College campuses around the country have experienced a slew of violent protests against invited speakers, as students protest guests they deem unworthy and prevent them from sharing their views.

Recently, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education conducted a survey to shine light on the growing demand for an expanded half-credit course system here at Penn.

I was watching one of my brother’s baseball games over spring break when a parent asked me why I wasn’t living it up in Florida or Puerto Vallarta or some other tropical location with my friends.

This past week, I participated in an Alternate Spring Break trip to Hendersonville, North Carolina, where we spent the week working with Housing Assistance, a local organization that helps with home repair for people in poverty. Throughout the week, we had the opportunity to help repair roofs around the community, visit local sights and eat lots of great food.

I went through a phase growing up when I was really into the saying “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” I’m not sure where I first picked it up, but it had just the right amounts of flippant attitude and pseudo-profundity that young James was really into.

I’ve been happy lately — really happy — and when I’m happy, I don’t want to write. It’s unfortunate, this sensation.

As you might have noticed, the news media has spent much of the past two years focused, seemingly solely, on the comings and goings of a certain Penn alum.

If you type the word “expectations” into your search bar, the first suggestion that comes up is “expectations versus reality.” The search yields endless memes that attest to the vast discrepancy between what we expect the result of something to be and its actual result.

I have failed in college. A lot. I’ve been rejected from more clubs than I can remember. I’ve been turned down from countless jobs.

Much has been said and written about Penn’s pre-professional culture, but to me it seems like an inevitable and natural product of Ben Franklin’s emphasis on a practical education.

Everyone one of us, no matter how smart or hardworking, will at some point face the pain of rejection during our time at Penn.

GROUP THINK is the DP’s round table section, where we throw a question at the columnists and see what answers stick.

I went back to Korea over winter break, because that is what you do when you’re the daughter of Asian parents: You fly back to your country of ethnic origin so that all your relatives can exclaim to your parents “how much taller she is!” and “She looks just like you!” except in Korean, because you are, as mentioned earlier, in Korea.

Adjusting to life at Penn was a very difficult process. Many people, especially Penn students with whom I have interacted, assume that because I am on financial aid, I have everything I need to survive on Penn’s campus.

James Baldwin once said, “The paradox of education is precisely this — that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” From the second I started my education here I’ve constantly seen and interacted with black staff working as servers, security guards, janitors and the like.

The state of the press is alarming. And many of the critiques of the media, echoing endlessly in the ears of the American people, are legitimate and necessary.

In high school, I used to participate in extemporaneous speaking. We were given a question on current events; something like, “How will Brexit impact the UK economy?” might be asked today.