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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 VOL. CXXXIII NO. 67
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ROBERTA NIN FELIZ | Staff reporter
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arious reports this past summer have shown that virtually all major tech companies from Google to Facebook struggle with diversity. Penn, which has one of the top Engineering schools in the country, is no exception. According to Penn’s diversity statistics, 7 percent of Penn undergraduates are black, and slightly over 10 percent are Hispanic. These numbers are even lower in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Associate Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Yulanda Essoka said the office receives an estimate of the number of students who selfidentify as a minority every year. The most recent numbers indicate that, of the total 800 Engineering students majoring in computer science at
Penn, only 46, which is less than 6 percent, self-identified as a minority. Computer and Information Science Department Chair Sampath Kannan said the estimated figures for the graduating class of 2017 in Engineering is 5.4 percent for African-American students and 4.3 percent for Hispanics, but added that it’s difficult to determine the exact number of underrepresented students because of the small sample size. Kannan also said there is still work to do in “attracting African-American and Hispanic students to our major in numbers similar to Penn’s overall numbers.” College Junior Brandon Obas, who is double-majoring in computer science and cognitive science, said he believes that one way Penn can
make it better for students of color is by hiring more diverse faculty within the Computer and Information Science Department. “If I saw an African-American man teaching me computer science, I would be really inspired and more comfortable seeing someone who looks like me teaching a subject I’m so interested in,” Obas said. In 2011, Penn launched the “Action Plan for Faculty Diversity and Excellence” to increase the percentage of underrepresented communities among the faculty, but six years later, data on the project showed mixed results. As of fall 2016, only 8 percent of the faculty in the Engineering SEE ENGINEERING PAGE 3
How off-campus housing works for students on financial aid Moving off campus is more complex for those on aid ALIZA OHNOUNA Senior Reporter
Every year, thousands of Penn students move off campus, often to save on college expenses. However, reports from students suggest the University doesn’t readily provide assistance to those who choose to do so. The process seems particularly stressful for students with financial aid, who have to find their own housing on top of navigating complicated policies from both Student Financial Services and external leasing companies. Living off-campus often requires students to produce large sums of money up-front, which can also be a challenge for students on financial aid. A College sophomore and member of Penn First who chose to remain anonymous in fear of retaliation from SFS, was awarded an external scholarship of $15,000 during his freshman
year, which he was intending to use for his housing off-campus. He was shocked over the summer when he realized SFS had reduced his grant money by $15,000 after he reported his scholarship. Since this student had already signed a lease before he learned that his grant money was being deducted, he is continuing on this lease for the year with help from his parents. College senior and Penn First member Sarah Figgatt lived oncampus last semester. On top of a work-study job and a generous financial aid package, Figgatt worked 40 hours a week at a restaurant, but still wasn’t able to afford her living expenses. She decided to live off-campus this semester to save money — and many other students living off campus cite cost savings as a primary reason for doing so. Elaine Papas Varas, the University director of financial aid, said the sticker price for many off-campus apartments don’t include all costs — apartment com-
financial aid FOR STUDENTS LIVING ON & OFF CAMPUS
47%
of students received financial aid
plexes often bill their utilities separately and students also have to pay to furnish their rooms. This suggests that off-campus housing isn’t necessarily cheaper than living on campus, though the aid packages SFS is offering to students living off-campus this year don’t seem to bear this out.
OPINION | Please go past 45th Street “Across our campus, the ideals of inclusive and open community are fundamental to the Penn experience.” PAGE 5
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Every year, SFS conducts a survey of 114 off-campus residences and calculates a reasonable cost for living off-campus. Its estimations are based on the cost of a two-bedroom apartment divided in half, and Varas said this method is standard for financial aid offices at other schools
across the country. This year, SFS can offer up to $8,217 for students living offcampus. If they are on a 12-month lease, students receive $685 each month. For on-campus housing, students can receive up to $9,818 in their financial aid package, suggesting that living on-campus
NEWS Students affected by Harvey
NEWS Single-gender clubs adjust policies
PAGE 2
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is actually more expensive. The policies surrounding financial aid for off-campus housing can also pose additional challenges to students on financial aid. Aid for off-campus housing is SEE FINANCIAL AID PAGE 3
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2 NEWS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
International students face obstacles settling in
Many stay in hotels to compensate for Penn’s policies GIANNA FERRARIN Staff Reporter
With a week of classes done and dusted, most freshmen are gradually settling into their new homes on campus. For international students, however, this process has posed additional hurdles. When she first arrived on campus last year, Wharton sophomore and Australian native Tammy Tan instantly noticed how her experience differed from her American peers. While many American students drove up to campus with cars stuffed with their belongings, Tan arrived on campus alone with only two suitcases in hand. Because she could not pack any sheets or decorations inside her suitcase, Tan said her room looked like a prison cell on the night of move-in. Many international students at Penn have experienced something similar. Thirteen percent of the class of 2016 is international students. In
Fall 2016, Penn had a total of 4,859 international students enrolled at all levels. “It’s really funny when you carry suitcases that are specifically designed to endure a very long flight and see families carrying little drawers or a nightstand or little furnitures,” said College and Wharton sophomore Eva Zhang, who lives in Beijing. ”[This is] not something you would bring directly from the airport to your dorm.” Even after moving in, international students often find they have cultural barriers to overcome when trying to meet new people. Engineering freshman and Lebanese student Maher Abdel Samad said coming from a racially homogenous country adds difficulties to meeting students from different racial backgrounds. “I feel like here you have to tiptoe your way around some conversations because you’re just always scared of offending someone,” Abdel Samad said. International Scholar Orientation helps with some challenges that
INTERNATI NAL
STUDENT FACTS
13%
OF THE CLASS OF 2016 IS INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
IN FALL 2016, Penn had a total of
4,859
international students
ENROLLED AT ALL LEVELS
SOURCE: WWW.upenn.edu/about/facts come with adjusting. Tan said she remembers finding ISO helpful on the day of move-in, primarily because they organized a trip to CVS. She said that she was amazed when she discovered CVS since in Australia, food and pharmacy goods are sold separately. Some U.S. products also don’t have exact counterparts to those overseas.
JULIA SCHORR | DESIGN EDITOR
“I was not familiar with stores and the products,” Tan said. “In the U.S., nobody uses laundry powder. Everyone uses liquid or suds.” Some freshmen who moved in during the first days of ISO, which allowed international students to move in before their freshman peers arrived for New Student Orientation, said they needed more time to
buy supplies and to set up bank accounts and phone numbers — tasks that their American peers do not have to concern themselves with. Abdel Samad said many international students rent hotel rooms in advance of their early move-in in order to complete these tasks. “You need to come at least four days before move-in because if you
don’t, you won’t have enough time to set up your stuff,” Abdel Samad said. For the first time this year, Penn set the move-in date for international students to two days prior to NSO. Engineering senior and Assembly of International Students President Dhruv Agarwal said that while this is an improvement from last year, when international students could move in only one day before NSO, it still does not compare to some of the early programming for international students at peer institutions. Yale and Dartmouth provide four days of this programming, while Brown, Princeton and Columbia provide three. International students at Harvard and Cornell do not arrive early for special programming. AIS is continuing to work with Penn to improve move-in for international students by allowing them to arrive even earlier to campus for programming. “Right now this is the first year at Penn that they’ve managed to get it down to 48 hours,” Agarwal said. “We’re working with the administration to make sure that’s longer.”
Hurricane Harvey hits Penn students and families One arrived in Philly a day before the hurricane struck KELLY HEINZERLING Deputy News Editor
While most students on Penn’s campus spent last week fretting
over classes and attending back-toschool parties, College senior Anuj Amin was watching a live feed of helicopters flying over his entirely flooded hometown. Amin is from Port Neches, Texas, one of the areas that has been hit hardest by Hurricane Harvey. Ac-
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cording to a statement from Penn administrators, more than 600 students at the University are residents of impacted areas. “I’ve never in my entire life seen anything like this. I’ve lived through Rita and Katrina. Hurricanes are normal; I grew up with them. When you’re little, it’s even fun. You get school off, it’s like a party,” Amin said. “This feels like a sick joke — it turned so bad so fast, and so many people lost their lives.” “Today marks the fourth day my city doesn’t have clean water or electricity,” he added on Sept. 3. In the past week, Amin has heard from friends’ whose homes had flooded with over five feet of water. His friend’s mother almost died in the few seconds after water rushed into their house, and one of his father’s coworkers sacrificed her life to save her toddler. “I’ve never felt this way. It’s just terror and fear and sadness,” Amin said. “Here in Philadelphia the sun is shining, but back home people are legitimately drowning to save their children.” Amin said it has been incredibly difficult to see his hometown deal with the aftermath of flooding. Residents have had to grapple with complete darkness at night, a horrible stench of garbage as well as the looming fear that the oil fields that his area is known for could become toxic or flammable. Amin isn’t the only Penn student who has been watching their hometown on the news. “I was in Houston this summer and it was crazy seeing on the Internet the before and after pictures of these parks where we were,” Wharton sophomore and Houston resident Hannah Le said. Le said
she counts herself lucky since her elevated house saved her family from suffering severe damage. Le managed to leave home for Penn a day before the hurricane hit, but said it has been difficult to watch her home from over 1,500 miles away. “There was one night [of NSO] I had two phones out checking the weather in full-out hurricane mode,” Le said, of what she described as a stressful return back to school. “It’s surreal. This is my city; this is where I’m from.” College senior Helen Nie grew up in the Netherlands, but moved to Houston this summer with her parents. They were staying in a temporary house before their permanent one was ready, but the hurricane forced her parents to abandon the house and relocate due to flooding. “They were supposed to get their move-in shipment [from the Netherlands] yesterday, but now it’s not going to get there until September 6,” Nie said. Basic concerns like food and water have also been concerns for her parents, who have filled up the bath to use as a water source, in case the hurricane cuts off water from Houston’s water towers. Many students at Penn have friends stuck in Houston, who have reported back of their kayaking experiences down one of the main highways in the city. Amin noted, too, that although the hurricane has shown the strength of his community, he knows the hurricane is something both he and his home will be coping with for years to come. “My home will legitimately never be the same,” Amin said. “Every time I go back I will always see the scars of this hurricane.”
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PHOTO FROM HELEN NIE
College senior Helen Nie’s parents were staying in a temporary house in Houston, but the hurricane forced them to relocate.
PHOTO FROM HELEN NIE
“I was in Houston this summer and it was crazy seeing on the Internet the before and after pictures of these parks where we were,” Wharton sophomore and Houston resident Hannah Le said.
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NEWS 3
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
Gender-fluid students and single-gender clubs
Performing arts groups aim to be more progressive GIOVANNA PAZ Staff Reporter
Audition season has arrived for most performing arts groups at Penn and, for many, the question of what gender nonconforming students can expect from single-gender groups is up in the air. The Performing Arts Council consists of over 46 student-run a capella, dance, musical and theatre organizations. Members of PAC must be distinct from one another in order to be accepted into the council, so for this reason, groups are expected to advertise what makes them unique on campus. College senior Nadia Uberoi, who serves as the president for the all-female pop a capella group at Penn, explained that the result of this policy leads groups to promote what makes each club unique, whether that be its ties to certain cultures or its brand as single-gender. Acknowledging the inherently
FINANCIAL AID >> FRONTPAGE
provided for as long as students are enrolled in the school year, which is usually substantially shorter than housing leases that usually span 12 months. The refund that students receive from Penn typically does not cover the three months of summer rent before many students return to campus and the security deposit. In addition, the earliest the refund can be given to students is 10 days before the beginning of classes, which was a struggle for Figgatt, whose lease began earlier in the summer. Figgatt said she was also confused by SFS’s guidance on how to apply her financial aid to offcampus housing. She met with two advisors: one who guided her against living off campus, and one who was more “up-
exclusionary effect of this policy, Uberoi said she hopes to take Quaker Notes in a more progressive direction. “In light of recent cultural changes, it’s something we’ve been thinking about more” College senior Nadia Uberoi said. Although Quaker Notes does not have an official policy instated as of yet, Uberoi said Quaker Notes is accepting of all who identify as a woman. She also hopes to bring this to the forefront as a member of the performing arts community. PAC itself does not have authority over the policies of its student-run organizations, but individual PAC groups have already started taking concrete steps within their mission statements or constitutions. This past spring, the all-female comedy troupe, Bloomers, added a new addendum to its internal constitution. It will accept “all female-identifying” students, which Bloomers president and Engineering and Wharton senior Meghana Jayam reaffirmed in from of the crowd gathered Friday night for
Bloomer’s free show. Jayam said now it is only a matter of translating the policy shift into the group’s advertising. “It’s important that you actively say people have a right to be in your group” co-Musical Director in Bloomers and College junior Becca Lambright said. “Otherwise they will assume that you don’t want them which is unfair.” Lambright, also a member of the Mask and Wig production team, reflected on the idea of performing arts groups as a safe space. She related her situation to that of gender nonconforming students, saying that her position brings about questions of boundaries in an organization that was not initially made for her. “It’s really, really necessary to make it clear that everyone deserves and has a right to a space in their group” Lambright said. “You can’t be silent on these issues. Saying nothing is just as poignant of a statement.” College seniors Zeeshan Mallick and Ethan Fein of the Mask and Wig Executive Board said that the official group policy for the all-male
beat.” Many students are unaware of the policies surrounding financial aid for off-campus, Varas said. She encouraged students to visit SFS if they’re considering a housing change, but also acknowledged that SFS needs to improve communication with students on this subject. “We need to be doing a much better job on just giving students an education on living off campus,” she said. Students and leasing offices also had complaints on the way financial aid for off-campus housing is given in the form of a oneoff, lump sum of money. Students given this large sum of money often face difficulties budgeting, causing them to pay their rents late, said Linda Coughlin, the property manager of Apartments at Penn, a small real estate office on 41st Street that rents to stu-
dents throughout University City. “The money can always melt in their hands, and not always for the right things,” she said. “I think it’s ludicrous that Penn just hands out these enormous amounts of money.” Coughlin didn’t disclose any numbers on how often students miss paying their rent or aren’t able to pay at all. She said that serious cases of repeated missed payments are rare, but the few she has seen have been extremely costly for landlords. Campus Apartments, one of the largest leasing offices in the University City area, declined to comment on the issue. “I generally do actually have issues with money management just because you encounter social groups or your friends and everyone wants to go out to, you know, karaoke, BYOs, brunch, it’s frustrating,” Figgatt said.
Back to School
PHOTO FROM BLOOMERS
Bloomers, an all-female comedy troupe, accepts “all female-identifying” students, a point emphasized by Bloomers president Meghana Jayam at their free show Friday night.
comedy troupe is to include and accept all “male-identifying” students in any part of the group. The organization also wanted to make it known that they work with students on a case by case basis if
any questions or concerns arise. Members of these groups noted that there is a long history with the way they distinguish themselves. But members also commented on the accepting nature of the perform-
ENGINEERING >> FRONTPAGE
school were underrepresented, a category that includes Hispanic/ Latino, African American/Black and Native American/Alaskan Native people. That being said, professors and students in the Computer and Information Science Department have noticed an increase in students of color in the department over the years. “If you looked back 10 years ago, I don’t think you would see nearly as many black or Latino people in the class,” Steve Zdancewic, a computer science professor who has taught the introductory computer science class CIS 120 several times. CIS professor Chris CallisonBurch echoed this sentiment, noting that “it seems like there are more people of color this time around [in
this iteration of CIS 121].” Enrique Mitchell, a senior in computer science who has been a teaching assistant for CIS 120, said he’s also seen a jump in the number of black and Latino students who come to his office hours. “When I was a freshman, we were definitely few and far between,” Mitchell said. “These last two semesters, I’ve definitely seen a jump in the number of black and Latino students [in CIS 120].” Mitchell also noted the growth of resources in National Society of Black Engineers for students of color. “When I first started there wasn’t a lot of support being black in computer science,” Mitchell said. “There were very few upperclassmen who could help me decide whether I wanted to study computer science.” Penn also seems to have been more successful in recruiting wom-
ing arts community at Penn. “I’m sad that it took so long” Lambright said, reflecting on the Bloomer’s addendum. “I don’t think we’re done yet. “I think there’s always more that we can push for.”
en — also an underrepresented minority in Engineering departments — than it has in recruiting students of color. Women make up 33 percent of Penn Engineering, which is higher than the national average of 18-20 percent in Engineering departments nationwide. In contrast, less than 10 percent of the Engineering school consist of black and Hispanic students, which is lower than the national average of 21 percent. Engineering sophomore Ciara Brown said seeing a black person in her CIS lectures now still feels more like a novelty than reality. “It feels like there’s not an emphasis placed by the university on diversity in STEM,” said Brown. “Those numbers across campus are fairly good but then you take a microscope to the Engineering school specifically, and the proportions are extremely different.”
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4
OPINION
Making it out of Texas PHONE HOME | On coming to terms with leaving and returning home
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 VOL. CXXXIII, NO. 67 133rd Year of Publication CARTER COUDRIET President DAN SPINELLI Executive Editor LUCIEN WANG Print Director ALEX GRAVES Digital Director ALESSANDRO VAN DEN BRINK Opinion Editor REBECCA TAN Senior News Editor WILL SNOW Senior Sports Editor CHRIS MURACCA Design Editor CAMILLE RAPAY Design Editor JULIA SCHORR Design Editor LUCY FERRY Design Editor VIBHA KANNAN Enterprise Editor SARAH FORTINSKY News Editor
As I stand at the counter of a restaurant in Germany, counting out change, the proprietor notices I can’t quite speak the language and asks where I’m from. “Texas,” I say. Even here, there’s rarely a need to clarify — and sure enough, he nods knowingly. “George-BushStaat!” The state of George Bush, indeed! Like the Bushes, many people have traditionally moved to Texas for its mild climate, lack of income tax and cheap land. But it’s certainly no act of revolution to leave Texas for the coasts, however much it’s treated as one by Texans and non-Texans alike. To consider the act of leaving home a liberating one — to reject one’s roots is to deny that one’s home is a real place with the capacity to change just like anywhere else in the world. There seems to be some assumption, on the coasts, that a young Texan who holds the kinds of opinions deemed acceptable at an Ivy League institution — whose parents dutifully voted Gore, then Kerry, then Obama — must somehow
be grateful to have “made it out” of their home state. It’s an attitude I’ve encountered at Penn multiple times, despite the fact that Texas sends more than 100 students per year to this school. Then again, it’s an easy thing to internalize, and many people, myself included, have done just that: Within the small, everso-slightly left-of-center circle I moved in during my teenage years, it was seen as a major accomplishment to go to an outof-state university, to “make it out.” And once you make it out, it’s even easier to elicit patronizing sympathy — something that’s often mistaken for genuine personal interest. You simply have to make small talk regarding the once almost-weekly news of the Texas Board of Education’s machinations against critical thinking, the Texas legislature’s endless efforts to make abortions as difficult to obtain as possible or some Texans’ insistence on secession. You must of course be quick to say that secession — to make these people seem as ignorant as pos-
sible, and to make yourself an exception to the rule — is not actually permitted by the treaty Texas signed with the United States upon its annexation. I have done all of this. Texas isn’t homogenous, though. No place is — there’s the rub, and those who pride themselves on political nuance would do well to remember
this. In addition, to perpetuate the myth that universities elsewhere in the country are beacons of religious and racial tolerance in comparison to the South is 1) to deny that bigotry exists on the coasts — it does, but it’s far more insidious, which almost makes it worse — and 2) to discount the opin-
Cultural criticism is most valid when it comes from a place of deep, albeit complicated, love for that culture … ” that. Case in point: One nowformer University of Tampa assistant professor, a Canadian, recently tweeted that Hurricane Harvey was “karma” for the fact that Texas votes Republican. This was both horrifically insensitive and inaccurate. Houston, the city hit hardest by Harvey, hasn’t gone Republican in years; outsiders forget
ions and actions of people who live in the South and cannot, or rather will not, try to “make it out.” Texas has been changing rapidly under this country’s very nose. An astute Texan journalist, addressing this, wrote an article entitled ”America’s Future is Texas,” and unsurprisingly, the first several comments were
variations on “I sure as hell hope not.” These comments were from people who admittedly refused to read the piece because of its headline. It’s contradictory, this attitude, but perhaps it is more convenient for liberal outsiders to have a scapegoat on which to blame all of America’s race problems, so that they don’t have to deal with the fact that they could be part of these problems. All this isn’t about Texas in particular, or even the South, though Texas and the rest of the South for many years bore the brunt of progressive ridicule and pity. It’s entirely possible to embrace (part of) your heritage, to acknowledge the role of your home in your development as a person and all the while denounce much of that which makes home what it is. Cultural criticism is most valid when it comes from a place of deep, albeit complicated, love for that culture — not from the learned self-hatred present in a lifetime spent trying to distinguish yourself from the football players you went to high school with, and definitely
SHILPA SARAVANAN not from an outsider’s derision. Texans whose lives led them back to Texas know this, and have been struggling to turn the tide of social conservatism for decades, although their work has more often than not gone unnoticed by the broader American public. Look up Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards and Molly Ivins, for starters, and remember that for each of them there are thousands of regular citizens working towards the exact same thing. SHILPA SARAVANAN is a College junior from College Station, Texas, studying linguistics. Her email address is shilpasa@sas.upenn.edu. “Phone Home” usually appears every Thursday.
MADELEINE LAMON News Editor ALLY JOHNSON Assignments Editor
CARTOON
YOSI WEITZMAN Sports Editor BREVIN FLEISCHER Sports Editor JONATHAN POLLACK Sports Editor TOMMY ROTHMAN Sports Editor AMANDA GEISER Copy Editor HARRY TRUSTMAN Copy Editor ANDREW FISCHER Director of Web Development DYLAN REIM Social Media Editor ANANYA CHANDRA Photo Manager JOY LEE News Photo Editor ZACH SHELDON Sports Photo Editor LUCAS WEINER Video Producer JOYCE VARMA Podcast Editor BRANDON JOHNSON Business Manager MADDY OVERMOYER Advertising Manager SONIA KUMAR Business Analytics Manager SAMARA WYANT Circulation Manager HANNAH SHAKNOVICH Marketing Manager TANVI KAPUR Development Project Lead MEGHA AGARWAL Development Project Lead
BEN CLAAR is a College junior from Scarsdale, N.Y. His email is bclaar@sas.upenn.edu.
THIS ISSUE REINA KERN Sports Associate
Are college visits worth it?
CARTER THOMPSON Sports Associate CATHERINE DE LUNA Copy Associate ALEX RABIN Copy Associate GRACE WU Copy Associate SUNNY CHEN Copy Associate
LETTERS Have your own opinion? Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com. Unsigned editorials appearing on this page represent the opinion of The Daily Pennsylvanian as determined by the majority of the Editorial Board. All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.
BRUTALLY HONEST | Why you shouldn’t fall for college tours & false advertising For the past week and a half, I’ve found myself marveling at the verdant trees, barely subsumed by the stunning hallmarks of academic and intellectual excellence that line Locust Walk. This reads like a college brochure that would be thrust into your hands by an unnaturally chipper student tour guide, doesn’t it? Do I sound like I’m trying to sell Penn? Probably. To be fair, though, I never got the chance to hear these glossy, almost propaganda-worthy words before I arrived at the University of Pennsylvania as a transfer student on a sweltering August afternoon this summer. Does that bother me? Not at all. In hindsight, I think that not visiting Penn prior to New Student Orientation actually worked to my benefit. I remember returning to high school from winter break as a junior and hearing my classmates rave about the college campuses they visited with their parents. They would say, with look of infatuation — if not
downright love — in their eyes that they could see themselves thriving at these schools, doing academic research, joining a bevy of clubs and taking classes with professors who would inspire them to no end. They probably wrote what they said verbatim in their admissions essays. How many of them are actually going to the colleges of their dreams? How many of them are actually thriving at those colleges now that they got in? Fewer than you’d think. The problem, plain and simple, is that college visits build full-fledged fantasies. These fantasies, however, rarely become realities. Some people imagine marrying their favorite celebrities. Others dream about living in luxurious megamansions overlooking the Atlantic. More often than not, though, these fantasies are just that: fantasies. College rejections during admissions season visits are more painful, though. This is because college visits let us tiptoe into the fantastical realm of our ideal lives as
we stroll amongst the students who were fortunate enough to attend said college every day. Therefore, college visits hinder students’ perceptions of attending that specific college. Instead of visiting schools, high schoolers should focus on
and their time. Just taking a round trip via Amtrak could cost two people at least $200. Longer trips by plane burn an even bigger hole in families’ pockets. Time is just as precious as money to high school students. With SATs, AP’s and extracurricular activities, they have
… college visits let us tiptoe into the fantastical realm of our ideal lives as we stroll amongst the students who were fortunate enough to attend said college every day.” what they truly want in their college experience. They should deeply consider what is most important to them academically and socially before letting a school visit determine that for them. Visiting colleges drains families of both their money
very little time to go travel and marvel at a college they hope to get into. Tell me I’m making false connections, but visiting colleges — before you get in, that is — may actually decrease a student’s chances of admission. Demonstrated interest only goes
so far if it detracts from the traits that really get admissions officers going — grades, scores and talent. Why, then, do families expunge so many of their precious resources — many of which they need to send their child off to any college — to visit schools? Demonstrated interest is probably the primary reason. Smaller colleges may actually track which students visited or got involved with the college in some way or another. High schoolers would rather not leave anything to chance on their applications. Wouldn’t you feel awful if the admissions committee chose somebody else over you? Decisions as momentous as college acceptances and rejections may not be as dramatic as this. Yet how much do we really know about the secret conversations that happen behind the closed doors of admissions committees’ offices? I’ve attended two universities in the past two years. I visited the first after being accepted. I don’t think that tours of either place
ALEX SILBERZWEIG would have truly told me which one is “better.” College tours exist to advertise the best aspects of the university. They will make you think that every opportunity is accessible at your fingertips; that the sunny, cloudless day you visited the campus will emulate every day you are actually there. It is not the college alone that will make or break your experience. A university is a template on which you should apply your desires and aspirations, not the other way around. ALEX SILBERZWEIG is a College sophomore from New York, studying mathematics and economics. Her email address is alexsil@sas.upenn. edu. “Brutally Honest” usually appears every other Tuesday.
5
Please go past 45th Street CONVOS WITH CARLOS | Crossing the boundary between Penn and the real world “Do not go past 45th Street,” is what I was told when I chose to enroll in Penn. After having been a participant in PennCORP, one of Penn’s freshman pre-orientation programs, I am now more inclined to go past that scary, imaginary boundary that has been condemned by upperclassmen. If you took a peek at my admissions file while applying to the University of Pennsylvania, you would see that I was civically-engaged in high school. On the Common App there is a section that made students specify their hours of community service. For some students, it is a big game to see how many hours they can rack up. Others start to lose track of their hours because they are so invested and passionate for the work that they do. I could not count how many
hours I had by the Nov. 1 deadline; I only knew that I was passionate about addressing and combating the issues that were prominent in my community. I was very concentrated on education reform and pushing for resources my high school lacked, such as giving our students the opportunity to study abroad. For the most part, Penn students stay entrapped by the Penn bubble and do not leave campus that much. There are two distinct worlds separating Penn and the local communities on the outskirts. Instead of shunning these communities, Penn students should learn more about their histories and see what they can do to address the communities’ day-to-day problems. Before arriving to PennCORP, all 40 participants
had pre-assigned readings that touched upon the background of West Philadelphia. One of the major topics was about Penn and Drexel University’s involvement in the gentrification of the West Philadelphia area. In one of the assigned articles featured on the website Curbed Philadelphia, reading how 5,000 residents were displaced after having their homes and neighborhoods destroyed to allow for the completion of University City was shocking. During the program, we were divided into four groups of 10 students. With our small groups,
we participated in workshops that revolved around our identities such as our races, ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic
stander and be trapped inside the Penn bubble. The real world is outside of Penn’s campus, and I have to remind myself that every time I am crying about the quality about the dining hall food, there are people in the surrounding communities that do not even anything to eat. I still remember the big, bold letters “Praxis in Practice.” They were the first words I saw when I walked into the Bodek Lounge in Houston Hall. To be completely honest, I did not know what “praxis” meant at all. I had come out of the infamous “senioritis” mode that all high school seniors entering college face. However, if you asked me what putting “Praxis in Practice” means now, I still would not be able to tell you. One of the student leaders, College junior Aiden Castellanos, had trouble understanding this phrase for two months before explaining it to the PennCORP participants. “Putting praxis into practice is to learn and unlearn how to be a citizen. It is knowing that there is no end goal, but you are constantly trying to make new accommodations based on the new information that is being learned.” Personally, my journey in putting praxis into practice is just beginning. Coming from a small city in Connecticut, it is hard to integrate myself in such a large city like Philadelphia. Yet, I am eager to take what I learned from my past experiences in helping my community and bring it here. I must learn the history
It does not matter when someone starts in their service, but to go through four years without acknowledging any issues outside of campus is choosing to be ignorant.”
CAMILLE RAPAY | DESIGN EDITOR
statuses, ages and our identities as Penn students. These identities are very complex and intersect to form people’s lives. We learned that some of our identities can be either target or agent identities, which are terms to describe how an aspect of someone’s background can be used against them or help them in relation to society’s standards. Furthermore, all four groups were introduced to the nonprofit sector of Philadelphia. I had the privilege of visiting these spaces and be invited to see the kind of work that is being done by organizations like VietLead in South Philly and the West Philadelphia Community Radio (WPEB 88.1 FM). Each of these organizations had their own agendas and missions that related to helping their local residents and letting them have the power to be vocal on what needs to be changed in their area. Now that I am at Penn, I am integrating myself in greater West Philly. I believe that it is necessary to see what issues need to be addressed in this community. I cannot be a by-
CARLOS ARIAS VIVAS before I can ever truly effect social change. Some of the actions I took back at home might not even work in Philadelphia, and I am okay with that. It is a learning process between myself and the community I am working in. If students would like to get involved, there are many opportunities such as Academically Based Community Service courses, visiting the Netter Center and the Civic House to see what community partners are in need of volunteers. It does not matter when someone starts in their service, but to go through four years without acknowledging any issues outside of campus is choosing to be ignorant. Every year the forbidden street that no one should cross will be pushed back even further due to Penn’s expansion. The stigma behind passing 45th Street is due to not engaging with the locals that are apart of the low-income community of color. I was given the toolkit during my time at PennCORP, but now is my time to fill that toolbox up and that starts by stepping beyond the 45th Street sign to be able to help the community. CARLOS ARIAS VIVAS is a College freshman from Stamford, Ct., studying communication. His email address is cariasv@sas.upenn. edu. “Convos with Carlos” usually appears every other Tuesday.
CARTOON
Hand out newspapers. Get paid money. SARAH KHAN is a College freshman from Lynn Haven, Fla. Her email address is skhan100@sas.upenn.edu.
In response to “Open letter to the University of Pennsylvania community” GUEST COLUMN BY AMY WAX The Daily Pennsylvanian letter on my recent op-ed, signed by some of my colleagues, puts forth no substantive argument and so requires no response on that score. But it does contain a statement that could mislead members of the Penn community. It says that the First Amendment protects my right to express myself “free from fear of legal sanctions.” But it is important to note that the First Amendment does not protect me, or anyone at Penn, from sanctions by Penn. The First Amendment limits the government’s regulation of speech (it states “Congress shall make no law … ”). As the recent incident involving James Damore at Google illustrates, the Amendment does not legally constrain private institutions like Penn. That fact is of considerable
significance to members of the Penn Law School community and the University community as a whole.
Penn is under no First Amendment obligation to protect free expression. At present, there is no guarantee that they will do so.” Except for professors with tenure or the few staff with specific contractual protections, Penn is free to fire, suspend, expel, penalize, sanction or punish any student or em-
ployee for anything that person says or writes. Penn is under no First Amendment obligation to protect free expression. At present, there is no guarantee that they will do so. The University’s Guidelines on Open Expression provides some protection, but they are vague and revocable at any time. The values of free expression they embody (and the scope of the First Amendment itself) are now under relentless and escalating assault from many quarters, including from many within the University itself. In the current climate, those who depart from received wisdom at Penn are vulnerable. AMY WAX is the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is hiring students to work in its circulation department. Distribute papers, manage the database, check rackboxes, place posters and earn $10 an hour. Contact Samara Wyant at: wyant@theDP.com to schedule an interview
6 NEWS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
Fossil Free Penn begins ESE 370: the most semester with new protests difficult class at Penn FFP gears up to continue last semester’s progress KATIE BONTJE Staff Reporter
After various protests and a highly publicized sit-in last semester, Fossil Free Penn is gearing up for another year of advocating for environmental justice at Penn. Last semester, the group continued with its three-year effort to urge Penn to divest from fossil fuels, but saw little success. The group staged a multi-day sit-in at College Hall in March, which ended with roughly 130 students JOY LEE | NEWS PHOTO EDITOR amassing on the final day of the protest. Sixty-nine students Last March, Fossil Free Penn staged a multi-day sit-in at College Hall, signed a form stating that they which amassed roughly 130 students on the final day of the protest. had stayed at the venue after the building had closed and approxi- its effort for the upcoming se- mental and financial perspective. mately 13 of them were cited by mester, Rissman added. “This is a financially logical the Office of Student Conduct. The group’s demands do not decision and it can’t be used as FFP eventually ended the sit- currently include divestment an excuse to not take into acin by leaving a document outlin- from all fossil fuels, which Riss- count the implications of climate ing its demands and promising man said would only happen “in change,” Kyne said. “I think dithat if action was not taken by a perfect world.” Instead, FFP is vestment on every front makes September, they would return in campaigning for Penn to divest sense for this school and is simfull force. from coal and tar sands compa- ply imperative in the face of cliTrue to their commitment, nies, which some peer institu- mate change and how it affects members of FFP have resumed tions such as Stanford University every person on this planet.” their activism. Last week, a few have already done. 2017 Wharton and Engineercore members of FFP organized “[Divesting from coal and tar ing graduate Thomas Lee agreed. a rally with other campus orga- sands is] still on the path to full In March, he published a guest nizations to reopen the conversa- divestment, but it’s a really easy column about the finances behind tion about fossil fuel divestment. and easily defendable first step divestment, noting that divesting The goal was to remind returning because it’s already been proven from fossil fuels generates high students — and show new stu- to be effective and good for the returns with low risk. “Had Penn dents — that FFP is an action- actual endowment at peer univer- divested in June 2016, we would oriented organization with a sities,” he said. have made $8.9 million extra (all strong presence on campus. Rissman commended Penn for with lower risk),” he wrote. “I don’t think the sit-in was its efforts toward improving camRissman echoed this sentiment ineffective,” said College junior pus sustainability and promoting and said that he and the rest of and FFP Campaign Coordinator compost collection on campus, FFP are committed to challengZach Rissman, who worked to but added that these two steps ing the University to do more. organized the sit-in last March. aren’t enough to combat climate “At the end of the day, Penn in“I would say the actual pro- change and don’t measure up vesting in the fossil fuel industry cess itself didn’t go much [as to the efforts taken by many of is much worse and is condoning planned], but the symbolism was Penn’s peer institutions. the actions that are immoral as a really there especially on the last Wharton sophomore and FFP part of the fossil fuel industry,” day,” Media Coordinator Megan Kyne Rissman said. “It’s cool that In light of the University’s said partially divesting from Penn is at least trying to take unwillingness to cooperate, FFP fossil fuels makes sense for the some steps, but it’s really not has been hard at work planning University from both an environ- enough.”
Only computer engineers must take the course GIANNA FERRARIN Staff Reporter
Classes at Penn can be hard, but there is one that consistently takes the top spot: Electrical and Systems Engineering 370. The course, called “CircuitLevel Modeling,” is the hardest class at Penn and has averaged a 3.89 out of 4.00 in difficulty, according to Penn Course Review data, which includes data up to April 2016. The course is required for those majoring in computer engineering — it is a “rite of passage” for those in the major, said 2017 Engineering graduate Matthew Howard. But some students also take the course voluntarily. Engineering junior Dmitry Shatalin is one of these students. Shatalin is a doublemajor in math and electrical engineering and studies circuits and computer engineering, which is the concentration under which ESE 370 falls. He said that most people in electrical engineering with a different concentration do not know the class exists, and those who do generally try and stay away from it. When Shatalin learned about the class, however, he saw an opportunity he could not miss. “I first learned about it when I saw it in the DP magazine [about] the 30 hardest classes at Penn,” Shatalin said, which is when he decided that “there’s no way I’m not taking it.” Engineering senior Max Li, however, is an electrical engineering major who decided against taking the course. His concentration is in information and decision systems, so the course’s time-intensive nature and lack of relevance did not seem worth it. Li said that the majority of
Penn’s Hardest Undergraduate Classes (Based on a rating out of 4.00 on course difficulty)
1
3.89
Circuit-Level Modeling ESE-370
Seminar in Financial Engineering 2 Advanced FNCE-392
3.83
3
Integrated Human Anatomy: Physiology and Assessment I NURS-163
4
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his friends in electrical engineering actually chose to take the course precisely because of its focus in digital electronics. “I’m not sure if it was enjoyable in the time they were actually in the course,” Li said, “but when they were outside of it, they found it was worth the time.” The material of ESE 370 is part of what makes the class so difficult. Throughout the course, students study the physics of a circuit, learn how to represent it through simple mathematical models and then use this information to optimize circuit metrics, such as speed and energy efficiency. Another reason electrical engineering majors might opt to take this course is that they are likely more prepared for it. According to Wharton and Engineering senior Martin Deng, who also serves as a teaching assistant for ESE 370, electrical engineers have an advantage over computer engineers because they have more exposure to physics-based math.
For computer engineers, who make up the majority of the class’s students, the material poses added difficulties because their prior coursework is based primarily in software and coding. “I think it’s pretty important for [computer engineers] to have that understanding of how a computer actually physically works,” Deng said. “I think it’s definitely way more interesting for electrical engineers.” Howard echoed this thought, stating that the course was still essential in giving him background in another area of engineering. Engineering junior Shiva Suri said ESE 370 is considered a “make it or break it” course in the Computer Engineering Department and added that, despite his interest in the material, he would not take it if it were not required of him. “It has a pretty dreadful reputation in its difficulty,” Suri said. “But for us CompEs, it’s required so we don’t have a choice.”
THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN
TORGERSEN >> BACKPAGE
ter in the first place. Last year’s NFC champions carried only two quarterbacks in 2016: reigning MVP Matt Ryan and backup Matt Schaub. When Schaub signed a contract extension to stay in Atlanta in the offseason, the opportunity for a new quarterback to take his roster spot was eliminated. The only realistic way for Torgersen to make the Falcons would have been to play well enough in preseason to convince Falcons’ management to carry a third quarterback.
SPORTS 7
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
However, instead of the near-perfect play he would have needed to make the Falcons’ regular season roster, Torgersen flew below the radar. In three preseason appearances, he earned only limited looks as the fourth quarterback behind journeyman Matt Simms. Torgersen’s stat line across those three games wasn’t pretty: the rookie went 8 for 20, passing for 95 yards and no touchdowns to go with two interceptions, all resulting in a passer rating of 15.6. Torgersen also added three rushes for 14 yards. His stats don’t tell the whole story, however. One
of his two interceptions hit the receiver in the hands before bouncing straight to the defense. Torgersen also made highlight reels with a 51-yard play to fellow rookie Darion Griswold. The Falcons didn’t see enough to justify having Torgersen on the payroll, but the Washington Redskins did. Washington signed Torgersen to their practice squad on Sunday after the release of quarterback Nate Sudfeld. With the Redskins’ longterm quarterback situation under question, Torgersen could develop into an intriguing option for Washington past 2017.
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8 SPORTS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM
Red and Blue frustrated after fiery pair of 2-0 weekend defeats M. SOCCER | Tempers
for physicality. Bowling Green committed 13 fouls to Penn’s seven, and towards the end of the game the Falcons’ physical dominance clearly got under the Quakers’ skin. With seven minutes left in the match and his team down 2-0, sophomore forward Sam Hefter found himself clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat. The Falcons’ last man was quick to pounce on the ball and smother out Hefter’s chance, but the forward continued to kick for the ball even once in the goalie’s hands. For this moment of rashness, he received a red card that stamped shut the Quakers’ chances of a comeback. “I think Hefter just lost his head there for a minute. It was a heated game, it was a chippy game and frustrations were high,� Fuller said. “I’m not sure what he was thinking, maybe he was trying to knock the ball loose; but unfortunately, he caught the keeper in a bad way and was ejected for it. I can’t argue with that.� Despite the anticlimactic finish, Sunday’s match had all the makings of a tight and exciting home opener. A cagey start saw a fierce contest in the midfield, and neither side registered a shot
flare in close games
WILLIAM SNOW Senior Sports Editor
ly.
Fine margins can prove dead-
Two narrow losses provided a somber start to Penn men’s soccer’s season, with a pair of 2-0 defeats at the hands of Monmouth and Bowling Green frustrating the Quakers over the weekend. Friday’s trip up to Monmouth (2-1) saw a promising performance from the Red and Blue — they outshot their New Jersey counterparts, and coach Rudy Fuller felt they worked the ball around very well. But two small lapses caused their demise, leaving them with no result. “We felt good about the performance against Monmouth,� Fuller said. “I think the guys were upset mostly because it was a performance was good enough to get a result.� Sunday night featured a highranked Bowling Green side (4-0) that came to Rhodes Field ready for a trench-fight. The Quakers (0-2) proved generous hosts in obliging them, though they couldn’t quite match the Falcons
LUKE YEAGLEY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
In a moment of recklessness, sophomore forward Sam Hefter got himself ejected on Sunday when he kicked out at Bowling Green’s goalkeeper with just seven minutes to go in a heated match-up.
until the 15th minute, when Penn junior Scott Forbes acrobatically repelled a glancing header towards his near post. The Quakers’ first good chance came midway through the first half. Junior Jerel Blades beat a pair of Falcons to unleash a quick counter attack, ultimately finding sophomore Dami Omitaomu inside the box
for a shot. The winger flashed his shot high and wide, but the move seemed to shift the momentum in the hosts’ favor. The next 20 minutes featured severe pressure by Penn, with several corners and an unsatisfied penalty shout — sophomore Aramis Kouzine was taken down from behind in the box — all threatening Bowling
Green’s goal, if only unsuccessfully. A free kick aimed too high by captain Joe Swenson ended the first half with the sense that the Quakers should have converted one of the several chances they earned. Had any one shot been on frame instead of just off, or had Kouzine’s penalty claim been given, the result might
have been different. But Bowling Green came out of halftime ready to take advantage of the few chances they did create. A defensive mistake by Penn in the 51st minute gave the Falcons the ball high up the pitch, and they managed to slot the ball into the net from an acute angle to take the lead. “It was a self-inflicted wound,� Fuller noted. Just a few minutes later, a towering header from the visitors’ center-back — and leading scorer — gave the visitors the extra security they needed to shut the game down and frustrate the Quakers for the rest of the match. The night ended with a scuffle between the two sides as tempers flared — exchanging shoves, players from both sides were pulled back by teammates and referees alike with just five minutes left to play. “We knew we had two tough games coming in, so we’re just gonna take the positives from this and move forward,� Swenson said. Two losses aren’t how the Quakers wanted to start their season, but the promising stretches of play and the fiery passion shown on Sunday will give them a fair amount to take away from their first weekend in action.
Women’s soccer fights to two stalemates in weekend trip to California Quakers score first goal of season in fourth game
day’s contest against UC Riverside resulted in a 1-1 tie. “I think the team did amazing. Obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted but we’re still undefeated on the road. We’re getting a lot better every game and we have our first goal under our belt,� senior midfielder Erica Higa said. Kitty Qu, the sophomore starting goalkeeper, played a pivotal role for the squad. With UC Irvine (1-1-2) having a massive shot advantage (19-4 by game’s end) over the Quakers (0-2-2), Qu made key saves in the nail-biting moments to keep
REINA KERN Associate Sports Editor
Penn women’s soccer had a hard-fought weekend on the West Coast as they took on two non-conference teams. With it being their first weekend on the road, the team performed well while working out some of their early season kinks. Friday night’s contest with UC Irvine ended in a scoreless, double-overtime draw, while Sun-
her squad in the game. However, Qu is optimistic she won’t be called on to deal with so many shots going forward. With the new defensive line being mostly underclassmen, Qu believes that there is a lot of room for improvement in the back from the goalkeeping perspective. “We need to improve on our organization,� Qu explained. “We have a young back line that hasn’t really played together, but I thought that people really stepped up. We did well blocking passing lanes and preventing through balls and focused on
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so we just need to work on being more clinical in front of the goal. We are working out the kinks but overall we are improving every game,� Higa said. After a pair of 1-0 losses the previous week, Penn came into these games hungry for a victory. Although they did not come out with clean wins, the ties still leave them in a solid place heading into their upcoming matchups. "[The goal] was the icing on the cake,� Higa added. “We deserved it. It could have been anyone. We were working our butts off and it was just a matter of who was going to do it and when. It was a little bit too long coming, but it was good to get some results.�
Overall, Higa and Qu both felt positive about the team’s performance and know results will only get better as the team continues to play together throughout the season. “We want more results but that will come with hard work and winning individual battles. Major props to Allie Trzaska and Megan Lloyd this weekend,� Higa said. “They both played 220 minutes each and were winning all of the balls in the midfield. It is key to capitalize on those first and second balls.� After a tough weekend in California, the Quakers will look forward to the chance to get their first win against Bucknell this Saturday at Rhodes Field.
DP Sports’ Player of the Week
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playing together, so that was a big part of our results.� Qu saved all eight of UC Irvine’s shots on target to keep her clean sheet intact on Friday night. In the 105th minute, the Anteaters were granted a corner and Qu made back-to-back saves to keep their opponents off the scoreboard. Later in the weekend, the Red and Blue found themselves in another tough matchup against UC Riverdale (2-2-2). The game ended in a 1-1 draw, with the Highlanders responding with a goal in the second half after Higa scored the Quakers’ first (and to-date, only) goal of the season in the first half. “We need to finish our chances. We got some good chances,
Well, that didn’t take long. After lighting up the box score in her first three matches as a member of Penn volleyball, freshman outside hitter Parker Jones is our first Player of the Week for the new semester. The Quakers went 2-1 on their season-opening trip to Virginia, dropping their opening matchup in five sets against
Campbell before bouncing back with a pair of wins in the form of a four-set victory over Central Michigan and a clean sweep of George Mason. The freshman from California played a major role in the team’s success. Jones had 44 kills over the three games, including 13 in her collegiate debut and a staggering 21 in her second game. She also had six block assists, and her performance in the first two games earned her the first start of her career in the team’s third matchup. On a team that graduated
zero seniors this past Spring, playing time will be hard to come by. But if Jones keeps performing at a high level, fellow Penn newcomer and head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley will have to make room for her on the court. But the team’s veterans didn’t let the new faces steal all the thunder. Senior captain Kendall Covington had an outstanding weekend, with 29 kills and a very strong .383 hitting percentage. Covington and Jones were both named to the George Mason Invitational AllTournament Team.
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SPORTS 9
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017
Field hockey takes two tough losses against nations’ best to open season Quakers fall to Rutgers, 1-0, and UNC, 3-1 WILL AGATHIS Associate Sports Editor
In a fall season where many of Penn’s teams look poised to contend with the best, Penn field hockey struggled out of the gate in its opening weekend, falling to Rutgers by a score of 1-0, and to top-ranked UNC, 3-1. All in all, the weekend was a mixed bag for the Quakers (0-2), who returned eight of their 11 starters from last year for their home opener on Friday. Only two graduations and an injury to senior captain Jasmine Li prevented a full returning cast. Taking on the Scarlet Knights (4-0), the Red and Blue controlled play early on. In the first half, they put significant pressure on Rutgers’ backline and had a few nice opportunities on corners. However, despite the team’s overall strong play, the Quakers still went into halftime locked in a scoreless affair. Obviously that lack of scoring was through no fault of the defense, which played admirably, led by junior center back Paige Meily. “We were trying to pressure early and make sure we were marking well and not giving them enough space by pressuring them when they received the ball,” Meily said of the defensive strategy. After starting the 2016 season playing as center defensive midfield, Meily has since moved to the backfield, where she has been one of the team’s premier defenders and most important leaders.
not only a beautiful goal, but also a major confidence boost for the Quakers. “I think people were holding their breath a little bit,” Huang said of the team’s behavior before the goal. “Hopefully the goal has now given us the momentum for the rest of the season and the belief that we can do it.” Despite receiving many more opportunities, Penn was unable to capitalize and eventually fell 3-1 to the Tarheels. For the Quakers, it was their second loss in three days, but the season outlook is still bright. After all, the team’s goal of winning the Ivy League championship is completely unchanged by the weekend’s results. Moreover, they will have another opANANYA CHANDRA | PHOTO MANAGER portunity to prove their worth In a weekend in which Penn field hockey faced two of the NCAA’s powerhouses in Rutgers and 2016 runners-up UNC, the Quakers needed a stout against top out-of-conference defense. Junior Paige Meily made several key plays to keep her team in the games — though ultimately to no avail. competition on Friday against Delaware (3-1). “I think we did pretty well play some really good perimeter came out firing, scoring twice in [we lost that] in the second half The Blue Hens are the 2016 for the start. We had good com- defense. They did a much better the first 15 minutes. against Rutgers… and it carried national champions — having munication in general, which is job in the second half, but we If not for the play of senior over into the beginning of the taken down UNC in the finals — something we really wanted to [still] need to find a much bet- goalkeeper Liz Mata, the high- first half of this game,” Huang and have steamrolled Dartmouth focus on,” Meily said. “Trying ter balance,” coach Colleen Fink powered UNC attack would have said. and Princeton in the first eight to block up the lines, we had a said. “We have a tendency to done even more damage. But the “We weren’t satisfied with days of the season. few problems where they would bring the ball in close and create senior was stout all game, re- the way we were playing. We For the Quakers, Friday will split us, but I think we adjusted scoring opportunities.” cording eight saves on the day, knew we could do better. We felt be another exercise in improving well into the second half.” Fink also wanted to see more including one huge stop on a guilty and knew deep down that self-confidence. At least, that The remaining 35 minutes of variety in the types of chances penalty stroke that helped Fink we doubted ourselves,” she con- will be the captains’ goal for the the game would see both defens- generated by her squad, as most decide not to put sophomore tinued. week, according to Huang. es step up even more, resulting of Penn’s opportunities came goalkeeper Ava Rosati in the net The game went into halftime “I think it’s just instilling in in an abundance of turnovers to- from high in the circle. in place of Mata. with UNC leading 3-0, but the them a sense of belief. When I wards the midfield. Those 35 minutes that the Red Unfortunately, the offense’s Quakers would begin to click in personally walk onto the field, I For comparison’s sake, the and Blue played without taking inability to register shots on goal a big way in the second half with know that anything is possible first half’s combined 15 shots a shot on goal against Rutgers made life difficult on the defense four shots on goal and three pen- and that I can do anything I put were followed by a total of three would carry over and haunt the yet again, and senior captain Ra- alty corners, one of which would my mind to. That’s the type of in the second frame. Unfortu- team on Sunday, as they found chel Huang attributes the team’s lead to Penn’s first goal of the mentality that [we have to have] nately for the Quakers, one of great difficulty setting up early cold sticks to team mentality. season. as captains and as leaders. Our those very few opportunities, a against UNC (3-1), extending “We definitely have the abilMeily received the corner coach does it to us but now we chip-in from the middle of the their drought to over 70 minutes. ity to score, to shoot, to play like from Huang and set up for have to filter it to the rest of the circle, would be enough for RutComing off an impressive 2-0 any other team. But the belief in Hoover, whose shot would be re- team. Hopefully, in the upcomgers to steal the victory. victory over Penn’s Ivy League ourselves —that we belong on directed by Huang for the team’s ing game, that’s what you will “Rutgers is a good team. They nemesis Princeton, the Tar Heels this field with the other team — first tally of the season. It was see.”
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 VOL. CXXXIII NO. 67
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
FOUNDED 1885
Volleyball wins two of three New faces show up big for Quakers at seasons’ start in Va. CARTER THOMPSON Associate Sports Editor
In one weekend, Torgersen is released by Atlanta Falcons, signed by Washington Redskins THEODOROS PAPAZEKOS | Associate Sports Editor
I
n a span of only a couple of days, former Quaker star Alek Torgersen’s NFL dreams were dashed, and — just as suddenly — resurrected. Torgersen was on the 90-man roster for the Atlanta Falcons, who had signed the undrafted free agent to a
three-year $1.6 million contract immediately after April’s draft. Unfortunately for the 2017 graduate, this past Friday afternoon he was cut ahead of the required reduction to a 53-man roster for the regular season. The Washington Redskins, how-
ever, quickly pounced on the Ivy League standout, signing him to their practice squad on Sunday. Torgersen had only a small chance of making the Falcons’ 53-man rosSEE TORGERSEN PAGE 7
ZACH SHELDON | SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR
A new era for Penn volleyball is underway. The Red and Blue kicked off their season under new coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley at the George Mason Invitational this weekend, winning two out of their three matches in Virginia. The Quakers (2-1) also saw two of their players, senior Kendall Covington and freshman Parker Jones, named to the all-tournament team. In the first match, the Quakers took on Campbell and lost a tight five set match (21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 10-15). The Red and Blue used a heavy dose of hitting from All-Ivy junior Courtney Quinn and Jones against the Camels (5-1). Quinn tallied a double-double with 12 kills and 15 digs, and Jones, who didn’t waste any time notching the first double-double of her Penn career, had a team leading 13 kills to go along with 14 digs. Sophomore Caroline Furrer led the defensive effort, registering a career-high 20 digs in a match which saw four Quakers reach double-digit digs. In the second match, the Red and Blue were victorious over Central Michigan in four sets (25-16, 25-21, 19-25, 25-17). For the second straight match, Jones and Furrer led the team in kills (20) and digs (18), respectively, against the Chippewas (5-1). Schumacher-Cawley was proud of how the team came back after the opening loss. “I thought we did some nice things [against Campbell] and pushed to go five sets, but the team bounced back very well and turned a corner,” she said. The Red and Blue took that momentum into their third game and swept host George Mason in three sets (25-12, 25-17, 25-21). The clinical defeat saw the Quakers use multiple runs to pull away from the Patriots (1-6). The Red and Blue’s attack was the best it was all weekend as they registered a .293 hitting percentage and had five players eclipse a .250 hitting percentage. “I think we got better every match,” Jones commented. The final match saw Jones continue her great opening weekend in a Penn uniform with a team leading 10 kills while hitting an impressive .348. The match also saw Covington hit a ridiculous .500 with nine kills. Schumacher-Cawley praised the performance of Covington and Jones but quickly added that “everyone contributed.” Covington echoed the thoughts of her coach. “It’s definitely a collective team thing (winning a match),” she said. “It’s not just one person hitting really well or one person passing well, it’s all of us working together collectively.” It’s safe to say that the Red and Blue will be in good hands with Schumacher-Cawley for the rest of the season, and she certainly enjoys coaching this group. “This is a funny, funny group,” she laughed. “They’re led by a great group of seniors that are committed to the program, and we compete hard.”
Cross country dominates Rider Invite with near-sweeps Men place 9 runners in top-10, women place 8 BREVIN FLEISCHER Sports Editor
2016 was certainly a year to remember for the entire Penn cross country program. The men ended their 43 year Ivy Heptagonal Championship drought, and the women placed third in the standings, their highest finish since 2006. So, how does a program follow up a historically successful year like that one? Well, a couple of first place finishes to start the next season couldn’t hurt. Racing at the Blue/Gold classic in Pennington, New Jersey this weekend, both Penn cross
country teams exhibited top form, blistering the competition. The men, on their way to a dominant first-place finish, packed a remarkable nine runners into the the top ten spots. Leading the charge was senior captain Christopher Luciano, whose 15:24.79 was just milliseconds behind the event’s top finisher, Zachary Michon from St. Joseph’s. Joining Luciano in the top ten were junior Kevin Monogue, senior Patrick Hally, freshman Ryan Renken, senior Ross Wilson, junior Sam Webb and sophomores Colin Daly, Aaron Groff and William Daly. While the men’s team may have stolen the headlines last year with their historic Ivy Heptagonal title, the women’s team
proved to be just as exciting of a squad in 2017 with their own Blue/Gold Classic first place finish. Just as a St. Joe’s runner finished as the number one individual racer on the men’s side, so too did a Hawk runner claim the top spot in the women’s race. However, just as the Penn men were not deterred, neither were the Penn women, as the Quakers filled all eight spots behind the top runner, allowing them to win the race in dominant fashion. Junior Marin Warner led the way for the Red and Blue, but she was followed closely by senior Abby Hong, sophomore Christina Rancan and freshman Niamh Hayes. Trailing ever so slightly and rounding out the top spots were freshman Danielle
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Orie, sophomore Maddie Villalba, junior Olivia Ryan and junior Carole Harsch. The youth littering the top finishers on the women’s side may have been as impressive as the finishes themselves, as six of the event’s top 15 were Penn freshmen or sophomores. As such, the future looks increasingly bright for Penn women’s cross country. However, looking deep into the future is not the program’s primary objective right now. Instead, both the men’s and women’s teams must prepare for the Main Line Invitational, hosted by Haverford College on September 15. Another dominant performance there, and the rest of the Ivy League could be feeling deja vu.
ILANA WURMAN | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Penn cross country senior captain Christopher Luciano led a tight pack for the men, finishing second with a time of 15:24.79 through 5K.
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