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.
Free.
Don't forget about class segregation
To the Editor:
With recent discussion in the The Daily Pennsylvanian's pages about DuBois House, let's not forget that just across Walnut Street, the University is building student housing that promises to be truly segregated.
It's what every 21st-century woman doesn't want to hear.
"The Rules - they actually work," a friend of mine told me over coffee last week, referring to the infamous dating book that teaches women to play games, be passive and above all, wait for him to call.
Amy Gutmann hit newsstands this Tuesday. With the three other female Ivy League presidents, she strikes a jaunty pose for Glamour's Women of the Year issue. Hands on hips, she gazes upward, envisioning great things for the future of Penn.
Gutmann is gaining national attention.
On Monday, a horrible crime shook our campus. Our hearts go out to the victim, the female Penn student who was sexually assaulted in her home at 40th and Spruce streets.
Sadly, the tragedy only added to the litany of recent crimes in the area surrounding Penn's campus, including the shooting at Koko Bongo just a few weeks ago.
I landed here in a flying machine over a year ago. Officially, I'm a resident alien.
Life as an alien can be hard. Imagine trying to learn the language of aliens that inhabit a distant planet very dissimilar to our own. A tough task. Philosophers call it "radical translation" and few believe it possible.
Last week, the Roots gave Penn students a fantastic show. The concert was sponsored by SPEC-TRUM, a branch of the Social Planning and Events Committee that organizes events geared toward the minority community on campus. SPEC-TRUM sold over 1,000 tickets to students, despite announcing the show barely a week before it occurred.
Most people wouldn't mention "ag school" and "Ivy League" in the same breath. This is probably because along with Penn, everyone forgets about that school up in Ithaca. Nonetheless, I was surprised to learn recently that Yale did, indeed, have an ag program of sorts - a food-and-agriculture concentration within their environmental-studies department.
I am not ashamed to say that, as a female at Penn, I fit quite neatly into several aspects of the "Penn girl" stereotype: I drink coffee from Bucks, eat salads from Gia, work out exclusively indoors and rely heavily on these luxuries to make it neatly and efficiently through the rush of my daily life.
In with the new, out with the old? Well, maybe.
Last Tuesday, Philadelphia voters approved two misguided amendments to the City Charter that would create public-advocate positions: one for handicapped and disabled people and one for the families of public-school children.
The guys here at Penn are excellent cry babies, ready to pout at any given moment. "The dining hall food stinks; I didn't get an A," they cry. "The elevators are slow; I miss my maid; the great unwashed frighten me; boo-hoo."
But there's one particular complaint I hear over and over again: The girls here are revolting.
All whites are racist. At least that's the message that a recently discontinued University of Delaware residential-hall program had disseminated to over 7,000 of its students.
As part of a "diversity training" program that students participated in during orientation, freshmen attended training sessions, floor meetings and one-on-one meetings with their Resident Assistants.
Last Monday, the DP hosted its final Open Forum of the semester. A number of you mentioned that you followed our extensive coverage of the University's announcement of its $3.5 billion capital campaign, as well as its plans for eastward expansion.
After Thanksgiving break, we'll begin coverage of the trial of Rafael Robb.
'Everyone's a little bit racist," according to a song from the Broadway musical Avenue Q. The recently terminated Whole New World diversity training program at the University of Delaware told 7,000 dorm residents otherwise.
The program came under scrutiny after students complained that they were pressured into accepting politically slanted views on sensitive topics including race.
Together, we can make a difference
To the Editor:
Is it possible for Penn to be red, blue and . green? It certainly is, and contrary to the argument of Jenny Zhan's column ("To hell with saving the world; it's a waste of time," 11/02/07), our personal choices do in fact impact the state of our environment.
DuBois College House is the smallest and arguably the most racially and ethnically diverse of the 11 college houses at Penn.
Less than 200 students live in "The House," as it is affectionately referred to by current occupants and alumni whose experiences at Penn were shaped by living and learning at DuBois.