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

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2025

VOL. CXLI

NO. 4

Penn Carey Law graduate Sarah Best victim of Washington plane crash that killed 67 Best graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 2021, where she led numerous student organizations and graduated with summa cum laude honors EMILY SCOLNICK Editor-in-Chief

League Championship. The three swimmers are seeking relief for “damages for pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety,

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School graduate Sarah Best was a victim of the American Airlines plane crash in Washington last week. Best graduated summa cum laude from Penn Carey Law in 2021 and worked as an associate at Wilkinson Stekloff LLP, a law firm in the D.C. area. She was one of 67 victims aboard the American Airlines plane from Kansas that collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River on Jan. 29. At Penn, Best served in leadership roles for the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Equal Justice Foundation Board, and First Generation Professionals. She was also named Best Oralist during Penn Carey Law’s intramural moot court tournament, the Keedy Cup, in 2021. “We are deeply saddened that Penn Carey Law alumna Sarah Best was among those who perished on the American Airlines flight,” a Penn Carey Law spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “Sarah blended academic excellence with a deep commitment to service. In addition to her extraordinary talents and generous spirit, she was known

See SWIM, page 2

See OBITUARY, page 2

BENJAMIN MCAVOY-BICKFORD | DP FILE PHOTO

Three former Penn swimmers sue Penn, Ivy League over Lia Thomas competing in NCAA women’s swimming The case was filed in federal court on Feb. 4 and alleges that the four defendants — Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League, and the NCAA — violated Title IX regulations VALERI GUEVARRA Sports Editor

Three former Penn swimmers have filed a lawsuit against Penn, Harvard University, the Ivy League, and the NCAA for allegedly violating Title IX by allowing 2022 College graduate Lia Thomas — a transgender woman who competed in Penn’s women’s swimming and diving

program — to compete in the 2022 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship. The case was filed in federal court on Feb. 4 and alleges that the four defendants violated Title IX regulations by allowing a “trans-identifying male swimmer” to compete in the 2022 Ivy

‘We’re scrambling’: Shutdown of Penn clinic following campus unrest leaves veterans without care Former Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic employees say it was clear to them that criticisms of Penn’s response to antisemitism allegations played a role in the closure GABRIEL HUANG Senior Reporter

The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania has served thousands of veterans and their families since its founding in 2016. But following a tumultuous year for Penn, the Cohen Clinic was shut down in August 2024. The clinic was the result of a partnership between Penn Medicine and Cohen Veterans Network, a philanthropic organization created by 1978 Wharton graduate and hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen. Former employees and patients of the clinic told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the closure left veterans in Pennsylvania and New Jersey without a crucial source of care. “We’re scrambling,” Darcel Rideout, a former veteran patient of the Cohen Clinic who later served on its advisory board, said. “[The closure] not only impacts the veterans in the community, but it impacts the family members, the caretakers, and everyone else who wants to support veterans.” “We were disappointed in the decision to discontinue funding to Penn’s Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic, and across Penn Medicine, we remain committed to a wide array of health care services and partnerships to support veterans,” a Penn Med spokesperson wrote to the DP. According to its website, Cohen Veterans Network is a national nonprofit focused on helping post-9/11 veterans “overcome the challenges of transition from active military service back to civilian life and beyond.” The model for CVN clinics like Penn’s was to provide confidential specialized therapy for military veterans and their families. Following a $275 million donation by Cohen to CVN, the group opened over 20 clinics between 2016 and 2023. At the Cohen Clinic’s opening ceremony in 2016, then-Penn President Amy Gutmann noted Penn’s “long history of supporting veterans” and praised the clinic as a continuation of that effort. According to former Cohen Clinic Faculty Director and Perelman School of Medicine professor David Oslin, the clinic was initially fully funded by CVN, but contractual changes forced the clinic

MAX MESTER | DP FILE PHOTO

Former Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic employees say it was clear to them that criticisms of Penn’s response to allegations of antisemitism played a role in the closure

to independently fundraise a certain percentage of their annual expenses. “The model became less of a full philanthropy model and more of a shared financial burden model, and that was complicated to pull off,” Oslin said. Pete Whitney, a veteran who previously served as the clinic’s outreach director noted that the size of Penn’s endowment and Cohen’s net worth made it difficult to attract potential donors to the clinic but that there was little worry among members of the clinic that CVN was going to stop funding the clinic. “I was told that as long as there was a good faith

effort by the clinic to raise these funds, Mr. Cohen wasn’t going to shut anybody down,” said Whitney. In February 2024 — as Penn was reeling from ongoing donor backlash over former Penn President Liz Magill’s response to the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, subsequent resignation and allegations of antisemitism — Oslin received a phone call from CVN informing him that they would not be renewing the clinic’s funding beginning in the fall of that year. “CVN regularly evaluates the operating model and impact of the network to ensure we are delivering care where it is needed most and to best

steward donor dollars,” a CVN spokesperson wrote to the DP. “We shifted to a telehealth model in Philadelphia given the clinic demand for in-person services was not sufficient to justify a bricks and mortar clinic.” While Oslin admitted that the decision was “hastily decided” given that the clinic had been in operation for over seven years, he declined to speculate further about CVN’s reason for withdrawing. However, other former Cohen Clinic employees said it was clear to them that criticisms of Penn’s See CLINIC, page 2

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