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

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2025

VOL. CXLI

MAKAYLA WU AND INSIA HAQUE | DESIGN EDITORS

Penn Police digitally surveilled student in vandalism investigation, search warrants reveal Three search warrants filed by the University of Pennsylvania Police Department between Sept. 24 and Oct. 18, 2024, reference CCTV footage and phone activity records as justification for the Oct. 18 search JASMINE NI AND ETHAN YOUNG News Editors

NO. 1

Penn conducted a surveillance operation using phone records, digital data, and CCTV footage to investigate the vandalism of the Benjamin Franklin statue on College Green in September 2024, according to search warrants obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. Three search warrants served by the Penn Police Department culminated in the search of an off-campus student residence on Oct. 18, 2024, during which officers seized a Penn student’s cell phone. The warrants, the first of which was served on Sept. 24, 2024 and the other two on Oct. 18, 2024, list violations of criminal mischief and conspiracy. “Pursuant to University policy, Public Safety makes use of this data on rare occasions, limited to criminal investigations and public safety emergencies,” a spokesperson for Penn’s Division of Public Safety wrote in a statement to the DP. A request for comment was left with the student named in the warrant and a University spokesperson. Following the vandalism of the statue on Sept. 12, 2024 — which was described in the affidavit from a Penn Police detective sergeant as a “frequent target of vandalism by Pro-Palestinian protestors” — Penn Police examined CCTV footage to identify two suspects. “Because the suspects were the only individuals present at the time of the crime, investigative personnel were able to ascertain through the [Penn Office of Information Security] any person(s) logged onto the private Wi-Fi router specific to that area,” the affidavit read. According to Penn’s policy on Closed Circuit Television Monitoring and Recording of Public Areas for Safety and Security Purposes, the “purpose of CCTV monitoring of public areas by security personnel is to deter crime and to assist the Penn Police in protecting the safety and property of the University community.” “Information obtained through video monitoring will be used exclusively for security and law enforcement purposes,” the policy continues. “Information obtained through video monitoring will only be released when authorized by the Vice President of Public Safety according to the procedures established in this policy.” According to the warrant, Penn Police then used this information to identify one individual logged into the router at the time of the crime by their Penn ID number, enabling them to obtain the individual’s cell phone number, name, and address. On Sept. 24, 2024, Penn Police electronically served a search warrant to T-Mobile — the student’s cell phone carrier — requesting access to “call detail records,” location data, subscriber information, and cloud storage associated with the student’s phone number. “[Y]our Affiant is requesting records from Sept. 1, See WARRANT, page 6

Penn Saxbys to close by May ahead of Penn Faculty Senate to host threePenn Dental clinical space expansion part colloquium series on future of Penn Dental plans to transform the Saxbys location at 40th and Locust streets into a sedation center with multiple operatories and recovery areas.

higher education

ISAAC POLLOCK Staff Reporter

The colloquium will invite speakers from universities and other academic institutions to discuss a variety of topics in American higher education

Saxbys at 40th and Locust streets will close by May as Penn Dental Medicine ends the coffee shop’s lease to convert the space into a sedation center with operatories and recovery areas. Penn Dental is set to transform the space within the Robert Schattner Center, leased to Saxbys since 2015, as part of an expansion driven by the 2021 opening of the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities and the school’s longstanding plans to enhance sedation services, according to a Penn Dental spokesperson. This expansion will be supported by capital funding and fundraising efforts scheduled for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. “Leadership at the dental school notified the Saxby’s management that the current lease would not be renewed beginning in 2025,” the Penn Dental spokesperson wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian, adding that the lease will expire on May 31. “The conversion of the coffee shop space is vital to the health and well-being of our patients.”

CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Saxbys is located at 4000 Locust St.

“The disabilities center treats some 8,000 patients a year with cognitive, developmental, and physical disabilities including autism, Alzheimer’s, cerebral palsy and other conditions,” the spokesperson added. “A small number of these patients can only receive dental care under general anesthesia or sedation.” Nick Bayer, the founder and CEO of Saxbys, wrote to the the DP that Penn Dental has undergone “significant growth,” which led to their decision to “recapture the space” to further develop the school. A staff member at the Saxbys location at 40th and Locust streets — who requested anonymity due to concerns about retaliation — told the DP that there “hasn’t been a lot of transparency” from Saxbys management in terms of the store’s closure. “Team members found out gradually through the grapevine and just through working at Saxbys,” they said. “Talking to my coworkers is how I found out that we’re closing in May. When I was hired and I was doing my interview process, it was never mentioned by the manager that we would be closing in a year or so.” The employee emphasized that workers were only informed about the closure of Saxbys “from the HQ side” through an email from management on Dec. 20, 2024 about severance payments that would be provided following the location’s closure. According to the employee, these severance benefits were secured through unionization efforts that began in December 2024. “The union efforts brought [the closure] to light and really forced [Saxbys] to be more transparent,” the employee said. “We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve the University of Pennsylvania community for the past 16 years and would like to thank all of the students, faculty, staff, and neighbors that have supported Saxbys,” Bayer wrote. “Stay tuned for announcements later this year when we plan to further expand our student-run cafe network within University City.”

AIDAN SHAUGHNESSY Staff Reporter

Penn’s Faculty Senate will host a three-part colloquium series on “The Future of American Universities” this spring. The colloquium will invite speakers from universities and other academic institutions to discuss a variety of topics in American higher education including political pressures on universities, the value of college degrees, and potential changes to the future of higher education. Events will be held on Jan. 30, Feb. 26, and April 9. In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Faculty Senate Chair and University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Eric Feldman emphasized the importance of hosting these panels, given the current social and political environment surrounding higher education. “It is clear that higher education has been in the crossfire of various critics, going back 40 or 50 years,” Feldman said. “Some of the criticism has really accelerated in recent years.” Feldman noted that the colloquium is a product of “long-term planning” and also said that while the colloquium was likely to address challenges emerging from 1968 Wharton graduate, former President, and President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming second term, the event was not a direct response to his election. “This is a series that was planned before we knew who was going to win the election,” Feldman said. “These are issues that are going to stay on the table after this administration.” The first panel, titled “Higher Education and the State: How Politics are Reshaping America’s Great Universities,” will take place at the Kleinman Center Energy Forum in Fisher Fine Arts Library on Jan. 30. The conversation will be moderated by Annenberg Public Policy Center Director and Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor

GUNDAPPA SAHA | DP FILE PHOTO

The first and third part of the Faculty Senate’s colloquium series will take place at the Fisher Fine Arts Library. of Communication Kathleen Hall Jamieson. The panel will aim to address recent state and federal action on higher education. The Faculty Senate website also states that the panel will look into “current threats to the academy that could transform the future of higher education.” The second panel, titled “The Price of Knowledge: Is a College Degree Worth the Cost?” will take place at the Agora in Annenberg Public Policy Center on Feb. 26. The conversation will be moderated by George W. Taylor Professor of Management Peter Cappelli. The third panel, titled “The Opening of the American Mind: Higher Education in the Future,” will take place at the Kleinman Center Energy Forum in Fisher Fine Arts Library on April 9. The conversation will be moderated by Provost John Jackson Jr. The panel will address possible ways to “reconceptualize” the standard model of higher education amid political pressures on universities and a decreased public confidence in universities.

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