THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF PENNSYLVANIA
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MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2014
Unfounded bomb scares at Chipotle, Kings Court English
NO. 5 TEXAS (23-11)
NO. 12 PENN (22-7)
DANCING NO MORE
W. HOOPS | Quakers can’t hold halftime lead, buried by Longhorns’ second-half run
A suspicious package outside Kings Court caused Penn Police to evacuate the dorm
BY STEVEN TYDINGS Senior Sports Editor
BY LAUREN FEINER Staff Writer Penn saw two false bomb scares Sunday night. Sunday evening, there was an “unfounded” bomb threat at the 3925 Walnut street Chipotle, the Division of Public Safety confirmed in an emailed statement in response to questions from The Daily Pennsylvanian. “Penn and Philadelphia cleared the area in an abundance of caution. A sweep was done of the property and no device was found.” DPS said. “Because no device was found as there was in the earlier incident, no UPennAlert was sent out.” Earlier in the afternoon, a wired object that police determined to most likely be a harmless science experiment triggered a bomb scare at Kings Court English College House, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said Police do not suspect the suspicious object at Kings Court English was intended to cause any harm or confusion. SEE BOMB PAGE 2
Liquor enforcement tactics legally questionable ANALYSIS | Officers need ‘individualized suspicion’ to detain partygoers BY ALEX ZIMMERMANN Senior Writer Underage drinking crackdowns by state police may be unconstitutional, according to an analysis of their previously employed tactics. The Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement cited 31 students at several off-campus parties during Fling last year, as well as 23 at the Blarney Stone in December. BLCE District Commander Dan Steele said in an email that the state police force “anticipates assisting” Penn this year during Fling weekend. The legal question stems from a 2006 Pennsylvania Supreme Court case, Commonwealth v. Mistler which held that a 2003 BLCE raid of a fraternity party in West Chester, Pa., violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution by detaining individuals to be breathalyzed and cited without “individualized suspicion.” Police detained the entire group of partygoers without reason to believe that each individual was in violation of the law. In the case, those who were over 21 were told to leave, and those remaining were questioned and observed by police, leading to 56 citations for underage drinking. When describing the procedure for raiding a party such as those on campus last April, Steele said that officers separate attendees who are over and under 21 after asking for identification from every partygoer. Underage attendees who are found to be in violation of liquor laws — which Steele said can be determined by a breathalyzer test or other means such as observed possession of alcohol or the “odor of alcoholic beverage on the breath” — are then issued a citation. SEE LIQUOR PAGE 2
Michele Ozer/Sports Photo Editor
Texas freshman Nekia Jones scored a key bucket in the second half while getting fouled by Penn junior forward Kara Bonenberger (left). The junior fouled out on the play as Texas used a second half run to overtake the Quakers.
COLLEGE PARK, MD. — It just wasn’t meant to be. Penn women’s basketball came out of the gate strong, holding a 38-31 lead over No. 5-seeded Texas at the half at the Comcast Center. But the second half was all Longhorns as No. 12 Penn fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 79-61, despite a game-high 25 points from senior captain Alyssa Baron. “Give [Texas] a lot of credit. They kept coming at us,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “We got into a little bit of foul trouble which set us back in how we wanted to defend, but I give them a ton of credit. They kept coming and coming and coming ... we just couldn’t get control back of the game.” The game started out at a quick pace, with the Longhorns (23-11) responding with two baskets after freshman center Sydney Stipanovich got the Quakers (22-7) started with a jumper. But then Baron took over. The senior guard drained a three-pointer to put Penn ahead. And then another three. Soon enough, Baron was making almost every shot she could get off, pacing Penn to a large first-half lead with 18 points. After a triple from junior guard Renee Busch and a free throw from Baron, Penn took its largest lead of the half, 32-17. And on the other end, the Quakers’ twothree zone was giving the Longhorns fits, turning Texas over 12 times in the first half. However, the Longhorns finished the first half on a 14-6 run, cutting Penn’s lead to just seven, 38-31. SEE W. HOOPS PAGE 11
GSE student named 17th most influential Arab woman Maha Laziri, the youngest woman on list, founded Teach4Morocco BY VICTORIA MOFFITT Staff Writer
Yolanda Chen/News Photo Editor
Graduate School of Education student Maha Laziri founded Teach4Morocco, a nongovernmental organization with the mission to improve education in Morocco.
In the summer of 2012, Maha Laziri walked into the small, humble home of a woman who had nearly died that day. Laziri, who is now a student in the Graduate School of Education, was in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, organizing the renovation of a local school in the village of Ichbeken. She had arrived early to the work site that morning, expecting to find five or six volunteers from the community waiting to help with the renovations. Instead she was met with the news that a woman in the village was bleeding to death after giving birth to a healthy baby. Hospitals and helicopter lifts were not options for the people of Ichbeken. The women of the village could only do their
best to care for the struggling mother, and miraculously, she survived. A s she was recover ing, Laziri went to her bedside to voice her concern. Despite the language barrier — Laziri was not fluent in the village’s indigenous language — she expressed to the mother that she and her team were worried about her and interested in helping. The mother, who was grateful for the work Laziri was already doing in the community, responded by placing her baby in Laziri’s arms and asking her to name the child. Laziri was only 22 years old at the time and felt daunted by the responsibility. She resisted, but the mother was adamant. Finally, Laziri agreed and named the baby girl Hayet. “It means life,” Laziri said. Because of the work she has done in Morocco, Laziri was named to Arabian Business magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women earlier this month. She earned
SEE LAZIRI PAGE 9
SP2 student committed suicide over winter break
Master’s of Social Work student Alice Wiley’s death is one of three suicides since the end of last semester BY HARRY COOPERMAN City News Editor School of Social Policy & Practice student Alice Wiley committed suicide in late December over winter break. She was 26.
Her death is one of three suicides since the end of last se mester, and the second graduate student suicide in less than a year.
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The recent suicides have raised concerns about mental health issues on campus and have led the University to form a mental health task force. T he deat h of Col lege sopho more Elv is Hatcher was r uled a suicide in early Februar y and College freshman Madison Holleran’s death was ruled a suicide in
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late January. Graduate School of Education student Wendy Shung committed suicide in August of 2013. Wiley, a native of Georgia, was a student in the Master of So cial Work Program at SP2. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Mercer University in 2009.
Ph i ladelph ia M aga zi ne f i r st reported on Friday that an SP2 student committed suicide over winter break. Although the Georgia Medical Examiner’s Office has made no official ruling as to Wiley’s cause of death, SP2 was informed by her SEE SP2 PAGE 2
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