FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 2018 VOL. CXXXIV NO. 32
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
FOUNDED 1885
T
hey arrived in droves, accompanied by parents and grandparents armed with swiffers. For most of this week, close to 2,500 bright-eyed students from the Class of 2022 moved into what will be their homes for the next year. Starting Friday, they’ll be joined on campus by Penn’s returning students. Learn more about the the newest members of the Penn community inside. SEE MOVE IN PAGE 21
CHRISTINE LAM | DESIGN EDITOR
Huntsman Hall to change hours to improve campus wellness It will now close at 2 a.m. and open at 7 a.m. KELLY HEINZERLING News Editor
At 4 a.m. on any day of the week, it’s not uncommon to find Penn students hunched over desks in Huntsman Hall finishing problem sets, discussing strategies for a case competition, or even bingewatching reality television. It’s a hallowed Penn tradition — but one that will no longer exist starting this semester. As of Aug. 26, Huntsman Hall, which was previously open 24 hours a day, will close every night at 2 a.m. and reopen at 7 a.m. the next morning. This change is part of a larger effort to improve wellness among Wharton students, Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett announced on Thursday. “The idea was to really emphasize student wellness. We want students to go home at a reasonable hour and sleep,” Director of Wharton Student Life Lee Kramer said. “We’re hoping this is a positive step for campus and that students will be receptive to it.” Kramer added that the
building will be open 24 hours every day from the start of reading days until the end of finals. On top of changing Huntsman’s operating hours, the business school is hiring a new associate director to help undergraduate students “experiencing acute academic and personal challenges.” It will also open a new Mindfulness Space in the second floor Quiet Study Lounge, which will be open for all Wharton students to use for quiet meditation or prayer. Wharton’s push to improve conditions around students’ mental health comes amid a wider University initiative to boost wellness. In this past year, Penn has created a new wellness portal, held campuswide conversations on mental wellness, conducted an operational review of Counseling and Psychological Services, and hired a Chief Wellness Officer for the University. The news that Huntsman Hall will no longer be open 24 hours has struck a nerve with returning Penn students. Many have expressed concern over whether the change in operating hours will mean-
ingfully improve mental health, posting comments and memes online criticizing the decision. A petition started on Change.org calling on Wharton to revert the decision had gathered dozens of signatures on Thursday night. College senior Morgan Savige, who was informed about the new hours by a Huntsman security guard on Tuesday night, said she did not think reducing access to study spaces was an efficient way to address mental health on campus. “There’s a mental health pressure from other things on campus that causes people to take advantage of the 24-houraccess,” Savige said. “Reducing the access I don’t think would change the problem that exists.” Wharton junior Rahul Subbaraya agreed. “I think it’s dodging the issue,” he said. “The issue is not that we’re staying in Huntsman. We’re still going to have the same amount of work to do whether we’re studying in Huntsman or not. So it’s going to be more stressful to find a quiet place SEE HUNTSMAN PAGE 19
OPINION | Wharton needs a better solution “Closing Huntsman early fails to address the reasons students so often need to work later than 2 a.m. in the first place.” PAGE 4
SPORTS | A Decade in Ivy League Sports
In the first article in a semester long series, we look at the overall success of each Ivy League athletic program. PAGE 23
NEWS OFSL welcomes new Greek Life director PAGE 3
U. ‘Hidden Costs’ can pose hurdles for FGLI students Unanticipated fees include the student insurance plan GIANNA FERRARIN Staff Reporter
The summer before College senior Lyndsi Burcham began her freshman year at Penn, she was faced with a task familiar to all undergraduates: either to enroll in or to opt out of the Penn Student Insurance Plan. Since Burcham did not have health insurance, she needed to enroll. She was shocked to discover, however, that she would have to pay approximately $3,000 and remembered thinking she couldn’t afford the fee. “At that time I was like, ‘Oh god, how do I get that covered,’ because when I was a senior in high school my parents couldn’t help me with anything,” Burcham said. “I mean, I had teachers at my high school who paid for my first plane ticket to come to Penn.” While Burcham, the advocacy chair for Penn First — a student organization for firstgeneration, low-income students — said she later learned she could receive financial
assistance through Student Financial Services, she noted that she thought of this unanticipated fee as an example of a hidden cost not included in Penn’s estimated cost of attendance, which exceeded $70,000 for the first time this year. The 3.8 percent increase in cost of attendance was accompanied by a 5.25 percent increase in the total financial aid budget. For the 2018-2019 academic school year, the estimated cost of attendance is $71,200 per student and the University budget for total financial aid is $237 million. The University uses the estimated cost of attendance — which includes direct and indirect costs associated with being a Penn student, such as tuition, housing, and transportation, according to the Student Registration and Financial Services website — to determine how much financial aid a student is eligible for. Like Burcham, many FGLI students say there are hidden costs which are not explicitly included in the estimated cost of attendance, which can act as a financial burden on members of their community,
NEWS 161 crimes reported over this past summer PAGE 6
even though SFS takes steps to address these fees on an individual basis. These hidden costs can take the form of unanticipated funds spent on classes, transportation, textbooks, social activities, and personal expenses like toiletries. “A low-income student doesn’t have walking around money,” said Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert and publisher of Cappex, which is a website connecting students to colleges and scholarships. “There are a lot of costs that aren’t part of the official costs that they nevertheless have to pay that makes things difficult and so they have to make choices like do they buy some cold weather gear or do they eat a meal.” The SRFS website notes that the cost of enrollment in PSIP is added to an individual student’s cost of attendance if they enroll and indicates that students can contact their financial aid counselor for additional financial aid. Kantrowitz added that while he believes the most selective institutions could afford SEE FGLI PAGE 8
