October 8, 2026
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026 HOUSING GUIDE
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Table of Contents 4
Axis apartment building now fully Penn-owned
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Penn begins 3-year renovation of 1920 Commons
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These faculty stay on the clock. Meet Penn’s College House Fellows
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‘Comfortable and refreshed’: After 3 years, Quad renovation is complete
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A look at the off-campus housing search near Penn
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Penn scholars programs offer unique undergraduate paths
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Opinion | Why Penn should do more for its graduate students Quaker Creative is the creative agency of The Daily Pennsylvanian — focusing on special editions and in-person events throughout the school year. Cover design by Mina Glanz
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Axis apartment building now fully Penn-owned
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The seven-story building, valued at $9.4 million, served as Penn student housing during the 2024-25 academic year
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Penn recently obtained full ownership of The Axis, an apartment building located at 36th and Ludlow streets. The deal follows a nearly 20 year period during which the University held a 50% interest in the property, according to Associate Vice President of Real Estate Services Rachel Siegert. The seven-story building, valued at $9.4 million, also served as Penn student housing during the 202425 academic year while Ware College House underwent renovations. “When the other partners decided to exit their investment, Penn acquired their interests, the partnership was dissolved, and title transferred directly to the University,” Siegert wrote. “The transaction provided Penn with an opportunity to simplify the ownership structure of The Axis.” Siegert added that the building’s existing management team will continue to operate the property. The Axis is one of around 80 communities operated under Altman Management Company, which
manages properties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The 130-unit building was built in 1925 and sold for $7 million in 2010. During the 2024-25 academic year, students living in The Axis each had their own private bathroom, a refrigerator, televisions, and occasionally a walk-in closet. Just under half of the residents were second-year students, around 7-8% were transfers, and the remaining residents were upperclassmen, according to Residential Services at the time. While the Quad renovations were underway, the University also leased the Radian — an apartment complex on Walnut Street — from August 2023 to August 2026. Penn’s acquisition of The Axis comes after a summer of housing developments and two major property purchases in University City. In June, Penn and real estate company Greystar announced a redevelopment project for Sansom Place West — the University’s last on-campus grad-
CHENYAO LIU | DP FILE PHOTO
uate student housing option — which closed at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. The building is set to reopen by the start of the 2027-28 academic year with 448 apartments. The two entities previously collaborated on the $94.5 million renovation of Sansom Place East, now known as the Accolade on Chestnut. The project was completed in 2023 after students complained about poor living conditions. This summer, Penn purchased the property formerly occupied by Hummus Grill near 40th and Walnut streets for $4 million after the Mediterranean restaurant closed in May. New York City-based restaurant 7th Street Burger is set to open a new location there later this year. The University also acquired Tabernacle United Church for $6.5 million. The church, which has long had a relationship with Penn, will continue holding services and housing Penn Live Arts’ Iron Gate Theatre.
The three-year project — set for completion by January 2029 — will cost $79 million and span 59,000 square feet CAN DOGA BOLUKBASI Staff Reporter
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Penn begins 3-year renovation of 1920 Commons
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026 CATHERINE FAN | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
From December 2027 through July 2028, Starbucks and Gourmet Grocer will close to undergo renovations. The dining hall will remain open, and additional grab-and-go meal options will be temporarily available. Christopher Kern, the executive director of design and construction at Penn’s Division of Facilities & Real Estate Services, told the DP that the addition will provide a “new loading dock,” and “core elevator and stair facilities.” After the summer 2028 closure, the facility will reopen in fall 2028, and phase three of construction will continue until November that year. The
expanded Gourmet Grocer, coffee shop, and study spaces will also be open during this time. A locker-based retail food pick-up system will also be created inside 1920 Commons for student use. The dining hall will be closed for renovations during this period, though new grab-and-go meals and meal exchange options will be made temporarily available. The facility will undergo a fourth and final phase of construction from November 2028 through January 2029 that will involve further renovations to the dining hall. Sparks said that the con-
struction team is working to “minimize any disruption” to campus activities. “With any construction project, there is going to be noise, so we are very well aware of that, and we are updating our websites accordingly,” she said. Due to the facility’s proximity to Harnwell College House, Sparks said the University is “looking at the timing that the work is being done and making sure we’re coordinating and communicating with everyone.”
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completion in 1971. The construction has been divided into three phases “to allow us to remain open throughout the process,” except during the summer of 2028, which Sparks said will be the “only time we close the whole building.” Phase one of the construction — which began in June 2026 and will continue until November 2027 — involves the demolition of a current greenhouse adjacent to the lower level of 1920 Commons and the addition of a new entrance. The dining hall, Gourmet Grocer, and Starbucks will remain open while the addition is under construction.
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Penn began construction for a multi-phase renovation of 1920 Commons this June. The updated building will feature over 200 more seats, an expanded Gourmet Grocer, a new coffee shop, group study pods, elevators, and a locker-based food pick-up system. The three-year project — set for completion by January 2029 — will cost $79 million and span 59,000 square feet. In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Business Services Division Director of Hospitality Wendy Sparks said that the facility “really was due for an overhaul.” The renovation is Commons’ first full renovation since its
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These faculty stay on the clock. Meet Penn’s College House Fellows For house fellows and faculty directors, working with students is an opportunity to connect with and give back to the Penn community
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026
CHRISTINE OH Senior Reporter
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CHENYAO LIU | STAFF DESIGNER
Nicola Gentili’s daughter, Francesca Gentili, grew up against the backdrop of Penn’s campus. It was on the 23rd floor of Harrison College House that she took her first steps. Now seven years old, Francesca crosses Locust Walk with her father each morning as he drops her off at school before heading to teach in Fisher-Bennett Hall as associate director of Cinema and Media Studies. Since 2007, Gentili has served as a house fellow at Harrison, where — among 20 floors filled with Penn students — he lives with his wife and daughter. College house fellows and faculty directors are members
of the University community who live in undergraduate housing to provide students with additional mentorship and community engagement in addition to their roles as Penn faculty and staff. According to College House and Academic Services, fellows help “bring the intellectual life of the University along with them” by hosting academic and social programming and offering students guidance. Faculty directors supervise fellows and lead a residential faculty team within their college house, helping shape the house’s academic and social community. The positions operate in two- and four-year terms,
respectively, and have competitive selection processes to match applicants with the best college house environments for all residents. Learning beyond the lecture hall In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Gentili explained that one objective of the live-in faculty program is to “continue academic activity” outside the classroom. Each semester, Gentili offers a Film Culture in Residence course and hosts film screenings throughout the year in his residential building to “fulfill the mission of bringing together students with academic opportunities.” He said that the faculty
residents in Harrison each bring their own subject-matter expertise, which gives the building its character. Faculty living in Harrison include professors in religious studies, history, and fine arts, according to Gentili. “The element of the arts and the humanities in Harrison is definitely very present,” Gentili said. History professor and Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies Emma Hart hopes to bring her academic experience to her upcoming fellowship at Gutmann College House. “The subject that I study is kind of my hobby as well,” Hart said. “History already
crosses into all of the areas of my life anyway … so there’s not that much of a sharp line.” Hart described plans to explore “the hidden histories and spaces at Penn” with interested students, including the Common Press in the Fisher Fine Arts Library and the Arthur Ross Gallery exhibit on Revolutionary-era America. Like Hart and Gentili, Physics and Astronomy professor Arnold Mathijssen bridges the gap between academic and personal spaces by hosting events on food science for his residents in Stouffer College House. On one occasion, Mathijssen held a “Hot Ones”-style wing challenge
Laia Mogas-Soldevila, who serves as director at DumoLab Research and assistant professor of architecture at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, brought almost 10 years of prior experience in on-campus housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when she became a fellow at Lauder College House. When Mogas-Soldevila joined Penn’s faculty during the pandemic, she and her family were unfamiliar with Philadelphia, so living on campus was their “first option,” she said. “The College Houses are such a tight community where you start knowing people and you start understanding how the University thinks on a global level — because the undergrads know everything,” Mogas-Soldevila said. “I thought: ‘It’s a great opportunity for me to understand Penn and Philadelphia.’” Hart also told the DP that
she’s hoping to learn more about the “huge range” of “diverse life experiences and cultures and backgrounds” that make up Penn’s community through her new role as a fellow. ‘A home away from home’ Many faculty residents live on campus with their families. Partners, children, and pets often become familiar faces to students. Alicia Risner-Bauman has been a faculty fellow at Ware College House for five years, in addition to her roles as associate director of the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities and associate professor at Penn Dental Medicine. While she and her husband spend some weekends at their home in southern New York, Risner-Bauman lives with her son and her dog in the Quadrangle during the workweek. “If you are a faculty fellow, your entire family can live with you. That’s part of the idea, is to have that family en-
vironment, so students have that home-away-from-home feeling,” Risner-Bauman said. “They see that faculty are real people with families.” Mogas-Soldevila, who lives with her husband and their two young children in Lauder, explained that faculty fellows are important to students because they “demonstrate family” and give “warmth” to campus living. Sometimes, fellows’ kids become “little cousins” to undergraduate residents. While fellows present themselves as research and academic support they also offer students the opportunity to be around “adults that are not professors,” Mogas-Soldevila added. “We take off our professor hats,” she said. “I think that’s what the fellows offer the most.” Muller frequently invites residents into her Riepe apartment to play the piano and keyboard and share
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reflected on the importance of cultural exchange in their houses, encouraging students to take advantage of Penn’s diverse student body. “Part of the academic experience is to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet, to learn something of where they come from, how their lives have been,” Muller said. She described the University’s diversity as one of Penn’s “greatest strengths.” As a “man of cinema,” Gentili described the view of Locust Walk from the 38th Street bridge as his “favorite shot.” From that vantage point — on his daily commute from Harrison to Fisher-Bennett — Gentili looks out on a “human river of people” from all over the world, speaking various languages, each headed to their own destination. But despite these differences, Gentili said they all have something in common: “belonging to Penn and to the future.”
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where students also learned about the chemical compound capsaicin. On another, he invited a Penn graduate to host a coffee tasting where they discussed the different climates and methods of bean harvesting. “It’s really something that brings people together,” Mathijssen said. “You can actually give more depth and explain more about the science behind it, and also the history and the culture.” Music professor and anthropologist Carol Ann Muller, who has been the faculty director at Riepe College House since 2022, emphasized the importance of food as a “component of sociability” that builds relationships and teaches “reciprocity.” “To give and to share is actually a really important social principle,” Muller, who bakes cookies for her residents every week, said. The Penn melting pot Several faculty residents
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home-cooked meals. For students, she emphasized the importance of knowing that a professor “cares about you in that way.” “Professors are human beings too, and we can open up new worlds to students through knowledge sharing,” Muller added. Meeting students where they are As faculty residents in the Quad, Muller and Risner-Bauman are “very cognizant” that first-year students have unique needs as they arrive on campus. From approaching professors to discuss a bad grade to asking long-term questions about studying abroad, Muller told the DP that the faculty in the Quad are “trying to create a place where you can have a conversation about the academic culture of Penn.” But in a time of transition, Risner-Bauman added that fellows serve an important second purpose: emotional support. “We want to be that touch person that they come to when they have questions, that they come to when they just need a break,” Risner-Bauman said. “We’re there to help them. We’re there to give them advice.” For fellows in multi-year housing, having residents in different stages of their Penn experience creates a different role. Gentili emphasized the need to be “more selective and more attentive” to upperclass-
men than to “freshmen that really are thirsty and hungered for activity.” “Sometimes they are not very involved with [house activities] because they are too busy in terms of their circle of friends, their studies, and the future after college,” Gentili said. Upperclassmen are typically “more interested in themselves” — in their friends, studies, and post-grad plans — than activities at the residential houses, Gentili said. With this sentiment, he said the fellows “measure our intervention, our help, our solidarity with” older students according to “their demand.” Mogas-Soldevila, who has been a fellow at Lauder while the house was both multi-year and first-year-only housing, said that she’s “happy” to have a more varied population in the house for the upcoming year. Younger residents “benefit from going to an event and suddenly being able to talk to a fourth-year student” who can offer them advice about courses and clubs, she added. Mathijssen empathized with incoming students entering an unfamiliar environment. Though born and raised in the Netherlands, he attended university and graduate school in the United Kingdom, where he initially “didn’t know anybody.” He recalled joining several residential and student leadership committees at University College London and Ox-
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ford University, which helped familiarize him with those new environments and create community among his peers. For Mathijssen, it was “quite natural” to bring those personal experiences as a foreign student to his role as a fellow. Mathijssen encouraged his new residents to, like him, take advantage of provided programming and consider taking on a leadership role in the future. He recommended that students “just come along to the first couple of events and see what it’s like.” Students could also join a steering committee to propose and plan their own activities, which he described as a “natural path” to getting more involved after arriving at a college house. “If you really like it, then often people transition to become an RA later, and then they can actually help the next generation of students coming in,” Mathijssen said. For house fellows and faculty directors, working with students is an opportunity to connect with and give back to the Penn community. Nearly two decades after he first moved into Harrison, the “young and promising” students he interacts with are a key part of what keeps Gentili living at Penn. “To contribute — as a faculty, administrator, fellow — to the growth of this generation or generations that were in the past is a great joy and pleasure,” Gentili said.
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‘Comfortable and refreshed’: After 3 years, Quad renovation is complete With updated infrastructure and new community spaces, current residents anticipate that the Quad renovations could transform their living experience ALEX WANG Staff Reporter
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After three years of construction, the newly renovated Quad opened all of its gates to Penn’s Class of 2030. In August, the Quad welcomed nearly 1,300 firstyear students into its three dormitories — Riepe College House, Ware College House, and Fisher Hassenfeld College House. With updated infrastructure and new community spaces, current residents anticipate that these renovations could transform their living experience. “We wanted to make sure that the student living space was comfortable and refreshed,” Director of Residential Services Pat Killilee said in an interview. He specified that infrastructural improvements included replacing HVAC cooling systems, installing new or refinished flooring, ceilings, and furniture, and renovating bathrooms — which are now
gender-neutral and equipped with lockable shower rooms for student privacy. According to Killilee, there was a “complete renovation of all the bathrooms,” giving students much “more privacy and security” than there was before. He added that this plan has been in the works for “eight plus years,” because the Quad “was coming up on a 20-year cycle of renovation.” “There were just things that had changed since the last renovation about how students use space,” Killilee said, adding that the team looked into community spaces — including floor lounges and study rooms. The Quad renovation project began in 2023. Riepe was the first to undergo the changes, followed by Ware and then Fisher Hassenfeld. It took roughly one year to complete renovations on each college
house. Throughout the process, Residential Services sought student input through town halls and regular surveys on implementable changes. The Residential Services Advisory Board also provided recurrent feedback during the renovation project. As students move back into the Quad, “all the feedback we’ve gotten has really actually been positive,” Killilee added. When asked about these changes, students generally found them to be improvements to their quality of life. College first-year Chloe Cheuk cited the natural light in Fisher Hassenfeld as among her favorite elements of the dorm. “It creates a nice ambiance in the room without having to turn on any artificial lights,” she said. College first-year Yi An, who
venient, with many residents “choosing to leave their trash in the hallways or in an overflowing bathroom trash can.” Residential Services and Facilities and Real Estate Services have installed preventative maintenance procedures to renew existing facilities in the Quad in an effort to address these issues. Such measures include annual replacements of fan coil units and water tanks, as well as options for students to file work orders for problems and malfunctions that require immediate attention. “Year over year, a lot of students are cycling through the Quad, so things will fail just because of the amount of use things get,” Killilee said. “But, that’s what our work order system is for.”
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idents told the DP that the renovations to Ware — which divided the upper and lower Quad — disrupted their social and residential experience. Last year, residents stated that the Fisher Hassenfeld renovations had been different, highlighting a lack of disruptions and construction noise. Despite the improved amenities, some student concerns linger amid the completed renovation. Due to the renovated bathroom model, the number of available stalls has decreased — leading to longer wait times for showers during peak hours. High usage has also contributed to occasional shortages of paper towels, soap, and hot water, according to some residents. An expressed that the location of trash rooms is incon-
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also lives in Fisher Hassenfeld, appreciates the cleanliness of shared facilities like shower stalls and water fountains. When visiting her friends in Riepe and Ware, she observed similar renewals, with everything looking “new and tidy.” Above all, most students consider the shared social experience their favorite aspect of Quad life. “People are very open to talking because they’re all freshmen, and there’s always stuff going on,” Cheuk explained. Whether it be a late-night study session or dorm room karaoke, multiple residents characterized the Quad’s social activities as taking place at all hours of the day. This marks a significant change from 2024, when res-
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A look at the off-campus housing search near Penn Many students cite cost as their motivation for moving off campus after their sophomore year EMILY KOHLER Staff Reporter
For undergraduates at Penn, becoming an upperclassman often comes with the struggle of finding off-campus housing. Students are required to live in a college house for a minimum of two years, after which they can choose to move off campus or continue residing in a dormitory. Often, this decision comes with a major cost consideration, as on-campus housing rates have been steadily rising over the past five years. For the 2026-27 academic year, upperclassmen on-cam-
pus housing rates were set at either $13,644 or $17,898 depending on the room type. Juniors at Penn cited cost as a primary motivation for moving off campus in interviews, adding that the timeline for finding housing began much earlier than they expected. College junior Isha Chilukuri found her off-campus housing through leasing agencies operating near Penn’s campus — such as University City Housing and Campus Apartments. During the process, she
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found timing to be an additional factor to consider when looking for leases. “It was this really weird thing,” Chilukuri said. “Someone apparently submitted their application 30 seconds before ours, so we didn’t end up getting that place.” Ultimately, most students sign their lease agreements by December or January. According to Wharton junior Leo Ding, “people were already in Facebook groups and GroupMe’s talking about giving up their houses” by September of his sophomore year. Ding, a DP staffer, is one of many students who secured housing through a peer connection rather than working through a leasing agency. In October 2025, he got a “direct referral” to an off-campus house from a senior in one of his clubs. The 2025 graduate selected Ding as their successor on their lease. Despite the early start, finding housing itself was an “extraordinarily long process,” according to Ding. For many students, securing off-campus housing entails visiting properties, coordinating with potential roommates, and negotiating pricing — which Chilukuri found “a little bit irritating” while balancing
pre-existing responsibilities. Students planning on living off campus must also decide whether they want to live in an apartment or a house, which each come with their own sets of pros and cons. Ding described a house as a “more communal setting”, but explained that it involves more “friction” than an apartment when dealing with matters such as maintenance. “You have to figure a lot of things out that might cause some trouble,” Ding said. College junior Braden Lipman said that off-campus options vary widely in cost and quality — calling the difference “a tale of two housing arrangements.” According to Lipman, some friends who had planned to live with him backed out of the housing arrangement because of quality concerns. Instead of moving into the house selected by his roommate group, Lipman’s friends opted for their own apartment. “We’re probably more toward the lower end of the spectrum, where we’re in a slightly less nice house, but rent’s probably much cheaper,” Lipman explained. “The other roommates who split off from us, they have a super nice place. It reminds me of a hotel.”
All three juniors expressed that living off campus came with benefits and drawbacks. For Chilukuri, having her own stove and other kitchen amenities allowed her to get off the dining plan, but her off-campus housing also has pests and other maintenance issues. In her experience, off-campus housing can also be “a little bit isolated if you’re further away” from Penn. Ding echoed these feelings, encouraging students to spend as much time on campus as possible. While living off campus, “I don’t have those chance encounters I had in my dorms,” he said, adding that “it’s fine because I think that’s also a hallmark of being an upperclassman.” When asked if she had advice for students beginning the search process, Chilukuri emphasised the importance of starting the housing search early. “Looking at a wide variety of places, rather than having to do it super late and being forced to sign something for the sake of it, will get you a housing option that will be a better fit for you,” she concluded.
Programs are hosted at both a University-wide and a school-specific scale — each combining research, coursework, and community in different ways DIEGO MORGAN VÁZQUEZ Staff Reporter
research project conducted with the support of a Penn faculty member. UScholars are expected to identify and select their own faculty mentor, although help is available from the program’s Faculty Council. College junior Megan Xie researches neuroblastoma and cell culture as a UScholar, and described the program’s faculty as “very supportive.” To fulfill the research requirement, she joined a lab where she is able to participate without a graduate-level education. UScholars also allows students to share their work by presenting at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships exposition, held once each semester. The Benjamin Franklin Scholars program focuses on breadth and spans the University’s four undergraduate schools. It also aims to promote “intellectual vitality” and interdisciplinary thinking. Unlike UScholars, all BFS students live in Hill College House during their first year at Penn to foster a community within the program. Program
activities also include masterclasses, pre-registration dinners, and off-campus excursions. BFS scholars are required to take special seminars — small, discussion-based courses that are open to all undergraduates. These classes are topic-based and often unrelated to students’ majors, supporting the program’s interdisciplinary curriculum, according to College first year Nick Ingram. Ingram, who plans to major in physics and philosophy, praised the program’s interdisciplinary approach. He participates in the Integrated Studies Program, which is the first-year curriculum for BFS students enrolled in the College. This semester’s ISP theme is “Revolutions and Constitutions.” “Having the opportunity in undergrad to explore these varying areas of interest and get a holistic perspective on the world is super valuable,” Ingram said. “It gives you more than just a technical skill.” He added that professors are “excited” to teach first years, which has contribut-
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From independent research projects to interdisciplinary seminars, Penn’s scholars programs offer students the opportunity to enhance the traditional undergraduate curriculum. Programs are hosted University-wide and at a school-specific scale — each combining research, coursework, and community in different ways. Many of these initiatives admit current Penn students, but some are offered solely to incoming first years before they arrive on campus. There are currently four University-wide academic scholars programs — University Scholars, Benjamin Franklin Scholars, Civic Scholars, and the SNF Paideia Fellows Program. University Scholars, commonly referred to as UScholars, encourages members to explore particular fields of study in depth through research. The program admits 20 to 30 incoming first-year students, but sophomores and juniors can also join through an on-campus application process. The program’s central requirement is an independent
“I genuinely think if BFS were worth more general education credits for its number of course units, that would actually improve the program’s retention by a lot,” Sanford explained. Ingram, however, expressed that as long as students are “intentional” about course selection, fulfilling the school’s general education requirements is not an issue. The Clark Scholars Program — which admits only 10 students each year — is an initiative housed within the School of Engineering and Applied Science. It combines engineering coursework with business, research, and com-
munity engagement. The program was established to support students with financial needs and provides mentorship, summer research, and internship opportunities. Last year, Clark Scholars received an $11 million gift to expand its reach and launch a Philanthropy Challenge — through which scholars join together to collectively invest $20,000 annually in local philanthropic organizations. Engineering first year Isabela Barrera Leal said that she was drawn to the program’s unique social service focus, which she views as a “valuable” way to adjust to the local community as an international student. She added that the program’s pre-orientation helped her find a sense of community before beginning classes. “I think I’ve found a lot of friendships,” Barrera Leal said. “Since we started early, I was able to connect with people earlier.”
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ed to an “interesting and fun class environment.” College first year Mackenzie Sanford said the program’s course credit distribution can make it harder to fulfill general education requirements. She added that some students — particularly those on premed or pre-law tracks — have dropped BFS as a result.
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The Catch up with Kamau | Why Penn should do more for its graduate students KAMAU LOUIS Columnist Reporter
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Penn stands alone in the Ivy League when it comes to on-campus graduate student housing, as the only university that does not provide it. While other schools offer specific living communities for graduate students, Penn leaves its own graduate students to either search for expensive off-campus housing or work as a resident advisor in an undergraduate college house. But our graduate students deserve on-campus housing that is quality, affordable, and community-oriented. Penn has a history of shuttering on-campus graduate student housing and converting it to privately managed student apartments. In 2022, the University closed Sansom Place East, a graduate housing option, and redeveloped the property with a private developer, Greystar. The building is now known as the Accolade, with Greystar owning and operating it. Then, this past summer, the University unveiled a
new plan to renovate Sansom Place West, another former graduate student dorm, into off-campus graduate housing through yet another partnership with Greystar. The Accolade markets itself as an apartment “builtin luxury” with its monthly price tag of nearly $1,900 for a 309-square-foot studio. In comparison, the average rent and square footage studio in Philadelphia is around $1,450 dollars and 450 square feet. A quick Google search shows that common complaints of the Accolade are the small rooms, problems with maintenance and facilities of the building, which are some of the same issues residents complained about at Sansom Place East. I also spoke with Rita Wu, a graduate student at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design who is a current resident of the Accolade. Wu said that the rooms are small and the rent is “pricey,” but is still lower than other apartments
like The Chestnut or 3737. She also mentioned that the building was a convenient choice given its proximity to campus and popularity on Chinese social media apps like RedNote and WeChat. Still, Wu shared that if she knew the area better before coming to Penn, she would have considered other apartment buildings. Currently, the only pathway for a graduate student to live on-campus is as a graduate resident advisor. While the benefits like free housing and meals are enticing, being an RA can often be too demanding for those dealing with a graduate level course load. RA responsibilities include holding floor meetings, managing roommate conflicts, and organizing various floor events throughout the academic year. These duties can take away time from pursuing research assistantships, internships, or just time to rest and relax. Graduate students also deserve the chance to live on
going back to the dorm model with updated facilities and community programming for graduate students. Being the only Ivy League without graduate student housing and with the recent conflicts between the University and its graduate student union, it sends a message to potential grad students that the University doesn’t provide for them. I hope for a future where Penn provides on-campus graduate student housing to help students unfamiliar with renting in Philadelphia stop paying for overpriced apartments, avoid predatory landlords, and, most importantly, provide a strong diverse community for graduate students.
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KAMAU LOUIS is a second-year graduate student studying city and regional planning from Orlando, Fla. His email is louis3@upenn. edu.
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pus graduate student housing, but more importantly creates events through its Graduate Commons Program that curates events for graduate students, faculty, and their families who live on campus. Harvard’s Graduate Commons Program helps build connections for graduate students across different disciplines and backgrounds. Obviously Penn’s old graduate on-campus strategy was flawed; that was evident with the high vacancy rate they had. Nonetheless, instead of simply handing off the management of valuable property to private developers like Greystar who charge high rents, and have been sued in the past for inflating prices, the University should look into unique ways to provide on-campus housing for the graduate student population. That may look like acquiring townhomes and mid-rise apartments that already cater toward Penn students and converting them into on-campus housing, or
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campus without having to be an employee of Penn Residential Services. Being an RA also removes one of the most beneficial aspects of living on campus: community. As a graduate student, I feel disconnected from my peers in the 11 other graduate colleges at Penn. This is disappointing, as I made lifelong connections during my time living in a dorm in undergrad, meeting people from all different majors. Offering on-campus options for graduate students would provide a centralized place for us to meet each other and build community. In comparison to Penn, schools like Princeton and Yale have robust on-campus graduate housing. Princeton, for example, provides a wide array of housing options including traditional dorms, apartments, or townhomes. Yale graduate students have noted the low cost and convenience of living on campus. Harvard also offers on-cam-
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