March 29, 2018

Page 1

Penn Bracket

SEE PAGE 12

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018 VOL. CXXXIV NO. 21

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

FOUNDED 1885

Status of Asian American Studies program director still unclear Faculty say there’s no search for new director MADELEINE NGO Deputy News Editor

GILLIAN DIEBOLD | DESIGN EDITOR

Admissions rate drops to record-breaking 8.39% YONI GUTENMACHER Deputy News Editor

Penn admitted 3,731 out of 44,482 applicants for the Class of 2022, setting a record-low acceptance rate of 8.39 per-

cent for the incoming freshman class. The drop from last year’s acceptance rate — which broke a previous record-low of 9.15 percent for the Class of 2021 — is the most drastic decrease in recent years.The Class of 2020 had an acceptance rate of 9.41

percent, the Class of 2019 was 9.92 percent, and the Class of 2018 was 9.90 percent. The total applicant pool of 44,482 saw a drastic increase of 4,069 students since last year’s 40,413 total. SEE ACCEPTANCE PAGE 6

Protest demands Penn fund local schools Locals, students challenge Penn to pay government MAX COHEN Deputy News Editor

Chants of “Pay your fair share!” filled the air outside College Hall on Wednesday afternoon as a group of about 50 protesters campaigned for an increase in funding for Philadelphia public schools, challenging Penn to give more back to the city’s school system. Co-organized by Our City Our Schools and the Penn Chapter of Student Labor Action Project, the rally featured speeches from students, parents, and teachers of the Philadelphia public school system. Antoine Little, the chair of the Our City Our Schools Coalition, described the organization’s goal to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in order to properly fund public schools. According to the organization’s Proposal for Equitable School Funding in 2018, it proposes the end of the city’s

10-year tax abatement, the postponement of reductions to the business income tax, the increase of the use and occupancy tax to 1.5 percent of property value, and the collection of PILOTs — Payments in Lieu of Taxes. “Imagine what our schools could be if the 1 percent of this city paid their fair share?” Little said. “You could have books in every classroom, counselors in every school, nurses in every school, and you could lower the amount of students in classrooms.” PILOTs refer to payments willingly made by nonprofit organizations to their local governments in place of property tax. As a nonprofit, Penn is exempt from paying property taxes under the tax code even though it is the largest private employer in the city. In the past, Penn has cited the economic benefits it gives the city, such as adding jobs to the local economy and contributing $2 million annually to the University City District, as a reason for not participating in PILOT

Asian American Studies program leaders say there is no ongoing search for a director of Penn’s ASAM program — which has been operating without a director since Grace Kao’s departure in January 2017 — despite indications from the University administration otherwise. In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian this February, Provost Wendell Pritchett said that there was an ongoing search for a full-time ASAM lecturer being conducted by School of Arts and Sciences Dean Steven Fluharty. When asked whether that included a search for a new director of the ASAM program, Pritchett responded, “that’s my understanding.” Administrators, students, and faculty members have confirmed there is an ongoing search for a full-time lecturer, but ASAM faculty members and involved students are under the impression that there is no search, however, for a permanent director. While Fluharty confirmed that the “School of Arts and Sciences remains firmly committed” to ASAM, he did not confirm whether there is still an ongoing search for a director.

SEE ASAM PAGE 2

IFC decides against implementation of diversity chair Duties to be distributed among IFC officials AMANPREET SINGH Staff Reporter

CHRIS MOUNTANOS | SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF

As a nonprofit, Penn is exempt from paying property taxes under the tax code even though it is the largest private employer in the city.

agreements. Various other private universities, including Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, and Brown University are also exempt from these taxes, but choose to make

OPINION | Having Faith at Penn

“Christianity for me was not the end to the search for meaning, but rather, something that pointed me to where I should search.” — Sara Merican PAGE 5

SPORTS | Plenty of Firepower

This season, Penn women’s lacrosse returned the vast majority of its offensive weapons, and with a few new freshmen in the mix, the offense is a force to be reckoned with BACKPAGE FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM

payments to their local government through PILOTs agreements. Penn and Columbia University are the only two Ivies that do not make such payments.

NEWS Students to lead second ‘Campus Conversation’ PAGE 2

SEE PROTEST PAGE 8

“We are always watching to see if appropriate leadership emerges from a departmental faculty search,” Fluharty wrote in an email to the DP. “The lecturer search is still in progress, which is not unusual; beyond that I don’t comment on the specific details of personnel matters such as ongoing searches.” History professor Eiichiro Azuma, who is currently serving as the ASAM interim director, wrote in an email that English professor Josephine Park will act as the interim director for the 2018-2019 academic year. Aside from that, however, Azuma said he does not believe there is any search for a permanent director. “As far as we know, there are no ‘plans to search for a new director,’ not to mention an actual search for that position right now,” Azuma wrote. He added that he and other members of the program had communicated their wish to find a new director for the program to the deans, “but they gave us no commitment or clear answer to our request,” he wrote. ASAM Undergraduate Advisory Board Chair and College senior Lindsey Lui also said “there are no updates” that she’s been given regarding the search for a permanent director and that “there are currently no plans for a director,” to her knowledge.

The Interfraternity Council announced last March it was looking to introduce a diversity chair position to its executive board. A year later, however, the IFC board still is without a diversity chair and is no longer searching for one, instead looking to address diversity in other ways. Following a racially-charged incident at Phi Gamma Delta — a member named his beer pong team “VietPong” and later faced backlash from the Asian community at Penn — the former IFC president and current College senior Bradley

Freemen told the DP in March that the IFC was “looking towards accelerating.” Freeman declined to comment on this article. The previous IFC board decided that they would not establish a diversity chair last fall, IFC current President and College junior Reginald Murphy said. Instead, last year’s board elected to make diversity considerations a “bigger component” of each elected officials’ positions. This decision is being carried on by the current board, Murphy said. One of the board’s biggest focuses this fall will be the New Member Education program. Former IFC Executive Board members College seSEE DIVERSITY PAGE 3

NEWS Amazon’s fast delivery service to come to Penn PAGE 7

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March 29, 2018 by The Daily Pennsylvanian - Issuu