INSIDE: PENN RELAYS 2023
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • FOUNDED 1885
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2023
VOL. CXXXIX
NO. 15
Senior Penn admin. asked to deliver testimony in Mackenzie Fierceton lawsuit Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein, who played a key role in the investigation of Fierceton, is one of the officials likely to be deposed KATIE BARTLETT Staff Reporter
Auto Workers union. At the rally, graduate students, union leaders, politicians, and other Penn employees shared testimonials in support of the group's unionization effort.
Two senior Penn administrators have been asked to testify in Penn graduate Mackenzie Fierceton's lawsuit against the University. In an ongoing personal injury lawsuit filed on Dec. 21, 2021, Fierceton — a 2021 School of Social Policy & Practice and 2020 College graduate — accused Penn of discrediting her status as a first-generation, low-income student and unjustly withholding her master’s degree after she became a Rhodes Scholar. In a move that revives an ongoing legal battle, on April 3, Fierceton filed a motion to compel depositions from defendants Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein and Office of General Counsel's Senior Vice President Wendy White, as well as former Interim President Wendell Pritchett. A pre-trial discovery hearing has been scheduled for May 3, where lawyers representing Fierceton and the University will be present to cross-examine witnesses. The subject of the hearing is Fierceton's motion to compel, Philadelphia Discovery Court Manager Peter Divon wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian. In a counter-filing dated April 18, Penn opposed Fierceton's motion to compel depositions from Winkelstein, White, and Pritchett, calling the motion "without merit" and accusing Fierceton of failing to put "reasonable and good faith effort" into resolving disputes between parties. The filing indicates that the two parties were planning for Winkelstein, White, and Pritchett to deliver testimony in June. In her initial lawsuit, Fierceton alleged that there is a connection between the University’s accusations towards her and her attempt to determine whether the 2018 death of SP2 graduate student Cameron Avant Driver was the result of limited accessibility in campus buildings. The lawsuit also called Penn's investigation of Fierceton's FGLI status a "sham" and
See UNION, page 7
See FIERCETON, page 7
PHOTOS BY ABHIRAM JUVVADI AND NATHANIEL BABITTS
Penn graduate student workers rallied for better working conditions, financial security, and protection against discrimination.
Nearly 2,000 student workers push for union Hundreds of student workers, community members rallied outside Van Pelt Library citing inadequate support VIDYA PANDIARAJU AND HALEY SON Staff Reporters
Over 200 graduate student workers rallied outside of Van Pelt Library on April 26 to advocate for improved working conditions, financial security, and protection against discrimination. The rally comes after the group, which is called
Graduate Employees Together at the University of Pennsylvania, announced on April 24 that over 1,900 Penn doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate student workers have signed authorization cards to form a union. The group is hoping to join the United
Penn has largest Students raise concerns about professor’s approach to pay gap between teaching course about gender and sexuality Ph.D. student The Anthropology department said Theodore Schurr should no longer teach the course in 2019, but he is still teaching it stipends, presidential salary Some students have raised concerns about an anthropology course on gender and sexuality, alleging that the among Ivies professor made insensitive and transphobic remarks during classes. DEDEEPYA GUTHIKONDA Senior Reporter
Penn’s average Ph.D. student stipend is 1.23% of its president’s salary ANMOL DASH Staff Reporter
Penn leads in faculty and presidential pay among Ivy League universities but lags behind its peers in graduate student stipends, according to an analysis by The Daily Pennsylvanian. The analysis found that the pay gap between Penn graduate students who receive stipends and the University's president was the highest among all Ivy League schools and Philadelphia area universities. Penn’s average Ph.D. student stipend is 1.23% of its president’s salary, while the average graduate student stipend across the Ivy League is 2.53% of the average president’s salary. On average, graduate student stipends among other Philadelphia universities are 3.58 percent of the president’s salary. "The University has always been committed to providing competitive salaries, and compensation for all classes of employees is evaluated regularly relative to peer institutions and the general marketplace," Penn spokesperson Ron Ozio wrote in a statement to the DP. The DP used publicly available data from University tax forms for the most recent publicly available See SALARIES, page 7
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In 2019, the Anthropology department determined that professor Theodore Schurr should no longer teach ANTH 1040: "Sex & Human Nature" after receiving complaints from students about offensive remarks he allegedly made in class, College first year Haydr Dutta said. But the course was taught by Schurr again in 2021 according to Penn Course Review, and it is being taught this semester — where students have continued to raise concerns. Dutta, who is familiar with concerns regarding the course, said that students enrolled in the course have voiced their concerns to the LGBT Center, the Anthropology department, and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies program. Executive Director of Communications at the School of Arts and Sciences Loraine Terrell told The Daily Pennsylvanian that SAS "is aware of these student concerns but has no further comment at this time.” Schurr, the Title IX office, and the Chair of the Anthropology department did not respond to the DP's request for comment. The course, which double-counts to fulfill the College's Cultural Diversity in the United States Foundational Approach and the Living World sector requirement, has nearly 190 students currently enrolled with a maximum enrollment of 200 students, according to Path@Penn. Dutta and a College junior, who requested anonymity after citing fear of academic retaliation, said that a Title IX process had been conducted against Schurr when he taught the course in 2019. Following this process, the conclusion was reached that he would no longer teach the
PHOTO BY RACHEL ZHANG
Students have raised concerns about an anthropology course on gender and sexuality.
course. Schurr, however, is still teaching the course. The College junior said that she has been in contact with the Title IX office about a complaint against the professor. ANTH 1040 has not been cross-listed with the GSWS program since 2019. Associate Director of the GSWS Program Gwendolyn Beetham told the DP that the program's leaders felt the course did not meet the program's standards for teaching about gender and sexuality. "We are not only concerned that we're in compliance with rules and regulations around gender and sexuality, but we actually want to have a space that is affirming to
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students who are transgender and who are gender expansive," Beetham said. "If we know that a course, or a space is not, then we try to work together with our students to address that." Beetham said she wishes there was a more streamlined process for students to report course concerns to the University. Dutta said they had concerns regarding racist connotations in some of the course material discussing evolutionary psychology and biology. See PROFESSOR, page 7
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