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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2017
GAPSA and the UA join forces for DACA recipients Students call on University for legal representation MANLU LIU Staff Reporter
Student leaders from all the undergraduate and graduate schools are calling on Penn to provide more resources to students threatened by the Trump administration’s recent decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. On Sept. 25, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly and the Undergraduate Assembly sent a joint statement to Penn President Amy Gutmann’s office urging the University to “announce its intent to provide for or arrange pro bono legal representation” for student Dreamers who benefit from the DACA at Penn. “[DACA’s] imminent demise places some of America’s most promising young people in danger from an increasingly aggressive immigration force,” the letter reads, “Penn students are certain to be among the victims of these developments, and they need the university’s support in this trying hour.”
JULIO SOSA | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
“[DACA’s] imminent demise places some of America’s most promising young people in danger from an increasingly aggressive immigration force,” the letter from GAPSA and the UA reads.
“[The resolution] voices the voice of the student body in a formal way,” UA Vice President and College junior Jay Shah said. The future of DACA, which was created under former President Barack Obama, was first put at risk on Sept. 5 when President Donald Trump ordered the program to be ended within six months. More recently, on Sept. 14, he an-
nounced that he was working with Democratic leaders in Congress to pass legislation ensuring protection for Dreamers, or children who entered the country illegally as children but were registered with the DACA program. While representatives have already introduced new legislation, Congress has until March to pass legislation reenacting the protections.
If they fail to do so, nearly 800,000 young people will no longer be protected from deportation. The letter from Penn students was drafted by two Penn Law School students, Nick Tabor and Akbar Hossain. Hossain said the idea for the letter stemmed in part from news of a University Council meeting on Sept. 6, where College junior Caleb
Diaz, the Latinx Coalition external co-chair and University Council representative presented five requests that the Coalition hopes Penn will implement to support student DACA recipients. The requests included access to housing and food for students who are not able to return home during winter and summer breaks, training for faculty and staff to support DACA student recipients and a pro bono legal fund. Shah said the formal response to the five requests will be presented by members of the administration at the next University Council meeting on Oct. 25. Last week, Penn Law set up a free legal clinic to assist students and this will continue to be available, University spokesperson Stephen MacCarthy wrote in an email. At the DACA Renewal Clinic, which took place Sept. 22 at the Greenfield Intercultural Center, Penn Law students worked with practicing lawyers to help Dreamers to renew their DACA status, answered questions about DACA and provided other advice on immigration relief.
Penn Law professor Sarah Paoletti, who was one of the organizers of the clinic, said she planned to host the clinic after hearing rumors that Trump might rescind DACA protections. Even before the announcement was made, she met with members of the administration to talk about what Penn could do to protect students. Hossain said he and Tabor wanted the University to ensure legal representation in addition to legal assistance for student DACA recipients. He added that the University’s commitment to legal service is especially important because the process of looking for a lawyer is strenuous. Even as a law student, he said he has a difficult time figuring out who to go to for certain issues. He said he is hopeful that the University will want to have a discussion about a legal fund or pro bono legal services. “I think the ask is pretty simple — for the University to make a legal fund and also to tell the students publicly that we stand behind you,” Hossain said. “It’s that public statement of support that really means a lot for our students.”
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s time at Penn
Classmates said he maintained a perfect GPA
out both being brilliant and studying,” 1986 Wharton graduate Brad Klinck wrote in an email. “While Rod was the smartest guy in the room almost all the time, he never acted that way.” Upon graduation, Rosenstein, who graduated summa cum laude, was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma, two of the most selective scholastic honor societies for “outstanding achievement in all their academic work,” according to the 1986 Commencement address. Rosenstein was also awarded the Royal Society of Arts silver medal, one of the seven undergraduate leadership awards given that year to students. While classmates that knew him almost unanimously described
TOM NOWLAN Senior Reporter
Following President Donald Trump’s stunning victory last fall, various Penn alumni have been elevated to prominent roles in the federal government — including Deputy Attorney General and 1986 Wharton graduate Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein’s name has been cited on the front pages of newspapers nation-wide for his pivotal role in the Justice Department’s investigation of possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. In May, the Philadelphia native wrote a highly publicized statement recommending the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. A week later, he appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel, authorizing the former FBI Director to probe “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise from the investigation.” Rosenstein has continued to expand the investigation even as Trump continues to dismiss the probe as a “a total fabrication” and “a witch hunt.” As he explained to The Daily Pennsylvanian in a oneon-one interview on Sept. 5, Rosenstein is tasked with “overseeing the operation [of the investigation] — that includes budgeting and certain issues that may require approval from the department.” Yet while Rosenstein is now becoming a familiar name across the United States, his reputation at Penn has largely remained unknown. According to interviews with several of Rosenstein’s classmates,
TASK FORCE >> FRONTPAGE
ed Greek life activities following the deaths of students as a result of activities in Greek life. Vice President of the Department of Public Safety and Tri-Chair of the task force Maureen Rush said getting rid of Greek life at Penn was “never the intention” of the task force. In the original statement announcing the formation of a task force, Penn President Amy Gutmann and former Provost Vincent Price referenced the “inappropriate” actions of the OZ email and condemned “negative influence of unaffiliated and unsupervised groups.” Despite this, Rush said last week that the OZ email was “unacceptable and sexist,” but that the task force had begun in response to “several students putting themselves in very grave danger, including last year at [New Student Orientation].” Apart from crises like student deaths and incidents of sexual assault, universities have also chosen to ban Greek life and other singlegender organizations for inclusivity purposes. Both Williams College in Massachusetts and Middlebury College in Vermont were among the first institutions to end single-gender Greek
Rosenstein as smart, several noted that despite his extensive on-campus involvement, he was quiet and kept a low profile. Several classmates described seeing news articles about Rosenstein posted in the group’s 30th reunion Facebook page. One classmate, 1986 College graduate David Blewett, recalled spotting his name in the news decades earlier, during Rosenstein’s involvement with Kenneth Starr’s Whitewater investigation. Rosenstein’s time at Penn was the first step in what became a steady rise through the ranks of America’s justice system. After graduating from Harvard, where he edited the Harvard Law Review, he worked as a trial attorney prosecuting public
corruption, coincidentally, under the supervision of then-Assistant Attorney General Robert Mueller. From there, he worked on the Starr investigation and as an assistant U.S. attorney afterwards, before being promoted in 2005 to U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, a position he held until April. Now, Rosenstein may become one of the most important figures in what might be the highest-profile criminal investigation in a generation. “I remember feeling good when I saw he was appointed [as Deputy Attorney General],” said Cadish, who serves as a district judge in Las Vegas, Nev. “He’ll take it seriously, follow the law and act appropriately.”
JULIA MCGURK | DESIGN ASSOCIATE
After graduating alongside Donald Trump, Rod Rosenstein worked on the Starr investigation and served as U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland.
the deputy attorney general has maintained a professional image even while he was a Penn undergraduate. His demeanor at school was largely in line with his current public image, classmates said — intelligent, understated, driven and deeply interested in the study of law. “I remember that I heard he got into Harvard and was going there,” 1986 College graduate Elissa Cadish said of an interaction she had with Rosenstein during their senior year. “I was impressed but not surprised.” Rosenstein was unquestionably active on campus — in addition to taking classes as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, he participated and often took on a leadership role in a wide array of extracurricular campus activities. He served as editor-in-chief of Penn Course Review, vice presi-
organizations. Williams abolished fraternities in the early 1960s, when it was still an all-male campus. Jim Reische, the chief communications officer for Williams, said in an email statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian that students “can find (or create) their best community,” and “so far that hasn’t led to much expressed interest in Greek life.” Middlebury required all fraternities to become co-ed or disband in 1990. “The administration at the time concluded that all-male fraternities played too large a role in student social life and that more students should have access to social organizations that could help to shape the culture of the campus,” Director of Media Relations at Middlebury Sarah Ray said in an email. Most recently, Harvard has announced its plan to phase out Greek organizations and final clubs by May 2022. “Although the fraternities, sororities, and final clubs are not formally recognized by the College, they play an unmistakable and growing role in student life, in many cases enacting forms of privilege and exclusion at odds with our deepest values,” Harvard Universtiy President Drew Faust wrote in an email in May 2016, reported The Harvard
dent of the John Marshall Pre-Law Honor Society and he co-founded a now-defunct publication called the Penn World Review. “We had to go around and sell ads — that was definitely an interesting experience, a sort of start-up experience,” Rosenstein said of the Penn World Review. But Rosenstein’s deepest friendships seemed to emerge from Ware College House, where he resided for his final three years at Penn. “About two weeks ago I attended the wedding of the daughter of one of my classmates, Brad Klinck,” Rosenstein said. “I was at a table with, I think, four other classmates, all from Ware College House.” “[Rosenstein] was well liked, had a quick sense of humor, but also was driven and going places. You don’t graduate with a perfect GPA with-
Crimson. “The College cannot ignore these organizations if it is to advance our shared commitment to broadening opportunity and making Harvard a campus for all of its students.” Vice Provost of University Life and Tri-Chair of the Task Force Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said in a written-statement to the DP that she has “been focused on our work at Penn,” and did not have any information or context about Penn’s Task Force’s actions in relationship to Harvard. Rush added that Harvard’s announcement was not a driving force in the decision to create the task force. She maintained that the task force’s primary purpose is the “life safety of all students,” not to end Greek life on Penn’s campus. “Our goal is not to make students have a horrible time and no social life,” Rush said. “You can have nice, fun parties, but plan it out. Know the number of people that are coming.” College senior Bradley Freeman, president of the Interfraternity Council, said that he does not think that Penn’s administration is taking actions to get rid of Greek life in the same way Harvard has. “I don’t get the sense that that’s the case,” Freeman said. “It is not about Greek life specifically. It is to reduce risk and increase safety.”
PENN POLICE ASSOCIATION UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA President Eric J. Rohrback
Recording Secretary Thomas Waters
PENN POLICE ASSOCIATION FIGHTING FOR A CONTRACT! University of Pennsylvania Police Officers are currently working without a contract. Please let the University know that they should compensate their police department fairly. The University of Pennsylvania police department is far below the standard salaries with the other Ivy League Police Departments. "As we have welcomed back our students and are ushering in a new school term, the proud members of the Penn Police Association continue to work tirelessly toward providing a safe and comfortable environment for our University of Pennsylvania community. We will continue to provide exceptional service as we seek to obtain the equitable settlement of a new collective bargaining agreement for our dedicated members." P. P. A. President Eric J Rohrback