Tuesday teach-in to challenge morality of U. policies

Tuesday afternoon, students and faculty will be questioning Penn’s moral compass at the Compass on Locust walk, as part of a teach-in titled “WTF, Penn?”

The teach-in, organized by Penn Activists Coming Together, aims to confront the University’s morally ambiguous policies and build a community of activists around “activities that are of concern,” said College senior Athanasia Vgontzas, one of the main organizers.

Around 200 students RSVPed on Facebook, and Vgontzas estimates at least 100 students will participate throughout the afternoon.

Activists will be protesting Penn’s involvement in government defense-related research through its General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Lab — an interdisciplinary engineering lab.

“As students, we’re questioning if we are okay with the moral justification that we’re allowing research that could have relevance for creating war machines,” Vgontzas said.

Students will also address the displacement of Philadelphia’s black-bottom community in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a result of the University’s westward expansion.

“Whose blood and bones are we walking on? That is the main takeaway,” she said.

The teach-in will also question the working conditions of University employees, minority faculty retention and recruitment as well as the sources of energy that Penn uses.

Energy sources used to power Penn are engaged in a mountaintop removal system that is destructive to the environment, Vgontzas said.

PACT has invited professors and student activists to speak on each issue Tuesday. The teach-in will then be open to discussion participants and passersby, Vgontzas said, adding that the teach-in does not aim to be antagonistic, but hopes to generate dialogue.

“We’re not making any demands at this point right now. We’re just focusing on the dissemination of information,” College freshman Chris Noble, who will be speaking about faculty recruitment and retention, said.

Though Vgontzas realizes the timing of the teach-in is not ideal as students are beginning final exams and the summer, she hopes the event will raise questions for students “to stew over during the summer.”

The teach-in hopes to revitalize the activist scene at Penn, said Engineering junior Justin Broglie, who produced a promotional video.

“Penn used to be a much more fiery community of students who were passionate and concerned about the issues of the world,” Broglie said.

In the late 1960s, students protested classified defense-related research of Penn’s science center at 34th and Market streets. The building had earlier displaced the black-bottom community. Penn students also held antiwar protests in the 1970s, Vgontzas said.

“It seems that students here today are more concerned about their BYO attire and BBMing than about creating real change and waking up to the realities of life outside of the highly privileged youth bubble,” Broglie added.

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