Opinion Columns
Jessica Li | Stories can bring us together when we need each other most
In our everyday lives, we underestimate how good it feels to recount our day to a friend, or even call our parents and laugh about something that happened at home.
Spencer Swanson | Last year was a bad one for Mother Nature
In the United States alone the natural disasters associated with climate change, including hurricanes and wildfires, cost a record $306 billion in damages – making 2017 the costliest year ever.
Dylan Reim | Stress at Penn shouldn't be a competition
There is a performative component to stress culture which only compounds the problem.
Rebecca Alifimoff | How Aziz Ansari made me rethink rape culture at Penn
Throughout my high school and college years, I’ve listened helplessly as friends and acquaintances have described encounters with their own Azizs, and I’ve cried to them when I had my own.
Alex Kuang | Why chasing excellence can be harmful
Too many of us made high achievement an identifying factor of who we are as people. After that part of us dissipated, we also lost some of our goals and were lured in by money and prestige.
Christine Olagun-Samuel | In defense of Du Bois College House: a place I call home
Du Bois welcomes all cultures and all types of people to live in its building. It isn’t simply limited to those who are black, Hispanic, or Asian.
Jennifer Lee | Why are Penn Koreans speaking in Korean?
Perhaps it is a way to connect with like-heritage students in a school teeming with people from every corner of the globe. Maybe, it is just a way to look cool.
Carlos Arias Vivas | Why Penn should offer accelerated intro classes
While I empathize with students who are just trying to get the highest grades possible, they should not do so at the expense of students who did not have access to these higher-level high school courses.
Mateen Tabatabaei | Penn is not to blame for your pessimistic perspective
As for Penn, it’s a safe bet that none of us students knew exactly what we were signing up for. Still, as with any new path, we signed up for possibility.
Jay Shah | What I learned from taking a break from social media
The smartphone has gone from being used as a communication device to more of a crutch. We use our phones to avoid making eye contact with people on Locust Walk, in line at the grocery store, and in the elevator.
Amy Chan | One final reinvention before graduation
Like editing an essay, reinventing doesn’t mean that we’re erasing everything we had before. We are tweaking it, refining it, uncovering the original spark hidden in the chaotic mind.
Spencer Swanson | Washington needs Penn students
It is a challenge to think about jumping into the swamp that so many are shouting about draining. But, members of the Penn community are precisely the sorts of individuals that America needs now.
Jessica Li | Why the 'C' you received over winter break isn't the end of the world
GPAs in college do not reflect how smart we are. They’re designed to reflect how much we are willing to work for each class.
Isabella Simonetti | Stop swiping and take a break from Tinder
An online world of people seeking sex with no strings attached, waiting to pass judgement on our appearances, can be toxic.
Amy Chan | There really is no such thing as lost time
If we insist on viewing time as ours, then we have to acknowledge that we’ve never misplaced a single second; only put it somewhere it’s a little more difficult to show off on a plaque.
Shilpa Saravanan | Why we need to let others change on their own
Letting what others do bother you, and critiquing them for it, is less productive than observing and understanding.
Carlos Arias Vivas | Penn students don't just want longer breaks. They need them.
Students should have adequate breaks that enable them to de-stress and process everything that has happened since the beginning of the year.
Group Think | What is the biggest issue facing Penn?
The fall semester is just about to end and a lot has happened that has left lasting impressions and changes on this campus.
Isabella Simonetti | We can fix Penn's toxic culture more than the administration ever could
Our neglect to take responsibility for our contribution to the toxic parts of Penn is what allows it to persist.