Opinion Columnists
Alec Ward | The Donald’s amended reality
At a rally on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary, Donald Trump (W’68) called Ted Cruz a pussy.
Amanda Reid | Minor Adjustments
As an international student, I’ve grown progressively better at fitting in with cultural groups.
Meerabelle Jesuthasan | Bad Television
Remember when you stopped watching Pretty Little Liars, because the repetitive subplots and twists, no matter how exciting initially, just seemed to slow the whole thing down? The United States presidential election, too, seems to elicit a feverish intensity lasting so long that its quality is compromised. At this point, the long-lasting sensationalism of the American electoral process is taken for granted.
Ben Facey | Empty Chair
On Friday night I would have told you that this has been a bizarre election cycle. I would have told you that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump would win their respective primaries.
Joe Tharakan | All Berned out
Bernie Sanders has dramatically outperformed the initial expectations for his campaign. After his near tie in Iowa and his huge win in New Hampshire, many prospective democratic voters are full on “Feeling the Bern.” His honesty, consistent liberal record and focus on big money’s corruption of politics resonate strongly with primary voters.
Alec Ward | The times, they aren’t a-changin’
“SOCIALISM REVIVED” proclaimed last Thursday’s print DP headline, introducing a feature on a student group calling itself Students for a Democratic Society and Penn’s chapter of the eponymous ‘60s radical group. Despite the shamelessly sensational headline, the group’s birth is basically a non-event.
Emily Hoeven | Trust fall
My roommate and I were walking to a restaurant downtown for Restaurant Week when a man suddenly popped out from the row of cars parked alongside the street.
Cameron Dichter | Bernie's missing piece
For an event that promised to be all about their distinctions, Thursday night’s Democratic Debate left out what might be the biggest issue currently separating Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: their huge discrepancy in support from African Americans.
Clara Jane Hendrickson | Transforming white atonement
Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates recently criticized Bernie Sanders’ class-first policies in a piece in The Atlantic.
Louis Capozzi | The Hawkeye Hurting
The Iowa Caucuses did not turn out well for the Democratic Party. With the Iowa Caucuses concluded and New Hampshire quickly transforming into the nation’s obsession, it’s worth pausing to reflect on how actual votes compare to the pundit-driven noise from the previous year.
Alessandro van den Brink | The spirit of compromise
A couple weeks ago, fellow columnist Cameron Dichterok wrote a column piece — "Whose speech matters?" — explaining why he believes that critics of political correctness are appropriating speech that hurts minorities who have nothing to gain through this example of free speech.
Karen Chi | Environmental dichotomy
For all its hype about being a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certified building, the New College House has some uncharacteristic features for a dormitory.
Alec Ward | The elephant in the closet
At last week’s UA-sponsored panel on open expression at Penn, the most intriguing comment I heard was only tangentially related to free speech.
Ben Facey | Anonymity
It might be surprising to hear, but I actually read The Daily Pennsylvanian, specifically the Opinion section. Since I mostly read when I am bored in class, I read the articles online.
Amanda Reid | The negotiation of halves
Imagine yourself meeting someone new. And you see yourself in someone else’s eyes for the first time.
Alec Ward | Leave the door open
Unless you read The Chronicle of Higher Education with the near-obsessive frequency that I do, you probably don’t know much about Mount St.
Joe Tharakan | The problem with pre-med
Right now on this campus, thousands of pre-med students shuffle to their massive Bio lectures, their on-campus research positions, their clinical volunteering jobs, their health related extracurriculars, or their activities unrelated to medicine but picked because medical schools prefer them. Ask any of them about it, and I expect they will all say the same thing: it sucks.
Emily Hoeven | Brave new worlds
I remember my first night in the Quadrangle, lying on a hard and slightly stained mattress, surrounded by four intimidatingly blank walls, and listening to the heartbeat of an unfamiliar city outside my window.