Opinion Columns
Group Think | How to engage the Penn administration
GROUP THINK is the DP’s round table section, where we throw a question at the columnists and see what answers stick.
James Fisher | Never leaving Makuu: The power of cultural centers
I remember the spring of my senior year of high school visiting Makuu Black Cultural Center during Quaker days.
Emily Hoeven | Why we need to get serious about boycotting frat parties
In my Africana Studies class, we talk a lot about perspective: how things that seem acceptable or normal to a society at a given point in history can often seem incomprehensible to that same society several generations later.
Calvary Rogers | A silent war: substance abuse and its interference with wellness
Mental health. Two words every Penn student has heard before they set foot on Locust walk. We all know just how prevalent conversations about mental health have become and its relation to tragedy, campus culture and administration.
Michael Palamountain | The bittersweet need for cognitive dissonance
Last week the winners of the President's Engagement Prize were announced. I scrolled past the subject line in my inbox and clicked delete.
Joe Tharakan | Everybody's a jerk online
I spent a long time wondering what topic I should write on today. I found it very difficult to pick a stance on anything.
Taylor Becker | What it means to be pro-Israel
This past weekend, around 40 Penn students joined nearly 4000 campus activists from across the country at the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
Amy Chan | Expats excluded: On accepting the difficulty of integration
When I first arrived in Cambridge, I thought I would immediately integrate. I thought that I would make many British friends and that I would excel at every stereotypically British task I tried.
Shawn Srolovitz | Reframing the campus leadership conversation
Last week, my friend sent me a New York Times article about the value high school students place on leadership. Because of the perceived focus on traditional leadership in college admissions, students prioritize leadership in the vein of “political or business power” — defining leaders based on their authority and dominance.
Cameron Dichter | Unintended offense: dealing with racial insensitivity on campus
In the fall of 1993, Jahmae Harris, a then-senior here at Penn, received a frightening phone call to her dorm, the DuBois College House.
James Lee | What will we leave behind?
Who is Michael Zinman? The name might sound somewhat familiar to about half of the Penn population.
James Fisher | Let’s have a Kiki
This past Sunday, I released my first ever episode of The Kiki Podcast Series on black excellence and self-love.
Joe Tharakan | Nickel-and-dimed by Penn
Just before spring break, I went to the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks basketball game on a trip sponsored by my dorm.
Calvary Rogers | In defense of student athletes
If you know me you know that one thing keep me laughing every day: Twitter memes. The best part about this is that practically every month or week, a new meme dominates Twitter’s social feed.
Michael Palamountain | Why we need to reclaim the word 'radical'
Today the word “radical” — sometimes spelled with a capital R — may inspire fear in the hearts of many.
Toe the Line: College Republicans | A good opening statement, but not the final word
Obamacare is a disaster. This has become an unavoidable reality in recent years. In Michigan and Colorado, for instance, premiums are increasing at rates of 16.7% and 20%, respectively.
Toe the Line: Penn Democrats | A tax cut for the rich in health care's clothing
The primary aim of any large-scale government program is not to save money. Social Security does not aim to reduce the deficit.
Amy Chan | Embrace the shame of studying abroad
My friend says that “studying abroad is learning how to shame yourself.” I would like to amend that statement by saying, firstly, that I never needed to learn how to shame myself.
Reid Jackson | Flying foul: the sorry state of American aviation
A cold wind rushes through the cabin as passengers bundle themselves up in whatever thick clothes and blankets they can find.
