January 19, 2023

Penn denies allegations of foreign influence at Biden Center

MOLLY COHEN Senior Reporter

The United States House Oversight and Accountability Committee sent a letter to Penn President Liz Magill inquiring about foreign donations and visitors to the Penn Biden Center after the discovery of classified documents at the Washington think tank.

The letter — signed by committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) — requests that Magill provide documents and lists pertaining to donations from China to the University and the Penn Biden Center since 2017, as well as information about people who worked at the Center. The letter also requests information about people who visited President Joe Biden at the Center.

In an emailed statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, a University spokesperson wrote that Penn has received the letter and plans to respond "in a timely matter."

The letter claims that Penn has received "millions of dollars from anonymous Chinese sources" and that

these donations tripled following the announcement of the formation of the Penn Biden Center in 2017.

“The American people deserve to know whether the Chinese Communist Party, through Chinese companies, influenced potential Biden Administration policies with large, anonymous donations to UPenn and the Penn Biden Center,” the letter said.

The University spokesperson wrote to the DP that "It is important to reiterate that the Penn Biden Center has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity."

"The University has never solicited any gifts for the Center. Since its inception in 2017 there have been three unsolicited gifts, from two donors, which combined [to a total of] $1,100. Both donors are Americans. One hundred percent of the budget for the Penn Biden Center comes from university funds," the spokesperson wrote.

"Any foreign gifts received by the university are all properly reported to the U.S. Department of Education as required by Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. Penn is fully compliant with federal law regarding the reporting of foreign gifts and contracts."

The Penn Biden Center and the White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The letter from the GOP-led committee goes on to express concern over who had access to the recently discovered documents belonging to Biden, specifically “given the Biden family’s financial connections to foreign actors and companies,” according to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee's press release.

“President Biden’s pattern of mishandling classified documents is alarming,” the letter said. “The Committee is concerned about who had access to these documents given the Biden family’s financial connections to foreign actors and companies.”

The letter also requests a list of all Center employees, a list of all individuals with keycard access to the Center, and a visitor log of everyone who met with Biden at the Center.

In the emailed statement, the University spokesperson wrote that the "Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was founded on the principle that a democratic, open, secure, tolerant, and interconnected world benefits all Americans."

In January 2021, a letter from three House Republicans, including Comer, to then-Penn President Amy Gutmann alleged that the University received millions

of dollars in undisclosed funds from China prior to and after the formation of the Penn Biden Center. The letter requested information about donations to the University from the Chinese government or any businesses located primarily in China since 2013.

Then-Vice President of University Communications Stephen MacCarthy denied the validity of the allegations in the letter.

During former Penn President Amy Gutmann’s Senate confirmation hearings for the ambassadorship to Germany in December 2021, she was asked about donations to the University from China.

“The University of Pennsylvania has stood strong against accepting any gifts that would threaten academic freedom or threaten national security,” Gutmann said during her testimony.

The Department of Justice is currently reviewing classified documents that were found at Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2 and first reported on Jan. 9. An additional six documents were discovered in Biden’s Delaware home in December and publicized on Jan. 12.

The Penn Biden Center opened in 2018, and Biden used the space as his primary office in Washington prior to his presidential campaign.

McDonald’s near campus closes

The closure paves the way for McDonald’s redevelopment into a mixedused office building operated by Penn HALEY SON

Staff Reporter

McDonald’s longtime location at 40th and Walnut streets closed on Jan. 16, paving the way for its redevelopment into a mixed-used office building operated by Penn.

Construction of the redeveloped property, which will cost around $35 million, is expected to begin early this year and conclude by fall 2024. The new building will include a modernized McDonald’s on the ground floor and will house administrative offices for the University, according to a press release from Penn's Facilities and Real Estate Services.

“We are thrilled to work with McDonald’s in the

repositioning of this pivotal intersection, while ensuring the restaurant reopens and remains a fixture within the surrounding community,” Penn’s Executive Director of Real Estate Ed Datz said in a press release.

A sign on the door of the McDonald's states that it is "CLOSED FOR REBUILD" and suggests that customers visit a nearby location at 133 S. 69th St. in Upper Darby, Pa.

In September 2022, Penn announced it would close the McDonald’s location in January to pave the way for

PAACH hires two associate directors

DEDEEPYA GUTHIKONDA Senior Reporter

organizations,

A House committee chair requested information from President Liz Magill about the Center, University donations

DESIGN BY LILIAN LIU

Following a three-year vacancy, the Pan-Asian American Community House has hired two new associate directors to fill the vacant roles. The associate directors — Vicky Aquino and Daniel Hoddinott — will be responsible for “leading and developing initiatives that support student engagement and development, advising student

working with undergraduate and graduate students, and driving the mission of PAACH forward,” according to Associate Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Will Atkins. Aquino started in her position on Jan.

JASPER TAYLOR AND ANNALISA FANG Senior Reporter and Staff Reporter

The burger chain Five Guys finally opened its long-awaited University City location to customers on Jan. 12.

The new location at 3714 Spruce St., next to the Quad, was first announced in August 2021 with an anticipated opening date of late fall 2021 or early spring 2022. However, the planned opening date was delayed to mid-December 2022 because of supply chain issues and construction at Stouffer College House. The date was pushed back once more to Jan. 12, when the location finally began welcoming customers.

While a sign on the door of the restaurant stated that it would originally open on Wednesday, Jan. 11, the actual opening was delayed another day and the restaurant ultimately opened on Thursday, Jan. 12.

“Although the restaurant opening was delayed until now due to supply chain challenges and construction on the connected building project at

The new location will be the fourth Five Guys in Philadelphia, following others located at 1527 Chestnut St., 1100 Cecil B. Moore Ave., and 2552 Grant Ave.

Wharton junior Xavier Shankle told the DP he has long appreciated Five Guys' consistently highquality food and is excited to have another meal option near campus. He explained that while he has been anticipating the opening for a long time now, he understands the many challenges that include construction, labor shortages, and supply chain shortages, and he trusts management has done their best.

“They picked a time to open when they knew people would be back on campus,” he said.

The new Five Guys replaced Beijing Restaurant, which closed in September 2020 after 32 years of operation.

“There was a really good local restaurant in the spot before,” Shankle said. “I hope we don’t get completely drowned out by national brands, but I do hope that more restaurants come in the future.”

Datz previously said that the main reason the Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services pursued Five Guys was because Penn lost its on-campus burger restaurant when Bobby’s Burger Palace closed its Walnut Street location two years ago.

Shankle said he is excited to go to Five Guys often, now that it has finally opened.

“They’ll definitely know my name really soon,” he said.

the beginning of construction. McDonald’s, which has operated its University City location for 50 years, has long been a staple of the Penn and West Philadelphia community.

“I go to McDonald’s late at night, especially during finals week since it's fast and easy,” College sophomore Daniel Dai said. “They have a lot of deals, so it’s good for someone living on a budget.”

Dai said that while he was disappointed his dining options have now become more limited, the recent opening of the new Five Guys location has softened the blow. Engineering sophomore Sally Ho agreed with Dai, adding that the 40th Street McDonald’s was part of Penn’s late-night culture.

The redevelopment is Penn’s latest investment in the 40th Street corridor. Former Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush told The Daily Pennsylvanian in 2011 that the current McDonald's structure had "a lot of factors that made people feel very unsafe." In 2009, Penn’s Division of Public Safety said it was working to curtail disturbances in and around the restaurant for years, leading to increased redevelopment.

George Konstantinidis, who owns the adjacent Zesto Pizza and Grill and co-owns Yiro Yiro, told the DP that he didn’t agree with the safety concerns raised by Penn and some community members.

“It’s the city of Philadelphia," he said. "You see unruly people anywhere. It doesn't matter if there’s a McDonald’s or not."

On Feb. 23, 2022 — one month after a grease fire erupted in McDonald's rear kitchen — the city issued the McDonald's four violations of hood ventilation and cleaning codes. In March 2022, multiple gunshots were fired outside of the building. A window of the McDonald’s was shattered in the encounter, and several shell casings were found on the street.

Konstantinidis said he didn’t think McDonald's redevelopment would significantly affect his business despite both his restaurants being adjacent to the construction site.

“There's not that much walking traffic like there used to be before the pandemic, so we don't get that many people,” Konstantinidis said, adding that most of his business comes from takeout and delivery orders.

The University's press release said that the relocation of administrative offices to the new building will allow for on-campus spaces that currently house offices to be repurposed in student-centered spaces. University Life is “projected” to be one of the tenants, Datz told the DP in September.

Penn has partnered with Mosaic Development Partners, PZS Architecture, and LF Driscoll Construction/ Perryman Construction to carry out the redevelopment project. The press release noted that Mosaic Development Partners “will continue to build with community and cultural sensitivity in mind” during the project.

Penn students from China face travel challenges due to COVID-19 restrictions

GABRIEL STEINBERG Staff Reporter

An ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in China and travel restrictions by the United States have created challenges for international students at Penn.

On Dec. 28, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would be mandating negative COVID-19 tests for travelers arriving to the United States from China, Hong Kong, and Macau, Associate Provost and Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé wrote in an update to Penn students. The new policy has impacted international students at Penn and their plans to return home over winter break.

“Travelers to the U.S. from the People’s Republic of China, as well as from the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, are now required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test no more than 2 days before departure,” Dubé wrote.

Dubé also cautioned Penn students against overreacting to the recent global surge in cases.

"There's no cause for alarm for us locally," Dubé told The Daily Pennsylvanian. "What has happened in China is completely distinct and separate from what we're experiencing here, and we have to think of our peers coming from China through the lens of compassion."

People who have recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days can avoid testing by showing proof of their positive test.

The travel restrictions on passengers from China were implemented due to a new wave of infections. According to China's National Health Commission, 1.63 million

people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 as of Jan. 5, and nearly 60,000 have died of COVID-19 since early December 2022.

Runtian Miao, a Ph.D. at Penn from China and the current Graduate and Professional Student Assembly vice president of finance, told the DP that Chinese students were hesitant to return home for the holidays because of strict COVID-19 policies and rising case numbers.

“Most students didn’t have the chance to go home, partly because of COVID-19 issues,” Miao said. “I do know a couple of folks that went home for the winter break, but that was a rare case.”

Executive Director of Penn’s International Student & Scholar Services Rodolfo Altamirano wrote to the DP that COVID-19 has created additional barriers to international students’ travel.

“U.S. Embassies or Consulates shut down in [students’] home countries. This is due to COVID-19 case surge and/or limited visa appointment availability,” Altamirano wrote.

The CDC reported that pre-departure testing and proof of a negative COVID-19 test have decreased the number of infected passengers boarding airplanes and have slowed the spread of new variants spreading on international flights. However, Miao said they believe that the measure is in place for political reasons.

“I do feel like it’s more of a political movement than actually a prevention step [like] quarantining and other COVID-19-related measures,” Miao said. “Now students need to do extra work if they are going back to their home countries and coming back [to Penn].”

Altamirano added that the COVID-19 test requirement makes it more challenging for travelers to visit and return from affected areas.

“A negative COVID-19 test before boarding an international flight does create an extra barrier. It requires additional cost and planning,” Altamirano wrote. “Many international students are anxious that their family members will not be able to attend their graduation this spring.”

Toward the end of break, on Jan. 8, China announced an end to its zero-COVID-19 initiative saying that travelers to China would no longer need to quarantine upon arrival to the mainland and close contacts would not be as heavily monitored. However, a negative COVID-19 test is still required for American passengers to travel to China.

While Penn does not publicly release the amount of enrolled students living in China, 5.2% of the Class of 2025 are international students from Asia.

Wednesday, February 22,

Individuals

Those who have not submitted a timely request to the Office of the University Secretary will be permitted to speak at the discretion of the moderator of University Council if time remains after the scheduled speakers.

For the meeting format, please consult the University Council website at https://secretary.upenn.edu/univ-council/open-forum.

The Office of the University Secretary can be contacted at ucouncil@pobox.upenn.edu or 215-898-7005.

Stouffer College House, we are thrilled that Five Guys is opening on Spruce Street for all to enjoy for the spring semester,” Penn’s Executive Director for Real Estate Ed Datz wrote in an emailed statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

PHOTO BY JESSE ZHANG

The Beijing Daxing International Airport on Oct. 29, 2021.

New University City food hall to open in fall 2023

The food hall will be located at 3025 Market St., featuring 16 food and beverage vendors

JASPER TAYLOR Senior Reporter

New York City-based public market developer Urbanspace will open a new food hall across from 30th Street Station in University City in coordination with Brandywine Realty Trust.

The food hall is scheduled to open in the fall of 2023. Occupying over 13,000 square feet of indoor space, the food hall will be located in the Bulletin Building, located at 3025 Market Street, and will feature 16 food and beverage vendors, according to a press release. Vendors will come from both the Philadelphia area and nationwide, although none have been announced yet.

The Bulletin Building that will house the new food hall is located in Schuylkill Yards, a 14-acre development that features residential buildings, commercial properties, office spaces, and more. The neighborhood aims to serve as an innovation district for the surrounding University City and Philadelphia communities.

“What’s happening in Schuylkill Yards is transformative,” said Urbanspace President Eldon Scott in a press release. “We will be a community hub for the new

Students organize around Penn’s ties to proposed 76ers stadium near Chinatown

EMILY SCOLNICK AND SOPHIA LIU Staff Reporters

The Students for the Preservation of Chinatown coalition is hosting interest meetings and info sessions to inform students in Philadelphia about real estate developments that they say pose a threat to the Chinatown community.

Founded last October, SPOC is a part of the Save Chinatown Coalition — which includes groups such as Asian Americans United and Save UC Townhomes Coalition — that opposes developments near Chinatown. The coalition has most recently opposed the Philadelphia 76ers arena proposal which would be located one block from Chinatown.

SPOC hosted a general interest meeting on Jan. 5 and an info session on Jan. 15.

SPOC co-founders College sophomore Taryn Flaherty and Bryn Mawr College junior Kaia Chau told The Daily Pennsylvanian that they had parents heavily involved with the Save Chinatown Coalition and were introduced to the coalition’s efforts at a young age.

“We are both daughters of activists who were active in the [fights against the] stadium and casino … being built in Chinatown,” Flaherty said. “Our mothers in particular inspired us to grow up as people who were aware of what these huge developments could mean for this neighborhood that we were growing up in.”

Chau said the primary goal of SPOC is to mobilize college students in the Philadelphia area against the plans for a new 76ers arena in Chinatown.

“Penn and Drexel students have really strong ties with

offices, labs, apartments, and people connecting University City and downtown.”

Anthony Sorrentino, who serves as associate vice president in Penn’s office of the executive vice president, described the food hall in a post on LinkedIn as an example of how “[t]he gateways between Center City and University City are improving.”

“[N]othing animates a place with people traffic the way food can,” Sorrentino wrote. “So glad to see this announcement by Brandywine Realty.”

In response to a request for comment, Sorrentino referred The Daily Pennsylvanian to spokespeople for Penn’s Facilities and Real Estate Services, who wrote to the DP that FRES would not comment since the project is not part of their portfolio.

Urbanspace was founded in 1972 and creates spaces where customers can enjoy a range of cuisines. Brandywine Realty Trust is a real estate company that leases, manages, and develops properties, focusing on Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas markets.

Urbanspace currently has six locations in New York City, one in Chicago, and one in Northern Virginia. The upcoming Philadelphia location will be the first in the state. The company works to bring a unique dining experience to customers in support of entrepreneurship and creativity. It also aims to create a space where communities can come together and appreciate local cuisine.

The food hall opening will coincide with the opening of another mixed-use property in the Schuylkill Yards neighborhood, 3025 JFK, featuring residential, life science, retail, and office space.

“The addition of the Urbanspace food hall is an exciting step in delivering the master Schuylkill Yards vision,” said Jerry Sweeney, president and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust, in a statement. “Not only will Urbanspace provide diverse local and national food and beverage offerings for Schuylkill Yards tenants and residents, but it will add great energy to the entire neighborhood — creating a vibrant gathering place for community members and visitors alike.”

Two seniors awarded 2023 Churchill Scholarships

Two College students are among 16 Churchill Scholars selected to study at the University of Cambridge

ELLA SOHN Senior Reporter

Two Penn seniors have been awarded the 2023 Churchill Scholarship for a year of graduate research study at the University of Cambridge.

The Churchill Scholarship provides full funding for students in science, mathematics, and engineering fields to pursue a master’s degree at Churchill College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. College seniors Ryan Jeong and Arnav Lal are among the 16 Churchill Scholars selected nationwide for demonstrating a “proven talent in research” and “outstanding academic achievement.”

Fourteen Penn students have been awarded the Churchill Scholarship since the program’s founding 60 years ago. This year marks the second time that two Penn students have received the scholarship in the same year.

Jeong will graduate from the College this spring with a major in mathematics and a minor in statistics and data science. He is interested in the intersection of mathematics and machine learning, and has researched theoretical deep learning with professors at Princeton and McGill, according to Penn Today.

Some of his other work includes participating in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates, conducting theory research on neural nets, and working on deletion channels with Merriam Term Professor of Mathematics Robin Pemantle. At Cambridge, Jeong will pursue a master’s degree in mathematical statistics.

Lal is majoring in biophysics, biology, and philosophy in the College. Throughout his four years at Penn, he has conducted research at the Perelman School of Medicine to predict the development of embryos using sequencing technologies, under the mentorship of Celso-Ramon Garcia Professor Christos Coutifaris. He has also worked with Paul Planet, Perelman assistant professor of pediatrics, to understand the evolution of pathogens using computational and molecular tools.

Since January 2022, Lal has been working on a pathogen sequencing project for water quality in the Galápagos Islands with the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance.

“I’m really grateful to all the mentors I had, the research mentors and academic ones,” he said. “Because without them, I wouldn’t necessarily be here.”

the developers of the arena,” she said. “We thought that we needed to really start pressuring both developers and the students at the schools to reflect on the systemic issues that the institution and the developers are perpetuating.”

In particular, the students said that SPOC is working to spotlight Penn’s relationship with David Adelman, who currently is the chairman of 76 Devcorp, the private development company behind the 76ers’ arena.

Adelman serves as CEO of Campus Apartments, which houses many Penn students, and currently sits on the Penn Medicine Board of Trustees.

“Penn administrators constantly work with David Adelman and the University City district,” Flaherty said.

“This is unethical money that Penn is giving to Adelman, whether directly or indirectly. Our main goals are attacking that connection, trying to get Penn to reject this developer.”

To further amplify student involvement, SPOC is also looking to branch more into the arts sector, creating both an arts and communications committee for students to get involved with.

“Whatever talents students have, we can use,” College sophomore and SPOC organizer Kenny Chiu said.

“If people know how to write, [they can] send out newsletters; if people have artistic abilities, [they can] make prints and put them around campus and the city. A big impact can be made.”

In early December, the Save Chinatown Coalition

held its first community meeting in Chinatown to increase awareness of the issue and plan the group’s next steps and action plan. Representatives of several real estate developers, including Adelman’s 76 Devcorp, were in attendance and spoke on behalf of their companies.

“The tone of that meeting was nothing like [the developers] had been saying in the media,” Flaherty said. “Every single response [from the developers] to a question was met with massive amounts of boos and yelling.”

Following SPOC’s march in December from College Hall to Campus Apartments to denounce Adelman and the stadium development, Chau said that their next focus is the Penn Board of Trustees, including 1991 Wharton graduate David Blitzer, who is another leading developer of the 76ers arena.

SPOC will be forming a list of demands for the Board to meet, one of which is cutting ties with Blitzer, according to Chau.

Leaders of SPOC said that they encourage the community to keep up with news regarding Chinatown and the 76ers arena, suggesting students follow social media accounts and news outlets covering the events and think critically about what perspectives each source offers.

“A lot of the friends I’ve talked to have said that they found a semblance of home in Chinatown,” Chau said. “It’s a place of community, and so it will greatly affect Penn students for that community to be kind of destroyed.”

Lal said that he was drawn to the Churchill program because of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a genomics research institute at Cambridge with cutting-edge sequencing technology. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in biological sciences.

“I’m really excited to have the opportunity to work with people in an entirely different setting, individuals who will have different perspectives and ideas,” Lal said.

FactCheck.org, the award-winning political website at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is now accepting applications for its 2023-2024 undergraduate fellowship program. The next class of undergrads will be trained during an eight-week, paid summer program at FactCheck’s offices at APPC (or online, if necessary) from May 30 to July 21. Those who are trained this summer must agree to work 10 to 15 hours per week at FactCheck.org during the fall and spring semesters, if their work merits continued employment.

The fellows at FactCheck.org help our staff monitor the factual accuracy of claims made by political figures in TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, social media and news releases. They also monitor viral claims and rumors that spread through email and social media. They help conduct research on such claims and contribute to articles for publication on our website under the supervision of FactCheck.org staff. The fellows must have an ability to write clearly and concisely, an understanding of journalistic practices and ethics, and an interest in politics and public policy. The fellows also must be able to think independently and set aside any partisan biases.

If you are interested, please submit your resume and two writing samples by the Feb. 6 deadline to FactCheck.org.

Deputy Managing Editor Rob Farley at rob.farley@factcheck.org. Please direct any questions about the program or application process to the same address.

Students for the Preservation of Chinatown is working to mobilize college students across the Philadelphia area

PHOTO BY DEREK WONG

PHOTO BY ABHIRAM JUVVADI

Schuylkill Yards will be housing a new food hall, scheduled to open in the fall of 2023

College sophomore Taryn Flaherty speaks to protestors during a rally on Nov. 18, 2022, which was held in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers proposal to build an arena near Chinatown.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RYAN JEONG AND ARNAV LAL

College seniors Ryan Jeong (left) and Arnav Lal (right) are among the 16 Churchill Scholars selected nationwide for a year of graduate research study at the University of Cambridge.

Two cheers for climate progress on

In April 2021, I wrote a joint column with a Penn student leader to chastise Penn’s administration for weak policies regarding climate investments. For at least a decade, students have been petitioning Penn to drop its investments in fossil fuel companies, and Penn has been a laggard compared with our peers.

To give credit where it is due, the recent announcement by President Liz Magill and Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok indicates some progress. “Today,” said the announcement, “Penn does not directly hold investments in any companies focused on the production of fossil fuels. This includes Penn holding no investments in two hundred of the companies with the largest potential carbon emissions content in their reserves.” These 200 companies focused on coal, oil, and gas production are among the 90 or so “carbon majors” (including state-owned enterprises) responsible for most global greenhouse gas emissions.

Penn’s announcement of its divestment of these direct holdings is a step in the right direction, but it is important to understand also that Penn does not directly hold most of its investments. The bulk of Penn’s endowment is invested indirectly through various outside asset managers, and Penn does not disclose what percentage of these investments are currently invested in the financing, production, and sale of fossil fuels. Penn deserves one cheer for direct divestment now, but full congratulations must await greater transparency and proven progress on reducing indirect investments in the

carbon majors. Greater transparency might be improved by acceding to the recent suggestion that some representation should be granted to Penn students on the Board of Trustees. Following Cornell University, maybe faculty and staff could even have representation, too!

A second cheer should greet Penn’s announcement that the University has committed to invest more in what might be called long-green strategies. Penn’s investment of $250 million in the energy transition is a small drop in its $20 billion endowment bucket. But it’s a start, and there is a commitment that these investments will grow over time so that more of Penn’s investments will be targeted to being part of the climate solution, rather than further aggravating the problem.

Because there remains a lot of room for improvement, Penn doesn’t yet deserve a fullthroated three cheers. Still, the overall tone of its recent statement signals that the Magill administration is taking the climate emergency more seriously than the previous one with respect to Penn’s complicity in connection with its endowment investments, as well as our everyday operations.

Students who have been protesting for change over the last decade, including various iterations of Fossil Free Penn, deserve to give themselves a measure of credit. This doesn’t mean the large and complicated question of divestment is no longer of concern. A next step would be to create a campus group including faculty, student, and staff representatives to receive regular assurances that the Office of Investments

ChatGPT is not going to

McAVOY-BICKFORD’S MUSINGS

Barely a day goes by without some breathless thinkpiece about the cataclysmic effects of ChatGPT sashaying its way into the news I read. It’s going to kill coding! It’s going to kill the Common App personal statement! It’s going to, um, kill search engines and replace them with NFTs!

College-level essays seem relatively high on the list of ChatGPT’s targets for assassination, given the increasing concern about its plagiaristic abilities. Yet, as a college student, these worries have seemed unfounded to me. Sure, I could have plagiarized my assignments before an AI came along to help me do so, but I never did because it was a) unnecessary, b) immoral, and c) unlikely to escape notice. Nothing about ChatGPT really changes that fundamental logic.

However, with so much ink being devoted to the dangers that ChatGPT poses to our educational system, I decided it was time to put it to the test. For one hour, I would see if it could write an assignment that I had already turned in: a LING 0051 research paper about the Phrygian language and how other languages are related to it.

This seemed like it should be a comparatively easy assignment for ChatGPT. It didn’t require knowledge about current events or a particularly demanding format, and sources hadn’t been hard to find when I looked. The only two constraints were that it had to be roughly seven pages and that it had to have accurate citations, including ones in the body of the text. Still, I knew from playing around with ChatGPT a bit beforehand that I shouldn’t expect much. Before I started, I hypothesized that it would start out poorly and improve marginally over time, but struggle especially with word count and length.

When the clock struck 8:00, I fired up ChatGPT, to find predictably unimpressive results. I briefly inputted the content and specifications of each paragraph of my actual paper and asked it to write the essay, giving it instructions about the word count and citations. What I got back was far too short, had messy citations, and was mostly just plain wrong. The one bright spot was that it described the history of Phrygian studies in more detail than my actual paper, albeit with major inaccuracies.

After some more prompting, the citations improved, but only barely. I’ve learned a few different styles of in-text citations, but I’ve never heard of just spreading citations

around willy-nilly, typically disconnected from factual information. It did little better elsewhere; asking it for more details usually made it write textwords about more linguistics concepts, but few of them were specific enough to be called details.

Then I decided to try writing it paragraph by paragraph, to see if that could let ChatGPT clear my low bar under which it was currently going. How hard could the relatively fact-light introduction be? As it turns out, difficult. When asked for an interesting anecdote, it led in with “an interesting anecdote about the studies of Phrygian is that” and proceeded to write something neither interesting nor accurate. Telling it to write in the style of creative nonfiction ameliorated the leaden prose, but didn’t make it sound human or fix the perpetually borked citations. Finally, it couldn’t craft an argument on its own, leading me to just hand over a thesis statement.

I gave it one last chance, asking it to write a paragraph about the connection between Phrygian and Burushaski, another language with a suspect connection to Phrygian. Not only did it make up similarities between the two, it admitted its errors and then went back to making up similar nonsense. As a last-ditch attempt to salvage any writing, I tried feeding it in chunks of a text on Phrygian and Burushaski. Unfortunately, they were too large. ChatGPT timed out shortly before my hour was up.

In the end, ChatGPT turned in a pretty pitiful performance. Less than half of the statements in the final version of the essay were fully

is in fact walking the talk, and moving quickly.

One possibility is to repurpose the Social Responsibility Advisory Committee to serve as an institutional place to encourage the Office of Investments and perhaps one or two members of the Board of Trustees to communicate directly with faculty, students, and staff representatives about investment policies and practices, including progress on climate commitments. I’ve served previously on this committee, and its role in reviewing proxy statements was really not a good use of time. Upgrading this committee to have a broader purview would improve transparency, communications, and understanding among members of the Penn community on endowment investment issues.

Another possibility for a next step would be for Magill and the new provost (when appointed) to follow Harvard University and appoint a vice provost for climate and sustainability. At the University Council meeting in December, the fragmented nature of Penn’s approach to climate policies was again on display — dividing an operational approach and an academic one, with both further fragmented by the reality of 12 schools and many climate-related academic centers, initiatives, programs, and plans. The complexity and interdisciplinarity of the climate challenge demands greater powers of coordination and communication within Penn.

Creating this new position would also put Penn in a better position to follow Harvard in fundraising for a new entity similar to the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability,

established this summer with a $200 million gift. Penn’s campus is more compact and integrated than Harvard’s, and there is no reason that we cannot compete — and cooperate — with other leading universities to develop climate solutions, leveraging our own unique strengths. Like Harvard, Penn is organized in a decentralized structure, and the idea is not to create some sort of giant institutional center to subsume or, even worse, suppress the rich diversity of climate-related work around campus. Better coordination and communication, however, are nonetheless needed.

Penn cannot afford to rest on its laurels, stopping to congratulate ourselves for becoming more virtuous while the Earth continues to burn — and while all climate health indicators continue to deteriorate. At the same time, we should recognize progress when it occurs — and then come together as a community to find ways to begin to move the very large climate needle in the right direction. Or to borrow a phrase: to discover how we can best “draw down the lightning” on this existential problem, because the climate can’t wait.

essays

plagiarism had similar weaknesses to those in the essays that it gave me. Some other people have gotten mildly better essays, but, even so, a lot of this shows indicators of wishful thinking about technological progress, and possibly selection bias for unrealistically easy prompts.

In the end, ChatGPT is absolutely awful at writing the essays that college students are expected to write, but it is still indubitably impressive. Humans have made a machine that can master the rules of language, a rich and flexible domain of cognition. Although it’s frankly atrocious at what I wanted it to do, it still has useful cases: imitating the style of the King James Bible and generating very predictable kinds of text such as rubrics, for example.

accurate. Not only were the citations misplaced, but they were usually made up or irrelevant. And it certainly didn’t seem quicker than writing it myself, since I had to check everything myself. Humanity: 1. ChatGPT: 0.

I didn’t think this assignment was particularly hard or atypical of what would be expected at any other university, but, still, I could let ChatGPT try something easier. Maybe a 2022 AP Literature exam question would be just what the AI needed to demonstrate its value.

A few minutes in to prompting ChatGPT, I realized that it was having no more luck with this prompt; it insisted on contrasting a character in Hermann Hesse’s “The Glass Bead Game” with himself. I looked up how to write a good ChatGPT prompt, in the hopes of getting something better than this. More importantly, I subbed out the novel I was using, wondering if “Pride and Prejudice” had been analyzed so much that the AI would be able to write about it semi-coherently.

Finally, I got an essay that bore a bit of a resemblance to the idea of ChatGPT as a plagiaristic jackhammer to the American educational system. The essay was still repeatedly wrong, and it certainly wasn’t stylishly written. Most high schoolers that I know could have done better, had they read the book. But the grammar was highly accurate and it certainly answered all parts of the prompt in a mostly coherent manner.

I’m inclined to think that this is nearly the maximum of ChatGPT’s current capabilities. The most discussed actual cases of ChatGPT

The current best uses of ChatGPT are fascinating but not earth-shaking. Beyond that kind of formulaic writing, it’s hit-or-miss at creating wordplay, and hasn’t impressed me at longer text. Its repeated inaccuracies can be harmful, and, like many AI systems, it is prone to bias. What ChatGPT might perhaps do is pave the way for future intelligences that can write essays, although they may still have similar problems (or, perhaps, take over the world).

Given all this, it doesn’t seem like the fear about ChatGPT-driven plagiarism makes much sense. It’s easy to sidestep ChatGPT by asking a question about anything more obscure than the central themes of “Pride and Prejudice.” If its formulaic and inhuman style doesn’t tip off a grader, a plagiarism checker for it has already been built.

Furthermore, nothing about ChatGPT changes the core logic of why plagiarism doesn’t pay for students. To know enough to get the AI to be factually accurate, students are going to have to do just as much work as they would otherwise, especially if they edited it to meet Penn’s standards. It might currently offer slight improvements at avoiding plagiarism checkers, but I’d expect much better ways of flagging AI help to come online soon. In the end, all the people eagerly awaiting the death of typical essays are going to be forced to wait a while longer.

PHOTO BY JESSE ZHANG

Fossil Free Penn protestors put up signs on College Green, demanding Penn to divest from fossil fuels and to reinvest in other climate justice-related initiatives.

ERIC ORTS is the Guardsmark professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School. He is also a founding member of the Faculty Senate’s Committee for an Institutional Response to the Climate Emergency. His email is ortse@wharton.upenn.edu.

save you from your

|

is impressive, but it still can’t write high-quality essays

DESIGN BY LILIAN LIU

BENJAMIN McAVOY-BICKFORD is a College first year from Chapel Hill, N.C. His email is bmcavoyb@sas. upenn.edu.

Re: What if Yale finds out?

TALES AND TAKES

“What if Yale finds out?”

It was difficult to get into Yale, she thought. So what happens when you feel exiled at your own university?

The 20-year-old Yale student headlined in William Wan’s Washington Post article articulated a deeply relatable fear that many students at Penn encounter at some point of their college career. Often, Ivy League students feel caught up in a symbiotic relationship with their institution or like they have a blood debt owed to the admissions officer that tipped their profile from “maybe” to an acceptance.

To summarize the now infamous Washington Post article, Yale recently came under fire for its horrendous leave of absence policy, specifically regarding student leave for medical reasons. The article voices how, at Yale, students suffering with mental illness undergo a mentally burdening process from the initial pressure to depart from campus to the strictly enforced reinstatement policy in which students must reapply to the institution in order to return. Until recently, Yale required students to take two courses at another university while on leave so that they remain academically competent when they return to the institution’s rigorous curriculum. Yale students are also barred from visiting campus while on their leave.

Yale’s response is equally, if not more horrendous than how the article portrays the institution. Yale doubles down in their response, refusing to provide figures on mental health withdrawals or otherwise clarify the situation. Rather than acknowledging or validating student’s grievances, Yale expresses that it is “deeply disturbed by the comments made in this article” and dodges the statistics and criticisms presented.

“I found the Washington Post article deeply disturbing for the misinformation it contains about Yale and for the harm it can do to students by perpetuating the damaging narrative that it is more important to stay in college than to take time to heal,” said President Peter Salovey in a letter addressed to the Yale community. “We also continue to increase resources to support students. Last academic year, Yale’s Mental Health and Counseling (MHC) hired thirteen new clinicians, including those recruited for YC3 [Yale College Community Care]. MHC has a diverse staff in terms of identity as well as specialties.”

What is more “deeply disturbing” is that to the Yale students who read the letter, this response is not only disappointing but demeaning. The letter’s

defensive rhetoric protects the institution’s interests, not the students who actively seek out professional help from any campus resource they can and feel let down by the lack of caliber.

Medical leaves of absence (MLOAs) of any kind are often taken to allow the person space to mentally and physically heal, as well as re-evaluate their situation. Medical leaves of absence should always be made voluntarily, with little pressure from outside forces. If not, the leave can qualify as an involuntary leave of absence, in which an institution forces a student off campus.

Leaves of absences are deeply personal, and students expecting to take one understand that they not only lose access to their education for a period of time, but they also become deprived of a support group of friends and mentors that may not be available to them at home.

I took a leave two semesters ago, and thankfully, I was working with administrators that made the process as smooth as possible. However, because leaves of absences in general are stigmatized, there were parts of the process where I felt alone. As I was learning about Penn’s leave policy in the College Office, I was also emailing professors about my decision, consulting the financial aid office about how my leave could impact my financial aid as a highly aided student, and texting my friends goodbye. Even thinking about taking a leave was frightening, but I was lucky enough to be supported by my community, and in the end, I do not believe that my medical leave was an involuntary one.

Despite my positive leave of absence process, others have had less successful experiences. Penn obviously has a long way to go. Surprisingly, Penn has the best leave of absence policy in the Ivy League (with a score caveat of a mortifying D+ according to a Ruderman White Paper). Penn could improve by better communicating its policies, especially for students who are not familiar with what a leave of absence entails.

Let’s be honest, taking a break is terrifying. But for some students during their time at Penn, taking a leave of absence (whether for a medical reason or not) could be a transformative decision in which their institution could be, at the very least, transparent and supportive throughout the process.

Many of my friends have thought about taking a leave at least once during their time at Penn. Some have already taken the leap. Yes, Penn’s leave of

Speaker of the House or parent of a broken home?

support for any of these changes.

Vinay: To your last point, I think most Democrats I talked to were sort of reveling in the disunity of the GOP and derided the Freedom Caucus members as off their rockers in a sense. But really, that’s more a reflection of the Democratic tendency to close ranks when Republicans appear disorganized and less about the questions being raised by the dissenters. Some of these proposals, objectively, aimed to clear the air around an otherwise very hazy process. Not sure why more (or any) Democrats weren’t on board with that.

Lexi: Oddly I think there are two ways of looking at the impact of polarization on creating this scenario. The first is the most common, that with more heightened polarization increasingly ‘radical’ candidates will get elected to office, therefore creating a problem for more ‘moderate’ party leadership. The other is the opposite, that people are simply surprised by party disunity because we are so accustomed to a lack of diversity of thought within partisan politics.

Vinay: And I definitely think we saw the latter on the Left this time around with Hakeem Jeffries garnering all 212 Democratic votes 14 out of 15 times, and my home state's representative, David Trone (D-Md.), racing back from same-day surgery to support Jeffries on Jan. 6. Go Maryland!

of Diet Coke and potato chips as a presidential diet? On the subject, on both sides we often credit right-wing dissent to MAGA or Trump’s outsized influence. But, in this instance we saw how little command Trump actually had, with his endorsement of McCarthy’s speakership failing to whip votes.

Vinay: Alas, I still doubt we have seen the end of Trump. After all, who was it that Marjorie Taylor Greene phoned when Gaetz supposedly still needed a little extra persuading? But coupled with a disastrous election cycle for the GOP, I think we can safely say he’s not the kingmaker he once was.

Lexi: That is absolutely true. I’d also like to give credit where credit is due to McCarthy on his graceful, inspirational, and honest acceptance speech. Fun fact: I actually stood in the spot that he mentioned where Lincoln’s seat in the old House chambers was last week!

Vinay: Inspirational or contrived? Granted, he must have come close to the record for number of times someone could be rejected and come back for more, beating out a lot of desperate exes.

… this isn’t far-out-there stuff.

Lexi Boccuzzi: Vinay, who needs reality TV when we have C-SPAN? Between the zoomed-in cameras, members almost coming to blows on the floor and last minute phone calls from Grand Ol’ Party “dad” (otherwise known as former President Trump), the McCarthy Speaker [of the House] vote saga was better than anything I’ve ever seen on Bravo.

Vinay Khosla: Well, Lexi, I’ve seen some pretty heated episodes of Real Housewives, but I agree; it was quite the show on Capitol Hill for a couple days. Now that things have died down finally, what are your thoughts on our good old friends in the Freedom Caucus?

Lexi: There is no doubt that the Republican party has been divided for years now, and I think in many ways the same can be said for the Democrats. It’s no surprise that when given the opportunity to challenge party elites, as most populists promise, people like Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) did just that.

What becomes complicated about the particular brand of political theater that they participated in is whether their intentions were actually to fight for greater transparency and more government accountability for their constituents, or simply to increase their followers on Twitter.

Vinay: Both can be true. There’s no doubt that the ploys we saw (and didn’t) were largely self serving for a number of these representatives, especially the relatively late joiners like Byron Donalds (RFla.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) who were maybe looking to increase their national visibility coming into their second terms.

But honestly, aside from the demands for committee chairmanships, some of the points these dissenters were making weren’t crazy. I mean, adequate time to read legislation, single-subject bills

Lexi: My main issue with the way they conducted themselves during the negotiations was that many of them, excluding Matt Rosendale’s (R-Mont.) floor speech, failed to articulate to their constituents the reasons for holding up the vote.

The most vital role of a representative is to represent their constituents and their interests. Quite frankly, changes to the House rules package are above the civic priorities of the average American, making the caucus members’ actions look even more performative and disrespectful to the functioning of the House.

Vinay: I see your point that some of the political minutiae of the moment was lost on Americans, but don’t you think it’s the responsibility of these representatives to effectively communicate about what they’re doing on the Hill?

Lexi: Without question, hence my caveat for Rep. Rosendale. I just believe that the “hills” that you are dying on (no pun intended) as a representative need to be ones that you can justify to the public. I think a failure to do so creates constituencies who do not respect the actions their members are taking, and also dampens the legitimacy of proposals.

Not to mention that I would have greater sympathy for an argument that their actions were not performative if Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) had not obviously taken the 14th vote as an opportunity to rub salt in Kevin McCarthy’s wounds for the sake of publicity by voting present, despite getting everything he had claimed he wanted in negotiations. I believe that a lot of Republican voters will take notice of this as well, and it definitely will affect the way some of these people are perceived in the next election cycle.

It is interesting that you are recognizing the merits of these proposals, though. I feel like many members of the Left claim they are in favor of more egalitarian, transparent and democratic proceedings yet none of them expressed any sort of

Lexi: I completely agree, and I think the very aggressively antagonistic and partisan substance of Rep. Jeffries’s speech before handing the gavel to McCarthy is indicative of that as well.

Despite my regular frustrations with various members of the GOP and my views as a traditionalist, you could make the argument that this sort of breaking away from party boss politics, where elites have complete command over freshman representatives, is good for lowercase-‘d’ democracy. The growth of social media and the presence of more anti-elite politicians on both sides of the aisle has granted younger members more power to challenge institutional authority, which could certainly be perceived as a win for ‘the people’s House.'

Vinay: Frankly, under Nancy Pelosi, Democrats have almost always fallen in line with party leadership. In fact, it was a point of pride, and we saw that in Jeffries’s speech after the 15th vote. Although I’m not sure I would go so far as to say it was aggressively antagonistic, I will admit I found Jeffries’s speech a bit derivative, and certainly hypocritical at times.

I almost wish some younger Dems or our supposedly ultra-progressive 'squad' had taken a stand and just ended the whole debacle. Why not just vote for McCarthy and get on with your job? They always knew it was going to be McCarthy, so we can’t ignore Democrats' complicity in all of this either.

Lexi: For sure; and I think in the same way that echo chambers affected the perception of the chaotic vote (see the many Twitter memes), they also affected the behavior of the representatives on the floor. We all need to take a hard look at the way we fail to give credit where credit is due, and also our representatives’ lack of willingness to break ranks in order to do their job and begin legislating.

Vinay: It’s funny you mention it, because now I’m thinking about gas stoves. Could we have picked a more ridiculous topic to wage the culture war over?

Lexi: I’m not sure we could … maybe the merits

Lexi: Oh, definitely. I am curious to see how that will play out in his leadership, though. Speakers aren’t presidents — they don’t have to be ideological visionaries. They have to make compromises and get bills passed. As McCarthy’s expert PR team pointed out in their spin, maybe his willingness to “never give up” makes him the perfect man for the job?

Vinay: First of all, that PR team deserves a bonus. A big one. But to your question about McCarthy, I think only time will tell. As much as I’m not a Nancy Pelosi fan when it comes to policy, she always had the votes. I’m not sure McCarthy will be able to say the same.

Lexi: That’s true, and as a Republican and an American, I’d like to see some policy making this session. But maybe breaking ranks has value? So long as it’s done in a substantive way.

VINAY KHOSLA is a College sophomore studying history and political science from Baltimore, Md. His email is vkhosla@sas. upenn.edu.

LEXI BOCCUZZI is a College junior studying philosophy, politics, and economics from Stamford, Ct. Her email is boccuzzi@thedp. com.

| Institutions are still not “committed to mental health”

absence policy is far from perfect, but the responsibility of ensuring a fair, smooth LOA and return to campus does not fall upon one person nor one department. It most certainly should not fall upon the student.

PHOTO BY KYLIE COOPER Yale University, where students have criticized administration about the leave of absence policy.

CATHY LI is a College sophomore studying English and design from New York City. Her email address is licathy@sas.upenn.edu.

This is the first column of Common Sense, a recurring dialogue between two veteran Daily Pennsylvanian columnists, Vinay and Lexi.

COMMON SENSE | Partisanship and populism’s impact on leadership in the people’s House

PHOTO BY ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

Penn spent the most on research among Ivy League schools in 2021

PAACH, from FRONT PAGE

17, and Hoddinott will begin later this month.

78% of University research spending went to the life sciences

Penn ranked fourth among United States universities for

and development spending in the fiscal year of 2021, according to data released by the National Science Foundation last year.

The report, which the NSF releases annually, shows that Penn ranked behind Johns Hopkins University, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Penn is also ranked first among the Ivy League, spending over $1.6 billion on research in 2021 — a record high for Penn. Research expenditures increased by approximately $52.5 million compared to the previous year.

Since 2016, Penn has consistently placed among the top four highest-spending universities out of a list of over 900 research institutions nationwide. According to Penn's website, research and development expenditures are used to maintain the University’s 182 research centers and institutes and its over-5,000 research faculty members.

Penn receives around $800 million from the federal government, making it the university’s largest source of funding for research expenditures. Funding from the federal government comes from sources such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense.

78% of Penn’s research expenditures went to the life sciences, which include biology and medicine. The University spent over $1.2 billion on research in this field. Slightly more than half of Penn’s life science expenditures were federally funded, and a majority of life science research expenditures supported work done in the biological and biomedical sciences and the health sciences.

The University’s life science research expenditures supported initiatives such as the Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response and over 2,000 clinical research studies conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine in the fiscal year of 2021, according to a 2022 brochure issued by the medical school.

College senior Hiba Hamid, who engages in neurosurgery research, said that her research is adequately funded and supported.

“All the resources were already there, and I just had to use them,” she said.

J. Larry Jameson, dean of Perelman School of Medicine, wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian in a statement that Perelman was proud of its level of research expenditures.

“We are proud to be among the nation’s top recipients of federal research funding for basic, translational, and clinical science, and our faculty and their teams are dedicated to continuing Penn’s legacy of discovery and innovation to improve the health of individuals and communities worldwide,” Jameson wrote.

Penn also ranked first out of all U.S. universities for research expenditures in business management and business administration, with over $80 million spent on this field. Penn’s

CHARTS BY SOPHIA LIU

business research expenditures fund Wharton’s 20 research centers and initiatives and over 240 faculty members in the business school.

“Part of our academic mission is to create new knowledge in all of our scholarship, whether it’s in finance in Wharton or communication in Annenberg,” Senior Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell told the DP.

In contrast, Penn listed no research expenditures in the field of social work, and they spent approximately $1.3 million on research in anthropology — the category in which Penn allocated the least amount of its total social science research expenditures. However, Penn’s anthropology spending is ranked 19th among all universities and ranked third among the Ivy League, behind Harvard University and Princeton University.

Dr. Kathy Morrison, chair of the Anthropology Department, said that the DP’s findings were “not terribly surprising.”

“Unfortunately, I think anthropologists have always known that the other social sciences are more robustly funded,” she said.

According to College junior Vernon Wells, this comparatively smaller amount of spending has made it difficult for undergraduates interested in anthropological fields to secure research funding.

Wells, who traveled to the Philippines to work on their anthropology thesis, said that there is a lack of funds for undergraduate students to pull from when it comes to anthropology research. When trying to secure funding for his research, Wells said there “wasn’t very much available” from the anthropology department last fall, as the department distributed most of its funds earlier in the year.

“As someone who’s definitely interested in academia, it’s [difficult] to know that it’s not easy to access the resources you need to go further,” Wells said.

Despite smaller research expenditures going to anthropology, Morrison feels supported by the University and notes that federal funding sources, such as the NSF, allocate relatively small amounts of money to the field.

“I can’t really say anything but good things about Penn in terms of the way that they have supported anthropology, and I hope they will continue to support [it],” she said.

Penn and most other Ivies saw increases in total research expenditures from 2010 to 2021, with the exception of Brown University. This trend also holds for other universities, with the total research expenditures for all universities surveyed by the NSF increasing by slightly under $30 billion from 2010 to 2021.

“The money is an indicator [of success], but it’s really the people on the research that are the important outcome, particularly for the faculty, students, and postdocs who are all doing all this work and learning from doing this work,” Bonnell said. “But the fact that we do have the mechanisms to get [the research] out to people enables Penn to do good for society.”

Aquino comes to Penn from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she served as Human Resources Coordinator and Development Operations Associate. Hoddinott arrives from the University of Connecticut, where he served as Assistant Director for Honors Residential Communities and Programming. Prior to that, Hoddinott was also the Assistant Director of the Asian and Asian American Center at Cornell University.

The recruitment process began with posting the position on the Penn careers website, along with “intentional recruitment, and utilizing various professional networks and groups focused on higher education professionals and those who have experience working with the Asian Pacific Islander community,” Atkins said. Input and involvement was received from both undergraduate and graduate students, along with various campus partners who work closely with PAACH.

Students in the Asian Pacific Student Coalition were closely involved with the hiring process, participating in one-on-one interviews with each of the candidates virtually before narrowing down the applicants and selecting Aquino and Hoddinott.

Atkins, who led the search, reached out to various campus and faculty groups, including APSC, “asking us what our desired characteristics were and what we were really looking for in terms of the associate directors,” College junior and newly elected APSC chair Ashley Uppani said.

APSC played “a large role in pushing for the associate director position to get filled,” Uppani added. Uppani told The Daily Pennsylvanian that she remembers that the role has been unfilled her entire time at Penn, with the role being vacant for over three years. Most recently, PAACH director of 10 years Peter Van Do suddenly left his role at the center in September 2022, which sparked confusion among students.

During this time without associate directors, Finance, Operations, & Program Coordinator at PAACH Cindy Au-Kramer and PAACH intern Cat Polityllo have largely managed and continued operations.

“With numbers dwindling and us going down to two people, it was an insane amount of work [for Cindy and Cat],” Uppani said. “It’s very exciting that we have two new people on board. It’s definitely going to make things a lot easier for them.”

APSC — which falls under PAACH — represents over 20 student groups in the Asian diaspora, including k-Beats, the Chinese Students' Association, and the South Asia Society. In addition to managing the administrative discussion and funds of these clubs, APSC is involved with the larger Philadelphia nonprofit world.

“[Aquino] has a solid nonprofit background specific to the Philly community,” Uppani said, “so we’ll definitely be collaborating with her a lot in terms of advancing those goals.”

In addition to working with groups on campus, PAACH seeks to collaborate with the Philadelphia community.

“We’re excited to see how the current new associate directors are going to navigate dialogue between various communities, because the Asian diaspora has resulted in so many different groups being represented under such a general label,” Uppani said.

APSC is looking forward to commemorating PAACH’s 25th anniversary next year.

In regards to two associate directors being chosen to fill the position, Atkins said the decision represented “the need to support such a large and dynamic community.”

Additionally, the University has currently posted a position for a new director of PAACH, and the hiring process will occur this semester.

“I hope that [administration] continues to push for more permanent positions and more permanent roles in terms of PAACH and the other [Cultural Resource Centers]. Otherwise things don't get done,” Uppani said. She hopes the hiring of new associate directors is “one stepping stone, not the end-all be-all.”

Over

SARA FORASTIERI Senior Reporter

Penn received a record of more than 59,000 applications to the Class of 2027, around an 7% increase from last year.

The applicant pool consists of over 4,500 more applicants than the Class of 2026 and 3,000 more than the Class of 2025, the latter of which previously held Penn's all-time high number of applications. Early decision admissions for the Class of 2027 — announced on Dec. 15 — also included the largest applicant pool in the University’s history. Over 8,000 students applied through the early decision process, which typically fills about half the class size ahead of regular decision.

“This year, our team is reading more than 59,000 applications to the Class of 2027,” Vice Provost and Dean of Admissions Whitney Soule wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “This is the largest first-year applicant pool for Penn, and we’re already deep into reading through each of them.”

As the University receives more applications — a trend seen across the Ivy League — Penn's Office of Admissions has also instituted a number of changes to its admissions process.

With its release of early decision results in December, Penn continued its policy of withholding the acceptance rate, which began with regular decision admission results for the Class of 2026. Penn started the test-optional program in response to the COVID19 pandemic, and after the policy was announced, Associate Director of Admissions Sara Cohen predicted that it might lead to an increase in the number of applicants.

This year, Penn Admissions also eliminated the enrollment deposit for the first time. The $400 deposit typically served to help create an estimate of the number of people committed to the University and class size. Penn followed six other Ivy League institutions — excluding Cornell — by making this decision.

“We are intentional in our efforts to create equitable application processes and experiences,” Soule wrote in a statement to the DP on Jan. 10. “As part of that work, we chose to remove a financial component as a means of expressing a commitment to enroll.”

This application season, Penn also included a new application question in its admissions process. Students were asked to write a thank-you note to someone they had not thanked and wanted to acknowledge. Applicants were also encouraged to share their notes with the person. “We love reading the thank-you notes!” Soule wrote.

Regular decision results will be released by the end of March on Ivy Day, and students admitted to Penn are required to commit by May 1.

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL The Pan-Asian American Community House in the ARCH basement on Jan. 10.

PHOTO BY ANA GLASSMAN

Penn students walk through the Perelman Quadrangle on Sept. 14, 2022.

Penn Medicine receives $9.7 million grant for genetic counseling

The grant will allow for genetic counselors to research new ways to implement genomic data into clinical practice

SEJIN PARK Senior Reporter

The Warren Alpert Foundation donated $9.7 million to Penn Medicine to support genetic counselors' educational and research efforts.

The grant will fund the WAF-Career Ladder Education Program for Genetic Counseling, which will allow genetic counselors to continue their education and research new ways to implement genomic data into clinical practice, according to the news release published on Jan 4.

Led by genetics researchers and faculty members in the Perelman School of Medicine, genetic counselors will receive advanced training in areas such as hereditary disorders, assessing risks, cancer prevention, and family planning.

The WAF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of the public through grants and programmatic activities. In 2021, the WAF gifted Penn Medicine with a $9.5 million grant to advance diversity in genetic counseling. This new grant will

Students, faculty weigh in on concerns about ChatGPT use in education

While Penn has yet to implement any restrictions on ChatGPT, people told The Daily Pennsylvanian about the program’s popularity and its implications

MARGOT SCHNEIDER AND SHAURYA SINGHI Staff Reporters

Penn professors and students have expressed both optimism and concern about the impact of ChatGPT, a popular artificial intelligence-based chatbot, on academia.

ChatGPT, which launched in November, quickly surged in popularity and has raised questions about ethics and plagiarism. The chatbot, which was developed by OpenAI, can complete tasks like writing essays or code and solving math problems. It takes inputs and generates responses that mimic human dialogue. The chatbot can also return code and algorithms in its response.

Though chatbots have been around for a while, ChatGPT has gained greater attention due to two distinct features, Wharton associate professor Ethan Mollick told CBS News. As Mollick described, these differentiating aspects are ChatGPT's advanced language model and its ability to have a conversation with the user.

Critics have expressed concern that the new tool can cause controversy in the academic environment, as students may use it to cheat on essays or homework problems. In response, many teachers and schools are trying to ban or regulate students’ use of the tool for academic purposes, and are faced with challenges such as students’ technical savviness and access to multiple devices.

While Penn has yet to implement any restrictions on ChatGPT, The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with three students and one professor about ChatGPT's popularity, including its ability to both increase efficiency and make it easier for academic dishonesty to occur.

Engineering first year Eitan Seitchik said that he sees the tool as a model that can increase efficiency in multiple different environments.

“[ChatGPT] allows for the creation of personalized, interactive learning materials, leading to enhanced engagement and effectiveness,” Seitchik said.

Though he acknowledged that the chatbot had

allow for genetic counselors to continue education efforts.

The WAF-Career Ladder Education Program for Genetic Counseling will also include the creation of new online continuing education unit courses for genetic counselors. Each one-credit CEU course will provide genetic counselors with comprehensive lessons on genomics or personalized medicine.

Other potential initiatives include creating certificate programs for advanced training, developing a post-graduate doctoral degree in genetic counseling, and designing more CEU courses.

Penn's Perelman School of Medicine will partner with four other institutions: Baylor College of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the University of Washington School of Medicine. WAF chose these institutions, as well as Penn Medicine, as grant recipients based on their caliber of clinical programs, existing master's programs in genetic counseling, and their commitment to research.

“Creating a robust career ladder to support genetic counselors’ advanced training and professional development is critical,” Daniel Rader, Penn's chair of the Genetics Department and chief of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, told Penn Medicine.

“This commitment to the career development of genetic counselors will be transformational, not just at the five participating institutions but also nationally and globally.”

August Schiesser, the executive director of WAF, told Penn Medicine that institutions and organizations helping develop the field of genetic counselors can have wide-reaching, positive consequences.

“Given the increasing complexity of career development and the expanded roles for genetic counselors, support in career development is imperative. We are excited to support the career ladder for genetic counselors and we are delighted to award Penn this grant,” Schiesser told Penn Medicine.

technological strengths, Seitchik said that he is concerned about the possibility of ChatGPT perpetuating biases in education. The data that the model uses may contain stereotypes, which has the potential to create a self-serving cycle; if text produced by ChatGPT is published, it will become part of the dataset that the tool uses in the future, which could continue to amplify the problem.

Seitchik's concerns represent a larger worry among students and teachers, some of whom have moved to regulate the usage of ChatGPT. A Princeton student recently created an application that can identify if a piece of writing is the work of a human or a computer by making use of intangible distinguishing factors, according to Business Insider. The app is yet to be tested rigorously by Princeton’s Natural Language Processing group.

Despite the initial panic that ChatGPT’s introduction into the education system caused among teachers, Mollick told CBS News that ChatGPT has the potential to be an innovative tool in an academic setting to improve students' understanding of material.

Aryaman Meswani, a Wharton and Engineering first-year student in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, echoed Seitchik's concerns about the ethical use of artificial intelligence systems.

“I think that no matter how it is marketed to students, it is extremely likely that ChatGPT will be used solely, or at least largely, for the purpose of doing assignments for students,” Meswani said. "I would avoid its use as far as possible, [as] I think it acts as an imbalance to what should be an even playing field among students at college.”

While ChatGPT could help the academic playing field, it could also breed inequality, Wharton and College first year Varyam Gupta said.

“In the short run, the free ‘beta’ version of ChatGPT that requires user responsiveness provides a level of equity, since an increasing number of modern students have access to the internet,” Gupta said. “However, like most novel technologies in and out of the education space, it will almost certainly charge a fee sooner or later.”

OpenAI recently announced the launch of ChatGPT Professional, a monetized variation of ChatGPT designed to help those in the workplace. ChatGPT Professional's benefits include no unavailability windows and unlimited messages, though the program has not yet been released to the public.

“Once it’s not free ... it’s a completely different ballgame," Gupta added, saying that a paid version would create an "exponential advantage" to people who can afford it.

Jean-Paul Cauvin, a visiting scholar in Penn’s Department of Philosophy, said the algorithm has the potential to benefit those who are already advantaged and harm those without certain resources.

“This is already our world," Cauvin said. "We are just beginning to understand the speed and ubiquity of these transformations."

Red and Blue Advisory Committee gathers input from students and staff at open forum

The initial announcement of the committee came after reports that Magill had begun meeting with and asking administrators close to her how to address community issues, such as its response to the sale of the University City Townhomes.

Undergraduate Assembly President and College and Wharton senior Carson Sheumaker, a committee member, told attendees it was important to include the broader Penn community in conversations about where the University would “dedicate [its] dollars.”

Engineering graduate student Joe Rummaneethorn, the former president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the forum was the “right move in the right direction.” He said that the opportunity for face-to-face communication with administrators was usually limited to high-level student executives, so the forum was “very valuable.”

VIDYA PANDIARAJU Staff Reporter

The Red and Blue Advisory Committee held an open forum on Thursday, inviting members of the Penn community to share their thoughts on Penn’s future.

The “Tomorrow, Together” forum, which was held in Irvine Auditorium and open to the public, featured nine easels with large notepads where attendees were encouraged to answer questions from Penn President Liz Magill. The questions, such as “How do we accelerate the creation and application of knowledge?” and “How can we best advance our shared priorities of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging?” were geared around understanding what the Penn community wants to focus on when the committee builds its strategic plan for the University. The plan is expected to be announced in the summer of 2023.

Around 40 students, faculty, and staff members were in attendance at the forum.

Magill announced the formation of the Red and Blue Advisory Committee in October to “engage broadly and develop recommendations for a strategic framework for Penn’s future.” The committee is composed of 16 students, administrators, and faculty.

Thursday’s forum served as a space for “highlevel, strategic thinking about what Penn’s goals will be in the future,” John Jackson, the committee’s chair and dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, told attendees. The conception of the forum was “all President Magill’s idea,” Jackson added.

Sheumaker echoed Rummaneethorn’s sentiments, adding that the last time the strategic plan was developed with “broad feedback” was before former President Amy Gutmann, under former President Judith Rodin. He said that he “deeply appreciated” Magill’s commitment to leveraging a broad range of perspectives in forging the path forward.

“I think the main thing I’d say is, we’re hearing a lot of common themes,” Magill told the DP in an interview on Jan. 10. “Nothing is crystallized to a particular proposal yet.”

Magill added that there was a “lot of sentiment” that Penn should work harder on addressing complex societal issues, including climate change and sustainability.

Gabriel Vega-Bellido, a graduate student in the Materials Science department, said he was not clear on the objective of the forum before coming but “came for the free food.” He said he stayed because he found that such gatherings were essential to building relationships between students and administration.

Vega-Bellido said he had previous experience in graduate student government and found that a lot of his role was about “keeping the peace” between all aspects of Penn student life, which was made especially difficult because of COVID-19. He said these open meetings would help “restore” the relationship between these parties — “we’ll see what comes out of it, of course, but [this is] the right direction.”

The findings of the event will be compiled and shared at large with the Red and Blue Committee, which will be used in discussions with other data, Jackson said. He added that Magill is “excited” to see what comes out of such initiatives.

PHOTO BY ABHIRAM JUVVADI

Students answer questions from Penn President Liz Magill on notepads during the Red and Blue Advisory Committee’s “Tomorrow, Together” forum in Irvine Auditorium on Jan. 13th.

Five Penn football alumni set to represent Ivy League in Tokyo

On Jan. 22, five Penn football alumni will represent the Quakers and the Ivy League at the Dream Bowl in Tokyo. They will join 48 players from the other schools in the Ancient Eight and former Penn coach and current Columbia head coach Al Bagnoli to face off against all-stars from the X League, Japan’s National Football Association.

The five alumni playing this weekend are quarterback Ryan Glover, running back Isaiah Malcome, wide receiver Ryan Cragun, defensive back Jason McCleod Jr., and tight end Shane Sweitzer.

The Dream Bowl is a continuation of the tradition started by the Epson Ivy Bowl, which took place between 1989 and 1996 and also involved Ivy League players playing Japan’s all-stars.

With the Ivy League not partaking in the FCS tournament or any other form of postseason, the Dream Bowl is a unique opportunity for seniors

and recent Ivy League graduates to showcase their skills. The game can also help improve interest in American football in Japan and exhibit local talent.

Glover played for three years before his senior season was canceled due to COVID-19. He appeared in 16 total games, and saw the most success during the 2018 campaign. That year, Glover started in all 10 games and completed 122 passes for seven touchdowns and 1,482 yards. Additionally, he ran the ball 100 times for a total of 300 yards and two touchdowns. Following his graduation from Penn in spring 2021, he transferred to UC Berkeley for his final year of eligibility.

Malcome excelled the most during his last year with Penn in 2021, earning second-team All-Ivy that season and cementing his place as Penn’s all-time leader in yards per carry. The Atlanta native started in all 10 games in 2021, rushing for 719 yards and

six touchdowns as well as catching 29 passes for 201 yards and another touchdown. Malcolme's seven total touchdowns led Penn on the season.

Cragun also played for three seasons with the Quakers, appearing in 19 total games, including nine during his sophomore year in 2019. That year, he was named second-team All-Ivy after finishing the season with 58 catches for 885 yards and three touchdowns. Additionally, Cragun finished his Penn career ranking 10th in program history with 1,385 receiving yards. After graduation, Cragun used his year of eligibility at UCLA in 2022.

McCleod appeared in all 10 games during both his sophomore and senior years, with his junior season canceled due to COVID-19. He received second-team All-Ivy in 2021 and finished his senior season with three interceptions, 15 pass breakups, 18 passes defended, and 34 tackles. The West Palm Beach, Fla. native led the Ivy League

in both pass breakups and passes defended and finished second in the nation for passes defended per game (1.8). He also used his graduate eligibility at Sacred Heart in 2022.

Sweitzer appeared in 20 total games as a Quaker and completed his fifth year at Penn this fall. Sweitzer started out as a linebacker, before switching to tight end late into his Penn career. In total, Sweitzer made 11 receptions for 119 yards as a Quaker.

The players arrived in Tokyo on Jan. 15, and in addition to preparing for the Dream Bowl, will also take part in several cultural experiences facilitated by two Ivy League professors. Among the festivities announced are a visit to the United States embassy and discussions with the Japanese players and team. The Dream Bowl will be held on Jan. 21 at 11 p.m. EST (Jan. 22, 1 p.m. JST).

to 14 by the break.

McLaughlin acknowledged that this stretch was the turning point of Monday’s game, remarking that the team “went into the locker room limping a little bit.”

This strategy of attacking Padilla and Obi seemed to work given the pair’s ball dominance. The two took 20 of Penn’s 26 field goal attempts in the first half, and combined for a usage rate near 70% at halftime.

“We had opportunities to score [off turnovers], but they do a good job of transition defense,” McLaughlin said. “One of the things we want to do is not play in half court the entire time, [but] ultimately, that’s what happened.”

Coming out of the break, Penn was able to slow the bleeding. The Quakers shot 5-14 in the third quarter, below their season average of nearly 41% but certainly better than the second quarter’s 2-15. The second half also saw another Quaker get on the board, with senior guard Mandy McGurk scoring five points. Furthermore, Penn was able to grab three offensive rebounds and a trio of assists. But despite this improvement, the Quakers were unable to make up any ground. The Tigers put the game largely out of reach with a 7-11 shooting performance in the third period, increasing their lead to 17 with 10 minutes left to play.

Even with the final outcome largely settled, Princeton kept their foot on the gas for most of the fourth quarter, with coach Carla Berube only making mass substitutions with a little over 90 seconds remaining. While the box score will show Penn narrowing the margin to 15 in the final period, the outcome was never truly in jeopardy.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Tigers had led for the final 34 minutes of the game. They dominated several major categories, including rebounds, assists, field goal percentage, and points off turnovers. But despite the outcome on Monday, there remain reasons for hope. Penn still leads the Ivy League at 4-1, and Princeton will still need to visit the Palestra on March 3. But the facts of Monday’s defeat should still not be ignored.

The Quakers will next be in action Saturday against Yale at 2:00 p.m. The game will be held at the Palestra and broadcast on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.

tournament taking place at Jadwin Gymnasium, the site of Penn’s most deflating game so far this season, the Quakers will also need to become more comfortable in enemy territory.

3. Floor is the fulcrum

Junior forward Floor Toonders, with her 6-foot-4 frame and monstrous wingspan, is a nightmare for opposing offenses. She leads the Ivy League in blocks with 22, and is the fulcrum behind the Quakers’ half-court defense. While she has been able to successfully anchor Penn’s stop troops for much of this season, the Tigers proved just how much the Quaker defense falters

without Toonders protecting the basket.

Princeton utilized a variety of on and off-ball actions to lure Toonders out of the paint, limiting her ability to impact the game defensively.

“A lot of dribble handoffs, a lot of high ball screens,” McLaughlin said. “Schematically, I thought they did a really good job. They exposed us in some areas.”

The Tigers’ strategy earned them 22 points in the paint, and bared a weakness that Penn will need to address moving forward. Penn is a great defensive team, and Toonders is a great defensive player. However, if the Quakers want to challenge for the conference title, they will need to explore how to maintain their front when their leading stalwart is neutralized.

4. To press, or not to press?

McLaughlin has earned a reputation across the

Ivy

a bevy

Against Princeton, the pressure was not so suffocating. After a few early steals, Princeton quickly diagnosed the signature tactic, forcing Penn to play a step behind defensively and eventually forcing them out of it. McLaughlin said he considered re-installing the press later in the game, potentially to give the Quakers the spark they needed. Whether that decision would have paid off is a question we will never know the answer to. Yet one certainty remains: determining when to deploy their trademark strategy will be pivotal to the Red and Blue's overall destiny.

The five will join a team led by former Penn coach Al Bagnoli at the Dream Bowl held in Japan

ANDREA MENDOZA Sports Associate

PHOTO BY ALEC DRUGGAN

Penn alumnus and wide receiver Ryan Cragun runs the ball down the field during the game against Harvard on Nov. 16, 2019.

League for his full-court press — a more subtle version of the typical tactic that often results in easy points for Penn. In games against Brown and Hartford, it squeezed Penn’s opponents into

of turnovers — including six steals for senior guard Mandy McGurk between the two games — resulting in easy points for the Quakers.

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Junior forward Floor Toonders looks to pass the ball during the game against Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J. on Jan. 16.

Penn Gymnastics opened their season Jan. 6 with a strong team performance at the Keystone Classic, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and also featuring Villanova and Temple.

Despite placing fourth, the Quakers set a program record for the highest season-opening team score with 193.525 points.

Among the main contributors to Penn’s historic effort were junior Sara Kenefick and freshman Skyelar Kerico.

For their performances, the Gymnastics East Conference recognized Kenefick as the Gymnast of the Week and Kerico as the Newcomer of the Week.

Kenefick’s career-best all-around score of 39.025 points and strong showing on the vault and floor led to her receiving this honor for the third time in her

career. The other two came last season in which she was named first-team All-GEC on floor and helped lead Penn to a GEC Championship.

In her first year on the team, Kerico also showed her potential to become an important contributor to the team moving forward. Leading the team on the bars and beam, Kerico’s allaround score of 39.125 secured her a third place finish at the competition.

The pair's contributions were once again highlighted in Penn's second-place finish at Penn State, held last weekend in University Park, Pa. The Quakers' score of 194.900 was the sixth-best in program history.

Kenefick opened up her meet with a 9.500 on the beam, contributing to the team’s second-place

finish on the beam with 48.825 points. Kenefick also placed sixth for her floor routine with a score of 9.775, adding to the team's score of 48.725, which was also good enough for second place in the event.

Kerico excelled on the vault, finishing the competition tied for first in the event with a score of 9.850. Kerico’s performance on the vault ties her for the fourth-highest score in the vault event in program history. Kerico would also finish third on the uneven bars with a score of 9.675. With an all-around score of 39.075, Kerico would finish second overall, behind only Penn State’s Maddie Johnston.

Penn will host William & Mary this Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Palestra to open up their GEC schedule.

a pick and roll pass into the hands of junior forward Max Martz and junior guard Andrew Laczkowski being called for an offensive foul on an impressive cut and finish. Right before the buzzer, the struggling Dingle was fouled while shooting to put the Quakers up 26 to 25.

The Quakers continued to rely on Spinoso for offense into the second half. However, after missing their first shot to start the half, the Tigers were able to grow a small lead with 14 minutes left to play. Penn struggled to mount a comeback with Dingle and Slajchert missing tough shots and Princeton capitalizing on multiple offensive rebounds. Dingle and Slajchert would go 7-32 overall, and the team ended the game shooting 33% from the field.

“It felt like a slug fest,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. “It was a very physical game, we were struggling to hit shots as well until late in the second.”

One big factor leading to the tough shots was the Quakers’ lack of three-point scoring — going 0-12 in the game — and an uncharacteristically inefficient offensive outing by Dingle, who needed 22 shots to score 21 points.

“I thought Jordan and Clark took shots they usually make,” Donahue said, “but we became self-reliant on them when we got behind and we could’ve run a better offense.”

The crowd fell to a whisper late with Penn falling behind by 14 with six minutes to go, a lead they would fail to overcome despite a late push fueled by a couple of Dingle and-one plays. The game finished at a disappointing score of 72-60, marking Princeton’s seventh straight win over the Quakers.

“With the history of the two programs, coach [Henderson] makes sure to let us know how important it is to get wins in [the Palestra],” Evbuomwan said.

The Quakers’ next time back on the court will be at Yale on Saturday at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

PHOTO BY DIEGO CÁRDENAS

Now-junior Sara Kenefick competes in the floor event against Ursinus during the meet last season at the Palestra on Feb. 20, 2022.

“I thought Jordan and Clark took shots they usually make. But we became selfreliant on them when we got behind and we could’ve run a better offense.”

Steve Donahue, head coach

Women’s basketball’s win streak ends with 55-40 loss at Princeton

PRINCETON, N.J. — If you come at the king, you’d best not miss.

On Monday, Penn women’s basketball came into Jadwin Gymnasium to face a Princeton team that has ruled the Ivy League for quite some time. The Tigers have won three of the last four Ivy League titles, finished last season a perfect 14-0 in conference play, and nearly beat currently fifth-ranked UConn earlier this season. Coming into the campaign, Princeton received 15 out of 16 votes to win the conference.

But the Quakers had reason for hope, riding an 11-game winning streak and a 4-0 Ivy League record. This included a four-point win versus Columbia last week and a comfortable victory over Dartmouth on Saturday.

But on Monday, Penn’s hot streak came to an end as Princeton out-shot, out-rebounded, and overall dominated Penn in a 55-40 defeat for the

Quakers, their first loss since Thanksgiving. And while points are ultimately how the game is won, Princeton dominated in other categories as well. The Tigers notched 19 assists on 22 made field goals, showing much more ball movement than the Quakers, who only tallied five across 14 made field goals. On the boards, Princeton led 39-26, with over twice as many offensive rebounds as the Quakers. And despite only forcing three more turnovers, the Tigers’ ability to capitalize off their extra possessions was a significant factor, notching 18 points off turnovers to Penn’s three.

Penn’s offense has operated through Jordan Obi and Kayla Padilla all year long, and Monday was no exception. The pair combined for all 17 of the Quakers’ first-half points, with Padilla contributing 13 on 5-12 shooting.

Early on, this tactic was successful, with

Padilla finding driving lanes and making multiple tough layups in the first quarter. But towards the end of the first half, the two seemed helpless against a Princeton defense selling out to defend them.

“They’re the focal point of what we do,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. But today, “there was too much pressure on both of them, and it was the first time in a while where we didn’t have balance.”

At the end of the first half, Penn went ice cold, failing to convert a field goal for the final 8:29 of the first half. In this time, Princeton went on a 14-2 run, which saw the Tigers’ lead, which was in single digits for most of the first half, balloon

Four takeaways after women’s basketball’s first five Ivy League games

| Following a loss to Princeton on Jan. 16, Penn stands at 4-1 in Ivy play

WALKER CARNATHAN Deputy Sports Editor

When Penn women’s basketball made the trip to Princeton, N.J. on Monday, the team had the chance to make a statement. To prove its mettle. To extend its historic win streak, and to show that the Ivy League had a new top dog.

Yet after one of their worst offensive performances of the season, the Quakers left Jadwin Gymnasium with their first conference loss, and with far more questions raised than statements made. Were their struggles against Princeton a fluke, or a sign of things to come? Does Penn have what it takes to bounce back? The Quakers still sit atop the Ivy League with a 4-1 conference record, but their struggles against the reigning champion Tigers make Penn’s path to the title much murkier. After five games of Ancient Eight action, let’s take a look at four takeaways that will shape the rest of the season for the Red and Blue.

1. Teamwork makes the dream work

Penn’s offense has operated as a true ensemble this season, with several different contributors starring in different games. They have been at their best when ball movement is at the center of their attack, passing up good shots for great shots and wearing the opponent down together.

Against Princeton, much of that cohesiveness went out the window. Senior guard Kayla Padilla and junior forward Jordan Obi, usually the focal points of the offense, became the only points of offense, with many of their looks coming in the way of difficult shots off of isolation. The pair combined for 33 of Penn’s 48 field goal attempts, but converted just 33% of them. Coach Mike McLaughlin said there was “too much pressure” on the duo to carry the scoring load, and acknowledged that while Padilla and Obi are the pillars of the Quaker offense, relying on them completely is no way to win.

2. There’s no place like home Other than their slip in performance , the greatest difference between Penn’s effort against Princeton and the 11-game win streak that preceded it was the venue. The Quakers won every game of their 10-game homestand from Dec. 1 to Jan. 14, and are currently 10-1 at the Palestra compared to 2-5 on the road.

The statistics tell a similar story. Penn is shooting close to 40% from the three-point line at home — that number drops to 27% when they leave Philadelphia. It goes without saying that the Quakers will need to capitalize on their remaining home games, including a rematch with Princeton on March 3. But with the Ivy League

SEAN MCKEOWN Sports Associate

For one of Penn men’s basketball’s biggest games of the year, the Palestra crowd was rocking Monday night as the Quakers (9-10, 2-3 Ivy) faced off against Princeton (13-5, 4-1) in another edition of a heated rivalry. The two teams were ranked first and second, respectively, in an Ivy League media poll before the season, and each had something to prove after suffering tough losses in recent matches.

However, the Quakers were unable to pull ahead in the second half and fell to the Tigers 72-60.

Before the game, junior guard Jordan Dingle and coach Steve Donahue each received honors to celebrate scoring 1,000 career points and winning 300 games, respectively. The celebration energized the crowd before tip-off — an energy that continued throughout the game.

“Doesn’t mean anything to me,” Donahue said. “Coaches are here for the players, I don’t need to be celebrated. Jordan deserves to be celebrated for his accomplishments, and I’m happy he was.”

Both teams started slow, combining for 18 points in the first eight minutes, but the student section roared for every Penn bucket and possession — such as an impressive pick and roll by Dingle and senior center Max Lorca-Lloyd, which resulted in

a slam dunk that got the arena on its feet.

As the game progressed, Dingle and junior guard Clark Slajchert struggled to find an offensive groove while sophomore center Nick Spinoso dominated the paint against smaller Tigers defenders. Quakers continued to run the offense through Spinoso who demanded doubles in the low post, which Spinoso passed out of for good looks on the perimeter. Spinoso finished the half with eight points on four shots.

The Tigers kept the game close with an impressive scoring performance from the reigning Ivy League player of the year, Tosan Evbuomwan, who scored 11 throughout the first half and led his team in points and assists.

“[Evbuomwan] made some individual plays that I thought were amazing,” Donahue said. “I thought we did a really good job overall, but then we got spaced out on the floor.”

As time winded down in the half, both teams traded defensive stops, with the Tigers mishandling

Carnathan

Only four Quakers scored in a game where Penn had to endure freezing cold stretches from the field CALEB CRAIN Sports Editor

Jordan Dingle’s 14th 20-point performance wasn’t

to defeat the Tigers

PHOTO BY ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Junior forward Jordan Obi attempts a shot against Princeton during the second half of the game at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J. on Jan. 16.

PHOTO BY ELLIE PIRTLE

Junior guard Jordan Dingle dribbles down the court during the game against Princeton at the Palestra