbooks. When education is highly controlled, that is when it becomes politicized — that is when human rights are debated.

Storytelling is power. English teachers often turn to the metaphor of “windows, mirrors, and glass doors” when unpacking texts. Literature can offer windows into experiences that students would not otherwise have exposure to, mirrors for introspection for self-identity, and glass doors that open for readers to become part of the characters’ world, inducing a shift in perspective. All three exercises can move students to develop more nuanced perceptions of humanity – and those unlike themselves.

That said, coming face-to-face with others’ narratives can arouse previously unconsidered

notions and lead to new outlooks about issues, granting provisionality to our beliefs. Through literature, we can alter our worldviews to be more holistic and respectful rather than judgemental and insular.

But when restricted to only select literary resources, opportunities for growth decline dramatically as education centered around homogenous outlooks bolsters uniform thinking. Reading renders appreciation for individual differences, legitimizing others rather than diminishing their vitality.

Michelle Maiese, professor of Philosophy at Emmanuel College, finds that affective and conceptual frameworks combine to construct our habits of thinking, responses, and actions. Implicit judgements and biases embedded in these frameworks can stifle change if left unattended. Thus, educational exposure is essential in developing sensitivity extending to our treatment of the world and others.

Schemas are patterns of thinking and methods of mental categorization, but they are subject to immense change with culturally representative and integrative curricula. Our habits of mind, according to Maiese, guide what we deem significant and concerning, but these stories can help expand these capacities.

An additional risk of book banning is the sanitization of history. This contributes to historical debt, and puts educational access and independent practical thinking at stake – and in the hands of the perpetrators.

Overall, filtering literature only furthers immense partisanship and silences those already disproportionately underrepresented. Students cannot learn about other perspectives and experiences different from theirs when the curriculum is limited to what makes politicians comfortable.

The Hypocrisy Keith Flaugh, one of the founders of a conservative educational group called Florida Citizens Alliance, argues, “This is not about banning books, it’s about protecting the innocence of our children.” Is it?

It’s not about maintaining innocence, but ignorance. It’s about mind control. The same political leaders that are waging a war on books are the very ones who will fight tenaciously to defend the weapons killing our

Dragons and Owls and Quakers, oh my!

country’s children time and time again. Instead of working to protect children’s safety through tangible efforts against real threats, they expend immense energy trying to limit children’s spheres of knowledge.

When we encounter stories about systematic ills plaguing our country, we become more resilient and more willing to advocate for our beliefs. Proponents of book banning want to suppress dissent and difference.

“Maus and many other banned books that grapple with the history of oppression show readers how personal prejudice can become the law … adults are wielding their own prejudices as a weapon, and students will suffer for it,” Marilisa Jiménez García, Lehigh University associate professor warns.

Stories do what statistics and numbers can’t. Books captivate humankind at its best and its worst; they are quintessential to societal progress and development. Humans are multifaceted beings, just like the characters in these books. We have to keep defending these characters who help us understand and see the world in a way that is not merely black and white.

If we continue to allow policymakers to control our access to knowledge, we are in danger of living in a dystopian society — something like the one portrayed in ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ a world without a single book. I suggest reading it before it becomes banned, too.

As Ray Bradbury remarks in ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ "Do you understand now why books are hated and feared? Because they reveal the pores on the face of life. The comfortable people want only the faces of the full moon, wax, faces without pores, hairless, expressionless."

This is a culture war, and we must engage in battle. Keep reading, keep learning, and, most importantly, keep storytelling. Students and society need you on their side of the story.

MCAVOY-BICKFORD’S MUSINGS | Why is it easier to take classes at Bryn Mawr than at Drexel?

other institutions to help students further explore their academic interests.

Many academic benefits are obvious, but the rewards don’t end there. More contact between Penn students and students at other universities widens the social circle for students at all schools. Penn’s student body, with its passion for finance and consulting, can lead students to be wildly out-of-touch with typical American life. More relationships with people outside the Penn bubble can help with that.

Plus, if Penn actually cares about serving diverse students, these partnerships would be with highly diverse schools. For example, both Temple and Drexel serve a higher percentage of Pell Grant recipients than Penn does.

offerings at Drexel and Temple are limited compared to Penn. The Quaker Consortium, as of 2015, served mostly students coming in to Philadelphia, but, since Drexel and Temple offer non-liberal-arts programs also, it’s a reasonable guess that Penn students would be more interested in these programs.

It’s also true that Drexel, with its quarter system, and also Temple operate on different academic schedules than Penn. While this might decrease the number of students interested in the program, the larger student bodies and short transit times mean that the program would likely serve a number of students roughly similar to that served by the Quaker Consortium as it stands.

A chasm runs along Walnut Street. On one side lies our own august institution, the University of Pennsylvania, proud home of the Quakers (who weren’t actually mostly Quakers). On the other side, separated by the seemingly impassable moat of 34th Street, lies a mysterious academic institution called Drexel, where there are supposedly dragons. And that’s not to mention the even more mysterious Temple.

Meanwhile, Penn students can easily take on the guise of students at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, or Swarthmore, three small-ish liberal arts colleges in the Philadelphia suburbs, through a program called the Quaker Consortium. So why does the university regard the other side of 34th Street as foreign territory,

while maintaining a pact of friendship stretching deep into the suburbs?

The obvious answer is elitism. Saying that students can take classes at top-ranked liberal arts colleges sounds prestigious on Kite and Key tours. Saying that students can take classes at nearby Drexel and Temple? Not so much.

To me, this sentiment is ridiculous. It’s past time for Penn to either add Drexel and Temple to the Quaker Consortium, or create a new agreement with them. There are certainly students at these institutions who would be interested in taking classes at Penn, and it makes sense to let them do so as easily as possible. By the same token, Penn students should be able to take classes not available here at

The obvious claim against this is that Temple and Drexel students will not be able to handle the workload of Penn. But this doesn’t seem true. To start, Philadelphians, like current Drexel student Sara Gebrekidan, can take certain classes at Penn when in high school. It’s true that SAT scores are slightly lower at Drexel and Temple than at Bryn Mawr, but that’s not a particularly accurate metric of academic difficulty. Furthermore, it seems clear that students can judge quite well for themselves whether or not a class is too difficult; Penn students frequently drop overly difficult classes early on.

A more valid motivation for only forming a partnership of this kind with liberal arts colleges is that they are small and limited in how many classes they can offer, so their students need this more. Similarly, there’s a possible concern that there wouldn’t be any classes that students from one of the city schools would want to take at the other.

However, as Gebrekidan, who transferred to Drexel from Temple, pointed out, language

But how far should this program go? Many of the arguments certainly apply to other Philadelphia-area schools like Villanova. But Drexel and Temple have a unique combination of a large student population, strong academics, and easy SEPTA connections. It makes the most sense for Penn to start in its own backyard when expanding its cross-university programs.

In the end, there’s a lack of good explanations for why Drexel, Temple, and Penn stand so far apart academically, despite standing so close geographically. The University shouldn’t let bias against less prestigious schools prevent them from creating a program like the Quaker Consortium, in order to improve educational opportunities for students at all three local

A RIANE AMONG MEN

Educational freedom is at stake as book banning conditions people to think uniformly

PHOTO BY HANNAH SHUMSKY

A display of children’s books at Van Pelt Library on Jan. 31.

schools.

PHOTO BY DIEGO CÁRDENAS URIBE

A statue of Mario the Magnificent, the official mascot of Drexel University at the corner of 33rd and Market streets.

RIANE LUMER is a College junior studying political science and journalistic writing from Huntingdon Valley, P.A. Her email address is rlumer@sas. upenn.edu.

BENJAMIN McAVOY-BICKFORD is a College first year from Chapel Hill, NC. His e-mail is bmcavoyb@sas. upenn.edu.

Legacy admissions: An outdated relic

VESELY’S VISION | Penn should eliminate legacy preference during the admissions process

It’s time for Legacy admissions to end once and for all. In light of Penn’s recent wording changes to their legacy admissions policy, and yet another year of Penn withholding specific statistics on the newly admitted class of 2027, discussions surrounding legacy admissions have resurfaced throughout the nation and at Penn.

Penn’s recent edit withdrew a clause that formerly read, “An applicant’s affiliation with Penn, either by being a child or grandchild of alumni, is given the most consideration through Early Decision." By no longer stating this, it seems as though Penn is moving in the direction of eliminating legacy preferences altogether.

Penn is in a position to scrap legacy preference, and this is the right move.

We can all agree that admissions should be “fair,” but what does that fairness look like? I hear this word frequently thrown around in regards to the college admissions process. Is fairness the boost that legacy students receive simply for their parents' hard work? Or is fairness the equity that’s a result of race-conscious admissions, and the recognition that opportunities are not equal for all students?

The American Dream promises equal opportunity to achieve success and the presence of legacy admissions stands in stark contrast to that. If your parents receive a degree from Penn, they likely have the financial means and cultural capital to set you up for success. By investing in standardized test preparation for their children, enrolling them in college preparation schools, and nurturing their interests like sports or fine arts, Penn alumni are capable of helping their kids stand out as college applicants, and here's the kicker: All these things cost large sums of money.

The cost of participating in certain sports like

Fashion and you

lacrosse or ice hockey can easily surpass hundreds of dollars in equipment alone. In addition, one of the leading standardized test prep services, Princeton Review, offers SAT tutoring starting at $364 an hour.

I’d like to be clear: I am not upset at legacy students for attending Penn. Attending your parents' alma mater is an accomplishment that shouldn’t be understated. However, on paper, the existence of legacy preference minimizes this achievement. Socially, these preferences further alienate legacy students into receiving criticism about how they got in. Jokes directed at legacy students about how much money their parents donated or what building displays their surname run rampant through campus. Ending legacy preferences would put an end to this, as everyone deserves to feel like they made it here on their own merit.

The preference for legacy students mimics an aristocratic system which favors the family you were born into, rather than one’s own accomplishments. Nepotism, and more specifically the derogatory term 'Nepo baby’ — which emerged late last year as a label for Hollywood stars with famous parents — speaks to how this debate around one's family status transcends discussions of college admissions.

Categorizing stars as ‘self-made’ versus so-called ‘Nepo babies’ is something that is also done in education. However, while many children are receiving backlash for the circumstances they've grown up in, I don’t see that as the right approach.

Everyone deserves to be proud of where they come from and who they are, and if your parents’ Penn degree inspires you to follow in their footsteps, I believe you should. I just don’t believe that it should be a deciding factor in one's admission.

Other high-caliber institutions, such as MIT, denounce legacy admissions and do not use legacy status at all in applications. As seen on their admissions page, “If you got into MIT, it’s because you got into MIT. Simple as that.” Penn should adopt this method, and evaluate applicants based on them, not their parents' affiliation with the university.

As a first-generation, low-income (FGLI) student, some may say it is easy for me to denounce the value of legacy admissions, but I disagree. Although my personal path navigating college admissions was done without many of the resources I listed above, I hope to provide those resources to my children and believe that every parent that's able to should. If my kids choose to

ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE | The Penn community should pay more attention to fashion around us

— academia, prep, etc. — were inspired by campuses of this era. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, “Ivy League style” was considered a symbol of wealth and status. This was partially due to the student population at the time: Most university students were children of wealthy, majority-white families up until the mid-19th century. Naturally, universities were places of exclusivity, and as one of the oldest universities in the states, Penn was no exception.

The popularization of “Ivy League Fashion” emerged after the 1930s, when the conclusion of two World Wars led to America’s rapid growth into a global superpower. Accompanying such development was a boom of activity on college campuses. Countrywide attention on collegiate sports increased, and the fields of arts, sciences, and engineering came to the forefront of American prosperity. At the same time, universities began to admit more students from diverse backgrounds. Penn in particular changed their admittance policy to pursue diversity in 1967.

As colleges became more prominent and immediate to the layperson, college fashion — especially that of the Ivy League schools— became symbols of professionalism and education. One example is the Weejun penny loafer. First popularized by students at Yale, these penny loafers became what is considered an “instant classic;” its fast proliferation throughout Yale was quickly followed by the upper-middle class on the East Coast.

There are some choices you make every single day, consciously or not. What you eat, where you’re going, who you meet ... and what you wear. While one’s choice of clothing may seem like an unimportant everyday decision, the topic of fashion on campus has historical significance and continues to constantly influence our lives at Penn.

Fashion is an important part of how we express ourselves and how we’re perceived by others. In professional settings, this is especially pronounced. Studies have shown that our choice of clothing can significantly change how competent we appear, and it also affects how people judge our social class and background. While social class as a concept is less relevant today than it was historically, it still lead to prejudice and disadvantages. Class is a way of living — it is not

simply wealth but an amalgamation of actions and behaviors that is embedded in our daily lives. Likewise, fashion is often used as a social class indicator. What you wear and how you wear it isn’t simply a tool of self-expression. Your depth of understanding can also work as its own unique form of social capital. Clothing represents subcultures, hobbies, interests, and even backgrounds.

Universities have historically been at the center of many evolutions in fashion — to understand how we dress today, we need to take a look at the socioeconomic background of how campus fashion still influences us.

Over the course of the 20th century, Ivy League schools waxed and waned as icons of fashion around the world. In fact, many fashion aesthetics

These styles later evolved into “preppy” fashion, and the clothing adopted by the Ivies were emulated because of the perceived prestige of the students. Later on, they became marketing tactics to make student life seem more visually appealing for prospective students, especially as college significance and competitiveness began to increase in American society. Items such as varsity jackets, club blazers, cable knit sweaters, and more staples in modern clothing all stem from this era.

Such collegiate and preppy fashion trends saw a steady fall in popularity in the following years, but they have recently resurfaced. Nostalgia has been a driving force behind this resurgence, especially during COVID-19. Now is the time to reconsider Penn’s campus fashion — how it shapes the world around us,

apply to Penn in the future, I want them to be evaluated on themselves and their accomplishments, not mine.

Whether you like it or not, your individual success should not guarantee your kids a place at Penn. They must earn that for themselves. When I graduate from Penn, I will be the first in my family to graduate college in four years. I want my kids to go to college, but no matter how much money I donate, or where I received my degree, my kids should be evaluated amongst their peers based on their own merit.

MIA VESELY is a College first year studying philosophy, politics, and economics from Phoenix. Her email is mvesely@sas.upenn.edu.

and how it shapes our own lives.

Understanding and reviving campus fashion at Penn can thus greatly help students. The re-emergence of collegiate fashion as a trend, and the prevalence of “business” clothing being associated with preppy and academia fashion, means that understanding these styles and utilizing them in our day-to-day lives can both prepare us for our professional lives and help augment how we’re perceived.

It can be difficult, however, to understand this context of fashion if one is either uninterested or hasn't had the opportunity to observe real-life examples. Even if you are surrounded by the most textbook examples of fashion styles, it’s easy to miss details.

It is interesting to note that many different communities at Penn have different attitudes towards fashion as well, and this diversity of daily style should be celebrated. While clothing is a tool, it remains flexible: Choices of clothing that work for some students will not work for others. As a student both in SEAS and Wharton, I have noted how even more formal events among SEAS students require more casual clothing than those for Wharton.

So, how can we, as students, contribute? The first step is spreading recognition. Provide opportunities for students who have an eye for different clothing styles and trends to share what they have observed personally. We can build healthy community engagement with fashion and share it with others. For instance, get involved in the events held by Penn Closet to share donations and exchange affordable pieces of clothing with other students. There are also many ways to get involved with fashion-oriented clubs on campus — even simply attending an information session is a great place to start. On a broader scale, Penn should create opportunities not only for students to learn about fashion, but how other areas of social capital or presentation can help students in their careers.

ACE DAHYEON CHOI is a Wharton and Engineering junior studying economics and computer science from Seoul, South Korea. Her email is dhachoi@seas.upenn.edu.

Breaking the stereotype of a ‘typical’ victim of disordered eating

JUST ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL | All Penn students can be vulnerable to disordered eating — Penn Dining should do more to deter it

Additionally, the social pressure of having the “perfect body” is always present. Whether it is first years trying to avoid gaining the "Freshman 15," doing intense diets such as the eggs-only diet or intermittent fasting, or being involved in toxic gym culture, there are always spaces and openings for people to get involved in unhealthy behavior without even noticing that they are.

Especially here at Penn, there is a big gym and diet culture that can be extremely toxic at times. Students will go to the gym or go on diets to try to achieve their ideal look. The problem arises when people engage in these habits without proper guidance from a nutritionist or dietician. Unfortunately, this encourages dangerously unhealthy habits, like restrictive diets, binge eating, or overexercising, which can eventually lead to more serious eating disorders.

Penn also doesn’t do much to help its students live in the healthiest environment when it comes to food. The fact that most dining halls are closed during the weekends, or that getting food on campus after 10:30 p.m. is basically impossible, tends to encourage disordered eating among students on the meal plan.

demographic is extremely dangerous. College students are vulnerable to disordered eating habits that can easily turn into eating disorders. Deciding to ignore that there is a problem and failing to address it could be life threatening. There are obvious things Penn can do to address the problem, like adding more time between classes at times when it is common for students to eat lunch or dinner, and having more dining options open during the weekends. Having the shortest break between classes be 15 minutes and only opening certain dining halls for limited time during the weekends does not give students enough time to eat and encourages skipping meals.

Additionally, Penn doesn’t really have a lot of good resources to help students deal with this. When looking up, “Penn resources for eating disorders,” the only thing that comes up is the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. This resource is not well known to students, and is honestly kind of confusing and intimidating. A website with limited information, covered in pictures of food or people exercising, does not seem like the best resource for students that are struggling with their relationship to food and eating habits.

“I haven’t eaten anything all day. I’m glad the dining halls are closed; that makes it easier for me to lose weight.”

This was not the first time I had heard one of my male friends say something like this. However, it was the first time I realized that my male friends were not exempt to struggling with body image or their relationship with food just because of their gender.

When most people think of eating disorders, they usually picture underweight women with an extreme desire to be beautiful. But, the truth is that everyone is vulnerable to developing eating disorders. Especially in college, a lot of students tend to fall into disordered eating, which involves similar behaviors as eating

disorders but with less frequency or intensity, such as: Eating or skipping meals to deal with stress, engaging in calorie restriction, binging or purging irregularly, or avoiding major food groups. The challenges of being a college student, the academic pressure, and the need to keep up with an overwhelming social life create the perfect conditions for these disorders to develop. For a lot of students at Penn, disordered eating can result from various factors. Some may not have enough time to sit down and eat between classes, club meetings, and studying. Others forget to eat at all because they are always so caught up in work and we have gotten used to getting by only with copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks.

Still, these behaviors usually go unnoticed when the people that are affected by disordered eating do not fit into the expected demographic. While guys who spend hours in the gym and follow strict diets are often praised for their dedication and considered fit, girls who engage in similar behaviors are sometimes labeled as sick. When people that are overweight get on diets, they are being healthy and losing weight, but when people that fall under the beauty standard do, they are unhealthy. However, all of these behaviors are forms of disordered eating and eating disorders. They are all dangerous and should be acknowledged and addressed equally.

Believing that eating disorders only affect a certain

It is clear that Penn has to acknowledge the fact that this is a real problem students are facing and do something about it. But while that happens, helping ourselves and others is our responsibility. So, please take a moment to reflect on your own eating habits, check on your friends, and take care of each other. If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

DESIGN BY BECKY LEE

ZARA TENA is a College first year studying political science from Puebla, Mexico. Her email is zaratena@sas.upenn.edu.

PHOTO BY ROGER GE

Claudia Cohen Hall, home to the Undergraduate Admissions Visitors Center.

PHOTO BY BILL CHEN

The student-organized Penn Closet shares donations and offers affordable pieces of clothing for the campus community.

Wharton loses top spot in U.S. News

MBA program ranking

Penn’s business school was ranked No. 3 in the 2023-2024 iteration of the rankings

JASPER TAYLOR Senior Reporter

Penn's Wharton School fell from the top spot to No. 3 in the U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools ranking.

The 2023-2024 ranking of MBA programs, which U.S. News published on April 25, listed the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in the No. 1 spot, with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management at No. 2. Rounding out the rest of the top 5 business schools are MIT Sloan at No. 4, and Harvard at No. 5.

Wharton was ranked No. 1 in the 2022-2023 iteration of the rankings and has ranked in the top five consistently for the past 10 years. It was last ranked No. 3 in 2019. In the newly released rankings, Wharton ranks No. 1 in its executive MBA, finance, and real estate programs, and it ranks No. 2 in marketing and accounting.

Wharton previously fell off the Financial Times’ 2023 MBA rankings after the school failed to reach

FIERCETON, from FRONT PAGE

said that the University sought to discredit her during an investigation led by the Rhodes Scholar Foundation. A request for comment was left with University spokesperson Ron Ozio. None of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit responded to an emailed request for comment by publication.

According to court documents, the parties have conducted two depositions to date, while several depositions are in the process of being scheduled, including those of two Penn professors. Other depositions were canceled "[a]s a result of many factors and not blaming anyone,” according to the court docket. These depositions include that of Winkelstein, White, and Pritchett, which the court ordered on April 18, but then vacated on April 20. A court filing read that no “unprofessional behavior” has occurred.

Fierceton’s story received national attention one year ago as the result of a March 2022 investigative New Yorker article detailing her experiences. While the University released its hold on her master’s degree in response to the national outcry, Fierceton told the DP on

April 25 that the degree sent to her was conferred a year after she graduated. Fierceton said that the University refused to issue an accurate diploma after she reached out and added that she is still fighting to have the issue resolved.

While she said that she is unable to discuss specifics of the lawsuit, Fierceton told the DP that it has remained “steadfast” in her life.

“Law can be a pathway to change,” Fierceton said.

“I filed this case because I felt like it was the only way I would be taken seriously. I’m remaining committed to the lawsuit and taking it day by day.”

Fierceton also believes that the drawn-out nature of the case is an intentional tactic to ensure that her case is forgotten about by the majority of the Penn community.

“Penn has endless money, lawyers, and resources, while I’m just one person,” Fierceton said. “Continuing to stall until students graduate or run out of money is both an unfortunate and effective tactic for making the problems go away quietly.”

SALARIES, from FRONT PAGE

fiscal year, as well as job-searching sites such as Glassdoor, to find the average pay for graduate students who receive stipends — such as Ph.D. students — and tenuretrack faculty of all Ivy League schools and Philadelphia area universities.

The analysis also used recent tax forms to find the salary of the president or equivalent chief executive at each university. Penn's most recent public tax forms represented salaries for 2021, United States Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann's last full year as Penn's president.

Penn’s graduate stipend for Ph.D. students is slightly less than the Ivy League’s average minimum stipend of $39,226 and the third lowest among the universities examined. The highest minimum stipend was at Princeton University, whose stipend for graduate students is $47,880 per year.

Robert Watson, a second year student at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, said that while the university’s stipend — which was recently raised by 24 percent — was roughly on par with other Ivies, Penn was “the only Ivy League to not have University graduate student housing.”

“I think there definitely could be more financial resources devoted to tackling the cost of attendance for graduate students because that [cost] continues to rise,” Watson said, referring to rising inflation rates.

Compared to Philadelphia universities such as Temple

University, Drexel University, and Saint Joseph’s University, Penn’s minimum and average graduate stipends for Ph.D. students were the highest.

Despite this, Penn's pay disparity between graduate students who receive stipends and tenure-track professors is the lowest among Philadelphia-area schools. The average Ph.D. student makes 19.1 percent of the average tenure-track faculty’s salary — the third-largest gap in the Ivy League.

Penn faculty, on the other hand, were some of the bestcompensated among the Ivy League, with University faculty receiving an average salary of $217,311. With this, Penn’s tenured professors were better compensated than all but two Ivy League schools. The University’s average faculty salary also outpaced that of other local universities, with Temple, Drexel, and St. Joseph’s averaging $144,388.

When asked about Penn’s faculty salary, Graduate School of Education professor Jonathan Zimmerman told the DP that while “elite privates pay much better” than other universities, faculty salaries depend almost entirely on research production. According to data collected by The Nature Index, Penn ranked third in the Ivy League in terms of research production.

Penn’s presidential salary also surpasses its peers. Penn’s chief executive received the highest compensation in the Ivy League in the fiscal year 2021, with then-president Gutmann being paid just under $3.4 million.

PROFESSOR , from FRONT PAGE

In addition to concerns regarding course material and explicit images presented, students raised specific concerns about class discussions regarding transgender people.

"Things were a little horrifying because [Schurr’s] definitions about being trans were basically all factually wrong," Dutta said.

Dutta added that they felt like Schurr did not appropriately handle transphobic comments from students.

Schurr used a picture of the actor Elliot Page, erroneously referred to him with she/her pronouns and his deadname, and Schurr continued to misgender other transgender celebrities presented in class, according to Dutta and the anonymous College junior, leading some students to walk out of the class in protest.

Following their concerns, the School of Arts and Sciences office has since allowed some students to withdraw from the course but receive a pass on their transcript instead, according to Dutta.

A College senior, who was granted anonymity after citing fear of academic retaliation, said that the initial reason that they enrolled in the course was to fulfill the Living World sector requirement. However, they said they were surprised and uncomfortable by the way the course materials were taught.

“Once we really got to the topic of gender and

sexuality, the conversation got pretty uncomfortable," the College senior said. "And not specifically because I'm not trans or non-binary or gender non-conforming, but mainly because of the language that was used surrounding these discussion topics."

Students said that the large number of students in the course made it difficult for students to speak up when they were uncomfortable with the content being taught. The anonymous College junior said that they believed there was substantial misinformation.

“It was hard to have the confidence to speak up just because of the style and style of this big lecture hall and also fear of peers,” the College junior said. "... There are things that he's presented to us in the past that I knew were false."

The anonymous College junior said that Schurr has been receptive to student comments, providing additional readings following questions.

Some students told the DP that they are concerned about the impact of this being the only material on gender or sexuality that students are exposed to at Penn since many enroll in the course to fulfill general education requirements.

“A lot of people just take the class to fulfill the requirements, but they walk out with these wrong views about what being trans means,” Dutta said.

the FT’s alumni response threshold. It was previously ranked No. 1 by the FT in 2022, and has been ranked No. 1 for 10 of the past 25 years.

Some of Penn’s other graduate schools have opted not to submit data to the U.S. News rankings, joining a number of law and medical schools that have cited issues with them. Wharton has not taken such a step.

The Perelman School of Medicine ranked No. 2 in this year’s U.S. News Best Medical Schools ranking after deciding to no longer submit data to the ranking system. The school rose four spots from last year’s rankings. The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School ranked No. 4 in this year’s U.S. News Best Law Schools ranking after also deciding not to no longer submit data. The school rose two spots from last year’s rankings. Penn was ranked No. 7 in U.S. News’ most recent Best National Universities ranking. Wharton’s MBA program is currently ranked No. 7 by Bloomberg, No. 4 by Fortune, and No. 5 by Forbes.

UNION, from FRONT PAGE

“Many of [the graduate workers] felt blindsided by the COVID-19 pandemic and did not feel supported by Penn’s response, and coupled with the inflation and the rising cost of living, things have spiraled out of control,” College Ph.D. candidate Luella Allen-Waller said.

The unionization effort comes after Penn recently made its largest one-time increase to its minimum Ph.D. stipend.

"Penn is proud of its collaborative culture and the many ways in which the university and its graduate students address student concerns and enhance the academic experience, including the largest, one-time increase in Penn history to doctoral students’ minimum stipends, which was communicated last fall," University spokesperson Ron Ozio wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. "We believe that our graduate students’ interests are best served by our commitment to collaboration and sitting at the table together and not on opposite sides as adversaries."

GET-UP hopes that Penn will voluntarily recognize the union, Allen-Waller said, especially since the group has had strong support so far.

College Ph.D. candidate Sam Schirvar said that GET-UP will proceed toward an election and certification with the National Labor Relations Board, but the exact timeline is yet to be determined.

"An election to determine the question of union representation is consistent with the democratic process and gives each student eligible to vote the opportunity to decide whether unionization is right for them," Ozio wrote. "In the meantime, we encourage students to learn as much as they can about this important issue."

Allen-Waller said that the group has no plans to strike.

“A strike would happen if someday all other possible avenues for negotiating a contract had been exhausted,” she said, adding that any students who teach or do

research and are paid by the University are welcome to join the group, including undergraduates.

Graduate student workers previously attempted to unionize in 2018 under the same name, but withdrew their petition to vote to form a union. The new effort comes amid a wave of union formations among student employees at other Ivy League schools, including Columbia University, Harvard University, and Dartmouth College. In addition, a supermajority of Penn residential advisors and graduate associates filed to unionize in March.

The New York Times 620 Eighth Avenue, For

"This fits in squarely with a pretty broad wave of unionization happening across the board across college campuses," Robert Watson, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School fifth year and president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, told The DP following the announcement. "I think students want to be heard by administration and to be treated respectfully, and fairly and to be compensated accordingly for their work." Politicians also spoke at the rally to express support for the union.

Crossword

“Graduate students are the University and the future of the University. Graduate students are workers,” Pennsylvania State Senator Nikil Saval said, adding that the City is “with [GET-UP] until it gets the union and the contract it deserves.”

Nikhil Dharan, a third-year Ph.D. student, said that the effort to unionize has been focused on standardizing the discrepancies between different departments and programs at Penn’s schools.

“A union is in all of our best interests because it takes the burden off of graduate students to negotiate directly with our department or program heads,” Dharan said.

This unionization effort also follows the recent efforts of Penn Medicine residents and fellows.

“I think it's important that Penn should see this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle,” Schirvar said.

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PHOTO BY ABHIRAM JUVVADI

Penn’s Wharton School was named third in the 2023-2024 ranking of MBA programs.

PHOTO BY NATHANIEL BABITTS

Pennsylvania State Senator Nikil Saval spoke at the rally organized by Penn graduate student workers on April 26.

Men’s Breakout Star of the Year: Stas Korzeniowski

Men’s soccer sophomore forward Stas Korzeniowski undoubtedly takes home the Male Breakthrough Athlete of the Year title after displaying an impressive level of play during his second season with the program. Korzeniowski started in all 18 matches in 2022 and was named Ivy League Player of the Week after a three-goal, seven-point performance against Colgate on Sept. 11 — the programs first hat trick since 2017.

With 11 goals and seven assists during the fall season, Korzeniowski — alongside his teammate senior forward Ben Stitz — became the first Quaker in more than 25 years to score 10 or more goals in a season. By adding an assist to the Quakers' goal against Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA Championships, Korzeniowski finished his 11-goal, 29-point campaign with goals in five of the team's final seven games. His impressive fall season also resulted in him being named a second-team All-American and firstteam All-Ivy, as well as Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year.

Korzeniowski’s breakthrough performance this season played a large role in helping the Red and Blue bring home both an Ivy Championship as well as a memorable NCAA tournament win over Rutgers. He is also one of three Quakers who have signed with minor league clubs in the past few months and will play in the off-season as a new recruit for Ballard FC — a Seattle-based soccer club. He is set to compete with the squad in the Northwest Division of USL League Two from May through July. 12 regular-season games and two friendlies will make up the season, which begins on May 18 against the Vancouver Whitecaps. If his recent performance is any indication, Korzeniowski has a bright future ahead of him here at Penn, and it will be a sight to see where he takes the Red and Blue in 2023.

Women’s Breakout Star of the Year: Erika Chung

It would be hard to imagine the season that sophomore attacker Erika Chung had this year if you were making predictions based on her freshman year. In 2022, Chung played in just six games, of which she started none and only accumulated four points (one goal, three assists). Off this limited sample size, it would be tough to predict the revelation that Chung has been in 2023 for Penn women’s lacrosse.

The reality is that Chung has surpassed all expectations in her sophomore campaign, where not only has she started every game, but also had a major impact on the Quakers’ ongoing success. With one game left in the regular season, Chung's stats are nothing short of impressive. To date, she has totaled 41 points off of 12 goals and 29 assists — with nearly 85% of her shots being on goal. The specific statistic that stands out is the assists, for which she leads the team in — an indication of her ability to make plays for others, in addition to being a solid scorer herself.

Perhaps one her best games came in a match against Columbia on March 4. Chung totaled five assists and a goal, powering the Quakers to a 17-7 win on the road. Another highlight of the season came at Lehigh a month later, where the sophomore tallied two goals and three assists — once again aiding the Red and Blue to a dominant 17-9 victory.

Undefeated in conference play, Penn has outright clinched the Ivy League regular season title and is set to host the conference tournament next weekend. Regardless of how or when this team's season ends, Chung’s campaign has been consistently spectacular, and it will be interesting to see how she builds off this success next year as a junior.

Moment of the Year: Football’s game-winning touchdown at Princeton

EASHWAR KANTEMNENI Sports Associate

Coming off a disappointing home loss to Harvard the week prior, Penn football headed to New Jersey to face an 8-1 Princeton team as a 14point road underdog. From the jump, the game played out like many experts predicted it would — Princeton drove 78 yards down the field to score a touchdown, forced a punt, and drove down another 80 yards to take an early two-score lead. Penn’s offense couldn’t muster much, but a blocked-punt touchdown brought the score to 12-7 going into halftime.

A costly fumble on the first drive of the second half, when Penn was in the red zone, was returned 92 yards for a Tiger touchdown, which again made the lead two scores. Afterward, another promising drive for the Quakers stalled out in enemy territory, but an interception gave Penn some life. The Quaker offense would go on to score, with sophomore quarterback Aidan Sayin finding junior wide receiver Julien Stokes for a two-yard score. Penn was back in business. On the ensuing possession, the Tigers faced 4th and 10 at the Quaker 32 and opted to go for it, only to be denied by the Red and Blue defense, giving Penn’s offense one final shot to win the game.

It was around this time that news broke of Harvard’s loss, ending the Quakers’ chances at a share of the Ancient Eight crown. But this was unknown to the Red and Blue, who kept on battling. With just over five minutes left in the team’s season, Sayin and company drove 67 yards in 15 plays, but were facing a 4th and goal at the five-yard line, with five seconds left — their last chance to end their season with a win and deny their longtime foe an Ivy League title. Sayin lined up in shotgun with tailback Trey Flowers, in his last ever game for Penn, flanking his left side in the backfield. Once he received the snap, Sayin stepped up in the pocket, only to find an uncovered Flowers wide open and backing up into the end zone. Sayin fired a pass right to Flowers, and the senior caught it just as he was about to be hit by a Princeton defender. The result: A 20-19 lead and eventual victory. While they didn’t win an Ivy title, this was the perfect way to cap off a truly impressive season for the Quakers, especially for the many seniors who had a cathartic win in their last time wearing the Red and Blue. And for Flowers, in the words of offensive coordinator Dan Swanstrom, “How about that for [his] final play!”

PHOTO BY SAMANTHA TURNER

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Performance of the Year: Ryan Dromboski’s record-breaking 15 strikeouts against Princeton

WALKER CARNATHAN Deputy Sports Editor

Take a moment to imagine that you are a batter for the Princeton Tigers stepping up to the plate at Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium on Sunday, April 9. You take a deep breath, close your eyes, and sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan Dromboski has already gotten his first pitch by you. Strike one.

That was a familiar scenario for many of Princeton’s hitters on that spring afternoon,

a game where Dromboski was borderline unhittable. The right-hander set a new program record with 15 strikeouts, and allowed just three hits on a day when the Quakers needed it most. The 5-2 victory gave the Red and Blue the series win over Princeton, and sparked a run that has since carried them to first in Ivy League standings.

From a wicked fastball to his patented slider, every pitch was working for the player

Men’s Rookie of the Year: Simon Kushkov

GRIFFIN BOND Sports Associate

Simon Kushkov made an impression as soon as he stepped on campus last fall. The freshman won at the Temple Open in October, which was his first collegiate competition. In the finals, he defeated Columbia’s Colby Harley, who was then ranked the No. 1 junior fencer in the U.S. For the freshman sabrist, the Temple Open was a preview of what was to come. In the regular season, he posted a team-high 55 wins, for a .611 winning percentage, while fencing in 30 of 33 matches. He won all three bouts in nine matches, including in both of Penn's matches against Ohio State, who finished the season fifth nationally, and once against Columbia, who finished fourth.

Despite placing eighth at the Ivy League Championships and failing to make an All-Ivy League team, Kushkov landed in second at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals, propelling him to an NCAA Championships qualification. At the Championships, he went 12-9, placing sixth and being named a second team AllAmerican. His performance helped lead the Quakers to a sixth place finish in the country, their best performance since 2004.

Kushkov’s family immigrated from Ukraine when he was seven years old and had to live off food stamps when they first arrived in the U.S. It was around that same time that Kushkov first started fencing. In 2013, his father Alex founded the Dynamo Fencing Center in Newton, Mass., where Kushkov trained before coming to Penn. His dad continues to run the center and is also the head coach of Tufts’ men’s fencing team.

Kushkov is part of a strong freshman class for Penn men’s fencing. Three of the five fencers from the team to qualify for the NCAA Championships were freshmen, including foilist Davide Lorenzoni, who also placed sixth and was named a second team All-American in his event, and epeeist Avery Townsend who landed in 17th.

known best as “Drombo.” Outside of the two home runs allowed in the third inning, Dromboski plowed through the lineup with ferocity and efficiency — finishing the day with four 1-2-3 innings. Penn held a slim 3-2 lead for much of the contest, but Dromboski’s masterclass on the mound helped maintain that lead long enough for the Quaker bats to awaken. Junior third baseman Wyatt Henseler filled that role, blasting a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to extend Penn’s advantage, ultimately one that they would not relinquish.

Dromboski is currently second in the Ivy League in both strikeouts (69) and ERA (2.37). He followed up his performance against the Tigers with 12 strikeouts the next weekend against Brown, only further proving that his pitching will be critical to the Quakers’ Ivy League championship hopes this year. But regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, Dromboski’s performance against the Tigers will remain one for the record books.

Women’s Rookie of the Year: Marissa Lassiter

KAYLI MANN Sports Reporter

Gymnastics freshman Marissa Lassiter from Waldorf, Md. is a clear choice to be this year's

Women’s Rookie of the Year. Lassiter dominated most competitions from the moment she stepped foot on campus, and played a key role on a Quaker team that earned numerous firstplace finishes — en route to winning its second consecutive Gymnastics East Conference (GEC) Championship last month.

At the Ivy Classic, she came in fourth on vault and second on floor with a pair of scores of 9.800. She earned one event title this season on vault against William & Mary at home, tied with her teammate junior Kristen Belkoff, with another 9.800 performance. Lassiter then set her personal best in the vault event two meets later at Cornell: A spectacular 9.825 finish to lead Penn to a 195.250-191.025 victory against the Big Red.

Lassiter was named the Ivy League Newcomer of the Year after the GEC Championships on March 18, where she tied for third in the conference on the floor exercise. Lassiter also set two more career bests this year: 9.800 on bars set at the Rutgers Tri-Meet and 9.875 on floor twice. The rookie has also appeared on balance beam multiple times throughout the season.

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Coach of the Year: Karin Corbett

At the end of the 2022 season, Penn women’s lacrosse finished a disappointing sixth in the Ivy League standings. With a 6-9 overall record, including 3-4 against Ivy League opponents, things were looking down for coach Karin Corbett’s squad.

That has all been turned upside down in 2023. Corbett has not only led her team to a winning record this season, but has already won a regular season Ivy League Title, with prime positioning for a deep postseason run. The Red and Blue are currently 10-4 overall, but more importantly, 6-0

She has led the Quakers’ vault and floor lineups to season-high team totals and a final ranking in the top 50 teams nationally in the vault. A standout in an already star-studded freshman class, Lassiter is already making a name for herself as a leader both on and off the mat. She made first team all-GEC on vault and floor, second-team on bars, and was also named a GEC Scholar-Athlete. With a successful first year in the books that saw consistent improvement, Lassiter seems slated to raise the bar even higher in the years to come.

in conference play, with many blowout wins to the team's name.

Corbett has her team playing consistently on both offense and defense. The team has scored 202 goals this year while it has held opponents to just 144. That’s already more goals than last season, with one game still remaining on the regular season schedule. The team's shot percentage has jumped from 0.385 last season to 0.423, and the assist numbers are already comparable, again, with more games left to go.

Corbett is no stranger to success, with 11 Ivy League championships to her name throughout her career before this season. She has been at Penn for over two decades and has made Penn a national force in women’s lacrosse. Now, she has a chance to add even more hardware to her already impressive resume.

Overall, Corbett’s quick turnaround of the team from last year has been nothing short of amazing. The Quakers have now won their Ivy first title since 2018.

PHOTO BY SAMANTHA TURNER

ASHIL SRIVASTAVA Sports Associate

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

The Best of 2022-23

Men’s Athlete of the Year: Jordan Dingle

Dingle’s season can best be summed up by his performance against La Salle in December. The junior guard put the team on his back, scoring 37 points — the most by a Quaker in 29 years — and hit an exhilarating, game-tying, buzzer-beating three-pointer to send the game to overtime, only for the team to lose in the extra period.

Despite Dingle’s heroics, — and that word is not hyperbolic, as he finished second in the nation with 23.4 points per game — Penn couldn't get over the humps that have plagued it in recent years, losing to Princeton three times, including in the first round of the Ivy Tournament. But Dingle’s exploits weren't unnoticed, as he was named the Ivy League, Big 5, and Eastern College Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

Utilizing his unique combination of quickness, shooting, and attack, Penn’s offense operated through Dingle. He was remarkably reliable, at one point scoring at least 20 points in 13 straight games. Dingle proved his versatility this season by leading the team in steals and finishing second in assists, despite being the primary scoring option. Whether he scored 14 or 37 points, stopping number 3 was always the top priority for whatever team Penn was playing.

A star since his first game as a Quakers, the only question now is if he will don the Red and Blue again. Having recently declared for the NBA draft, Dingle will certainly go the professional route if it is offered to him. But if it’s not, one last ride at the Palestra seems to be the likely scenario: Dingle told The Daily Pennsylvanian in the fall that transferring has never been anything “that he could possibly consider”. Whether he spends next year playing in the NBA, overseas, or on 33rd and Walnut Street, his production this year will be remembered well beyond his time at Penn.

The 2022-23 sports season has been filled with multiple Ivy League title clinches, NCAA tournament appearances, draft selections, professional contract signings, and more broken records than one can count. Talent stemming from newcomers to soon-to-be-graduates propelled Penn Athletics to a monumental year

packed with unforgettable scenes. The Daily Pennsylvanian’s sports department brainstormed a list of the top athletes, coaches, teams, and moments across the fall, winter, and spring seasons and collectively decided on who shined the brightest. Here are DP Sports’ End of the Year Awards.

Women’s Athlete of the Year: Anna Kalandadze

MATTHEW FRANK

Sports Editor

Senior swimmer Anna Kalandadze is a shoe-in for Women's Athlete of the Year, but you could even argue she’s worthy of Ivy League Women's Athlete of the Year with her performances this season.

Kalandadze's 2022-23 season culminated in immense fashion, notching two individual Ivy titles in the 500- and 1650-yard freestyles. In the 1650 free specifically, the Ardmore, Pa. native broke the Ivy League record in the event with a time of 15:53.88, which marked the eighth-fastest this year in the 1650 free, while her time of 4:38.86 in the 500 free puts her at 16th.

Though her times were a bit slower at NCAA Championships, she still finished tenth in the 1650 free, and a 25th-place finish in the 500 free. In the former, Kalandadze’s time was good enough to earn her All-American honors.

Last year, she went to NCAA Championships for the same events but finished worse in each, with a

42nd-place mark in the 1650 free and a 49th-place mark in the 500 free. Kalandadze attributed this improvement to a renewed mindset this season.

“My approach to the sport definitely changed this year,” she told The Daily Pennsylvanian in March. “I started looking at it as more of a fun thing to do instead of putting all this pressure on myself to do really well all the time.”

Kalandadze originally swam at the University of California-Berkeley, but after a bad experience with a verbally abusive coach, she looked to transfer elsewhere and talked with Penn swimming and diving coach Mike Schnur. “Just by talking with Mike Schnur over the phone, I could tell that this was a place that I really fit in,” she told the DP in December. “I thought that I would be happy here.”

If her results this season are any indication, Kalandadze has been plenty happy at Penn.

After a 7-6-3 record in 2021 — including a subpar 1-4-2 against Ivy opponents, Penn men’s soccer came into 2022 with something to prove. And prove they did: The Quakers won an Ivy title, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and finished with a 13-3-2 overall record.

After a few early struggles, including a 1-0 loss at Albany, Penn won eight straight games, and 11 of the final 13 in its regular-season

campaign. These included a key 3-2 victory at then-No. 15-ranked Cornell to give the Quakers pole position in the Ivy League standings, and a 3-0 domination at Princeton to give the program its first Ivy League title in nearly a decade.

In the NCAA Tournament, Penn was first matched up against Rutgers, who it thoroughly trounced, 3-0, on a windy Thursday in November at Penn Park. It then traveled to Syracuse, and played the Orange — who entered

the tournament ranked third and eventually emerged with a national championship — to a 1-1 draw through 90 minutes before eventually falling in extra time. Indeed, the Quakers nearly scored what would have been a winning goal on a few occasions, including a strike by senior attacker Ben Stitz which hit the crossbar.

Even though he didn’t score on that occasion, Stitz was a leader for Penn on and off the field this past fall. He led the team with 30 points

on 11 goals and eight assists and formed half of the Ivy League’s most lethal attacking duo alongside sophomore attacker Stas Korzeniowski, who also scored 11 goals this season. But focusing on them would diminish the work of the rest of the team, including senior goalkeeper Nick Christoffersen, who anchored a defense that held opponents to under 0.8 goals per game, by far the best in the Ivy League.

BRANDON PRIDE Former Sports Editor

CALEB CRAIN Sports Editor

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

PHOTO BY KYLIE COOPER

Former

PHOTO BY SAMANTHA TURNER