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Here at Penn, it’s all too easy to get caught up in our immediate to-do list. In 2016, our campus will be caught up in our foremost national duty: electing the 45th President of the United States.
A Year In-Review: Having Already Built A Better Government
This past year, we were excited to lead a campus that was named the the best college nationwide by USA Today and of course No.
Penn is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and we’re proud of that — especially considering that women literally run Penn. The University president, the Undergraduate Assembly president and our senior class president are all women.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.