With stress factors ranging from finals to term papers to complicated winter break plans, there may be only one thing at Penn that isn't worrying students right now -- the search for a new president.
For most students, the quest for University President Judith Rodin's replacement is not a top priority.
"I don't know anything about it," Engineering junior Guillermo Ponte said. "I read the articles, but I don't think it affects me directly."
Still, students said that they are eager to find out who the new president will be, especially because they think the replacement will shape the University's future.
"It affects the University and indirectly affects me," College senior Jeff Pyatt said, even though he admits that the presidential search is not something he thinks about regularly. "To represent the University well, it's important to have a strongly qualified president."
Also a College senior, Susan Peterson agreed that she is eager to find out who the new president will be even though this is her last year at Penn.
"That reflects on you as an alumni," Peterson said, adding that the school's future depends on this decision.
Despite the impact the decision will have on students, some didn't feel like their voices were being heard throughout the process. While there are four students on the search committee, the rest of the student body will remain in the dark until the replacement is announced.
"I feel like I am not going to have much of a sway in what happens," College junior Kia Holifield said, adding that she "definitely" would have liked more opportunities to take part in the selection process.
College sophomore Ling Wu agreed that she would like to be involved, but said that she did not even know how she could be.
Still, she said that most students are not interested in the nuts and bolts of the search committee's decision.
"I don't think they need to give us every single detail about what's going on," Wu said. "We don't really think about it that much."
Yet others feel that they have had ample opportunity to learn about, and impact, the process.
"Judith Rodin has done a great job in her time here and I'm sure that the University is going to be sure to find a successor who will meet the needs of the students as much as Rodin has done thus far," College sophomore Rachel Wilson said. "I'm glad that the opinions of the students are being listened to and taken into account."
Other students said that they are mostly concerned about the presidential search because they are hoping for a president who will be interested in undergraduate concerns.
"I think it's going to be vital for us to find a president who is going to adhere to many of the pressing issues that Penn students are facing," Wilson said, adding that she has faith that the search committee will find a suitable person.
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