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Penn should give a free semester to students affected by Hurricane Maria EDITORIAL BY THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN OPINION BOARD In the wake of Hurricane Maria’s horrific effects in Puerto Rico, Brown University announced on Oct. 22 that it will enroll up to 50 students from the University of Puerto Rico so that they can continue their studies. As part of this program, the exchange students will not be charged a penny in tuition or fees, with Brown assisting the students with additional travel and housing costs. Brown is far from the only school providing these generous accommodations. Cornell University has also extended an offer to accept up to 50 full-time undergraduate, law, and business students as well as eight graduate research students for the spring semester, tuition-free. Wesleyan University, Tulane University, and New York University have all announced similar plans in the past several weeks and many more schools are likely to help as well. We believe it’s time for Penn to do its part in helping the
people of Puerto Rico. In similar fashion to its peers, Penn should allow approximately 50 students from the UPR to enroll tuition-free at Penn for the spring semester. Additionally, these students should be granted complimentary meal plans and housing to alleviate their financial burdens. Allowing these students, whose college plans for the near future have been largely interrupted by Hurricane Maria, to continue their academics at Penn would uphold the University’s stated mission of impacting the world for good. As of today, more than 50 percent of Puerto Rico does not have access to power and electricity, and over 25 percent of the island does not have access to telecommunications services. The total cost of damages have been estimated to be as high as $95 billion. The timeline for recovery will be steep and every gesture we can make to help is extremely valuable. Due to severe power outages
and limited connectivity to telecommunications services, all 11 campuses of the UPR have been closed since Hurricane Maria struck. Hopefully, UPR will be able to resume its operations as soon as possible and get back on track, but in the event that their campuses are not fully mended by the begin-
Leadership Alliance, an organization that partners 35 universities to develop networking and research opportunities for underrepresented students. Penn and UPR are both members of The Leadership Alliance, therefore the University already has the structural communication networks necessary
In similar fashion to its peers, Penn should allow approximately 50 students from the University of Puerto Rico to enroll tuitionfree at Penn for the spring semester.” ning of next year, Penn should open its doors to these Puerto Rican students. Brown University was largely able to implement its Puerto Rico program through The
with UPR to enact a policy similar to Brown’s. Penn has helped affected students so far through its English Language Program, “shortterm research opportunities,”
and some “housing options,” according to Executive Director for Education and Academic Planning Rob Nelson. He said Penn is “working to identify undergraduate and graduate students whose study in Puerto Rico has been disrupted by Hurricane Maria and its aftermath and whose interests and educational needs can be met on Penn’s campus,” but this approach is far from sufficient. Penn’s endowment returned 14.3 percent this year, ballooning the total value of the University’s assets to $12.2 billion. Cornell and Brown are each schools with far smaller total endowments and endowment per student — if these schools can afford to accommodate these students, Penn has no fiscal reason to not do the same. Through various initiatives this academic year, including the recent Campus Conversation, administrators have spoken a great deal about the “devastating natural disasters”
students and the wider world have faced. “Penn’s exceptional staff and faculty have been working diligently to be as supportive as possible,” the email announcing the Campus Conversation read. “They have been reaching out to friends and classmates who have been most deeply impacted and they have been meeting with all who seek help.” Talk is cheap. Leadership requires an active commitment to students and Penn’s global partners through tangible methods, such as financial assistance. In recent weeks, Penn has announced to great fanfare the construction of a new $163 million college house, along with a state-of-the-art food court at 3401 Walnut St. and a $15.15 million renovation to Houston Market. If only among those announcements the University had joined its peers in extending money, not to more dormitory space or another campus eatery, but to students in need.
The unnecessary stress of Advance Registration ROAD JESS TRAVELLED | Why we need to re-evaluate how we select courses Right now, it’s 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, and I’m sitting in HubBub trying to figure out my life. Or more specifically, my life for the next semester. Today is the last day of Advance Registration, and this feeling of slight panic is a familiar one. Last year on the same day, I sat in the same seat in HubBub doing the same thing. Every day last week people asked me, “What are you taking next semester?” and my answer was, “I have no idea.” People are usually bewildered by this response,
as if failing to decide exactly what courses are lined up two months in the future is nearly a criminal act. It comes as no surprise that time flies by in college, but the week of Advance Registration serves as an immediate, tangible reminder. Asking students to decide which courses they are taking so early perpetuates a rather stressful pressure of outlining the exact trajectory of one’s academic progress — something that not everyone necessarily knows.
Especially for college students, the amount of courses available to students is certainly overwhelming, and having more time to truly look through and decide carefully what courses a student wants to enroll in is essential in crafting a satisfying college education. Though some may argue that actual course selection begins after Advance Registration, the stress behind the very idea of Advance Registration is something that gives me — as a student who has been unde-
cided for at least the past year — some anxiety. Instead of Advance Registration starting at the end of October and early November in the middle of midterm season, it would be far more effective and beneficial to push the period back to the end of the semester when students have time to truly evaluate what courses they should take. Adding on the pressure of Advance Registration while students are trying to get through their current classes is simply unfair, and can be eas-
JULIA MCGURK | DESIGN ASSOCIATE
ily remedied by pushing registration a few weeks back. Postponing Advance Registration could, however, lead to difficulties for the administration in assessing which courses have enough interest to continue. But adding an official shopping period at the beginning of every semester would make course selection less stressful, as there would be less pressure to immediately decide on an academic path. Many peer institutions like Yale University and Brown University have designated shopping periods that last multiple weeks, designed to help students get acclimated with the courses they are interested in and allow them time to decide if they truly want to commit to them. If we must work within our current system though, the administration should let students know more explicitly about how flexible switching in and out of courses is. Failing to get into a class after Advance Registration is not the end of the world as many students believe it is — there is so much room before and during the semester to reevaluate a class, drop if needed, and switch around in general. But so many students forget this in the hurry to decide classes so early that even having the registrar’s office send out emails notifying students of specific dates of when course selection begins and ends or the last day to drop a class would alleviate concerns of the seemingly rigid selection process. At the beginning of this semester, I sat in on a total of
JESSICA LI nine different classes, trying to figure out which ones were the best fit for me while still fulfilling the requirements I needed. Though those were a rather stressful two weeks, I do not regret it — in doing this, I ensured that my schedule was something that I could fully enjoy and engage in, and that I felt comfortable with every single one of my classes. Ultimately, our education at Penn is what we are paying for. We should think critically about course selection and take our time to really do it — and not fall into the trap of allowing a week or two in November seem like the only time to do it. At the end of the day, you are the student who will be taking these classes — making sure you think critically about every class by taking the time to think it through, physically being there and feeling it out is far more important than two weeks of Advance Registration. JESSICA LI is a College sophomore from Livingston, N.J., studying English and psychology. Her email address is jesli@sas.upenn.edu. “Road Jess Travelled” usually appears every other Monday.
A call for more equitable classrooms GUEST COLUMN BY MIRU OSUGA In every classroom, I make a conscious effort to take note of who is noticed and who is not. This year, I decided to count. I have a professor who believes in us. He tells us how we are made from the stars. He weaves his lectures into stories in a way so fluid my attention hardly wavers. Especially since I’ve started recording whose names he calls. To make the class more personable, he’ll integrate our names into his lecture: “These are the five forms of radioactive decay, you got that Brianna?” “Amy would agree that Yellowstone is the most beautiful place on Earth.” “Alex, have you been coming to class? Alex, don’t zone out!!” He’s been integrating my white classmates’ names into our classes. In the past month,
he said white students’ names approximately 88 times and the names of people of color eight times. Like I said, I’ve been keeping a tally. He’s not white. I’m not saying he’s racist. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t subconsciously biased. Our society prefers it that way. This brings me to Stephanie McKellop. McKellop has been both recognized and criticized for using a pedagogical tool called progressive stacking in her recitation. She describes this in a tweet: “I will always call on my Black women students first. Other POC [people of color] get second tier priority. WW [white women] come next. And, if I have to, white men.” Following the tweet, McKellop reported that she had been asked to not come to class and that her recitation had been
cancelled. Steven Fluharty, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, told another account, saying that this was not the case. McKellop recognizes this bias which stems from a histori-
quires us to take a closer look at what it is that makes people so uncomfortable. After all, McKellop is just practicing equity in academia in its most tangible form. For teaching assistants, there is no
Academia does not exist in a vacuum of the University; it is full of real people bringing their own real biases into this space.” cal legacy of privileging white people and voices, especially in academic spaces. The vitriolic criticisms of her method of maneuvering the classroom re-
effective diversity or equity training module. For professors, there is little accountability in not seeing the half-raised hands of students of color sit-
ting at the back of a dimly lit auditorium. Sitting at the back because the pressures of society tell us we’re not enough. We’re not valued in this space. We don’t actually have anything to say that someone white couldn’t say better. Those pressures do not quiver at the threshold of this sanctum of knowledge. Academia does not exist in a vacuum of the University; it is full of real people bringing their own real biases into this space. What we need is comprehensive and effective teaching assistant, faculty, and staff diversity training. We need more diverse faculty members who are committed to uplifting historically marginalized voices. We need TAs who tally. We need to support more TAs like McKellop in their efforts to make the classroom a more eq-
uitable experience. Some classrooms do a good job. I’ve had a professor who tallies participation points in a way that encourages marginalized people to speak. But it shouldn’t be just that professor or McKellop. All professors and TAs should be given the tools necessary to mold their understanding of how to maneuver a diverse classroom. I’d like more than just a glance of semi-acknowledgement in class. I want my whole class to hear my name invited into the mix of names of students who matter, the acknowledgement that I exist and that my participation too is valuable in this space. MIRU OSUGA is a College senior from New York, studying communication, Asian American studies, and environmental studies.