February 3, 2020

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020 VOL. CXXXVI NO. 6

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

FOUNDED 1885

KYLIE COOPER

Penn pledges not to invest in coal and tar sand industries Fossil Free Penn will continue sit-ins to demand public town hall HAWTHORNE RIPLEY Senior Reporter

On Wednesday, Penn President Amy Gutmann sent an emailed announcement to the Penn community with updates on the University’s responses to climate change. The University will restrict its investment program and not invest in the coal and tar sand industries, KYLIE COOPER according to Gutmann’s email. The announcement comes over a year af- FFP has twice submitted divestment proposals to be reviewed by Penn’s Board of Trustees. ter the University Council steering committee The first proposal in 2015 called on the University to divest from all fossil fuels.

Penn student stranded in Wuhan as coronavirus spreads College sophomore is stuck in Wuhan, China JULIE COLEMAN Senior Reporter

Zhexuan Huang is stranded. Stuck in the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, the College

sophomore is unable to return to Penn from his home city of Wuhan, China. Huang has not been able to leave his house, let alone Wuhan, for weeks and has been forced to take a leave of absence from Penn this semester. He was in the process of renewing his student

visa in early January when the virus outbreak began and was told by the United States consulate in Guangzhou, China that he would receive his passport within approximately one week. He had planned to leave for Penn on Jan. 15 but did not receive his visa by then. With his visa still pending

and Wuhan on lockdown, Huang cannot return to Penn this semester. “I still haven’t received my passport back, and Wuhan is still completely blocked – like all the public transportation is closed, in-

rejected Fossil Free Penn’s proposal to divest from coal and tar sands. Since then, the climate strike movement has grown, both globally and on Penn’s campus. Student activists led by FFP have continued to demand divestment through Friday sit-ins in College Hall, hosting speakers and educational events, and in November, a protest which shut down a Penn’s Board of Trustees meeting. “Penn does not hold, and would not expect to hold going forward, any direct investments in companies focused on the production of thermal coal or bituminous (tar) sands, a reflecSEE FOSSIL FREE PAGE 7

Penn Volleyball coach Iain Braddak resigns

SEE WUHAN PAGE 2

KATILIN ROWAN

Coach Iain Braddak has resigned from his position at the helm of Penn volleyball, Penn Athletics announced in a press release Friday.

Braddak’s tenure ended after two rocky seasons THEODOROS PAPAZEKOS Senior Sports Reporter BRANDON LI

College sophomore Zhexuan Huang was in the process of renewing his student visa in early January when the virus outbreak began. He had planned to leave for Penn on Jan. 15 but did not receive his visa by then. Huang is now forced to take a leave of absence this semester.

Penn Athletics has announced that volleyball coach Iain Braddak has resigned from his post

after two seasons on the job. Braddak oversaw a turbulent year and a half as coach of the program since his controversial hiring in April 2018 as the team’s third head coach in as many years. His first season SEE VOLLEYBALL PAGE 3

Penn Leads the Vote amps up efforts to increase student turnout for Pa. primaries

The Pa. presidential primary is in April PIA SINGH Staff Reporter

For the first time since 2016, most Penn students will be on campus during Pennsylvania’s primary election in April. Penn Leads the Vote,

a non-partisan group, plans to use this opportunity to increase student voter turnout, particularly among demographics and majors that traditionally vote less frequently. This semester, PLTV will put most of its efforts into hosting voter registration drives and voter education tables for the presidential primary on April 28. The group is opti-

mistic about this year’s student voter turnout because on-campus voting in midterm elections has increased by more than 450% from 2014 to 2018. According to 2019 College graduate and last year’s PLTV Director Benjamin Oh, Pennsylvania law mandates that the PA primaries for every local and midterm election

EDITORIAL | Bernie for the Dem. nomination

“Sanders is also the only candidate with a coherent vision for how to enact his policy proposals once in office in the face of immense opposition.” - DP Editorial Board PAGE 4

SPORTS | Men’s basketball picks up Ivy wins Penn men’s basketball secured a thrilling overtime victory over Harvard on Friday night before escaping against Dartmouth one day later. BACKPAGE

FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM

take place in May except for the presidential primary. He said this means that most college students in the state have a reduced opportunity to vote in three out of every four Pennsylvania election cycles, since most are not on campus in May. “This is the one primary in a four-year cycle where students will actually be on campus, and there-

fore they should be really excited to have the opportunity to vote,” PLTV co-Director and College sophomore Eva Gonzalez said. PLTV, which operates under Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, is a non-partisan group founded in 2004. It aims to inform undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and staff

NEWS Six UA members resign from seats mid-term

NEWS Penn Wistar Institute works on coronavirus vaccine

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and the larger Philadelphia community, about the voting process and the importance of political participation in a democracy. “At the end of the day, voter participation and voting shouldn’t be considered a partisan issue,” Oh said. “For us, it’s really important SEE PLTV PAGE 6

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