ISSUE 10: ACCOUNTABILITY | FEBRUARY 2018
IMPACT MAGAZINE Our mission is to cultivate a culture of student involvement in social change and to bring awareness to the social impact activities of students, alumni, faculty, and organizations in our immediate and global community.
PRESIDENT
Tamara Prabhakar
MANAGING EDITOR
ONLINE EDITOR
Maria Diavolova
Raksha Dondapati
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Siyuan Liu
EVENTS DIRECTOR Sherry Tseng
WRITERS
Michael Chang, Sonari Chidi, Ally Digiovanni, Kira Flemke, Katrina Janco, Juliet Kim, Muriel Leung, Lexi Lieberman, Rebecca Lieberman, Shinyoung Noh, Nidhi Reddy, Claire Sliney, Michelle Wan, Luke Yamulla
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jackson Maxwell, Asst. Photography Editor Shinyoung Noh, Macarena Perez-Herrera
DESIGNERS
Anjali Berdia, Asst. Design Editor Shinyoung Noh, Piotr Wojcik
CREATIVE CREDITS
A Period Should End a Sentence, Not a Girl’s Education - Designed by Anjali Berdia, photos taken by Jackson Maxwell. Speaking Out: A Luxury Not Available to Some Victims of Sexual Assault - Designed by Tamara Prabhakar, photos taken by Macarena Perez-Herrera. Transgender Rights: A Medical Necessity - Designed by Anjali Berdia, photos taken by Jackson Maxwell. Artists as Activists - Designed by Siyuan Liu, photos taken by Macarena Perez-Herrera. To Stay Afloat: Barbuda in the Wake of Hurricane Irma - Designed by Siyuan Liu. Creative Disruption - Designed by Shinyoung Noh, photos taken by Shinyoung Noh. Fossil Free Penn- Designed by Siyuan Liu, photos provided by Fossil Free Penn. Symphony for a Broken Orchestra - Designed by Anjali Berdia, photos taken by Macarena Perez-Herrera.
SPONSORS & AFFILIATIONS
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
W
e are proud to present the Spring 2018 edition of IMPACT Magazine. IMPACT was founded with the objective to use the platform we were given as students at Penn to illuminate social issues in our immediate community and worldwide. Today, with our tenth publication, we are reasserting our commitment to the people whose stories we are telling and to our mission to advocate for social awareness in the Penn community. The theme for this edition is accountability. We chose accountability to emphasize the gravity of new voices from fresh faces as they discuss avenues for social change. Our hope was that our theme remained a guiding light throughout the semester and served as a reminder of our commitment to IMPACT. Second, 2017 was a year where the repercussions of the 2016 U.S. presidential election reverberated across the lives of many. We saw that the only way to effect change is by holding those in power accountable for their actions. We saw the GOP tax bill being met by protests across the country. In October, a federal judge blocked Trump’s third attempt at instituting the travel ban. Seven months since its inception, the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock continues. All of these instances of opposition, courage and resilience are a result of accountability. In this edition, you will find articles that call attention to our accountability to the social forces at play. You will read about The Pad Project, an effort to end period stigmatization in the developing world; the furtherance of transgender rights by way of supporting transgender mental health; the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on the small island nation of Barbuda; a local exhibition on gender, climate and racial justice; the subtleties in reporting sexual assault on a university campus; the University’s continued investment in the fossil fuel industry; turning the broken into an opportunity to fundraise; artists’ potential as activists; As you read our newest edition, we hope that you reflect with us on ways we can hold ourselves accountable so that we forge the world we want to live in tomorrow. Sincerely,
The Impact Team ISSUE 10 / 1
CONTENT ISSUE 10
04 08 12 16
“A Period Should End a Sentence, Not a Girl’s Education” | Claire Sliney Transgender Rights:
A Medical Necessity | Luke Yamulla
To Stay Afloat:
Barbuda in the wake of Hurricane Irma | Muriel F. Leung
Creative Disruption | Shinyoung Noh
Fossil Free Penn | Amy Goldfischer and Megan Kyne Symphony for a Broken School System | Kira Flemke Artists as Activists | Michelle Wan Speaking Out:
A Luxury Not Available to Some Victims of Sexual Assault | Lexi Lieberman
2 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
18 22 26 30
ISSUE 10 / 3
“A PERIOD SHOULD END A SENTENCE, NOT A GIRL’S EDUCATION” by Claire Sliney
I
n August of this year, a 12-year old girl in Southern India killed herself after her teacher humiliated her in front of her male and female classmates over a period blood stain on her school uniform. In her suicide note, the girl said that the teacher made her stand up in the front of the class and show the stain to the rest of the students, then handed her a mere piece of cloth to leave and clean herself.
4 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
The Problem Menstruation still remains taboo in much of India as well as other developing nations. The taboo manifests itself in distinct ways depending on the cultural and religious context of the nation. In many African and Southeast Asian countries, menstruation is mythicized. Women and girls are considered unclean during their periods and are frequently banned from entering temples or being involved in food preparation. The result is that once girls begin to menstruate, many of them stop attending school. What may come as a surprise to those in the developed world is that the stigma is shockingly exacerbated due to limited access to sanitary products, reproductive health education, and cultural awareness. This combination of period stigmatization and lack of resources has grave consequences on the emotional well-being, education, and life expectancy of women and girls in developing countries.
Women and girls are considered unclean during their periods and are frequently banned from entering temples or being involved in food preparation. My own interest in the issue began during my participation in the high school program, Girls Learn International (GLI), sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation. This program allows high school students in the U.S. and abroad to pursue educational equality for women and girls globally. Over time, I became involved with the issue of menstrual health and access to menstrual products, both
in the local homeless community and with young girls my own age in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone. Our team here in the United States had the opportunity to communicate directly with girls in India, learning about their lives and experiences managing their periods. Our conversations revealed that the majority of girls did not even know what menstruation was, even as it was occurring for them monthly. I learned in real time that, while a lack of sanitary products is of great concern, the cultural stigma was equally if not more of a barrier to girls’ usage of sanitary products. When they are able to obtain sanitary products, it is at a very inflated cost or without an awareness of proper use. The women and girls, instead, resort to using dirty rags, leaves, and even ashes to manage their period blood. All of these unsafe alternatives often lead to serious health problems.
A Possible Solution The more that my friends and I spoke with the girls in our GLI partner schools, the more we found that they really did not have access to the same sanitary products that we do and when they were able to access them, it was at a very inflated cost and without awareness of how to use them. Luckily, we discovered what seems to be one tangible partial solution to the problem—one that the women and girls themselves could activate locally. The Pad Project was born as a non-profit, which seeks to provide a practical, real-world approach to the complex issue of menstrual health and education in the developing world, as well as in fragile communities in the U.S. This is done by holistically addressing the lack of both education and access to menstrual products while simultaneously empowering each local women’s community to try and solve the problem themselves.
ISSUE 10 / 5
Step One
Step Three
We partnered with a school in Hapur, India a region outside of New Delhi, through a local women’s rights NGO partner, Action India. Founded in 1976, Action India has spent over three decades working to encourage Indian women to recognize their full potential by participating as citizens within their communities, often by working to break cultural barriers. This, in their own words, “clearly indicates the strong potential in women to become change agents in the process of social transformation. Action India sustains a balance between community based work and the universal struggle for women’s rights. While protesting against wrongs, Action India simultaneously creates alternative modes of self-help, self-esteem and self-assertion.”
Over the past several years, our group raised the funds needed to purchase four machines from Muruganantham for schools in Afghanistan and India, as well as the raw materials required for a year, providing the “angel funding” needed for each of The Pad Project’s machines to get up and running.
Step Two We worked with Action India to install locallymanufactured machines that fabricate affordable sanitary pads from regionally-sourced, inexpensive raw materials. This machine will enable the girls to continue their education, and will even create a microeconomy in their community. Where did this miracle machine come from? Over the past decade, passionate innovators and creative individuals have been designing products, launching campaigns, and slowly spreading awareness about the pressing need to ensure access to menstrual products. In one instance, a local Indian inventor, Arunachalam Muruganantham created a machine that manufactures sanitary pads out of natural materials at a stunningly low cost of just five cents per unit. Muruganantham’s machines do more than just provide pads for communities that need them. They create micro-enterprises within those communities, employing women to work the machines and contribute to their local economies. And, most importantly, they help to empower women and girls to feel comfortable with their bodies and to stay in school past puberty. Muruganantham insists that the machines remain hand-built in the small town where he resides, so he can oversee and install each unit. After years of ridicule and bullying, Muruganantham is now finding wider acceptance and understanding for his invention.
6 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
Step Four Upon the installation of the first set of machines, two things we did not fully anticipate became important to our mission’s success: First - Adaptability. From the onset, we had mainly focused on access to affordable pads. While we knew from research and conversation that the use of tampons would be culturally taboo, we did not realize that the whole concept of menstruation was actually taboo. Many grown women as well as girls did not – and still do not – understand their own anatomy, and while the women we worked with were sometime aware of what a period is, they often believed it was an illness. As a result, we needed to adapt a major portion of the project to embrace an educational element. We began by working with Action India to assign local graduate students to accompany every pad machine during installation. Once assigned, these students will remain in the village for twelve months after the installation to help educate the village members on women’s health. Only with an educational component that allows the women to be accountable for their own health, we realized, will access to the pad machines and pads themselves have any meaning at all. When the first pad machine arrived in Hapur village, the local women had to disguise it as a “baby diaper” machine so as not to upset the men in the village. We had a long way to go. Second - Waste management. We did not devise a sustainable solution to manage the waste produced by used pads. However, after sponsoring research into ecologically sensitive options, we decided that a simple but modern incinerator was the best choice. The ashes from the incinerator were used to make the fluff for the inside of a pad, making the project a closed-loop production. While this did increase our expenses, and therefore our fundraising objective, it also increased the long-term viability of the machine, so that the women and girls in the community now have an efficient way to manage waste produced by the used pads.
Implications on Education So, why is it really so important for girls to stay in school? Research from Action India has shown that in developing countries such as Afghanistan, India, and Uganda, between 25 and 57 percent of adolescent girls miss school or drop out altogether because of their periods. These girls are being denied their basic human right to an education, something that could otherwise empower them to build careers and combat poverty in their communities. This is not just part of a social justice agenda. Action India explained that if girls receive seven full years of primary school education, they will marry an average of four years later and have 2.2 fewer children. If they attend just one additional year of secondary school, their lifetime wages could increase by up to twenty percent, which in an economy the size of India’s, could potentially raise the countries’ GDPs by billions of dollars. If India enrolled just one percent more girls in school, their GDP would rise by 5.5 billion dollars. It is simple; educating women and girls has a concrete economic and social impact on individuals, communities and nations. Just as importantly, education provides young girls with knowledge about their bodies, helping them gain confidence and a sense of self. When one girl in the United States gets her period, she may miss a class. When another girl elsewhere gets her period, she may never go to class again. The Pad Project is an initiative that seeks to change this narrative. To date, The Pad Project has raised just under $50,000 through the pledges of over 350 backers. If this project—and others like it—can help keep just one girl in school, the mission will be successful. But imagine what breadth this initiative might have if the project grows in scale. If it were funded by the large NGOs on the scale of their larger initiatives, The Pad Project could be the start of a true “period revolution.”
When one girl in the United States gets her period, she may miss a class. When another girl elsewhere gets her period, she may never go to class again.
Months after the 12-year old girl’s suicide, protests still continue in Southern India’s Tamil Nadu state. Hundreds of sanitary pads are still pinned to trees as a sign of defiance against the current cultural stance. Written in red pen over the pads, the message reads clearly—“Menstruation is not an illness.”
ISSUE 10 / 7
TRANSG
RIGHTS 8 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
GENDER T
A MEDICAL NECESSITY by Luke Yamulla
he transgender community is consistently a lightning rod for bullying and misinformation among those who oppose the progression of its rights. Many of those who deny transgender rights, such as having the right to use the restroom corresponding to one’s gender identity or having insurance cover the medical costs of one’s transition, not only pursue legislative oppression, but also go out of their way to verbally disparage transgender individuals. Tragically, these attacks have had their intended effect and have led to an entire community being devastated by an abundance of clinical depression and anxiety. Forty-one percent of transgender persons attempt suicide in their lifetimes according to the National Institute of Health. This is a medical crisis, yet, as is often the case with psychiatric health issues, it is largely ignored and misunderstood. Despite the lack of attention and action, psychiatrists have diagnosed and offered solutions to this public health emergency. Transgender rights are most commonly argued for from a civil rights perspective; while this argument is vital to human rights discourse, transgender equality is also a public health necessity. The psychiatry behind transgender health illuminates ways to address and ensure transgender equality.
ISSUE 10 / 9
Misconceptions About Psychiatry and Transgenderism Psychiatry is a field of medicine which has developed drastically when it comes to LGBTQ+ health. This is especially true when it comes to gender identity. Treatment for transgender health issues is being developed every day, and many medical norms from fifteen years ago are no longer accepted today. A select few of the general public are informed about modern psychiatry and so, a very common tactic among those who oppose transgender rights is to attempt to discredit transgender people as being mentally ill using misconstrued arguments. Oftentimes, many anti-transgender advocates use a condition known as gender dysphoria to justify their opposition to transgender rights. They argue that since gender dysphoria is classified as a disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) used by psychiatrists and clinical psychologists to diagnose and treat mental illness, the medical consensus is that transgender people are mentally ill. This is false. Gender dysphoria is not a medical term that defines transgenderism as a mental illness. To the contrary, treatment for gender dysphoria most commonly involves promoting gender transition and transgender rights.
attacks can cause gender dysphoria. Treatments for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria are constantly being updated but what has been found and accepted consistently in research is that conversion therapies in which transgender people are forced to act as though their gender matches their sex do not lower rates of distress, depression, or anxiety. In fact, modern research has found the opposite to be true. Psychiatric researchers have found that a safe and accepted gender transition increases emotional well being among gender dysphoria patients. The American Psychiatric Institute recommends gender reassignment as an appropriate treatment for Gender Dysphoria. This includes
Sex & Gender Defined Before defining gender dysphoria, one must understand the distinction between sex and gender in psychiatry. As is the case in many other fields of study, in psychiatry, according to the American Psychiatric Association, gender and sex are not the same. Sex is biological. Your sex is whether or not you have two X chromosomes. It is predetermined and does not change. Gender, on the other hand, is entirely social. It is whether or not a person feels as though who they are aligns with the norms set out for each gender by society. A common gender indicator across different cultures is gendered clothing. There is no biological reason that men typically wear suits and women typically wear dresses to formal events. Culture has, over time, set a norm where there is a distinction between men and women’s clothing.
Gender Dysphoria The American Psychiatric Association — the authors of the DSM and the authority on psychiatric consensus, define gender dysphoria as follows: “Gender dysphoria refers to the distress that may accompany the incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and one’s assigned gender.” The key phrase here is, “Gender dysphoria refers to the distress.” Gender dysphoria does not refer to whether or not someone’s gender does not match their sex but rather the inner conflict and pain they feel in accepting the incongruence. Modern psychiatric research has found that the cause of this distress is largely due to societal rejection and bigotry. Researchers have found that in countries with historically higher acceptance of transgender individuals, such as the Netherlands, gender dysphoria patients were less distressed and had lower rates of depression and anxiety than patients in countries with a less tolerant atmosphere. For this reason, it is ironic that those hostile towards the transgender community claim gender dysphoria is a term that defines transgenderism as a mental illness because their 10 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
hormonal therapy and surgical procedures, which allow transgender patients to embody the gender they see themselves as. The APA also suggests future legal accommodations could improve the mental health of patients. Societal discrimination against transgender individuals is not only a civil rights issue, but also a public health crisis. Imagine walking into a group of ten people knowing that four of them will likely attempt to take their own lives at some point in their lifetime. This is the reality of the current situation for the transgender community. A forty-one percent suicide rate is outrageous. This needs to end. We can be better than this. Psychiatrists have found a link between societal bias and clinical distress among transgender patients — the same distress that leads many to take their own lives. The American Psychiatric Association is not a liberal think tank. There is no liberal bias in their findings. They look at scientific, empirical research, like the studies referenced in this article, and make decisions. That is how this issue must be approached. The scientific data shows that treating transgender people as though they are in the wrong only causes pain and contributes to the tragically high suicide rate in the community. Gender dysphoria is a real medical problem, but it is a problem largely because of
society’s prejudices. There should be no political divide over whether or not to use laws—bathroom bills, military bans or health care bills mandating access to hormonal therapy—to exacerbate or alleviate a public health crisis. When there is a obtainable method of improving the health of millions, it should be pursued; and those who obstruct it, held accountable.
Citations “Gender Dysphoria.” Psychiatry Online DSM Library, the American Psychiatric Association. Accessed November 20, 2017. http:// dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm14. Lawrence, Anne A. “Chapter 39. Gender Dysphoria.” Gender Dysphoria | Gabbard’s Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders, The American Psychiatric Association. Accessed November 20, 2017. http://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi. books.9781585625048.gg39. Ristori, Jiska, and Thomas D. Steensma. “Gender dysphoria in Childhood.” International Review of Psychiatry 28, no. 1 (2016): 13- 20. doi:10.3109/09540261.2015.1115754. Steensma, Thomas D., et al. “Behavioral and Emotional Problems on the Teacher’s Report Form: A Cross-National, Cross-Clinic Comparative Analysis of Gender Dysphoric Children and Adolescents.” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 42, no. 4 (2013): 635-47. doi:10.1007/s10802-013-9804-2.
ISSUE 10 / 11
TO STAY AFLOAT BARBUDA IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE IRMA by Muriel F. Leung
12 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
F
or Barbudan families venturing home two months after Hurricane Irma tore through their island, the experience is a traumatizing one. Although animal carcasses and abandoned possessions have now been cleared from the streets, sights and smells of desolation seem to suggest that relief efforts have been abandoned. However, nearby in Barbuda’s recently built airport, bulldozers are razing the runways in preparation for lucrative tourist resorts. On September 6, 2017, Irma ripped through the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda claiming one life and destroying 95% of the infrastructure. All residents were evacuated by mandate to Antigua, Barbuda’s larger, wealthier sister island with which it forms a nation. Although the mandatory evacuation has now been lifted, it will be many years—if ever—before Barbudans can return to the island they called home. An uncertain future is something that many other island communities must grapple with in the coming years as hurricane activity becomes more frequent and intense. Many of these islands are financially ill-prepared to handle expensive disasters. Antigua and Barbuda, for example, have a national GDP of $1 billion and $100200 million in rebuilding costs. How can Barbudans, and other island communities threatened by sea level rise, protect their homes and their futures for the coming generations?
Pink Sand and Shared Land
investors alike merely leased land from the government, which was doled out at the discretion of the democratically-elected Barbuda Council. While all Barbudan citizens are guaranteed a plot of land, the council has historically tended to reject foreign and private development proposals.
turn Barbudan land over to investors. The dollar-a-plot plan would raise limited funds, and future private investments would funnel into the pockets of the Antiguan government. Furthermore, Barbudans would lose the democratic ability to control the use of their land. Sophia Perdikaris, Chairperson of the Anthropology and Archeology department at the City University of New York and Director of the Barbuda Archeological Research Center (BARC) on the island, pointed out that the national government’s spoken intentions did not line up with their actions. Dr. Perdikaris reported that a month after Irma, foreign donations including generators and food were sitting in Antigua, which was practically untouched by Hurricane Irma, rather than being redirected to Barbuda. Skilled workers offering, at their own expense, to travel to Barbuda to aid rebuilding efforts were largely ignored by the national government.
A Land Grab? To fund rebuilding efforts, the national government has proposed that Barbudans buy the land they lived off of for a dollar a plot. Representatives reasoned that Barbudans must contribute their fair share to recovery. As Prime Minister Gaston Brown put it, “I’m not running no giant welfare island over there.” However, critics view this proposal as a thinly-veiled attempt to
Although Barbuda is physically larger than Antigua, it’s population—while occupied—was much smaller and insular. Everyone knew each other and visitors numbered few, traveling from Antigua via a two-hour ferry ride or a twenty-minute flight in a five-person airplane. In fact, although tourism accounts for over 60 percent of the combined islands’ GDP, Barbuda has had a relatively distant relationship with outsiders. The island had everything a visitor could want—seclusion, tropical fruit growing in abundance, pink-sand beaches, a large turquoise lagoon the temperature of a sauna. However, few visitors experienced these treasures. Instead, Barbuda’s economy centered on fishing, agriculture, and sand mining. Sightseeing groups were ferried to and from the famous Frigate Bird Sanctuary across the Codrington Lagoon, but did not come into town. Three of the island’s six small hotels were tucked away at the remote edges of the island. Barbuda’s relative insulation reflected the fact that developers could never truly own property there. Since slavery was abolished 180 years ago, no one has owned land in Barbuda. Families and
ISSUE 10 / 13
Disaster Predation In 2014, actor Robert De Niro and casino mogul James Packer secured a 198-year lease to develop a luxury resort, “Paradise Found,” on Barbuda. However, according to local sources, officials promised them on the side that they could convert their lease into full ownership in the event that Barbuda’s land laws changed. This backdoor deal demonstrates the conflict of interest between Antigua’s government and Barbuda’s community, and how the national government might use a hurricane as a pretense to further their own agenda. This sort of “predation” in the wake of natural and other disasters has been well documented. Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein coined the term “Shock doctrine” to describe the exploitation of national crises to “push through controversial policies while citizens are too emotionally and physically distracted by disasters or upheavals to mount an effective resistance.” In the United States, for example, the Louisiana state government used nearly $20 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Hurricane Katrina relief funds to rebuild New Orleans in a way that contradicted the CDBG’s anti-poverty mission. The recovery plan excluded many low-income African American communities from hurricane recovery. Along with government exploitation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) research has warned that post-disaster communities are vulnerable to private land grabs and encroachment. “There is a high degree of confusion in the immediate wake of a disaster… Quite often, powerful real estate interests rush to fill these voids and acquire large tracts of land owned by vulnerable groups.” De Niro is not the only investor with “eyes on the prize”; for example, the billionaire founder of Paul Mitchell hair products, who also has plans for major development on Barbuda, has sent supplies to the island on a ship bearing his name—perhaps not entirely out of the goodness of his heart.
Grassroots Solutions
Small Steps
If their government is encroaching on their land, can Barbudans effectively fight back? “Yes of course!” Dr. Perdikaris says. “The last time this happened, their founder took up bulldozers and threw them into the ocean. There is a way to push back, and that is for the council to think not in terms of politics but in terms of the island. And then work on recovering. Barbudans have to recover in their own homes.” PennDesign Research Coordinator Billy Fleming, who formerly worked on urban policy development for the Obama Administration, has voiced his opinion that in the case of post-Harvey Houston, “people – not elites – must lead the way in building a more resilient city.” According to Perdikaris, citizens are already taking action. While the national members may be dragging their feet, members of the Barbudan council are working with people on the cleanup, and there are members working on new specifics for aid. No community is an island, regardless of whether they live on one. Perhaps Barbuda could partner with neighboring islands to develop a climate change adaptation initiative, bringing all of their minds and resources together.
In Barbuda as in other islands, climate change adaption will be an ongoing challenge for generations. There is no quick fix, and one should be suspicious of anyone promising one . For a community that wants to reclaim their island, community action, creativity, and sustainability are key. Right now, Barbudans continue to live in a constant state of limbo. Many are staying with family in Antigua; others are living in a makeshift camp at a baseball stadium. They are uncertain as to when they’ll be able to return home.If they cannot return at all, where will they work? Most Barbudans are not educated above the high school level, so entering a foreign workforce might prove difficult. Where will their children go to school? Right now is not the time to upend their political system. Right now, bringing Barbudans home should be the ultimate priority.
14 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
What We Can Do
What We Can Do Donate There are a number of crowdfunding Barbuda relief campaigns active through GoFundMe, two of the most successful ones being sponsored by the American University of Antigua and a Barbudan ex-patriate. Contributions to grassroots campaigns such as these may be more impactful than donations to large organizations such as the Red Cross, which may be hindered by bureaucracy, politics, and conflicting interests. Make sure you carefully research any organization or fund before sending them money! Political Action As members of the industrialized world, we should hold ourselves and whatever governments we exist within accountable to our role in climate change. Petition sites like Change.Org, for example, are great outlets for letting your voice be heard regarding environmental policy (or anything you are passionate about). Spread the Word Now that the immediate brutality of this hurricane season is fading from the news, it is easy for victims to go “out of sight, out of mind.� Yet for Barbudans, Puerto Ricans, and many other coastal and island communities, a long road of recovery and adaption lies ahead. If you donate, share that link. Share articles. Do not let people forget.
ISSUE 10 / 15
CR EA TI V E DI S R UP T IO N
by Shinyoung Noh
16 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
G
lobal non-profit ArtUnited brings together contemporary visual artists to create exhibitions, large-scale cultural events, and talks that inspire social change. It aims to use visual art as a medium to “shift mental models and empower people to interrupt and alter oppressive, systemic patterns” as per its website. On November 4, 2017, ArtUnited hosted Creative Disruption, a pop up group exhibition that brought together more than 30 Philadelphia-based social justice artists.
The exhibition, which took place at Warehouse at Watts, was focused on three themes: gender justice, climate justice, and racial justice. The event was in partnership with ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and BLM Philly, all of which provided visitors with more opportunities to get involved through signing petitions and purchasing art. Visitors were invited to share their experience in a collaborative public art installation titled “I woke up when…”
ISSUE 10 / 17
18 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
FOSSIL FREE PENN by Amy Goldfischer and Megan Kyne
W
ho do we hold accountable for ensuring a safe and livable future for our children? Ourselves, in our actions, but perhaps more importantly, our institutions. Penn purports its dedication to morality, open discourse, and academic rigor. Despite these supposed values, our institution has failed to measure up. Penn invests millions of dollars into companies that disseminate false information, egregiously violate human rights, fund political corruption, and play a direct role in irreversible exacerbation of climate change: fossil fuel companies. Penn’s endowment totals over $12 billion, about $315 million of which is invested in the fossil fuel industry. In response to comprehensive evidence-based research enumerating the moral and financial justifications for divestment from the fossil fuel industry, however, the university has refused to divest, and failed to provide reasoned justification for this decision.
ISSUE 10 / 19
Instead, Penn continuously evades its responsibility as a leading academic institution and offers distractions. Cameron Dichter wrote an article in The Daily Pennsylvanian on November 11, 2017 about the dangers of letting campaigns aiming to change individual behavior supersede the importance of pressuring our institutions to change. Penn’s campaigns each year to encourage students to reduce carbon footprints and practice sustainable living habits are undoubtedly important steps in responding to the threat of climate change. However, like the anti-littering campaigns devised by wasteful packaging companies, these encouragements tend to distract from the responsibility of the institution. Penn’s actions speak volumes. As long as Penn continues to fund fossil fuel companies, any research done regarding climate change mitigation and any sustainability-driven initiatives are overshadowed by investments in a corrupt industry that violates Penn’s values.
20 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
As students, what responsibility do we hold? What role can we play? We must pressure our institutions. We must take action, write letters, make our voices heard. We must demand better. This is the goal of the student organization, Fossil Free Penn. Among other actions that the Fossil Free Penn campaign has spearheaded, in March 2017, Fossil Free Penn joined the long history of sit-ins at College Hall to demand divestment. More recently, the group has engaged in protests at the meetings of the Board of Trustees, who have continually shown an unwillingness to engage in productive dialogue. It's time to hold our investments accountable to a higher moral standard.
ISSUE 10 / 21
SYMPHONY OF A BROKEN ORCHESTRA
by Kira Flemke
I
ndividuals do not usually hold themselves accountable for the conditions of their community. They attribute fault to the government, businesses, and any other faceless actor pursuing its own interests. However, each person does have the ability to change these conditions. Does that not make them all accountable to do so? If it will cost one person so little to greatly change the life of another, are they not obligated to initiate that change? Musical instruments are a staple of many people’s experiences of early education. While some fall in love with the ability to fill the air with concordant notes, others detest the effort required to improve, but each student is able to develop a new skill, a new way of thinking. Tragically, in recent years, this invaluable experience has become scarce among Philadelphia public schools. Without sufficient arts funding, the Philadelphia School System has become host to a graveyard of over 1,000 broken musical instruments consisting of trumpets with immobile valves, violins with broken strings, clarinets with missing screws, and countless others. Currently, their injuries render these instruments useless to any student who might want to use them to explore their musical abilities. Robert Blackson, Director of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, devised a solution to the community-wide musical resource deficit. He created “Symphony for a Broken Orchestra,” a musical performance designed for, and played on, the thousands of broken instruments lying dormant in school storage rooms across Philadelphia. By raising awareness and funds to support the repair of these instruments, the program is sending the message that that the community will no longer tolerate the neglect of its students. Director Blackson describes how he first recognized the scope of the broken instrument epidemic when he came across a gymnasium full of dirty, broken pianos in a Philadelphia public school. The music budget for the school system has dwindled from 1.3 million to just 50,000 dollars in a few short years, and, according to Director 22 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
Blackson, “teachers have been stockpiling broken instruments hoping one day their budgets will be restored.” Because of the “Symphony for a Broken Orchestra” initiative, instructors will no longer be forced to turn away the students who come in nearly every day eager to play an instrument. An initial step in the formation of this program was to discover the unique sound made by each broken instrument. In collaboration with Found Sound Nation, every single instrument was tested and its resulting vibrations recorded by volunteer musicians. These recordings were evaluated by the seasoned ear of Pulitzer Prizewinning composer, David Lang, who has worked to expertly weave them together into a one-of-a-kind symphony. Lang’s early educational experience in the public school system, which enabled him to achieve his present success, inspired his enthusiasm for the project. Hundreds of musicians from across Philadelphia will premiere Lang’s freshly composed piece on December 3rd of 2017. Amateur students will play alongside classically-trained professionals on their adopted instruments in the creation of this unique auditory
experience. Director Blackson sees the broken instruments as a key “leveler” in this case, because they allow musicians to “listen to one another and make music together” regardless of skill level. “Broken orchestra offers a fresh and unique option to be able to use my skill as a violinist to accomplish some social good,” expressed Broken Orchestra violinist, Misha Rodriguez; “it means being able to spread the benefit I’ve received from being able to pursue the violin since third grade and help make that a possibility for others.” Recent Penn graduate, Emily Irani, who learned to play the trumpet just for the orchestra, describes the process as “humbling and inspiring.” She was motivated by the idea that “everyone is deserving of a musical education, and no student should ever be turned away from a music class because their instrument of choice is falling apart.” Saxophone aficionado, Will Schade, echos the importance of getting the musical instruments back into the hands of students and adds that the performance is going to make clear that the issue of insufficient arts funding needs immediate attention. Every musician involved in this program surely feels the importance ISSUE 10 / 23
of their role in sending that message. Each note of the symphony will proclaim the community’s refusal to be ignored any longer. The proceeds raised through the program will be used to repair all of the instruments used in the performance and to install instrument repair kits in all Philadelphia schools. This ensures that students’ musical creativity will no longer be stymied by the lack of available instruments, and that it will be possible to make minor repairs on-site in the future. Director Robert Blackson wants this program to drive home the idea that “change happens now” and that we can make art the catalyst for that change. While this novel solution is a brilliant way to unify the community and to provide students with the resources to pursue their musical ambitions, the root cause of the programs’ resource scarcity should not be overlooked. The recent cuts to arts programs can be attributed to the budget deficit faced by Philadelphia schools that is projected to reach an unsustainable 1 billion dollars by 2022. This has resulted from declining state funding and disproportionately lower per-pupil spending for students in Philadelphia compared to those in wealthier districts. This unjust disparity is the result of Pennsylvania’s longstanding formula for funding allocation, which is not based on enrollment statistics and has only recently factored in socioeconomic demographics in the determination of district spending. Pennsylvania’s system of regressive school funding relies heavily on local funding, resulting in fewer funds for districts saturated with lower-income households. Arts programs are on the front line of educational programs sacrificed to the chasm left by insufficient funds that have starkly limited the educational capacity of Philadelphia schools. However, the loss of music programs is only the first in a slew of essential developmental programs that could be dismantled beyond repair if the deficit continues. In response to the consequences of underfunded city schools and
24 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
This cycle of low-funding, lack of resources, and low expectations for Philadelphia students creates unnecessary barriers to their lifelong success, and the system must be held accountable. pressure from local organizations, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kennedy has committed to returning control of schools to the city. He has promised to rectify the budget disparities that have arisen in the 16 years since the state assumed control of the Philadelphia School system through the School Reform Commission (SRC). The SRC held a vote on November 16th to dissolve itself. This has set in motion a series of events that will result in its complete elimination by June 30th of 2018. It will be replaced by a school board composed of members who will be selected by the Mayor from a pool of community-appointed nominees. In the letter announcing his funding plan, the Mayor claims that “there are four primary factors that must be present for our schools to succeed: accountability, adequate resources, strong management, and collaboration.” When over 130,000 students in the Philadelphia school system are being denied sufficient access to quality core education and arts programs, someone must take responsibility. Early education impacts students’ lifelong attitudes toward learning; if the resource deficit of the school system tells students that they are not worth the investment, they may develop that attitude themselves. This cycle of low-funding, lack of resources, and low expectations for Philadelphia students creates unnecessary barriers to their lifelong success, and the system must be held accountable. Symphony for a Broken orchestra is one instance of the community holding the system accountable; community actors are taking responsibility for past institutional failings while maintaining high
expectations for future remedies from within the system. Mayor Kennedy is attempting to respond to these democratic pressures for change by taking responsibility for school funding himself. The system will no longer be in the hands of state legislators, many of whom do not see the daily needs of the community. Local control can respond to the passionate voices of parents, local advocacy programs, and, most importantly, the students who deserve every opportunity to advance their multi-disciplinary education. Mayor Kennedy commits to this by claiming that “with the return to local control, the people of Philadelphia will finally be able to hold one person accountable for their school system, the Mayor.” The events of the coming months will reveal whether this shift in accountability will yield tangible improvements in the quality of education available to Philadelphia residents. In the meantime, every individual can play a role in supporting the public school system. One can adopt an instrument from the “Symphony for a Broken Orchestra” website, participate in a tutoring program, or find their own unique way of contributing to the educational capacity of the local school district. Everyone is, at least in part, the product of their education. It is not something to be taken for granted. Every member of the community, lifelong or temporary, should take advantage of the abundant resources at their disposal and accept some accountability for improving educational quality in Philadelphia schools. A student’s future may depend on it. ISSUE 10 / 25
T
ARTISTS AS ACTIVISTS by Michelle Wan
hroughout history, art has served as a powerful statement on social and political issues, such as revolts against oppression, violence, and inequality. Art by its very nature serves as a revolutionary force, challenging the status quo and inspiring people to action for the good of humanity. Works like Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair and Picasso’s Guernica confronted the brutality of their time, urging the public to reflect and take initiative. These works were not strictly activist art, a genre of art that brings up social or political issues to people’s attention. Yet to an extent they functioned as activist art since they gave viewers an opportunity to better understand and redress subjects of social concern. A wide range of art can often be metaphorical activism or lead to activism, so the concept of activist art is broader than its dictionary meaning. This genre of art can empower individuals and their communities by providing them exposure to art and a platform to voice multiple perspectives and initiate conversations on socially relevant subject matter.
26 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
Philadelphia, a city with a long tradition of cultural and civic involvement, is known to have a long history of art activism. Its public art collection, one of the largest in the country, shows artists’ responses to their times. Mural Arts Philadelphia, which was established in 1984, is one of the largest public art programs in the nation. Originally, it aimed to redirect graffiti artists to constructive public art projects, and it gradually grew to include art education and civic programs. It supported the creation of many murals including a few to honor local activists and civic leaders, and several in response to civic affairs. Based on true photographs, Peace Wall (1997) by Jane Golden and Peter Pagast shows residents of different backgrounds putting their hands in a stack in response to the racial violence in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of South Philadelphia. The mural represents the community’s commitment to ending racial segregation; it serves as a common ground for shared moments and beliefs.
Monument Lab: A Public Art and History Project Stepping into the 21st century, Mural Arts Philadelphia continues to generate dialogue and build relationships between citizens. It regularly holds activities including panel discussions and workshops exploring how artists and the public express themselves in times of political and social change. In the spring of 2017, it produced a series of programs called “The Art of the Protest,” which included a panel discussion and a sign-making workshop to encourage locals to make powerful and creative visual statements that ignite reflection and lead to change. Mural Arts Philadelphia is now working on Monument Lab, a public art and history project that explores the idea of what is an appropriate monument for present-day Philadelphia. Monument Lab’s curatorial team is led by Paul M. Farber and Ken Lum, who work along with a group of intellectually diverse artists from the city and around the world. The artists were invited by the curators and Mural Arts and were selected for their shared interest in engaging histories. The Monument Lab team has installed temporary prototype monuments by 20 artists across ten sites in Philadelphia, including public squares and neighborhood parks. Each of these monuments is on view from September 16 through November 19, 2017. The Battle is Joined, one of the monument lab prototypes, is a temporary acrylic mirror that encases the Battle of Germantown Memorial, a 20-foot-high commemorative construction in Vernon Park, dedicating to a Revolutionary War skirmish between American and British troops in 1777. The idea took Karyn
Olivier, a Philadelphia based artist, two months to come up after researching into various existing monuments in the park. Olivier tried to engage the neighborhood’s public history by “renewing” the monument, which then better communicates passed-down symbols and visualizes new modes of reflection and meaning making. “In such a community park, viewers sometimes think the monument only has something to do with someone else’s history and is not related with themselves. By being concealed and covered up, it reveals who we are and makes us think about the monument and its history,” Olivier said. “And looking at it as a mirror, we are forced to recognize that we become the monument, we reflect on our responsibility, our individual duty, and our civic, collective duty.” Olivier’s work shifts based on landscapes, times of the day, and its audience, so that every moment becomes a chance for self discovery and the discovery of others. Viewers are encouraged to think about the moments they share with others The piece serves as a catalyst and an instigator. At the periphery of Rittenhouse Square, beneath the barren trees, a micro-sized container room reads ‘Monument Lab.’ This is one of ten lab sites, which sit near a prototype of a monument, and invite visitors to offer their proposals for Philadelphia’s future monuments by contributing drawings and short explanations. The labs are staffed by youth researchers and volunteers who collect proposals and engage visitors in conversations about their propositions and Monument Lab as a whole. “One doesn’t have to know all the technical terms to talk about the works,” said Alliyah Allen, a student researcher. “Monument Lab is like a bridge to get people to talk and to build civic dialogue.” Visitors’ proposals are transferred to a display at the exhibition hub at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and added to an online map available on Monument Lab’s website. Later, they will be uploaded as an open dataset and broken down statistically in a final report. According to Ken Lum, one of the two curators, about seven percent of the responses mentioned that there should be a monument to the MOVE bombing 32 years ago in West Philadelphia, during which several blocks were burnt down by a fire bomb dropped by the police. “One thing we learn is that people out there have long memories, but it’s not necessarily identified in synchrony with what the city wants to remember. The bombing remains something that is never included in the public dialogue,” Lum said. “That tells us a lot of things about that disconnect between official and unofficial culture. Official culture has never felt compelled to address or reconcile that bombing. This is one thing we found interesting in terms of our data collection.”
ISSUE 10 / 27
Beyond Public Arts Local artist organizations also support social issues in other various ways beyond public art. The Village of Arts and Humanities devises programs in advocacy and art education offered for free to kids aged nine to nineteen. Asian Arts Initiative, another local organization, responds to the current political environment with programs like their “Loving Blackness” exhibit and “Sanctuary” poetry showcase. Behind the scenes there are people working daily to drive this city forward. In an interview with Generosity – a local social impact news group –Asian Arts Initiative’s executive director, Isa Gayle, said arts organizations like the AAI can serve as places for activists to recharge and to avoid burn out. In recent decades, public institutions have demonstrated a renewed effort to increase their civic engagement. Museums
28 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
like the National Liberty Museum devote themselves entirely to honoring real-life heroes and the heritage of freedom; but museums that house general collections are also increasingly committed to the display of activist art. Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Philadelphia Assembled,” a collaborative art exhibit that has been about three years in the making, combines art and civic engagement by showcasing more than 60 programs and installations throughout Philadelphia. Spearheaded by artist Jeanne Van Heeswijk, a team of artists, writers, builders, and activists met with local businesses, communities, and residents to listen to their stories and the issues they were facing in order to come up with socially engaged art. Curators and contemporary artists, perhaps unconsciously, also expand the parameter of activist art by delivering different views through contemporary art pieces that engage the public.
Those who do not give conscious attention to art or dismiss artworks that do not conform to their taste should try to venture outside their comfort zone. As a wide range of local art scenes already expose and educate people about art, it becomes at the hands of viewers to nurture the opportunities provided to them. We are constantly reminded of how divided we are. Art, whether labelled as activist art or otherwise, can often serve as a unifying force since it encourages people to reflect on themselves, to see the world through different angles and to try to understand opinions from people different from themselves. Introduced wisely, it can let us see that while holding our own views, we can understand and accept the views of others. “I come here and see the monument everyday,” Rose Slater, a preschool teacher, reacted to The Battle is Joined. “The reflection tells us that we need to take a look at ourselves and make a change.”
ISSUE 10 / 29
SPEAKING OUT:
A LUXURY NOT AVAILABLE TO SOME VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT by Lexi Lieberman
30 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
S
tudents are attending college in a time when incidents like the Harvey Weinstein scandal are plastered across the front page of newspapers, and the “Me, too” campaign is filling their Facebook newsfeeds. They are witnessing a slew of celebrities coming forward to speak out against their assailants on social media, holding them accountable for their actions. It seems like now, more than ever, is the time for victims to come forward, for their voices to be heard. But unfortunately, speaking out is a luxury that is not available to all victims of sexual assault.
Confidentiality in Cases of Sexual Assault In the workplace, this inability to speak out quite frequently stems from the pressure placed upon employees to sign non-disclosure agreements. Non-disclosure agreements are legal contracts whose purpose is to prevent the sharing of sensitive information. In the university setting, non-disclosure agreements usually only come into play when a student is accusing a faculty member of sexual assault. More commonly, however, a student will accuse another student of sexual assault. In order for them to conduct an investigation, many universities have policies in which the complainant, or the person accusing the respondent of sexually assaulting them, is forced to keep quiet, even though they are not required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Normally, the victim does not have to keep quiet about the entire experience, but there will be legal limitations on what they can or cannot say to certain individuals. Penn is one university that enforces complainant confidentiality.
Reporting Sexual Assault at Penn Before delving too deeply into the specifics of the confidentiality clauses, it helps to understand the general reporting process of sexual violence at Penn. Deborah Harley, Penn’s Sexual Violence Investigative Officer, explained the process in a step-by-step manner. First, she said, the complainant is put in contact with the Sexual Violence Investigative Office at Penn, either through walking in, calling, emailing, or being escorted there from an on-campus resource like the Penn Women’s Center. The officer conducts a preliminary interview of the complainant and gives him or her all of the information he or she would need to understand the process – the rights of the complainants and respondents, a copy of the charter amendment of the definitions
of the different forms of sexual violence found in Penn’s almanac, and a list of advisors who have been trained in the area of sexual violence, relationship violence and stalking, who would conduct a preliminary interview. The complainant could postpone the interview to have an advisor present, but Harley said that is a rare occurrence. After an interview, Harley immediately notifies the respondent via email that a complaint has been filed about them. She sends them any necessary documents and invites them to the office to provide a summary of the complaint – who the complainant is, and when and what was alleged to have occurred. Next, she schedules a preliminary interview with the respondent to determine if she should open up a full investigation. If she decides to do so, she then submits a statement of charge letter to the respondent, which again notifies the respondent about who the complainant is and what is alleged to have occurred. Harley serves as a messenger between the respondent and the complainant, sharing information between the two of them. Next, she opens up a full investigation with a co-investigator from the university. “Because these cases are so important, we will have two people evaluating evidence,” she said. “We interview the complainant, respondent, and any witnesses. We would evaluate any evidence… text messages, social media, it could be medical records, anything that could help our investigation.” Then, the co-investigators make a decision based on a preponderance of the evidence standard as to whether the respondent violated university policy. “If so, we would recommend sanctions,” she said. When Harley first opens up the investigation, she explains to both the complainant and the respondent that it is a confidential process in order to protect the rights of both parties. She then issues a draft report to both individuals simultaneously, which contains a summary of all interviews, an assessment of credibility, and either a finding of responsibility or a finding of no responsibility. In the report, Harley lists the findings of fact. She sends it to the complainant and respondent, giving them ten days to review it and make any comments, corrections, or additions. Once the ten days are up, she issues a final report. According to Harley, the parties are told that they may share the final report with their family members or advisors. If either party does not like the finding, or if the finding displays responsibility and a recommended sanction, either party may ask for a hearing panel.
ISSUE 10 / 31
Timeline
Confidentiality at Penn
The weeks in which these investigations ensue are time-consuming for both the complainant and the respondent. Before the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter was withdrawn – which provided guidance on the unique concerns that arise in sexual violence cases, such as a school’s independent responsibility to investigate and address sexual violence – Harley said there was advice that these investigations should be conducted within sixty days. However, that does not always happen. “We don’t want to interview respondents and complainants during exam times,” she said. “We don’t want to add to the stress in their lives, and various things happen. People are unavailable, a respondent might have an attorney who is busy with another trial. So if there is good reason that it isn’t conducted within sixty days, that’s okay, but we try to do our best.” A female student who wished to remain anonymous said that she did not feel as though the Sexual Violence Investigative Office tried their best to conduct her investigation quickly. When she first filed her complaint, she said she was informed the investigation would take sixty business days. “In total, the SVIO process took 265 days,” she said. “And even after that, my rapist’s sanctions did not take effect until the following semester – a full year after I filed the complaint.” The process was so lengthy and time consuming, even after her family hired a lawyer, that last semester the student was unable to finish her coursework. She ended with four ‘incomplete’ grades, which she says read as ‘F’s on her transcript until she can make up the classes. “I’ve been struggling to make up these courses on top of my current coursework, and I don’t have the option of re-taking them next semester because I’m already struggling to graduate before my rapist’s suspension ends,” she said. “Basically the Penn SVIO process has forced me to chose between access to academics and my safety on campus.”
Harley said that there are no non-disclosure agreements at Penn. The investigations and the reports are confidential, she said, “to protect the complainant and the respondent, but they are not signing any non-disclosure agreements. To be clear, these do not prohibit the complainant to talk about what happened to him or her or about the incident. Nobody is trying to silence the complainant or the respondent about what happened. The investigation itself with the report is confidential.” “What happened to them is separate from the report,” she added. “It is their experience. No one has a right to tell the complainant or the respondent what they can and can’t say. The report is confidential. There is a distinction there.” The aforementioned female student, however, said that she has felt like the university is trying to silence her. She said that the documents for the investigation forbid her from sharing any information pertaining to the investigation with anyone other than her immediate family, advisor, and legal counsel under penalty of Penn policy and federal law. “So if I talk about the process I went through in anything other than super general terms, I can be subjected to disciplinary action by the university,” she said. “Which is why you never really hear stories about people going through the SVIO process – we’re literally just not allowed to talk about it.” “I have been trying to get answers from SVIO about what I can and cannot say and they have been ignoring my emails or giving me non-answers,” she added. “And I have been told by the Office of Student Conduct that even telling people my rapist’s name is a violation of Penn’s policy. The Penn policy allows me to talk about my ‘personal experiences’ from the process like how it made me feel, but not details such as my rapist’s name, how long he was suspended for, etc. which are things I should not be silenced about.”
32 \ IMPACT MAGAZINE
VISIT THE BLOG
U P E N N I M PA C T. C O M
PLEASE RECYCLE
PRINTED ON 50 PERCENT RECYCLED PAPER