January 20, 2022

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022 VOL. CXXXVIII NO. 1

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Penn Law initiates sanctions against Amy Wax The formal sanctions process begins nearly a month after Wax, a tenure-protected Penn Law professor, claimed that “the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration”

TYLER KLIEM

JARED MITOVICH Senior Reporter

Penn Law School Dean Ted Ruger has initiated the University sanctions process against Amy Wax after the tenured Law professor’s anti-Asian comments sparked campus, city, and national scrutiny.

The formal announcement of the sanctions process comes after Wax claimed that “the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration” following a Dec. 20 interview with Brown University professor Glenn Loury. The comment and other remarks from the interview have been widely denounced as anti-Asian and xenophobic. Since then, over 2,500 people have signed a student-created petition calling on Penn to suspend Wax and reform the University’s tenure policy. In addition to the petition, the Philadelphia City Council sent a bipartisan letter to Penn administrators on Jan. 10 calling for Wax’s role to be reviewed.

In a Jan. 18 statement, Ruger wrote that complaints from Penn community members about Wax motivated his decision to initiate the sanctions process.

According to the complaints, Wax’s “cumulative and increasing” promotion of white supremacy and discriminatory beliefs made it difficult to take classes from her.

Ruger’s statement noted that these complaints call for a process that will be able to evaluate claims that Wax’s behavior is having “an adverse and discernable” impact on her teaching. He added that Wax, who joined Penn Law in 2001, has a history of derogatory public statements.

“Taking her public behavior, prior complaints, and more recent complaints together, I have decided it is my responsibility as Dean to initiate the University procedure governing sanctions taken against a

faculty member,” Ruger wrote. “As I have already discussed with Faculty Senate leadership, I am aggregating the complaints received to date, together with other information available to me, and will serve as the named complainant for these matters.”

Ruger previously wrote in a statement on Jan. 3 that Wax’s status as a tenured faculty member at Penn Law provides her the academic freedom to voice her views.

In an emailed statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian on Tuesday afternoon, University spokesperson Stephen MacCarthy wrote that the sanctions process would determine whether Wax had violated behavioral standards which threaten the University’s mission.

“The process must include creating a factual predicate for any action and must respect the principles of

academic freedom and the need for accountability, as the faculty so determines,” MacCarthy wrote. “These are challenging issues, but we have confidence in the fairness and rigor of the process as it moves forward.”

MacCarthy added that the University would not have further comment until the review concludes, citing how the review will be conducted by faculty.

Wax did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

According to University rules, any sanction or penalty on a faculty member must be imposed by the Faculty Senate, which will conduct a review of Wax’s conduct. During this process, the Faculty Senate will

SEE WAX PAGE 2

Market values in University City rise as residents struggle to stay in their homes From 2015 to 2021, market values increased at a higher rate near Penn than in other parts of Philadelphia COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Penn selects M. Elizabeth Magill as ninth president Magill will assume the Penn Presidency on July 1, 2022, replacing Amy Gutmann after 18 years

In exclusive interview, Magill talks Penn Medicine, fundraising, love of Philadelphia

JONAH CHARLTON & PIA SINGH Senior Reporters

JONAH CHARLTON & DELANEY PARKS Senior Reporters

M. Elizabeth Magill will serve as the University’s next president, replacing Amy Gutmann after 18 years.

Magill, who currently serves as the University of Virginia’s Provost and Executive Vice President, will assume the Penn Presidency on July 1, 2022, according to a Jan. 13 announcement from Scott Bok, Chair of Penn’s Board of Trustees. The entire Board of

After serving as University of Virginia provost, Stanford Law School dean, and a law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, M. Elizabeth Magill is set to become Penn’s ninth president.

In a wide-ranging interview — covering topics spanning from Penn Medicine and University fundraising to fly fishing — Magill spoke exclusively to The Daily Pennsylvanian and a reporter

SEE MAGILL PAGE 2

SEE INTERVIEW PAGE 3

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN ANALYTICS STAFF AVI SINGH & JESSE ZHANG

We s t P h i l a d e l p h i a’s median market value has increased significantly from 2015 to 2021, making it more difficult for current residents to remain in their homes.

Ma rket value and the total taxable land increased more in University City compared to other areas of Philadelphia from 2015 to 2021. Experts in urban studies and city planning have partly attributed the general rise in property value to the University’s actions, such as building new residential and academic buildings, adding increased security surrounding the campus, and building

the Penn Alexander School, a University-assisted, K-8 public school for West Philadelphia children.

The Daily Pennsylvanian Analytics Staff used data on home market values and average taxable land from OpenDataPhilly and the Internal Revenue Service collected from 2015 to 2021 to perform the analysis. The analysis includes data from the 19104 zip code — which includes Penn’s ca mpus and is considered University City — and the 19102, 19103, 19106, and 19107 zip codes in Center City. These were chosen on the premise

that comparing to immediate surroundings would help normalize for other factors (demog raph ics, i ncome, etc.).

Home market value — which is the estimation of a home’s worth by the Philadelphia City Council, and taxable land — which is the value of land that an individual pays taxes for, were the primary indicators of change in housing value in 19104 from 2015 to 2021.

SEE ANALYTICS PAGE 3

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WAX FRONT PAGE

create a board of five individuals to hear the charges against Wax and the defense. The board will then vote on whether Wax committed an infraction of behavioral standards which threaten the University’s mission.

Penalties for major infractions include termination, suspension, and suspension of pay increase or reduction of pay, while minor sanctions range from a letter of reprimand to ongoing monitoring of the faculty member. Ruger, who initiated the charges, will play a principal role in communicating the charges against Wax to the Faculty Senate, according to the policy.

Penn Law third year Apratim Vidyarthi, who created the petition with other law students, told the DP that they want to make sure that the sanctions imposed are for major rather than minor infractions. He added that prior to releasing the statement, Ruger had discussed his intent to initiate the sanctions process with students involved in creating the petition.

“This is a good first step, but we are going to continue to pressure the University, and not just the law school, for transparency, including informing students of what parties are involved, what the timeline is, and what the actual sanctions that are being proposed,” Vidyarthi said on behalf of himself and Penn Law second years Simone Hunter-Hobson, the president of the Black Law Students Association; Alexa Salas, the co-president of the Latinx Law Students Association; Soojin Jeong, co-president of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association; and Virinchi Sindhwani, president of the South Asian Law Students Association.

Vidyarthi added that he and other students still plan to work toward the other goals outlined in the petition, which include the formation of a committee to discuss the tenure process and the expansion of

financial support to students of color and immigrant students.

Vidyarthi said that Penn President Amy Gutmann, the Faculty Senate, and other senior administrators had not yet responded to the petition, which was sent to them on Jan. 11. He said he hopes to motivate the University to take action beyond the Law School’s response.

The Philadelphia City Council’s letter, signed by 16 out of 17 City Council members, also called for the University to take action.

The letter was sent on Jan. 10 to Gutmann, Ruger, Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok, Vice Chair Lee Spelman Doty, as well as Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. The letter calls for the University to review Wax’s role and criticizes Wax for making generalizations that are “a betrayal of the prestigious platform granted to faculty of an Ivy-League university.”

If Penn does not respond to the Council’s letter, City Councilmember At-Large David Oh, who organized the letter, and District Two City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, who signed the letter, said the Council would continue to pressure the University to do so.

“As a graduate of Penn but most importantly as a human being, as an African American man and citizen here in the city of Philadelphia, I believe that the University should do all they can within their power to make sure that [Wax] clearly understands that hate speech is not academic freedom,” Johnson, who holds a master’s degree from Penn’s Fels Institute of Government, told the DP. Oh said on Jan. 10 that Penn’s lack of response to Wax’s continued controversial remarks demonstrates what the University deems important. He said that Wax’s history of generalizations about different races

and ethnicities promotes hate “that is often manifested in physical violence.”

Wax’s most recent comments come amid a 73% rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020, according to FBI data.

A SALSA representative wrote to the DP that the organization supports the council’s letter.

Penn faculty, AAPI affinity groups, and local Pennsylvania state senators also condemned Wax, with School of Arts and Sciences Dean Steven Fluharty denouncing the Law professor in a statement emailed Jan. 14 to SAS and College students and faculty.

“The School emphatically condemns these remarks, as it does all racism and xenophobia,” Fluharty wrote.

The Asian Pacific Student Coalition, an alliance of AAPI student groups at Penn, called on the University to launch an investigation into Wax’s employment. SALSA previously urged the University to hold Wax accountable in a joint statement with the APALSA and several co-signing Penn Law organizations.

In a Jan. 12 statement condemning Wax, Penn’s Task Force on Support to Asian and Asian-American Students and Scholars called for greater AAPI investment and encouraged community members to share their perspectives on how to improve AAPI experiences on campus. The University established TAASS in April 2020 due to an increase in anti-Asian discrimination resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pennsylvania State Senator and 1999 Penn Law Graduate Sharif Street joined several other state senators and Philadelphia NAACP President Catherine Hicks at a press conference outside Penn Law School on Jan. 13, where they called on the University

to remove Wax’s tenure protection.

Wax previously faced consequences for her statements in 2018, when Ruger barred the professor from teaching mandatory first-year law classes after she claimed that she had never seen Black students graduate at the top of the Penn Law class.

“I am saddened and appalled by Prof. Wax’s comments — sad for the students of Penn Law, who deserve the best teachers, not the ones capable of getting the most attention for the worst insults, and appalled by the lack of ethical care, compassion and concern repeatedly exhibited by someone paid to be a role model and colleague,” Penn Law professor Anita Allen wrote in a comment emailed to the DP.

David H. Oh, Philadelphia Cit y Council Councilmember at-large, who wrote a public letter to Penn President Amy Gutmann urging the University to begin a review process of Wax’s actions.

of mRNA vaccines used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gutmann — the University’s longest-serving president — will continue to serve as Penn’s president until June 30, 2022, or until the United States Senate confirms her ambassadorship, which would likely accelerate her departure. President Joe Biden officially nominated Gutmann as the U.S. ambassador to Germany in early July of last year after months of speculation.

“The Penn community continues to change the world every day through world-class research, teaching, patient care, and service,” Magill said in the press release. “I look forward to working with the faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to build on this inspiring legacy to shape Penn’s next great chapter.”

Magill received her bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University in 1988 and J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995.

Upon graduation, Magill clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals and then

for Ginsburg. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, held a fellowship in the Law and Public Affairs Program at Princeton University, and was a visiting professor at Downing College in Cambridge University. Magill is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Law Institute, located in Philadelphia.

Magill served as dean of Stanford Law School from 2012 to the summer of 2019, when she assumed the role of provost at UVA. At Stanford, Magill established the university’s Law and Policy Lab, a program that teaches students about policymaking, and launched the Global Initiative, an alumni-funded program which implemented global travel opportunities within the school’s curriculum.

According to the press release, Magill was a successful fundraiser at Stanford, expanded and redesigned student life initiatives with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion, and oversaw the law school’s largest faculty revitalization in decades.

“A devoted teacher, Magill continued as dean to make time to teach required first-year constitutional

law, hosted students at her home, and relished her connection to students,” the release states.

The announcement is the latest of many changes to University administration over the course of the past year.

Three of Penn’s top administrative positions — president, provost, and chair of the Board of Trustees — have experienced turnover, as Wendell Pritchett took a leave of absence before returning to Penn this month as a senior advisor to the president, not as provost. David Cohen’s nearly 12-year run on the Board of Trustees, including a final stint as chair, came to an end in June, when Bok took over.

Penn also welcomed Whitney Soule as dean of admissions and also saw Maureen Rush, the Vice President for Public Safety and superintendent of Penn Police, retire from the University at the end of 2021.

“We are extremely fortunate to have found someone with the unique vision, integrity and compassion of Liz Magill to assume the leadership of our university,” Bok said in the release.

PHOTO BY DAVID THOMSEN | CC BY-SA 3.0

MAGILL FRONT PAGE

Trustees will vote on Magill’s nomination on March 4.

She will be the ninth Penn president.

“You can’t time these extraordinary opportunities. The process of learning much more deeply about Penn over the course of the search, both spending time with members of the committee and then learning myself about the institution — just every bit of learning — has deepened my admiration and honestly my awe of the institution from its beginning,” Magill told The Daily Pennsylvanian in an interview following the announcement.

Magill began her position at UVA in 2019 after serving as the dean of Stanford Law School since 2012. Before that, she held a variety of titles at the University of Virginia School of Law, including vice dean, across a 15-year tenure. Magill also clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Liz is coming to Penn at an opportune moment,” Bok said in the press release. Bok highlighted the University’s Power of Penn campaign, endowment performance, and contribution toward the invention

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INTERVIEW FRONT PAGE

for The Philadelphia Inquirer via Zoom after the announcement.

Here’s what she said: Question: Congratulations on your new appointment. How did this opportunity first get on your radar, and why did you want to come to Penn in the first place?

Answer: I have admired Penn, like I think most of the world, for a very long time. I don’t have a degree from Penn and that’s my personal failing.

I have many colleagues and friends who went to, teach, or work at Penn, and they have always sung its praises. I have been a huge fan of the city of Philadelphia as well, partly for my connection to those individuals. I was living in Washington, D.C. when my closest friends were getting their Ph.D.s at Penn and I spent a lot of time in Philly at that time.

So when the search committee reached out to me and asked me if I was interested, I said I definitely was.

You can’t time these extraordinary opportunities. The process of learning much more about Penn over the course of the search, both spending time with members of the committee and then learning myself about the institution — just every bit of learning — has deepened my admiration and honestly my awe of the institution from its beginning.

Question: What is one thing you’d want students to know about you as you prepare to take on this new role?

Answer: To me, students are the lifeblood of an academic institution, in the sense that students are heavily responsible for a unique feature of universities, which is that they continuously renew themselves. I know that Penn thinks really hard about who it would like to join the community, spends a lot of time on that process, and then

spends a lot of time convincing people to join this institution. And that’s because students are going to contribute so much to what Penn is and what it can be.

And I have always told everyone that if I am ever having a bad day when I’m at an academic institution, I go find some students, I sit down with them, and I talk to them about what they’re thinking about, what they’re working on, and how they see the world. And I remember what is glorious and exciting and so central to any college or university’s life. So I can’t wait to get to know the student population at Penn because I think they’re the key to the future.

Question: One of the biggest things that President Amy Gutmann focused on during her 18-year tenure was expanding and growing Penn Medicine. How do you plan to interact with Penn Medicine and continue that growth?

Answer: I think anyone understanding the promise of Penn Medicine will want to spend a lot of time with Penn Medicine and I will and I look forward to meeting [Executive Vice President for the Health System Larry] Jameson in the next couple of days.

Penn Medicine is a very large part of who Penn

is both from a financial perspective and a research, teaching, and patient care perspective. As an academic leader, looking across the country, Penn is a model of how you can have an academic health system integrated with a great university.

Many issues in health and medicine are deeply connected to issues of social policy, the environment, business, and finance, so to be able to have the connections that Penn has in Penn Medicine and the rest of the University is a huge gift. So I will be spending a lot of time at Penn Medicine, I assure you, I just can’t tell you exactly how right now.

Question: Another hallmark of President Gutmann’s time at Penn is her incredibly successful fundraiser. How do you plan to continue that legacy in your time at Penn?

Answer: I am certain that the generous support of people who are willing to part with some of their resources to support Penn is essential. It’s essential to the future of all of higher education in the United States today.

The first and most important thing for any academic leader is to understand the significance of fundraising and to love fundraising. I know that sounds odd. But what fundraising is really

all about is connecting with people who almost always have a great love and belief in the institution and a passion for one part of it or another.

So really, in a way, philanthropy is about a human connection between two people who have a passion for an institution and a belief that it can change the world and finding the connection between the two sets of interests. It will be absolutely be a top priority of mine.

Question: What ideas might you have for getting involved with the West Philadelphia community?

Answer: Penn’s connection to the community is one of the things that many, many people admire about Penn, including me. It has expressed a belief for a long time that its connection to the city of Philadelphia is essential to who it is as an institution and being a partner. And so I hope to continue and deepen that connection.

Question: On a more fun note, do you have any hobbies or things you enjoy doing with your family?

Answer: I am a fly fisherwoman. Our family spent the very short break we had this year out west in Montana spending time in Yellowstone. I hesitate to say I am really a fly fisherwoman, as I am married to a very serious fly fisherman — my husband, Leon. He puts me to shame in skill, but perhaps not in passion and affection.

We like hiking and we love the outdoors. Our family has spent a lot of time in the Blue Ridge Mountains and I very much view the geography to be home. I was running when I went out to Stanford, but I have to confess that my joints have become ever-so-slightly creakier. So I took up kickboxing when I was at Stanford and I have continued to enjoy it.

Note: Some quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.

students and alumni for racial profiling.

The University also expanded its Home Ownership Services program — which encourages employees to buy homes in West Philadelphia — in 2014.

Drexel’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation has found that since 1980, Philadelphia has become less affordable. The Lindy Institute’s Affordability Index — the ratio of the median Philadelphia house price to the median Philadelphia household income — has increased from 1.625 in 1980 to 4.5 in 2021.

Both Landis and Goldstein said that with the rise in rent prices over the past five years, lowerincome renters have been pushed out. Goldstein added that the racial demographics of the area have changed substantially over the past 10 years, partially due to the increase in rent prices.

Post-pandemic, Goldstein said, he anticipates an increased demand for housing — especially properties with green space, since living in tight spaces in cities has been a challenge for many during COVID-19.

“What did we learn in the pandemic? We learned that if you were stuck in a 400 or 600 square foot apartment, your life was pretty miserable,” he said. “I think neighborhoods like parts of the West Philadelphia footprint will see that increase in demand because particularly at the edges, the home prices aren’t crazy yet. You can get some extra rooms, you can get good connectivity to downtown.”

Taxable land Emily Dowdall, the Policy Director for Policy Solutions at Reinvestment Fund, said that the University’s land purchases and policies over time have affected the surrounding real estate market, increasing prices in the area.

Dowdall said that in the 1960s, Penn was part of a plan to clear low-income neighborhoods from the area — part of a larger pattern that was occurring across the country. This included the Black Bottom neighborhood, which was purchased and demolished by Penn, resulting in mass displacement and anger from the residents toward the University.

Another factor in the rise of real estate prices was the downpayment assistance progra m that Penn introduced in the 1990s, Dowdall said. The program was created in an effort to revitalize commercial activity near the University, she said, following a high rate of migration out of the area and high-profile incidents of violence.

Change in income of 19104 versus surrounding zip codes The analysis compares changes in the average income of residents in 19104 with those with zip codes in Center City, including 19102, 19103, 19106, and 19107. Clear upward trends in income are observed in 19104, compared with an unclear trend in the Center City zip codes. This indicates both higher-income residents moving in, and incomes increasing for current residents.

In the past, the University has taken some action to combat this phenomenon, which some have called “Penntrification.” In the 1990s, Dowdall said, the University took complaints from the West Philadelphia community under heavy consideration and expanded their footprint eastward, rather than westward, taking some of the pressure off the housing market in West Philadelphia.

She said she believes that the University’s best course of action would be to do more to support

the surrounding community, specifically through the use of PILOTs. PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes, are payments made by large institutions that are exempt from property taxes in support of local institutions. After receiving criticism for refusing to pay PILOTs, Penn pledged to pay $100 million to local schools in Nov. 2020.

Similar to Dowdall, Goldstein said he felt Penn has a duty to do more to support the community as it expands.

“I always feel like universities have an obligation to serve the neighborhoods within which they set and you know, you have some world-class researchers for example, at the University and people in Social and Human Service professions who could be of tremendous assistance to the neighbors that live there,” Goldstein said. “Doing those kinds of things using the assets of the University, for those public goods, I think makes all the sense in the world.”

ANALYTICS FRONT PAGE

Year to year changes in property values Year-to-year changes in property value between the current year and the previous year range from 2016 to 2021 in this analysis. In almost all years, property market values increased in many areas including west of 40th Street, north of Powelton Avenue, and many properties close to Penn’s campus between Market and Spruce streets and 34th and 40th streets.

Median values over time Market values rose significantly between 2015 and 2021 for both University City properties and other buildings in the 19104 zip code. The largest increase occurred between 2018 and 2019 where the median market value within and outside University City rose by $62,950 and $7,900, respectively. From 2015 to 2021, the median price within and outside University City rose by $90,800 and $11,500, respectively.

Experts pointed to several potential reasons behind this increase in market value, including Penn’s investments and the expansion of Penn Police.

Ira Goldstein — a lecturer in the Urban Studies program and the Director of Policy and Information Services at The Reinvestment Fund, a community investment group that invests in affordable housing — credited the founding of the Penn Alexander School as one factor that caused a “big change in the trajectory of real estate prices.”

The Penn Alexander School — a K-8 public school — was founded in 2001 as a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania, the School District of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

John Landis, a professor emeritus of City & Regional Planning at the Weitzman School of Design, said that the University’s expansion of Penn Police into West Philadelphia contributed to an increased sense of safety among residents and caused a spike in property values.

After Penn Police became a fully-f ledged police department in 1975, their patrol zone expanded from 40th Street to 43rd Street. Landis said this perceived increased safety pushed families who were employed at Penn to purchase and renovate West Philadelphia homes up until the housing crisis in 2008.

Penn Police currently patrol north to south from Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and east to west from 30th to 43rd streets, and the department has also recently faced allegations by Black

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FGLI students blindsided by delayed movein, ‘insensitive’ communication Penn’s postponed move-in left many students scrambling to rearrange plans and find housing EMI TUYẾTNHI TRẦN Senior Reporter

Many first-generation and low-income students were forced to make last-minute arrangements after Penn denied their early move-in requests, following the University’s decision to postpone spring 2022 move-in by one week.

Penn administrators announced in December that the first classes of the spring semester will be conducted online through Jan. 24, citing the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. Oncampus move-in — which was previously scheduled to begin on Jan. 8 — was pushed back by a week to Jan. 15.

After the University’s announcement, Penn First Plus posted information about requesting financial assistance for costs associated with required travel changes, personal support, and early move-in on its website. Students requested to return to campus early through the MyHomeAtPenn website and requests were reviewed on a rolling basis starting Jan. 5, according to P1P. The University received over 1,100 requests for early arrival, and approved “slightly more than 60%,” according to a written statement to the DP from Marc Lo, executive director of P1P. Lo wrote that priority was given to certain students who had non-negotiable athletic or academic commitments — primarily Nursing students who have in-person clinical courses. He added that students whose situation indicated that they were in “greater danger physically or psychologically” if they could not return earlier were also prioritized.

In the statement, Lo cited the University’s increasing positivity rate as the reason why the University limited the number of students who could return to campus prior to Jan. 15. During the week of Dec. 26 to Jan 1, the campus-wide positivity rate was 14.65%, and the 537 positive cases were the highest number of new cases in one week.

Students who were denied early move-in received an email from Penn Residential Services that said that Penn could reimburse students for costs associated with changes in itinerary or arrange alternate transportation to Penn for Jan. 15 or later. Alternate transportation requests must be

MAX MESTER

Penn announced in December that on-campus move-in would be pushed back by a week to Jan. 15.

submitted by Jan. 13 and reimbursement requests must be made by Jan. 30 at 11:59 p.m.

Some students who identify as first-generation or low-income felt blindsided by the University’s sudden decision and from being denied their early move-in requests.

College first year Mika Castillo, who identifies as FGLI and was denied their early arrival request, said that starting the semester at home was not an option for them. They said that not only was their train ticket nonrefundable, but that they also shared a bedroom with their younger siblings, creating an environment unsuitable for learning.

Castillo added that they had a work-study job at Biotech Commons which they had to return to campus for. They said that because Penn denied their request to return to campus early, they decided to rent an Airbnb with a friend close to campus so they would be able to go back to work.

College senior Laura Dees, who identifies as FGLI, echoed Castillo’s sentiments, saying that she was frustrated with the abruptness of Penn’s decision-making.

“I have to plan things like my winter break tickets months in advance. I bought my tickets

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“Due to the volume of requests and short window for review, we are unable to respond to your specific requests or consider appeals,” the Review Board wrote in the email. “However, we do believe that given the innate talents of our undergraduates, you will be able to reschedule or rearrange whatever might keep you from remaining with family and friends for an additional, short week.”

Dees said that she was taken aback by the wording of the email notifying students of their denied early arrival request.

“When I got the email, I actually kind of laughed out loud because I was like ‘Whoa, who sat down and wrote this “let them eat cake” type of email?’”

Dees said.

Castillo added that the tone of the email was not empathetic toward FGLI students and did not seem to take their situations seriously.

“It just felt very insensitive to specifically first-generation, low-income students who sent their requests because they can’t change their plans. And it’s not just a matter of ‘Oh, you’re smart. Figure it out,’” Castillo said. “We’re in the situation where we need to request to come back early.”

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in October because that’s when they were affordable for me,” Dees said. “And then [I] have Penn pull the rug out from under me the last week of December.”

Danielle Egharevba, a Wharton senior who identifies as FGLI, said that she felt helpless seeing her fellow FGLI students struggle to find housing, so she created a Google Form connecting students who were in need of temporary housing to those who could offer a space for students to stay for a short time.

Egharevba said that she got the idea to create the form after talking to her roommate with whom she shares an off-campus apartment at Penn.

“I wish [my roommate and I] were in Philly because we would totally help people out, but neither of us were going back,” she said. “I knew some people that were going back early and lived off campus and so they would be able to host people, so I came up with the idea of at least connecting people.”

Students also felt that the tone of the email notifying them that they were denied early arrival was “insensitive.” One line in the email in particular garnered some negative reactions from students.

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Everything you need to know about Penn’s spring COVID-19 policies Policies include double-masking, gateway testing, and suspending social events JONAH MILLER Senior Reporter

Penn will begin the spring semester with several COVID-19 mitigation measures — including two weeks of virtual learning and a new requirement to double-mask or use a KN95 or N95 mask — following December’s surge in cases.

Arrival & Move-in Undergraduate students living in on-campus housing are now set to move in starting Jan. 15, which has been pushed back from Jan. 8. While spring semester classes will still begin on Jan. 12, they will now be held remotely and transition to an in-person format on Jan. 24. Nursing clinical courses are an exception, and they may be held in person prior to Jan. 24.

In an email sent to the Penn community on Jan. 7, Penn President Amy Gutmann, Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein, Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, and Executive Vice President for the Health System J. Larry Jameson outlined steps to reduce the spread of COVID-19 on campus ahead of move-in.

All students need to be tested for COVID-19 48 hours before arriving on campus. In a change from an earlier statement by Penn administration, while a PCR

test is preferred, a rapid test will also be accepted.

Negative test results do not need to be reported.

Students who receive a positive rapid test must report their result on PennOpen Pass. Positive PCR test results must be reported both through email and on PennOpen Pass, according to Penn administrators.

In addition to a pre-arrival test, all students, faculty, staff, and postdoctoral students must receive a gateway test upon campus arrival. University community members can schedule their gateway test through Penn Cares. Those with positive gateway test results must comply with isolation and University contact tracing efforts.

Health & Safety Policies Beginning Jan. 10, Penn administrators also wrote in the email that all community members are required to double-mask — described as “layering a cloth mask on top of a disposable mask” — or wear a KN95 or N95 mask when inside campus buildings.

Penn community members must continue daily usage of PennOpen Pass to report symptoms and exposures to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Some schools and centers will require a green PennOpen Pass for entry, according to a campus Public Health Guidance.

In a Dec. 23 email, Penn administrators announced a suspension of indoor social events for the beginning of the spring semester, continuing a protocol put in place at the end of the fall semester.

Four campus vaccine booster clinics will be held on Jan. 14, 17, 18, and 19 in Pottruck Health and Fitness Center’s Gimbel Gymnasium, following the University’s requirement for eligible members of the University community to receive their COVID-19 booster vaccine by Jan. 31.

Campus Facilities Penn Dining will adopt a grab-and-go system until further notice, according to an announcement on Dec. 23.

Director of Business Services Pam Lampitt said that this transition — which she said is more ac-

Penn, 15 other top universities sued for allegedly colluding to limit financial aid The lawsuit alleges that illegal collaboration methods shortchanged students hundreds of millions in tuition dollars KEVIN BRYAN Senior Reporter

SAVANNA COHEN

eligible students hundreds of millions of dollars in tuition.

The other defendants in the suit consist of other Ivy League schools — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and Yale University — as well as other elite institutions: the California Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, Rice University, and Vanderbilt University.

Penn spokesperson Stephen MacCarthy declined the DP’s request for a comment on the pending liti-

KYLIE COOPER

Following December’s surge in cases, Penn will begin the spring semester with a slew of COVID-19 mitigation measures.

curately described as “takeout dining” — will not be exactly the same as grab-and-go dining in spring 2021. Students are required to bring their own Green2Go container, or will be provided one, and will be able to walk around to various stations in the dining halls to customize their meal.

Penn’s library system will adopt slightly different hours and aims to implement the new double-masking mandate. In addition, Monica Fonorow, communications coordinator, said that Penn Libraries plans to follow the University’s COVID-19 guidelines.

Penn’s recreational facilities — including Pottruck — will extend winter break hours until Jan. 24, when in-person classes are scheduled to begin, and limit programming including fitness classes, sports instruction, and intramurals for

the start of the spring semester. As for the University’s updated mask policy, its implementation in Pottruck remains under review.

“We are hoping to land somewhere in the middle,” Campus Recreation Associate Director for Facility Operations Colin Wells told The Daily Pennsylvanian in response to the new masking mandate, adding that double masking would increase the difficulty for those exercising. Additional guidance surrounding a double-masking mandate in Pottruck should be provided later this week, according to Wells.

“We have not seen spread in the facility thus far, and we anticipate that our regulations and policies regarding COVID-19 will continue to offer a safe environment for users,” Wells said.

gation. Other institutions, such as Columbia, Duke, and Rice also declined to comment, according to The New York Times. A Yale spokeswoman stated that “[Yale’s] financial aid policy is 100% compliant with all applicable laws,” in an email to CNN. The universities called upon Section 568 of the 1994 Improving America’s Schools Act as protection. Section 568 is an antitrust law which authorizes collaboration on financial aid blueprints if all schools involved are “need blind” — a condition where a student’s ability to pay is not considered in the admission process.

The 16 schools in the suit are included in the “568 Presidents Group,” whose sole purpose is establishing measures to provide comparable non-federal financial support to students across institutions.

According to the suit, however, nine of these schools that claim to be need-blind actually are not — including Penn.

The complaint claims that several of these nine universities, such as Penn and Vanderbilt, have considered waitlist applicants’ ability to pay, while other schools have encouraged providing “special treatment to the children of wealthy” families — especially those with significant donation history.

A dialogue with former Penn admissions officer

Karen Crowley is cited in the complaint. Crowley admitted in 2009 that “admissions officers give preference to ‘full-paying student[s]’ on the waitlist over those who need financial aid,” especially when endowments were down for a particular year.

Additionally, former Penn Associate Dean of Admissions Sara Harberson — who graduated from the Graduate School of Education in 2006 — conceded in May of last year that the University has utilized “tags” to track “high priority” applicants from large donor families as a method of potentially securing donations in the future.

The lawsuit is the newest in a series of admissionsrelated scandals facing elite institutions. The Operation Varsity Blues scandal implicated more than 50 individuals who allegedly bribed their children into universities, and in a separate scandal, former Penn coach and 2009 Wharton graduate Jerome Allen admitted to taking roughly $300,000 in bribes to recruit an unqualified athlete for admission to Wharton.

“Elite, private universities like [the 16 named universities] are gatekeepers to the American Dream,” the complaint wrote. “Defendants’ misconduct is therefore particularly egregious because it has narrowed a critical pathway to upward mobility that admission to their institutions represents.”

JOIN THE

Penn is among 16 universities accused of illegally colluding to reduce need-based financial aid, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The lawsuit — which represents five former students who attended several of these schools — alleges that these universities used illegal methods when collaboratively calculating financial need in order to artificially increase tuition costs. The prosecutors claim that over two decades, these universities have shortchanged over 170,000 aid-

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OPINION 7

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022

OPINION Equitable Paid Family Leave demands better legislation

THURSDAY JANUARY 20, 2022 VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 1 138th Year of Publication ALESSANDRA PINTADO-URBANC President PIA SINGH Executive Editor JONAH CHARLTON DP Editor-in-Chief TYLER KLIEM Design Editor TORI SOUSA News Editor EMI TUYẾ TNHI TR ẦN News Editor DELANEY PARKS Assignments Editor SOPHIE APFEL Copy Editor JESSE ZHANG Photo Editor ASAAD MANZAR Opinion Editor PHOEBE LEUNG Social Media Editor MATTHEW FRANK Sports Editor ESTHER LIM Sports Editor KAVEEN HAROHALLI Video Editor NICOLE ZHAO Podcast Editor GREG FERREY Business Manager RAUNAQ SINGH Technology Manager ANVIT RAO Analytics Manager BAILEY CAMPBELL Marketing Manager SUNNY JANG Product Manager

THIS ISSUE REBEKAH LEE Deputy Design Editor CALEB CRAIN Deputy Design Editor ALICE CHOI Deputy Design Editor LILIAN LIU Deputy Design Editor ALLYSON NELSON Deputy Copy Editor COBY RICH Copy Associate TIFFANY PARK Copy Associate CALEB CRAIN Copy Associate

Guest Column | Reforms to bureaucratic systems are necessary to ensure eligible families receive social benefits

P

resident Biden’s Build Back Better Framework, currently in the bill stage, introduces major expansions to United States social programs, including those created to assist children and their caregivers. The original bill proposed 12 weeks of paid family leave, which affords compensated time off to care for newborn or adopted children and ill family members. However, after heated contention in the House prior to its passing, this provision was ultimately reduced to four weeks. In January 2022, the bill will be up for a vote in the Senate where it faces an uncertain future — paid family leave could be removed from the final version.

Although 80% of Americans support paid maternity leave, the United States remains one of the few countries in the world without a federal paid benefit for caregivers. While states could introduce bills that include paid family leave, efforts in Pennsylvania to pass legislation have been unsuccessful thus far.

The benefits of paid family leave are well-established, and include better child and caregiver health outcomes and improvements to the economy through workforce retention. Even its short-term effects are valuable; the policy eases financial stressors, allows birthing people more time to recover, and facilitates infant bonding in new families. However, passing paid family leave is only half the battle; it must also be accessible. Families will not benefit from the policy unless they also know that they are eligible and can easily apply and receive funds in time to cover expenses.

This is far from true for the social services aimed at young families that are currently available through federal programs.

Because many Philadelphian families qualify for services that they do not receive, they are unlikely to access a paid family leave policy if it is administered in an unreformed system.

In fact, those living in deep poverty, or in the lower half of families that are eligible for social services, are least likely to access government benefits. Due to a long history of systemic injustice in the United States, families of color are more likely to fall into this group. Reasons for foregone services include lack of information, stigma, and mistrust of government agencies. However, the most common barriers for families are filling out paperwork, traveling to appointments, finding application documents, and recertifying every year. These are administrative burdens: the learning, compliance, and psychological costs associated with accessing benefits within bureaucratic systems. These challenges

TYLER KLIEM

mean that families who are relatively better-resourced receive benefits more often, while those without this institutional knowledge and persistence are left behind. If applicants do get through the tedious process, benefits often take time before they actually begin and have ongoing requirements. Programs that place more of this arduous work on individuals have less enrollment, especially from already vulnerable groups.

I frequently encounter administrative burdens as a public health nurse in Philadelphia supporting postpartum families and their babies. In my role, I answer clinical questions and connect families to needed resources.

During visits, I ask about social determinants of health — for example, a family’s access to food, transportation, and safe housing. I recently received a referral for Rochelle and 1-month-old Tamara, whom I met with to talk about early child development and postpartum recovery. Rochelle enjoys watching Tamara grow; her C-section is healing appropriately, and her sister helps by taking her to doctor’s visits. However, she also has challenges: She cannot afford utilities consistently and shows signs of postpartum depression. The only public benefit Rochelle is receiving is Medicaid health insurance, for which she became eligible because of

her pregnancy. Under the current federal policy, she will lose coverage 60 days after giving birth. Two months is insufficient to provide recommended clinical care for Rochelle, who has experienced pregnancy-related complications.

Rochelle is among the 23% of Philadelphia families living below the national poverty line. Apart from postpartum Medicaid coverage, she is eligible for most income-based public benefits, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and the LowIncome Home Energy Assista nce Program. Rochelle has heard of these programs and thinks they will help but is not currently enrolled. She became discouraged by the compulsory inperson visits and long lists of required documentation. Rochelle, like one in four U.S. women, cannot afford to take unpaid time off postpartum. This has immediate consequences for Rochelle’s recovery and Tamara’s health.

For example, although Rochelle wants to continue breastfeeding her daughter, she feels this will be difficult after she promptly returns to work. Rochelle and Tamara are among those who would be most helped by social programs, including paid family leave, if passed. They are also least likely to have access to them due to administrative burdens.

I am optimistic that the United States will retain the four weeks of universal paid family leave provision. This program is long overdue. It has been successfully implemented inter nationally and has been associated with better health and economic outcomes for young families. However, benefits will almost certainly be inequitably distributed if administered in current systems. This is not inevitable, however, and can be remediated by appropriate policy changes. For example, liberal enrollment periods, online registration, partnerships with local organizations, and combined applications will help ensure that all families receive their payments. These efforts should be targeted at families who are least likely to receive the services they qualify for.

Implementing an equitable paid family leave program requires systematic improvements to how families learn about, apply for, and receive benefits. Soon, I hope to meet with new caregivers who can enjoy the first few weeks of their child’s life with fewer worries about necessities. Families like Rochelle’s deserve this just as much as everyone else.

STACEY BEVAN is a Ph.D. candidate in Nursing from College Station, Texas. Her email is stbevan@upenn. edu.

JORDAN WACHSMAN Copy Associate JENNIFER FRANK Copy Associate ANDRÉS GARCIA-EPELBOIM Copy Associate CAROLINE DONNELLY MORAN Copy Associate DEREK WONG Opinon Photo Editor LILIANN ZOU News Photo Editor ANDREW YOON Deputy Opinion Editor CAROLINE MAGDOLEN Deputy Opinion Editor LEXI BOCCUZZI Deputy Opinion Editor TAJA MAZAJ Deputy Opinion Editor VALERIE WANG Deputy Opinion Editor

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Remote learning was a disaster; let’s make this the last time Guest Column | Zoom school’s adverse impact on learning, mental health, and equity outweigh the risks of Omicron in a vaccinated population

T

he spring 2022 semester was supposed to begin this week, but instead, a series of Zoom meetings were held in lieu of in-person teaching. On Jan. 12, Penn announced that indoor events will remain suspended “until in-person classroom instr uction resumes.”

The announcement did not extend the online quiet period further, but also did not explicitly confirm that classes will definitely be held inperson after Jan. 24. Students shouldn’t hold their breath: Similar announcements have been reversed in the past.

The problem with continuing online until the situation improves is that the University has not indicated its metrics for going back into the classroom: Is it campus test positivity rate? Number of cases? Number of symptomatic cases? Number of ICU beds in Philadelphia?

Any of these metrics might lead to different dates of return, and the University has not published statistical thresholds for changing its policies. This was understandable in 2020, before vaccines existed and it was difficult to know what to expect. But in 2022, this sense of limbo is unjustified. It forces instructors to plan for multiple possible scenarios and exacerbates the anxiety that many students are already experiencing.

Penn needs to take decisive action and confirm that these two weeks of online classes will be the last time online classes are held due to COVID-19. Every additional day of Zoom meetings in lieu of in-person instruction is a blow to student mental health, learning, and equity — none of which are justified anymore.

The shift to online learning comes as the East Coast experiences a soaring number of COVID-19 infections, increasingly made up of the new, less severe Omicron variant. As COVID-19 continues to mutate, it appea rs on its way to becoming an endemic, seasonal virus. And this time, officials are increasingly arguing against lockdowns and other socially restricting measures. But universities are taking the opposite approach: Some colleges have COVID-19 policies stricter than those practiced in nursing homes, despite the fact that the risk of dying from COVID-19 is 370 times greater for the elderly compared to people aged 18-29. For young people, the health risks of COVID-19 are negligible unless they have a compromised immune system or cer tain pre-existing health conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of early December, people aged 18-29 in the United States had a less than 0.0001% chance of dying with COVID-19. In the Omicron era, this risk for hospitalization and death is now even lower.

W hy a re universities like Penn still on Zoom? Perhaps because they can afford to be.

JESSE ZHANG

A student taking an online class on Zoom during fall of 2020.

Penn has consistently followed precedents set by competitive peer institutions. They seem to share the assumption that students at these schools are paying for a name brand rather than an education, so will readily pay the same fees for what is basically a correspondence degree. Students at elite institutions may fear disciplinary, reputational, or professional consequences for voicing any opposition to the regulations. But an education should be more than a stamp on a diploma, and students should feel entitled to make their institutions answer to their needs.

As a teaching assistant in 2020-21, I saw students Zooming in to class in wildly different circumstances: Large, comfortable family homes, shoebox dorms, shared space with family or friends trying to work at the same time. Spotty Wi-Fi or time differences made it hard or impossible for some to contribute. Some left their cameras off and never spoke. I have no idea if

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they were even there.

Instructors were rightly told to give students accommodations because everyone was going through a lot. I heard from students struggling with serious mental health issues, roommates in the midst of weeks-long quarantines after exposure, students who needed time out to attend multiple funerals. These struggles were not equally distributed among the student population. It is well-documented that those who struggle the most due to online learning are disproportionately non-white, first-generation, and low-income students. What stuns me is that an institution nominally committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion would advocate a policy that essentially ties its students’ learning outcomes to the income of their parents.

The shift to online learning was ostensibly motivated by a concern for students’ health and safety; in reality students are less well and less safe as a result of it. The consequences of

prolonged lack of in-person instruction for college students in terms of learning loss and student mental health are becoming increasingly apparent. Over the remote learning period, peer institutions like Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton, and UNC Chapel Hill have incurred few fatalities due to COVID-19, but on the other hand have all suffered a grim uptick in student suicides. In addition, Penn’s COVID-19-related dorm closures in the past have left some students temporarily homeless, or sent them home into unsafe living situations. RAGAs, many of whom rely on free housing, were particularly mistreated. FGLI students have, again, been disproportionately impacted by the delayed move-in this month.

Dissatisfied by remote learning, over tenfold more students have opted to take time off from their studies than before COVID-19.

Adm inistrative fea r of students testing positive for COVID-19 made sense in the pandemic’s early days. But now, Penn students must soon receive a booster shot, free on-demand PCR tests which return results well within 48 hours remain readily accessible, and several effective treatments for COVID-19 are available in Penn hospitals with Penn insurance.

Before, there was a real risk of a campus outbreak, potentially endangering the city at large.

But Philadelphia has effectively made vaccines compulsory with its new vaccine passport program, and the majority of Philadelphian adults have had at least one vaccine dose.

When cases are no longer meaningful in terms of health or safety, why the panic around numbers? The only rationale behind Penn’s policies seems to be liability and an irrational fear of reputational damage: Penn-funded events cheerily carried on all last semester just a block or two off campus at cramped bars and restaurants, but on-campus venues still cannot serve food or drink. Anthony Fauci said this week that “virtually everybody” will get COVID-19. It’s just most convenient for Penn if that cannot be traced to campus. Obviously, students and instructors with health conditions who are at risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms must be accommodated by virtual alternatives. But at this phase of the pandemic, holding the entire vaccinated community to 2020 standards has nothing to do with protecting people and everything to do with optics. It’s time to end this cynical attitude.

Penn holds a responsibility to its students.

Come Jan. 24, I hope most of us are clicking “End Meeting” for good.

HALLIE SWANSON is a Ph.D. candidate and TA in the Department of Religious Studies, and SASGov’s Vice President for Social Affairs. Her email is hnswan@sas.upenn.edu.

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OPINION 9

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022

Letter from the Opinion Editor: Your opinion matters

D

ear readers, My name is Asaad Manzar, and it’s my privilege to serve as your opinion editor on The Daily Pennsylvanian’s 138th Board. I write this letter to clarify the opinion section’s mission, and to reaffirm our steadfast commitment to representing the Penn community.

As part of the leading independent, student-run media organization of the University of Pennsylvania, we pride ourselves on representing an incredibly diverse and storied institution — and remain unafraid of exploring its vast accomplishments and multidimensional controversies.

The DP’s opinion section acts as an open forum for members of the Penn and larger Philadelphia communities to represent and amplify their views, and operates entirely separately from the DP’s news department. We maintain a roster of staff columnists who write individual opinion columns on a regular basis, and encourage guest column submissions from members of the Penn community — which includes students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni. Local community

ASAAD MANZAR

Asaad Manzar, Opinion Editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian.

members and on-campus organizations who wish to speak as a collective may submit guest columns as well.

The opinion section also manages the DP’s Editorial Board — composed of a student chair, editors, and other DP staff unaffiliated with the news and opinion departments — which publishes columns that represent the majority views of the DP, and what we deem are important and urgent matters to members of the Penn community. In the past, we’ve pushed for more student holidays, an upgrade to Counseling and Psychological Services, more affordable summer classes, and campus-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

All opinion columns must bear some relevance to others in the Penn community. When filtering columns for publication, we prioritize newsworthiness and timeliness, and we greatly value a diversity of viewpoints. We advocate for views that fuel debate and conversation on campus, and review all opinions irrespective of popularity. The DP does not condone any form of disinformation, misinformation, identitybased discrimination, or hate speech.

The DP acknowledges its shortcomings in fairly

representing the wide range of issues within our community. While we welcome criticism and feedback from our readership, we, in turn, are asking our readers to engage and grow with us. Your opinion matters.

Staff columnists are recruited in the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, and guest column submissions are welcome throughout the year.

Guest columns can be submitted to manzar@thedp. com for approval, and are generally expected to range from 650 to 900 words in length. Pieces must be fact-checked and edited before submission.

Best regards, Asaad Manzar

ASAAD MANZAR is the opinion editor for the 138th Daily Pennsylvanian Board. He is a College senior studying neuroscience from Dallas, Texas. His email is manzar@thedp. com.

Let’s discuss Jan. 6, not avoid it Cloobeck’s Call | The one-year anniversary of the Capitol attack gives us an opportunity to take a temperature check on American democracy

A

s I come of age in a divided America, I try to make sense of the attack on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. One year after an attempted insurrection due to the spread of false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, I am encouraged to see that speeches were given, columns were written, and podcasts were recorded to reflect upon the first anniversary of Jan. 6.

I feel that the Jan. 6 attack is a uniquely difficult topic to broach because it is a national shock that we all experienced, but from different partisan frames. Despite all the emotions and shocking images of that day, we need to talk about Jan. 6 and what that day signifies for the future of American democracy. I believe that how we label events is how we remember them. What I find challenging about the aftermath of Jan. 6 is how people dispute the facts of what happened that day depending on their political party affiliation. According to a NPR/Ipsos poll, Republicans prefer to frame Jan. 6 as a “riot gone out of control” while Democrats view it as “an attempted coup or insurrection.” I believe these two framings are not mutually exclusive — Jan. 6 was both an out-of-control riot and an insurrection that attempted to disrupt the certification of presidential electors. I’ll continue to refer to it as an “attack” on the Capitol.

Similar to how COVID-19 has changed us, the attack on the Capitol has changed many young Americans. According to a fall 2021 Harvard Youth Poll, a 2-to-1 majority of 18- to 29-year-olds believe that American democracy is “in trouble” or “failing.” As a constructive patriot, I acknowledge that the federal government is not functioning properly, and in alignment with the majority in the Harvard Youth Poll, I believe that political leaders need to embrace compro-

TYLER KLIEM

mise, even at the expense of political preferences. I recognize that college students cannot single-handedly save American democracy, yet I believe that our opinions and our actions matter, especially since we are future leaders. After seeing rioters breach the Capitol on Jan. 6 on television, I felt conflicting emotions: a duty to serve in defense of democracy and a sense of hopelessness about the future of the federal government.

On the bright side, the Penn community has overcome divisive times before, such as the Civil War, the Great Depression, global wars (WWI, WWII, Vietnam), and more. As voters and advocates, we

have a responsibility to discuss the state of American democracy. By engaging in dialogue events like the SNF Paideia Program’s Red & Blue Exchange, we can become more comfortable with having civil political discussions.

Here’s one conversation I had recently about Jan. 6.

On Jan. 7, 2022, I sat in an airport waiting for my flight back to Philadelphia. As a pragmatic liberal, I called a close friend who identifies as a religious conservative.

Despite our different political beliefs, we were able to have a civil conversation. We found common ground in worrying about some Americans’ eroding trust in

election integrity.

I shared my fear of politicians invalidating and overturning future election results that are unfavorable to their political party. My friend critiqued President Biden’s Jan. 6 remarks for using a quote of scripture (John 8:31-32) out of context. He argued that the line “the truth will set you free” refers to the teachings of Jesus, so it was inappropriate for Biden to use it to refer to his 2020 election win. I saw his point, which was something I did not consider when I watched the speech.

By listening to someone else’s perspective, my understanding of Jan. 6 expanded beyond myself, which helped me find meaning in that challenging day.

Of course, discussing Jan. 6 does not need to be an anxious exchange. We can discuss reforms we would like to see happen in the future. As Penn students, we may not be able to legislate yet, but many of us can vote for candidates and priorities that we think will preserve American democracy.

We can also stay tuned with the findings from the U.S. House Select Committee on January 6th. Regardless of one’s party affiliation, gathering evidence about the attack is both patriotic and wise in order to set an accurate historical narrative of Jan. 6 for future historians and Americans to analyze.

Let’s show the world that America is willing to have difficult conversations about its recent history. Let’s choose to address the evolving legacy of Jan. 6, 2021.

JADEN CLOOBECK is a College fourth year from Laguna Beach, Calif. studying psychology. His email address is jaden@sas.upenn. edu.

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10 SPORTS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

Frank | Restricting spectators is fine. Just don’t make students pay to watch those games Penn students are currently unable to watch games played in the Palestra without access to ESPN+ or StretchLive

there are some games that get played on ESPNU or are shown locally, but for the most part, the Ivy League’s 2018 deal with ESPN meant that most games would be exclusively available on the net-

Without a free student section, a free livestream seems like a reasonable trade-off.

To be fair, there wasn’t a ton of excitement across the student body for these teams to begin

work’s streaming platform.

Having the only means by which students can watch games that take place on campus behind a paywall is ridiculous and goes against years of University practice. It’s unusual by typical collegate standards, which dictate that there be a student section in the arena that they can get tickets to for free.

with, but making the students that do care pay to watch these games is not going to do wonders for the fan base that currently exists.

The issue then becomes what exactly the solution for this problem is. Simply allowing Penn students to access games for free may seem hard given ESPN’s rights to the content, but in reality,

MATTHEW FRANK Senior Sports Editor

On Dec. 30, Penn Athletics announced that there would be a ban on fans attending games, meets, or matches during the winter sports season until further notice.

Both Penn’s men’s and women’s basketball teams are currently above .500 in Ivy League play and look to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament come March, but fans won’t be in the arena to cheer them on, at least for the time being.

And there’s certainly a good reason for this: With rising rates of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, it’s hard to justify packing the Palestra with students. During a normal semester, as was somewhat the case during the fall, Penn students could attend Quaker sporting events free of charge. The same went for other Ivy League schools, including Harvard, Yale, and Columbia.

However, with the newly enacted spectator ban, students can’t go to the Palestra or any other Penn sporting facility, and their only option for watching games is on their computers or their televisions.

Here’s where the problem arises: Currently, there is no means by which Penn students can watch games played on Penn’s campus, other than by paying $6.99 a month for ESPN+, by paying for a service called StretchLive, or by getting some sort of Disney streaming bundle. Granted,

TYLER KLIEM

it may not be all that inconceivable.

Penn currently offers its on-campus students free Xfinity TV accounts (which includes ESPN and ESPN2) that essentially grants students a cable subscription. If it’s possible to get students hundreds of channels, it shouldn’t be too much to ask to get them access to the games that apply specifically to them.

The argument isn’t that Penn should pay for each student to have an ESPN+ account, but that if games were free for students when they could be at the arena, the same precedent should apply when they’re not allowed in. Having this be clear makes it sensible that ESPN shouldn’t charge Penn, or other Ivy League schools, to allow its students to watch home games for free, considering that the network was content with this setup prior to the attendance ban.

And at the end of the day, it’s just collegiate social contract that if a game is played on a school’s campus, students ought to have free access to watch it. COVID-19 obviously makes a lot of this complicated, but the principle should still apply that if a game is on Penn’s campus, students should be able to watch it without charge, especially as both basketball teams make potential runs at the NCAA Tournament.

This issue is not an imperative one to all Penn students; there are certainly more pressing issues out there, and the percentage of Penn students that care about the school’s basketball teams is slim.

But for the ones that do care, the current inability to watch games played in the Palestra without charge is frustrating, and without recent precedent.

The communicator: Sophomore Michaela Stanfield strives to energize the team An immense asset to Penn’s offense and team chemistry, Stanfield remains a promising underclassman talent ANIKA GURURAJ Sports Associate

Sophomore guard Michaela Stanfield, like many of her classmates, had an unconventional freshman experience. Unable to play for her first year, she found a community in her teammates, the seniors setting the standard for inculcating the mindset of a student athlete into newbies.

“We had a great team dynamic because the seniors were amazing last year,” Stanfield said. “We would hang out together on weekends as much as possible and do team lunches. Even though we were missing out on basketball, we still got the familial aspect of being on the team, which was great.”

She too hopes to also foster this sense of belonging among the freshmen in the coming years.

JULIA VAN LARE “Since we spend a lot of time together off the Sophomore guard Michaela Stanfield, like many of her classmates, had an unconventional freshman experience. court, I think it is very important to develop relationships and trust beyond just basketball. In have formal practice or lift, in college there’s the play hard and win.” to be mired in self doubt. Stanfield, however, is the future I can continue to be a vocal leader and expectation that you’re always working on your Coach Mike McLaughlin expects Stanfield confident in the work that the team is investing communicator,” she said. conditioning, on your individual skills.” to develop into an offensive asset, and while the and that results will also follow.

The pandemic was also a test of mental fortiComing into this year, she wasn’t sure of what pandemic put her growth on hold for a year, he is “We go into every practice with the same attude for Stanfield and the team. to expect. impressed by her improvements over the past few titude, irrespective of the result of our last game,” “Last year, we focused on maximizing any op“It’s new for me to play a game, practice, and months.

Stanfield said. “We have been improving, thanks portunity to practice. Our motto was ‘Win the then play another game — it’s a demanding “She’s really good when she attacks the basket, to all the work [that] both the players and coaches Day,’ as we tried to improve each day instead of schedule. It is tough, but this was all I was hoping and she’s expanding her range everyday, which have been putting in, and I know that the results focusing on what we were missing out on,’’ she for last year, so to have this opportunity [to play] is evident every time she’s on court. Her basket- will start to show that.” said. is just so exciting,” she said. ball IQ is growing, and she’s developing well as a Despite not experiencing the highs and lows Prior to this season, Stanfield’s last competiStanfield is the embodiment of a team player, player,” he said. “She’s got a good work ethic and of college basketball last year, Stanfield has intive game was back in Needham, Mass., as a high stressing the importance of carrying out her role she’s invested — I think that’s how she can help tegrated seamlessly into the team and personifies schooler. At the Winsor School, she played both on the team. She has played in every game for grow this team.” the team spirit one would see in a veteran. She basketball and tennis competitively, eventually the Quakers this season, often playing big minHaving suffered six losses in a row over the past understands the importance of perspective, apchoosing to focus on the former. She credits her utes. So far, she is averaging 2.8 points and 2.4 few weeks, the latest being on the road against the preciating the opportunity to give it her all for the mental strength to tennis, as the individualism it rebounds per game, with a season-high of 10 Stony Brook Seawolves, it is easy for an athlete Red and Blue this year both on and off the court. required helped her harness pressure to produce points, which came in the Red and Blue’s loss at results.

Bucknell.

The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation Speaking on the jump to college she New “I justN.Y. want10018 to bring energy and communication 620basketball, Eighth Avenue, York, For Information Call:to1-800-972-3550 highlights its demands off the court. the team while playing really hard, both defenRelease Thursday,sively January 2022 “It’s a lot more demanding inFor terms of comand20, offensively,” Stanfield said. “ I want to mitment,” Stanfield said. “Even when you don’t stay in my role and do whatever it takes for us to

NEWYORKTIMESCROSSWORDPUZZLE Edited by Will Shortz

No. 1216

Crossword

35 Mind

56 Nonchalant

39 Resting place

58 Drink sometimes served in a masu cup

42 Small bouquet

DOWN

57 No. after a no.

36 Brambles with edible purple fruit 40 Uncompromising sorts 43 Setting for Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”

1 “Sesame Street” Muppet with magical powers

45 Casts off

47 Weekly 90-min.

TV show 48 Cowboys’ grp.

50 Word with room or system

52 Flummox … or a classic word game represented by the central grid of shaded squares, in which 15-, 17- and 55-Across can be found 55 Flummox

L O C A L P R I D E

L O R D I T O V E R

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S T H E A I N V N E A O N W A O S L A V I C E R A R R Y I A N I E D

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S P A T M A A Y T T S I T C E V R E O N A S D

A L B E R T A

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Check back next Aweek forE answers W I to P S C L I D E N T I L today’s puzzle!OI RS TI A S L S

E A N U L L

O D E S

S T E S P T U R L O F O A F

I A N C A T

2 Hug or kiss, maybe

3 Took a second?

4 Three-vowel French word that sounds like a fourth vowel 5 French connections 6 ___-wolf

7 “___ Ben Adhem” (Leigh Hunt poem) 8 “Dancing With the Stars” judge Goodman 9 Comes clean

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE A R A B

59 Hits the roof

S S I M S

10 Certain marketing gimmicks 11 Pensée

12 Liberal arts college in Portland, Ore. 13 Transgress

16 Former Fords

18 In a real mess 20 Runs out of water

23 Start of a countoff

24 Name that drops “-jah”

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

14

9

10

15

17

11

12

13

29

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16

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Sophomore guard Michaela Stanfield drives to the basket against Duke at the Palestra on Dec. 5.

44

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PUZZLE BY TRENTON CHARLSON

25 Dumbbell curls build them, for short 26 Monthly utility statement 28 Sound from a crib

29 Giving a boost 30 Unrefined material

31 Dangerous pellets 32 Rabble

33 Figure on a fiver

34 Winter exclamation 37 Photo lab request: Abbr.

38 Singer Lana del ___ 40 Surfer wannabes 41 Subordinate in the prosecutor’s office: Abbr.

42 Its flag has vertical stripes of red-white-red 44 Key just above G 45 Glasses, informally

46 Weight

47 Old dagger

49 Collectible cartoon frames 50 Award turned down by Alan Rickman: Abbr.

51 Variety

52 Pre-A.D.

53 Piece of equipment for certain summer Olympians 54 Atlanta sch.

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SUDOKUPUZZLE

6 8 3 7 2 5 2 9 6 8 4 9 4 5 7 4 1 3 6 9 4 8 5 1 3 6 9 9 3 8 1 7

Skill Level: Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

Solution to Previous Puzzle:

© Puzzles provided by sudokusolver.com

ACROSS 1 Corresponds 7 Very much 11 Hot temper 14 Something often held underwater 15 Flummox 17 Flummox 18 Shakespeare, notably 19 Call of support 20 Grazer with a bushy beard 21 Joined forces (with) 22 South American arboreal snake 26 Laser tag equipment 27 Depictions of lands’ ups and downs 29 Seriously shortchange 32 Focal points of a debate 34 Offensive line

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SPORTS 11

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022

Men’s basketball falls to Princeton in double-digit defeat The Quakers recorded season lows in threes and free throws made GABRIEL STEINBERG Sports Reporter

After notching their third Ivy League win over Dartmouth on Saturday at the Palestra, the Quakers couldn’t secure a fourth against Princeton on Monday afternoon. With the 74-64 win, the Tigers (14-3, 4-0 Ivy) remain atop the Ivy League.

Despite an impressive first-half performance from Penn (6-12, 3-2 Ivy), the Red and Blue were unable to steal the lead from the Tigers in the second half. Some positives, which included Penn’s eight steals and freshman guard George Smith leading both teams in rebounds (almost getting his first double-double), couldn’t make up for a season-low number of threes and free throws made, as well as some other missed opportunities.

“I think the common theme, unfortunately, was how we gave up the lead and eventually lost the game: opportunities at the rim that we missed easy shots, and then we had some really unforced turnovers that — to me — was the difference in the game,” head coach Steve Donahue said.

There was a lot of energy from the start for both teams, with strong offensive plays on both ends of the court. Penn struck first with a layup by junior forward Michael Moshkovitz.

A steal by Smith put Penn up 6-2. Soon after, Princeton took the lead at 7-6 until Moshkovitz netted a layup that closed out the first five minutes of the game with Penn leading 8-7.

Sophomore for wa rd /gua rd Ma x Ma r tz notched a two-point jumper that put the Red and Blue up by five, 14-9. A deep three from Smith then put Penn in the lead at 17-11.

The Tigers responded with back-to-back threes to tie the game at 17 about halfway into first-half play. The 11-2 run from Princeton later put the Tigers up 22-19 with 7:20 remaining in the first half.

Princeton continued to widen the gap, leading 32-25 with under five minutes remaining before halftime. Penn, however, did not back

down. A key three-pointer from senior guard Jelani Williams put the Quakers behind by just four, 32-28.

Although Penn led for a majority of game minutes, Princeton reigned 34-28 at the end of the first half.

“I thought we guarded really well for most of the first half, although we let our guard down a few times,” Donahue said. “Princeton

open layup, cutting the Orange and Black’s lead to eight, 44-36. A three-point play led by Martz and a solid jumper from sophomore guard Clark Slajchert cut Princeton’s lead to five, 46-41.

The Quakers kept up with the Tigers’ fastpaced tempo, continuing to push for the lead.

The Red and Blue were only down by two, 51-49, halfway into thsecond half thanks to Martz’s hard layup off a drive to the net.

Junior guard Lucas Monroe shoots during a game against Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium on Jan. 17.

hurt us with some threes towards the end of the half.”

Princeton opened the scoring in the second half, going up by 11 after quick two- and threepoint sequences. The Tigers’ fast pace and high three-point field goal percentage helped them take a 44-32 lead three minutes in, which the Quakers struggled to recover from.

A turnover recovered by Moshkovitz led to an

KYLIE COOPER

“In the second half, we got shots at the rim,” Donahue said. “We ran good offense, and we really took our time and finished, which we didn’t do in the first half at times. But once again, I thought the turnovers … once we got close — unfortunately, we’re very inexperienced, and we’re learning and getting better.

You just can’t do that on the road against a good team.”

Several attempts by Penn to tie the game up were halted by Princeton defense and missed shots from the Quakers. The Tigers were able to capitalize, extending their lead once again to eight at 57-49.

A key three from sophomore guard Jordan Dingle and a Tiger turnover were not enough to prevent Princeton from taking a 10-point lead, 66-56, with a little over three minutes remaining in the game. Donahue then called a timeout

KYLIE COOPER

Junior forward Michael Moshkovitz shoots during a game against Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium on Jan. 17.

in hopes of shifting the momentum of the game.

Princeton remained on top 70-62 with under a minute, as Donahue called another timeout.

However, Penn was unable to catch up to Princeton as the game wore on, handing the Tigers their fourth Ivy League victory by a score of 74-64.

The Quakers look ahead to their matchup with Yale (8-8, 2-0 Ivy) next Saturday at 4 p.m., which Donahue sees as another key test of his team’s work ethic this season.

“I think the simple answer is that we keep working hard to get better, and if that happens, I think good things will happen on Saturday.”

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Sophomore guard Clark Slajcher t shoots during a game against Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium on Jan. 17.

KYLIE COOPER

Penn, Ivy League announce support of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas

Lia Thomas competes in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle against Brown University at Sheerr Pool on Nov. 13, 2021.

Attention on Thomas has been elevated after her wins in December MATTHEW FRANK Senior Sports Editor

On Thursday, Jan. 6, both Penn Athletics and the Ivy League released separate statements at 2 p.m. in support of transgender Penn women’s swimmer Lia Thomas.

“As a member of the NCAA, Penn is governed by the policies of the national governing body,” Penn Athletics wrote. “Lia Thomas has met or exceeded all NCAA protocols over the past two years for a transgender female student-athlete to compete for a women’s team. She will continue to represent the Penn women’s swimming team in competition this season.”

KYLIE COOPER

The Ivy League echoed a similar message, reaffirming its commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all student-athletes.

“The league welcomes her participation in the sport of women’s swimming and diving and looks forward to celebrating the success of all of our student-athletes throughout the season,” the Ivy League wrote.

The message comes weeks after Thomas and the women’s team have been subject to national media attention since early December, when Penn competed at the Zippy Invitational. Thomas broke program, meet, and pool records in the 200, 500, and 1650-yard freestyle events, and also competed in the 50-yard free and several relays through the weekend.

Penn competed for its final home meet of the season Saturday, Jan. 8, hosting Dartmouth and Yale at Sheerr Pool.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022 VOL. CXXXVIII NO. 1

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Penn squash claims first Ivy League wins

With his win, senior Aly Abou Eleinen improved his streak to nine consecutive wins this season, while freshman Nathan Kueh ended a successful day for the Red and Blue with a four-game victory.

The Quakers hosted Harvard and Dartmouth at the Penn Squash Center ANIKA GURURAJ Sports Associate

Penn men’s and women’s squash kicked off their Ivy League seasons at the Penn Squash Center for a weekend of matches against Harvard and Dartmouth, coming up with some victories and some defeats.

On Saturday, the men’s team, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the country, went up against No. 2 Harvard, making for a highly anticipated showdown. The performance did not disappoint, as the Quakers prevailed 6-3 in a hard-fought battle.

The first match set the tone for the day ahead,

as graduate student Yash Barghava secured the win after five games. The other five-game win of the day came courtesy of junior Dillon Huang, as he clawed back from a 2-0 deficit over 97 minutes, the longest match of the day.

“Going into the third game, I knew my teammates trusted and supported me, so win or lose, I would come off that court knowing I gave everything I had,” Huang said.

Junior Saksham Choudhary and freshman Roger Baddour closed out their matches in straight games, the junior remaining unbeaten in regular season play as a Quaker. With his win, senior Aly Abou Eleinen improved his streak to nine consecutive wins this season, while freshman Nathan Kueh ended a successful day for the Red and Blue with a four-game victory.

“The win against Harvard was exceptional,

but our goal as a team is way bigger than that,” Eleinen said about the winning weekend. “We’re working towards getting better and better every day on and off the court. The main takeaway is that we are on the right track to our goal of winning a national championship.”

The No. 9-seeded women’s team took on Harvard, the top national seed. While they fought hard, the Crimson proved too tough a challenge for the Quakers on Saturday. Ashley Manning and Emma Carter suffered the first losses of the day, with Carter pushing her opponent to four sets. There was a string of hard-fought matches throughout the day, as sophomore Avni Anand pushed her opponent to five games over 61 minutes, the last game tallying at 22-20. Freshman Grace Lavin also fought for 52 minutes before succumbing in the fifth game.

GARY LIN

Sunday saw the men’s team continue its winning streak, improving its record to 11-0 this season. It defeated No. 11-ranked Dartmouth in a clean 9-0 sweep, its eighth of the season. The Quakers put up a dominant performance, the only game being dropped by sophomore Nick Spizzirri, who won in four games.

Looking to make up for the disappointment of Saturday, the women’s team bounced back to defeat the No. 12 Big Green 6-3 on Sunday. Juniors Ashley Manning and Euwie Park picked up straight game victories, while freshman Emma Carter and sophomore Avni Anand did it in four.

Junior Amina Abou El Elnin pulled through to win in four games after losing a close first game that stretched to 18-16.

Both teams will be back in action against Trinity College on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Connecticut.

Women’s basketball eases past Dartmouth in dominant win Head coach Mike McLaughlin credits the team’s resilience and preparedness through several canceled games JOYCE DAVIS Sports Associate

After the postponement of its last two Ivy League games, Penn women’s basketball welcomed back the return to basketball with a win against Dartmouth, racing past the Big Green, 5531.

The Quakers (7-7, 2-0 Ivy) headed into the game slotted third in Ivy League standings. Dartmouth came in with a disappointing record and did not improve it, falling to 1-13 (0-2 Ivy). In its previous matchups against the Big Green, Penn has an unbroken win streak of 12-0, which now sits at 13-0.

For the first couple minutes of the game, scoring was slow for the Quakers. Initially, Penn was down 7-2, but after some time, the team found its scoring rhythm. Penn held the Big Green scoreless for seven straight minutes and left the first quarter with a 20-9 lead. Penn’s method of scoring early and taking threes in transition worked in its favor.

It’s a strategy that coach Mike McLaughlin plans to continue moving forward.

“The key to having offensive success is that you can’t be caught in half court all the time,” McLaughlin said. “[Shooting early] allows us to play more freely, just like today. When we get in transition we are more successful.”

The second quarter was much rustier for both teams. Dartmouth started stronger than in the first, outscoring Penn 4-0 in the first four minutes of play. It wasn’t until halfway into the quarter that junior guard Sydnei Caldwell got Penn’s first point. Unfortunately for the Quakers, they shot 1-12 in the first seven minutes and could not mount an offensive attack. The team countered its lack of scoring with a lockdown quarter of defense that prevented Dartmouth from hitting corner shots.

This defensive effort was a positive takeaway for the Quakers.

“Defense was playing off one another and had each others’ backs,” Caldwell said. “Defense created the offense and allowed them to gain momentum on the floor.”

Dartmouth was able to make some really tight passes but was only able to make seven shots, closing the quarter with 16 to Penn’s 28. Throughout SEND STORY IDEAS TO DPSPORTS@THEDP.COM

Junior guard Kayla Padilla, the lead scorer against Dartmouth on Jan. 16, attempts a shot during an earlier matchup with St. Joseph’s University on Dec. 7.

the first half, Penn forced Dartmouth to commit a lot of turnovers, but the Big Green’s work on the glass kept them within striking distance. Still, Penn’s zoning was very sneaky and disciplined, creating a guise that Dartmouth was open when it wasn’t. Entering the half, junior guard Kayla Padilla led the Quakers with 10 points.

After the break, sophomore Jordan Obi, who was quiet in the first half, opened up the second half with four points. Dartmouth went scoreless for the first three minutes, despite having several offensive rebounds. Penn didn’t pressure as much, but it wasn’t making as many shots to mitigate this.

However, it was able to maintain its lead to close

the quarter 38-25.

At the start of the 4th quarter, the Quakers scored the first six points. Later in the quarter, a reverse layup off the glass by Caldwell brought up the lead to 20 points. Obi had a nice finish around the hoop with a smooth layup, bringing her total to 12 and Penn’s score to 50. Penn finished the game victorious, with Padilla, Obi, and Caldwell being the leading scorers of the team, with 13, 12, and nine points, respectively.

McLaughlin expressed his pride with the team on its win, especially considering what they had to go through to make it to the game. “[My team] showed a lot of resilience and

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preparedness, considering it was a seven-hour drive from Philadelphia to Hanover,” McLaughlin said. “The win today shows them that their training and resilience paid off in the end.”

Going into next week’s game against Princeton (11-4, 3-0 Ivy), Caldwell noted the importance of the team staying locked in and having each other’s backs at each position.

“I want to focus on the game plans and Coach gives amazing game plans,” Caldwell said. “When we execute and lock in, we have a lot of success.

[It’s important that] we give every play and possession our all and we just have to be ready when our number is called.”

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