Opinion Columnists
James Lee | My thanks to the haters
I’ve only been a columnist for a year and am not graduating, but nonetheless feel that some reflection is in order.
Isabel Kim | Procrastination as a coping mechanism
It’s been more than two weeks since my last column. I have had ample time to think about a topic, to write a rough draft, to set aside a few hours to bang out seven hundred words or so.
Alessandro van den Brink | Suggestions wanted
In June, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York signed into law an executive order that created a blacklist of entities that have boycotted or divested from Israel (commonly associated with the boycott, divest and sanction, or BDS, movement), banning them from receiving taxpayer funding.Thalia Monteiro Parr | Harassment is not protest
Last Monday, October 3rd, I was viciously harassed on Penn Campus because of my gender identity and sexual orientation.
Harrison Glicklich | (The other) NSO sucks, here's why
Two weeks ago I promised a disparaging NSO column. I’m lucky world events lined up so well. Like most of you, I was shocked to read about the drama in the wake of Canada’s carbon summit last week: In response to a proposed universal $10 CAD tax per ton in 2018, Nova Scotia’s minister left the building.
James Lee | The Siren Call of Campus Politics
When I found out that I would be writing this column, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t write opinions that were so obvious that no rational person could possibly disagree with them: The uselessness of bag checks at Van Pelt, the uselessness of the Penn’s student government and Trump.
Cameron Dichter | When in doubt blame the millennials
First we ruined the workforce, then marriage, then (somehow) the Olympics, and now, according to a recent New York Times article, even the election may not be safe from millennials.
Alessandro van den Brink | Animal House
In May, Harvard announced a historic move to enact penalties on its Final Clubs and Greek life organizations.
Amanda Reid | In solidarity
The daily news updates of unlawful police shootings against black men and women has led to much hashtagged outrage: solidarity nowadays means expressing communal dissatisfaction.
Benjamin Zou | When inclusion excludes
US universities seem to believe that the right to consider race in college admissions, which they originally desired in order aid disadvantaged black applicants, now also allows them to set an enrollment cap on another US minority.
Isabel Kim | Off the record
The interesting thing about the press is although we expend an enormous amount of time and energy investigating everyone else’s business, the actual mechanisms of the press are often opaque.
Benjamin Zou | American unrest, contextualized
While the rest of the world sees our violence, turbulence, and political instability, they also see that we at least still hold on to the integrity of our anger and our desire to listen and be heard worldwide.
Jack Hostager | Happy 1st of July
It is almost as if some young voters have forgotten the 26th amendment exists.
Louis Capozzi | Gay Old Party
Is the Republican Party becoming an ally?
Alec Ward | Nothing to be proud of
If we, as a community, would wish for our incoming classes to be truly composed of the best students Penn can find, rather than the elite few who serve the University’s self-promotional needs, then we ought not to celebrate our yield rate.
Louis Capozzi | A tale of two Trumps
I assumed Trump would understand the national electorate. I assumed he would adjust his strategy and pivot to the general election. I might have been wrong.
Jack Hostager | The testing machine
he College Board’s 6,000 member institutions — including Penn — are the only ones who can reasonably hold the College Board accountable. Universities should push the College Board to explain where all of those testing profits go.
Isabel Kim | Aftermath
The media, at its best, is a vehicle for information. At its worst, it reflects the ugliest of our prejudices back at us, and I’m concerned over how the latter disguises itself as the former.
Benjamin Zou | Turn up the heat
My mother is a lively woman with an infectious, uncompromising spirit.