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The Student Committee on Education discusses changes to Penn's university policies in a white paper published every five years. Credit: Jean Park

The Student Committee on Undergraduate Education released its 2025 white paper issuing recommendations to Penn this past week. 

SCUE publishes a white paper every five years proposing short-term and long-term changes to Penn's academic policies. The 64-page document offered recommendations across six areas: Academics; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; One University; Wellness; West Philadelphia and Beyond; and Open Expression.

Around 90 undergraduate Penn students developed and wrote the paper over the course of three years, according to the document's introduction. The white paper provided details on how the final recommendations were produced, including through surveys, focus groups, roundtable discussions, and meetings with "student leaders, faculty members, and administrators from across [the] University."

College junior Max Annunziata and College senior Sophia Leung — who are both former staffers for The Daily Pennsylvanian — served as the co-executive editors of the white paper. In their introductory letter, Annunziata and Leung expressed their hope that Penn administrators would use the document as a "reference" in addressing "Penn’s current shortcomings and the ways to fix them."

"The hundreds of students and dozens of faculty and staff who contributed to our research over the last several semesters have helped tremendously to shed light on the ways in which we, as an institution, at times fall short, and how we can effectively work toward better serving our community," Annunziata and Leung wrote. "This is not to say that we have identified all of the issues facing Penn undergraduates, or that we have all the solutions."

In a statement to the DP, Annunziata wrote that SCUE is planning to direct its efforts towards "implementing the policy recommendations" contained within the 2025 white paper "for the foreseeable future." Annunziata also said that he would be sharing the document in an email to the wider Penn community early next week. 

Increased flexibility in course requirements and advising reforms

In the Academics section of the white paper, the group called for greater flexibility in fulfilling general education requirements, including allowing more courses to “double count” towards both major and general education requirements. 

“Allowing more courses to ‘double count’ across major and general education requirements would permit students to take more courses that interest them,” the report stated.

As part of Penn's general education requirements, students in the College of Arts and Sciences must take courses that fulfill the seven College sector requirements across different academic disciplines. The College's method of assigning sector tags to courses has been a source of confusion for many Penn students, resulting in complaints about a lack of sector-fulfilling course options. 

SCUE also recommended better coordination between departments to prevent required courses from conflicting and suggested that the University create an expanded database of sample four-year schedules to help students plan their academic paths.

“Better coordination of class times across departments and better publicity of changes to prerequisites and major requirements to students may also help students get the most out of their Penn education,” the report read.

In addition to curricular reforms, SCUE pushed for a review of Penn’s advising system which the group wrote came about after “conversations with undergraduate students over the years have consistently revealed advising as a topic of special interest and concern.”

The paper suggested standardizing course unit limit increase requests, which students consulted by SCUE in the white paper’s research process say can be arbitrarily granted or denied depending on their advisor. 

“Within the College, we have diagnosed a need for greater clarity regarding the division of responsibilities between a student’s various advising contacts, while Nursing and Engineering students should be provided with advisors equipped to help them explore academically outside of their more rigid degree tracks,” the group added. 

Expansion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives 

As part of an effort to make Penn’s academic environment more inclusive, SCUE recommended the introduction of a Disability Studies minor and recommended that departments incorporate more authors, case studies, and historical perspectives from marginalized communities to reflect a wider range of voices. 

“To help foster inclusive cultures and win over reluctant members of the Penn community, faculty should be encouraged to discuss DEI regularly to create a culture of inclusion and keep it at the forefront of faculty minds,” the group added. “One initiative we propose is that departmental guest lecture series make a concerted effort to reach out to diverse voices.”

The report also suggested that Penn “invest in expanding diverse programs and diversifying all fields in its hiring methods.”

Outside the academic space, SCUE called on Penn to take stronger action in promoting campus inclusivity, addressing financial disparities, and improving access to resources. 

The white paper stated that a lack of “attention paid to inclusivity can exacerbate a student’s sense of isolation in academic settings.”

SCUE wrote that there was a need for more opportunities for students to connect with peers from diverse backgrounds and find ways to address socioeconomic disparities that are present on campus. 

“Students should be involved in these processes, but they should not be made to feel singularly responsible for driving change,” the report stated.

Equitability across undergraduate schools 

In an effort to address student concerns with “inequities between the four undergraduate schools,” SCUE proposed recommendations to further Penn’s “One University” mission. The white paper focused its suggestions on the distribution of resources, cross-school course registration options, academic integrity, and the Path@Penn user experience.

The document suggested that study spaces currently accessible only to Wharton School students be made available to all undergraduate Penn students. It also proposed increasing the operational hours of libraries and study spaces — including Huntsman Hall — to close later.

Among the central issues reported by students in Penn’s undergraduate academic experience highlighted in the document was the complication behind registering for courses across undergraduate schools. SCUE suggested that Penn cross-list “existing courses across schools and departments to better support students’ interdisciplinary endeavors.”

“Students are largely left in the dark on why they are unable to take a class that explores their academic interests, leaving them discouraged from trying to pursue more diverse fields of study,” the report read. 

The white paper also issued a recommendation to Penn to create “clear guidelines on the usage of [artificial intelligence].” SCUE did not issue a recommendation for what those guidelines should be but rather emphasized the importance of collaboration between students, faculty, and the Center for Community Standards and Accountability in developing a standardized procedure to review AI policies in the classroom.

Students surveyed for the white paper also noted difficulties with Path@Penn, the University’s centralized academic website, including difficulty navigating the platform and registering for classes. SCUE proposed ongoing dialogue between student government bodies and the University to continue addressing these issues and noted that “major pain points were resolved” following a successful meeting with Penn administrators.

Student Health and Counseling expansion with more flexible grading policies

In response to ongoing concerns about student mental health, SCUE recommended Penn increase the visibility of wellness resources and create dedicated spaces for mental health on campus. 

“We found that the majority of students would like to see improvements in access to campus wellness resources, and more specifically, efforts to reduce the stigma of using mental health services,” the report read.

The group also proposed that Penn better balance wellness resources across the four undergraduate schools in an effort to “help bridge the wellness gap at Penn.” To that end, SCUE suggested that the wellness branches of four undergraduate schools better coordinate their initiatives through a more centralized approach.

The white paper also pointed to Penn’s pre-professional culture as " unintentionally undermin[ing]" students' wellness. 

“The disconnect between wellness rhetoric and the lived experiences of students leaves many feeling overwhelmed, a feeling that is only amplified by inconsistently enforced policies," the white paper read.

Strengthening ties to West Philadelphia 

SCUE urged Penn to expand its commitment to West Philadelphia. The white paper called on Penn to “redouble” its efforts to improve relationships with the local community while providing pathways for individual students to engage with West Philadelphia. 

The white paper noted that there is an overall lack of “meaningful engagement taking place today,” adding that SCUE’s school-wide survey found that students indicated that there were “time” barriers to pursuing volunteer opportunities. The survey also found that 50.3% of students surveyed “reported a lack [of] awareness of existing civic engagement opportunities.”

“In line with the goal of increasing student awareness of volunteering opportunities and reducing barriers to access, SCUE encourages the creation of a centralized database of community service opportunities,” the report stated. “Additionally, we see real value in expanding the breadth of ABCS courses, with an eye on alignment with course requirements across all four schools.”

The group also wrote that they hope the University will work to repair its relationship with West Philadelphia, adding that “feeding current tensions between Penn and the surrounding community are a series of historical wrongs inflicted by Penn.”

To that end, SCUE suggested that Penn mend the relationship through 3 channels: communication, engagement, and “direct action to help the local community.”

Free speech policies and students’ rights

In the final section of the white paper, SCUE addressed the ongoing debates surrounding open expression and free speech at Penn.

Among their recommendations was a suggestion to create more spaces for “safe dialogue among students on sometimes-thorny political and cultural issues.” 

The document also credited Penn’s push for institutional neutrality as “a step toward protecting faculty members’ free speech and an acknowledgment of Penn’s limited ability to address all of the global issues persisting today.”

The group, however, recommended that students be included in the design process to make the University’s temporary open expression guidelines a permanent fixture of Penn’s policies, and make freshmen students “aware of their rights and responsibilities with regard to speech and inquiry.” 

“By establishing improved spaces for open dialogue on campus and furthering a collective understanding of our rights and responsibilities as members of Penn’s community, we can cultivate an environment which protects and prioritizes open expression, while continuing to keep students, faculty, and staff safe,” the report read.