Opinion Columns
Kayla Cotter | Fool’s Gold: Is the Four-Year Degree All It Seems?
Columnist Kayla Cotter argues that viewing the four-year degree as compulsory threatens to undermine other viable post-secondary pathways.
Lexi Boccuzzi | What happened to 'follow the science'?
Columnist Lexi Boccuzzi argues that the University’s choice to extend the mask mandate in classrooms failed to consider scientific evidence and opinions of a large portion of students and faculty.
Agatha Advincula | Dear Accepted Students: Here’s What to Expect at Penn
Columnist Agatha Advincula advises incoming college students on what they should know about Penn.
Otto Piasecki | Penn needs to value its diversity and internationalism
Columnist Otto Piasecki urges students to take advantage of the international diversity present at Penn.
Vinay Khosla | Why is humanity’s suffering so Instagrammable?
Columnist Vinay Khosla argues that social media culture has been pivotal in desensitizing people to issues across the world.
Jesse Zhang | Dear High School Seniors
Columnist Jesse Zhang shares his experiences and the lessons he learned from the college matriculation process.
Alex Eapen | What we need in Penn’s next provost
Columnist Alex Eapen writes that appointing a person of color as provost will allow Penn to better prioritize diversity and inclusion on campus.
Jaden Cloobeck | Senior societies should become more inclusive and transparent
Columnist Jaden Cloobeck argues that senior societies need to improve in social inclusivity and financial transparency by reflecting on his personal rush experience and by interviewing current senior society members.
Sam Zou | Why affirmative action is still needed in college admissions
Columnist Sam Zou argues for the positive role affirmative action has on achieving diversity, increasing intergenerational mobility, and equalizing wealth between Black and white students.
Lexi Boccuzzi | Stop treating secondary education as a necessity
Columnist Lexi Boccuzzi argues that higher education should not be viewed as a necessity, and in doing so we can improve the quality of our lives in college as well as our collective financial futures.
Isabella Glassman | ECON 001 is not a prerequisite to life at Penn
Columnist Isabella Glassman urges Penn students to more deeply consider whether an economics course is necessary for their academic career.
Allison Santa-Cruz | It's time to drop the mask mandate, required testing, and PennOpen pass
Columnist Allison-Santa-Cruz argues that it is time to return to pre-pandemic normalcy given current COVID-19 data.
Jesse Zhang | Force yourself to relax with a “mandatory pastime”
Columnist Jesse Zhang encourages the Penn community to participate in a non-academic and non-preprofessional extracurricular activity.
Joseph M. Squillaro | “The Great Penn Resignation” is happening. How will you take back your time?
Columnist Joseph M. Squillaro encourages you to join “The Great Penn Resignation,” discussing the paradoxical benefits of declaring “I quit.”
Alfredo Praticò | Let us vote on Penn’s mask mandate
Columnist Alfredo Praticò argues that the Penn community should vote on the fate of the campus mask mandate.
Vinay Khosla | The Moncler ethos: Bridging the wealth gap at Penn
Columnist Vinay Khosla argues that Penn students ought to be more cognizant of wealth disparities in order to build a more inclusive campus environment.
Allison Santa-Cruz | Stop comparing Philadelphia to other cities
Columnist Allison Santa-Cruz discusses how reframing our initial perceptions of Philadelphia enables us to view it for the great city that it is.
Jaden Cloobeck | Use Penn’s alumni network. It may change your life.
Columnist Jaden Cloobeck encourages students to reach out to Penn alumni using the MyPenn database because doing so may lead to informative lessons and connections.
Alfredo Praticò | Magill’s first test: Getting Penn’s support of Lea Elementary right
Columnist Alfredo Praticò argues that the success of Penn’s multi-year, multi-million dollar investment into Lea Elementary hinges on Penn’s new president, Liz Magill.