Opinion Columns
Group Think | Discussing Cory Booker as commencement speaker
GROUP THINK is The DP’s round table section, where we throw a question at the columnists and see what answers stick.
Amy Chan | The conversation of empathy
Contrary to what most people told me before leaving, my first experience studying abroad in England was not a pleasant one.
Reid Jackson | When executive orders get personal at Penn
You could smell the urgency in the air on Sunday, as scores of Penn students suspended their studies and sped to Philadelphia’s International Airport. None of these students would be boarding flights; they were going to register their protest to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, penned to prohibit entry to the United States by citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. The order was decidedly un-American. Prohibiting the entry of hundreds of millions of people around the world, based solely on their national origin betrays our history as a nation of immigrants.
Taylor Becker | Rational dissent
In the era of rampant “fake news” and “alternative facts,” now more than ever we have a moral obligation to seek truth to inform our dissent.
Calvary Rogers | Unboxing Black history: Hidden figures
One of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. states “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” It causes me to think about all the hidden contributions people have made through time that have played a major role in constructing who I am.
Emily Hoeven | The 'best four years of our lives'
Maybe it’s because I’m graduating from Penn soon, but I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on how I came to be here in the first place.
Shawn Srolovitz | Breaking the mold of mutual exclusivity
The notion of mutual exclusivity in your education – that your studies either have to be an inch deep and a mile wide or an inch wide and a mile deep – should not exist at Penn. The width of your education refers to the range of disciplines that you study, while the depth emphasizes how much you choose to specialize.
Group Think | Free speech and protesters
GROUP THINK is The DP’s round table section, where we throw a question at the columnists and see what answers stick.
Cameron Dichter | Light rather than heat
At The Daily Pennsylvanian’s Opinion Section we have a cardinal rule: Don’t feed the trolls! This is because — as is true in all online forums — divisive opinions tend to generate callous responses and replying to volatile comments usually just fuels the flame.
James Lee | Madness in method
In Korea, you are considered one year old at birth, and turn a year older on the first day of every New Year thereafter.
Isabel Kim | Going ghost
Today’s column is a love letter to avoidance. Today, we are here to talk about “ghosting.” To quote Google, ghosting is “the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication.” I would like to note that this definition refers not just to romantic relationships, but all personal relationships, and that the definition could lend itself to mutual detachment.
James Fisher | A letter to the Black, Queer students at Penn
To all my black queer students at Penn, I just wanted to say: I love you. And that's it. This is not a piece proposing solutions.
Calvary Rogers | Popping the Penn bubble
As a member of the track team, my first experience with the Penn track team was outside on a brisk sunny day in late August.
Joe Tharakan | Chasing success
For the last month, whenever someone has asked me, “What are you up to?” I’ve always given them the same reply: “I’m studying for the MCAT.” God only knows how many conversations I’ve defaulted to that lazy small talk. Sitting for the MCAT is a notable event that many students study several months for.
Michael Palamountain | A risky situation
Year after year stories reach the news about sexual assault on college campuses across the US. Yet my response remains different than the narratives I see presented by the media.
Group Think | Picking classes
GROUP THINK is The DP’s round table section, where we throw a question at the columnists and see what answers stick.
Toe the Line: Penn Democrats | Health care
Few focal points of the Republican presidential cycle stood out with as much singularity and clarity as the promise to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, a rallying cry for many of the Trump electorate, regardless of class, race, gender.
Reid Jackson | We're all hoping for a drained swamp
Tomorrow, at around noon, Donald Trump will become the President of the United States. The bombastic billionaire, whose improbable promotion to power shattered every political norm from fundraising to gaffe-making, will assume the most important political office on earth.
Amy Chan | Red lips, self-faith
I once wrote an article in which I refused to give up red lipstick despite surrendering eye makeup, and, with all the misogyny to which Trump's election has set us back, I think it's about time I explained why. What got me started thinking about it was a statement my friend made to me.