18 NEWS
MAY 11, 2018 - GRADUATION ISSUE
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
Fallout mounts for Prof. accused of misconduct with students
He allegedly had relationships with his students MANLU LIU & REBECCA TAN Deputy News Editor & Executive Editor
The University is actively investigating allegations that psychology professor Robert Kurzban had romantic relationships with students whom he directly oversaw, administrators confirmed on April 26. Kurzban, who was slated to teach a senior honors seminar in psychology in the fall of 2018, has also been removed from the course, said Sharon Thompson-Schill, the chair of the Psychology Department. Kurzban’s name was listed on Penn’s course registration website as an instructor for the seminar as late as April 26, but his name has since been removed. Thompson-Schill also said in an
email to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Kurzban will no longer be serving as the director of the honors program in the Psychology Department. Since the allegations emerged, the longtime Penn professor has also stepped down from his role as the president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, according to a recent email from the former HBES president Elizabeth Cashdan to members of the society. Cashdan added that she will be assuming the role of actingpresident until the HBES council meets for their annual conference in Amsterdam this July. According to their website, HBES is a society for scholars who study the evolution of human behavior, including evolutionary psychology, evolutionary anthropology, and cultural evolution. In her emailed statement to
Congratulations to the 2017 graduates of the Religious Studies Department!
ANUJ AMIN BEN CAMPBELL DIEGO FIGUEROA MOSTAFA MELEIS TIANHAO GAO ALI HARWOOD COREY LOFTUS BROOKE RECZKA ELENA SCHIAVONE FROM THE PENN RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT
HBES members, Cashdan said Kurzban, who was slated to act as HBES president from 2017-2019, chose to step down because “he did not want [the allegations] to be a distraction to the society.” She added in a separate statement to the DP that Kurzban had stepped down voluntarily. The responses from Penn and HBES come after two different sets of allegations emerged against Kurzban, who has taught at Penn since 2002. On April 11, the DP reported that Kurzban allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship in 2017 with a College freshman while she was a student in his course. On April 25, the DP reported that the psychology professor allegedly had another romantic relationship in 2016 with a student whom he directly oversaw as an advisor. Both of these alleged relationships are apparent violations of
Congratulations to our graduating members! Alice Yu Andrew Park Ben Parker Celeste Adler Daniel Kutzin Daniel Orol David Cantu Guajardo Emma Hetrick Haley Rugh Hunter Pearl Jackie Valeri Jaclin Boorse Jeanette Freeman Jenna Harowitz Jimin Yoon
INSIGNEM LAVDEM MERETVR COHORS ANNI BIS MILLESIMI OCTAVI DECIMI! The Department of Classical Studies congratulates this year’s (2018) majors in Classical Studies and Ancient History: Anuj Amin Adam Bleday Rive Cadwallader Amy Chan Alexis Ciambotti Braden Cordivari
Claudia Epley Mileidy Gonzalez Negreira Adam Ireland Claudia Kassner David Kinnaird
James Konopka Brian Mendoza Kristen Pearson Samantha Warrick Samuel Wert Rachel Wood
French and Francophone Studies Congratulates the 2018 Graduates Fe॔licitations!
Majors Rachel H. Brock Ethan Genyk Emma Hartley
Lucy E. Bartel Anna E. Branch Madison K. Brod Alesandra S. Bryski Korbin C. Carnegie Logan C. Castrucci Amy Y. Chan Meghan M. Chapman Elena R. Clarfield Frederick M. Dunau Gina Maria M. El Khoury Oluwabomi J. Fagbemi Vanita R. Flanagan
Jesse J. Liu Adam C. Mansell Joselyn T. Salazar
Minors
Konstantina Il Govotsos Caroline E. Guenoun Dalia S. Hughes Kenton R. Hutchison Patricia Jia Briana N. Johnson Justin W. Kagotho Michael W. Katzovitz Mishayum Z. Khoja Noah L. Klayman Ardita Koka Amethys Kompani Eunyoung Lee
a decades-old University policy that prohibits sexual relationships between faculty and students for whom they have “supervisory academic responsibility.” This policy, which has been in place since 1995, was recently updated to ban all sexual relations between faculty and undergraduate students regardless of time or context. “The account detailed in the April 26 edition of the Daily Pennsylvanian article concerning our colleague Rob Kurzban is deeply troubling,” ThompsonSchill wrote in a statement to faculty and students in the Psychology department. “We are now doing whatever we can as a department to understand what has happened, and we will continue to cooperate with University officials as they follow proper procedures in this matter. For now, we want to make clear that what was described in this article could not
Caroline M. Sands Kyra E. Schulman
Stella M. Lemper-Tabatsky Cristina H. Leon Annabel Phelps Lewis Alicia M. Lu Skyla S. Matthews Alison M. McFarland Max H. Och Bevan D. Pearson Benjamin J. Riedel Olivia Melody Rifai Shirin J. Vetry Ivy Yuexin Zhang
John San Soucie Joseph Klinger Kate Panzer Kyle McKee Laura Kuder Matthew Eisenberg Sam Sanders Sarah Allen Spencer Fox Travis Gosse
be more at odds with our educational and moral values.” University spokesperson Steve MacCarthy confirmed in an email that Penn is looking into the allegations brought against Kurzban but did not address questions asking what exactly the “proper procedures” cited in ThompsonSchill’s message referred to or whether the University shares the Psychology Department’s position that this alleged behavior is contrary to Penn’s “educational and moral values.” In a statement to the DP, Thompson-Schill said she decided to issue the statement to faculty within the Psychology Department because she found the allegations brought against Kurzban “troubling.” “I issued the statement you have seen because it is important that members of the community know that the Psychology Depart-
ment is cooperating in the university’s process for investigating all allegations such as this,” she wrote. “As my statement said, we find the allegations troubling and we, as a department, want to understand what has happened, as, no doubt, you do.” Cashban acknowledged the ongoing investigation into Kurzban’s behavior but did not take on a similar position to ThompsonSchill. “We expect our members to abide by our Code of Conduct at HBES events, but we do not have a statement about Prof. Kurzban’s situation at Penn, nor would we, since it is a Penn matter and is still under investigation,” Cashdan wrote in a statement to the DP. “Prof. Kurzban suggested that he step down so that those events would not be a distraction for HBES, and we appreciate that and agree with it.”
The Department of Romance Languages Congratulates the
2018 Italian Studies Graduates
Tanti auguri! Italian Studies Majors Nicholas DeMarie Marco Dileonardo Mackenzie Gray Courtney Shaya
Italian Studies Minors Lindsay Covington Helen Dugan George Gospodinov Marcella Marquez
Certificates in Italian Nour Hussein Leticia Salazar Nubia Ortega Raymond Pomponio
The Department of Romance Languages Congratulates the 2018 Hispanic Studies Graduates
Majors Alexis L Block Noralma Evan Ethan L Genyk Naomi H Gordon Sophia Griffith-Gorgati Caroline E Hong Dalia S Hughes Yana Kaplun Marcus J Katz Amanda A Nart Carly M O’Donnell Eleanor I St John Sutton Madeleine E Stokes Jacob N Wieseneck Natasha H Wood Kaela L Harvey Kyle E Heubner
Minors Dylan J Adelman Maxwell Chandler Bailey Samuel J Bauman Joshua D Chubb Martina Ciancaglini Larissa J Converti Sarah G Cornelius
Christopher John D’Urso Kathryn L Dewitt Marco Dileonardo Daniel P Dwyer Claire E Fishman Blair L Freeman Emily A Garvey Charles A Golden Isabel W Griffith Alaina R Hall Margaret R Hanna Sarah Lilienthal Hinstorff Zeeshan M Huque Madeleine C Jacobs William R Johnson Vibha Kannan Maya Kassutto Jisoo Kim Priscilla Haewon Kim Natalie K Koch Ivana T Kohut Jana R Korn Iverson Nathan Peter Korsen Chante R Lawson Zoe C Lazaro Maxwell H Levy Silicia I Lomax Rebecca E Lopez Katherine L Mcgannon
Fiorella Medina Enrique W Mitchell Christin L Molisani Angelo R Munafo Chaela A Nutor Colleen M O’Malley Angelique Vance Onorati Nicholas M Palombi Lydia A Ramharack Mariel N Regenstreif Leticia Salazar Hannah D Shaknovich John P Shaw Leah K Sorcher Sarah J Thompson Rachel K Walter Jaclyn S Woodward Oliver Young Sabrina M Zatarain Vivian Y Zheng Abigail N Zislis Zein Zubi Karina Miranda Yoon-Ji Moon Emily M Zinselmeier
The Psychology Department Congratulates the Class of 2018! Syed Aajmain Orly Arbit Armen Bagdasarov Halbert Bai Serena Bian Destiny Bingham Jaclin Boorse Sanatu Bukari Nina Bump Roman Cano Korbin Carnegie Kim-Anh Dam Dennis Dang Cheyenne Davis Kathryn Davis Ifeoluwa Dawodu Adam deLisle Joseph Dembik Kathryn Dewitt Meagan Dollard Michaela Ervin Mariana Escobedo Emma Finkel Andrew Furash Benjamin Gendelman Emily Gerszberg Joan He
Zeeshan Huque Ilona Jileaeva Natalie Jimenez Brittany Kaplan Erin Kim Hwa Soo Kim Noah Klayman Ardita Koka Ila Kumar Courtney Lipson Madeleine Lushing Emily Marucci Rachel Marx Liam McGrother Miranda Meketon Marielle Miller Elena Modesti Mayra Monreal Michael Monroe Sydney Morris William Morrison Alessandra Mullin Mario Myers Meghana Nallajerla Kevin Narine Chaela Nutor Frewine Ogbaselase
Victoria Peng Tyreeka Peynado Santiago Restrepo Victoria Rio Samuel Rosenberg Anna Ross Natalia Ruh Elena Schiavone Jiyoung Song Erica Suarez Kirstyn Taylor Alison Thompson Nadia Uberoi Andrew Valdez John Vella Jonathan Wehry Haley Weiss Connie Wong Morgan Wu Sabrina Zatarain Fangbin Zhao