If Amy Gutmann gets her wish, she’ll be getting “ratchet” and going to spas with Vice President Joe Biden in a few weeks.
The Penn president tweeted several times last night from the official @Penn Twitter account in what a source who works in Gutmann’s office and has been briefed on the matter called “a PR nightmare” in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian early Wednesday morning.
“A 3.9% increase in tuition means AT LEAST a 3.5% increase in spa time for the prez, right?” read one tweet, referencing the recent tuition increase announcement. Another, which was directed to Biden’s account @VP, implored Biden to “come get #ratchet with me at #fling.”
Gutmann, who has previously described herself as “an online animal,” is reportedly “obsessed with Twitter” after being introduced to the social media platform last week, the source said.
“She stays up late at night tweeting about bartenders and Joe Biden from her ‘nighttime Twitter,’ as she likes to call it,” the source explained. “She also has access to Penn’s Twitter, which was clearly a mistake on our part.”
The source added that she must have meant to tweet from “@agut_27” but sent it from @Penn instead.
The tweets, which confirm students’ worst suspicions about University abuse of tuition funds, have evoked outrage among the Penn community.
The DP, which obtained Gutmann’s expense reports from 2012, found that she spent over $500,000 at 258 visits to Body Restoration Day Spa in Rittenhouse Square.
Gutmann did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but sources say she is preparing a public statement to be released sometime Wednesday.
Board of Trustees’ Chair David Cohen shrugged off suggestions that the trips represent an abuse of tuition money. “The trustees stand behind President Gutmann,” he said. “We strongly believe she is the absolute best university president in the nation, and if keeping her at Penn means letting her off the leash once in a while, I’m all for it.”
Others were not so flippant about Gutmann’s de-stressing days.
“My father pays so much money for me to go here and I have to live in the Radian,” College junior Jessica Friedman said. “I, like, don’t think it’s right that she gets to party with Obama when we’re stuck here with Tyga.”
Senior professors, too, are displeased with the overt display of gluttony. Graduate School of Education professor Joni Finney, who researches higher education finance, has begun circulating a petition to impeach Gutmann.
“With the income gap in this country broadening, we believe it is absolutely despicable that a leader of a prominent higher education institution would waste such absurd amounts of money,” the petition read.
“There is no rational reason for Amy G to be going crazy on the students’ dime,” Finney said. “It shows a complete lack of respect.”
However, some students were encouraged by Biden’s reply, which indicated that he would accept Gutmann’s invitation to get “ratchet” at Spring Fling.
“That mofo is so dope,” Engineering freshman Daniel Ng said. “Partyin’ with the veep is definitely the play.”
This article appeared in the Daily Pennsylvanian’s Joke Issue 2013. For more information, click here.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.