THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2018 VOL. CXXXIV NO. 47
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
FOUNDED 1885
SFS appoints counselors for highly-aided students There are also specialized counselors for grad students GIANNA FERRARIN Staff Reporter
Hundreds of Penn students were notified at the beginning of the academic year that they would receive a new financial aid counselor. Now, highly-aided undergraduate students will have two dedi-
cated financial aid counselors, and graduate students will have four. This is the first time either group has had specialized financial aid counselors — a decision both students and administrators say came as a result of student feedback. Prior to this semester, Student Financial Services had one general counseling team and assigned students to counselors alphabetically by last name. The restructuring of financial
aid staff will allow SFS to provide specialized training to counselors, Senior University Director of Financial Aid Elaine Papas Varas said. “The changes are really as a result of feedback that I’ve been getting for the last two years that I have been here, coming from our student groups that we sit on and the schools that we’re servicing,” Varas said. College senior Lyndsi Burcham
said that students have been asking for counselors dedicated to firstgeneration, low-income students for a long time. Burcham sits on the Student Financial Services Advisory Board and is also the advocacy chair for Penn First, Penn’s largest FGLI student group. She noted that, because the students who most frequently visit SFS fall into the broader category of FGLI, appointing FGLI-specific counselors would not be logisti-
cally feasible. “So for a while ... basically we were told ‘no’ because of the logical reasons that the demand would just be too much for one or two counselors,” Burcham said. Burcham said, however, that SFS’s recent specification of highly-aided students within the FGLI community has made dedicated counseling possible. While highly-aided counselors will direct undergraduate FGLI
students to specific benefits, Varas said that training for graduate counselors will focus on providing information about loan options. “Graduate students are borrowing a lot of loan funding if they’re on financial aid,” Varas said. “And we really need to be sure that we are giving them loan information that is pertinent to what they’re doing.” SEE FGLI PAGE 8
Writing Center will move to Locust It will move to the McNeil Building in the fall of 2019 CHRIS DOYLE Staff Reporter
After 15 years of serving students on 3808 Walnut St., the Marks Family Writing Center will be starting a new chapter a couple blocks over. In fall 2019, the Writing Center will move from its longtime home in the Eisenlohr Annex to spaces that will soon be renovated in the McNeil Building on 3718 Locust Walk. Critical Writing Program Director Valarie Ross said with the construction of new buildings like the Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, new vacancies have emerged in places previously filled to capacity. The Economics Department previously held many offices in the McNeil Building, but those offices are largely vacated now, since staff and faculty moved to the Perelman Center this fall. Ross said the Writing Center took the opportunity to accommodate the program she said is serving a rapidly growing base of students. “New buildings going up are opening up other spaces, and while we absolutely love 3808, we are honestly outgrowing it,” Ross said. “This new space will give us some much-needed elbow room.” Some student tutors have expressed disappointment with the move from the homey, artistic, dim-lit atmosphere that exists in the Eisenlohr Annex to the starch, academic environment of the McNeil Building. Still, administrators have said they
would be updating the McNeil Building before the Writing Center moves there next fall. Ross said Modh Studio has been hired to renovate McNeil, but that the project is still in the planning phases. College junior Noah Lobell, who works as a Writing Center tutor, said many of his colleagues will miss the comforting ambiance of the current building, but he appreciated still that McNeil would be renovated. “It’s an old Victorian House, and I think a lot of people really like that space,” Lobell said of the building on Walnut. “And I think most people want to stay in this really old beautiful house, rather than move to an older, not updated building.” “They’re trying to assuage those fears by updating [McNeil],” he added. Ross said Modh Studio has as its goal to capture the “comfort level” and “writerly aesthetic” that characterizes 3808 Walnut St. With its extra space, Ross added that the Writing Center will be better able to both accommodate students who prefer a more private setting and advance its communal workshop programs. Ross announced the move to her tutoring staff and faculty in an email on Aug. 6. She said the Writing Center will take up half of McNeil’s first floor, and Writing Center faculty and administrators will occupy offices on the fourth floor. Executive Director of Communications Leo Charney wrote in an email that it is the Provost Office’s ambition to help “design an exciting new stateSEE WRITING CENTER PAGE 2
GORDON HO | STAFF REPORTER
Penn students living at 3929 and 3931 Pine St. may face eviction on Friday, Oct. 26. A notice on the building doors indicated that the building currently exceeds the 11-unit household threshold, which surpasses occupancy laws for the property.
Students face potential eviction from their home on Pine Street
A notice on the doors stated the building was in zoning violation GORDON HO Staff Reporter
Residents of 3929 and 3931 Pine St., many of whom are Penn students, may be evicted next Friday on Oct. 26, according to a notice posted on the building and confirmed by Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspection. A notice was posted on the doors of the building on Sept. 19 stating it was in “zoning” violation, making it illegal to occupy the building after 12:00 p.m. on Oct. 26. The sign remains posted,
as of Oct. 14, College junior and 3929 resident Hannah Singer said. The notice indicated that the building currently exceeds the 11-unit household threshold — five units at 3929 Pine and six units at 3931 Pine — surpassing occupancy laws for the property. Karen Guss from the Department of Licenses and Inspection explained that there are two additional units located in the basement of the building. The property is owned by Constellar Corporation, an apartment rental company situated at 4323 Spruce St. Katie Simms, an Engineering junior living on the 3929 side, said she emailed the company after the sign
was posted and received a response from Constellar’s employee Nicole Mejia, who said the company did not know what was happening and that it sent employees to Philadelphia City Hall. “We understand this is an alarming experience and we want to reassure everyone that we continue to work with the city to resolve the issue; unfortunately, the city has made an error regarding their records of how a unit in the building is zoned, and it is taking time to resolve,” Constellar wrote in an email to the residents in late September. SEE PINE PAGE 2
Bernstein parents return to campus to honor Blaze at KWH Bernstein was killed in a homicide earlier this year SARAH FORTINSKY & MADELEINE NGO Senior News Editor & Deputy News Editor
Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper, parents of former Penn student Blaze Bernstein, came to campus on Monday evening for the second time since the death of their son. Blaze, a College sophomore, died in a homicide in January this year. His parents returned to campus in February to pick up his items, just as news agencies began to report on the arrest of Blaze’s alleged killer, Sam Woodward, and his ties to a neo-Nazi hate group. Since then, more details have emerged around this case. In August, the Orange County
Sheriff’s Department added a hate crime enhancement to Woodward’s list of charges, arguing that the 21-year-old killed Blaze because he was gay. On Monday, Bernstein and Pepper returned to Philadelphia to join members of the Kelly Writers House at the annual Edible Books Contest, which was dedicated in Blaze’s memory. The couple also helped to fund this year’s event. “To me, it’s something meaningful. You get to see all the students participating in something he loved doing,” Bernstein said. While at Penn, Blaze was involved with several publications on campus as well as with the Kelly Writers House. He had participated in the Edible Books Contest in both his freshman and sophomore years: In 2016, Blaze brought a piece
of dough and named his project, “The Dough Also Rises” — a play on the Ernest Hemingway book, “A Sun Also Rises”; last year, his project centered on the Pearl S. Buck book “The Good Earth,” and he brought a potted dirt cake. This year, his parents submitted a project in his honor, also based on “The Good Earth,” called “The Gouda Earth.” They placed a wedge of cheese on a bed of foraged wood mushrooms. Bernstein and Pepper were judges of the contest and also helped sponsor it through an endowment fund they started at the Kelly Writers House, which will contribute to one of the RealArts summer internships in Los Angeles. They said they hope to be a resource for and form a connection with the stu-
OPINION | Shoot your shot
“You might not expect me to be holding a nine millimeter Glock. I’m fairly liberal. But for me, recreational shooting in a controlled environment is empowering, not political.” - Isabella Simonetti PAGE 5
SPORTS | Friday night dog fight
Penn football will host Yale under the lights on Friday in a game that will be nationally televised on ESPNU. The Quakers’ defense will be tasked with slowing down the Bulldogs’ potent offense. BACKPAGE FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM
dent based on the West Coast. Jamie-Lee Josselyn, one of the contest’s judges and the associate director for recruitment for the Creative Writing Program, was also Bernstein’s academic advisor and has remained in contact with Blaze’s family since his death. She said the Edible Books Contest was one of his favorite events. “When we thought of how we needed to remember Blaze at the Writer’s House, this event was the first event that came to mind,” she said. “A lot of us knew immediately that this needed to be one of the ways we remember Blaze here,” Josselyn said.
This year, the contest introduced a new category, titled “Blaziest,” to honor the former SEE BLAZE PAGE 8
JOY LEE | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper, parents of former Penn student Blaze Bernstein, attended the annual Edible Books Contest.
NEWS Penn Sustainability hosts annual campaign
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