Opinion Columns
Jonathan Iwry | Save America from itself
To ignore such issues and debate how safe we are is like crossing the street without looking both ways while pondering the danger of shark attacks. It’s tempting to assess our condition solely in terms of radical threats — terror has a way of stealing our attention — but whoever does so is looking through a faulty lens. National security and national integrity must go hand in hand.
Yessi Gutierrez | Driven to action
Undocumented immigrants deserve the same access to practical necessities as documented immigrants and native-born residents. They should not have to fear incarceration and deportation for deciding to run to the store for cereal, for dropping their kids off at school or carpooling to work.
Katiera Sordjan | A year on leave
The hardest part of being on leave was dealing with the shame of what felt like such a heavy failure. To me, every day I wasn’t in class was another day that I was being idle. It didn’t matter how much I helped my family out around the house, how much I volunteered or how many doctor’s appointments I went to. If I wasn’t a student, if I wasn’t employed, I wasn’t a productive member of society — end of story.
Maya Rawal | Informed in isolation
I found myself relying on my friends majoring in international relations and political science — and various friends’ Facebook statuses — to learn about major world news. I was unaware of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 and the unfolding events of the Israel-Palestine conflict for hours or sometimes days after the fact.
The Vision | Being an angel saved no one
This ideology holds that if minorities would simply “respect themselves” by adopting the social and cultural standards of the dominant class, then and only then would they be privy to the full benefits and “respect” of all American society. This fallacy is not only wrong in that it puts the onus of racism on those stripped of power, but it is also elitist in its belief that pulled-up pants and collegiate degrees will somehow protect one from legalized suspicion and police violence.
Jeremiah Keenan | Maintaining monogamy
The problem with random hook-ups is that they achieve, in one leap, a physical intimacy that we afterwards realize was based on a hormone rush or too much alcohol — not a real relationship.
Dani Blum | Accepting Meh
I don’t want to accept that Penn’s losing its sparkle. I want to re-believe in the glossy admissions brochure images I taped to my wall back home, and to not feel gypped when every day isn’t an adventure.
Sophia Wushanley | Alone, together
Texts and emails that replace mundane small talk and logistical planning aren’t depriving us of deep conversation. Who among us hasn’t complained about the shallowness of brief introductions and perfunctory pleasantries?
Ariel Koren and Joyce Kim | To run or not to run
If you aspire to improve student life from a policy perspective, if you want to work toward understanding and meeting the needs of dozens of student groups, if you’re interested in managing funds that impact the entire undergraduate student body and if you hope to consult the administration on issues that are central to every Quaker’s experience, run to be a part of the Undergraduate Assembly.
Akshat Shekhar | Not just another game
Overall, though, the student body does not fear missing out on athletic contests because the University refuses to treat sports as anything out of the ordinary. We all know athletes and wish them well, in the same way that we hope for the successes of our friends who are a cappella singers and dancers.
Jonathan Iwry | Cause for concern
We can’t go around pointing fingers and echoing vague yet provocative ideologies just because our fellow activists espouse those views. We must ask ourselves at each juncture, “Am I really informed enough to make these assertions?”
Shawn Kelley | Heads or Tails
A student should have the creative thinking and communication skills required of a liberal arts major, as well as the critical thinking and technical knowledge of a STEM major.
Roderick Cook | Beyond a single cause
This legacy of true queer activism has quickly been subjugated to the point where violence against trans women of color still runs rampant, but large, wealthy LGBT marriage equality organizations can afford to spend thousands of dollars on networking galas to “build community.”
The Vision | (Re)visionary: why black students need a column in the DP
We believe this volume of diverse voices will begin a much-needed conversation with the DP’s far-reaching audience around the country, and this column can be a space from which readers engage, incite deeper understanding of our communities, learn and perhaps, above all, will want to change the conditions of our nation.
Jeremiah Keenan | Big brother beats big government
I keenly felt the dissonance between the media hubbub last year about underfunding in Philadelphia public schools and the actual issue at hand. The school needed discipline, not tax dollars.Penn Dems | This stuff matters
Let us introduce ourselves: we are the Penn Democrats, the most active political group on campus.