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OPINION
Pay up, Penn: Student tour guides deserve compensation SIMONETTI SAYS | Loving your job doesn’t justify unpaid labor
MONDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2018 VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 57 134th Year of Publication DAVID AKST President REBECCA TAN Executive Editor CHRIS MURACCA Print Director JULIA SCHORR Digital Director HARRY TRUSTMAN Opinion Editor SARAH FORTINSKY Senior News Editor JONATHAN POLLACK Senior Sports Editor LUCY FERRY Senior Design Editor GILLIAN DIEBOLD Design Editor CHRISTINE LAM Design Editor ALANA SHUKOVSKY Design Editor
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y first impression of Penn was shaped by the words of a student tour guide. He showed me around campus, spoke about his experience, and provided information regarding the application process. This is invaluable work. And Penn never paid him for it. Penn is one of two Ivies with no plans to pay student tour guides. Anyone who applies to Kite and Key clearly cares deeply for Penn. It is a shame that people so committed to the University are not compensated for their work. As an institution that claims to prioritize diversity, Penn has a responsibility to hire tour guides from a variety of different backgrounds. “If we’re [not] sharing the voices of first-generation students or the voices of students who receive financial aid, I think it’s a missed opportunity,” Logan Powell, Brown’s dean of admissions, told
ISABELLA SIMONETTI
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relate to. What’s more, by remunerating students employed by Kite and Key, Penn will inevitably
BEN ZHAO Design Editor KELLY HEINZERLING News Editor MADELEINE LAMON News Editor
Penn is one of two Ivies with no plans to pay student tour guides.”
HALEY SUH News Editor MICHEL LIU Assignments Editor MARC MARGOLIS Sports Editor THEODOROS PAPAZEKOS Sports Editor YOSEF WEITZMAN Sports Editor ALISA BHAKTA Copy Editor ALEX GRAVES Director of Web Development
The Brown Daily Herald. “There is a need to represent Brown from all perspectives.” Prospective students from underrepresented backgrounds deserve tour guides who they can
diversify the pool of tour guides. Paying tour guides would open up the position to more first-generation, low-income students who often have to take on multiple jobs to afford Penn’s sky-high tuition.
So many parts of Penn’s culture are socio-economically exclusive — the cost of textbooks, Greek life dues, club BYOs, downtowns, unpaid internship opportunities — being a student tour guide shouldn’t be on the list. Many Kite and Key tour guides have said that they have no desire to be paid, as they do their jobs because they love Penn. “We have always viewed ourselves as a student-run, volunteerbased service organization,” said Kite and Key President and Engineering junior Julia DiSalvio. “We don’t expect to be paid because we are doing it out of service.”
But loving your job doesn’t justify unpaid labor. Being committed to what you do and receiving compensation for it are not mutually exclusive. All tour guides should be passionate about Penn. That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be paid for their work. Most tour guides only work a few hours a week, but regardless, it’s the principle, not the pay. Being a tour guide won’t fill up your bank account, but a little extra money can always prove to be useful. Plus, student tour guides are people who are invested in Penn, its future, as well as the visiting experience of prospective stu-
dents. Campus tours can be a deciding factor in choosing a university. After being accepted to Penn, many students rely on student-led tours to make their final decisions. In other words, providing compensation to tour guides is an investment that the University will see significant returns on. Student tour guides have the unique opportunity to engage potential applicants and determine whether or not students come to Penn. This position should not be undervalued. Remunerating tour guides will increase the diversity, and provide results for the University. Students — next time you see someone walking backwards on campus, thank them for what they do. Administrators — it’s time to pay Penn’s most important ambassadors. ISABELL A SIMONET TI is a College sophomore from New York studying English. Her email address is simonetti@thedp. com. Follow her on Twitter @ thesimonetti.
OPINION ART
BROOKE KRANCER Social Media Editor SAM HOLLAND Senior Multimedia Editor MONA LEE News Photo Editor CHASE SUTTON Sports Photo Editor CAMILLE RAPAY Video Producer ALLY JOHNSON Podcasts Producer
KRISTEN YEH is a College sophomore from West Covina, Calif. Her email address is kristeny@sas.upenn.edu.
DEANNA TAYLOR Business Manager ANDREW FISCHER Innovation Manager DAVID FIGURELLI Analytics Director JOY EKASI-OTU Circulation Manager REMI GOLDEN Marketing Manager
THIS ISSUE JESSICA BAO Copy Associate LILIAN ZHANG Copy Associate
The Kelly Writers House isn’t a cult
HADRIANA LOWENKRON Copy Associate SAM MITCHELL Copy Associate LILY ZEKAVAT Copy Associate TAHIRA ISLAM Copy Associate WILL DIGRANDE Sports Associate MICHAEL LANDAU Sports Associate CARTER THOMPSON Sports Associate CINDY CHEN Photo Associate LUCAS WEINER Photo Associate MIRA SHETTY Photo Associate ZACH SHELDON Photo Associate ANANYA CHANDRA Photo Associate NICOLE FRIDLING Photo Associate
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THE OXFORD C’MON | We want you to come inside
T
he Kelly Writers House isn’t a cult. As strange as it might seem to have an old house in the middle of Locust Walk, that sense of oddity fades the second you walk inside. With a full working kitchen, couches for you and your friends to lounge around on and do homework, and a staff of work-study students who are always willing to show you around, why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of this space? In a sea of pre-professional blazers and ties, the Kelly Writers House welcomes the weird, the artsy, and even the vegans. Last year, when I was a timid freshman, the Kelly Writers House was almost solely responsible for making me feel comfortable at Penn. It has afforded me opportunities I never thought attainable — like meeting the massively influential poet, Bernadette Mayer, and photographing art gallery openings. Penn is inundated with pressure. Pressure to get a summer internship at an esteemed bank, pressure to have a 4.0 GPA, pressure to succeed. But it’s also important to breathe. As a work-study student myself who can spend upwards of 20 hours a week at the Kelly Writ-
SOPHIA DUROSE
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ers House, I am very acclimated to seeing the same faces funnel in and out of the building. While we love our regulars, we also want everyone to know that this place doesn’t discriminate. Whether an economics major, a friend of a Penn student, a traveling poet, or a visiting family member, please feel free to stop by and pour yourself a cup of coffee, of which we always have brewed. The atmosphere and creativity
permanently instilled in its events and employees isn’t the same vibe as one’s own home, but it is something, and sometimes it helps to just get a warm cup of coffee and a few minutes of peace. What’s more, it’s a space open to students of all years and all schools. A place that doesn’t necessitate asking what school or year you’re in, but simply lets you be. All colleges need more spaces like that. As people grow
into their own and become what they want to be, it’s important that safe spaces such as the Kelly Writers House exist. People need the space to grow, without knocking their backs on unreasonable and unnecessarily professional expectations. As stress continues to pile up, I know there’s a place on campus that fosters creativity and divergent agendas from the preprofessional rat races that leave
many students wanting to quit the maze altogether. Sitting in the kitchen and chatting with other work-study students, or doing my Spanish homework on the beanbag chair upstairs is one way to indulge in the niceties that a true home affords you — a luxury that many students forsake when living in dorms created to function, not foster. The Kelly Writers House isn’t an exclusive club, but an open space for anyone who needs it. Beyond traditional therapy, there are alternative ways of alleviating stress and anxiety. Spaces on campus like the Kelly Writers House perform such actions. It has different walls from when it was originally built in 1851, but the same heart. SOPHIA DUROSE is a College sophomore from Orlando, Fla. studying English. Her email is sdurose@sas.upenn.edu.