November 30, 2017 by The Daily Pennsylvanian

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2017 VOL. CXXXIII NO. 90

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

U. settles sexual misconduct lawsuit with former student

The student claimed Penn hadn’t provided a fair investigation or properly trained members of his hearing panel

Penn’s Tuition and Fees: A Breakdown As the cost to attend Penn continues to increase, students question where the money is going. Technology Fee

Student Health & Clinical Fee

$820

General Fee

Percent Change

Tuition & Fees for Academic Year 2018

General Fee

$546

Academic Years 2009-2018

Tuition

$47,416

$4,752

2009

‘10

‘11

‘12

‘13

‘14

‘15

‘16

‘17

‘18

*The Recreation Fee is added to the General Fee in AY 2018

Technology Fee

4.0

Academic Years 2009-2017

Percent Change

Recreation Fee

Academic Years 2009-2018

3.5

10 5 0

2009

‘10

‘11

‘12

‘13

‘14

‘15

‘16

‘17

-5 -10

3.0

-15 2009

‘10

‘11

‘12

‘13

‘14

‘15

‘16

‘17

‘18

-20

Harry Trustman | Copy Editor

enn’s tuition cost is rising at twice the rate of the national average of other private colleges, prompting some students to question exactly where their money is going. The total cost to attend Penn includes more than just tuition. For the current academic year, the total undergraduate cost is $53,534, which is a 3.9 percent increase from last year. Tuition itself costs $47,416, and the additional fees are broken down into three other categories: a general fee, which costs $4,752, a technology fee, which costs $820, and a student health and clinical fee, which costs $546. The Student Financial Services website indicates that the general fee “partially supports facilities such as the library systems, museums, and special laboratories, and also provides access to Uni-

FOUNDED 1885

versity fitness facilities.” The technology category covers the cost of computer labs and services, and the student health and clinical fee provides access to Student Health Service for students at Penn. This is the first year that there is no separate category for the recreation fee, which previously enabled students to gain access to recreation facilities like the Pottruck Health and Fitness Center. Last year, the recreation fee cost $362 and the general fee cost $4,224. However, because the recreation fee was parked under the general fee this year, the general fee rose to $4,752, constituting a 12.5 percent increase. In an emailed statement, Vice President of Budget and Management Analysis Trevor Lewis wrote that the reason for this change was to provide gym access to all full-time graduate and professional

students. Prior to this academic year, the recreation fee was optional for graduate and professional students. Now, the fee will be made mandatory over the next four years, as the general fee for graduate and professional students gradually will increase to accommodate the incorporated fee. This shift comes at the same time as the elimination of the recreation fee for undergraduate students. The general fee will cover recreational costs for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Lewis noted that for the 2017-2018 academic year, there will be “no change in planned growth rates” for undergraduate students. He did not indicate, however, SEE FEES PAGE 7

CAROLINE SIMON Senior Reporter

Penn has settled a lawsuit with a former student who took legal action to protest the University’s handling of a sexual misconduct investigation last year. In an article published on Nov. 21, the radio station WHYY wrote that the University had “agreed to pay a student accused of rape an undisclosed amount after he sued the school claiming Penn’s investigation into the incident violated his civil rights.” The student, known as John Doe in court documents, was accused of sexual assault by another student, Jane Roe, in June of 2016. Penn opened an investigation against Doe and found him responsible for sexual misconduct. Doe, who was a senior at the time, was given a two-year suspension. Doe claimed that Penn breached its contract with him by not handling the investigation fairly. In September, John Padova, a district court judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ruled that the court would move forward with three of Doe’s claims. The claims included that Penn had not provided a thorough and fair investigation, that Penn had not properly trained members of the hearing panel that adjudicated his case, and finally, that Penn had failed to protect him from gender discrimination under Title IX. If the case had moved forward, Doe’s lawyers would have been able to subpoena documents surrounding the incident and more broadly research Penn’s adjudication process. But since the case has been settled, Penn’s adjudication process will not be examined by lawyers. Experts say that universities facing lawsuits of this kind often make settlements to avoid legal scrutiny of their inner workings. “You will often see that these cases will settle shortly after the plaintiff wins a motion to dismiss precisely because the school does not want to expose the grubby interworking of its sexual misconduct process,” said Justin Dillon, a lawyer who specializes in Title IX issues. University spokesperson Stephen MacCarthy declined to comment on Nov. 27, citing a University policy of not commenting on litigation. Doe’s allegations and how the University reacted Doe argued in his complaint that Penn’s investigation — which is supposed to “include interviews of the complainant and respondent, interviews of witnesses and review of documentation, physical evidence, and any other relevant evidence” — may have been faulty because the Office of the Sexual Violence Investiga-

LUCY FERRY | DESIGN EDITOR

SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 7

Graduate students rally for protection from the GOP tax bill

Dozens of students sat outside the President’s Office MANLU LIU Staff Reporter

Just feet away from the Offices of the President and Provost, about 50 graduate students sat in the lobby of College Hall on Nov. 29 to protest the GOP tax bill. The event, organized by the student group campaigning for graduate students to unionize, Graduate Employees Together – University of Pennsylvania, is part of a larger nationwide movement against the Republican tax plan anticipated for a Senate vote later this week. On the same day, two other events were organized at Penn by graduate student groups with similar intentions of campaigning against the GOP tax bill. Passed by the House of Representatives on Nov. 16, the tax proposal is a $1.5 trillion plan that promises a comprehensive rewrite of the tax code. The

House version of the tax plan contained a provision to tax graduate student tuition waivers, which might cause some students to see a 300-400 percent increase in their taxes. The “work-in” that was held today was intended to be a rally “where graduate students can read, or grade, or do any kind of work to demonstrate how vital our work is the Penn community,” GET-UP wrote on a website publicizing the event. Graduate students and faculty gathered at 1:30 p.m. around the Benjamin Franklin statue on College Green, where individuals could speak up to the group about the tax bill. After, they headed inside together for the silent work-in. A security guard from the Division of Public Security, Darryl Richardson, said Amy Gutmann was not in her office when the work-in was taking place. The rally held at Penn was the only event held in Philadelphia that was a part of the

SaveGradEd’s national walkout against the tax bill that occurred at more than 60 universities. According to its Facebook page, SaveGradEd is a coalition of graduate students who will be forced to leave higher education if the GOP tax bill is passed. Over the course of the 90 minutes, about five faculty members stopped by the rally to show their support. English Department Graduate Chair David Eng said the GOP tax bill and the immigration stances of the Trump administration are discouraging international students from pursuing graduate studies in the United States. At 2:23 p.m., GET-UP member and history Ph.D. student Emma Teitelman called all the graduate student protestors to attention and encouraged them to call the number of U.S. Senator Pat Toomey’s (R-Pa.) D.C. office at the same time. “We’re not going to get through,” Teitelman said. “But

OPINION | Penn Dining is ‘simple robbery’

“Freshmen should instead be allowed — similarly to transfer students … to choose a meal plan that only has dining dollars.” - Alex Silberzweig PAGE 5

SPORTS | Staying sharp in the offseason

From international tournaments to marathons and more, Penn fencers keep themselves busy even when not competing for Penn BACKPAGE

we’re going to leave a voicemail to tell them to vote no on the tax bill.” In the next few minutes, nearly all students dialed the number on their phones. GETUP member and Biomedical Graduate Studies Ph.D. student Liv Harding said she reached Toomey’s voicemail and left a message telling him to vote against the tax plan. President Amy Gutmann, Provost Wendell Pritchett, and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli released a statement on Nov. 9 calling the tax plan “regressive” and asked students to express their opinions on social media and to elected officials in the House of Representatives and the Senate. But GET-UP member and English Ph.D. student Nick Millman, who helped organize the event, said the administrators’ statement was not enough and that GET-UP is calling on Gutmann to release a statement with concrete steps on how to protect students from their loss

JULIO SOSA | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The “work-in” was planned as a rally where grad students would read and grade to demonstrate how important their work is to the University.

in income due to the tax plan. At the event, students could sign a petition to Gutmann that

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puts these demands in writing. SEE TAX BILL PAGE 7

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