Engineering Ph.D. students call for increase to doctoral stipend in letter to administration

The letter comes after Penn announced the largest one-time increase to the minimum Ph.D. stipend in December

NICOLE MURAVSKY

KATIE BARTLETT AND

Staff Reporters

Students work in the Peter Detkin Lab, which is part of Penn’s Electrical Systems

Seventy-two Electrical and Systems Engineering Ph.D. students sent a letter to department leadership demanding an increase in the minimum doctoral stipend to $50,000 for the upcoming academic year.

The letter — which was sent to ESE Department Chair George Pappas, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Boon Thau Loo, and ESE Graduate Chair Troy Olsson — comes after Penn announced the largest one-time increase to the minimum Ph.D. student stipend in December. In the letter, the ESE students requested greater recognition and benefits from the University, citing the increased popularity of their field.

The Office of the Provost, which announced the stipend increase, declined to comment on the letter. In November, Penn increased the minimum Ph.D. stipend from $30,547 to $38,000 and will be in effect at the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. In the letter, the ESE students wrote that "one could only conclude" that the University expects doctoral students to conduct "world-class research" while living "at or below the minimum standard of living."

According to a second-year ESE Ph.D. student, who requested anonymity due to fear of academic retaliation, the letter stemmed from a “general feeling” among the department’s graduate students about their Penn experience.

“We often discuss our financial situations when we’re sitting around the table at lunch,” the student said. “It got to a point where we felt like we needed to take some action to do something.”

In the letter, the students emphasized the benefits that the University gains from ESE research as well as Penn's plans to invest $750 million in engineering and data science infrastructure, which will attract top students and faculty.

“From our phones to the machines we interact with on the streets, the machine learning systems I study permeate many aspects of our lives,” the second-year student said. “To be able to conduct this research, you need to be comfortable and have a livable wage.”

Owerko said that a lack of value placed on his work by the University and its resulting toll on graduate students' mental health and quality of life were his main reasons for contributing to and signing the letter.

“It can be demoralizing to see my peers from undergrad progress into their careers while I’m still a student,’” Owerko said. “I often ask myself ‘What am I doing here?’ If the University doesn’t value my work, maybe I shouldn’t be here.”

See PHD, page 7

New math sequence offered to economics majors

The math department created two courses for students in social sciences, replacing MATH 1400 and MATH 1410

YASH RAJPAL Staff Reporter

Economics majors at Penn are no longer required to take MATH 1400: “Calculus I” and MATH 1410: “Calculus II” after the creation of two new math courses.

In an attempt to adapt Penn’s math curriculum to students of all disciplines, the Math Department created two new courses tailored to students of the social sciences, specifically the cconomics major. The new courses — MATH 1070: “Mathematics of Change I” and MATH 1080: “Mathematics of Change II” — can now be taken to fulfill the mathematics requirement of the economics major. Prior to the fall 2022 semester, students who were required to take the introductory and multivariate calculus sequence — such as economics majors — had to take both MATH 1400: “Calculus I” and MATH 1410: “Calculus II.” While the economics major still accepts MATH 1400 and MATH 1410, Department of Economics Undergraduate Chair Francis Diebold said that MATH 1070 and MATH 1080 are now the preferred calculus sequence. These courses, often considered some of the least popular courses at the University, have received pushback for their teaching practices, including the flipped classroom format and weekly quizzes. MATH 1400 and MATH 1410, which were recently adapted to an engineeringfocused curriculum, are also heavy on physical science applications.

The new courses, MATH 1070 and the subsequent MATH 1080, do not use the flipped classroom format and are intended to provide a See ECON, page 7

Student groups organize funds to support earthquake relief in Turkey, Syria

A coalition of student groups are raising money for the Syrian American Medical Society and AKUT

CASSIDEE JACKSON Staff Reporter

Student leaders are organizing relief efforts for victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes, which have killed tens of thousands of people.

The Penn Arab Student Society, Fenjan: The Middle East Journal, Penn Muslim Students Association, Penn Afghan Students Association, and Penn Students Against the Occupation are collecting donations to provide immediate relief to survivors. As stated in their joint social media post, donations will be sent to the Syrian American Medical Society, which operates on the ground in Northern Syria, and AKUT, a non-governmental organization providing search and rescue missions across Turkey.

“The destruction is on a scale that I could have never imagined," social media Manager for the Penn Arab Student Society and College junior Summer Maher said.

Other leaders added that their first response was to organize in an effort to help the affected region.

Co-founder of Fenjan, President of PSO, and College senior Laila Shadid told The Daily Pennsylvanian that she was “shocked and devastated” by the earthquake’s destruction and “immediately wanted to look for ways to raise money and help in whatever way we could.”

Student leaders — who jointly decided to organize the donation drive — promoted it on social media and their organization's respective listservs. The leaders said that the collaboration has helped strengthen their efforts.

“I think especially with a lot of student groups and activism group that the best way to [make a change] is to work together," MSA President and Wharton junior Rayane Taroua said.

According to Maher, their donation drive has received support from the Undergraduate Assembly, the College Dean’s Advisory Board, and other organizations.

Penn Medicine has pledged to match donations dollar-for-dollar the first $50,000 in community donations towards Turkey-Syria earthquake relief efforts.

Penn has yet to issue an official statement on the earthquakes or help organize fundraising efforts.

In a letter sent to Penn administrators — including President Liz Magill — and signed by Middle East Center Director Harun Küçük, community members petitioned Penn to issue a statement, help in fundraising efforts, and consider matching donations collected through the community effort.

"Many students, faculty, and staff members are ready to help and are already helping on and individual basis with channeling resources to the region, Küçük wrote in the letter "The University's help in supporting these efforts will be invaluable."

Two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5 rocked southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria on Feb. 6. Over 36,000 people have been killed and more than 75,000 people have been injured. Death and injury tolls are expected to increase as international rescue efforts continue.

Despite their relief efforts, student leaders told the DP that they feel that community response has been mixed, citing that students without a connection to the region might be apathetic to the earthquakes.

“I would say that I think a lot of people feel this issue is very removed from them and [in] their lives, especially if they don’t have connections to that region of the world,” Shadid said.

Maher added that although the disaster occurred in a different region, the Turkey-Syria earthquakes are still one of the biggest natural disasters of the century.

“The fact that it didn’t happen here doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect us because at the end of the day, these are human lives that are at risk and will continue to be at risk because of this for months and years to come,” Maher said.

Penn to face retaliation complaint involving alleged sexual misconduct by former CAPS director

The student claims that the University charged her a higher fee to re-enroll after she sued Penn

KATIE BARTLETT Staff Reporter

A district court judge ruled that a Penn student can proceed with Title IX and American with Disabilities Act claims against the University.

On Jan. 31, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that April Ploeger — who first enrolled as an undergraduate in 2006 before being granted multiple leaves of absence — can proceed with two of four standing claims against Penn. Ploeger claimed that the University charged her a higher fee to re-enroll after she sued Penn for facing sexual advances from former Counseling and Psychological Services Director William Alexander.

In response to a request for comment, University spokesperson Ron Ozio said that Penn does not usually comment on litigation that is pending. Ozio cited how the University made a partial motion to dismiss some of the claims made in Ploeger’s complaint.

“It is worth noting that at the motion to dismiss phase of a case, the court is required to accept as true the allegations in a plaintiff’s complaint,” Ozio wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “Penn denies the allegations and intends to vigorously defend this case.”

The court’s opinion said that when Ploeger first enrolled at Penn in 2006, she reported her diagnosis of an autoimmune disease, depression, and anxiety to the Office of Disability Services. Disability Services then granted Ploeger several requests for leaves of absence and test-taking accomodations for medical reasons between 2006 and 2015.

In 2009, Ploeger received counseling from Alexander, who began his role as director of CAPS that year and retired in 2018. She alleged that during these counseling sessions, Alexander made inappropriate sexual advances, touching her at least once without consent. These advances led Ploeger to attempt suicide in 2009, after which Alexander allegedly told her to “go home and put a Band-Aid on it,” according to her complaint. Ploeger attempted suicide again in 2015 by overdosing on medication prescribed to her by Alexander. He allegedly wrote her another prescription following this attempt but did not direct her to further mental health treatment.

Ploeger reported the alleged misconduct to Alexander’s supervisor and then-Penn President Amy Gutmann in 2015. Alexander allegedly threatened her in response to these reports.

Before the start of the spring 2016 semester, Ploeger allegedly applied for the same accommodations she had received since 2009. The opinion then states that the University required that Ploeger meet with CAPS personnel to be granted the accommodations and denied her request to have a witness or advocate present in the meeting. She decided not to re-enroll at Penn as a result. She said that CAPS did not respond to her subsequent requests to set up a conversation with a counselor.

In the spring of 2018, Ploeger allegedly re-enrolled by sending a ‘return from leave’ letter, but did not sign up for classes because she was “fearful of further retaliation,” as quoted in court documents. She then attempted to re-enroll for the fall 2018 semester, but the University allegedly rejected her re-enrollment request.

Ploeger filed her initial complaint against Penn on April 1, 2020, in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. After she requested to re-enroll at Penn in 2021, the complaint said that the University required that she pay a fee of several thousand dollars, an increase from what the complaint said was an initial demand for hundreds of dollars to re-enroll before she sued.

Ploeger has filed a series of complaints since April 2020. The court said that her assertion that the University imposed a higher re-enrollment fee following the lawsuit was sufficient to uphold the retaliation claims. The other claims have been dismissed.

The dismissed claims include breach of contract, in which Penn allegedly did not provide its promised free, high-quality health care; and negligent supervision due to the University’s failure to supervise Alexander and terminate him after her report. The court dismissed both claims because they are barred by statute of limitations.

Ploeger is represented by Trial Law Firm, LLC. The University is represented by Tucker Law Group. Ploeger’s law firm did not respond to a request for comment, while Ozio responded to the DP’s request for comment from Tucker Law Group.