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

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2026

VOL. CXLII

NO. 1

Penn graduate student union announces Feb. 17 strike deadline If the union were to strike, more than 3,700 graduate student workers would cease work responsibilities to join picket lines across campus DANIYA SIDDIQUI Staff Reporter

ANDY MEI | DEPUTY DESIGN EDITOR

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Penn’s graduate student union announced plans on Tuesday to launch an indefinite strike — suspending all teaching and research duties — if a contract agreement is not reached with the University by Feb. 17. In a Tuesday Instagram post, representatives from Graduate Employees Together — University of Pennsylvania wrote that the union will strike unless Penn’s contract proposals “significantly improve” within the coming weeks. If the union were to strike, more than 3,700 graduate student workers would cease work responsibilities — including grading assignments and hosting recitations, office hours, and review sessions — to join picket lines across campus. “The University has been engaged in good faith negotiations with the Union since last October, reaching 23 tentative agreements and completing 39 bargaining sessions, with additional sessions planned,” a University spokesperson wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “We believe that a fair contract for the Union and Penn can be achieved without a work stoppage, but we are prepared in the event that the Union membership strikes.” “Efforts are underway to ensure teaching and research continuity, and the expectation is that classes and other academic activities will continue in the event of a strike,” the statement continued. In an interview with the DP, history and sociology of science Ph.D. candidate Sam Schirvar — who also serves as an organizer for GET-UP — emphasized the “serious disruption” a strike would have on classes that rely on graduate students. “They would be stopping lecturing, stopping office hours, stopping holding sections, stopping emailing students, and stopping grading exams,” Schirvar said. “That’s not something that we look forward to doing, and it’s really unfortunate that the See GET-UP, page 3

Penn-affiliated groups motion to intervene as defendants in federal antisemitism lawsuit

Penn announces preferred lender program ahead of federal student loan cap

If the motion is granted, the groups would become defendants in the lawsuit alongside Penn

The Private Educational Loan Program hosts five preferred lenders that offer financial resources to cover remaining educational expenses after financial aid is applied

LAVANYA MANI Staff Reporter

ANVI SEHGAL Senior Reporter

Multiple Penn-affiliated groups filed a motion on Tuesday to intervene as defendants in an ongoing lawsuit filed against the University by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. During a Jan. 13 press conference, the national and Penn chapters of the American Association of University Professors, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Jewish Law Students Association, the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty, and the American Academy of Jewish Research announced their intent to intervene. If the motion is granted, the groups would become defendants in the lawsuit alongside Penn. Requests for comment were left with a University spokesperson and the EEOC. The lawsuit followed a July 2025 subpoena from the EEOC that required Penn to submit detailed information on workplace antisemitism complaints and membership lists for various Jewish-related campus groups. In November, the agency sued the University for allegedly failing to comply. In a memo filed in support of the motion to intervene, the five proposed groups wrote that they have “a direct personal stake and a unique interest in safeguarding their members’ distinct First Amendment freedoms.” Although Penn has refused to comply with specific provisions of the EEOC subpoena, the memo stated that the University’s decision could change under pressure from the federal government. According to Matthew Hamermesh — one of the attorneys who filed the motion — the filing is “a request that the court recognize the interests of our clients and allow them to be heard as parties in the case opposing enforcement of the subpoena.” Penn Carey Law and Wharton School professor Amanda Shanor — one of the lawyers representing the intervening Penn-affiliated organizations — told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the motion would enable intervenors to file their own briefs and provide additional legal reasoning against the lawsuit. Shanor, who also helped circulate a petition criticizing the lawsuit in November 2025, added that the presence of intervenors would mean that the lawsuit could continue to be litigated even if Penn chooses not to proceed. At the press conference, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania Legal Director Witold Walczak stated that the EEOC subpoenas would require Penn to turn over “personal telephone numbers, personal emails, and home addresses.” Walczak added that the right of organizations not to share membership lists was established in the 1958 Supreme Court case NAACP v. Alabama. He explained that forced disclosure “chills people’s willingness and ability to come together in any kind of political or religious association.” Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Beth Wenger, who represented the American Academy for Jewish Research, said that “the act of singling out Jews in this manner suggests they don’t have the same rights under the law

Penn announced preferred lender arrangements with five private loan lenders on Jan. 8, ahead of borrowing caps that will limit federal loans for graduate and undergraduate students. The Private Educational Loan Program hosts five preferred lenders that offer financial resources to cover remaining educational expenses after financial aid is applied. The program was created in response to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will take effect in July and set a $257,500 lifetime borrowing limit for new students borrowers. Penn’s Senior Director of Financial Aid Elaine Varas told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the Act “really limits” the amount of funding that undergraduate and graduate students receive. “That sort of drove us to a place where we said, ‘we’re going to have to help students,’” she told the DP. “We really wanted to go down the route of — yes, offering private lending — but offering private lending that offers unique benefits to Penn students.” The preferred groups offer lending to part-time students, along with benefits that allow lending to students who do not “progress satisfactorily.” According to Varas, students “will not be penalized or disadvantaged” if they choose to borrow from a different lender, but will receive benefits that are “unique to Penn students” through the preferred lenders. Of the five preferred lenders — Citizens, College Ave, MPower, PHEAA, and SoFi — two groups offer additional benefits to Penn students. College Ave most recently joined the list of preferred lenders on Jan. 13. Both College Ave and SoFi a nine-month grace period for non-undergraduate students. College Ave offers loans available for 12-month prior balances and one percent off the total repayment balance, while SOFI offers loans 18-months prior and offer 0.75% off the total repayment balance. Students can review the available private loan op-

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Penn-af fliated groups are defendants in an ongoing federal antisemitism lawsuit by the EEOC. as other Americans.” Steven Weitzman, the Ella Darivoff Director of the Katz Center of Advanced Judaic Studies and a member of the University Task Force on Antisemitism, similarly emphasized the “immediate and negative impact” of the EEOC subpoena requests. “To be blunt, I don’t want my employer handing over information about my religious identity without my consent, and I think it is a violation of the First Amendment for the government to be forcing a university to do so,” Weitzman added. Mitch Marcus, PASEF President and professor emeritus in the Department of Computer and Information Science at Penn, wrote in a statement to the DP that a requirement for the University to “hand over to the federal government lists of our members would have a chilling effect on their participation in all of our activities as well as threaten their rights of association and academic freedom.” “For our retired and senior faculty born in the years following the Holocaust, the thought of having their names turned over to the government because they are Jews brings back the nightmare experiences of our parents and grandparents,” Marcus added. “For our members who decades ago fled authoritarian governments in fear of their lives, this demand brings back terrifying memories.” A spokesperson for the Jewish Law Students Association at Penn Carey Law also wrote in a statement to the DP that the group chose to intervene in the lawsuit because it is “strongly opposed to the EEOC—or any government agency—mandating the production of a blanket list of Jews.” The spokesperson added that the group acknowledges “efforts by the EEOC to address the disturbing rise in antisemitism, including as experienced by members of our community at Penn,” but hopes that the agency conducts “the investigation in a way that makes the Jewish community feel supported, rather than threatened.” Earlier this month, a judge set a Jan. 20 deadline for Penn to submit a response to the subpoena. “We will file a response to the subpoena at that time explaining the constitutional and statutory rights that enforcement of the subpoena would impair and why what the EEOC proposes to do is so fraught for the Jewish community,” Hamermesh said. Staff reporter Rachel Erhag contributed reporting.

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tions on the program’s webpage, compare lenders, and explore the key benefits associated with each option. Although all preferred lenders have entered into fouryear contracts with the University, Varas emphasized that Penn’s Student Registration and Financial Services will “continuously be reviewing” the contracts. The webpage also includes a historical lender list, which names private lenders that Penn students have used in the past. Varas explained that the program will look different in practice for each student, with an emphasis on “individualized” financial plans. She added that preferred lenders would offer loans to parents and guardians who may financially support undergraduate students. The undergraduate federal financial aid application must be submitted to SRFS by Jan. 15. Students can continue to apply for private loans after the financial aid deadline has passed, but SRFS encourages them to first “review and exhaust their eligibility for federal student aid” before taking out a private loan. “There’s no reason, if an undergraduate student is eligible for a subsidized loan, why they wouldn’t take it,” Varas said. She added that Penn has incorporated feedback from a financial aid student committee, and that her team is “here to help” navigate the situation through appointments, workshops, or individualized sessions. It’s “not the student’s job to understand all this — it’s our job to understand all this,” Varas told the DP. The financial aid team will host virtual and in-person sessions to inform undergraduate and graduate students about the program. By the end of January, the team will release a three-part set of recordings that discuss federal aid programs, private loan programs, and credit. “My message to any student is to please reach out to us,” Varas said. “We want to be sure that students feel comfortable in the decisions that they’re making.”

LAYLA NAZIF | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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