The Daily Pennsylvanian documented the stories of 2023 — the triumphs and obstacles, the joys and heartbreaks, of a community feeling the consequences of events around the world. In a year defined by student-led activism on campus, these images capture a pivotal moment in history.

The Israel-Hamas war brought about a myriad of demonstrations across the Penn community, where students took to the streets across campus and in Philadelphia. Cherelle Parker, a Penn graduate, won the Philadelphia Mayoral Election, becoming the first woman elected to the office. Rallies for unionization sprung across campus — ranging from resident advisors to graduate workers — calling for a stronger collective voice to advocate for their shared concerns.

Month-by-month and day-by-day, the DP’s photographers were on the front lines of the biggest stories during this transformative year.

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Jan. 13 — After announcing the formation of the Red and Blue Advisory Committee in October of 2022, President Liz Magill kicked off the new year with the "Tomorrow, Together" forum, inviting members of the Penn community to share their thoughts on Penn's future.

Participants answered questions on large notepads, like “How do we accelerate the creation and application of knowledge?” and “How can we best advance our shared priorities of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging?”

Feb. 2 — Former Penn President Amy Gutmann returned to campus in February — the second time since she became United States ambassador to Germany — as the honoree at the naming ceremony for Gutmann College House.

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Gutmann delivered remarks that included a reflection on her personal experiences as a college student, where she found her first “home away from home,”  at her college house.

Feb. 22 — Multiple Penn students affiliated with the Coalition to Save the UC Townhomes and Students for the Preservation of Chinatown addressed President Liz Magill and other University administrators at the University Council Meeting and Open Forum about what they said was Penn’s responsibility to protect the UC Townhomes.

They demanded that Penn commit $10 million to preserve the UC Townhomes as affordable housing.

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March 10-11 — Penn men’s and women’s basketball endured heartbreaking losses against Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal, ending both teams’ conference seasons. Despite standout performances from Jordan Dingle and Kayla Padilla last year — who no longer play for the Quakers — Penn succumbed to the Tigers in every matchup, accumulating six losses to Princeton alone.

March 31 —United RAs at Penn organized a rally in support of resident advisors and graduate assistants’ efforts to unionize. Philadelphia mayoral candidate and 1993 College graduate Helen Gym, Pennsylvania state Representative and 2013 Engineering graduate Rick Krajewski, and local union leaders were invited as guest speakers.

“RAs are often the first people who notice when a young person is struggling or having academic issues and don’t necessarily feel safe talking to someone formal," Gym said.

April 26 — Over 200 Penn graduate student workers gathered in April to advocate for improved working conditions, financial security, and protection against discrimination. The group, Graduate Employees Together at the University of Pennsylvania, collected signed authorization cards from over 1,900 Penn doctoral, master's, and undergraduate student workers to form a union.

“Many of [the graduate workers] felt blindsided by the COVID-19 pandemic and did not feel supported by Penn’s response. And coupled with the inflation and the rising cost of living, has spiraled out of control,” biology Ph.D. candidate Luella Allen-Waller, the group’s field coordinator and organizer, said. 

May 15 — The University honored Class of 2023 graduates at Penn’s 267th Commencement ceremony in May. Penn President Liz Magill, Faculty Senate Chair Tulia Falleti, and award-winning actress and singer-songwriter Idina Menzel, this year’s Commencement speaker, gave speeches to the crowd.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended the ceremony for his granddaughter, a 2023 College graduate, leading to stricter security measures.

June 4 — Thousands took to the streets in June to celebrate the 51st annual Philadelphia Pride March and Festival. This year’s festivities were led by the social justice organization Galaei and had the theme “Love, Light, and Liberation.”

“We have to unapologetically tell folks in power that our rights are worth it,” Rue Landau,  the city’s first openly LGBTQ councilmember, said in a speech. “That we are here, we are not going back, and that we are here to stay, and we are getting louder and stronger.”

The parade also featured the largest rainbow flag in Philadelphia history, measuring 200 feet long.

June 10 — In July of 2022, plans to build a new arena for the Philadelphia 76ers in the Chinatown area were first announced to the city. Almost a year later, the fight against the implementation of the new arena intensified as demonstrators marched from 10th and Vine streets to City Hall in protest of the proposed threat to a historical and cultural district.

Local activist and student-led organizations — including the Students for the Preservation of Chinatown (SPOC), Juntos, and POWER Interfaith — were in attendance. Various community members and leaders spoke as well, including rising College junior and SPOC co-founder Taryn Flaherty, Pennsylvania state Representative and 2022 School of Nursing Ph.D. graduate Tarik Khan, and Asian Americans United co-founder Debbie Wei.

July 20 — President Joe Biden visited Philadelphia’s Navy Yard in July to promote his economic agenda, his vision for a clean energy future, and the importance of unions.

The White House adopted the term “Bidenomics” to refer to its economic agenda of making public investments, lowering costs, and growing the middle class. At the event, Biden described Bidenomics as a plan for “building the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.” 

Aug. 28 — Penn welcomed the Class of 2027 and new transfer students at the annual Convocation ceremony, which took place at Franklin Field for the first time in recent memory. Penn President Liz Magill led the students through an interactive exercise with multicolored cards to encourage them to develop a “fisheye lens” while at Penn and be open to fresh new ideas and a broad perspective.

Sept. 22 — Writers and performers celebrated Palestinian art and culture with speeches, dance numbers, and spoken word poetry at the Palestine Writes Literature Festival in September. Almost all of the performers emphasized the deep ancestral roots of their culture, and called for Palestinian liberation from Israel while criticizing European legacies of settler colonialism.

In the following weeks and months, the festival sparked fear and outrage among Penn students, alumni, and community members as well as national Jewish groups who objected to the inclusion of speakers with antisemitic histories.

Oct. 2 — Penn Medicine researchers Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their past research into messenger RNA technology.

Karikó and Weissman were celebrated with a flash mob at the Smilow Commons Lobby in the Perelman School of Medicine, where hundreds of students, faculty, and staff gathered to congratulate them.

“The achievements of Dr. Weissman and Karikó have changed the course of history,” Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Dean of the Medical School Larry Jameson said. “Since the rollout of two mRNA vaccines in 2020, millions of lives have been saved, and scores of others have been protected from severe disease, even in the face of an increasingly transmissible virus.”

Oct. 16 — Over a hundred Penn community members gathered in front of Van Pelt Dietrich Library and rallied for Palestine for over seven hours on Oct. 16. The event — which stood in solidarity with Palestine and criticized Penn President Liz Magill’s response to the conflict — was the first of several demonstrations over the next month.

On Oct. 20, around 400 community members marched in support of Israel, emphasizing Jewish unity while urging Penn to denounce pro-Hamas and antisemitic rhetoric that some allege is present on campus. A second rally was hosted on Nov. 3.

Nov. 7 — 2016 Fels Institute of Government graduate and former city councilwoman Cherelle Parker won the 2023 Philadelphia Mayoral Election in November against Republican David Oh, becoming the first woman to be elected mayor of the city.

Parker spoke to the DP in April about the role that Penn and its students play in her wider goals of creating a safer, cleaner city. 

“I think students at the University of Pennsylvania understand that they have a very unique opportunity to impact Philadelphia in a way that will put others on a path to self sufficiency and give them access to opportunity,” she said.

Nov. 13 — Penn men’s basketball bested No. 21 Villanova, 76-72, for the program’s biggest win in years and the first time the Quakers defeated the Wildcats since 2018.

After the final seconds had ticked off, the student section stormed the court, and fans and players celebrated the historic win together.

“I told these guys to come here and this is what they dreamed of," coach Steve Donahue said. "Then to walk out and perform and have the campus basically running onto the court, it’s why you play college basketball.”

Nov. 14 — Dozens of Penn community members began occupying the ground floor of Houston Hall on Nov. 14, part of a multi-day teach-in to protest Penn’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. The demonstration was organized by Freedom School for Palestine, a self-identified collection of Penn students, faculty, staff, and alumni who are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the protection of freedom of speech at Penn, and the institution of "freedom of thought on Palestine."

Individuals who refuse to leave the building after closing hours have been required to provide their PennCards to Penn Police and University staff members each night.

Dec. 5 — Penn President Liz Magill testified in front of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, alongside other university leaders. She fielded questions from members across both sides of the aisle about Jewish student safety, the role of donors in higher education, and the boundaries of free speech on campus.

During her opening statement, Magill focused on "essential” immediate actions that Penn is undertaking, including increased security and the formation of an antisemitism task force.

“Presidents Gay, Magill, and Kornbluth, you have real and important practical challenges. These are real students sitting here, and they need to be protected,” Chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) concluded. “But you also have a moral challenge. It is fashionable among too many members of your campus communities to hate Jews.”

On Dec. 9, four days after the hearing, Magill announced her resignation after being in office for only 16 months. Her tenure will be the shortest of any permanent University president in Penn's history.