January 27, 2020

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MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2020 VOL. CXXXVI NO. 4

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

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Penn political groups will travel to N.H. for primary elections Bernie and Biden cam- more volunteers. Penn for Biden plans to pus groups will canvass send three or four students to PIA SINGH Staff Reporter

FELICITY YICK

As cases of a deadly new strain of coronavirus increase in the United States and worldwide, the University has reported no cases of the virus at Penn or in Philadelphia but is currently monitoring the situation. An email sent by Provost Wendell E. Pritchett, Executive Vice President Craig R. Carnaroli, and Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé stated that all students who traveled to China within the last 14 days and developed a cough, fever, or difficulty breathing should contact Student Health Services immediately. Director of

Campus Health Ashlee Halbritter said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian that Campus Health is working with the Study Abroad Office, International Student and Scholar Services, and Penn Global to communicate with Chinese international students and students currently studying, planning to study, or traveling abroad in the near future. “We will continue to monitor these groups of people and communicate with them to make sure they have all the information they need to stay healthy and well if they are going

to continue to travel,” Halbritter said. Coronaviruses are a large, very common family of viruses, according to the email sent to the Penn community on Friday. The new strain originally broke out in Wuhan, China and was detected by Chinese authorities on Dec. 31, according to The Washington Post. The New York Times reported that over 2,700 cases and 80 deaths have been recorded. The disease has spread to 10 countries, including the United States, prompting travel bans and lockdowns in affected areas on more than 50 million

citizens in China, according to The New York Times. There are currently five cases in the United States: two in southern California and one each in Chicago, Arizona, and Washington, according to CNN. Five U.S. airports have since begun screening all passengers coming from China for the coronavirus, NBC5 Chicago reported. Philadelphia International Airport is not among those screening. CNN said all five U.S. patients are in “good condition.” SEE CORONAVIRUS PAGE 7

The next two weeks will be crucial in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Iowa holds its caucus on Feb. 3 and New Hampshire has its primary on Feb. 11 – the first two votes of the cycle. Although these events take place hundreds of miles from Penn, political groups on campus are amping up their outreach efforts. Penn for Bernie and Penn for Biden members are traveling to New Hampshire to canvass voters. Penn for Bernie will send five or six Penn students to New Hampshire after a successful GoFundMe campaign. According to Penn for Bernie President and College sophomore Jack Cahill, the group is teaming up with Drexel for Bernie, Temple for Bernie, and and other organizers in Philadelphia for the trip. Cahill said officials from Bernie’s campaign will pay for the group’s travel and accommodations in New Hampshire if they can assemble 50 or

New Hampshire on a bus for Biden supporters from Philadelphia, paid for by the campaign itself. According to Penn for Bernie co-director and College sophomore Amira Chowdhury, Penn for Bernie is one of the most highly mobilized college student groups in the nation. This month, Penn for Bernie raised over $800 in a GoFundMe effort to send its members to canvass in the upcoming New Hampshire primary in February. After popular left-wing podcast “Chapo Traphouse” co-host Will Menaker retweeted the group’s fundraiser, the group reached its goal, $750, within two minutes of Menaker’s post. Chowdhury, who also was a field organizer for the Sanders campaign during the 2016 campaign, acknowledged the importance of the group’s travel plans, but underscored the need to campaign at Penn. “When we are in the middle of campus, hundreds of hundreds of folks are walking SEE CAMPAIGN PAGE 7

Penn’s RD applicant pool drops by nearly 3,000 for the Class of 2024 Penn saw its largest applicant pool last year LEANNA TILITEI Staff Reporter

Penn received 42,191 applications for the Class of 2024, nearly 3,000 less than last year’s recordbreaking applicant pool. Last year, Penn saw its largest applicant pool to date, with 44,961 applications for the Class of 2023. This year’s decline breaks nearly a decade of steady growth in the number of prospective Quakers – the

AVA CRUZ

only dip in the applicant pool size in the 2010s was a slight decline from 2015 to 2016. According to Penn’s Dean of Admissions Eric Furda, the applicant pool began to drop and plateau after students became better adjusted to the new SAT and its scoring scale, which was first administered in 2016, and college guidebooks published years of admissions data to reflect the new scoring. The new SAT features a 1600-point scale, while the old SAT had a 2400-point scale. Furda attributes the 2018 spike in

applications in part to the revamped SAT. That year, Penn received 44,491 applications for the Class of 2022, a 10% increase from 2017’s 40,413 applications for the Class of 2021. Furda said more students felt inclined to apply after comparing their new SAT scores with scores of accepted students who took the old test. “We did attribute a good part of that increase to students seeing scores that were going up at certain bands, and then saying to themSEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 8

Penn to continue actuarial science concentration

‘Shark Tank’ mogul speaks at Wharton’s Ideathon

The program will be offered for three more years

ANYA TULLMAN Staff Reporter

JASON YAN Staff Reporter

Although the actuarial science concentration was removed from Wharton’s homepage late last semester, Penn will continue to offer the program after students expressed concerns to administrators. The concentration was originally removed from the website in November 2019 because of the planned retirement of Jean Lemaire, director of the actuarial science program and the only faculty member currently involved in the program. However, Wharton Deputy Dean Michael Gibbons wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Lemaire will continue to serve as an academic advisor for the actuarial science

concentration and the program is expected to continue for three more years. Gibbons wrote that Wharton plans to offer two of the three classes Lemaire taught as part of the actuarial science concentration. Lemaire said though he will no longer teach, he has found a replacement he hopes will be confirmed by Wharton soon. College first-year David Jin said he found out about canceling the concentration through a Snapchat story. “I felt that the way that they did it was very abrupt,” Jin said. “They could have eased the students into the announcement as opposed to just dropping [it] on them.” Wharton junior and Penn Actuarial Society President Gabriel Lozano said Wharton administrators were receptive when he reached SEE ACTUARIAL PAGE 8

FUBU CEO Daymond John spoke to students

Wharton’s Baker Retailing Center hosted its first Ideathon, a 24-hour challenge during which Penn students pitched ideas to Ralph Lauren to solve business challenges, featuring VIP guest ‘Shark Tank’ investor and CEO of FUBU Daymond John. The Ideathon took place at the Sheraton Philadelphia University City Hotel from 3 p.m. on Friday until 3 p.m. on Saturday, open to any undergraduate and graduate Penn student. Ralph Lauren presented three challenges titled “personalization,” “retail experience and technology,” and “mobile” to approximately 16 teams of five students. The groups then had 24 hours to come up with a three-minute pitch for one of

OPINION | Greek life must support CAFSA

“The goals of fraternities and of CAFSA are not antithetical, and the two can work together.” - DP Editorial Board PAGE 4

SPORTS | Men’s basketball tops Temple Penn men’s basketball got off to a fast start and hung on late to beat the Owls on Saturday in its final Big 5 contest of the season. BACKPAGE

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the three challenges after which five representatives from Ralph Lauren deliberated to choose the best pitch from each category. The three winning teams each received $10,000. Before students presented their pitches at the end of the event, John spoke to attendees about how he created his global apparel company as a teenager playing with hats in his mother’s basement. “I would go work at Red Lobster for five years while I did FUBU at night and I would sleep four hours a night,” John said. “The business called me back. If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, take affordable steps, fail fast, and fail small.” The Baker Retailing Center is an interdisciplinary industry research center established in 2002. Its mission is to be a global leader in retail knowledge by facilitating research and sponsoring global outreach initiatives for students.

Mina Fader, managing director of the Baker Retailing Center, said she thought of the Ideathon six months ago because she wanted to give students an experience similar to a hackathon, an event where coders collaborate on software projects, but with a business focus. She added that she was excited for students to learn more about current issues affecting the retailing industry. “It really gives the industry an opportunity to see students in a very different light than just a standard interview,” Fader said. “There are so many other students here who don’t code, and I’d love for them to be able to have the same kind of opportunity.” The Baker Retailing Center partnered with Rethink Connect, a global hub through which industry agents and entrepreneurs can connect, to identify Ralph Lauren as the company that would present

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the Ideathon. According to Fader, they wanted to choose a company that people knew and respected. Molly MacDougall, vice president of Digital Technology for Ralph Lauren, said she was excited to see how the student pitches could help improve the company. “We were really looking at challenges that we face that are top of mind in our day to day as part of our jobs with the company,” MacDougall said. “Personalization, mobile, and retail technologies are regular conversations and areas of focus and investment for our company.” Rima Reddy, first-year Wharton MBA student who was part of the team that won the retail experience and technology challenge, said that she loved working with her team and was impressed by SEE IDEATHON PAGE 7

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January 27, 2020 by The Daily Pennsylvanian - Issuu