Opinion Columns
Roderick Cook | Reframing violence
We must move beyond calling the act of robbing a store or taking someone’s money “violent.” We must also use this term to refer to Penn’s role in the gentrification of West Philadelphia through the expansion of our university, which forces families out of their homes and perpetuates intergenerational poverty. Poverty combines with systematic racism, leading people to commit these crimes of survival.
Katiera Sordjan | Demonizing photography
But even without Photoshop, the same ideals continue to inform their image selection. America consistently sees beauty through a lens that has nothing to do with cameras — one that excludes people of varying classes, genders, sexualities and races. Models’ dropping BMIs are indications of a much larger societal desire to confine beauty. Photography and other forms of media cannot spontaneously create cultural views; they are shaped by context and represent the society that they are created in.
Yessenia Gutierrez | There's more than monosexuality
Non-monosexual people often face a similar issue of erasure. “Pansexuality doesn’t exist.” “It’s just a way to get attention.” “It is a stepping stone to ‘truly’ coming out.” These remarks, all of which I’ve heard, are ways of discrediting someone else’s sexual orientation, and their romantic and sexual attractions and experiences. Non-monosexual women are told we are catering to the male gaze, and non-monosexual men are told that they are “actually” gay and just haven’t fully come out yet. Both stereotypes are false and harmful.
Sophia Wushanley | Imaginary America
In imaginary America, affirmative action is unfair because it treats two equally privileged candidates unequally. It is unnecessary because Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream has been realized and we all see character, not skin. It is nonsensical because minorities aren’t disproportionately poor, uneducated and incarcerated. We can hope for this America but we cannot pretend it exists or has ever existed.
Dani Blum | Irrational ratios
But the ratio does the most damage to the frats themselves. I’ve been amazed by how Penn frats defy the stereotype. I’ve defended fraternities to my friends at small liberal arts colleges who think they’re the epitome of archetypal, dumb college groups. Actually talk to a frat brother, and you’ll find a different story.
Penn Democrats | The game is rigged
Income inequality is also preventing economic mobility. We love to talk about the “American dream,” that working hard and playing by the rules leads to success, but it’s harder for Americans who are born poor to succeed than it is in just about any other advanced nation.
Guest column by College Republicans | Name calling isn't policy
Quite frankly, sometimes these arguments are purposely deceptive. Planned Parenthood’s 3 percent statistic, for example. Planned Parenthood has unbundled every particular “service” rendered in order to reduce the percentage that abortions make up. A routine visit, for instance, could rack up many “services,” depending on what exams you get or pills you receive. This convenient tallying is designed to distract from the other, more significant statistics — namely, the staggering number of abortions they perform.
Jeremiah Keenan | An apology and an appeal
Unfortunately, many people took my attack on racial stereotyping as a form of racism. Thankfully, a number of people from the black community reached out to me personally about the column, and we had open, friendly conversations. Honestly addressing stereotypes on both sides helped to bring them down.
Katiera Sordjan | Too much activism?
I am grateful to have met many people over the course of my time at Penn who are passionate. Many students are driven to make changes in the Penn community, and our larger society, by being activists both on and off campus.
Maya Rawal | What's in a name
“What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” These two questions are nearly ubiquitous when we meet a new person.
The Vision | Beyond the surface
There are countless organizations on campus dedicated to promoting mental wellness. But many of these organizations don’t deeply explore the ways in which intersectionality may affect students’ mental health.
Jeremiah Keenan | Becoming a racist
People assume a lot about me because of the color of my skin. First off, I’m a racist. Then, I am rich, unaware, stuck-up, and out to keep the black man down.
Sophia Wushanley | Putting life on hold
There’s a persistent mindset that non-career-related personal goals and relationships are something we’ll get a chance to do over, but that possibilities for career advancement are the real once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. The biological clock doesn’t tick as loudly as the countdown to final exams or a quarterly review.
Penn Democrats | Treat every body equally
The attack on women in America needs to end. Despite being one of the most developed and influential countries in the world, we are decades behind many other countries when it comes to reproductive rights. While European countries provide free access to contraceptives and encourage comprehensive sex education, in America, women’s health care autonomy is limited by the religious and moral views of others.
Dani Blum | Core values
It sucks that I have to put off that creative writing course I’m interested in until next year, but I want to become a more educated person. Requirements raise us to a level of competency so we can graduate with the knowledge base we need to take on the world. English majors need rudimentary math skills to survive; Wharton kids need to know how to write. Learning across disciplines allows us to pick up skills we wouldn’t otherwise have, to teach us how to think. If that’s not the purpose of college, I don’t know what is.
Jonathan Iwry | A dose of reason
Unfortunately, the cult of the natural has overstepped its bounds. These people are no different from the fanatically religious; they cling mindlessly to dogma, guided by simplistic maxims like “nature good, technology bad.” And their lack of insight is putting everyone at risk.
Katiera Sordjan | A family affair
Why is it that when a tuition bill is posted to my account, my parents are notified immediately to pay up, but when it comes to the deaths of our classmates, they are left in the dark?
Roderick Cook | Politicizing Halloween costumes
“Given that culturally appropriative Halloween costumes are caricatures of the cultures that they aim to emulate, they’re a means of exercising control over them,” Huynh says. “In this mindset, white culture gets to be complex. It cannot be reduced to a certain type of clothing or mannerism. But ‘East Asian culture’ can be reduced to the geisha girl. Cultures can be bought and worn for Western entertainment.”
Shawn Kelley | Old school
I am not a doe-eyed freshman who just graduated from high school in the town I spent my whole life in. In fact, there are many students who don’t fit this description at all. Yet there are professors who still give lectures as though their class composition consists of this very stereotype.