Guest Columns
Guest column by Jane Meyer and Ray Clark | More than school, it's our home
The Penn community has a diverse collection of backgrounds, experiences and interests. As a student body, we are at our best when we collaborate, so that’s why we are planning to improve relationships between Greek life and cultural groups, increase male involvement in sexual assault prevention, and also bring the UA closer to the students to raise the level of transparency in student government.
Guest column by Charles Mark | Jerome, you deserved better
Is this the lesson a first rate university wants to teach its students? Appearance, not merits, should dominate?Guest column by Adam Hersh | Perpetuating exclusivity: the superfluousness of senior societies
On a regular basis this month, we’ll all get to enjoy the spectacle of well-credentialed people in silly clothes running drunkenly around campus drawing chalk symbols on whatever surface they can find.Guest column by Cheyenne Rogers | A call to action: increased University support for low-income students
In order to become a University that is truly invested in improving the lives of its low-income students, the first step is simple: talk. The University needs a forum for discussion if we are to understand where support for low-income students is lacking and how to improve it.Guest column by Nate Bronstein | After graduation, walk the walk
There’s something you should know about me: I believe in superheroes. When I was a kid, I used to rush home from school every day to catch the latest episode of the Super Friends — a cheesy superhero cartoon series from the 70s.Guest Column by David Britto | Why pride isn't an admissions criteria
In her column, “Inviting Quaker pride,” two weeks ago, Dani Blum argued that Penn should continue to admit high percentages of the freshman class through the Early Decision program.Guest column by Connie Chen, Will Johnson and Thomas Lee| Five myths about fossil fuel divestment
Fossil fuel divestment is often misunderstood by opponents, so we're here to debunk common myths.Guest column by Julia Slater | More than a week for women
Sometimes it’s easy to sweep sexism under the rug. Sometimes it's easy to see it as a problem that exists elsewhere — not on college campuses, and certainly not at a place as progressive as Penn.Guest column by Dia Sotiropoulou | The blue-and-red-eyed monster
As I’ve scrolled through my Facebook news feed recently, I’ve stumbled every so often on emphatic promotional blurbs urging me to “beat Harvard.” With a “like” to the Daily Pennsylvanian’s Facebook page, apparently, I can stick it to those sneering Cambridgeites and help overtake the popularity of their altogether-too-revered Crimson.Guest column by Xeno Washburne and Amber Blaylock | Autism Speaks and Penn's Neurodiversity Problem
Autism Speaks has no interest in improving the lives of autistic people. It is dedicated entirely to improving the lives of those without autism, who, it holds, are unfairly burdened by having to deal with people whose sensory and social experiences differ dramatically from their own, to the point where cold-blooded murder is an understandable, sympathetic response. Autism Speaks seeks not to change the future for autistic people, but to end it.Guest column by Will Johnson and Thomas Lee | Gutmann’s climate plan is not enough
Last Tuesday, President Amy Gutmann sent an email to the Penn community about the launch of Climate Action Plan 2.0. Despite its account of previous accomplishments and plans for the next five years, CAP 2.0 falls short of the mark. To be a genuine climate action leader, Penn must divest its endowment from fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy.Guest column by Heather Holmes | Racism 101
Unfortunately, for our black peers, “learning about racism” by occasionally dipping one’s toes into side research and casual activism is not a choice. Racism is a front-and-center issue for many Penn students, not necessarily because they seek out racial minorities as so-called special interest groups, but because they are subjugated to virulent racism themselves.Guest column by Theodore Caputi | In defense of Tom Corbett
What’s most disappointing about the Penn Dems’ column is that they fail to mention any of Corbett’s successes. There’s no hint of a counterargument in their entire column. They don’t mention that Corbett cut the Pennsylvania state deficit by over $4 billion, that Pennsylvania recently experienced its lowest unemployment rate since 2008, that the state income tax has not increased over his entire tenure and that he reduced the state government to its smallest size in 50 years.Guest column by Penn Education Society | How do we help our schools?
At a last-minute, barely publicized meeting last Monday morning, the School District of Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission ended 21 months of negotiations and canceled its contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Ending this contract means that PFT members, who currently pay nothing for health care benefits, will now be required to pay 10 to 13 percent of the cost of their medical plan premiums.Guest column by Daniela Jinich | It's all noise
Who is fighting whom? A democratic country versus a terrorist organization. Is “number of deaths” the only way to measure justice? Or should we instead look at how well a government protects its people? Let’s ask, why did the Hamas leadership tell the citizens of Gaza to ignore the pamphlets, phone calls and text messages sent by the Israel Defense Forces to Palestinian civilians before attacking rocket-launching sites?
Guest column by Penn Democrats | What’s missing in hate crime legislation
Pennsylvania is one of just 14 states with hate crime laws that do not include protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Hate crime protection increases the severity of charges for violence motivated by malicious intent, and these laws protect the people in our community who are the most vulnerable. It is inexcusable that the LGBT community is not protected.Guest column by Ghinwa Moujaes | Transition to Penn
It was hard adjusting to Penn. After two weeks, I was set on going home. I had decided that Penn wasn’t worth it. I didn’t want to be Americanized. I wanted to stay true to my identity. I wanted to go back home to Lebanon.
Guest column by Penn Dems | Starving for change
Fortunately, Republicans were not able to cut SNAP funding by $40 billion. Still, Republicans were somewhat successful in their quest to cut aid to the needy. Earlier this year, President Obama signed into law a compromise agreement that cut SNAP by almost $9 billion.As a result of those cuts, 175,000 Pennsylvania families will lose $65 in benefits each month. Many of these families undoubtedly live close to Penn, and perhaps some of the affected children are those whom Penn students tutor in local schools. For families that have already been struggling to make ends meet, these cuts will be devastating.