THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF PENNSYLVANIA
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2014
Fling concert to be held in Irvine SPEC decided to relocate the concert over concerns for David Guetta’s security BY JODY FREINKEL and JILL CASTELLANO Folks Editor & DPS BFF
If you want to Fling on Franklin Field, you might want to petition the Social Planning and Events Committee to bring back Girl Talk. Due to security concerns, David Guetta will be performing the Spring Fling concert in Irvine Auditorium. Students who purchased floor tickets after winning them in last week’s lottery will be refunded, and a new lottery will open Tuesday to distribute tickets for seats in Irvine. SPEC Concerts’ Co-Chair Ben Jones, a College senior, said SPEC leaders decided to relocate the concert — including the opening acts by bands Magic Man and Ra Ra Riot — from Franklin Field to Irvine after reviewing security requirements in Guetta’s contract. “Originally, we thought we could accommodate our contractual obligations and still host [Guetta] at Franklin Field,” Jones said. “But following the security measures required to host such a high-profile artist would be considerably simpler in a more controlled environment, so we ultimately chose to relocate the concert.” Measures required by Guetta’s contract include metal detectors for all attendees and pat-downs for any attendee deemed “suspicious” by security staff. Metal detectors will be stationed at the entrance to Irvine, and a staff of around 50 security guards will monitor the concert, in addition to the usual measures taken by Penn Police in past years. The capacity of Irvine Auditorium will also restrict the number of students able to attend the concert. The auditorium seats only 1,260 students — approximately the same number of students who normally hold floor passes for Franklin Field concerts. Around 1,100 floor tickets were sold in 2012 when Tiesto headlined the Spring Fling concert. Jones said that SPEC considered replacing the headliner rather than relocatSEE IRVINE PAGE 5
Squatters discovered at Gutmann’s campus home BY FOLA ONIFADE Twenty minute embargo Three students were found running a business inside of President Amy Gutmann’s house. An investigative team at the Department of Public Safety discovered students squatting in the President’s House located on 38th and Walnut streets. Two Wharton students and an M&T student were evacuated from the house and transferred to Hill College House on Sunday evening. Wharton junior and squatter Patrice Garden, who was found squatting on Gutmann’s golden throne, said that the lack of available on-campus housing pushed her and her friends to live in Gutmann’s home. “The housing system sucks and we waited too long to get good off-campus housing,” she said. “We all know the rumors that the President doesn’t live there, so we figured we could get away with it.” The other squatters, M&T senior Conrad Conley and Wharton sophomore Diana Gonzales, saw squatting as a perfect business opportunity. “We decided to put our business skills to good use. Instead of leaving the house empty, we set up headquarters here for our SEE GUTMANN PAGE 8
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U. cancels Reading Days Citing an excessive number of snow days, Penn will replace Reading Days with extra class BY BRENDA WANG The DP Hipster? Reading Days have been cut to make up for the canceled classes due to snow this semester, Provost Vincent Price said in a statement in Penn News
Today. Instead of being able to catch up on Game of Thrones, students will now have to attend classes on May 1 and 2. However, because the number of class days lost outnumber the number of reading days, students will
have to attend two days worth of class each day. For some students, this might mean over 24 hours of class per day. “This is literally impossible,” Eduardo K im, a dual dualdegree student in M&T and Huntsman, said. “Even if I skip
recitation I’ll still have to break the time barrier to get to all my classes.” Price also warned that if the rainy weather continues, the University may cancel class due to flooding. “And you know what that means,” Price said. ■
Documents reveal U. bid to purchase Drexel Proposed merger blocked by federal government, citing antitrust laws
Graphic by Nathaniel Chan and Alex Liao/Star-crossed Lovers
BY WILLIAM MARBLE Tech-Savvy Reporter Newly uncovered documents show the University offered to purchase Drexel University in November, but the offer was dropped when the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to block the proposed merger. The Daily Pennsylvanian obtained 300 pages of documents from a former Facilities and Estate Services employee, who was fired after Shake Shack announced it would be building a location on Drexel’s campus and not Penn’s. The documents include emails,
letters and text messages among Penn and Drexel administrators. David Cohen, the chairman of Penn’s Board of Trustees and the executive vice president of Comcast, sent a letter on Nov. 22 to Drexel President John Fry offering $2 billion dollars for the neighboring university. “A merger of our institutions would be mutually beneficial, allowing us to pool our significant resources and strengthen the community in University City and Philadelphia,” the letter read. “The vitality of the city depends on ‘eds and meds’ like our universities.”
“P.S. A merger would give us easy access to Shake Shack, too. We’ll pay top dollar for that alone,” the letter ended. In a response, Fry — who was formerly Penn’s executive vice president — sent an email to Cohen: “I think we can work something out,” also indicating that Drexel would be willing to accept access to the Penn Vet Working Dogs Center in exchange for a lesser price. When rumors of the deal surfaced, however, the Justice Department sent
SEE DREXEL PAGE 2
Dueling Tampons to be repainted white BY LAURA ANTHONY Caliente … nympho Penn is getting some up grades. Period. The iconic statue on High Rise Field known as The Tampons will be repainted white over the summer, the first in a new campus design evaluation initiative called Transforming School Style. TSS is a new partnership between with Penn Design’s architecture program and Facilities & Real Estate Services to come up with innovative ideas for campus-wide design renovations. “We want to break the cycle of design ruts on campus, and TSS is the best way for Penn to absorb all of the creativity and expertise that our students and employees have to offer,“ University Architect and codirector of TSS David Hollenberg said. T welfth-year architecture student Tammy Paxton proposed the idea of repainting The
Nathaniel “Wrecking Ball” Chan/Associate Photo Editor
Tampons white in order to give the west end of campus a fresh, clean feeling. “Red is a messy color, often associated with pain for many people, and we want to make
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sure that students, faculty and employees have 360 degree comfort in terms of the design and aesthetic value of Penn’s campus,” she said. But FRES has expressed con-
cerns about the logistical details of the upcoming paint job. “I’m just worried that some of the color from the original paint might bleed through, so we will have to be extremely cautious when selecting the right brand and style of paint to make sure that it’s the right fit,” said Guy Ceauxteks, founding managing director for paint maintenance for FRES. TSS will officially kick off in the fall, when Penn Design and FRES will perform monthly evaluations of Penn’s overall aesthetic quality. “We will be closely collaborating with the artists whose work is represented on campus to ensure that these changes won’t cramp their style,” TSS co-director and executive director of design and construction management for FRES Michael Dausch said. Hollenberg said he is ext r emely h appy t o see t h i s program get off the ground, SEE TAMPONS PAGE 9
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