MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017 VOL. CXXXIII NO. 91
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
FOUNDED 1885
JULIO SOSA | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
The bill passed by a close margin of 51-49 MAX COHEN Contributing Reporter
I
n the early hours of Dec. 2, the Senate passed the Republican tax reform bill, marking what pundits say is the first major legislative victory of Donald Trump’s presidency. The bill paves the way for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, a lowering of the corporate tax rate, and the elimination of the individual mandate penalty. The Senate passed the tax bill by a thin margin of 51-49, with one Repub-
lican senator voting against the measure. The Trump administration’s proposals for tax reform have caused widespread controversy in recent weeks. The version of the tax bill which was passed by the House of Representatives last month included changes that would have significantly increased the cost of a graduate education. This prompted widespread protest on college campuses nationwide, Penn included. At a rally last week, dozens of Penn graduate students called on Penn President Amy Gutmann to “protect” them from the potential ramifications of the GOP’s tax plans. The version of the bill that passed the
Senate poses less of a threat to graduate students. But in the coming weeks, the bill will head to a conference committee to solve the differences between the House and the Senate proposals. This means that the provisions in the House bill that affect graduate education may still become legislation, explained Adrian Rivera-Reyes, a cell and molecular biology doctoral candidate at the Perelman School of Medicine. Katie Elbert, a third-year chemistry doctoral candidate, said she really hopes that the final tax bill will not include the provision to tax graduate student tuition waivers. After the conference committee be-
tween the Senate and the House, President Donald Trump will have the opportunity to sign the bill into law and enact the biggest changes to the tax code in a decade. While the Senate bill does not pose a targeted threat to graduate students, it still has a range of implications for those in education. For example, the bill will likely benefit private schools, while lowering the budgets available for public schools, the Washington Post reported. The fact-checking website PolitiFact also said that several components of the bill would disproportionately benefit wealthier individuals. The tax cuts favor those in the upper quintiles of the tax
brackets, as the top 20 percent of Americans would be set to gain 1.9 percent of their income in tax cuts — the largest amount of any quintile. At Penn, the GOP tax proposal has caused significant debate among political groups such as Penn Democrats and Penn College Republicans. Penn Dems argues that the bill disproportionately hurts the poor, while College Republicans claims that it fosters economic growth and benefits all of society. College and Wharton sophomore Michael Moroz, co-director of College Republicans Editorial Board, said he SEE TAX BILL PAGE 8
Off-campus groups starting to follow new event regulations
Penn replaces smoker poles with anti-smoking signage
Groups like THEOS have registered their events
Nearly a fourth of undergraduates may be affected
NATALIE KAHN Deputy News Editor
RAHUL CHOPRA Staff Reporter
After a semester of student backlash to Penn’s new policies governing social events, administrators and students say they are getting used to the campus regulations. Data from the University also suggest groups largely have been following the guidelines. These policies, which are based on recommendations set forth last semester by the Task Force for a Safe and Responsible Campus Community, require both on-campus and off-campus groups to register all social events with the University or risk having the events shut down by Penn Police. The regulations were rolled out a year after students protested rape culture at Penn with flyers that exposed a sexually suggestive email from off-campus group OZ. Registration involves hiring University-sanctioned bartenders and security guards, which together cost $90 per hour,
A year after Penn announced its plans to become a tobaccofree campus, all the smoker poles around campus have been removed. Until recently, it was common to see Penn students, faculty, and staff disposing of their cigarette butts at designated smoker poles outside certain academic buildings like Van Pelt Library or Williams Hall. But starting September 2016, Penn has gradually removed many of the smoker poles around campus, replacing them with anti-smoking signage. In a video on Penn’s efforts to become tobacco-free published on Nov. 27, Rebecca Huxta, a public health specialist at Student Health Service and Campus Health, said the existence of smoker poles can “signal to smokers that it is OK to smoke in that proximity because there is an area for them to dispose of this waste.” She added that these “environmen-
FILE PHOTO
Student groups are required to register all social events with the University or risk having the events shut down by Penn Police.
and the introduction of event observers patrolling late-night events. These controversial policies sparked student criticism on what many deemed to be an uptick in the cost of events and policies that "[encroach] on student liberties.” But despite months of student criticism, data shows that many groups have complied with Penn’s new social policies. Though there were only three registered events in August, the number of registered events increased each month after Penn Police continued to shut down unregistered events.
There were 55 registered events in September, 59 in October, and 77 in November, according to data from Alcohol and Other Drug Program Initiatives. That makes for a total of 194 registered events for the first four months of school, up 65 percent from last year’s 127. Vice Provost of University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum said 100 more groups have also identified with the Office of Student Affairs, bringing its list of registered organizations from 400 to 500. Four of SEE EVENTS PAGE 7
OPINION | Penn’s grading needs reform
“Not all grading systems are equally adept at assessing and motivating students … “ — Cameron Dichter PAGE 4
SPORTS | The stat behind football’s season
One minor statistic might have made the difference in every single one of Penn football’s losses this season: it came down to defense BACKPAGE FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM
NEWS IFC yet to create diversity chair position PAGE 3
tal cues” on campus can promote smoking. Removing Penn’s smoker poles is part of a larger antitobacco initiative, which started when the University was awarded a $20,000 grant from the the American Cancer Society and CVS Health in 2016. The grant, which was part of a $3.6 million, nationwide campaign called the “Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative,” was jointly awarded to Penn’s Division of Human Resources, Campus Health, and SHS. Penn’s decision to remove the smoker poles may affect more than 2,500 undergraduate students on campus. A study from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment survey found that while only 1-2 percent of Penn students smoke everyday, nearly 25 percent smoke at least once in a 30-day period. College sophomore and regular smoker Aleksei Kuryla Queirolo said he was skeptical about Penn’s new anti-smoking efforts. “By discouraging smoking around campus, the University
is just going to make smokers smoke inside,” he said. Frank Leone, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Comprehensive Smoking Treatment Program, said removing the smoker poles is just the first step of Penn’s new anti-tobacco policy and added that a unique aspect of this anti-smoking initiative is that it won’t be actively enforced. “It’s a different philosophical approach,” he said. “There’s not going to be enforcement or an effort to corral smokers.” College senior Trevor Glenn worked as an undergraduate representative of the Student Health Service board on the new anti-tobacco policies. He said the goal of the program is to educate students about the dangers of smoking, rather than punish smokers. “We’re really trying to create more of culture of change rather than a mandate,” he said. “We hope that through the modules and posters, and that we are not trying to stigmatize smoking, that it’s viewed more SEE SMOKING PAGE 3
NEWS Fossil Free Penn’s struggles to change policy PAGE 6
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