September 26, 2019

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 VOL. CXXXV

NO. 41

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

FOUNDED 1885

Former HUP employee files lawsuit against Penn for gender discrimination The employee claims she was wrongfully fired DANIEL WANG Staff Reporter

A former Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania employee, who identifies as a transgender woman, has opened a lawsuit against HUP for gender discrimination. After a recent judge’s order, the lawyers for the employee and HUP are meeting to revise the plaintiff’s claims against the university. The plaintiff, given the pseudonym “Jane Doe,” claims she was mistreated after a routine medical procedure at HUP on Feb. 20, 2018. After the event, she claims she had difficulty returning to work because the hospital exacerbated her gender dysphoria, which is distress felt as a result of conflict between biological sex and gender identity. Four months later, HUP fired her, according to the lawsuit filed on July 2. The claims include assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, violation of right of privacy, medical malpractice, sex discrimination, and wrongful termination. “While we are unable to comment on pending litigation, respect for all our patients is a cornerstone of care across Penn Medicine, and we value and support diversity among both our patients and our workforce,” a Penn Medicine spokesperson said. Doe claims that when she arrived at HUP for a routine medical procedure in February 2018, the first receptionist she met misgendered her, calling her by her former male name and using masculine pronouns. The hospital also ignored Doe’s specific instructions about her sensitivity to anesthesia, causing her to wake up in the recovery room disoriented and panicked, according to the lawsuit. The report states the defendants were “simply watching as she started to climb out of her bed seeking help.” Penn Police officers arrived and forcefully subdued her,

MARIA MURAD

The Penn Museum is hosting a new exhibit titled, “Hostile Terrain 94,” a 20-foot-long map of the Arizona-Mexico border filled with identification tags of those who died trying to migrate to the United States.

SEE MUSEUM PAGE 6

Grad. student group combats harassment in academia The Coalition Against Sexual Misconduct wants to start a unified movement among grad. students HARSHITA GUPTA Staff Reporter

Penn graduate students have started a new organization to combat sexual harassment in academia. The organization, called the Coalition Against Sexual Misconduct, hopes to involve students and staff across the Penn community. The coalition’s mission statement said it aims to “advocate for protections, policies, and a cultural shift surrounding sexual harassment and misconduct.” “We chose to be a coalition because we want to think

SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 2

SEE SEXUAL MISCONDUCT PAGE 6

CLAIRE SHIN

Undergraduate Assembly distributes wellness guide UA members said it took on renewed importance after Eells’ death CONOR MURRAY Senior Reporter

The Undergraduate Assembly aims to tackle mental wellness this year, focusing on the distribution of a wellness guide that informs Penn students of resources on campus. The student governing body is circulating a list of mental health resources, planning to launch a study to learn more about the struggles Penn students face, and continue working to integrate Counseling and Psychological Services clinicians in more undergraduate schools. The initiatives were planned before the death of CAPS Director Gregory Eells in early September, but UA members said the measures took on renewed importance after the tragedy. The UA started off the semester by distributing the wellness guide at their table at the Student Activities Council fair, College senior and UA President Natasha Menon said. The wellness guide was also passed out at an ice cream social hosted by the UA and CAPS on Aug. 31. The wellness guide is a handout with contact information for different mental health resources on campus, Menon said. She said the UA is currently looking for additional ways to distribute the wellness guide to Penn students. “These were already projects in place before [Eells’] passing, but I think all the wellness partners are even more determined to create an environment that fosters mental wellness on campus, hopefully through these initiatives,” Menon said.

The UA will continue its tabling initiative on Locust Walk this semester, Menon said, with the intention of distributing wellness guides to students passing by. Building upon the physical distribution, she said the UA may also upload a PDF of the guide to its website or send it to students via email. Wharton sophomore and UA Secretary Dante Diggs is in the early stages of implementing a longitudinal wellness study, which will monitor the mental wellness of 50 students from each undergraduate school throughout their four years at Penn. Diggs is currently meeting with professors to develop a survey with questions that will provide insight into the mental health struggles that Penn students face. He said his next steps will be to construct effectively worded questions and to figure out how to engage students with the survey. Diggs said the goal of the project is to pinpoint specific stressors for students and then relay the findings to the administration. “We tend to have to shoot in the dark and find out what we think is a problem, or what may not be a problem, on our own,” Diggs said. “I think it would help a lot for administrators and for students to understand what the actual pain points are by analyzing students over the four years.” Additional mental wellness initiatives include College sophomore and Equity and Inclusion Committee Director Mary Sadallah’s ongoing work to integrate CAPS resources across campus. Sadallah worked on this project last year and presented her ideas at the “Your Big Idea” wellness competition in April. The project aims to extend the reach of CAPS beyond its traditional office to make it easily accessible to students on campus. She plans to continue her work with CAPS this year.

OPINION | Penn must enforce exam bans during religious holidays Page 4 SPORTS | Senior Shelton a leader for Penn

Senior defender Laura Shelton has been a mainstay for field hockey over her four years, to the point that she can’t imagine life without the team. BACKPAGE FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM

John Kerry served as Secretary of State for President Barack Obama. At Perry World House, he drew on his experience of negotiating the Paris Climate Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal.

At Penn, John Kerry calls for urgent action on climate change Kerry was speaking at a Perry World House colloquium DANIEL TAN Staff Reporter

Former Secretary of State John Kerry spoke at Tuesday’s 2019 Global Order Colloquium at Perry World House, calling for urgent action to reverse climate change and criticizing President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran. Other distinguished world figures also discussed artificial intelligence, social media, and democracy. The colloquium, “How Emerging Technologies

are Rewiring the Global Order,” featured a keynote address by Penn President Amy Gutmann and conversations with Kerry, former President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva, former United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Executive Director of the Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth, and Uber Chief Scientist Raquel Urtasun. Here are five main takeaways. Kerry: climate change is an “emergency” Drawing from his experience negotiating the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement (from which the United States withdrew in 2017), Kerry underscored the urgency of American action on climate SEE KERRY PAGE 2

NEWS Prof. Criticizes China’s human rights protections

NEWS Steve’s Prince of Steaks extrends weekday hours

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