34th Street Magazine's "Toast" is a semi-weekly newsletter with the latest on Penn's campus culture and arts scene. Delivered Monday-Wednesday-Friday.
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In a recent set of undergraduate business school rankings from Business Week, the Wharton School was ranked third behind the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame business schools, respectively. This was quite a shocker to a school full of students accustomed to ranking dominance in their undergraduate division.
The stimulus bill that passed the House and the Senate in February included an amendment that has potential to void the job offers of international students who wish to stay in the U.S.
The amendment restricts the hiring of foreign workers with H-1B visas by firms accepting funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
When I first heard about Ward Churchill's dismissal from the University of Colorado, it was hard to suppress my glee.
Churchill is considered a propagandist for extremely liberal viewpoints. In 2006, a committee of the professor's peers found him guilty of serious academic misconduct.
This year, Penn sent congratulatory letters to 3,926 students out of the 22,939 that applied - an acceptance rate of 17.11 percent. But last year, the acceptance rate was (gasp!) 0.10 percent lower. A minute fraction of a percent, but unfortunately many students - and this newspaper - seem to think such an increase in acceptance is a "situation.
In defense of Brandeis
To the Editor:
As a proud graduate of Brandeis University, it was disheartening to read Ashley Takas' piece on 3/25/09 ("Selling cultural cred to the highest bidder"). Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz has said repeatedly that select art works would only be sold if necessary.
It does not take an economics major to understand how bad things are right now. If you need an indicator for the health of the economy, talk to any senior about their plans for next year, and you will see everything from desperation to exasperation. For those of us who grew up during the boom years of the post-Cold War era and have never seen a rainy day, the harsh reality of this economic downturn (and its direct effect on us) has come as a great shock.
Many Penn students (read: haters) tend to harbor a certain disregard for our peer institutions, as exemplified by basketball fans' over-enthusiastic trash-talking at basketball games and the obligatory groan-plus-rolling-of-the-eyes reaction whenever anyone mentions the word Princeton.
On March 30, 2009, Colin Kavanaugh wrote a column praising Sen. Arlen Specter for his recently declared opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. We wish to respond to his piece and explain why we, and many others, view Specter's decision as a gross betrayal of the working people in this state who have so long supported him.
Rodin College House recently announced that, for the next two years, it will no longer admit freshman.
There are several sound reasons behind the decision. The communal culture in the high rises - something most consider essential for a successful freshman year - is not nearly at the level of the Quadrangle, Hill or King's Court-English.
The Daily Pennsylvanian's annual gag issue has a long history, of which another chapter has been written today. Every year at about this time, tradition dictates that DP editors turn their usually proper paper into a playful parody.
Although the DP used to publish a gag issue on or about April Fool's Day, the issue was moved to Washington's birthday in 1962.
Newspapers are dead.
True fact, printed in this very truthful publication. Just look at our front page today. Completely dead. A blog told me so.
Also, we're in a Recession. I capitalize the R because it's like the Depression, except people are too Depressed to admit it.
Bonjour, Penn. Greetings from Baltimore!
Miss me yet? I'm sure you've noticed that College Hall is lacking a friendly Canadian with great hair and a winning smile. And you must have picked up on the fact that interdisciplinary academic experiences involving internationals haven't been appearing in the DP since I've left.
One student reported that at times he felt his peers looked at him like he "fills a quota." Another student reported that the atmosphere felt like he "fills a quota." And another student explained that he cringed every time a class discussion started with "I don't mean to be racist, but your people ."
The stark truth is that as a community, we have much work ahead of us in creating a wholly inclusive classroom environment.
Last week, Penn announced that the much-anticipated updates to Penn InTouch will take place over the summer.
The best part about this announcement of the long-overdue makeover - which will modernize the interface of the current layout - is the timeliness of the process.
In a scene straight out of Alice in Wonderland, I went to a very merry unbirthday party last week. Several of us caroused around a table at an intimate BYO, celebrating, well, nothing. No one had a birthday. No one had an anniversary.
Instead, "My job offer just got rescinded!" someone declared, passing around the tomato and mozzarella salad.