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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

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Nursing master’s student dies Stephanie Marchesani died in New Jersey on Sunday CHERRY ZHI Deputy News Editor

Stephanie Marchesani, a parttime School of Nursing graduate student, “died suddenly in New Jersey” on Sunday, according to

an email statement sent out to the Nursing graduate community from the Vice Provost of University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum and School of Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel. Marchesani was 30 years old and had been working since 2008 as a full-time registered nurse at the Hospital of the University of

Pennsylvania. She was also a part-time master’s student in the School of Nursing, enrolled in the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Marchesani earned her undergraduate degree in Nursing from Temple University, the email said. No cause of death was included

in the statement and the University has not yet received information from the family about memorial services, according to the email. In the meantime, a support session for classmates in her cohort will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 13, in the School of Nursing at 12 p.m. in Room 118.

TRUMPETING THEIR CAUSE

On a largely liberal campus, some students still support the GOP nominee LEONARD EISEN Staff Reporter

With the presidential election less than two months away, the eyes of the world are on the Republican nominee and Wharton alumnus, Donald Trump. Widely criticized for the controversial statements he has made throughout his campaign, Trump has been divisive even among conservative voters. Nevertheless, even on Penn’s left-leaning campus, the Donald finds a base of support. “I have faith in him — almost like a blind faith,” said Vincent Palladino, a senior in the College who has supported Trump since the first months of his campaign. Palladino keeps a life-size cardboard cutout of the candidate in his room, and has no reservation in sharing his support for the person he believes will make America great again. “I think he’s a smart man ... [with] a lot of experience,” said Palladino. “He’s a good problem solver, regardless of what the problem is.” One of Trump’s solutions that resonates strongly with Palladino is the proposed border wall with Mexico. “I look at our public school system ... [Illegal immigrants] are given seats in our classrooms... putting more strain on teachers, increasing class sizes. These are all bad things that probably end up harming underprivileged students in our country.” Palladino may be something of an outlier in the conservative community at Penn, as it seems other intended Trump voters on campus are markedly less enthusiastic about their support for the Republican nominee. “There are definitely a lot of things I do not agree with [Trump] about,” said current LPS student Alex Schimert. “One, the way he delivers his message.” Schimert, who identifies politically as socially liberal and fiscally SEE TRUMP PAGE 5

Masala apologizes for app question

The first step to solving a problem is recognizing we have one. Fraternities are an unsafe place regarding sexual assault.

The group apologized directly to community

- David Moore PAGE 4

REMI LEDERMAN Senior Reporter

WEATHER FORECAST SEPT. 13-14 TUES Sunny High: 84º

WED Mostly Sunny High: 90º

COURTESY OF PENN MASALA

After coming under fire for their audition question regarding ranking women on appearance, Penn Masala issues a formal apology.

Since the audition form for South Asian a cappella group Penn Masala was publicized last week for including a question asking applicants to name the five hottest girls at Penn, the group has apologized for their actions and is working to combat sexist culture on campus. “We sincerely apologize for this question. It shouldn’t have ever been on the sheet in the first place,” Wharton senior and Masala president Hari Ravi said. “We fully understand how asking a question to

freshmen like this impresses upon them, as they come in [to Penn], a culture of objectifying women and perpetuating misogyny.” Since the club reprints the same form each year, members did not know how long the question had been present, but applicants to the group as far back as 2013 remember the question. After the first day of auditions this year, the group removed the question. “Last Sunday we printed out the form like we do every year and we realized this question is off ... it objectifies women and it isn’t something we should have on our form,” Ravi said. “It reflects nothing about SEE MASALA PAGE 5

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Penn prof. attacks Clinton college tuition plan Design prof. claims plan will hurt private universities CHASEN SHAO Staff Reporter

A School of Design professor criticized Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s plan for free public college. Penn City and Regional Planning professor William Grigsby sees holes in Clinton’s plan. In an editorial in The Wall Street Journal, Grigsby writes that Clinton’s plan has “at least five serious deficiencies that make it infeasible.” In July, Clinton announced her plan for free public college education for families earning less than $125,000 annually. The plan will initially provide free college to students who come from families earning less than $85,000 per year. Clinton aims to raise the threshold to families earning less than $125,000 by 2021. According to a Current Population Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, 75 percent of families make less than $85,000, and only 10

percent make more than $135,000 annually. Out of the 6,837,605 students currently enrolled in four-year public universities, more than 6 million students would be eligible for free tuition based on Clinton’s plan, according to numbers available on StatisticsBrain.com. And based on a poll by USA Today, 77 percent of college-aged students (people aged 18 to 29) support free college. The plan comes in the wake of sharply increasing college rates. According to NPR, tuition has gone up by 40 percent in the past decade, and have very little prospect of slowing down. Many don’t see as many merits to Clinton’s plan, saying it is a political move aimed at winning over supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Grisgby believes the plan would be increasingly hard for states to comply with — and they would “have to make a policy U-turn” to do so. The difficulty for most colleges to follow this proposed plan is rooted in their diverse costs of education,

ILANA WURMAN | DESIGN EDITOR

Some dismiss Hillary Clinton’s plan as a political move to attract disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters who are reluctant to support the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election.

even within the same institutions, NPR reported. Grigsby also complained in the article that the proposed plan would exclude private universities, and therefore would “seriously weaken the financial and academic

strength [of these universities].” In-state students who attend public universities pay on average $9,410 per year, while out-of-state students who attend public universities pay $23,890 per year. But Penn students supporting

Clinton disagree with Grigsby’s criticism. “It is extremely practical,” said Engineering sophomore Michael Ramdatt, executive director of political affairs for Penn for Hillary. Ramdatt believes that even

though college costs are bound to increase, Clinton’s proposed plan provides a good way to properly finance education. In addition to providing a solution to the problem of student debt, Clinton’s proposed plan also aims to alleviate already existing student debt, even allowing for debt forgiveness. Current law makes it impossible for students to declare bankruptcy. “It is very difficult to eliminate student debt in bankruptcy,” said David Skeel, a Penn Law professor who specializes in the topic. Skeel explained that the only time that it may be possible to forgive student debt is when the student shows proof of “undue hardship” that would make the payment of the debt impossible. Despite his criticism of Clinton’s proposed plan, Grigsby does not maintain a completely negative outlook on the future of the plan. “A much more broadly framed debate will be needed to address the rising costs of post-high-school education that so many families face,” he wrote.

Annenberg study reveals power of ‘slacktivism’

Wharton McNulty leadership program launches

“Slacktivism” is social media activism

Program was renamed after $10M donation

ALLY JOHNSON Staff Reporter

Feel free to tint your profile picture, share that controversial Facebook post or retweet a political message — “slacktivism” matters, according to a recent study published by Annenberg professor Sandra González-Bailón. González-Bailón’s study found that the combined contribution of peripheral users — individuals on the fringe of a given event — to the spread of protest messages is comparable to that of highly committed participants. The peripheral users, called slacktivists, doubled the reach of these core protestors. The study analyzed Twitter activity about the protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park in 2013, the Spanish Indignados movement in 2012 and the American Occupy movement in 2012. The researchers examined tens of millions of tweets. They

also studied millions of tweets from non-protest events, such as the 2014 Academy Awards, to examine the differences between protest and non-protest networks. In protest networks, the researchers identified two groups of activists. The core participants — those actually protesting at Taksim Gezi Park, for example — were identified using geographical data embedded in tweets. This minority of social media users is the most committed and active in each movement. However, other users are still critical. Peripheral users are not at the site of protests but might retweet one or two tweets posted by a core participant. These slacktivists might not put in as much effort, but they are so much more numerous that as a whole, they have a similar impact to that of the core group. Peripheral users broaden the reach of the movement they support by exposing their followers to the messages of the most committed participants. Without the periphery users, these passionate

CARSON KAHOE | PHOTO EDITOR

A study conducted by Annenberg professor Sandra González-Bailón. revealed that “slacktivism” might be critical in spreading messages.

protestors would have a more limited audience. The study mentioned the importance of social media activity surrounding protests that do not receive significant mass media coverage. The increased availability of information about protests and opposition groups can potentially lead to broader anti-regime action, as it did during the Arab Spring, the authors said. Penn students may not be involved in many protests advocating regime change, but they do use social media to share political posts. College sophomore Elena Prieto shares information about both Israeli and American politics. “I have a pretty diverse newsfeed because I have friends from various places, like my Catholic high school and then my friends from when I lived in Israel,” she said. “So when I share things, I hope they’re interested by it and see things they wouldn’t otherwise see.” Nursing freshman Meghan Doody shares posts on Facebook in part because she has different political views than most of her friends from home, who make up the majority of her Facebook friends. “My town was kind of conservative, but I’m very liberal. So I was hoping that people would maybe take some time out of their day to read articles or anything that I was posting,” she said. Doody also reads the articles her more conservative friends post in an effort to stay well-informed. “I don’t really know if I’m changing anything, but it’s more just to get information out there,” she said.

JINAH KIM Staff Reporter

The Wharton School kicked off the newly renamed Anne and John McNulty Leadership Program with a panel this Monday featuring former CNN CEO and renowned author Walter Isaacson. Formerly named the Wharton Leadership Program, the McNulty Leadership Program was renamed following a $10 million commitment from 1979 Wharton MBA alumna Anne McNulty. McNulty is a member of the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School, and was a past member of the Undergraduate Executive Board; her late husband John, who also earned his MBA from Wharton in 1979, served on Wharton’s Graduate Executive Board prior to his death in 2005. The program currently oversees Management 100, mandatory for all Wharton students, and administrates the Communications Advisory Board and Wharton Leadership Ventures, which undergraduates can apply to join. Wharton MBA students are able to participate in a greater variety of ventures, including trips hiking in the Andes, trekking in Antarctica and participating in a United States Marine Corps simulation in Quantico — along with more standard leadership workshops on mindfulness or authenticity. According to remarks by Penn President Amy Gutmann, the grant will help Wharton take existing MBA initiatives and adapt them for other programs, such as opportunities for undergraduate students. In his opening remarks, the McNulty Leadership Program’s

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VISIONARS

MELISSA TUSTIN-GORE | ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

1979 Wharton MBA alumna Anne McNulty donated to and renamed what was formerly the Wharton Leadership Program.

Executive Director Jeff Klein said that the program aims to teach leadership through using “higher education as a transformative experience,” a sentiment that Gutmann repeated in her own speech. “Leadership needs to be taught and learned,” she said. “It needs to be honed and constantly improved.” But the main speaker of the afternoon was Isaacson, who has written popular biographies about Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin. In both his speech and during a panel discussion with Wharton Dean Geoff Garrett and Management professor Mike Useem, Isaacson emphasized the role of team dynamics in leadership and innovation. Isaacson opened his remarks with a discussion of Benjamin Franklin and the history of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania itself, including the development of the computer ENIAC in 1946. “There are very [few] people [who] know who invented the computer or the Internet — with all respect to Al Gore,” Isaacson said. “And that’s because no one person invented it ... the important thing if you’re building a computer isn’t to be the person who gets the engineering exactly right, it’s to be the person who gets the team exactly right.” “I was really excited about

hearing from Walter Isaacson because he’s one of the most accomplished biographers of our time,” Wharton freshman Andrew Ciatto said. Ciatto and a group of his friends attended the launch to hear Isaacson speak, and were satisfied with the experience. “He’s a very captivating speaker — I found myself very focused on what he had to say,” Ciatto said. During their panel discussion, Garrett, Useem and Isaacson discussed issues of leadership in the digital age and took questions from the audience. Their discussion soon turned into one about diversity and exclusivity — a relevant topic, considering both Penn and Wharton receive criticism for being perceived as elitist. “I think we tend to assume there’s some kind of leader versus geek mentality, but it seems to me that if you want to be a leader, you have to at least understand what the geeks are thinking,” Garrett said. Isaacson also emphasized the value of diversity in teams, telling the audience about a speaker at his own graduation who gave a speech about “what we forgot to tell you.” “[The speaker said,] It’s not about exclusivity, it’s about inclusivity,” Isaacson said. “What you are going to care about is how many people you’ve brought in.”

Center for the Study of Contemporary China

TheofPresence the Past in a China The Presence the Past inof a Fast-Changing

Fast-Changing The Presence of the PastChina in a Fast-Changing The Presence of the Past in a Fast-Changing China

with Jeff Wasserstrom Chancellor’s Professor of History, UC Irvine Jeff Wasserstrom Chancellor's Professor of History, UC Irvine

JeffSeptember Wasserstrom Tuesday, 13, 2016 at12PM 12PM CSCC Conference Room, Fisher-Bennett 345 CSCC Conference Room, Chancellor's Professor of History, UC Irvine This talk will draw on material from the author's new edited volume, The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China, just345 published this summer, to explore the various ways that events Fisher-Bennett and stories about the past figure in current Chinese politics. How do real and imagined historical Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Visit us now at visionars.com

Tuesday,struggles September 2016 between China 13, and other countries drive contemporary nationalism? What is familiar and novel about how Xi Jinping, as opposed to previous Chinese authoritarian figures, Communist and non-Communist alike, has invoked the past to justify his actions? These are the 12PM Lunch provided. Open to byall! kinds of questions that will be addressed the presenter, a specialist in history who regularly writes about currentFisher-Bennett affairs for newspapers, magazines, and online journals of opinion and the CSCC Conference Room, 345 author of five books, the most recent of which is Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect

Jeff Wasserstrom This talk will draw on material from the author's new edited volume, Oxford IllustratedUC Irvi Chancellor's Professor ofTheHistory, History of Modern China, just published this summer, to explore the various ways that events Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo (Penguin, 2016). Lunch provided. Open to all.

Co-sponsored by Foreign Policy Research Institute

and stories about the past figure in current Chinese politics. How do real and imagined historical

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NEWS 3

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

LGBTQ athlete group aims to rejuvenate membership PATH has struggled to retain members LAUREN SORANTINO Staff Reporter

In 2003, Penn Athletes and Allies Tackling Homophobia was established as the first LGBTQ student-athlete organization in the country. Now, 13 years later, PATH is trying to expand by engaging freshmen, to cultivate a more accepting sporting community on Penn’s campus. For several semesters, PATH has struggled to retain its members. Their core organizing team has predominantly been staffed by upperclassmen who can only stay with the club for a semester or two. Freshmen athletes have been supportive of PATH events but stop short from taking on active roles in fear of being treated differently on their new sporting teams. Earlier this year, over 70 people attended Pride Games, an annual celebration of LGBTQ athletes organized by PATH. In contrast, only six students were part of the executive board that worked to organize this event. Of these six students, four graduated in the spring, leaving College

juniors Sean Collins and Kendall Covington as the only returning members of PATH. Because the club has primarily focused on advocacy in previous years, it has been difficult to attract students who are interested or able in taking on a high-commitment position in the organizing team. This is exacerbated by the busy schedules of student-athletes who often spend up to three hours a day in practice. “It’s tough,” said Collins, who served as chair for PATH last semester. “But I know that having groups like PATH exist at the University level makes a difference to the thousands of high school kids nationwide who are struggling to come out.” Collins himself learned about PATH when he was still in high school, unsure of how to navigate the responsibilities of being a gay athlete as well as the captain of his school’s cross country team. Coming into Penn, he knew that he wanted to dedicate his time here to PATH. “Even if I have to spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week [on PATH] just to help one person deal with coming out... that’s a

difference, and I know it.” To that end, Collins, who is currently the team manager of the track and field team, and Covington, who is on the women’s volleyball team, have three main plans for PATH this fall semester. First, they hope to expand the club by reaching out not just to LGBTQ athletes, but also to LGBTQ sports fans and athletes identifying as straight allies. “Athletics would not be what it is if not for the people watching,” said Collins. The club plans to host a series of Pride Nights, inviting fans to meet before a sporting event and proceed together onto the event as a pro-LGBTQ cheering crew. In creating a visible queer presence at sporting events, PATH hopes to cultivate greater acceptance not just on the field, but in the stands. Second, Collins and Covington hope for PATH to invest more towards community building instead of focusing solely on advocacy. By hosting more social events, they hope to attract more students to engage with PATH and its cause in a more informal way, thereby expanding the club’s engagement with the student body.

LIZZY MACHIELSE | ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Penn Athletes and Allies Tackling Homophobia was established in 2003 as the first LGBTQ studentathlete organization in the country, but now faces issues with retaining members.

Finally, PATH hopes to shift the focus of advocacy efforts away from external institutions such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association and towards Penn’s own campus. In particular, they hope to look into what can be done to make the varsity and club

teams on campus more accepting. Citing role models like football defensive Michael Sam, who became the first openly gay player to be drafted into the National Football League in 2014, Collins said that major strides have been made for LGTBQ

athletes in recent years. However, that is not to say that there is not still an urgent need for PATH to exist. “Nationally, and at Penn,” said Collins, “there continues to be a problem of internalized homophobia in structured sports.”

Penn DCC chooses Sex/Gender/Race as 2016 theme year 2016 election cited as main influence for the choice LAUREN SORANTINO Staff Reporter

The Penn Program on Democracy, Citizensh ip a nd Constitutionalism has announced its 2016-17 theme year, “Citizenship on the Edge: Sex/ Gender/Race.” In partnership with the Alice Paul Center for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality, the DCC — which provides grants and fellowships in this area of research — will examine the struggle of those who have a precarious hold on citizenship due to their gender, sexual and racial positioning. The DCC executive committee has been interested in the issues of gender and citizenship for some time, they said. According to Rogers Smith, chair of the Executive Committee of the DCC Program, the DCC recognized that “questions about women and civic equality remain very real ones.” The terms “sex” and “race” were included along with “gender” in the title of the theme year since the DCC found that the intersectional disadvantages of being a

minority — whether it be in race or in sexual orientation — add further complexities to the question of gender and citizenship. According to Smith, “forms of marginalization of women are often bound up with issues of sexuality and race.” Smith also explained that, when choosing a theme the DCC considered the possibility of the United States electing its first female president this year when choosing a DCC theme year. Though the 2016 U.S. presidential election was taken into consideration in selecting the theme, the issues investigated are undoubtedly global. The theme year will feature speakers from both inside and outside the United States, covering a wide range of topics in a number of parts of the world. The interaction of Islam with questions about women and civic equality will also be explored in the events of this theme year. One of the projects of Shenila Khoja-Moolji, a DCC Postdoctoral Fellow, examines the relationship between the racialization of Muslim men in Anglophone media culture and the suspension of their civic rights, as illustrated by the

Student hit by car on 38th and Walnut Witnesses nearby say that the car ran a red light CARSON KAHOE Photo Manager

A student was struck by a vehicle while crossing 38th Street at the Walnut Street intersection on Monday night. Witnesses said the student was walking westbound on Walnut Street when he was struck by a red sedan that had run a red light. The vehicle remained on scene until the student was transported to the emergency room at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The Division of Public Safety was not immediately available for comment. One witness, who gave her name as Marie and said she worked at Modern Eye on the 3400 block of Walnut Sreet, said the victim flew “up into the air [and] landed on his head.” The victim sustained a cut to his head and some abrasions, but remained conscious, said bystander Kate Kuhns, a nurse practitioner at Penn Presbyterian who helped the victim initially. After a few moments, he was able to tell Kuhns and other witnesses his name and address. Several bystanders who witnessed the accident rushed to the victim, supporting him and diverting traffic away from him until police and first responders arrived.

“I saw him get hit and he was trying to get up, and that’s the worst thing to do,” Kuhns said. “You have to keep him down and keep him still and steady and stabilize the neck.” She added, “The traffic just went around us … I wasn’t even paying attention to the traffic.” Kuhns talked to the victim and braced his head and neck until EMT arrived and removed him from the scene. College junior Alyssa Zlatkin, a certified EMT and member of the Medical Emergency Response Team, saw the accident from the opposite side of 38th Street. “I heard a huge bang and then I heard people screaming,” she said. “We were talking to [the victim]. His phone was totally smashed, so I put it in his backpack [and] put his wallet in his backpack,” while another witness called his parents. Drexel sophomore Guna Yerrabolu, another witness and a certified EMT, helped form a circle of people around the victim to divert traffic. “Everyone realized something happened,” he said, in reference to passing traffic. “It was in the middle of the intersection, so people would stop for a second… cars over here were completely stopped.” The victim was conscious and responsive when Penn Police, Philadelphia Police and an ambulance arrived, witnesses said.

over-policing of brown and black men. Broadly, Khoja-Moolji said her projects through the DCC seek “to understand how apparently inclusive discourses such as human rights and global citizenship often also reproduce marginalizations and exclusions.” The theme year will include a series of events and workshops open to the public, including a visit from a high-profile speaker nearly every month. The first event is a panel on the U.S. election titled “Politics on the Edge: Sex/Gender/Race in the 2016 U.S. Elections.” This panel will be held on Sept. 22 at 6:00 p.m. in Houston Hall’s Bodek Lounge and will feature four high-profile speakers. Among these speakers are three academics — Jane Mansbridge, Dianne Pinderhughes and Gary Segura — and

one journalist, Katha Pollitt. Professor Nancy Hirschmann, chair of the Alice Paul Center and the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Program and director of the planning committee, commented on the relevance of the DCC theme year to the 2016 presidential election: “Race, gender, and sex have, for obvious reasons, become very important to this election.” Professor Hirschmann also noted that “this election has a very different dynamic” and that the panel on Sept. 22 will bring together perspectives from different disciplines in order to have a rich discussion of these topics. Presentations on gender and prison, labor markets, gender/sexuality and disability and other related topics will follow the DCC’s initial panel on the presidential election.

COURTESY OF PENN DCC

The Penn Program for Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism will explore the intersection of sex, gender, race and citizenship this year.

OPINION We’re here to listen GUEST COLUMN BY DAVID MOORE

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 VOL. CXXXII, NO. 67 132nd Year of Publication COLIN HENDERSON President LAUREN FEINER Editor-in-Chief ANDREW FISCHER Director of Online Projects BRIELLA MEGLIO Director of Internal Consulting ISABEL KIM Opinion Editor JESSICA MCDOWELL Enterprise Editor DAN SPINELLI City News Editor CAROLINE SIMON Campus News Editor ELLIE SCHROEDER Assignments Editor LUCIEN WANG Copy Editor SUNNY CHEN Copy Editor NICK BUCHTA Senior Sports Editor

I live on Locust Walk. Three minutes to class, three minutes to Lyn’s, three minutes to Pottruck — the location alone is fantastic. On top of that, I have the privilege to live with 20 friends, all under one roof, as we make our way through the undergraduate experience together. The house is much more than a residence. It’s a community. And there are nine others just like it on Locust Walk, with 17 more still in the Penn bubble, full of a diverse group of students all but indistinguishable in a crowd of our school’s students. When that flyer showed up on our front door, after I took a closer look at it and read the email, I cringed. First and foremost, let’s talk about the composition: If you’re going to be sloppy and misogynistic, please use proper poetic meter. The flyer did much more than chastise OZ and their attitude toward women. It started a campus-wide dialogue on Penn’s sexual assault problem. Rape culture has been

brought to the forefront of conversation, and it’s making people want change. Greek students want change. I want change. When I came to Penn as a freshman three years ago, I knew I wanted to join a fraternity. It existed as an idea in my head – a group of upstanding, authentic gentlemen. I wanted to be part of an organization with campus leaders, academics and genuinely awesome people. And that’s what I saw: a house full of successful and interesting men. I thought joining a fraternity would be the best move I could make as a freshman, both personally and professionally, that it would shape my life for the better. However, after spending time in my organization, I saw the hidden problems plaguing not only the Greek system, but entire campuses nationwide. Cultural insensitivity, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault. I joined the college rendition of the Gilded Age. Many of the ideals I expected were still there, yet they cow-

ered in the shadow of the vices to which we succumbed. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing we have one. Fraternities are an unsafe place regarding sexual assault.

fraternity leaders from the Panhellenic Council, Intercultural Greek Council and Interfraternity Council gathered to discuss major issues on campus and what we can do to prevent them. These leaders

The first step to solving a problem is recognizing we have one. Fraternities are an unsafe place regarding sexual assault.” If we stayed true to our ideals, the pillars of excellence every one of our creeds espouses, fraternities would be the safest places on campus for anyone. No exception. That type of idealistic excellence is something we should all strive for as Greek students. As you cynics roll your eyes, let me tell you what we’re doing to improve. This past weekend, sorority and

embodied our recent message in The Daily Pennsylvanian: We will not remain complacent. The Greek community stands together to combat the culture of passivity and normalization of sexual assault. An example of this is mixer themes. We have implemented a strategy to prevent offensive parties from our campus through continued communication among our Greek leaders. It is our sincere hope

and expectation that offensive parties will be a thing of the past. Our new member education programs aren’t cutting it. We currently require 80 percent of new members to attend presentations given by Men Against Rape & Sexual Assault (MARS) and Student Health Services, as well as a Cultural & Sexuality Sensitivity workshop. Now, the IFC Executive Board has reached out to the experts — ASAP, PAGE, MARS, PAVE, Penn Women’s Center and PVP — to help us improve our organizations and solve this problem. First, we want to listen, to know what these groups have seen regarding these issues. Second, we want to learn from them what the IFC can do to be proactive in the fight against this destructive culture. The unfortunate reality of the situation is that no one holds off-campus groups accountable for their actions. There is no way to reprimand them officially because they’re unofficial. I’m calling

on all students who want to show these groups that this is not OK. I’m calling on everyone who won’t allow this inequality to continue. I’m calling on those that will not remain complicit in rape culture. I ask you to understand that on-campus organizations, like those under the purveyance of the IFC and responsible for their words and actions, are genuinely working towards improvement. We are striving to be a great society, a community that cares for all by supporting its members and those around it. Rather than expunging members for making mistakes, we hope to build them up to a level worthy of being called a Greek organization. And hopefully we can have a little fun along the way. DAVID MOORE is a Wharton senior studying finance. He is the President of the Interfraternity Council as well as his own fraternity chapter. His email is mooreda@wharton. upenn.edu.

TOM NOWLAN Sports Editor WILL SNOW Sports Editor

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TOMMY ROTHMAN Sports Editor JOYCE VARMA Creative Director ALEX GRAVES Design Editor ILANA WURMAN Design Editor KATE JEON Online Graphics Editor ANANYA CHANDRA Photo Editor CARSON KAHOE Photo Editor SUSANNA JARAMILLO Video Producer MATTHEW MIZBANI Video Producer CARTER COUDRIET Digital Director KRISTEN GRABARZ Analytics Editor

EMMA HARVEY Business Manager SAUMYA KHAITAN Advertising Manager MEGHA AGARWAL Business Analytics Manager MARK PARASKEVAS Circulation Manager

SHUN SAKAI is a College senior from Chestnut Hill, Mass. His email is ssakai@ sas.upenn.edu.

THIS ISSUE JEN KOPP Copy Associate JULIA FINE Copy Associate

Owning labels

HARRY TRUSTMAN Copy Associate HARLEY GEFFNER Copy Associate

REID ABOUT IT! | An American identity crisis

MATT FINE Sports Associate JACOB SNYDER Sports Associate PAOLA RUANO Design Associate AUGUST PAPAS Design Associate JASHLEY BIDO Photo Associate AVALON MORELL Photo Associate CHERRY ZHI Deputy News Editor

LETTERS Have your own opinion? Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com. Unsigned editorials appearing on this page represent the opinion of The Daily Pennsylvanian as determined by the majority of the Editorial Board. All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinion of their authors and are not necessarily representative of the DP’s position.

I’ve never doubted who I was. Asian, White, Mixed, Girl, Young — any of these could apply, but none of these mattered. So, more precisely, I was never aware of what I was. Having attended an international school, my cultural and ethnic identities were of little concern, and could not define me. How can labels completely explain my me-ness, and the experience I took to get there? A Westernized, Asiatic, passportcarrying American with ethnically ambiguous facial features? No checkmark can bring together the entirety of that being. As such, I didn’t rely much on cultural identity as an introduction to who I was. I distinctly remember filling out the Common App and coming to terms with the checkboxes that defined my racial category. I was about to tick off “Asian” before my father stopped me and said that it was a bad idea considering the applicant pool for Asians is more competitive, and the odds would be stacked against me. I ticked it anyway, but the question

reappears so often that the decision gains more weight as time goes on. The United States is diverse, but complicated in its diversity. For instance, looking at the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000, there are five different checkboxes for the question: “Is this person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?” when the question is phrased in a yes/no form. There were different answers that distilled someone’s ethnicity and background into separate and distinct categories. One of the most beautiful, powerful resources in the United States is diversity: diversity of opinion, of culture and of experience. Ignore the hackneyed expressions that sometimes conveniently deny racial conflict; the concept of diversity is enough to sustain that part of Americanism that is rooted in values and not physical identity. “Being an American” isn’t tied to hereditary, ethnic or racial markers, rather it is supposed to be a culmination of “wanting to be here.” Diversity allows us to move beyond our differences to gain an extensive

knowledge of our collective humanity. But with diversity comes the unfortunate need to differentiate ourselves, whether it be for safety, comfort or the sheer need to be recognized as an individual.

diverse society that is deeply mired in complex racial and ethnic strife, to form group clusters that are defined by a common oppression is a safeguard, or physical marker, under a unifying label. On top of the other identi-

One of the most beautiful, powerful resources in the US is diversity; diversity of opinion, of culture and of experience …“ Coming to America was an experience that left me stranded. I found myself in a Walmart aisle of people I could be, people I am and people I’m definitely not. There was a collection of labels I could try on, but other labels like gender, race and ethnicity seemed to eclipse the rest of me. Knowing oneself is power, but hyper-awareness of oneself is not. We’d like to think we own the labels we’ve put on ourselves, but this is rarely the case. In a

ty-specific problems — like issues around ethnicity or gender — the frustration also lies in the almost totalizing weight of being aware, constantly, of your identity. Instead of letting the characterization of my own self unfurl and progress naturally, I’m somehow deeply aware of the labels that precede me. People remark on my ability to speak English fluently, as if that’s something strange, and I feel the need to gravitate toward the Asian interest groups to be legiti-

mate as a person. Self-labelling feeds into an identity crisis that already exists within many young, developing 20-year-olds’ lives. This identity crisis is induced when we are constantly aware of ourselves, and leads to an isolation from groups that don’t define themselves with our label. Alternatively, when we are with a group that does, not fitting in seems like a deeply self-rooted flaw. Labels are good for being aware of the societal burdens that a person outside yourself might experience. Acknowledging that someone is different than you can help develop your sensitivity toward others, and can prevent future awkwardness. Labelling yourself under a single label places a constraint on self-exploration. The modern American identity crisis is exaggerated by the need to self-identify correctly. For instance, instead of ticking the box that says “Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano,” it’d be easier to just say “I’m American,” or “I really like riding horses,” identifiers that aren’t

AMANDA REID tied down to racial labels. “American” is potentially too big of a label to put yourself under because it doesn’t describe the subtleties of one’s cultural heritage and experience, especially if one is a minority. However, the added labels that allow oneself to find solace in a communal experience is in fact a destabilization of the self as well. Only when the Penn community learns to let go of consciously identifying people by their labels can it find AMANDA REID is a College junior from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, studying cinema studies & English. Her email address is amreid@sas. upenn.edu. “Reid About It!” usually appears every other Tuesday.

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

TRUMP

>> PAGE 1

conservative, said that he did not initially support Trump, but has been won over by the political outsider. “He’s like the strong leader you can get behind.” For Schimert, the great injustice of this election is in the imbalance between coverage of Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “[People are] angry about what one person says,” argued Schimert, ”versus what the other

MASALA >> PAGE 1

why we take men into our group for that matter or what we look for at all. So we actually had a discussion on Sunday night right after auditions, and we decided to take the question off.” Masala has already addressed the issue within the South Asian community and is working on extending the discussion to the Penn community at large. They issued an apology through The Daily Pennsylvanian and are reaching out to the performing arts community as well. “It is really easy for someone to react and say we have to solve this issue ASAP and issue an apology for damage control, but we wanted to take some time to reflect and talk to effective parties and really understand why what we did was wrong and what people were hurt about and take that time to reflect and understand and learn before we issued an apology,” Ravi said. Last week, they created a GroupMe for the South Asian community to discuss the situation and to issue a formal apology. The first person to respond was Wharton senior Ashna Vijay Bhatia , who was on the South Asia Society board for three years and is the current organizer of the South Asia women’s base. Bhatia spoke on behalf of other South Asian women who did not feel comfortable voicing criticism. “This being wrong is not an

NEWS 5

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

candidate has done and is currently doing.” He also expressed disappointment in what he perceives as an unwelcoming political environment on this campus in regards to support for Trump. “It’s easy for [Trump supporters] to get bullied into just not talking about it,” said Schimert. “You’d think that something like free speech would be celebrated; apparently, it’s not.” He went on to say in more passionate terms that the situation is “utter bullshit.”

“Quote me on that, I want ‘utter bullshit’ in the article.” The notion that there is a stigma sur rounding openly supporting Trump seems to be a widely held belief among conservative students at Penn. In the fall of 2015, a shortlived Penn for Trump group gained little traction among the predominantly liberal student population. The group’s founder, current Wharton sophomore Patrick Lobo, said that he disbanded the group when Trump’s divisive statements

opinion. It is wrong,” Bhatia said. “[They need to] understand why it is wrong and be open about the fact that they did something wrong. This was a question someone made I don’t know how many years ago but no one questioned it. And that is the biggest problem.” Bhatia said that the question made her question members’ commitment to gender equality in general. “The reason why it hurt is because they very much present themselves as allies,” Bhatia said. “Most of them have been through APALI, which is the Asian Pacific American Leadership Initiative where we discuss things like race and gender. And then they post things for International Women’s Day ... That is why I was really disappointed [since] they vocally support women through their marketing efforts, but then this happens on an internal basis.” Bhatia was also critical of past alumni of the group, who reached out to apologize for the question. “[It’s awesome but] even then those previous presidents have been through the same type of training and have voiced out how dedicated they are to the mission of gender equity, and then to not see them make a change is like, ‘Did you really believe that in the first place?’” Bhatia and Ravi hope that this situation can create change in many groups across campus, not just Masala. Bhatia said, “I think misogyny,

racism, sexism is a part of every group, but I think what is important is that we all make initiatives to break away from that history. It is moments like this when I hope that all of these groups take this as a moment to reflect and [ask] ‘Do our traditions align with what we want to be seen as on campus? Do they align with what we believe in?’ And I really hope this pushes them to do that.” Masala is working with the Penn Women’s Center, The PanAsian American Community House and the Performing Arts Council to guide their approach to the situation and to help spread awareness about sexism on campus. In addition, the South Asian Society will host a forum on Friday at 5:30 p.m. to discuss sexist culture on Penn’s campus and specifically in the South Asian community. “It can get kind of uncomfortable to even admit [it] but we ask people to lean into that discomfort and use it as a means to spark change within communities. Use this as an educational point and as a wake up call. We need to make sure we are making Penn as welcoming and as comfortable a place as we’d all like it to be,” Ravi said. “I think they have handled it better than I thought they would and I think that they are really taking this as an opportunity to grow,” Bhatia said. “They are really starting to have those conversations and I am intrigued to see how this will bring about change.”

Football Preview

became too much for him to maintain his support. “The comments about banning any Muslims from entering the country ... was more or less the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Lobo, who now supports Gary Johnson’s bid for the White House. “That was the point I said to myself: ‘Is this really something I want to align myself with anymore?’” College sophomore Christian Petrillo shares Lobo’s belief in Johnson’s libertarian ideology but feels that too much may be

turned out to be the most consistently shared belief among these four students. “I look at Hillary Clinton, and I perceive her as being dishonest,” Palladino said. “That’s someone who’s a career politician and their livelihood depends on them being in politics and having power.” Despite Clinton’s lead in the polls, Palladino remains confident in his candidate. “I would be slightly surprised if Trump didn’t win,” Palladino said, “but obviously it’s too close to call.”

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Hoping to work in journalism or publishing after college? A knowledgeable panel of four Penn alumni — who have held every job in the business — will discuss the early trials, tribulations, and eventual bliss of working in the media. Come get the scoop, as these professionals will ﬁeld your questions and advise aspiring writers and editors on the ever-changing landscape of new media.

JESSICA GOODMAN C’12 is a Digital News Editor at Entertainment Weekly, where she runs the music and books sections of EW.com. She has been an editor at The Huffington Post and has written for the Village Voice, Mashable, and NYMag.com. JESSICA SIDMAN C’08 is Food Editor at Washingtonian Magazine. She was formerly Food Editor at Washington City Paper and a reporter at Bisnow Media. MARIA POPOVA C’07 writes the“Brain Pickings” blog, which got her named among the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company Magazine in 2012. She has also written for The Atlantic, The New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine. DAVID BORGENICHT C’90 is the CEO and owner of Quirk Books, and co-author of the best-selling “Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.” Quirk publishes 25 books a year, including international best-seller “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.” STEPHEN FRIED ’79 (moderator) is an award-winning author and journalist who teaches non-fiction writing at Penn and Columbia. He is the author of 6 books and a former contributing editor at Vanity Fair, GQ, Glamour and Philadelphia Magazine.

Monday, September 19 • 5:00 pm Kelly Writers House Arts Café • 3805 Locust Walk No registration required; this event is free & open to the public

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at stake in this election to vote for his third party favorite. “If the election were held today, I’d probably vote for Trump,” said Petrillo, “[but] I don’t know if, when I go into that ballot box, I’m going to choose him or Gary Johnson.” For Petrillo, the decision is likely to to come down to what he considers the lesser of two evils. “My main goal in November,” he said, “is to make sure that Hillary Clinton never becomes president.” That distrust for Clinton

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6 SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

McCURDY

football. Then, while he was in the process of pledging Phi Delta Theta, he learned a fellow pledge was in Penny Loafers, as was another brother. So McCurdy decided to give it a shot his sophomore year. He made it in and soon after became president. McCurdy also quickly found that the two roles could actually complement each other. â€œAs busy as I am in season, everyone is just as busy with other clubs and other situations,â€? he explained. â€œWhenever we have a long three-hour rehearsal on Sundays or wherever we may be, and no one wants to be there, and youâ€™re looking for energy, you need to be there and be ready to command that. I think being a quarterback in general has helped me be more comfortable in that role.â€? In many ways, sprint football has been an unexpected blessing for McCurdy. Despite initially hoping to make what was then Al Bagnoliâ€™s squad, he has been

>> PAGE 8

Yet somehow, that isnâ€™t enough. â€œEveryone on the team took [the loss to Army in 2015] hard, as they should,â€? McCurdy said. â€œWe were close, but, for me, you have to look at it positively and know that we were that close. I believe weâ€™re a better team this year. And if we can compete the way we did, I think the ceiling for this team is even higher.â€? When he came to Penn, he wanted to find a way to keep playing football. He had been in contact with the varsity football coaches as a potential recruit, but things didnâ€™t pan out. He thought about walking on, but there were too many other quarterbacks ahead of him. While McCurdy came in as an athlete, he certainly wasnâ€™t a polished performer. After a year of organized singing in high school, he quickly abandoned his passion in favor of baseball and

embraced with open arms by Penn coach Bill Wagner. Sprint football allows for a special kind of balance not necessarily available with other varsity sports. â€œTheyâ€™re multitask kids, they do so many different things,â€? Wagner said. â€œTheyâ€™re running the show right now â€” there arenâ€™t even any coaches out there. Theyâ€™re smart, they know the gameplan, they know what we want to see get done and theyâ€™ll do it. And Mike has been that leader on our offense.â€? Now, in his final season, McCurdy has the chance to bring home the one missing piece to his career: the CSFL title. Everyone else in the conference knows about the Quakersâ€™ best weapon and will have spent the preseason preparing to face him, but nonetheless McCurdy will be ready to go on Saturday once the season opener against Mansfield rolls around. Or at least, he will be once he gets back from rehearsal.

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Coming up in 2016

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NEWYORKTIMESCROSSWORDPUZZLE Edited by Will Shortz Crossword Note: The ninth annual Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament, directed by Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer, took place Saturday, Aug. 13, at All Souls Church in Manhattan. This puzzle appeared in a prior tournament and had a 15-minute time limit. ACROSS 1 Computers that are un-PC 5 With 9-Across, an auto ad slogan 9 With 5-Across, quickly 13 Workplace protection agcy. 14 â€œMy Heart Canâ€™t Take ___ Moreâ€? (1963 Supremes song) 15 Two cents, so to speak 17 â€œPay me laterâ€? marker 18 Sly look 19 Salon jobs, for short 20 Casino game that looks like a thou in reverse 21 Grouches 23 Lawyerâ€™s org. 24 With 26-Across, 1982 Al Pacino film

26 With 24-Across, 1962 P. G. Wodehouse book 28 Bonkers 30 Horsefeathers 32 Spanish treasure 33 Ottoman bigwigs 36 Colors, as Easter eggs 40 With 42-Across, Frank Sinatra signature song 42 With 40-Across, where Broadway is 44 Hamlet or Ophelia 45 Scanty, in London 47 Prefix with lateral 48 They turn litmus paper red 50 Monkâ€™s superior 52 With 55-Across, town crierâ€™s cry 55 With 52-Across, Aaron Copland ballet 58 Pipe fitting

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE M I A M U R B A G R A N D L A S A A C U T R E P E V I E A T R A S T O T I T D A Z E O R E M R O M P S T E T

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SPORTS 7

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Quakers look to build on stellar 2015 campaign

Team was one field goal away from title last year JACOB ADLER Senior Sports Reporter

Outside of those involved with Penn sprint football, not many expected the Quakers to be contenders in the 2015 CSFL title race. Yet, come late October, there they were. Although Penn ultimately fell short of a championship, a bevy of returning starters has the team clamoring for another shot for glory. The Quakers jumped out to a quick 2-0 start in 2015 with wins over Franklin Pierce and Post prior to their first military academy game at Navy. The Midshipmen delivered Penn its first loss of the season with a 29-14 result, although for most of the game the score was within one possession. Rebounding with a win at Cornell and against Mansfield, the Red and Blue entered Army week knowing they were in control of their own destiny. The opportunity was owed in part to Franklin Pierce, which

had defeated Navy in early October thanks to Ravens defenders picking off seven passes across two Midshipmen quarterbacks. If Penn would win out against Army, which would finish the year undefeated, and now-defunct Princeton, it would guarantee at least a share of the CSFL title. The Quakers and Black Knights played a close, contested game in which senior quarterback and CSFL co-MVP Mike McCurdy found Jack Epstein with just over four minutes remaining to tie the game at 10. After Penn missed a 49-yard field goal with four seconds on the clock, each team converted a field goal in overtime. However, Penn missed a 37-yard field goal in double overtime and Army countered by closing the game with a field goal. Sophomore running back Max Jones said the loss was tough in itself, but was even harder considering all of the team’s performance last season. “I didn’t have much success with my high school team, so coming in last year and basically almost winning the championship my first year, it was so close and it really does hurt,” Jones said.

DP FILE PHOTO

Linebacker Sam Smallzman (21) helped anchor Penn sprint football’s defense in 2015 as the Quakers came within a field goal of a CSFL title.

“It hurts more to lose than it feels good to win.” Penn would settle for second place alongside Navy, but the team still has its eyes set on the top of

the standings. Although the Red and Blue did not ultimately capture the title, coach Bill Wagner said the team proved itself to the conference as well as the program.

“What it does, they’re going into the game knowing they can win the game, not hoping to win the game,” Wagner said. “They’ve already competed at a high level.” Save a few impact defenders such as Stu Helgeson and Derek Shnider, much of the Penn defense remains intact from last season. Navy was the only opponent to break 20 points, as the defense was consistently stopping opponents and putting the offense in good spots. Senior defensive back Chris Colavita thought the defense made strides last season as players continued to get familiar with one another. With so much of the unit back, he expects an even better onfield product. “It’s the camaraderie we have,” Colavita said. “When we first started, we didn’t have that continuity as a defense. Over the past couple years, we see that everybody knows what they’re doing, everybody knows what everybody else is doing, and you can count on other people to make plays.” Something to watch will be how the offense functions without graduated wide receiver Henry Mason, who accounted for 627 of

DiGREGORIO

TULANE

was a startling reminder that my ability to play the game I love, the game that has taught me so much, is just a few phone calls away from being taken away from myself and my teammates. It gives new life to the phrase “play every play like it’s your last,” because not only can it all be gone in a second, but almost no one would notice.

must weigh under 172 pounds. While the rest of the rules of football still apply, the weight limit alters the way the game is played. Everyone is lighter and faster, which makes the game move at a much quicker pace. Despite this, Augustini is not concerned. “Football is football, so I’ve been training hard,” he said. “I’m still playing the same position, but I’m just ready to have a bigger role.” He has good reasons to not be concerned, too. At 5-foot-10, Augustini is well suited to transition

>> PAGE 8

34ST.COM

ZACK DiGREGORIO is a College junior from Princeton, N.J., and is a quarterback for Penn sprint football. He can be reached at dpsports@thedp.com.

DP FILE PHOTO

Following the conclusion of the 2015 season, Princeton ended its sprint football program after the team failed to win any games in over 15 years.

from regular to sprint, where defensive backs are not as big or strong. Augustini will step into an immediate role on the team this year. With star wideout Henry Mason having graduated last year, the team is in dire need of new targets for Mike McCurdy, the fourth-year starting quarterback. Augustini looks to be one of the players McCurdy and the coaching staff will turn to. “I think that he can fit in to a lot of places, certainly because he has a lot of speed, he’s a great receiver, he’s got quick feet, he’s very instinctive,” coach Bill Wagner said. “Hopefully he’s going to practice all week and

the team’s 1,574 receiving yards and nine of 15 receiving touchdowns. Wagner says there are a few receivers the league doesn’t know about. “They’ll know about them after Mansfield,” he said. The obvious guess as to who takes over as the top receiver will be junior Andrew Sutton, who in 2015 was the team’s second-leading receiver behind Mason with 389 yards. However, Jones isn’t sure the Red and Blue need to be too concerned with finding the next Henry Mason. “We’re not looking for that one person, we’re looking for the whole offense to work as one unit,” Jones said. “We have freshmen coming in [and] talented weapons.” It could also mean Wagner opts to lean more on the run. Jones averaged 18 rushes per game as a freshman and might see more volume if no one emerges as a dominant downfield threat in the passing game. The season opener is at Mansfield Saturday night. But lurking around the corner is Army, a game scheduled for Friday, Sept. 23 at Franklin Field. The Quakers have the date circled.

everybody will get a chance to see somebody who’s an unknown factor in the league. I think he’s going to be a very exciting player to watch.” D’Angelo, who has already seen what Augustini can do at the high school level, agrees. “I think he’ll be a top receiver, he has great hands, runs quick routes, maybe be a really good return man,” he said. “He made the walk on team at Tulane, he’s very talented.” When the Quakers line up to face Mansfield this Saturday, Chaz Augustini will be making his collegiate debut. It just won’t be with the team that he started with.

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HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES

Mike McCurdy balances sprint football, a cappella NICK BUCHTA Senior Sports Editor

“Mike isn’t even here tonight — he’s president of an a cappella group — he’s gotta audition people, he’s doing that and he can throw the ball 60 yards.” Sometimes your quarterback has to miss practice because of injury. Sometimes there’s a midterm or academic issue. And sometimes, he has a cappella practice. Penn sprint football sometimes has to deal with the absence of QB1, because senior Mike McCurdy is busy fulfilling his role as president of Penny Loafers.

What the end of Princeton sprint football means at Penn Reflections on the sport by a Penn player ZACK DiGREGORIO Junior, Penn sprint football

“Safety School! Safety School! Safety School!” The year is 2007. I am a brazen and beautifully snarky middle school student sitting with a group of 10 friends at Jadwin Gym for a PrincetonPenn men’s basketball game. We are positioned strategically behind the Penn Band so they can hear our chants but are just far enough away to be sure retaliation won’t be an option (a hilarious consideration now that I’ve seen the Penn Band up close). We had grown up in Princeton, going to Princeton games and being involved with the university in various capacities. I grew up in Princeton University housing. My father worked as a football coach for Princeton for 13 years. Some of the greatest relationships of my life — friends, role models, mentors — would have never happened if it weren’t for my

intimate relationship with Princeton University and the town of Princeton. Today, as I write this article as a junior at Penn, the irony of my relationship with Penn as a result of that is not lost on me. Now, on the other side of one of the oldest rivalries in college sports, I have experienced it as a participant and an observer. Princeton sprint football was infamous, nationally and within the sprint football community, for never winning. Before discontinuing their program, the Princeton sprint football team had not won a game since “Heartbreaker” by Mariah Carey topped the Billboard Top 100, the original Tony Hawk: Pro Skater was released for PlayStation and the world was busy preparing for Y2K — all things I had to Google because I was only four years old when it happened. That was in 1999. 106 games later, after blowouts, heartbreaks and everything in between, Princeton discontinued their sprint football team in August of this year. Following the cut of the

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program there were hot takes galore from around the sports and sprint football world: from “it’s about time” to “I can’t believe we lost a game on the schedule” to “ugh, now I can’t pad my stats at the end of the season.” But as a sprint football player, you can’t help but have a tremendous amount of respect for the players and the people that contributed to that program throughout the years. No one plays sprint for the glory, or for the fans, or for the girls. You play because you love football and you love your teammates. It is the game in its purest form: it is empty stadiums where you still get jitters. It is late night practices and early morning lifts where passersby say, “who are those guys?” Princeton sprint football, to go through all of that, with a 20-something man roster, towards near-certain defeat, is worthy of the respect of anyone that’s ever played a sport they loved. As a sprint football player myself, the discontinuation of the sprint program at Princeton SEE DiGREGORIO PAGE 7

Most people would be content with just half of McCurdy’s resume: president of a campus a cappella group on top of being a three-year captain and reigning co-MVP of the Collegiate Sprint Football League. “He’s just got every leadership quality you could ever ask for. ... It seems like he’s just somehow progressing even though he’s MVP of the league,” senior defensive back Chris Colavita said. Last year, he led the Quakers to within a field goal of their first CSFL title since 2010. He threw for 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns, scoring another seven times on the ground. He’s just a game or two away from becoming the program’s all-time leading passer. SEE McCURDY PAGE 6

Transfer student adjusts to new school and new sport Sophomore transfer set to make sprint debut JONATHAN POLLACK Associate Sports Editor

Chaz Augustini is still playing varsity football at a Division I school. But this year, it’s a bit different. Augustini, a wide receiver, will have an entirely new setting when he lines up for the Quakers this Saturday. The sophomore from Medfield, Mass., is the newest member of Penn’s sprint football program after he transferred from Tulane, where he was a member of the more traditional football team. For Augustini, transferring was not just about football. In fact, it mostly wasn’t. “It’s Penn,” Augustini said. “I figured that it’s a good academic opportunity, and football helped me get in. So I figured if I could do it I might as well.” Penn wasn’t just a random choice for Augustini, however. The D’Angelo brothers, Arthur and William, are both members of the team and are also from the same hometown as Augustini. They helped facilitate Augustini’s

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Sophomore wide receiver Chaz Augustini played Division I football at Tulane, but hopes to have a leading role for Penn sprint football.

transfer. “I always told him that he’d be a good fit for sprint football,” Arthur, the elder D’Angelo, said. “He’s a real good receiver, and he wants to go to a high academic school, and I talked to him about getting in contact with Coach

Wagner, kind of started the process.” The main difference between sprint football and regular football is the weight limit. All sprint players, regardless of their position, SEE TULANE PAGE 7