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INSIDE: BEAUTY GUIDE

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • FOUNDED 1885

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2026

VOL. CXLII

NO. 7

New ‘horizons’ for Penn SAS Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Mark Trodden announced the new strategic plan in a Feb. 25 email KATHRYN YE Staff Reporter

After roughly six months of planning, the School of Arts and Sciences announced a new “vision for its future” on Wednesday. SAS Dean Mark Trodden announced the framework — titled “SAS Horizons: Pathways for a Changing World” — in a Feb. 25 email. The plan is “aligned with” the University’s 2023 strategic framework, “In Principle and Practice,” and is committed to “pursuing excellence with empathy.” “At a moment of sweeping change for society and higher education, it also reflects how we broaden opportunities for our students, empower scholars to venture beyond the boundaries of current knowledge, and channel discoveries into new avenues that allow society to see further and reach higher,” Trodden’s email read. A new website launched alongside the announcement outlined two foundational commitments for the proposal — “fostering community, culture, and belonging” and “partnering with the public.” “The School of Arts & Sciences cultivates forms of intelligence that transcend algorithmic reasoning: creativity, judgment, ethical thinking, and the capacity to discern which questions matter and why,” the website reads. “By enhancing ties and engaging questions raised by emerging technologies and cultural change, Arts & Sciences creates the conditions for sustained inquiry and dialogue, ensuring that innovation and discovery are guided by human understanding and serve the common good.” The plan includes provisions for a “bold” reimagining of the College of Arts and Sciences’ undergraduate curriculum, the establishment of the “Dean’s Horizons Fund” to fund research at the school, and a project to renovate Penn’s laboratories and classrooms. During the 2025-26 academic year, the College piloted College Foundations — a new general education curriculum that it aim to formally implement in 2027. “The College curriculum redesign process is underway and a proposal for a new curriculum is being

AMY LUO | SENIOR DESIGNER

A campus watched: Penn’s network of more than 1,300 surveillance cameras

Since 2021, the number of locations with cameras monitored by Penn has increased by roughly 20% PHOEBE ANAGNOS Senior Reporter

If you look up while walking on Penn’s campus or one of the surrounding streets, chances are you’ll spot one of the more than 1,300 cameras operated by the University — part of its sprawling surveillance network. Under Penn’s “Closed Circuit Television Monitoring and Recording of Public Areas for Safety and Security Purposes” policy — first adopted in 1999 and later updated in 2008 — the University’s Division of Public Safety is required to publish the locations of all outdoor CCTV cameras it monitors in semiannual updates. Over the past five years, the number of locations with cameras

monitored by Penn has increased by roughly 20%. As of January, Penn reported operating more than 145 pan-tilt-zoom cameras and more than 1,200 fixed cameras across campus and within its patrol zone. While outdoor camera locations are publicly listed, the University is not required to publish a list of indoor camera locations. Penn publicly disclosed a total of 309 outdoor camera locations this year, including 178 “University of Pennsylvania Cameras.” According to the CCTV policy, camera installations must serve “legitimate safety and security purposes,” including protection of buildings and

See HORIZONS, page 3

property, criminal investigation, pedestrian safety, and compliance with government requirements. The policy specifies that cameras may monitor public streets, intersections, parking lots, bike racks, and building perimeters, among other locations. The policy also establishes limits on Penn’s surveillance capabilities. CCTV monitoring must not violate a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” and cameras are not permitted in residential hallways or lounges. Recorded footage is automatically deleted after 30 days unless retained for criminal investigations or litigation purposes. See CAMERAS, page 3

Proposed city school closures threaten Penn community service partners The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke to teachers, administrators, and liaisons at two schools with existing Univeristy partnerships COSTA GAY-AFENDULIS Staff Reporter

Proposed Philadelphia school closures could threaten high schools that partner with Penn through internships, community service, and dual-enrollment programs. The School District of Philadelphia announced a $2.8 billion “Facilities Master Plan” last month, recommending a sweeping overhaul of district facilities, including plans to close four high schools. The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke to teachers, administrators, and Penn liaisons at two of these schools — Lankenau and Paul Robeson high schools — which maintain various partnerships with the University, including through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, School of Social Policy & Practice, and the Water Center at Penn. The school district’s proposal, set to be presented to the school board on Feb. 26, outlines a plan to reorganize Philadelphia’s elementary, middle, and high schools. Besides modernizing 159 schools, the plan would also close 20 schools across the area. The district argued that closing smaller magnet high schools, some of which it cited as having unsatisfactory enrollment, would allow them to allocate resources elsewhere. See SCHOOLS, page 2

Wharton model projects $175 billion in refunds after tariff ruling The United States Supreme Court ruled last week that the president cannot impose unilateral tariffs indefinitely MARA FLORES Staff Reporter

EMILY XU | DP FILE PHOTO

The Netter Center pictured on April 12, 2021.

After a United States Supreme Court decision struck down 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump’s tariffs on international trading partners, the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that the federal government may have to refund importers up to $175 billion. The Feb. 20 decision found that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize a president to unilaterally impose tariffs of indefinite scope. While the ruling does not explicitly require immediate repayments from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the report See TARIFFS, page 2

Federal agency probe used personal Jeffrey Epstein tried to court Penn faculty phone numbers to investigate professor Martin Seligman, files show campus antisemitism In a 2010 email exchange, Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Martin Seligman visited his ranch in New Mexico — referring to the professor as ‘great’

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s subpoena would require it to hand over information about Jewish students and faculty

ETHAN SUN Staff Reporter

LUKE PETERSEN Staff Reporter

Federal investigators have directly contacted members of the Penn community as part of an ongoing probe into alleged antisemitism on campus — offering a window into how the government is gathering testimony and information that the University is simultaneously trying to block its access to in court. In conversations with The Daily Pennsylvanian, several affiliates of Penn’s Jewish Studies Program reported that they received calls on their personal cell phones from the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Penn is currently facing a subpoena from the agency that would require it to hand over information about Jewish students and faculty. In a transcript of a voicemail obtained by the DP, an EEOC investigator asked one JSP member to report any incidents of antisemitism they had seen or experienced at Penn in the past three years. “We are reaching out to folks affiliated with Penn to see NEWS The University employs over 5,000 faculty researchers. Here’s where they publish their work

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if they were subjected to or witnessed antisemitism in the workplace within the past 3 years, and if so, how it was handled by the University,” the transcript read. In a statement to the DP, the member — who requested anonymity due to fear of retribution — wrote that they “have no idea how they got my private cell phone number.” An EEOC spokesperson declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. A request for comment was left with a University spokesperson. Director of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies and Jewish Studies professor Steven Weitzman told the DP that “the only thing that was surprising” was that the EEOC reached out to him through his personal phone number. “I don’t release that publicly, so they must have figured out how to make some connection between who I am on See EEOC, page 3

NEWS Penn terminated free summer housing for graduate RAs in a Feb. 18 email

In the months after Jeffrey Epstein was released from a Florida prison in June 2009, he began to court several of the world’s top academics, including celebrated Penn Psychology professor Martin Seligman. That year, he contacted multiple notable figures — including literary agents, professors, and authors — in an attempt to organize a series of academic gatherings. In a 2009 email exchange, Epstein referred to Seligman, now the head of Penn’s Positive Psychology Center, as a “core participant” of the proposed meetings. In response to The Daily Pennsylvanian’s request for comment, Seligman wrote that he had met Epstein at a “Billionaire’s Dinner” event in 2004, hosted by the Edge Foundation. In a 2010 email, Epstein wrote that Seligman had visited his ranch in New Mexico in the past. “Marty has been at my ranch … he is great,” the exchange read. Seligman told the DP that he attended a two-day seminar on evolution at Epstein’s ranch in either OPINION The Daily Pennsylvanian Editorial Board emphasizes the importance of timely grading

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2006 or 2007. The ranch is reportedly the site where Epstein planned to “seed the human race with his DNA” by impregnating women, a eugenics project Seligman clarified was not discussed at the seminar. “I was never involved in such a conversation and I only heard of this bizarre notion recently in the press,” Seligman wrote. “The seminar I attended was highly technical and about the mathematics of evolutionary theory.” A University spokesperson declined to comment. Seligman has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or his crimes. In a 2011 email, Epstein implied that he helped fund Seligman’s positive psychology research. “You funded his Positive Psychology research, didn’t you?? It has to be you asking him ‘why don’t you come visit us in NY?’ Am I right???” the email read, referencing the first chapter of Seligman’s book, “Flourish,” in which he detailed how he received the first major funds for his research. See EPSTEIN, page 3

SPORTS Penn women’s basketball bounces back in a high-scoring win over Yale