Ann Farnsworth-Alvear

Guest columnists Ann Farnsworth-Alvear and Zita Cristina Nunes urge the Penn administration to negotiate with protesters and protect freedom of speech on campus. 

When the University does not pay for the services and environment that make its work possible, other Philadelphians are left to make up the difference — or, city schools and other institutions simply go without.

While not all of us agree on every tactic the students may employ, we as faculty urge our colleagues and University administrators to hear them out, engage them constructively, and take much bolder action.

No middle schooler growing up in the United States should be forced to realize that she has inherited an outsider status.