The proposal set forth sweeping guidelines that would govern Penn’s admissions, tuition, and hiring practices
Two weeks ago, the White House approached Penn with its “Compact for Academic Excellence,” a proposal offering the University funding advantages in exchange for compliance with a set of sweeping demands.
The compact’s provisions — which include freezing tuition, limiting international student enrollment, and imposing broad oversight on university decision-making — have prompted swift backlash from the Penn community and
Penn
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN STAFF
governance bodies. The University has until Oct. 20 to provide feedback on the document.
Penn and eight other universities received the compact on Oct. 1. At the time of publication, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University have rejected it.
Invitations to sign the compact — which promises “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants” — have since been extended to academic institutions
launches investigation into student video containing racist remarks
The video — which has received broad condemnation from student groups — was frst posted to a private social media account
SAMANTHA HSIUNG AND FINN RYAN
Senior Reporters
Content warning: This article contains mentions of racial discrimination against Black people and racial slurs that can be disturbing and/or triggering for some readers.
Penn has launched an investigation into a video of two Penn students expressing racist remarks and racial slurs that was circulated on campus.
The video — which has received broad condemnation from student groups — was first posted to a private social media account. It contains derogatory remarks towards Black people, including repeated use of the N-word.
“There is no room for hate within the Penn community,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
“As such, we are actively investigating a deeply offensive video posted by a student on a private social media account and following up with students and student leaders.”
In a statement posted to its Instagram account on Oct. 6, the Undergraduate Assembly — which one of the students previously ran to be a member of — condemned the individual’s actions.
“The Undergraduate Assembly unequivocally condemns all forms of hate speech and discrimination,” the
group wrote in its statement. “These remarks are antithetical to our values of respect, inclusion, and equity. We do not tolerate or condone such behavior in any capacity.”
One of the students in the video was also a former DP staffer who has since been dismissed from the company.
On Oct. 8, UMOJA publicly condemned the video in a statement posted to the group’s Instagram account and co-signed by other groups across campus.
“Over the past two years, the University has swiftly disciplined students for actions it deemed as violations of free speech, particularly toward those involved in campus protests and demonstrations,” the statement read. “We will not stand idly if this same level of urgency is denied to Black students in the face of blatant racism.”
UMOJA also listed four demands for the University, including “substantive disciplinary action” against the students, a formal apology to Penn’s Black students and faculty members, the development of an accountability framework for racial incidents, and increased investment in support centers and services for Black students.
In a statement to the DP, College seniors and UMOJA co-chairs Menna Delva and Dahai Yonas described their
See VIDEO, page 6
nationwide.
On Oct. 5, Penn President Larry Jameson said that the University was reviewing the offer. According to the message, the “review and response” to the proposal will “seek the input of our Penn community” — including deans, the Faculty Senate, and the Board of Trustees.
Potential impacts on Penn Drawing on past enrollment data, current
institutional policies, and interviews with higher education experts, an analysis from The Daily Pennsylvanian found that several provisions in the compact could have far-reaching consequences across the University.
At the time of publication, the federal government has not yet clarified what, if any, consequences an institution may face for rejecting the document. While schools are “free to develop See COMPACT, page 6
Penn professors, student political groups discuss importance of voting in local elections
The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania is Oct. 20, ahead of the general election on Nov. 4
ALEX DASH, RIANA MAHTANI, AND ARTI JAIN
Senior Reporters and Contributing Reporter
As Pennsylvania’s Oct. 20 voter registration deadline approaches, The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke to student political groups and professors at the University about the importance of local and state elections.
Both student group leaders and faculty members who spoke to the DP emphasized the importance of civic engagement ahead of this year’s off-cycle election. Amid lower turnout, they emphasized the importance of voting on down-ballot races and the heightened impact of individual votes.
College sophomore and Penn Leads the Vote spokesperson Juliana Li told the DP that the club was focusing on voter registration and education ahead of the election. She added that creating communities increases voter efficacy.
“If you think of yourself as one singular voter, you’re not going to think you have that much efficacy. But once you think of yourself in a group, you obviously become a lot more powerful,” she said.
Nursing sophomore and Penn Democrats spokesperson Kayla Mengden told the DP that much of Penn Dems’ strategy this semester revolves around phone banking and canvassing efforts. She emphasized the importance of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court race in
particular, as it could have “impacts on abortion access or redistricting.”
College senior and Penn College Republicans spokesperson Peter Kapp told the DP that College Republicans is working to elect Patrick Dugan, the Republican candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney; Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican candidate for New Jersey’s gubernatorial election; and several Republican candidates for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Kapp outlined the club’s central topics in this election cycle, including public safety, “immigration issues,” and “budgetary concerns.” Mengden underscored the importance of this year’s Nov. 4 election in particular.
“Last fall, we had a big presidential election, and that’s where most of our voters tend to go out and vote,” Mengden said. “But there’s also local elections, like the ones for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to retain our judges, and those are really important. They often have lower voter turnout, which means that your vote can be even more powerful. [While] millions of people vote in the presidential election, local races tend to have way less turnout.”
See VOTING, page 2
EULINA JI | STAFF DESIGNER
Wharton professor and PWBM faculty director Kent Smetters detailed his fndings at an event on Oct. 13 JACK
Wharton professor and Penn Wharton Budget Model faculty director Kent Smetters said that tariffs will not reduce the federal deficit in the long term at a National Association for Business Economics event on Oct. 13. During the talk, Smetters detailed that his research has determined that tariffs damage the economy and will not reduce the deficit. He compared the tariffs to a valueadded tax, a form of consumption tax placed on a product or service whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain.
“One way you can think about a tariff is that it’s like a dirty VAT along with closing off international capital,” Smetters said at the event.
The Trump administration has sought to use tariffs as a tool to reduce the federal deficit, citing a Congressional Budget Office analysis that estimated that tariffs implemented through August would “reduce total deficits by $4.0 trillion altogether.” In a post on his social media
, from front page
In his interview with the DP, Kapp concurred.
“We strongly believe that even in the off years, it’s so critical that people get out and vote,” Kapp said. “These local elections are the ones that impact your day-to-day lives and the world [around you]. Every person’s involvement and vote makes a huge difference. Voting is a privilege and a duty, and College Republicans [is] super excited to be at the forefront of mobilizing that vote.” Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies Director of Data Sciences Stephen Pettigrew told the DP that in previous years, local races did not garner much voter engagement. However, Pettigrew said that the “new normal” is for formerly overlooked down-ballot elections to gain increased media coverage.
“This Supreme Court race here in Pennsylvania — it’s going to be basically like a partisan-type election,” Pettigrew said. “You don’t have a [Democrat] and [a Republican] on the ballot itself, but it’s probably going to break down along pretty predictable partisan patterns.”
State judicial elections have the power to now serve as a benchmark for future state and national elections, according to several University faculty members.
“The court has made significant rulings on abortion, gun rights, mail-in voting, and redistricting in the past decade, and these issues will no doubt come up again in the future,” Political Science professor Matthew Levendusky wrote in a statement to the DP.
platform Truth Social, 1968 Wharton graduate and president Donald Trump called his tariff strategy “incredible.”
While the tariffs are projected to raise significant revenue, some think they hurt the health of the United States economy overall. An April PWBM report supervised by Smetters found that the tariffs would reduce longrun GDP by approximately 6% and wages by 5%, twice as much as a revenue-equivalent hike in the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 36%.
Smetters called tariffs an “extraordinarily inefficient” effort to reduce the deficit.
“Governments have to sell this explosive growth of debt into a more narrow capital market, and that means even lower prices, higher returns,” he added at the event.
“That’s really where you get the most negative effects over time.”
Last year, a PWBM analysis found that Trump’s campaign tax and spending proposals would increase
deficits by $5.8
revenue.
“While new import taxes and tariffs could raise several trillion dollars in new revenue over the next decade, they could also lead to revenue losses due to potential retaliatory actions from other governments and other economic dynamics,” the analysis read.
Critics of Trump’s plan have noted that the
Levendusky encouraged citizens to research judicial candidates’ positions and “decide for themselves if they deserve another term on the bench.”
Penn Political Science professor and PORES Director John Lapinski additionally highlighted that this year’s election will “decide who controls the Supreme Court in a battleground state in the 2028 presidential election.”
Alongside the state Supreme Court election, there are several city-wide offices on the ballot this year — including an election for the Philadelphia district attorney and city controller. Political Science professor Daniel Hopkins told the DP that a previous DA election indicated
popular opinion on Trump after the start of his first term in 2017.
Hopkins said that DA incumbent Larry Krasner — who is up for reelection this year — benefitted from “an electorate where many liberals were mobilized and energized” and did not have the opportunity to vote in federal elections for another year.
He said that it remains unclear whether the same phenomenon will occur this year.
“Is it possible that some of the communities here in Philadelphia that are the most anti-Trump are going to show high levels of turnout? Yeah, that is possible. It’s also possible that there is some level of political apathy,”
Hopkins said, adding that national polling seems to indicate a “somewhat more limited anti-Trump mobilization than there was eight years ago.”
Penn faculty also emphasized that the smaller scale of local elections means individual votes have a greater impact on the outcome.
“A feature of these local races is that there’s a higher chance that there’s going to be some really close elections out there,” Political Science professor Marc Meredith told the DP. “Inevitably … there’ll be some local race that’s decided by a very small margin — maybe even a tie or a single vote — and so I think your votes have more chances to be consequential about who wins in those types of elections.”
Hopkins similarly noted that the “electorate is meaningfully smaller” in local elections, so the “probability that we … can have an impact is higher in these kinds of elections.”
Pettigrew told the DP that voters around the country will likely be motivated by issues like immigration, the ongoing government shutdown, and health care — as well as “bread-and butter-issues” like grocery prices and inflation.
“The people who tend to turn out in a low-turnout election tend to be the ones who are most upset about what’s going on,” Pettigrew said. “It’s easier to get people motivated to vote when they’re mad about something than when they’re happy about how things are going.”
The last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania is Oct. 20. Election day will take place on Nov. 4. Staff reporters James Wan, Rachel Erhag, Kathryn Ye, and Ananya Karthik contributed reporting.
CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
PLTV held a tabling event to incentivize students to vote on Nov. 5, 2024.
Penn Abroad terminates Penn English Program in London amid budget constraints
According to English faculty members, Penn Abroad abruptly made the decision to end the nearly 40-year-old program at the start of the fall 2025 semester
PHOEBE ANAGNOS Staff Reporter
Penn Abroad has discontinued funding for the Penn English Program in London, bringing an end to the English department’s study abroad program.
According to English faculty members, the decision to end the nearly 40-year-old program housed by King’s College London was made abruptly by Penn Abroad at the start of the fall 2025 semester. Though students majoring and minoring in English will still be able to study at King’s College under a typical exchange format, students and alumni who spoke to The Daily Pennsylvanian expressed disappointment towards the termination of the program.
In an interview with the DP, English Department Chair Zachary Lesser said faculty were not consulted before the decision was finalized. He added that he had been in conversation with Penn Abroad over the summer about possible cost-saving measures, but that “the final word came down unexpectedly.” Although the department hopes the program could return someday, it will not be active for the foreseeable future, Lesser said.
PEPL combined full immersion at King’s College with a weekly, Penn-taught course that exclusively brought PEPL students together to study live theater productions in the city’s West End. The program also included faculty-led excursions to cultural sites across England.
Students took three courses at King’s College, lived alongside King’s College students in residence halls, and met weekly with a Penn faculty member for the “Theater in London” course. The program typically included a graduate student as well, who would pursue their own academic work while also serving as a resource for the cohort.
In a written statement to the DP, Penn Abroad stated that the English Department’s London program has been folded into a new exchange program with King’s College. Under this format, English majors and minors can continue to study at King’s College during the fall or spring semester, enrolling directly in up to four English courses.
Lesser explained that while most study abroad programs follow one of two models — either full immersion in a foreign university or taking homeinstitution courses abroad with faculty from one’s own college — PEPL combined “the best of both worlds.”
“Many students told us that it was the peak experience of their career at Penn,” he added.
Lesser said that while the new exchange program with King’s College will still be a “great experience” for students, it won’t be “everything.”
The DP spoke with three students and alumni who are currently participating in or have
previously participated in PEPL. All three individuals spoke positively of PEPL and expressed disappointment with its discontinuation, arguing that the restructured King’s College exchange does not offer the same sense of community or depth of engagement that defined the original program.
College junior and English major Julian Williams — one of seven students currently studying in the final PEPL cohort — said the group learned about the program’s discontinuation while together at a play last week. The news prompted a long discussion among students about the program’s value and the importance of keeping it alive.
Williams described the program’s small cohort and close faculty involvement as central to its impact, noting that it created a sense of community often lacking in other study abroad experiences.
“There’s a lot of study abroad things where you’re kind of thrown in by yourself,” he said.
“The fact that there’s a professor, a TA, and then a cohort of other students with me — it helps create a community that I probably wouldn’t have [in another program].”
He said the weekly theater course introduced him to the art form for the first time and broadened his interests in ways he had not anticipated. Williams said that future English majors will miss out on “the cultural capital that this program offers.”
Jennifer Jahner, who served as PEPL’s graduate assistant during the 2009-10 academic year and who received a Ph.D. from Penn’s English Department in the School of Arts and Sciences in 2012, described the program as a crucial aspect of both her academic career and personal development.
“One of the reasons why I chose to come to Penn was the hope that I would have that year available to me,” Jahner, now a professor of English and dean of undergraduate students at the California Institute of Technology, said.
The opportunity to conduct archival research at the British Library and other London institutions was “completely transformative” for her research, Jahner said.
“It would have been a totally different dissertation, and my career track would have gone in a different way had I not had that time,” she said.
Beyond academics, Jahner highlighted the importance of faculty leadership and the graduate student’s role within the program. She said the graduate student often served as both a peer and a mentor, helping students navigate life in London while pursuing their own research.
“We were all, in different ways, students
together,” Jahner said. She added that the faculty member served as “your first port of call if anything is happening for you, positively or otherwise,” creating “a Penn family.”
Speaking from her own administrative experience, Jahner said that she is “deeply, deeply cognizant” of the “budget challenges” faced by institutions. However, she urged Penn to reconsider the decision’s finality.
“I would hope, genuinely hope, that if this is the budget answer of the moment, that it is not the final answer for Penn in London,” she said.
2024 College graduate Noah Lewine, who majored in English, participated in PEPL during his senior fall. Lewine described the value in the theater component of the program, emphasizing the rarity of having a renowned theater professor curate months of play-going, which was “not really a thing that you could recreate in any other way.”
He highlighted the breadth of the experience — from seeing a moving, one-woman show titled “Elephant” that exceeded his expectations to enduring what he described as “maybe the single worst performance I’ve ever seen in my entire
life.” Lewine said both experiences were “equally important and valuable,” allowing students to engage with different forms of theater and develop their own preferences.
Lewine added that the program fundamentally changed his relationship with theater. He explained that he rarely attended theater showings before the program — but due to the program, he now regularly attends plays.
He would be “hard-pressed to find a lot of people who can say that an abroad program had a more positive impact on their general life.”
Lewine expressed disappointment with Penn’s decision, describing it as an effort to “continue to devalue and dilute the experience that actual undergraduates on their campus have on a daily basis.”
As a double major in English and ancient history — fields he acknowledged the University may not see as lucrative — he found the faculty and classes “unparalleled.”
“Watching the administration continue to undervalue [the humanities] and cut away at them is really disappointing and honestly heartbreaking,” Lewine said.
CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
College Hall pictured on April 15.
Penn must not sign the compact
EDITORIAL | The proposal is a threat to academic freedom and the sanctity of our University
Nearly two weeks ago, the White House invited Penn and eight other universities to sign the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” a memo that “represents the priorities of the U.S. government” and invites universities to agree to its terms in exchange for “federal benefits.”
The government is promising priority access to “substantial and meaningful federal grants” and other benefits to universities that sign — including preferential treatment in federal research awards, invitations to White House events, and closer consultation with federal officials. Although the administration insists that it will not deny funds to non-signatories, it makes clear that those who sign would be first in line for these advantages. While this may seem tempting, Penn will face significant risks and moral qualms if our
administrators choose to sign the compact.
Many of the compact’s demands directly contradict Penn’s commitment to its core values, including “free expression and inquiry.” The compact would require an unnecessarily strict definition of gender, a cap on international student enrollment, complete institutional neutrality, and the protection of “conservative ideas.” These positions lie plainly at odds with the principles of academic freedom and represent a deep government intrusion into higher education. We can’t let Penn descend into further fascism.
This compact isn’t just bad policy: It’s illegal — and Penn’s own faculty agrees. The Trump administration is trying to wrap censorship under the guise of reform: Demanding that universities “protect conservative ideas” in exchange for federal funding is a clear
How Climate Week at Penn facilitates urban forestry in Philadelphia
GUEST COLUMN | Turning hot spots into climate action
Climate Week NYC 2025 is the largest annual climate event and is held from Sept. 21-28, bringing together a frenzy of global leaders, innovators, and communities to facilitate and drive climate action. The theme for 2025 was “Power On,” emphasizing transitions to clean energy and empowering green jobs in the face of significant administrative headwinds. Despite the focus on renewable energies, artificial intelligence, and clean finance, there were undercurrents of grassroots, community-based solutions for urban heat islands, a problem that affects all major cities.
New York is at the forefront of urban forestry, tree mapping, and coastal resilience efforts across the five boroughs. A mixture of panel events, walking tours, and citizen science was key in highlighting private and public partnerships to address extreme urban heat, one of the most acute and lethal risks of climate change. Initiatives such as Cornell University’s TreeFolio and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s Tree Map are influential public-private partnerships composed of students, citizens, and public servants. These tools allow local residents not only to identify city trees on their streets, but also to contribute to arborist health data, such as watering, tree diameter, and potential signs of disease. Citizens and students can use these tools to submit requests for professional arborist interventions, while public officials and academics can rely on consistent data for future urban planning.
Climate Week at Penn (Oct. 13-17) is here, and it’s an opportunity to engage students, public leaders, and local citizens in the development of urban forestry across Philadelphia.
The theme for 2025 is “Hot Spots,” meant both literally and figuratively, intersecting sustainability, resilience, climate, and justice with regard to urban forestry. More than 900,000 people in Philadelphia live in places where urban heat islands increase temperatures by over 8 degrees Fahrenheit due to features of the built environment like dark pavement, roofs, and impervious surfaces, according to analysis from Climate Central.
To combat the radiative effects of built urban environments, many urban planners attempt to incorporate “city trees” for their shading,
violation of free speech. A university that signs away its rights to think freely is no longer a university — it’s a puppet of the state. If Penn signs this deal, we won’t simply be giving in to the White House, we’d be inviting the administration for dinner at College Hall. We also must ask ourselves: If Penn signs the compact, what other requirements could trickle down from the administration later on?
Harvard University’s legal victory against the administration’s research funding freeze demonstrates that Penn does, in fact, have the option to combat these demands instead of blindly caving to them. Earlier this summer, Penn agreed to strip a former transgender athlete of her records in exchange for the restoration of $175 million of its funding. In doing so, the University failed to stand up for its values, instead prioritizing political appeasement. We cannot act with this same negligence moving forward.
Some might argue that Penn should sign the compact — after all, it capitulated earlier this year, so why not do the same now? Given that Penn has already committed to institutional neutrality, is required by law to reject affirmative action, and admitted about 15% international students to the Class of 2029, we already seem to align with many of the compact’s demands. Would it really burden us to shift our definition of gender and freeze tuition for a few years? But the problem is simple: While we may already adhere to some tenets of President Donald Trump’s agreement, it’s never the government’s place to tell our University how to run itself.
If Penn resists, it runs the risk of positioning itself in an unfavorable spot with the government, which could affect future federal funding that we depend on for success. However, two wrongs do not make a right, and the University cannot continue bending its knee
water retention, and cooling effects. The success of green infrastructure, such as city trees, rain gardens, and bioswales, depends on regular city maintenance, community involvement, and academic research projects. This is where student participation in Climate Week at Penn can be instrumental in driving action for Philadelphia urban forestry.
Last year, The Nature Conservancy and the Philadelphia Horticultural Society detailed an interactive ArcGIS Storymap titled Citywide Heat Ride that elucidates the city’s neighborhoods most affected by the urban heat island effect and where the need for trees is paramount. This study highlights the usefulness of strategic tree planting to mitigate extreme heat waves that threaten the well-being of Philadelphia residents and the environment.
Penn’s campus is near some of the most heat-vulnerable areas of the city with the highest need for trees. The research underscores the need for increased tree canopy cover, citing that areas with lower cover experience temperatures that soar over 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit above those with high tree canopy cover. Tree planting is an interdisciplinary community action that requires organization and monitoring from city officials to citizen scientists to students. Penn students can get involved by staying up to date with PHS’ November Tree planting dates and volunteering opportunities. In addition, there are several panels and activities to get involved with during Climate Week at Penn, including the 12th Annual Tree Canopy Conference hosted at Haverford College, which will feature multiple presentations exploring stories of resilience in our urban forests.
Climate Week at Penn is the perfect opportunity to take a stroll to your nearest city tree and become acquainted with all the benefits urban forestry has to offer to Philadelphia residents and the environment!
ing nutrition science. Her email is porter1@nursing.upenn.edu.
to this administration. We risk so much more by agreeing to the compact than by rejecting it.
Penn was handpicked to consider this agreement because the Trump administration considers it one of the “good actors” among universities. But our decision could set the tone for our peer institutions. If we concede our power and sign the University and its views over to the government, we take another step toward a totalitarian regime and make it harder for other universities to stand up in protest when called on. We must defer to our founding values, not become a University beholden to Trump.
By signing the compact, Penn would normalize conditional funding for ideological compliance, allowing future political administrations to impose new demands at will.
As Penn President Larry Jameson acknowledged in an email to the Penn community, the University’s response to the White House will “rely on a set of principles drawn from Penn’s values and mission.” Those values include academic freedom, inclusion, and scholarly autonomy, all of which stand entirely at odds with the compact — and are values we must protect.
THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN EDITORIAL BOARD consists of senior staffers in the Opinion department led by the DP’s Editorial Board Chair Sangitha Aiyer. The team for this piece includes Jack Lakis, Ananya Shah, Harman Chahal, Mritika Senthil, and Mia Vesely. Questions and comments should be directed to letters@thedp. com.
Everything you need to unlearn at Penn
CHARLOTTE’S WEB | Learning is important. So is unlearning
Every Penn student is here to learn. Whether it was the beautiful libraries, interdisciplinary majors, or renowned professors that caught our eyes, we all chose Penn to further our education. But in a constantly changing and new environment, sometimes it’s not what we learn that changes us; it’s what we unlearn.
In high school, every essay I wrote was argumentative. Writing was about providing a thesis that backed my stance. So when I sat through my first writing seminar and heard the words “white paper,” I was a little taken aback. Turns out preprofessionalism means a lot more than just joining a consulting club. Penn’s writing seminars are one of the first curricular oddities first-year students encounter. College first year Aashi Bhandari, who is currently taking a writing seminar, explained that “compared to high school classes, Penn’s writing seminars are significantly more intensive and require a deeper analysis on who you are writing to and why. In turn, they challenge students to critically understand their writing’s purpose and audience.” It’s the first time you’re not writing for a teacher; you’re practicing how to write for a company. Learning this skill requires unlearning how to write argumentatively — and that’s just the beginning.
Midterms are the next milestone, when every first year realizes they have been studying wrong their entire life. Suddenly, staying up the night before and cramming doesn’t work as well as it did before. Penn is more about fostering a learning environment, not just passing tests, which means studying is more of a constant process. Unlearning old study habits is time consuming, but not as time consuming as retaking an intro-level course.
The final academic hill that’s not worth dying on at Penn is the biggest. During high school, your grades were primarily based on one factor: memorization. How many dates can you remember? Can you recite the periodic table of elements? What was the name of James Madison’s childhood pet? But at Penn, it’s not so much about regurgitation as it is about innovation and application. Classes at Penn are more than just what you can remember — it’s what you can create. If given a problem, classes want to see students who can make a solution, not just
rename old ones. In order to succeed, you have to unlearn what learning is all about. But Penn isn’t just about academics — it’s also about creating new relationships. After all, Penn is called the ‘social Ivy’ for a reason. Move-in day is a new student’s first introduction to a world of social unlearning: dorm life. You may have shared a room with a sibling, but probably not with a stranger. Now, after 18 years with some degree of personal space, your quarters are close enough that you can fall asleep holding hands with your roommate. Unlearning your own lifestyle — cleaning, personal hygiene, boundaries, and giving constant consideration — is key to socializing at Penn. Outside the dorm, it’s a big world, but what’s most surprising is all the small things you have to unlearn. Specific customs and social norms, like smiling at everyone you see, won’t be the same here as they were in your hometown. In order to push yourself out of your comfort zone, you have to forget the idea that every place is the same. College first year Amin Yarahmadi, an international student, spoke about his experience in unlearning social norms, saying, “Back in Iran, it’s customary when very close people meet [to] do three kisses on the cheek. … I once did a simple kiss on one of my friends [at Penn], and he was freaking out about it.” At Penn, relationships and socialization present themselves differently than most of us have ever seen, which means we’ll have to unlearn what we have always been comfortable with.
Whether it’s academically or socially, there’s a lot to take in when you arrive at Penn. It’s an entirely different world than we’ve ever experienced. While you may be overtaken by all there is to learn, take notice of the things you’re simultaneously letting go of. Over the next four years, everything about you will change and grow, and as important as it is to learn at Penn, it’s equally important to unlearn as well.
CHARLOTTE PULICA is a College first year from Enoch, Utah studying criminology and economics. Her email is cpulica1@sas.upenn.edu.
ELLIE PIRTLE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Daily Pennsylvanian Editorial Board calls for the University to reject the Trump administration’s compact of operational principles.
GRACE CHEN | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Guest columnist Elizabeth Porter emphasizes that community-led urban forestry plays a vital role in addressing urban heat islands, making it a key focus of Climate Week at Penn.
ELIZABETH PORTER is a graduate student from Seaside Park, N.J. study-
KENNY CHEN | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Columnist Charlotte Pulica explores how letting go of past patterns can pave the way for growth at Penn.
The College is turning into Wharton
CHAT
WITH CHAHAL | The College of Arts and Sciences’ new curriculum trades curiosity for conformity
In the Wharton School, first years are baptized not by water but by WH 1010, a course so universal that its complaints echo louder than its 200-person lectures. Think of it as Wharton’s hazing ritual but with PowerPoints, not eating goldfish. Now, make no mistake — I am not a Wharton student here to complain about WH 1010. I’m a student in the College of Arts and Sciences — here to complain about the new College Foundations first-year program.
For decades, the College has been defined by its intellectual openness. The College has separated itself from the more specialized schools — Wharton, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the School of Nursing — which have far stricter requirements and standardized curricula. The College offers something far different and deeply valuable: freedom. The freedom to equip yourself with basic principles of economics while simultaneously exploring the literature of saints and sex demons. This freedom even extends to the current College requirements: You have the freedom to choose from a range of courses to fulfill each sector and foundation — a range that should arguably be expanded, not consolidated.
This openness is the College’s identity — that is what distinguishes it from Penn’s other schools and from Ivy League counterparts where rigid “core” curricula are the norm. The new College Foundations initiative — a package of required first-year courses meant to standardize the undergraduate experience — risks losing that identity. By forcing students into a uniform mold, the College is choosing uniformity over exploration, efficiency over curiosity. In other words: The College is turning into Wharton.
Now, it is true that Wharton students may bond through WH 1010, and engineers share the same math and science sequences. Why shouldn’t the College have its own shared academic anchor?
But this argument misses the point. The College should build community not by funneling students into
the same few courses, but by allowing them to build unique paths that intersect in surprising ways. A real first-year community is forged through shared dorm life, dining halls, student groups, and, most importantly, choice. Choices like when a friend tells you about the quirky seminar they stumbled into and you also sign up before the course selection period is over. That is the College at its best — an amalgamation of academic adventures that shape a vibrant intellectual community.
If Penn truly wants to shape a distinctive College first-year academic experience, it has the tool of firstyear seminars. These small, discussion-driven courses embody what the College should stand for — exploration, experimentation, and a tight-knit community.
I know this firsthand. When I was a first year, I enrolled in a seminar that not only opened my eyes to a new field, but also connected me to a professor who has become a valuable mentor. That relationship has continued throughout my time at Penn — in fact, I now serve as a learning assistant for the very same seminar. Being in a first-year seminar has shaped my academic trajectory far more than any standardized course or large lecture ever could.
These seminars should be mandatory, giving each student the chance to form transformative relationships with peers and work closely with faculty. The seminars also allow students to dip into a subject they otherwise never would have, since many first-year seminars tend to be highly attractive as they fulfill multiple College requirements — often double-counting for a sector and a foundation.
This is not just a Penn issue. The federal government continues and escalates its attacks on higher education, from threatening students who freely speak with deportation to budget cuts targeting liberal arts programs. At such a moment, the College should stand as a beacon for academic freedom and intellectual diversity and not cave to the pressure of becoming more standardized and “efficient.”
While this may be useful in the realm of business or finance, it’s not what College students signed up for. And Penn should remember: The institutions that produce “the greats” — the thinkers, writers, and change-makers whose names outlast their diplomas — are not the ones that prize efficiency, but the ones that prize imagination.
This model silently signals to students that they should be part of a cookie-cutter model, which we already see enough of on Penn’s campus. From the parade of people attending Morgan Stanley coffee chats to the endless Longchamp purses carried on Locust Walk, too much of Penn produces uniformity. The College is, and should continue to be, a refuge from that.
My pre-major advisor always reminded me that the first
HARMAN CHAHAL is a College sophomore from Modesto, Calif. His email is harmanc@ sas.upenn.edu.
Penn courses fail to engage students’ inner work
PIPER’S PENN PAL | Why Penn should encourage students to work on themselves
CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Senior columnist Piper Slinka-Petka argues that Penn should require a seminar dedicated to selfwork.
Penn’s culture has been called “toxic,” “performative,” “homogenizing,” and even “elitist.” The cause? We’ve blamed preprofessionalism, wealth disparities, and even just elite higher education itself. So, how do we make it better? It’s not like students, professors, and administrators aren’t actively devoting efforts toward making Penn’s culture better, but the solution might be easier than we think. Penn’s culture will not change until it asks its students to stop looking outside and start looking within. In classes like WH 1010, students are taught that leadership is built on connections and external achievement. The inner work of asking who you are, what you stand for, and who you want to serve is an optional — and largely unnecessary — part of being the people that Penn creates.
Following my first year at Penn, I spent time reflecting on myself: What do I believe in? What are my values? Am I living in a way that is authentic to myself? How am I showing up for others? These aren’t questions my world-renowned Penn education asked me to answer, they’re ones I had to ask and answer for myself.
That was until I became a student in what may be Penn’s first experiment towards a course dedicated to self-work. Penn Global Seminar ASAM 2920, titled “Compassionate Leadership: Power Love, Service and Inner-Work Experiencing the Life of Gandhi,” asks students to look at world leaders and “examine and practice the principles of nonviolence, service, the transformative power of love, and the ‘inner-work’ required to have deeper impact in the world.”
No one wants to live at Penn
Led by Nimo Patel, a hip hop musician, humanitarian, and ambassador of love and peace, as well as University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity and Community Charles Howard, and assisted by Tia Gaines and Mercedes Lee, the course will end by taking its 16 students on a service trip to the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India.
Though we’re only a few classes in, I am confident that this course will change my life. A typical class begins with moments of grounding, followed by supportive discussion. We’re guided through the lives of visionaries like Grace Lee Boggs and Mahatma Gandhi. Homework assignments consist of letters of self reflection, hours of volunteer service, and kindness challenges. We spent one class entirely on spreading random acts of kindness around Penn’s campus and reflecting on their value.
A view shared by me and other members of the class is how necessary this class is for self-development. Never before has a Penn course required me to evaluate my values and beliefs while learning the value in compassion, selflessness, and introspection.
Naturally, this calls into question the entire purpose of a college education. Is Penn’s only responsibility to educate us for our future careers, rather than our future lives? Maybe. However, I think those are insufficient goals for a University with unimaginable prowess and privilege. Penn has the capacity to grow our careers (of course) but also to grow us as individuals and contributors to the world.
Most Penn students don’t arrive on campus with values of greed, elitism, and hypercompetition, but we assimilate quickly. In actuality, if we took a quick look at our applications, I’m sure the words “passion” and “make change” are somewhere in there. These words mean difference; they mean being changemakers and revolutionaries.
Yet, once we arrive, we immediately participate in Penn culture, whether by joining the “right” (finance) clubs, changing our closets, or funneling ourselves into
GLORIA OBJECTS | The problem with Penn’s residential system
When finalizing my decision for college this spring, Penn checked nearly all of my boxes. Academic rigor, student involvement, a strong alumni network, brilliant professors, and an iconic location. But there was one qualm I had — and still have — with Penn: its residential life system. Obviously, I’m writing a column for all of you, so the residential life box didn’t weigh too heavily in my decision. In all honesty, my current expectations about living at Penn have been exceeded so far. I think this factor is for two reasons though: I’m a first year, and I live in one of the more social dorms.
I live in Hill College House this year — which is the best dorm on campus, but that’s a topic for a later column — and I’m also in an academic program based there. Thanks to the overwhelmingly social nature of these communities, I’ve made many good friends and acquaintances. The Quad has a similar energy as Hill, as the notorious social hub for first years, with many residents crediting a great Penn experience to living in such a social space. On the other end of the spectrum is first-year housing like Lauder College House with dead social scenes. I still remember my first time visiting a four-year house, like Du Bois College House, and immediately understanding the frustration residents had with the dorm. The lobby was empty and the hallways were almost eerily quiet. Despite being far from everything and a little old, Du Bois is a nice dorm with amenities like a dance studio and a rich history. The problem isn’t the dorms themselves — it’s the residential system. Looking at our peer institutions like Yale University, you see that they have a number of small “colleges” or
houses that first years are randomly assigned to and remain associated with for all four years. This process of dividing a class into small groups creates an intimate environment that fosters a socially and intellectually tight-knit community. Not only are you a student of the university, but you’re also part of a small subsector that isn’t tied to your field of study, but rather to the house where you were assigned your first year. Yes, we have different schools, clubs, and academic programs, but these are communities we largely control, and they keep us within a bubble of specific types of people. There’s a certain beauty in entering a new place and being thrown into a building with randomized people from all over the world who are sharing this new experience with you. This is an experience we only get to be a part of for one year and then it’s over. The faces I see in the club lounge at Hill or during random elevator conversations, might be faces I never see again.
As of last year, Penn had 10,497 undergraduate students, and approximately 5,500 of them lived on campus. If the average number of a class is 2,500, and first years and sophomores are required to live on campus, it’s safe to say that basically no upperclassmen live on campus. It seems that once the first-year experience wears off (if you were even lucky enough to have it because of where you lived), the community you thought you’d have forever vanishes.
Before researching the college-based residential systems in the Ivy League, I thought they were part of the schools’ founding, and that Ben Franklin simply didn’t follow the crowd. It turns out, however, that this type of system is quite modern. Yale didn’t start its residential
the same fields. The culture we inherit typically becomes the one we help perpetuate. And of course we do. Humans (especially over-achieving ones) need connection and belonging; naturally we will adapt to our new environment as a form of survival.
But instead of waiting for students to do the reflection by themselves, or until a rare course like “Compassionate Leadership” comes along, we could require every first-year student to pause at the beginning, taking a class centered on introspection, grounding, service, mindfulness, and discussions that ask, “Who am I? What do I want to give to the world? Who do I want to be?” Of course, this is no magic bullet. Penn is, after all, a microcosm of the real world, and most of our students come from the very environments that built that culture. However, catching students early is what matters. First years are raw and impassioned. Behind the practiced nonchalance of our generation is a real desire to do good. If we were asked, in our first semester, to pair our passion with reflection, I think most students would rise to it. Although change only happens if students truly want to look inward, Penn can at least set the conditions. Especially when Penn has the bandwidth to hire revolutionaries that could inspire even the most skeptical students.
If we design a course that shows us that leadership is not just about strategy or networking, but about courage, compassion, and authenticity, it would plant a seed. When so much of our culture pushes us to look toward jobs, titles, and prestige, planting a seed of introspection could change the trajectory of an entire generation of Penn students.
PIPER SLINKA-PETKA is a College sophomore from West Virginia studying health and societies. Her email address is pipersp@sas. upenn.edu.
college system until 1933, and Princeton University didn’t start its until 1982. There is still a possibility for Penn to adopt a system that increases the amount of students that live on campus, which ultimately strengthens the community and promotes diversity. Of course, the logistics will be complicated, especially given that we are located in one of the biggest cities in the country, but it’s worth a try. Our student body is an intricate mosaic of backgrounds and experiences, and we should all feel like we can live on and
enjoy all four years on such a beautiful campus in a more beautiful city.
GLORIA OLADEJO is a College first year from Coopersburg, Pa. studying law and society and Africana studies. Her email is gloriao6@sas. upenn.edu.
ELLIE PIRTLE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Columnist Harman Chahal critiques the College Foundations program for discouraging academic curiosity and breadth.
SIMMI MOURYA | DP FILE PHOTO
Columnist Gloria Oladejo argues that Penn’s residential system limits the number of students who want to live on campus.
Penn graduate student union holds picket as members sign strike pledges, allege stalled negotiations
At the picket, the union announced that its members have begun pledging to authorize a strike if Penn continues to reject its proposed contract
AND SANDY WALLS
CHRISTINE OH
Staff Reporters
GET-UP organized an informational picket on Oct. 8.
Graduate Employees Together — University of Pennsylvania staged an informational picket last week to demand fair contracts and organize union members in preparation for a potential strike.
The Oct. 8 demonstration attracted over 500 workers in support of the union’s ongoing contract negotiations with Penn’s administration. At the picket, GET-UP announced that its members have begun pledging to authorize a strike in the event Penn continues to reject the union’s proposed contract.
The attendees picketed between 34th and 36th streets while carrying signs expressing their demands, including protections for international students and measures against workplace discrimination and harassment. Members of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations — the largest federation of unions in the United States — and Pennsylvania state Sen. Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia) also attended the rally.
GET-UP represents over 3,700 domestic and international graduate workers on campus. The group — which was established in May 2024 with a 95% majority vote — is represented by the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, a national union that represents various sectors including higher education.
The picket marks almost one year since GET-UP’s
COMPACT, from front page
models and values other than those listed in the document,” those institutions will “forgo federal benefit[s].”
The compact’s seventh clause — titled “Financial Responsibility” — requires “freezing the effective tuition rates charged to American students for the next five years.”
According to Michigan State University professor Brendan Cantwell — who researches higher education’s political economy — universities have two options to offset revenue loss from the freeze: “reduce their selectivity” by increasing overall enrollment, or “reduce their affordability” by decreasing financial aid offerings.
The tuition freeze would also likely affect Penn’s admissions process, according to 1986 Wharton graduate Laurie Kopp Weingarten, who also serves as the president and chief educational consultant at One-Stop College Counseling.
The document’s seventh provision also mandates that “any university with an endowment exceeding $2 million per undergraduate student will not charge tuition for admitted students pursuing hard science programs.”
According to the University’s fall 2024 enrollment data and a June endowment evaluation, Penn would exceed that threshold. Of the original nine schools listed in the document, only two have endowments over that limit: MIT and Dartmouth College.
It remains unclear what programs the White House considers “hard science.”
At Penn, roughly 1,700 undergraduates study in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Several other traditional STEM majors — including biology, chemistry, and mathematics — are within the College of Arts and Sciences, which holds the majority of Penn undergraduates.
A clause in the document’s “Foreign Entanglements” section limits undergraduate international student enrollment to 15% for schools that sign. Over the previous two admissions cycles, international student enrollment in Penn’s undergraduate classes has remained at 15%.
University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professors Amanda Shanor and Serena Mayeri outlined several legal concerns about the compact’s second provision — which requires institutions to commit to “fostering a vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus” — in a legal brief provided to the DP.
“All viewpoints—conservative, liberal, or otherwise—are afforded the same constitutional protection and cannot be selectively favored or censored by the government,” the professors wrote.
The plan to enforce the provision — “rigorous, good faith, empirical assessment of a broad spectrum of viewpoints among faculty, students, and staff at all levels” — also raised concerns for Shanor and Mayeri.
“Universities could be required to hire epidemiologists who do not believe in vaccines, or scientists who think climate change is a hoax, for example, so as to ensure the government’s preferred ‘spectrum of ideological viewpoints,’” the brief read.
WEINING DING | MULTIMEDIA EDITOR
contract negotiations with Penn began.
“Our first negotiation session was Oct. 17, 2024,” GET-UP organizer and Ph.D. student Sam Schirvar said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian. “Since then, we’ve had 30 bargaining sessions [and] 180 hours of physically sitting across the table from administration and their lawyers.”
Despite the union’s efforts to provide “really wellthought-out proposals,” the University has responded with “needless delays,” according to Schirvar.
According to a University spokesperson, Penn’s administrators are committed to “continue working diligently” with GET-UP “while maintaining the continuity of our thriving academic environment for all of our students.”
“Penn has a long track record of productive relationships with our graduate students, as well as the various unionized working groups on our campus,” the spokesperson wrote. “We continue to bargain in good faith with GET-UP-UAW throughout the negotiation period.”
Guruprerana Shabadi, a second-year computer and information science Ph.D. student and a member of GETUP’s bargaining committee, told the DP that the objective of the picket was “to gather hundreds of graduate workers” to demonstrate “how much it matters to us.”
The demonstration is also one of GET-UP’s
Faculty response
Penn professors have condemned the proposal, arguing that it raises constitutional concerns and represents an unprecedented federal intrusion into higher education.
Penn Carey Law professor Kermit Roosevelt told the DP that the compact represents a fundamental shift in how the federal government engages with institutions.
Previously, he said, federal support for universities — including student loans, research relationships, and international student visas — was provided as a standard practice, with these benefits only at risk if institutions engaged in serious violations.
“It seems like now they’re saying the baseline is no federal funding, and if you do what we want, then you might get this kind of support,” Roosevelt said. “They’re shifting it from general support with exceptions for bad behavior to no support with exceptions for what they consider a good behavior.”
Graduate School of Education professor Jonathan Zimmerman said he saw a “profound irony” in the administration’s approach.
“This is the same administration that has gutted the Department of Education on the grounds that education should be a state and local concern,” he said.
Roosevelt pointed out that the compact’s requirement to expel students for “advocating for illegal activity” contradicts United States Supreme Court precedent, which protects such speech unless it is intended and likely to produce imminent unlawful action.
On Wednesday, Penn’s Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging the University to reject the compact. The Executive Committee emphasized that signing it would “compromise” Penn’s academic freedom and scholarly diversity.
The resolution — which was endorsed on Oct. 15 and obtained by the DP — described the demands as “unprecedented and unconstitutional” government oversight.
“The ‘Compact’ erodes the foundation on which higher education in the United States is built,” the resolution read. “The University of Pennsylvania Faculty Senate urges President Jameson and the Board of Trustees to reject it and any other proposal that similarly threatens our mission and values.”
In an interview with the DP, Faculty Senate Chair Kathleen Brown confirmed that a “SEC select committee composed of 11 faculty from nine schools crafted the statement.”
“The resolution passed by an overwhelming majority,” she added. “SEC resolutions are statements intended to advise the President on the faculty’s views.”
As of publication, nearly 2,000 University faculty members, students, and affiliates have signed a petition opposing the compact.
Drafted by Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and addressed to Jameson and Board of Trustees Chair Ramanan Raghavendran, the petition is AAUP-Penn’s latest effort to promote greater inclusion of faculty and staff perspectives in Penn’s policy development.
“Tell Penn’s leadership that there is nothing to be gained by signing away the rights of its students, faculty, and staff,” the AAUP-Penn Executive Committee wrote in the petition.
“escalation tactics” that could potentially result in a strike, according to Georgia McClain, a second-year molecular biology Ph.D. student.
Fifth-year cellular and molecular biology Ph.D. student Emily Aunins, who is on the GET-UP bargaining committee, also discussed the process of pledging to strike, adding that “picketing is the first step in the escalation towards potentially taking that kind of action.”
In his opening speech at the picket, Peter Bailer — a fifth-year biochemistry and molecular biophysics Ph.D. student and GET-UP bargaining committee member — emphasized that the union has taken steps to prepare for a strike.
“Workers like us are the engine that generate billions of dollars in revenues for this University,” he said. “We are willing to shut that engine off and stop our work if they do not agree to a fair contract.”
Bailer told the DP that while a strike is “not super uncommon for our field,” the University can avoid that outcome by “com[ing] to the bargaining table.”
“If they want to prevent a strike, it’s in their court,” Bailer said. “All of these articles — economics, international worker support, union security — [are] in their hands, and we’re just waiting for them to come to the table and bring it in good faith.”
By signing the pledge, union members agreed to vote in favor of a strike if the motion were put forward. Picket attendees were encouraged to sign pledges either at GETUP’s information desk during the picket or online.
According to many union leaders, the picket — and, by extension, a potential strike — could be the only chance GET-UP has to apply pressure on the University in regard to worker protections and the safety of international students.
Shabadi, an international student from India, told the DP that “there’s a lot that Penn can do to protect our rights,” namely by reimbursing the costs associated with acquiring a U.S. visa, which “can be an incredible burden on students coming from any less privileged background.”
Several of Penn’s peer institutions, such as Cornell University and Johns Hopkins University, already cover these costs.
Shabadi also highlighted that a “[valid] visa depends on having a guaranteed source of funding, and if we lose our funding, that threatens our visa status.”
The union members similarly expressed frustration about the rising cost of living in Philadelphia, which Penn stipends do not cover completely.
“[The] cost of living in Philadelphia has increased really dramatically,” Schirvar told the DP. “The stipends that we get are simply not keeping up with the rising cost of inflation.”
Legislators’ reactions
Local and state lawmakers have also encouraged Penn to reject the White House’s offer — and have announced plans for bills that would cut off Penn’s state funding if it signs the compact.
At an Oct. 15 press conference, elected officials criticized Penn for not immediately rejecting the agreement, arguing that it threatens campus diversity and academic freedom.
Pennsylvania state Reps. Rick Krajewski (D-Philadelphia) and Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) announced they will soon introduce a bill in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to prevent Penn from receiving state funding should it sign.
Pennsylvania state Sen. Anthony Williams (DDelaware, Philadelphia) also circulated a memo on Oct. 14 to introduce a similar bill in the Pennsylvania Senate.
He indicated that state Democrats could block Penn’s state funding even if the bills didn’t pass, telling reporters that there were enough lawmakers to prevent the necessary two-thirds vote to approve new funding.
“[Penn] will not get away with being silent. They have to say, ‘We’re not going to accept it,’ and until such time … Penn will not get a penny of state funding,” he said.
Lawmakers also criticized the compact’s provision preventing universities from considering race or national origin in admissions and hiring.
“It is nothing more than federally subsidized discrimination,” Kenyatta said. “It is a federally subsidized attack on our students based on the color of their skin and based on their country of origin, and we as legislators are saying very clearly, we are not going to stand for it.”
Marc Rowan’s involvement
Wharton Board of Advisors Chair Marc Rowan was a chief architect of the compact, which builds on a list of reform questions he circulated to the Board of Trustees in 2023.
Rowan initially sent the list of questions just days after a pressure campaign that he helped orchestrate successfully ousted then-Penn President Liz Magill and former Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok. In an email, he introduced the list of “essential and strategic questions” and called for “governance reform, a strategy, and a new leader” at Penn.
Provisions in the Oct. 1 compact echo the questions Rowan posed about Penn’s policies on free speech, civil discourse, and related issues — including asking the trustees whether the University should create a formal code of conduct.
In an interview with the DP, History professor Benjamin Nathans expressed that both 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump and Rowan are seeking “radical intervention by the federal government” to reform higher education.
“He now has the ear of someone who wants to enact these kinds of policies on a national level,” Nathans said. “I think Rowan understood that there was now someone who could be a vehicle for a much more ambitious takeover of higher education.”
In a statement to the DP, Bok described the compact as a “frightening culmination of the attack on core values and operating principles of the University that began two years ago.”
Aunins also emphasized that “the minimum stipend at Penn is $39,000,” while “at every other Ivy League university, it is $48,000 or more.”
“Penn is absolutely falling behind all of its peer institutions,” Aunins said.
GET-UP also demanded improved health insurance for graduate employees during the picket.
Katelyn Friedline — a second-year communication and history and sociology of science Ph.D. candidate and GET-UP bargaining committee member — explained in an interview with the DP that she “self-funds” her wheelchair because the Penn Student Insurance Plan “doesn’t view being able to leave the house to go to work as a medical necessity.”
While tentative agreements have been reached for many non-economic articles, Penn has yet to respond to any of GET-UP’s proposals pertaining to compensation and benefits — which were sent to administrators in June.
On Wednesday — a week after the picket — GET-UP announced the University had “finally agreed to … protections against discrimination and harassment” in its contracts with GET-UP.
“It is no coincidence that we won this major article just after our largest public action yet,” GET-UP’s Instagram post announcing the bargaining update read.
The announcement comes after Penn struck out multiple provisions against discrimination and harassment during negotiations in March — which one organizer called an “attack on DEI.”
Following the picket, Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors released guidance for faculty in the event of a potential strike.
The Oct. 11 message was sent in response to a memo from the Office of the Vice Provosts for Education — which was obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian — that outlined recommendations for department chairs to “maintain teaching continuity” should teaching and research assistants participate in a work stoppage. AAUP-Penn characterized the plans as “strikebreaking” and provided its own list of recommendations for faculty, including information on how to support union members. AAUP-Penn coupled its suggestions with an annotated copy of the vice provosts’ memo.
“In asking you to break a strike, the administration is asking you to compromise your integrity, your relationships with graduate workers and colleagues, the quality of your students’ education, and your ability to recruit graduate students for years to come,” AAUP-Penn wrote. “Don’t do it.”
Instead, AAUP-Penn encouraged its members to “support [the] contract campaign” and explain to students “why a fair contract for graduate workers will make Penn a better place for them to learn.”
frustration with “the privatized way in which the University’s policies handle incidents like this.”
“The language used in that video has hurt so many of us in the Black community, and the continued lack of transparency only compounds that hurt,” the students wrote.
They added that Penn’s line between free speech and hate speech “remains blurred in terms of allowing the anti-Blackness to fester without consequence all too often in the name of protection.”
Penn’s Student Code of Conduct states that although “the University condemns hate speech, epithets, and racial, ethnic, sexual and religious slurs … the content of student speech or expression is not by itself a basis for disciplinary action.”
“Student speech may be subject to discipline when it violates applicable laws or University regulations or policies,” the code of conduct continues.
College junior Mariama Njie, UMOJA’s political chair, also acknowledged the “lapse in communication between the University and its students when troubling situations arise.”
“No one on this campus should feel comfortable with expressing vulgar racist, or harmful rhetoric towards anyone in the Penn Community or beyond,” Njie wrote to the DP. “[I]t’s important that the disciplinary measures are level with the severity of the situation.”
In a statement posted to their Instagram account, Descendants of Afro-Americans at Penn condemned the students’ actions, urging the University to “take proactive steps to ensure a fruitful and nurturing environment for all members of its diverse student body.”
DAAP requested that the University provide “more substantial financial support” for the Black community at Penn and enforce “mandatory cultural literacy workshops” in collaboration with Penn administrators, Makuu: The Black Cultural Center, and other Black student organizations.
”It is imperative that the University protect its Black students and put an end to Anti-Blackness at Penn with the same vigor provided for all the other minority communities on campus,” the group wrote.
VIDEO, from front page
Women’s tennis
junior Esha Velaga wins ITA regional title, qualifies for NCAA championships
Velaga was the frst Penn tennis player to qualify for the NCAA tournament three years in a row
DIVYA KARNANI Sports Associate
She came, she served, and she conquered — again. For the third year in a row, Penn women’s tennis junior Esha Velaga has qualified for the NCAA Division I women’s singles tournament after winning the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Singles Championship held at Penn this year. Velaga secured her spot in the championship by clinching a 7-6, 6-1 semifinal win on Monday against Penn State’s Maiko Uchijima, battling through a tough first set but dominating the second. This impressive win allowed Velaga to make history as the first Penn tennis player to qualify for the NCAA championships three years in a row.
“Freshman year, when I won, it was very new and so that was special. But this one, I feel like I got through a lot of really tight matches and stayed strong mentally,” Velaga said.
Velaga is no stranger to the ITA trophy. After finishing her freshman season with a 29-6 overall record, Velaga was crowned the 2023-24 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Ivy League Player of the Year. Velaga went on to win the ITA Northeast Super Regional Singles Tournament, being the first Penn player to claim the singles title since 2019. Last year, Velaga also made the finals of the ITA Northeast Regionals, only falling to fellow teammate and 2025 College graduate Sabine Rutlauka.
In this year’s tournament, Velaga emerged on top after a tough battle against Princeton’s Alice Ferlito. After losing the first set 3-6, Velaga came back by winning the next two sets 7-5, 7-5 to secure her second ITA regional championship win in three years.
“I was trying to stay in the match in any way I could. And I kept that mentality throughout the rest of the match, and it really helped,” Velaga said, reflecting on her win.
In last year’s NCAA tournament, Velaga lost early on, facing a tough opponent in the first round. For the
PREVIEW, from back page
favorite target.
“I think the coaches just put together a great plan. … They prepared us well,” Drayton said.
Saturday is a game full of storylines: a recently
upcoming championship, she plans to work on the specifics of her game to prepare.
“For the past two years, I’ve gone into the NCAA
colorful history, unexpected season trajectories, explosive standouts, and expectations sky-high for everyone involved. Through the clutter, though, one sticks out to Penn — revenge.
“Last year was the first time they beat us at home. … So, yeah we’re going up there, revenge tour,” Drayton said. “We’re gonna kick ass.”
Former Sports Editor Walker Carnathan contributed reporting.
tournament kind of scared and I think that’s reflected in my results,” Velaga said. When asked about her goals for this year, she said: “To go in unafraid, really play my
TRADITION, from back page
physical exertion to get the team back in shape after a long summer. It may not be as cinematic as running along the beach, but the team bonds in the pain of sweating on a late August morning as the sun rises. Whether any fun is mixed in depends “on if you find running fun,” according to sophomore Sarah Wang.
But sometimes these traditions in Penn sports teams are less about the sport itself and more about team camaraderie.
Women’s fencing makes bracelets every year, and one of the upperclassmen who lives off campus hosts the event at her home. With Sabrina Carpenter playing in the background and homemade cookies in the oven, the team makes bracelets from a kit that has been passed down for years.
It’s a rare moment for the women to get together “and not have to think about competing the next day,” according to Blum.
Though for now it’s only a tradition for women’s fencing, Blum thinks “it would be something that [men’s fencing] would benefit from. I don’t know if they have anything similar to that.”
“We’ll think about it. Maybe some hair-braiding stuff,” Kushkov joked.
When it comes to hair, Penn football has taken up the call. The week that the team faces Harvard, some players get what is called the “Harvard Cut.”
“[It’s] any cut that you can think of — or not even that you can think of — any crazy cut that you can’t imagine a person having. That’s what a Harvard Cut is,” senior wide receiver Jared Richardson said.
Some examples include tiger- or cheetah-print hair, a bowl cut, mohawks, and buzz cuts. Sometimes players with long hair who never braided it suddenly came to practice with braids or cornrows. Richardson remembers someone with blonde hair dyeing it a “royalish blue.”
Previously, 2025 College graduate and former running back Jacob “Cis” Cisneros was the barber on the team.
“Some people were like, ‘Ah, do whatever you want,’” Richardson said. “And he did whatever he wanted. But he was a good barber. He’d give a crazy haircut, but it didn’t look bad if that makes sense. It still looked kinda sharp.”
With Cisneros graduated, those who want to participate in the cut will have to get creative. Richardson clarified that he would “not be volunteering.” He himself has never tried anything crazy with his hair.
“I just don’t want my hair looking like a mess. … I take my appearance very seriously.” Richardson said.
In regards to these crazy haircuts actually affecting their football, Richardson said it didn’t, but then elaborated.
“I mean the last three years we played Harvard, we lost. … Maybe we shouldn’t do the Harvard Cut,” he joked.
Penn men’s heavyweight rowing, like any team, may not win every year, but having nicknames on the team is “something that has lived, I swear, since the beginning of Penn rowing,” according to senior Cole Riedinger.
Nicknames are formed from playing around with a teammate’s actual name or in reference to something they did or said. Rowing-specific nicknames sometimes
tennis.” This year’s NCAA championship will be held in Orlando, Fla. starting Nov. 18.
come from fruits or vegetables. When a rower is not performing well, the team will put a fruit or vegetable in his seat to see if his performance improves. Due to this tradition, some guys on the team are nicknamed “Peach” or “Cantaloupe.”
Rowing, America’s first collegiate sport, has many traditions besides nicknames, the most famous one being betting shirts. In rowing, each boat has eight seats and a coxswain, with each seat having a specific role to ensure the boat glides as smoothly as possible. And each school has its own distinctive shirt. Penn’s rowing shirt has a blue “P” at the upper-left corner with an oar crossing diagonally through it, and then two red stripes running across the shirt.
At the end of each race, the winning boat is given the shirts of all the other teams, with each rower taking the shirt of the competitor in the corresponding seat. In this way, the shirts, in that way, are a wager. “If I lose, I will give my shirt to you. But if I win, you have to give your shirt to me,” a rower said.
“If you hypothetically never lose,” Reidinger said, “you’re supposed to never wear your shirt again and it goes in a fryer. But we haven’t done that yet.”
“We’re working on it,” junior RJ Sylak added. It is not uncommon to see rowers wearing other schools’ rowing shirts. It’s a garment of pride, and having more shirts is a symbol of status. This is true for college rowing outside the Ivy League and even internationally. Some of Penn’s rowers who were on the United States national team will show up to practice wearing Australian or Swedish uniforms.
These betting shirts are not usually worn during the race itself. But Reidinger has one unforgettable experience: during a race his freshman year, he saw that the corresponding seat on the other team was Rhett Burns, an experienced rower who had been on the U23 national team.
“I was like, ‘This guy’s insane,’” Reidinger said. “Oh this guy’s gonna kill me.” Penn did end up losing, and in his freshman naïveté, Reidinger had decided to wear his betting shirt that race. “It was soaked, drenched,” he said. “The colors were dripping … it’s not the greatest-quality shirt … I remember I gave it to him. I was like, ‘Hey dude, you probably got four of these sitting in your basement. This one’s a little dirty, I’m sorry.’ And he was like, ‘I get it, man. It’s all good.’”
Losing and receiving betting shirts is a universal rowing experience, and one that will continue once Reidinger and Sylak finish their rowing careers. The teammates have met former Penn rowers back home, through work, or at alumni gatherings, and have experienced the instant connection due to the traditions the team carries on.
“We might be separated a lot in time, but at the end of the day, it’s such a unifying thing,” Sylak said. “We’ve all shared this experience and I think you realize that it’s something bigger than yourself.”
Even if they never wear the shirts — after all, they’re cheap cotton shirts — it’s not about the shirt itself. It’s knowing that when you give or take a shirt, you’re taking part in something rowers from years past have done.
“I value them a lot. … I’ll wear maybe one the day after the race, but after that I just store ‘em away in my little collection,” Reidinger said.
“He’s gonna show ‘em to his kids,” Sylak said. “I’m definitely going to show ‘em,” Reidinger added.
GRACE CHEN | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Velaga pictured playing against Princeton on March 29.
ANNIE LIU | DP FILE PHOTO
Penn football pictured playing against Columbia on Oct. 19, 2024.
The picks are in for football’s matchup against Columbia
The Daily Pennsylvanian Sports department sent in score predictions for Penn’s trip to New York
Penn 28, Columbia 13 — Valeri Guevarra, DP
Sports editor
This is where execution is critical in Penn football’s quest for its first Ivy League championship since 2016. This weekend begins the team’s uninterrupted stretch of conference games, where every game could be the difference between a title and a playoff run or staying home. And on Saturday, I’m confident that the Quakers will execute another dominant win to spoil Columbia’s Homecoming game.
Penn’s offense will not have trouble getting points on the board against the Lions, who have allowed an average of 24 points per game to their opponents.
Reigning FCS Offensive Player of the Week and senior wide receiver Jared Richardson will, of course, be a force to be reckoned with on the field. Last week, Richardson nearly hit a career high with 190 receiving yards and notched two touchdowns, continuing his strong senior year and moving up in the history books. Senior quarterback Liam O’Brien will take aim and fire away frequently to Richardson on Saturday. Additionally, senior running back Julien Stokes will be one to watch. This season, Stokes set up Penn for six drives past midfield, and the results of those drives have been five touchdowns and one field goal. Stokes is no doubt a difference maker as the nation’s leader in punt returns and punt return touchdowns.
Regarding the Lions, Columbia is coming off of a blowout loss against Lehigh, while Penn notably put up a strong fight in its matchup against the Mountain
, from back page
and stripping Thomas of her individual records. Thomas’ podcast appearance was recorded prior to Penn’s settlement.
In June 2024, Thomas lost a legal battle after challenging World Aquatics’ ban prohibiting transgender women who have gone through any part of male puberty from competing in women’s aquatics. Thomas reiterated the disappointment she expressed when the case was dismissed.
Hawks just a few weeks ago. The Lions’ struggles extend to their roster, where the status of their top two quarterbacks ahead of Saturday is unknown due to injury.
Penn 34, Columbia 14 — Conor Smith, deputy DP Sports editor
What’s going on with Columbia?
The Lions were dominant last season, winning a share of their first Ivy League title since 1961. That was not the only streak they broke either; against Penn, they snapped a 12-game losing streak at Franklin Field spanning back to 1996. After shocking the conference last year, it seems like second-year Lions head coach Jon Poppe has hit a bit of a sophomore slump as his squad is sitting 1-3 with an all-Ivy slate the rest of the way. A lot of this has to do with key departures in the offseason. Former running back Joey Giorgi, a 871yard rusher, graduated earlier this year alongside wideout Bryson Canty, who led the team in total receiving yards. Shaky quarterback play has not helped this evident drop in offensive firepower. Last week, Columbia quarterback Xander Menapace started in place of injured quarterback Chase Goodwin. A starter has not been named for Saturday as the Lions have kept the nature of Goodwin’s injury close to the chest. The two have accounted for six interceptions so far this season.
With all this being said, it should not come as a
“It was a gut punch, and even now, almost a year after the case has ended, it still hits me sometimes,” Thomas told WHYY. “It’s just that aching grief at not being able to do the sport that I love.”
Thomas also expressed her feelings on people misunderstanding hormone replacement therapy. During her transition, Thomas completed 34 months of HRT.
“There are massive losses to muscle mass, strength, and endurance, and … to make blanket statements like, ‘Oh, I see you as a woman, but you just shouldn’t compete in women’s sports,’ is both transphobic and not reflective of the realities behind being trans and being on HRT,” Thomas said.
Thomas also expanded on her struggles with gender
surprise that Columbia is last in the Ivy League in total offensive yards per game and touchdowns. Penn’s defense, which has shown incremental improvements, should tame the Lions with ease. I expect the unit will show pressure early and often, forcing whoever is starting for Columbia to add to the team’s abysmal turnover numbers.
As for Penn’s offense? I am not worried about it at all. I did not think I would be saying this last year after the transfer of reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year and running back Malachi Hosley, but offensive coordinator Greg Chimera has reinvented Penn’s offense to an efficient pass-first attack led by O’Brien. I expect even more fireworks to come from this unit.
Penn 27, Columbia 7 — Cavance Snaith, DP Sports reporter
The Quakers are entering New York as the better team, eager to beat the Lions. Although the Red and Blue lost to Columbia last year, this year is different for both teams — Penn for the better and Columbia for the worse. The Quakers absolutely dominated Marist, outpassing, outrushing, and outscoring the team last week. On the other hand, Columbia has been underperforming, only winning one out of its four games thus far.
Penn’s offense is performing significantly better than Columbia’s. Last week, Penn’s 463 offensive yards against Marist more than doubled the Lions’ 228
dysphoria at the start of her time at Penn while on the men’s team, as well as the initial lack of support from her parents when she first came out.
“I knew I wanted to transition, but I couldn’t. And the pain of gender dysphoria was only getting worse every day,” she said. “So I ultimately resolved that, OK, I’ll get to the end of the season … and then after the season … surely by then I’ll have convinced my parents. … And that sort of worked … in the sense that there was sort of a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Thomas also praised the support of fellow Ivy League transgender swimmer Schuyler Bailar and men’s swimming and diving coach Mike Schnur during her transition.
offensive yards against Lehigh. Furthermore, Columbia’s defense allowed 437 yards last week compared to the 250 let up by the Quakers. The Quakers are entering this matchup with the advantage as the better team. The Lions are on the hunt for their first Ivy win, and I can confidently say that it will not be against dear old Penn.
Penn 24, Columbia 14 — Tyler Ringhofer, deputy DP Sports editor The Quakers keep on rolling. After finishing off their last non-conference match against Marist last week in emphatic fashion, Penn football enters the heart of its season with Ivy play against Columbia. Against Marist, the Red and Blue continued to stay red hot on offense with senior wide receiver Jared Richardson nearly breaking his single-game receiving yards career high. What stood out most, however, was Penn’s ability to limit Marist’s attack, holding the Red Foxes to a mere nine points. It was arguably Penn’s best defensive performance this season, and the team will look to build off of it in the coming weeks. Columbia, on the other hand, has struggled offensively. The team scored an average of nine points during its last three games and dropped three of its first four games. The Lions have already dropped one Ivy game this season as well, losing 17-10 to Princeton earlier in the season. With Penn having an advantageous matchup on deck, I expect the Quakers’ defense to shine this week and showcase its full strength.
“I was blown away by how supportive Mike was,” Thomas said. “He was again, very surprised and was not expecting it. But after, he paused for a moment and then collected himself, and then was fully supportive from then on.”
While Thomas has not swum competitively since the 2022 NCAA Division I championships, she revealed she does still swim recreationally at her local YMCA.
“It takes a concerted effort to hold on to those moments of joy because, for me, with everything that happened my senior year and has happened since, it’s very easy to slip into almost like a negative perception of swimming,” she said. “It takes a lot of effort to try to focus on the joy that swimming still brings me.”
ANNIE LIU | DP FILE PHOTO
Penn football pictured playing against Columbia on Oct. 19, 2024.
THOMAS
Beach fun, buzz cuts, and betting shirts: Traditions of Penn athletics teams
Believe it or not, there are a few things more important than winning. For Penn fencing, or “Penncing” as they refer to themselves, one is Mongolian BBQ.
Specifically, Chen’s Mongolian Buffet near Penn State, which senior sabre Simon Kushkov said doesn’t “even know if it makes a hole-in-the-wall status.” As of Oct. 14, the restaurant is listed as “permanently closed” on Google Maps.
“It was a rite of passage [for] the Penn team,” Kushkov said, “Half the team is out the next day because they ate something bad.”
Last year, junior sabre Leah Blum paid the price. She couldn’t fence the next morning because of what she “assume[d] [was] food poisoning.” The food itself seemed to be fine, but the “environment” and kitchen
Penn football, fencing, tennis, and rowing all hold traditions close to their hearts
HANNAH CHANG Deputy Sports Editor
weren’t the most sanitary.
“It’s just a bonding experience … you just have to do it,” Blum echoed Kushkov’s thoughts. Even if that means you can’t fence against Penn State the next morning.
The team always eats at Chen’s the day before their tournament at Penn State at the coaches’ insistence.
“I think they like that it’s a good price,” Kushkov said.
And at this point, it’s become a “staple” for Penn fencing.
It’s a part of their tradition. But it’s far from their only one.
Every Labor Day weekend, the team goes to Atlantic City, N.J., and, for one day, switches their usual metal strip for a sandy one. They practice footwork and “combat action” in a series of exercises and drills on the beach.
The team organizes in rows, performing the same
Football looks to continue Ivy ‘revenge tour’ on the road at Columbia
The Lions defeated the Quakers at home last season for the frst time in nearly 30 years
SEAN GAWRONSKI
Sports Reporter
Two weeks ago, Penn sent a message to the rest of the Ivy League: This year’s team is different — and out for revenge. Coming off a disappointing 2024 campaign, nobody could have anticipated the Red and Blue’s recent emergence in league play. No one, except the Quakers themselves.
“Last year was last year … new year, new team. And our kids are very focused on being that way,” coach Ray Priore said.
Penn football will head to the Big Apple to play Columbia this Saturday, the team’s second Ivy League matchup while chasing a conference title. A year ago, the Quakers suffered their first home loss to the Lions in nearly 30 years. Now, Penn hopes to return the favor in front of Columbia’s homecoming crowd.
After a comfortable 28-9 win over Pioneer League opponent Marist this past week, the Quakers are looking to stay focused and move past the victory.
“A win is a win, you’re never gonna look down on a win,” Priore said. “There’s so much more we can clean up in practice. … We want to become 1-0 again this week.”
Against Marist, the Quakers made strides across the field, with a big day from senior wide receiver Jared Richardson. The Quakers’ leading receiver hauled in 15 receptions for 190 receiving yards and two touchdowns, earning FCS National Player of the Week honors. Defensively, the Quakers limited the Red Foxes to 250 yards of total offense, a season high. The Quakers will not be the only team looking to improve on Saturday. Despite finishing as one of the Ancient Eight’s co-champions last year, the Lions currently sit in seventh place. They have struggled in the ground game on both sides of the
ball, placing last in the league in both rushing offense and rushing defense.
Columbia features linebacker Jack Smiechowski and defensive lineman Justin Townsend, who lead the league in interceptions and sacks, respectively.
A key point for the Lions in this matchup will be their leaders’ ability to consistently challenge Penn at the line of scrimmage. The Lions will look to pounce on Penn’s running game, which ranks sixth in the Ivy League.
Saturday’s quarterback battle is a tale of two extremes. For the Quakers, senior quarterback Liam O’Brien has shown the ability to go toe-totoe with any secondary scheme. On the flip side, Columbia has seen two quarterbacks take snaps this year. Chase Goodwin, who entered the year as the starter, is in the mix to start on Saturday after missing last week with an injury. But with Goodwin out last week against Lehigh, Xander Menapace struggled in his first career start, and the team lost 31-7. Menapace was able to find a rhythm by connecting with wide receiver Titus Evans. Evans caught six passes for 111 yards in that game — more than the rest of Columbia’s receivers combined.
“I’m excited for it,” junior defensive back Jayden Drayton said. “It’ll be a great matchup. He’s gonna have to see me. … They’re gonna take some shots, but I’m gonna be ready.”
This season marks Drayton’s first as a starting defensive back for Penn, after transitioning from a wide receiver and specialist role last season. Quickly, Drayton has proven to be a vital piece of the secondary, recording nearly 20 tackles and filling in as the boundary corner — making him the main barrier between Menapace and his
synchronized motions. They then play relay games before a mile and a half run from one pier to the next while the coaches tan.
But the afternoon is where the team really lets loose.
Some people swim, others play volleyball or spikeball. This year, some of the fencers played football with the coaches. Some other beachgoers asked to join, to which Kushkov couldn’t blame them because “it looked really fun.”
Needless to say, it’s an active day on the beach.
“I think there’s still sand in one of my backpacks that I use,” Blum said, “I don’t really use that one very much [anymore].”
But the loss of a backpack and a sandy ride home is worth it, especially for the freshmen. The day at the beach allows new team members to get to know each
other in a stress-free environment, Blum pointed out. It’s not only fencing that tries to find ways to shake things up.
Penn women’s tennis, for example, holds an annual practice session during the first week of classes at the Philadelphia Art Museum steps. At 6 a.m., the team runs from Penn’s campus all the way to Boathouse Row and then to the museum, where the coaches — who drove — await them.
At the museum, they sprint up and down the steps like Rocky and then sprint again on the grass in front of the museum before jogging back to the tennis courts to stretch.
Unlike their usual practices which consist of tennis drills or rallies, this session is more about See TRADITION, page 8
2022 Penn graduate Lia Thomas speaks out for first time since Education Department Title IX ruling
Thomas won an individual national championship in 2022 as part of the Penn women’s swimming and diving team
VALERI GUEVARRA Sports Editor
Recently, 2022 College graduate and transgender athlete Lia Thomas spoke publicly for the first time since the Department of Education ruled earlier this year that Penn had violated Title IX by allowing her to compete as part of the Penn women’s swimming and diving team.
Thomas appeared on the Oct. 14 episode of WHYY’s “Sports in America” podcast to discuss her swimming journey, legal battles, and transgender women in sports. Before that, Thomas most recently spoke publicly at a forum in March, prior to the
Education Department’s ruling. At Penn, Thomas competed on the men’s swimming and diving team for two years prior to her transition. She returned to competition on the women’s swimming and diving team in 2022, collecting numerous accolades across the Ivy League and NCAA — including a national championship, three Ivy League individual titles, and three school records. In July, Penn entered a voluntary resolution agreement with the government, complying with the Education Department’s demands
KATE AHN | SENIOR DESIGNER
JESSE ZHANG | DP FILE PHOTO
Thomas pictured holding a plaque at the NCAA championships on March 18, 2022.
