Opinion Columns
Lucy Hu | Fraternity pledging needs to end
Despite many fraternities’ cult-like efforts to keep pledging under wraps to avoid prosecution, most Penn students have heard accounts from pledges about sleepless nights, humiliating activities, and servant-type orders from pledge masters.
Jennifer Lee | To experience Philadelphia, Penn students need to ride SEPTA more
Throughout the entire journey, from hopping onto a packed trolley car to emerging aboveground through the beautiful glass head house of Dilworth Park, I feel completely immersed in the Philadelphia community.
Christine Olagun-Samuel | While you’re glued to your smartphone, Penn is passing you by
The moment our phones are held up in our hands and our headphones in, walls are put up and barriers are created.
Rebecca Alifimoff | For me, the CAPS referral process was barely better than Google
I went through an administrative process only to end with links to readily available databases. My CAPS experience wasn’t a referral as much as it was a brush-off.
Isabella Simonetti | Battling mental illness in my first year at Penn has made me stronger
No matter how much it’s stigmatized, how unusual it might be to be open to talking about it, my anxiety and depression have taught me to care for myself.
Dylan Reim | You don't need Penn's permission to go the Super Bowl victory parade
I’m glad my decision to attend the parade won’t be hampered by a class absence, but if the parade were as important to me as it seems to be to some people, I’d happily chug a couple green beers, rub some dirt on that shiny attendance record, and go make memories.
Calvary Rogers | Avoiding the bird’s eye view: integrating ourselves in Philadelphia
I had the most fun I’ve ever had in this city. For the first time in my academic career here at Penn, I felt like a Philadelphian.
Alex Kuang | Penn students often ‘pull trig,’ but does this actually prevent nausea and hangovers?
Pulling trig has become the holy cure for a wild night of debauchery, but no one seems to know exactly what it does.
Dylan Reim | The classroom shouldn't be a passive environment
The awkwardness of meandering through a question you don’t quite know how to ask shouldn’t stop us.
Amy Chan | Wading through a dry spell in my writing
What do we do when something we love becomes something we hate?
Jay Shah | Getting to know my professors as people
My respect for a professor goes up exponentially if they can open up about their struggles because it shows perseverance and resilience.
Carlos Arias Vivas | Canada Goose: A symbol of status and animal cruelty
The price that you pay on a Canada Goose jacket is not just money, but also the life of an animal.
Sara Merican | Reflecting on falling snow and passing time
One day not too far away, Locust Walk, which I trek up and down every day in mundane familiarity, will become a path of memories I can only trace in my mind.
Jennifer Lee | How should the University Archives handle controversial — or even pornographic – materials?
Some may argue that Muybridge’s female photographs fall under the umbrella of “human motion,” but do photos of women on the toilet really constitute representative human movement?
Isabella Simonetti | Male students have a responsibility to combat rape culture at Penn
It’s becoming a rarity for me to meet a woman who hasn’t been sexually assaulted at Penn. I’ve only been a student here for six months; this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Lucy Hu | Home is not a place
Like my accent, my home is blended. Instead of a bundle of discrete experiences in one city, home subconsciously grew into a collection of dynamic nuances in multiple places.
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.