THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • FOUNDED 1885
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
VOL. CXXXVIII
NO. 7
Students stand with Ukraine
PHOTO BY SUKHMANI KAUR
Students walking down Locust Walk in solidarity for Ukraine on Feb. 28.
Ukrainian students fear for their families at home amid Russian invasion Students said their families are conflicted about whether to stay in Ukraine or seek asylum in neighboring countries
Board of Trustees to confirm Liz Magill as Penn president tomorrow Magill will be the ninth president in University history, succeeding Amy Gutmann JONAH CHARLTON Senior Reporter
JACOB POLLACK Staff Reporter
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Penn students from Ukraine are worried about the safety of their families and the future of their home — and the Penn community is rallying to support them. On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to invade Ukraine. As Russian rockets, bombs, and soldiers continue to attack Ukrainian military and citizens, Penn students who have family in Ukraine told The Daily Pennsylvanian that their families are conflicted about whether to stay at home or seek asylum in neighboring countries. College first year Olga Loiek grew up in Kolomyia, a city in western Ukraine. She said she worries for her family’s safety who have decided to stay at home in Ukraine. “I’m not even sure when I’m going to see my family again,” Loiek said. “My family is currently okay, but they can hear the Russian planes that are flying on our sky, and they’re waking up at 5 a.m. scared for their lives because at any moment, [the Russians] could just bomb a random house, which is very possible.” While conflict has been ongoing between Ukraine and Russia, Loiek said she and her family never imagined their country would experience war. “We assumed war would never come to us and
never thought that Putin [was] going to be this slaughterous and bomb civilian houses,” Loiek said. Wharton and Nursing sophomore Max Potlov grew up in Odesa, one of Ukraine’s most populated cities. He said he is concerned about his family’s safety because they experienced military threats close to their home. “My family can hear some bombs, and there was a missile five miles away from my house, and you can feel it. It’s like a little earthquake,” Potlov said. While speaking to his family, Potlov said he found out that his father, who he said is an honorably discharged officer in the Ukrainian military, may be drafted into the war. “Any day, I can wake up and call my dad, and he might not pick up,” Potlov said. Potlov said that if conditions become more dangerous, his mother and grandmother will join the hundreds of thousands of other people leaving Ukraine, which has become very difficult due to the mass exodus, according to reports from The Washington Post. College junior Elena Tisnovsky, who identifies as Ukrainian American, helped organize the Penn and Drexel Solidarity March on Feb. 28, giving Ukrainian and other Eastern European students a platform to raise awareness of the violence occurring in
See UKRAINE, page 7
Ukraine. “There’s much better and more concrete action that you can take as an individual, as an American, than just posting a hashtag or posting a story [that says] ‘Praying for Ukraine,’” Tisnovsky said. “We don’t really need prayers right now; we need action.” Some Russian students at Penn have also expressed opposition against Russia’s invasion. College first year Daniel Shevchenko, who identifies as Russian American, said he finds Putin’s actions a poor representation of Russia as a nation. “It’s horrible and an event that is just full of shame for our entire country. There’s nothing positive about the conflict, and I would say most of the Russian population, including my family, shares that opinion,” Shevchenko said. Kimberly St. Julian Varnon, a Penn doctoral student specializing in Soviet and Eastern European history, is using her Twitter account to update on the conflict and detail the Black experience in Russia and Eastern Europe. Varnon said that Black Ukrainians are currently facing racism at Ukraine’s borders. “Race is definitely involved in not allowing Black families to be in the front of the line,” Varnon said. Varnon added that African visa holders in Ukraine are also facing difficulties in leaving the country.
See also IN PHOTOS, page 6
Penn announces Ken Burns as 2022 Commencement speaker Burns is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker RACHEL MILLER Staff Reporter
Penn announced on Tuesday that renowned documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will deliver this year’s Commencement, which will take place on May 16. Burns, an Emmy-Award winning filmmaker, will give the Commencement speech and receive an honorary doctor of arts degree from Penn. The ceremony, which is set to be held at Franklin Field, will feature the granting of degrees, remarks by University officials, and the awarding of honorary degrees to Burns, former Penn President Amy Gutmann, and several other recipients. Burns has been nominated for two Academy Awards for his documentaries focused on the history of the Brooklyn Bridge and the history of the Statue of Liberty. His newest documentary “Benjamin Franklin” will premiere in April 2022. Along with Gutmann and Burns, others who are expected to receive honorary degrees at the 2022 Commencement ceremony include Mary Frances Berry, Atul Gawande, Carla Hayden, George Lewis, Margaret Marshall, and Edward Witten. Gutmann will be receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree. During her Penn presidency, Gutmann focused on increasing access to higher education for SEND STORY IDEAS TO NEWSTIP@THEDP.COM
first-generation, low-income students along with engaging locally and globally through the creation of the President’s Engagement Prize and investing in local schools. Marshall will be receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree. She is senior counsel at the Choate Hall & Stewart law firm, and has served as chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. While serving as chief justice, she wrote the groundbreaking opinion that prohibited Massachusetts from denying same-sex couples access to civil marriage, making Massachusetts the first state in the country to legalize gay marriage. Berry, who will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree, has taught at Penn since 1987. She currently serves as the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought, and professor emerita of History and Africana Studies. She has written 13 books and has a history in public service throughout multiple presidential administrations. Hayden, who will receive the same honor as Berry, serves as the 14th Librarian of Congress as the first Black person and the first woman to be appointed to this
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will deliver the Commencement speech for the graduating Class of 2022 on May 16.
position. As the former CEO of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, she is credited with keeping the library open during the civil unrest that resulted from the death of Freddie Gray. Gawande, who will receive an honorary doctor of sciences degree, is the current head of global health at the United States Agency for International Development. His research has focused on how to improve quality and safety in health care. Witten, a professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will receive the same honor as Gawande for his renowned work in theoretical physics and string theory. Lewis is a Columbia University professor, composer, musicologist, and trombonist who will receive an honorary doctor of music degree. He is credited for pioneering computer programs that utilize artificial intelligence techniques to improve alongside human musicians.
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Penn’s Board of Trustees will confirm Liz Magill as the University’s ninth president on March 4. The board is slated to vote on Magill’s nomination at its Stated Meeting, which will be held at 11 a.m. on the second day of its Winter Meeting. Immediately following the vote, at 12:10 p.m., the Penn community is invited to welcome Magill with a procession down Locust Walk led by the Penn Band. The procession will run from “Ben to Ben” — beginning at the statue of Ben on the Bench and concluding at the Ben Franklin statue on College Green. The trustees, a group of University officers, and deans from multiple schools and centers will join Magill in the procession, according to an email sent by the Office of the University Secretary Associate Vice President Lizann Boyle Rode. Pom poms will be provided to attendees, the email added. The event will mark Magill’s first public appearance on campus since her nomination as Penn president. Magill — a longtime legal scholar and the current Provost at the University of Virginia, nominated to replace longtime University leader Amy Gutmann — will be the fourth woman to serve as Penn president. She will begin her term officially on July 1, 2022, taking over for current Interim President and former Provost Wendell Pritchett, who has led the University since Gutmann’s departure. In an interview following the announcement of her nomination as Penn president on Jan. 13, Magill told The Daily Pennsylvanian that she had “admired Penn, like I think most of the world, for a very long time” and was incredibly excited for the opportunity. “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 said. Magill began her post as provost at the University of Virginia 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. She also clerked for United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Student groups call on Penn to immediately fire Amy Wax The tenured Penn Law professor has come under fire repeatedly for her racist rhetoric JASPER TAYLOR Staff Reporter
Penn’s Undergraduate Assembly and three other student organizations passed a resolution on Feb. 20 calling for the termination of Penn Law School professor Amy Wax on the basis of her repeated promotion of white supremacist ideology. See WAX, page 2 CONTACT US: 215-422-4640