Our daily newsletter rounding up all of the top headlines from the DP. Get it Monday-Friday in your inbox. Free.
Sign up »
34th Street Magazine's "Toast" is a semi-weekly newsletter with the latest on Penn's campus culture and arts scene. Delivered Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Free.
Sign up »
Penn, Unbuttoned is Penn's only intentionally satirical newsletter, giving you your weekly dose of comedy from Under the Button every Wednesday. Free.
Sign up »
Quaker Nation is a weekly sports newsletter covering all things Penn sports. Delivered Monday mornings to your inbox. Free.
Sign up »
Recruiter's Row is a biweekly recruitment newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on all things employment related. Get it in your inbox every other Wednesday. Free.
Sign up »
I've already signed up
Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
This is The Daily Pennsylvanian’s final issue until the fall, and hopefully the last with full pandemic restrictions in place. In the spirit of reflection and commemoration, the DP’s opinion staff grades how we — as a university and as a community — responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we approach the end of an unprecedented academic year, students have much more to think about than politics. Still, it is important that students bring their enthusiasm from this fall to the present and vote on May 18, 2021 in the local Philadelphia primary election. Even though the election will occur after finals and commencement, Penn students must still make their voices heard.
This year, as many Penn students struggle to find summer opportunities, Penn’s summer course offerings provide the chance to stay engaged and get ahead on coursework and requirements. However, at a price of $4,694 to $7,092 per course unit, depending on the school, these classes do not come cheap. Without grant-based aid during the summer terms, and limited other assistance, Penn’s courses remain inaccessible to many.
In an April 14, 2021 Daily Pennsylvanian article, Penn administrators responded to a petition signed by more than 150 faculty members “against the university’s unilateral increase in teaching time.” Penn’s Associate Vice Provost of Education and Academic Planning Gary Purpura told The DP that the new schedule format rolling out this fall will not make any explicit changes to class stopping times. The article states, “He said, however, that since the 10 minutes are no longer necessary for travel time, an instructor who wishes to teach for an additional 10 minutes will have the freedom to do so.” As is frequently the case, it has taken faculty pressure to get Penn administrators to explain their decisions, and the American Association of University Professors at Penn is glad to enable this.
We write in response to the School of Arts and Science dean’s announcement that the school will initiate cluster hires in Asian American Studies Program to compensate for the impending loss of professor David Eng (and indeed professor Grace Kao, who moved to Yale several years ago). ASAM has been woefully understaffed for many years, as generations of students and faculty have asserted. As a belated response, these cluster hires are welcome, but we wish to remind the deans that it is crucially important to retain professor Eng, who has proved vital not only to ASAM, but to the English Department and the programs in Comparative Literature and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. He has demonstrated a unique capacity to connect diverse intellectual constituencies across Penn, and is, quite simply, irreplaceable. To lose professor Eng while making plans for the future is simply bad policy; his presence here will reassure potential Asian American faculty that SAS is committed to the development of ASAM. To not retain professor Eng is to send a terrible message to future candidates, and we are likely to lose the very best of them.
As Penn plans a return to in-person instruction this coming fall, it has yet to announce whether vaccines will be required for students.
Penn recorded 372 foreign donations in 2019, a 389% increase from 2018, which Penn attributed to the addition of an international development department to The Power of Penn, the University’s most ambitious fundraising campaign.
Last month, President Joe Biden announced an executive order reviewing Title IX regulations and how they pertain to sexual misconduct. This review comes less than a year after the Trump administration released rules that, among other things, narrowed the definition of sexual harassment to offenses that are “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” as well as restricted the type of offenses universities must intervene in to those occurring on campus or “in conjunction with an education program or activity."
No administration, regardless of party, should disregard the humanity of individuals seeking refuge. In February, the Biden administration opened an emergency facility in western Texas scheduled to hold up to 700 hundred migrant children ranging from ages 13 to 17. While the administration has cited safety concerns for the migrant children due to the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons for adding another facility, these camps are often shamefully left in a gruesome, unsafe, and dangerous living condition. According to a March interview conducted with migrant children, many reported sleeping on the floor, rarely seeing light, and lacking nutritional resources. These are not living conditions any parent would want for their children, and it’s time for America to grapple with their constant disregard for immigrants, often minorities, when they come seeking help.
Student Activities Council groups successfully used Penn Clubs' website during club recruitment this academic year, but struggled to build a sense of community online.
Penn administrators recently announced plans to return to in-person classes, research, and campus living for fall 2021. In the announcement, they cited widespread COVID-19 vaccine distribution, projections of increased vaccine supply in the coming months, and campus safety measures as reasons to expect a return to in-person activities in the fall. According to current projections, most Americans will be able to receive COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the summer, which would greatly reduce the risks associated with in-person University activities.
The COVID-19 pandemic killed higher education as we know it. Instead of being a time when students could experiment with adulthood, many students were relegated to their childhood bedrooms as they took classes online. Knowing that their campus community faced more than normal amounts of stress, anxiety, and responsibilities, Penn and its Ivy League peers instituted pass/fail policies over the past few semesters, often allowing students to pass/fail courses while still counting towards academic requirements.
Every four years, presidential elections capture the public’s attention and put politics to the forefront of public discourse in the United States. Meanwhile, local elections occur in Philadelphia every two years and are equally as important, yet they receive much less attention from both the media and the public alike. With a local primary election coming up in Philadelphia on May 18, it is critically important Penn students understand the importance of the offices and ballot measures that they can vote on, because student voters will make a difference.
Since the beginning of the spring semester, a worrisome number of Penn students have exhibited callous and careless behavior with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic as demonstrated by Penn’s uniquely high case rates, the continuation of parties and gatherings despite social distancing guidelines, and the faking of Penn Open Passes to get around the University’s rules. Although case rates have declined in recent weeks, many students have continued to behave irresponsibly, both misusing their privilege and actively causing harm to others.
A few weeks ago, Provost Wendell Pritchett stated at the Board of Trustees meeting that there is a "50-50 chance" Penn could begin vaccinating students before the end of the spring semester. The recent promise by President Biden that the United States would have enough vaccines for all adults by the end of May likely confirms this, and may even speed up the timeline.
Undergraduate students are overwhelmingly satisfied with Penn's COVID-19 testing program but concerned with peer behavior and enforcement of the University's COVID-19 guidelines, according to a survey conducted by The Daily Pennsylvanian.
This past week, Harvard and Columbia announced their commencement plans, leaving Penn as one of two Ivies yet to announce its intentions regarding commencement. With the other Ivies split on whether or not an in-person ceremony is possible, it is not clear how Penn will weigh in on the issue. Although the University can be expected to make an announcement in the coming days and weeks, the Daily Pennsylvanian’s Editorial Board believes Penn should hold an in-person ceremony, provided the University meets the conditions necessary to hold such a ceremony responsibly.
Last Thursday, former Penn Presidential Professor of Practice and President of the United States Joe Biden participated in a CNN town hall. During the event, Biden was asked how he would make student debt forgiveness happen. In response, the 46th President stated that debt forgiveness should be limited to $10,000 per student, specifically arguing that it made little sense to forgive student loans held by students who went to schools such as Penn.
University officials recently announced the appointment of Whitney Soule as Penn’s next dean of admissions and vice provost. Soule, who will assume the position on July 1, is currently senior vice president and dean of admissions and student aid at Bowdoin College.
This past Monday, the University announced that all sophomores, starting with the Class of 2024, would be required to purchase one of three meal plans. The decision to mandate meal plans for sophomores, in conjunction with Penn’s soon to be implemented on-campus housing requirement for sophomores, represents a broader trend by the administration to build a so-called “Second Year Experience,” or SYE.