February 22, 2024

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • FOUNDED 1885 VOL. CXL

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

NO. 6

AMY WAX FACES SANCTIONS A ONE-YEAR SUSPENSION. NO SUMMER PAY. A PUBLIC REPRIMAND.

Wax is now appealing the hearing board’s recommendations, which were approved by then-President Liz Magill in August ELEA CASTIGLIONE Senior Reporter

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

A Faculty Senate hearing board recommended that Penn sanction controversial University of Pennsylvania Carey Law professor Amy Wax, prompting Wax to appeal the ruling — and garnering mixed reactions from community members.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, sources close to Wax’s case confirmed that, in June 2023, the hearing board comprised of tenured faculty members recommended sanctions against Wax, a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law. The ruling, if it is upheld after Wax’s appeal, would be the first time in recent history that a tenured University professor was sanctioned through Faculty Senate procedures.

The recommended sanctions against Wax included a one-year suspension at half pay, the removal of her named chair and summer pay, and a requirement for Wax to note in public appearances that she is not speaking on behalf or as a member of Penn Carey Law. The hearing board decided that the University should

issue a public reprimand of Wax, but did not suggest she should be fired or stripped of tenure, according to the Inquirer. The Inquirer reported that Wax’s appeal cited improper procedure, meaning that Penn’s Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility will now review the appeal. This further delays a conclusion to the case, which has already been ongoing for two years.

Former Penn President Liz Magill signed off on the hearing board’s recommendation of sanctions in August of last year, but Wax quickly appealed the decision, according to the Inquirer. The Daily Pennsylvanian was unable to confirm this timeline of events.

Graduate School of Education professor Jonathan Zimmerman, who is also a member of SCAFR, did not speak on matters related to the committee’s confidential proceedings. He clarified that the committee is only tasked with reviewing the procedures of the hearing board — not to render a new recommendation on

whether Wax should be sanctioned.

“I think something this serious should take a long time,” Zimmerman said. “I understand the frustration, but this is one of the most important decisions that the University of Pennsylvania is going to make, I would argue in history.”

Other SCAFR members told the DP that the committee’s proceedings are “strictly confidential” in response to requests for comment.

Vinila Varghese, a third-year student at Penn Carey Law and president of the Council of Student Representatives, said that there has not yet been discussion among law students about the recommended sanctions.

Varghese said that she was disappointed Wax did not receive a major sanction, such as the revocation of her tenure.

“If this is the best sanctions that they can do, then I’m happy [that] there are consequences to her actions,” she said. “But I wish it was more severe.”

Zimmerman, however, warned that sanctioning Wax

could lead to a “cascade of censorship.”

Zach Greenberg, a program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, suggested that the hearing board’s recommendations violate Wax’s academic freedom as outlined in Penn’s free speech policies.

“We believe that Penn’s violating Amy Wax’s academic freedom rights by trying to punish her for her scholarship,” he said.

Greenberg said that any kind of punishment — whether it be in the form of docking pay, stripping of titles, or termination — is inappropriate.

“We feel that the University should rescind this punishment or refrain from punishing her,” he said.

Zimmerman said there is a distinction between Wax’s public statements and alleged statements directed at students, a distinction he said has been left out of much of the rhetoric surrounding her case.

See WAX, page 3

From Black Penn administrator hiring far outpaces faculty growth, Bottom to UC raising concerns of ‘bloat’ Townhomes: The While enrollment has barely budged, administration has increased in size by 78% in the past 20 years, a DP analysis found ongoing fight for affordable in which universities are generally hiring more administrators than instructional faculty. This trend has been observed at other universities, inhousing near cluding Harvard University.

Penn Graduate School of Education professor Penn Jonathan Zimmerman called administrative bloat ALEX SLEN AND SRISHTI BANSAL Staff Reporters

Decades of turnover and redevelopment of the University City neighborhood have frustrated residents and community members EMILY SCOLNICK Senior Reporter

For the first three quarters of the 20th century, Black Bottom — a predominantly African-American community in University City — thrived. In the 1960s, its residents came together to fight displacement attempts by developers — but the community was razed despite their protests.

In recent years, many of the same residents have faced conflict over the University City Townhomes — a low-income housing development built on the site where Black Bottom stood. In July 2021, IBID Associates Limited Partnership — the property’s owners — announced that it would not renew its contract with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, giving tenants eviction notices and preparing for the site’s demolition.

60 years later, former Black Bottom residents and experts spoke to The Daily Pennsylvanian about the history of Black Bottom and their continued fight for community preservation amid displacement threats in University City.

See BLACK BOTTOM, page 3 SEND STORY IDEAS TO NEWSTIP@THEDP.COM

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Medical staff are excluded from both the administrative and instructional staff values.

Penn is following a national trend of hiring a higher ratio of administrators to instructional faculty, according to a Daily Pennsylvanian analysis.

The DP’s analysis found that the number of full-time, non-medical school administrators at Penn over the past 20 years increased by 78% — compared to a 40% increase in full-time, nonmedical faculty. The analysis relied on data from

the United States Department of Education and Penn’s annual reports, concluding that student enrollment has remained relatively constant — increasing by just 5% — while hiring increased at greater rates.

A request for comment was left with a University spokesperson.

These numbers are consistent with a national trend often described as “administrative bloat,”

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“the most important trend that’s happened during [his] career as a scholar.”

Zimmerman said there are “necessary” and “even legal reasons” to have institutions become “highly managed places.” However, he also believes administrative bloat “changes the tone of the University in a very real way.”

“The students are being socialized to expect a kind of management from the University,” Zimmerman said. “That’s a fundamentally disempowering maneuver.”

Richard Vedder, professor emeritus at Ohio University, said that the role of university administrators has historically been to record grades, carry out clerical work, and enforce rules.

As colleges expanded and government regulations increased in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of administrators grew as well, according to Zimmerman.

Jay Greene, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and the former chair of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, said that many universities used to feel as if they were run by a “collective of faculty.”

Administrative positions increased as responsibilities — including managing student life, residential life, and conduct — were shifted away from faculty, according to Greene.

At Penn, the Office of Student Affairs has 160 full-time staff and 10 part-time staff, and it was ranked as one of the most promising places to work See ADMIN, page 3 CONTACT US: 215-422-4640

2 NEWS

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WAX, from FRONT PAGE “I think we need to discriminate between public statements and private ones,” he said. “Ones that are done in the context of making a political statement or argument and ones that are done in a classroom and educational situation.”

The board’s June 2023 recommendation came after three days of disciplinary hearings in May 2023, which were held at the request of former Penn Carey Law Dean Ted Ruger. Ruger, who left the deanship in June 2023, began an investigation of Wax in January 2022 after she had spent years drawing controversy for her inflammatory rhetoric. “[A]s long as most Asians support Democrats and help to advance their positions, I think the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration,” Wax said in a claim that drew national outcry and was cited by Ruger in a complaint to the Faculty Senate in 2022.

At the time of publication, all contacted members of the hearing board declined to comment, and a University spokesperson also declined to comment. Wax did not respond to an inquiry, she previously declined to comment on her case when the DP approached her outside her office on April 17, 2023.

Wax spoke about the case with right-wing political commentator Richard Hanania in December of last year, saying that there would be a decision in the next few months, but that it was going through “layers of appeal at Penn.”

“I think that my guess is that they’re going to want to delay it, because the last thing they need is another dumpster fire, especially one that might involve a penalty for a conservative professor, which is precisely the sort of hypocrisy that, you know, will attract attention,” she said.

Wax also said at the time that Penn might face subpoenas related to the case.

“There’s a move afoot to get some subpoenas out to Penn of the records in my case. And we’re talking about thousands of pages now,” she said.

On Jan. 24 of this year, the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce requested several documents from Penn, citing “grave concerns” about the University’s response to antisemitism on campus. The letter, which demanded that the University submit documents by Feb. 7, cited multiple examples as “cases of Penn canceling or sanctioning speech it disfavored” — including the action taken against Wax. It remains unclear which University behavioral standards the hearing board determined Wax to have violated.

Ruger’s complaint, and the rarely used disciplinary procedure that ensued, brought Penn to the forefront of the heated debate regarding the boundaries of academic free speech, particularly for tenured professors. Wax has painted herself as the latest victim of what she has described as an attack against conservatives in higher education, while minority students and professors have said her conduct has threatened their sense of safety, inclusion, and belonging on campus.

Around 80 University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School students protested outside of professor Amy Wax’s classroom on Nov. 28, 2023, opposing her invitation of white nationalist Jared Taylor as a guest speaker. Taylor’s appearance prompted a schoolwide email from Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law of Penn Carey Law Sophia Lee on Nov. 21, 2023, in what appeared to be Lee’s first public comments on Wax as dean.

While the DP has been unable to obtain the details of the hearing board’s decisions, the closing argument made

by Wax’s lawyer suggested that the hearing board was examining whether Wax viewed her media commentary as an extension of her teaching at Penn and whether her statements were supported by facts and research.

Wax’s statements have included claiming that Black students never graduate at the top of the Penn Carey Law class and that “non-Western groups” are resentful towards “Western people.” Among other allegations, Wax has also faced criticism for hosting white nationalist Jared Taylor for a guest lecture and allegedly telling a Penn Carey Law student that she was only accepted into the Ivy League “because of affirmative action.”

In June 2022, Ruger filed a complaint to the Faculty Senate recommending a major sanction against Wax. He asked the Faculty Senate to appoint a hearing board of five professors from across the University to evaluate his complaint.

“Academic freedom for a tenured scholar is, and always has been, premised on a faculty member remaining fit to perform the minimal requirements of the job,” Ruger wrote in a June 2022 report to the Faculty Senate.

“However, Wax’s conduct demonstrates a ‘flagrant disregard of the standards, rules, or mission of the University.’”

It is unknown if Wax plans to take any further action against Penn at this time.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

BLACK BOTTOM, from FRONT PAGE Black Bottom displacement prompts activism Black Bottom — which stretched between 32nd to 40th streets and from University Avenue to Lancaster Avenue — was comprised of predominantly low-income Black families, many of whom faced displacement due to gentrification efforts by Penn and the City of Philadelphia.

The history of displacement and gentrification in Black Bottom can be traced back to the Housing Act of 1949, which aimed to address urban housing decline. In the 1950s, the area was officially designated as a redevelopment zone.

The area became known as Black Bottom in the early 1900s because it was “a place where native people and slaves [could] intermingle with each other,” former Black Bottom resident Sid Bolling told the DP. The West Philadelphia Corporation, a nonprofit community development organization including Penn and several other Universities, was founded in 1959 by former Penn President Gaylord Harnwell. It established the boundaries of University City, and its development plans displaced thousands of Black Bottom residents.

The proposed development of the University City Science Center was seen as “a catalyst for the economic, cultural, and scholarly efflorescence of University City,” but was met with an uproar of activism, School of Social Policy & Practice lecturer and former Black Bottom resident Walter Palmer told the DP. This extended to Penn’s campus. In February 1969, Students for a Democratic Society organized a six-day sit-in in College Hall after submitting demands to Harnwell requesting that a commission be established to ensure that Penn’s future development would not conflict with community development.

The sit-in made Penn the first Ivy League school to be part of the civil rights protests, according to Palmer.

UC Townhomes evictions renew community frustration In 1982, IBID Associates purchased the block of Market Street between 39th and 40th streets for $1. A year later, the affordable housing units comprising the UC Townhomes were constructed to compensate for the destruction of Black Bottom.

These units were funded through federal subsidies for affordable housing put in place by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Program Section 220, which insured loans for multifamily housing in areas where urban governments undertook revitalization efforts.

Residents lived in the affordable housing units without issue until July 2021, when IBID announced that it would not be renewing its annual affordable housing contract with HUD — putting almost 70 families at risk of displacement.

Last spring, a settlement between IBID and the City of Philadelphia declared that residents had to vacate the UC Townhomes by Aug. 15, 2023. Residents were set to receive assistance from the city, and 70 units were set aside to preserve affordable housing in the location.

The decades of turnover and redevelopment of the

Black Bottom caused significant frustration residents and community members.

“We’re being treated like we’re nothing,” Bolling said.

Activist organizations, including the Save the UC Townhomes Coalition, emerged in recent years to advocate for the townhomes’ preservation.

Such groups demanded that Penn take action to completely maintain the affordable housing development — with some proposing that Penn purchase the entirety of the UC Townhomes property.

The situation “raises broad questions about what Penn’s responsibility to its neighbors is,” SP2 professor Amy Hillier told the DP, adding that reparations paid by Penn to the Black Bottom community are worth considering.

The UC Townhomes are an example of “twicecleared communities,” Hillier said, referring to the way it has been redeveloped several times “with very little regard for the Black community.”

Former Black Bottom residents look forward “I love Penn and I love being a part of it, [but] strong, courageous institutions don’t try to dismiss the hard history,” Hillier said.

The creation of the Black Bottom Community Association in 1976 and the persistence of the Black Bottom Tribe allows community members to continue to forge relationships, and they reunite annually while continuing to fight for recognition.

“It’s generational trauma,” Palmer said. “Somehow the story has been played out over and over and over again.”

Bolling told the DP that the Black Bottom Tribe is hoping to obtain a historical marker at 36th and Market streets to honor the community that the “bottom” of West Philadelphia housed for so many years.

In the meantime, Black Bottom resident Dennis Burroughs commended the community’s ability to stay together and remain resilient.

“I learned from that what it means to love your people and be committed to your people,” he said.

EMILY WHITE | DP FILE PHOTO

The Save the Townhomes coalition set up an encampment to protest the sale and demolition of the University City Townhomes in July 2022.

ADMIN, from FRONT PAGE in student affairs by Diverse Magazine in 2023.

The average salary of an entry-level job at the Office of Student Affairs is $50,000, averaging $70,000 for mid-level job and $225,000 for a senior job, according to past DP coverage.

“When I started college in the late 1950s, my guess for every two professors there was one administrator … Now at some Ivy League schools we have up to 10 administrators for every faculty,” Vedder said.

Administrative bloat has substantial financial costs to the University. Vedder estimated that if Penn had 300 fewer administrators, they would save up to $50 million a year.

The 2nd Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture in Public Social Science: A Conversation with Dr. Aldon Morris Moderated by Dr. Tukufu Zuberi

Friday, February 23, 2024 5:00 - 7:00 PM Location: Annenberg 109 3620 Walnut St.

Penn’s Board of Trustees called for the formation of a quadripartite commission, which it said would “be empowered to review and approve all existing plans involving future land acquisition or development of currently owned land contiguous to existing residential neighborhoods.”

Palmer, who has been an advocate for recognizing the Black Bottom since the 1960s, helped orchestrate the quadripartite agreement. He said Penn had a “profit motive but a nonprofit status,” adding that the agreement’s goal was to involve the community in future decisions about what would happen to the area within Black Bottom.

Between 1950 and 1970, Penn played a role in tearing down thousands of properties in the Black Bottom — displacing several thousand people, according to Palmer.

NEWS 3

Guest Speaker: Dr. Aldon Morris Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology & African American Studies, Northwestern University Author of: “The Scholar Denied: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology”

\

Register for the event here (Virtual / In-person event)

Moderated by: Dr. Tukufu Zuberi The Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations

In May, Penn Medicine cut administrators in a cost-cutting move, saving $40 million annually.

The DP reported that there were several duplicate administrative positions included in the cuts.

“None of these people cost that much but collectively, it adds up. And it’s not just their salaries and benefits that have to be covered, but they need offices and buildings for their offices,” Greene said.

The growing size of Penn’s administration comes as institutional spending at private American colleges increased by 6.7% between 2015 and 2020, while instructional spending increased by 2.5%. The cost of college has also far exceeded income growth, with prices increasing eight times as fast.

Vedder said that there have been additional consequences of increased spending on

administrators.

At Ohio University, Vedder said the school was spending so much on administration that there was less money for faculty sabbaticals.

“We didn’t have money to hire additional faculty, and in some cases, our teaching burden grew relative to what it would have been had we had a smaller administration,” Vedder said.

Greene also worried that ‘over-administration’ has made the college experience more isolating for students, adding that “it has disconnected students from faculty.”

The answer, according to Zimmerman, is likely more nuanced than simply cuts.

“We need administrators … but I think we do need a conversation about how much administration we need,” Zimmerman said.

4 OPINION

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Opinion

140th Year of Publication

THIS YEAR’S BOARD MOLLY COHEN President ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL Executive Editor JARED MITOVICH DP Editor-in-Chief SOPHIA LIU Design Editor WEI-AN JIN Design Editor CHARLOTTE BOTT Copy Editor LAURA SHIN Copy Editor KATIE BARTLETT News Editor BEN BINDAY News Editor ELLA SOHN Assignments Editor ABHIRAM JUVVADI Photo Editor YOMI ABDI Opinion Editor WALKER CARNATHAN Sports Editor VIVIAN YAO Sports Editor ABHIRAM JUVVADI Photo Editor LIV YUN Podcast Editor DEREK WONG Video Editor JADA EIBLE HARGRO Social Media Editor SARAH MARCUS Diversity, Inclusion & Standards Director ZAIN QURESHI Business Manager EDWARD LIU Analytics Director SANGEETA QUDDUS Finance & Accounting Manager

Is Penn about liberal arts or elite jobs?

LET’S BE FRANC | What you deserve to know before recruiting for finance or consulting “Welcome to Penn! You are the most diverse class we have ever admitted!” The convocation rhetoric makes you feel so special. Penn is diverse because a student comes from Wisconsin and another from Kazakhstan. One plays the flute, one plays squash.

Never mind that all of them want to be bankers or consultants. I wish someone had told me that nearly every other person sitting at Convocation with me would end up in the funnel. That however diverse my first-year class was, my senior class would simply not be.

As a teaching assistant for Wharton’s required “Business and You” leadership course, I mentor first years adjusting to college and exploring careers. Someone confessed, “If not banking, then what else could I possibly do?” If the best business school in the world (U.S. News debates aside) makes you believe you only have one option from day one, the institution, culture, and entire system have fundamentally failed.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with those jobs: The last thing we need is a trembling economic system and inefficient markets. The problem is blindly assuming that one in two employed Penn grads and 80% of Wharton grads woke up and consciously made such a decision. Unpacking our culture proves how little of a decision this is and how everything revolves around two words: prestige and control.

It is common knowledge by now that Penn students are privileged. However, you may not know that for every single student from the bottom 20%, over 21 people come from the top 20%, blithely offsetting their upbringing. The result? An abject elite detached from reality. Okay, perhaps this is cynical, but if we are known for our elitist “seeing and being seen” culture, is it a surprise that 25% of us

are so disillusioned to think the average U.S. salary is above six figures? Of course not (both not surprising and not true).

Penn’s alarming lack of socioeconomic diversity (despite efforts to acknowledge this) unequivocally creates a culture perpetuating the value of money at the expense of everything else. The people you sit next to in class distract you with their laptop screens: purchasing a Gucci bag or booking Airbnbs in Cancun. The emails you receive are about banking and consulting events. This is the model. The only one. The only one, right?

Let’s be honest: “Just follow your passion” won’t pay the bills, and I cannot blame an indebted or underprivileged student for desiring financial freedom with a high-paying job.

This is why I am not saying the Wall Street lifestyle is unethical, although like others, I could. I am saying this is only one way to live your life. One of infinitely many. Which one makes sense for YOU? Everyone at Penn is good at planning, several are good at doing, and almost none are good at reflecting. The purpose of your college education is not exclusively career preparation. If this is what they had you do, I hate to tell you that you have been robbed. As writer William Deresiewicz argues, “What you should want to develop in college is the habit of reflection, which means the capacity for change because most of what you come across in college will inevitably fade from memory. What is left over, precisely, is you.”

A culture, even more so an institution, should give you the tools to understand what model of life you want to live, not impose the model on you.

Yet, my student’s question is central and inevitable: What else if not banking?

Asking yourself what truly energizes you is no easy task because it requires the

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Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com.

Editorials represent the majority view of members of The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. Editorial Board, which meets regularly to discuss issues relevant to Penn’s campus. Participants in these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on related topics.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Land on which the office of The Daily Pennsylvanian stands is a part of the homeland and territory of the LenniLenape people, known to the original Indigenous people as “Lenapehoking.” We affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold The Daily Pennsylvanian and the University of Pennsylvania more accountable to the needs of Native American and Indigenous people.

vulnerability to let go of the comforting lifetime certainty that the predetermined path gives you: 2025 summer recruiting, analyst, associate… Well, the desire to eliminate uncertainty eliminates life. What do you plan to do after “some years of experience” with your future free time and why on earth are you not doing it now?

In his book “Excellent Sheep,” Deresiewicz advocates for the importance of time off, slowing down, breaking the cycle of endless achievement, and acknowledging the existence of a world outside of your Ivy League.

It may be scandalous to some and unmistakable to others, but what if you replaced your obsessive passion for finance with one that is harmonious, perhaps exploring capacities you have not had a chance to cultivate? What if you did something you purposefully cannot put on a resume or post on LinkedIn? Yes, you may be “behind” those who doubtlessly persist in the hierarchy, but what is the purpose of being at the top if you are climbing the wrong mountain?

The main idea behind the Pathless Path is not to neglect the ambition that got us where

we are (not even to stop using Path@Penn), but rather to remember that Penn is not a four-year treadmill to (and playground for) the American elite. Yes, it was founded for them, but Penn’s core mission today is the pursuit, enhancement, and dissemination of knowledge. We need to be aware of and manage our bewitching instinct to desire control and the social need for status. The truth is you cannot eradicate control and prestige.

Just stop watering them. Like the French say, “lâcher prise.”

Liberal education puts everything at risk and requires you to risk everything. The process is by no means comfortable, but it is liberating and extraordinary. If it happens right, it feels like giving birth to yourself. Or at least this is how I feel and the only obsession I have is ensuring everyone gets not the opportunity, but rather the choice of feeling this way, too.

FR ANCESCO SAL AMONE is a Wharton sophomore from Palermo, Italy. His email address is frasala@ wharton.upenn.edu.

VESELY’S VISION | Black clubs at Penn deserve a spotlight

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Columnist Francesco Salomone critiques elitism at Penn.

Black Penn is vibrant this month and every month

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The Inspiration is a student a capella group focused on the music of the African diaspora.

As of late, most of my columns have focused on things I take issue with: whether it’s Liz Magill’s resignation and the threats to free speech on campus, or the lack of racial diversity in Panhellenic sororities. I haven’t highlighted the things that I truly appreciate and, more specifically, the places in which I’ve found community at Penn.

Last February, I argued that Black history is important for everyone. Education surrounding Black people, their lives, and their contributions should be integrated into the standard curriculum. Black Penn shows up and shows out every month, but this month in particular, there are many events and ways that Penn student organizations uplift the community and come together.

It would be impossible to touch on all of these amazing events and their impacts, but I’d like to paint a picture of some of these groups and their initiatives during this month and beyond. Planning for these events takes months. For example, when Descendants of Afro-Americans at Penn — a club founded just last year — put on their first-ever gala on Feb. 1 to kick off the month, you better believe that the event was well-planned and

executed.

The gala — Red Carpet For A Cause — supported the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America’s Philadelphia and Delaware Valley Chapter. The night included catered food, live performances from student groups like The Inspiration, wonderful community, and beautiful decor, even including an ice sculpture of the DAAP logo. Over $1,700 was raised in support of the foundation.

When asked about the impacts of the event, College sophomore and DAAP founding member Clarke Dickens said, “We wanted to bring the community together for a great cause, especially a cause that affects a lot of African Americans and Black people more broadly.”

Sickle cell disease occurs in about one in every 365 Black babies born in the United States. The percentage of Black people who carry the trait is even higher, with one in 13 Black babies being born as carriers.

Dickens is not just involved with DAAP, but is also on the boards for QBlack and Shea Collective.

These clubs are all part of something

commonly dubbed “Black Penn,” which focuses on so many different aspects of identity.

From cultural organizations like Penn African Student Association, to preprofessional organizations like Black Wharton and the Black Pre-Law Association, to community service organizations like the NAACP, all of these organizations put an emphasis on service both inside the Penn community and out.

For example, Campus Curlz — a club I serve on the board of — is, at first glance, a club centered around uplifting natural hair and embracing positivity. But underlying hair mask making events and movie nights, there is a strong commitment to service. Just this month, the community service committee held an event where we made Valentine’s Day cards for senior citizens at Mercy Life West Philadelphia.

Service by board members is a requirement to be part of funding organizations like UMOJA — the umbrella funding organization for Black clubs — and even beyond that, many clubs center service in every activity they partake in. Whether you’re on the board of a club or not, there are many service opportunities available and encouraged.

When asked what they wish people knew about Black Penn, Dickens said, “Clubs should make an effort to include grad students. It makes all the difference. I’m able to say, ‘This is what I would look like coming here for grad school,’ and it can even offer opportunities for mentorship.”

What seems to drive Black Penn is first and foremost the students, then the supportive and involved faculty, as well as the local partnerships and opportunities the clubs find, build, and pursue for themselves. Many

members of the DAAP board are native to Philadelphia, so that makes their work even more personal.

While Black students do take initiative to realize what they need and create the spaces they want to see, there is so much room for improvement on behalf of Penn: whether it’s stratifying the way funding is given to these clubs — they often can’t fund silverware in UMOJA meetings if it can be provided elsewhere — or improving the cultural spaces available to students (we were promised the ARCH ‘building,’ not the ARCH ‘basement’). In months like this where Penn aims to spotlight their Black students, I wish it came year-round and recognized the incredible community students forged for themselves when they initially didn’t see it on campus.

Events like DAAP’s gala happen every month, and it’s important not to understate the role these organizations play in making Penn a welcoming and accepting place for students from marginalized backgrounds.

I was happy to see Faces of Black Penn — a Black-run publication — highlighted in the DP last week. I hope people continue to uplift the work of these student groups going forward and make space to give all students their roses. Black History Month is not over, and the time to appreciate Black students and their work does not end come March.

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

Embracing diverse narratives during Black History Month GUEST COLUMN | An open letter to the Penn community MALI AYALA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Dear Fellow Quakers, As we celebrate Black History Month, it’s crucial to recognize the multifaceted nature of the Black American experience.

This month offers an opportunity to delve into the depths of history: exploring narratives that challenge, inspire, and provoke thought. In the spirit of true academic inquiry and in honor of this significant month, I wish to highlight a selection of works by Black authors whose perspectives might diverge from the more commonly embraced interpretations of Black history and culture.

Dr. Thomas Sowell’s “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” is an indispensable contribution to our understanding of African American culture. Sowell’s analysis traces the cultural and historical influences that have shaped the Black experience in America, offering insights

that are both provocative and enlightening. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the complex genesis of Black American identity beyond conventional narratives.

“Up from the Projects” by Dr. Walter E. Williams, a former Philadelphia native, narrates the compelling story of a Black scholar’s ideological evolution amidst America’s racial upheavals. Williams’s autobiography is not just a personal memoir; it’s a testament to the power of ideas and the possibility of change in the face of adversity. His journey from the projects to becoming a celebrated public scholar challenges us to reconsider the perceived limits on Black social mobility within America.

Jason Riley’s “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed” critically examines the impact

Guest Columnist Raheem Williams recommends three books for the Penn community to engage with during Black History Month. of well-intentioned social policies on racial As members of an academic community disparities. Through meticulous analy- that prides itself on intellectual rigor and sis, Riley questions the efficacy of these openness, it is our responsibility to explore programs, urging a reassessment of our a broad spectrum of perspectives, especially approaches to addressing inequality. His those that provoke debate and reflection. Let work serves as a crucial counterweight to us take this Black History Month as an opprevailing discussions on race and policy. portunity to broaden our horizons, engage with ideas that challenge us, and appreciate In recommending these texts, my intention the rich tapestry of narratives that comprise is not to endorse every opinion expressed by Black history in America. the authors but to underscore the importance of engaging with a diversity of viewpoints.

These authors challenge us to look beyond RAHEEM WILLIAMS is an Executive the prevailing orthodoxy and to question the MPA student at the Fels Institute of narratives that have become commonplace Government and a member of the within academic circles. They remind us Committee on Open Expression. His that the Black American experience, like any email address is wraheem@sas.upenn. aspect of human history, is richly diverse and edu. complex.

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OPINION 5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

What we can learn from Penn’s college ranking JACK OUTSIDE THE BOX | Public service is the next step in heightening Penn’s brand

JESSE ZHANG | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Columnist Jack Lakis argues that Penn is unlikely to produce a future U.S. president with its current focus on pre-professionalism.

Last fall, a plethora of new results from U.S. News & World Report, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes elevated Penn in their national college rankings. Nearly every list places Penn among the top 10, some going as far as placing the University among the top five.

This universal growth resulted from a key change in most of these sources’ metrics: greater consideration given to postgraduate salaries.

Penn famously has one of the highest-earning alumni bodies in the country. Starting salaries for Penn graduates are often considered the highest in the Ivy League. By mid-career, the average Penn alumn is raking in $165,000 annually, while the national average for a college graduate caps out at $74,000.

Penn draws a great deal of prestige from its potential to produce high earners, which is a direct result of our school’s preprofessional culture. Nearly 50% of all Penn graduates enter one of two career fields: consulting or finance. This pipeline allows most

Penn alumni to matriculate into high-paying jobs shortly after graduation.

I’m usually a defender of preprofessionalism. It’s crucial that Penn graduates are able to find good jobs, and high salary potential is an immense advantage. But those jobs aren’t everything. Many universities are making gains in rankings and name recognition based on alumni outcomes in public service careers.

For example, Harvard University boasts about its eight presidential alumni. However, when 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump was elected president, Penn mostly ignored his history with the school. Given his proximity to controversy and his unconventional political history, Penn’s bump in prestige was limited by Trump’s election. Our second closest claim to the White House is the University’s relationship with President Joe Biden and the opening of the Penn Biden Center. I argue that this is as far as Penn’s ties to the presidency will go.

Nowadays, Penn’s laser focus on professional development might repel students who will one day have presidential potential.

Comparable institutions to Penn have high-earning graduates and prestigious placements throughout the government, nonprofit sector, and advocacy space. For example, Georgetown University feeds graduates into congressional offices and many Fulbright programs. Princeton University also regularly features its flashy roster of graduates in powerful political offices. These universities maintain a strong presence in the private sector but are also actively represented in government positions.

In these examples, the institution itself sponsors an undergraduate school dedicated to public service.

At Georgetown, it’s the School of Foreign Service, while at Princeton the role is filled by the School of Public and International Affairs.

I propose that Penn follow suit and create a fifth undergraduate school dedicated to public affairs.

This new school could absorb Penn’s wildly popular social science programs, like PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), Political Science, and Economics. Currently, most students in these majors are scooped up by consulting firms and investment banks. If these students were given an intentional focus on service and social responsibility, perhaps they could feel empowered to use their degrees in a more meaningful way.

The least Penn can do is expand its current effort to bridge the gap between social science degree

seekers and careers in government and nonprofits.

It’s crucial that our student body actively engages with the robust policy infrastructure that Penn has already made available: Civic House, Perry World House, opportunities like Penn in Washington, and extracurricular engagements offered by the Government and Politics Association. From what I’ve seen, these resources are underutilized at Penn. By snubbing them, Penn students are working against the general interests of the University to gain prestige.

Besides, it’s about more than just rankings.

We have the potential to empower our students to become leaders in society. TIME Magazine ranks Penn as the third-best college for aspiring leaders.

However, the article states its rationale for this placement as a concentration of graduates in business careers. Other chart-topping schools on this list were noted for their programs in law, medicine, and more.

Ultimately, private sector homogeneity marks one of Penn’s key weaknesses. As we move forward, Penn has a duty to educate leaders in more than one field. If Penn strengthened its programs in civic engagement, more graduates would be inclined to pursue roles in government and could elevate Penn’s cultural stature. We should be known for more than salaries. We can do more than business.

JACK LAKIS is a College first year studying political science from Kennesaw, G.A. His email is jlakis@sas.upenn.edu.

I joined a sorority and I’m glad GUEST COLUMN | As a Black FGLI woman, I was pleasantly surprised by Greek life at Penn I’ll be honest: I was not a fan of Greek life when I first got to Penn. My perception of Greek life was influenced by growing up in the South, mainly in suburban Georgia. This included a sorority scene of girls with fake spray tans and little to no personality. The images of sorority girls from the University of Georgia and University of Alabama screamed no diversity, which made me wary of joining a sorority at Penn. Being a first-generation, low-income student made me especially hesitant. Even more so, coming from a Ghanaian household, the notion of a sorority was immediately dismissed as something against our Christian values. Thus, during my first year, I knew I would never, and I mean never, join a sorority.

However, by the beginning of sophomore year, my mindset began to change. After a year on campus, I had found a solid community of a small group of friends. But beyond that, I felt that I did not really know anyone. I couldn’t name more than 20 people in my grade. Penn is known for being a networking school, and the “Social Ivy,” so I began to question just how much I had taken advantage of that. That, along with most of the underclassmen party scene revolving around fraternities, made the idea of rushing even more appealing.

So while most people were beginning their sophomore year with the friends they already had, I began to look for additional friends. My twin sister, who also goes to Penn, and I began attending open rush events, talking to sophomores in sororities, and involving ourselves in more social events. Over the next few months, my days consisted of talking to many girls, going to dinners, and putting myself out there in a way that I had been hesitant to do before. I made new friends, met fellow sophomores also in search of a bigger community, and found myself loving the idea of joining a sorority.

But what made me even more eager was just how inclusive and diverse sororities were at Penn, more so than I had been expecting—especially the offcampus sorority I ended up joining, OAX. I was still wary about rushing, but as soon as I got to the

YOLANDA CHEN | DP FILE PHOTO

Guest Columnist Bernadine Kumi highlights the community she found as a Black woman involved in Greek life at Penn.

first event, I immediately felt comfortable. There were girls with different interests, passions, economic backgrounds, and personalities. Not a single conversation felt forced. Every girl I met had a unique and authentic story, and I felt like I could talk to them for hours.

I was especially captivated by BLOAX (Black OAX), a community within OAX that includes fellow girls of Ghanaian descent and other Black girls who provided me with guidance on navigating Penn as a Black woman. OAX also has other smaller communities, such as LatinOAX and RainbOAX. Being able to find other people with similar backgrounds made the choice to join a sorority that much easier.

As a FGLI student and Questbridge scholar,

the idea of paying high dues out of my minimal work paychecks every month was unfathomable.

I knew that joining a sorority would pose another financial burden, and even though I was loving the OAX community, the idea of paying dues scared me. Yet once again, OAX and other sororities surprised me with their understanding and financial transparency. They worked with me to develop an affordable monthly payment plan so that I, like every other girl interested in rushing, could also enjoy being in a sorority.

Since the morning of Bid Day when I got “the call,” I know that I truly made the right decision by joining a sorority, for not only my social life but my professional life too. This past fall, I was able to land a summer internship in Los Angeles with the

help of my grand-big. I was also able to prepare for my interview with girls in my sorority, who gave me the confidence I needed to land the opportunity.

As a Black woman and FGLI student, I have truly benefited from joining Greek life. I hope students who are hesitant to rush, just as I once was, will see my experience and how transformative it can be.

I hope others — whether they are Black women, FGLI students, or just Penn students in search of a greater community — can do the same.

BERNADINE KUMI is a College junior studying political science and legal studies and history from Roswell, Ga. Her email is kumibern@sas.upenn.edu.

‘Why is your pre-major advisor so much better than mine?’

JESSAYS | Pre-major advisors in the College can vary wildly in quality — here’s how and why

MOIRA CONNELL | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Columnist Jessey Shin explores the problem of disparate advising quality in the College and argues for a more standardized experience.

“My advisor lied to me?”

I remember someone saying this to me in complete disbelief, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Advisors can be as misleading as they are helpful, and this is a widespread problem that needs addressing.

In the College, students typically have between 15 and 20 credits outside of their primary major to meet the graduation requirement. These are used to fulfill general education requirements, pursue a second major or minor, or take elective courses that align with a student’s interests.

The freedom to pursue one’s intellectual pursuits is, of course, one of the draws of the College. I am looking to pursue two majors myself, in somewhat interconnected but disparate fields of study: The flexibility offered by the curriculum allows me to

explore these interests without taking an obscene number of classes.

The problem is few students go into their first year knowing which major they would like to pursue, much less exactly which courses to take.

The College puts a lot of effort into informing incoming students about the curriculum and what they have to offer, such as through the Compass module on Canvas that gives a foray into some aspects of the College experience (something that other schools do not offer). However, the sheer number of options can be overwhelming, giving rise to a unique need for personalized, one-on-one guidance. This is where pre-major advisors come in.

Pre-major advisors, assigned to each student before they start their first semester at Penn, are

a vital resource for College students. They guide students through the course selection process, encouraging and helping them as they explore their various interests and eventually settle on a major.

I can say that I have had a relatively good experience with my pre-major advisor. However, I also found that some of the advice offered was not fully applicable to my circumstance because of the recent transition from Penn InTouch to Path@Penn.

Other students, however, are not as lucky. I have heard stories about advisors making their students cry, spreading misinformation, jeopardizing their advisees’ course registration, you name it.

In an interview, one student (who requested anonymity) shared that they have had trouble reaching their pre-major advisor from the get-go. College students must meet with their advisor one-on-one to get their course registration hold lifted; without this, they are not eligible to participate in Advance Registration. The student was only able to reach their advisor a day or so before the deadline and has continued to have trouble with availability.

Of course, their pre-major advisor experience was less than ideal. “Her guidance wasn’t so much guidance as it was looking at the boxes and seeing if I checked them,” they said. “I don’t think I would feel comfortable going to her for personal issues, such as which major to pursue or how to explore [some of my interests], because I don’t think she would point me [in] the right direction.” Instead, they had been utilizing their PennCAP advisor (available for FGLI students) for these concerns.

On the other hand, some students are able to form a positive relationship with their advisor and find

that they are helpful in navigating their interests.

Rishi Dadlani, a College first year, described his advisor as “friendly and helpful. He gave me his phone number and told me to contact him if I [had] any questions … If I saw him around campus, I would say hi, and he always sends us a beginning-of-semester email.”

This disparity in advising quality means that some students are at a great disadvantage compared to others. While some advisors are able to “point students in the right direction,” helping them take the right step forward in their college experience, others fall short. Their advisees must navigate the complicated process of learning about the majors, gen-ed requirements, and figuring out (the surprisingly difficult) advance registration process on their own.

When done right, the freedom of the College curriculum can allow students to truly delve into their academic interests and eventually settle on the right path for them. However, that process requires a lot of research and planning that is supposed to be aided by a pre-major advisor. For incoming first years who are unfamiliar with the landscape at Penn and underclassmen students, this disparity in advising quality poses a challenge. Penn must ensure that all students are able to best utilize the resources at their disposal, and the first place to start is with the guidance they receive.

JESSEY SHIN is a College first-year studying sociology and communications from Seongnam-si, South Korea. Their email is jessey0@sas.upenn.edu.

6 NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

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New AI literacy interest group holds teach-in sessions The group hosted a panel and showcase to spread awareness about AI language models and machine learning systems SAMRA LUGSEGED Contributing Reporter

Penn’s new literacy interest group on artificial intelligence hosted an inaugural panel and showcase to spread awareness about interdisciplinary topics related to large language models.

The Penn AI Literacy Interest Group was launched this semester to create a nuanced understanding of recent AI developments. The day-long event took place in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library on Feb. 13 and included presentations from expert speakers, panel discussions, a special collections showcase, and interactive games.

Applied data science librarian Jajwalya Karajgikar founded the literacy group with the aim of exploring the multidisciplinary impacts of AI in a way accessible to the Penn community.

Karajgikar, who is part of the Penn Libraries’ Research Data and Digital Scholarship team, said that she wanted to avoid falling into either overly optimistic or pessimistic views about new technologies.

“The group’s mission is to be a critical teach-in space for AI and the societal implications of the ubiquitous usage of AI,” she said. “The idea is to not succumb to doomerism.”

Karajgikar assembled an advisory board composed of students across different schools to organize the group’s first sessions. The speakers on Tuesday covered a range of topics in AI from technical, historical, and legal approaches.

The day began with an introduction from Karajgikar and College junior Eug Xu, who is the RDDS data science and society research assistant and member of the literacy group.

Andy Janco, research software engineer and digital scholarship programmer at Penn Libraries, then provided an overview of what large language models are and how they work. He described how models generate approximations of cumulative data online without social context.

“ChatGPT is a blurry JPEG of the web,” he said.

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Penn Libraries hosted the inaugural panel for their AI literacy interest group on Feb. 13.

Penn Libraries copyright advisor Stephen Wolfson explained the copyright implications of generative AI, while a subsequent session led by historian of sciences David Dunning focused on the history of AI in the classroom.

Karajgikar then hosted a showcase at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, displaying objects such as books on ciphers and science fiction novels from the 1970s. Event attendees ended the day with a social hour, engaging in games and activities related to digital humanities.

Xu emphasized the importance of having a discussion about AI, given its rising prominence in day-to-day life.

“It’s really important for users of this kind of new tool to understand what that new tool is, first and foremost, and also how to use it in a way that will yield them results that they want,” they said.

Xu added that other crucial topics to discuss are the ethical considerations of AI and the material impact of computing.

College sophomore a nd literacy group member Mia Antonacci said that she is interested in looking at AI through a political lens.

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She stressed the importance of AI ethics across all industries due to the inherent bias existing in machine learning and large language model training data.

“At the pace that we’re moving just in the last couple of months with AI, it’s very interesting to see the relationship with how much bias we still haven’t been able to control for,” Antonacci said. “It’s crazy that we’re advancing so fast, and it’s still such an issue.”

Karajgikar said that she hoped that attendees would leave the event with a new sense of understanding and curiosity about AI tools. “[The literacy group] is a space for … people to consider these systems in place critically and apply that to their daily life,” Karajgikar said.

“That’s what media literacy is. That’s what tech literacy is, and I hope in a library setting, AI literacy can also evolve in that way.”

The group is co-sponsored by the Price Lab for Digital Humanities, the Data Driven Discovery Initiative, and the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. It plans to host a student-led debate discussing the intersectionality of technology, gender, and region in relation to AI on Feb. 27.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

NEWS 7

Surge in scooter theft prompts student security concerns Scooters are currently banned from campus housing due to their classification as a fire hazard, leading students to voice displeasure with the regulations FIONA HERZOG Staff Reporter

SEAN FANG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Penn Admissions has not yet announced whether it plans to reinstate the standardized testing requirement for the 2024-25 admissions cycle.

Penn yet to announce whether it will reinstate standardized testing requirement, unlike other Ivies The future of the test optional admissions policy — first implemented during COVID-19 — is unclear after Dartmouth began requiring scores again ANNALISA FANG Staff Reporter

Penn has yet to announce whether it will reinstate its standardized testing requirement for the 2024-25 admissions cycle, a spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian — unlike other Ivy League schools.

Earlier this month, Dartmouth College removed its testoptional policy and returned to requiring standardized test scores for the Class of 2029 and beyond. Penn has not yet made any public statements on whether standardized tests will be required in the 2024-25 cycle.

Penn’s test-optional policy was first implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020-21 admissions cycle — at which point the University stated that students without testing “will not be at a disadvantage in the admissions process.” The test-optional policy has been extended every cycle since.

Dartmouth’s announcement reimplementing testing cited a faculty study that showed that the test scores helped identify high-achieving students, regardless of students’ backgrounds or family income levels.

Ivy League universities have expressed differing philosophies on the testing requirement — with several, such as Dartmouth, already announcing their policies for the next several admissions cycles.

Yale University is currently considering reinstating its standardized testing requirement for admissions, according to Forbes. Columbia University announced last year that it would go permanently test-optional, and Harvard University — in 2021 — decided to extend its test-optional admissions policy through the Class of 2030’s admissions cycle, which includes two more class years.

However, Brian Taylor, the managing partner of college counseling service Ivy Coach, told the DP that he believes these universities will eventually return to requiring test scores. He suggested that it is in Penn’s best interest to reinstate test scores — referencing Dartmouth’s data analysis.

“If you’re an underrepresented minority applicant, and you have a 1450 [SAT score], that can very much help you at Dartmouth, even if it’s going to pull their mean down,” Taylor said.

Taylor explained that the decision on whether to submit test scores to a school is not as simple as whether it is above or below the mean. He cited Dartmouth admissions officers finding that some lower-income students chose to

withhold their test scores in cases where they would have served as a “positive signal” to admissions.

Taylor disagreed with leaders in admissions at various schools who have suggested over the past few years that students who did not submit test scores were placed on equal footing. He called the idea “baloney” that a student with a great test score had no advantage over one without a test score.

“All else being equal, students with great test scores will always have an advantage over students with no test scores,” he said.

“Over the years, students and parents have started to realize — oh wait, admissions officers weren’t really telling it like it is,” Taylor said. “Those test scores did matter.

Yeah, sure, you can get in without scores, but you’re at a significant disadvantage.”

Taylor explained that he would expect the number of applicants to decrease if Penn did reinstate the testing requirement since many of what he called “squeakers” — students who believed they could get into top schools without submitting test scores — were applying to more schools because of the changed policy.

While Penn does not immediately disclose the acceptance rate for its applicants, the application cycle for the Class of 2027 featured an acceptance rate of 5.8% — a decrease from the acceptance rate of 6.5% for the Class of 2026.

Several students who did not submit their standardized test scores said that they believe that submitting their scores would have weakened their chances of admission — and that they may not have applied if a testing requirement was in place.

College sophomore Emily Roberts explained that — when she applied to Penn — she chose not to submit her standardized test scores because they were below the mean, yet probably still would have applied even if they were required.

In contrast, Nursing sophomore Maria Tran — who said that her high school GPA was outstanding in comparison to her standardized test scores — said that she would not have applied to Penn if the school required test scores at the time, believing that her chance at getting in would have been “zero.”

CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Protestors affiliated with the Freedom School for Palestine relocated to Houston Hall after a University representative requested they end their demonstration in Van Pelt Library on Feb. 18.

Penn officials force relocation of Van Pelt Library ‘study-in’ by pro-Palestinian activists Protestors moved to Houston Hall after an eight-hour demonstration to raise awareness of the suffering of Gaza’s education system VIDYA PANDIARAJU AND NEEMA BADDAM Senior Reporters

Pro-Palestinian activists occupied Van Pelt Library for over eight hours on Sunday in a study-in that aimed to raise awareness of the Israel-Hamas war’s toll on Gaza’s education system.

Around 15 protestors affiliated with the Freedom School for Palestine — a self-identified collection of Penn students and affiliates — arrived at the Moelis Reading Room at 10 a.m. and filled one table. Penn representatives asked the demonstrators to leave the reading room at 7 p.m., prompting the group to move to the basement

— before finally relocating to Houston Hall around 7:30 p.m. after a representative from Penn’s University Life division asked them to leave the library entirely.

In a written statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the Freedom School wrote that they were “exercising [their] privilege and rights to free speech to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” They wrote that this studyin was to specifically address what they called “educide” — a term referring to Israel’s alleged targeted attacks on academic and intellectual figures in Gaza.

Students are expressing concern over a lack of campus security amid a surge of electric scooter thefts on campus.

Scooters are currently banned from campus housing due to their classification as a fire hazard, prompting students to voice displeasure with the regulations. Penn’s Division of Public Safety told The Daily Pennsylvanian that is it working on developing theft prevention programs in response to students’ concerns.

Seventeen scooter thefts were reported in Penn’s DPS patrol zone between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2, according to DPS. Engineering first year Ajay Sheth shared his frustration at the increase in thefts.

“They should be doing something about making sure that [the scooters] don’t get stolen at the rate that [they] do,” he said.

College first year Josh Narcisse said that his scooter has been stolen twice, with the most recent incident occurring on Feb. 2.

On the first occasion, Narcisse described his attempts to find the stolen scooter as a “tedious process,” as Penn Police did not provide him with much assistance. Narcisse was unable to recover the scooter and spent $400 for a replacement scooter in addition to an AirTag to track its location.

When Narcisse’s scooter was stolen again, he said that he had difficulty contacting Penn Police to report the theft, but ultimately received assistance that helped him retrieve it.

“I talked to my head coach, and he was able to connect me with a friend of his who was a detective here at Penn,” Narcisse said. “And then they were willing to help me.”

Several members of Penn’s football team also told the DP that they have experienced scooter thefts.

Wharton first year Darius Beauvoir said that — within his first couple of weeks on campus — his $600 scooter was stolen from the exterior of Gregory College House at approximately 3 a.m. He said that, in response to his voicing of concerns, Penn security staff suggested that scooters would be protected outside. “[Security] pretty much assured us that if we’re leaving them outside, things will be okay. There’s cameras, so we’ll be able to see who’s taking them,” Beauvoir said. “And, I mean, that just wasn’t the case.”

While Beauvoir said that he understands concerns over the lithium batteries in the scooters having the potential to start fires, he believes that it is possible to find solutions involving storing the scooters in a safe and enclosed space.

“The Radian has a room downstairs where everyone can put their bikes and scooters — and it’s not just for

student-athletes, it’s for everyone,” Beauvoir said. “The room is also secure, [as] nobody can get in without a PennID.” College first year Devin Malloy, who also plays for the football team, said that he was warned about scooter safety in his early days at Penn.

“When we first got on campus, the older kids on the football team told us to make sure [to] be serious about taking in your scooter because it will get stolen,” he said.

Malloy said that the cost of scooters does not stop at the initial purchase, which already ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars — as many people spend hundreds of dollars either on replacing their scooters or on additional locks and tracking devices.

He added that — after being barred from bringing the scooter into his dorm in Gregory — he placed his scooter outside of Claudia Cohen Hall overnight underneath two cameras. Despite taking the precaution of placing his scooter in a well-lit area, he returned the next day to see that all of the scooter’s screws had been loosened, leaving the scooter undrivable.

DPS told the DP that it is experimenting with a bait scooter program to combat the thefts, involving attaching a tracking device secured with a lock onto a scooter and placing it in an area more subject to thefts. When someone steals the scooter, DPS is then able to dispatch an officer to stop the individual.

Vice President for Public Safety Kathleen Shields Anderson said that the goal of the program is to “try to educate the individual that this is not a good area to commit these types of crimes.”

Anderson said that, with the help of camera systems across campus, the DPS has determined that the majority of thefts have been committed by “non-Penn students.”

She advised that — if students witness something that they deem suspicious — they contact the DPS at (215) 673-3333 and DPS will determine whether it requires further investigation.

“Our community uses [scooters] for transportation — this is important to our community and therefore we’re committing our resources to it,” she said.

Philadelphia’s Indego bike share program faced similar theft challenges in 2020 — with nearly 25% of Indego’s 1400 bikes stolen during the year, costing the company $500,000. As a result, tracking devices were installed and action was taken to limit the use of stolen credit cards within the system.

MOLLIE BENN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

An increase in e-scooter thefts on campus has resulted in student frustration over an alleged lack of security.

The Freedom School hung posters on the furniture and windows of the library, depicting Palestinian scholars and educators who have died as a result of Israeli attacks in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. University Life representatives asked Freedom School members to remove the posters from the windows around noon, and they complied.

A University spokesperson said that hanging signs in the room and on the windows is in violation of University policy, adding that building administrators asked the group to remove the signs several times throughout the day.

“The group refused to remove the signs and remained in the reading room, disrupting other students who were trying to study,” the spokesperson said. “As a result of this behavior, the students were asked to leave the premises and complied. The University will take appropriate disciplinary action.”

College junior and Freedom School participant Selena Rosario said that the group’s main goal for the study-in — which was originally intended to last in Van Pelt from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. — was to highlight the privilege Penn students have in accessing higher education, when many universities in Gaza have been bombed or severely incapacitated as a result of the ongoing violence in the region.

“Our university’s response to the situation has been remarkably hypocritical for an educational institution, especially one of such prestige and high power,” Rosario said. “We are a place that likes to tout how laws without morals are in vain, and yet there doesn’t seem to be any morality or care for fellow scholars and educators across the world and other students who are in Palestine who have lost their families and their right to be able to learn.”

Later, members of the Freedom School were asked to remove the posters from all furniture, including from on top of the table they were sitting at. At around 7 p.m., protestors were asked to leave the Moelis Reading Room, with Senior Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs Tamara Greenfield King referencing complaints received from other students.

Rosario described the University’s actions as “targeting,” since the Freedom School’s demonstration was “completely silent and non disruptive.” She said that participants did not interfere with other students’ studying or attempt to distribute their papers to others.

“We were just existing there, papers on the table, and that was enough of a presence for them to consider us a threat to the space and try to force us to leave,” Rosario said. “And that’s quite unfair considering there are many other students sitting at those tables with papers out, but for some reason our papers were the ones that were

deemed offensive.”

After the group relocated to the Van Pelt basement, King told a Freedom School liaison that they needed to leave the library entirely.

The liaison told King that the group had the right to be in the library, and they had complied with administration’s requests to take posters down from the walls.

“We took the posters down from the walls, we have the right to exist,” they said. “It’s very disappointing that, as students, we are not allowed to use this space to study and to exist. That’s quite ridiculous that our very existence has become politicized, and we’ve become blocked out of a space that is meant for us. We all pay to go to this university.”

King responded that the Freedom School “lost that privilege” for the day because of the study-in.

The group of around a dozen protestors left Van Pelt after the interaction, holding banners and making their way to Houston Hall, the site of the Freedom School’s sixweek sit-in last year. They gathered in the Class of 1968 Reading Room and hung their posters and banners around the upper-level platform.

At around 9 p.m., two Houston Hall employees informed the group of protestors that their signage violated University Life’s Space and Events Policy. The policy states that “[n]otices (flyers, posters, etc.) may not be posted on walls, doors, or woodwork” and that such posted material “will be removed and thrown out,” according to the Space and Events University Life website. The Houston Hall employees declined to comment.

In response, demonstrators hung a banner that was previously displayed over the window to the back of a couch, which was facing the rest of the room.

The Freedom School formed in November 2023 as a collection of students, staff, and faculty supporting the Palestinian cause. Starting Nov. 14, the group held a multiweek teach-in in the Reading Room in Houston Hall, alleging a lack of support for pro-Palestinian students and faculty. In a press advisory, the group made three demands for the University: calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, protecting freedom of speech, and establishing what it described as critical thought on Palestine across campus.

During the original teach-in, a University spokesperson told the DP that Penn administration intended to “balance open expression and university operations.”

On Feb. 14, the Freedom School held a “Lightning Lecture” outside Van Pelt, drawing around 15 attendees. The lecture marked the first of a planned weekly series to educate Penn community members on Palestine.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a statement from a University spokesperson.

8 SPORTS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

For Penn baseball, a title is the floor and the sky’s the limit Carnathan|The Quakers have boundless potential and high expectations heading into 2024 WALKER CARNATHAN Sports Editor

SHANAHAN, from BACK PAGE goes above and beyond to ensure the happiness of her athletes and employees alike. Her energy is unmatched, and her passion for both sports and caring for others is evident from a football field away.

Amy Coffey, recently named the director of the Penn Athletics Wharton Leadership Academy, recalled that one of her fondest memories with Shanahan was during the annual New York retreat for Penn athletes. Calling it a “high pressure simulated rescue mission,” she said that Shanahan eagerly participated alongside the athletes. The retreat involves sleeping outside in tents, setting up a campsite, and hiking for ten miles per day.

“I thought that spoke volumes about her willingness to connect with our student athletes, to understand what their experience was …” Coffey said. “I think [what the athletes] love about Alanna is that she’s physically present.”

Shanahan dedicates equal attention and celebration to all Penn sports, with John Yurkow, head coach of the baseball team, reminiscing on the time she flew to a game to surprise the team with a post-game party, where she served food herself.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of athletic directors that would do something like that. And I know it was like a small thing, but I think at least to me and I think the guys on the team, it meant a lot,” Yurkow said. He also especially values Shanahan’s hands-on leadership style and open-door policy, which makes Penn Athletics an enjoyable place in which to work.

Some of the most demanding aspects of Shanahan’s job include budgeting, Title IX compliance, academic

SAMANTHA TURNER | DP FILE PHOTO

Penn baseball celebrates in the dugout against Yale on April 22, 2023.

advantage in 2023, with then-senior Owen Coady, junior Ryan Dromboski, and senior Cole Zaffiro all recording sub-3.2 ERAs. Dromboski, the Ivy Pitcher of the Year, and Zaffiro, an All-Ivy first team selection, are back atop the mound, sustaining the Quakers’ unmatched starting staff.

It is also worth noting that Dromboski and Zaffiro each have NCAA Tournament experience, with Dromboski starting in the victory over Auburn and Zaffiro picking up the win against Samford. If the Quakers are still playing in June, it will be with a pair of aces who have been there before.

From an offensive perspective, the Quakers also have their biggest bat back in senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler. Henseler rewrote the record books last season, setting the Quaker program marks for single-season and career home runs. Henseler also racked up seven hits over Penn’s four tournament games, providing a lethal

combination of power and consistency that poses a problem for any opposing pitcher, Ivy League or otherwise.

And while the Quakers have also lost a great deal of last season’s talent, including Coady, catcher Jackson Appel, first baseman Ben Miller, and infielder Cole Palis, there are an array of young players rising to fill the gaps they left behind. Sophomore utility player Jarrett Pokrovsky left his mark on last year’s Ivy League tournament with countless clutch plays, including a grand slam in the championship game against Princeton, while outfielder Ryan Taylor and infielder Davis Baker, both sophomores, each took home Ivy Rookie of the Week awards in 2023.

All this is to say that Penn has the roster necessary to do damage on the national level, and with 2023 Ivy Coach of the Year John Yurkow running the show, there is no excuse for anything less than excellence.

I believe that, when the Quakers’ season draws to a

services, and alumni relations to ensure the continued success of the athletic department. Despite Shanahan’s tightly-packed schedule, she still makes time for her student-athletes, squeezing in meetings with them to guarantee they experience an enjoyable yet prosperous season at Penn.

“I think that a lot of people don’t really even realize how big of a job Alanna’s job is. You know, it’s a massive undertaking; it’s time consuming,” Colleen Fink, head coach of field hockey, said. “She’s demanding, she’s high-achieving, she’s successful. And she sets a great example for the female athletes at Penn.”

Though Shanahan champions all sports teams at Penn, she recognizes her responsibility as female athletic director to highlight women’s sports just as much as the men’s sports. Women’s sports still suffer a lower attendance than men’s sports. Due to an inequality in marketing, 66% of United States sports fans watch more men’s sports, while only 3% prefer watching women’s sports. Shanahan ensures that at Penn, both men’s and women’s sports receive parity in the PR department.

The energy that allows Shanahan to run from meetings to phone calls to surprising a team with a celebration party is a quintessential part of her personality. As a child, she was always enrolled in activities to expend it. She started in dance but quickly switched to gymnastics due to an inability to “sit still.” Her dance teachers concluded that “[she] didn’t have the temperament for dance.”

Growing up in Upper Darby, Pa., Shanahan continued gymnastics until her preteen years. Upon entering high school, she was exposed to team sports. She largely credits her parents and their sacrifice to send her to private school, as well as her high school athletic director, as her biggest influences in getting her where she is today. “My high school athletic director … she

helped me understand … that sports could be a really important part of thinking about next steps and thinking about a college experience.”

Her embrace of team sports allowed Shanahan to reconsider her future, opening her mind to the possibility of continuing sports in college. Shanahan enrolled at Penn, becoming the first person in her family to attend college, and upon arriving on campus she joined the Penn women’s lacrosse team. As a long-time sports enthusiast, lacrosse naturally became a big part of her college experience.

Inching closer to her graduation in 1996, Shanahan still felt lost when considering her future.

“I definitely fell into it backwards,” she said about the beginning of her professional athletic career. Upon the encouragement of a fellow student who worked in the athletic offices, Shanahan accepted an internship after graduation, thus beginning her 20-year career at Penn.

Shanahan began her career as assistant, then interim head women’s lacrosse coach. After transferring to sports administration, Shanahan became an associate, then senior associate athletic director. Along the way, she continued her education by earning a doctorate of education and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Penn’s Graduate School of Education. From 2012-16 Shanahan served as deputy director of athletics and senior woman administrator, as well as executive director of the Penn Relays from 2011-16.

After 20 years at Penn, Shanahan moved to Johns Hopkins in 2016, where she accepted the position of director of recreation and athletics. During those years, she led the school to some of its most successful years in University history: 37 conference titles and three consecutive top-ten finishes in the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings, including a No. 2 ranking for the 2018-19 season. While Shanahan loves winning games and championships as much as the next person, she values the interpersonal relationships with athletes even more.

When considering her favorite moments throughout her career, Shanahan chose the meetings she has each season with the team captains of each sport.

“The moment at the end of the meeting where I [ask] ‘If you could, would you do it all over again?’ and they say ‘yes’ … those are the moments that are the most fulfilling, because you feel like you really delivered on a comprehensive experience.”

In 2019, for the first time in 23 years, Shanahan left athletics to serve as Johns Hopkins’ vice provost for student affairs. She considers this one of her biggest learning experiences of her career, teaching her to take more risks. “That is something I would never have

close, it will be on the other side of history. With talent, experience, and the proof that they can swing with the best, Penn is more than capable of clearing last season’s hurdle and reaching the Super Regional round.

But along with that sky-high ceiling comes similar expectations: If the Quakers’ last out comes before the NCAA Tournament, it will be difficult to render their season anything but a disappointment. For a team that has grown accustomed to the top, nothing less will do.

WALKER CARNATHAN is a sophomore and current sports editor studying English and Cinema and Media Studies from Harrisburg, Pa. All comments should be directed to dpsports@thedp.com.

considered … but … I am a much better athletic director today because I did that.”

2021 saw Shanahan’s return to the Quakers, this time as AD. Former Provost Wendell Pritchett called her “the ideal leader to chart the future of Penn Athletics and Recreation,” while former Penn President Amy Gutmann praised Shanahan for her “vision, experience, expertise, and energy” that would ensure that “Penn Athletics continues its commitment to excellence both on and off the playing field.”

Since returning to Penn three years ago, Shanahan has already become one of Penn’s most successful ADs. In addition to nine regular season conference team championships and five post-season conference titles, Shanahan has revamped the administration of the athletics department. In three years, she has launched a fundraising campaign for women’s sports, Power the Next 100; hired the department’s first mental health professional, Liz Nobis; and hired the first full-time athletic dietician, Cat Hammer.

Before Shanahan’s tenure as athletic director, sports nutrition wasn’t appreciated as its own field. Head Sports Dietician Cat Hammer praised Shanahan for her dedication to the athletes’ physical health.

“Alanna, since she’s been at Penn, has done a really, really great job being really a promoter of the nutrition department,” Hammer said. “She recognizes the need for more actual nutrition for athletes.”

Shanahan’s list of accomplishments could go on endlessly: “I definitely have a bit of a love affair with progress and … executing on something and feeling like I was able to bring something to fruition.” While she chuckles at this admission, this drive led the athletics department to raise more than $60 million in just her first year.

“Setbacks, as they say, make for comebacks,” she quips.

Yurkow attested that Shanahan’s positivity has empowered his own confidence as a head coach. Hammer chose ‘determined’ as the best way to describe Shanahan, because “when she is confronted with some type of challenge or growth opportunity, she’s going to get it done.”

There is no one better suited to lead Penn Athletics than Shanahan. The energy that she has retained since childhood propels her through the day without sacrificing her optimistic attitude. While others may complain or succumb to stress over the list of responsibilities, Shanahan relishes in the business of her schedule. Smiling, she says: “My day to day — that’s another great thing about my job — is all over the place.”

With 28 years of athletics under her belt, Alanna Shanahan has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.

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Eight months ago, just one win separated Penn baseball from history. Now, just one day separates the Quakers from another crack at the plate.

On Friday, the Quakers will begin their season with a road series at Abilene Christian, and while no titles will be given out in Texas, the Red and Blue’s opening matchup signals the start of arguably the most promising campaign in program history. After the Quakers fell just one win shy of becoming the first ever Ivy League team to advance to a Super Regional, expectations abound for the reigning Ancient Eight champs. Penn was recently picked as the unanimous No. 1 in the Ivy preseason poll, and the Quakers return six All-Ivy honorees from a season ago.

After watching firsthand the team’s dominance in the back half of last season, I believe that the widespread belief in the Red and Blue is not only justified but also obvious.

So much so that, for the Quakers to consider the season ahead a success, nothing short of an Ivy League title will do.

And luckily, the team has even bigger aspirations in mind.

After falling to Southern Mississippi in last year’s NCAA Regional, coach John Yurkow mentioned that winning a regional with the Quakers had been a longtime goal of his. And while he had not been shy about sharing that goal with others, Yurkow suspected that many doubted such a thing was possible at a school like Penn.

“People looked at me and nodded their head. I don’t know how many of them really believed me,” Yurkow said. “I think quite a few after I walked away probably gave a chuckle.”

But no one is laughing now as the Quakers look ahead to the new campaign with a regional victory as more of a realistic objective than an unlikely dream. And with many of last year’s biggest contributors returning, Penn has both the skill and the experience to break the Ivy ceiling.

Pitching was perhaps the Red and Blue’s greatest

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THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

LACROSSE, from BACK PAGE To begin the third period, junior attacker Ben Smith scored his third goal of the season off a perfectly placed assist by junior attacker Tynan Walsh. The Walsh-Smith duo proved utmost dominant throughout the third period, as Smith did not have to wait long for his fourth goal of the season. Smith found the back of the net at the 11:54 mark in

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024 the quarter, thanks to another assist by Walsh. Walsh was rewarded for his passing as he scored two goals of his own in the period.

When asked about how the Quakers were able to regain the momentum coming out of halftime, Ben Smith credited his coach.

“Coach Murph just brought us in, and he’s always told us before the game to do just the simple plays,” Smith said.

“One play at a time, and do the little things well. So, kind of focusing possession by possession, just trying to do that and play as a unit. And it worked down the stretch.”

The final period saw the Quakers hold onto their lead and ultimately win the game 11-7. Although the game’s outcome looked grim following the second period, Penn never allowed the Great Danes to take advantage of their brief hold over the momentum. Following the Red and Blue’s loss to Georgetown to open the season, this game felt like a breath of fresh air. Ranked teams should be able to bounce back in dominant fashion after getting hit into the mud, and that is exactly what the Quakers did on Tuesday.

“It’s nice to get into the win column,” Smith, who ended with four goals, said. “It’s definitely nice to get the ball

SPORTS 9 rolling after last Saturday, so it’s... good for the team.”

Penn is slated to face No. 14 Delaware on Feb. 24, in a highly touted matchup. Going into the game, the Quakers look to build off their momentum while simultaneously cleaning up their play.

Smith pointed out some of these areas of needed improvement, stating, “Grabbing ground balls is a big thing, and then [limiting] penalties, and then turnovers.”

Fans only need to wait less than a week to see if the Quakers do mend some of their ailments and improve to 2-1 on the season.

CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Junior middle blocker Kaya Johnson serves as the academic chair for Black Student-Athletes at Penn.

BSAP, from BACK PAGE the other Ivy Leagues,” Blackwell said. “Now that [Stephenson] is here, I’m really excited to work with her and continue with all the momentum that we’ve been achieving.”

BSAP also provides academic support to

student-athletes: Women’s volleyball junior Kaya Johnson serves as academic chair for BSAP, a position through which she’s been able host course planning meetings to help underclassmen plan their schedules as well as work on BSAP’s various community outreach programs.

As the organization grows, one of its main goals is to amass funding to keep expanding their reach. Last year, BSAP sent a group of students to a Black student-athlete summit in California, and

Penn women’s lacrosse opens up season with commanding 11-8 win against Drexel The Quakers picked up right where they left off, picking up their first win of the season against the previously undefeated Dragons KRISTEL RAMBAUD Sports Reporter

In a classic battle for 34th Street, Penn women’s lacrosse conquered Drexel in an 11-8 victory after a late comeback attempt by the Dragons.

Drexel (2-1) and Penn (1-0) opened the match with a stalemate. The Dragons put up a strong defensive effort and kept Penn scoreless, but that could only last so long. Eight minutes in, Penn struck blood first. Senior attacker Niki Miles had the honors of opening up the scoring for the Red and Blue, coming off a historic season where she set the single senior season scoring record.

Off a disruption by Penn, Miles got in an unassisted over-the-shoulder shot after a spin move.

She struck again with 30 seconds left in the time period on another unassisted drive. Junior midfielder Anna Brandt also went right back to business in the first quarter. With the shot clock expiring, Brandt recovered an errant pass and took it all the way to the hole.

While Drexel had multiple good looks, Penn had a tighter defense within its zone, led by senior captain and defender Izzy Rohr, and great saves by senior goalie Kelly Van Hoesen. Drexel’s saving grace on the offensive end came with what was practically a last second goal.

“I’m excited to play against the defense every single day at practice and I know they’re gonna scare the other teams, in the Ivy and the rest of the out-of-conference games,” Miles said of the Quakers’ defensive unit.

Both offenses started coming to life in the second quarter, but the Quakers were able to pad their lead with five goals. Junior midfielder Paige Lipman scored her first while Miles added one to her tally off a free position. Brandt also added one, but all eyes were on junior attacker Keeley Block, who scored two — including one goal off a greatly timed and positioned bounce of the ball. Block missed all of the last season due to injury.

“It’s the most awesome thing,” Miles said of having Block back from injury. “She’s been through so much, worked so hard to get back where she is. And she’s gonna be absolutely electric this year.”

The versatility on the Penn offense plays a prominent role in why the team is so dangerous.

Miles and Brandt, both returning after strong seasons, utilized their speed to consistently create separation between them and their defenders to get perfect goal scoring opportunities. Adding Block to the mix created yet another threat on the outside that Drexel had no answers for in the first half.

The Dragons tried to respond by creating some

offensive rhythm of their own, scoring two goals in the second quarter, but it did little to stop the bleed as the Quakers controlled most of the possession time. Penn entered the half with a comfortable five-goal lead at 8-3.

It took the Quakers time to find that offensive success in the second half. Drexel sophomore goalie Jenika Cuocco had impressive close saves to keep Penn at bay despite great looks, including a huge stop against Brandt on a free position attempt. Eventually, senior midfielder Kaitlyn Cumiskey got Penn back on the board off of an assist from Miles after nearly eight minutes of play in the third quarter.

Despite the offensive stall, Penn outdid the Dragons with multiple interruptions at midfield and aggressive defense in its own zone to keep Drexel from even getting close to Van Hoesen at goal. With 15 minutes to go and Penn up 9-4, Drexel refused to go down without a fight.

After a second goal from Cumiskey to bring the Quakers to 10, Drexel responded with two straight goals of its own to light a fire of hope. The Dragons capitalized off miscues on Penn’s end, getting to Penn’s zone more in this quarter than they had seen since that first quarter stalemate. And after another Drexel goal put the deficit at only 10-7, danger was brewing at Franklin Field.

“We got to shoot better, we should have closed it out,” coach Karin Corbett said. “But kudos to Drexel for fighting the whole time and getting back in.”

Boos poured in from the Drexel faithful as the refs called a green card for a one-minute charge against Drexel freshman Ellie Wall. And then cheers poured in as with two minutes and 44 seconds left, the Dragons scored to draw them within just two goals.

The offense for Penn was as cold as the weather in the fourth period, but it did its job in when it mattered most: Freshman attacker Catherine Berkery scored her first career goal with under two minutes left to bring the score to 11-8, effectively killing the hopes of a comeback.

“It is a veteran team. We [have] just got to shoot better, but they were calm when they needed to be calm,” Corbett said. “As you go on in the season, you have to practice your shooting — your shooting’s got to be better. You [have] got to work on your emotions and having them click a little more.”

Penn women’s lacrosse returns to Franklin Field on Feb. 24 against the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays.

the group hopes to provide even more people with the opportunity this year.

When asked about Penn’s journey from a DEI standpoint over the past years, Blackwell acknowledged that she’s seen an increased willingness to learn and understand differences on campus, referencing initiatives like “A Long Talk About The Uncomfortable Truth,” a program that Penn sports teams underwent recently about systemic racism and how it’s changed over the years.

She added that there’s still work to be done.

“During Black History Month, I always see these posts on the Penn Athletics Instagram,” she said. “But given that there are so many studentathletes whose needs still aren’t being met from a diversity, equity, and inclusion standpoint, it was really important to me that we work with the administration to make sure that there’s real meaning and substance to the initiatives that they’re putting out.”

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PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024

VOL. CXL

ALL OVER THE FIELD In her third year at the helm of Penn Athletics, Shanahan keeps the department moving PHOEBE WEINTRAUB Sports Associate

NO. 6

Black StudentAthletes at Penn aims to continue creating inclusive space for Black athletes Heading into the organization’s third year, BSAP hopes to continue providing support for its Black athletes NEEMA BADDAM Sports Reporter

I’m also so disappointed that we still have to talk about me being an example because there are so few.”

Shanahan also said that when she tells people she is Penn’s AD, many assume she only directs women’s sports, or a specific area of sports. In reality, Shanahan controls an organization worth $70 million.

Naturally, Shanahan chooses to ignore these insuperable mindsets regarding her capabilities.

With her boundless enthusiasm, she consistently

Women’s swimming senior Rachel Blackwell always tries to leave places better than she found them. That’s why she helped found Black Student-Athletes at Penn: to cultivate a welcoming community for athletes at Penn who identify as Black.

“I’m the only Black person on the swim team, so I never really saw someone like me throughout my four years,” Blackwell said. “Hopefully, one day, if there’s another African American on the swim team or thinking about competing for any team for Penn, they know that they have a safe space to go to.”

Nearly three years since its inception in 2021, Blackwell presides over the group, which has grown into a multifaceted organization that also pursues service projects in the Greater Philadelphia area.

“This month, we’re doing a second round of BSAP Gives Black, where all the Penn Athletics teams buy from and support Black-owned businesses,” Blackwell said. “We’ve also collaborated with Ase Academy to do a field day to show younger students that there are people who look like them who are competing in athletics and still excelling at an institution.”

Women’s basketball junior Iyanna Rogers, who serves as community outreach director for BSAP, came up with the idea behind BSAP Gives Black last year to counter the performative activism that occurs especially during Black History Month. This year, a prize awaits the winning team, and Rogers is looking into expanding the challenge in the future to include Black student-athlete groups at Drexel and Temple.

Her visions for BSAP’s impact aren’t limited to University City, however: Rogers reached out to a program called The Brotherhood Sister Sol in her grandmother’s community in New York and was able to partner with them to give New York high school students a tour of Penn.

“Since it’s still our first couple years, I’m trying to lay the foundations,” she said. “That way, we can be prepared for when we have annual events.”

Most recently, BSAP hosted a Black History celebration on Feb. 11 followed by a Super Bowl watch party.

On Jan. 5, Penn Athletics announced that Taunita Stephenson would become the department’s first ever head of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, making Penn the last Ivy to have a DEI representative in athletics.

“Something that’s been really important to me throughout my time at BSAP has been pushing for Penn to be held at the same standard as

See SHANAHAN, page 8

See BSAP, page 9

PHOTO/DESIGN/PHOTOILLUSTRATION BY NAME

Photo caption

DESIGN BY KATRINA ITONA

From giving tours of the athletic facilities to interviews, from administrative meetings to conversations with student athletes, Penn Director of Athletics and Recreation Alanna Shanahan does not stop moving the entire day. Rest, relaxation, and the word “no” does not seem to be in her vocabulary.

As the AD for a Division I university, Shanahan holds one of the most powerful positions on campus. Even more significant, she is one of the few female athletic directors in the country. Of the 5,883 currently employed athletic directors in the country, 78.2% are men, meaning only 21.8% are women. Among her many responsibilities,

PHOTO FROM PENN TODAY

Shanahan manages almost 1000 student-athletes, 33 intercollegiate teams, and roughly 400 employees, including coaches and administrative support staff. Despite her overwhelming responsibilities, Shanahan says some still fail to grasp the concept that a woman could lead the athletics department of a university.

“You know, sadly, I probably still feel like it’s [the] mindset of a high percentage of our population …” she reflected when asked about the biggest obstacles to gender equality in sports.

In recent days, women have been engaged in national battles for equal pay and media coverage. “I’m proud that I can be that example, but

No. 24 Penn men’s lacrosse defeats UAlbany 11-7 in promising showing The Red and Blue proved resilient throughout the course of the matchup to continue its homestand CONOR SMITH Sports Associate

Although they almost got bit, the Quakers tamed the Great Danes in a Tuesday matinee.

No. 24 Penn men’s lacrosse defeated UAlbany 11-7 in a game that saw multiple shifts in momentum.

UAlbany (0-2) struck quickly, scoring within the first minute of play from the stick of UAlbany attack Silas Richmond. Penn (1-1) fans packing Franklin Field let out a collective groan as the memory of the large deficit the team had quickly fallen into in its season opener was still fresh in everyone’s memory. Was there a repeat showing in store?

After surrendering this goal, the Red and Blue looked to respond with ferocity, and they did just that. Scoring the first goal of the game once again for the Quakers, junior attacker Luke DiNola shot a missile into the back of the net. Following this DiNola dart, the Quakers kept their foot on the gas.

The first 15 minutes of gameplay were best described as an offensive onslaught. The Red and Blue scoring party was an “open invite,” as five different players for the Quakers picked up goals in the opening period. For the Great Danes, turnovers proved costly as the team SEND STORY IDEAS TO DPSPORTS@THEDP.COM

repeatedly gifted possession back to the Quakers, setting Penn up for great looks on offense.

The second period saw the Quakers hold onto their lead, but the Red and Blue saw much more contention compared to the previous period.

Penn’s seemingly superhero-like defense of the first period now appeared vulnerable, allowing a four-goal bleed. Additionally, Penn overwhelmingly shot the ball less than UAlbany throughout these 15 minutes. The Great Danes recorded 10 shots on goal compared to the Quakers’ four. The inability of the Quakers to get good looks at the net was thanks to the swarming defense of the Purple and Gold, which systematically broke down any offensive play call. Penn was suddenly backed onto its heels.

Going into halftime, Outkast’s upbeat 2003 hit “Hey Ya!” blasted from the speakers of Franklin Field, echoing off the metal stands.

Neither the energy of the Penn players nor their fans huddled for warmth matched the song, as the momentum now belonged to UAlbany.

See LACROSSE, page 9

WEINING DING | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Junior attacker Luke DiNola drives to the goal against Georgetown’s Dylan Hess on Feb. 17.

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