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

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024

VOL. CXL

A ‘GREAT TALK’ WITH GUTMANN

NO. 10

Joe Biden to Hunter Biden // Dec. 14, 2018 12:56 p.m.

Had great talk with Guttman... Maisy still in the game for regular acceptance... [M]ust do well in class this period... We should talk about tutors etc starting tomorrow

Hunter Biden to Maisy Biden // Dec. 15, 2018, 7:07 p.m.

You are in the regular pool of applicants and... will be reviewed with your grades this year. I also think it would help if you had lax coach talk to their lax coach if you had any interest at all in playing sports there. ...Guttman made clear that in order for her to explain the 11th grade you had to show improvement in 12th.

Joe Biden to Hunter Biden // March 8, 2019, 6:33 a.m.

Spoke with Dean of Admission at PENN yesterday... Results posted Thursday 29th... Didn’t tell me but said I’d probably hear from President Guttman... Let me know if there’s anything I can do on anything

DESIGN BY INSIA HAQUE AND SOPHIA LIU

The ‘river of power’: Biden consulted Penn president about grandchild’s application, 2018 texts show Correspondence from an apparent copy of Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive suggests that Biden consulted administrators about his granddaughter’s application to Penn JARED MITOVICH Editor-in-Chief

President Joe Biden once told friends that the “river of power … flows from the Ivy League.” By cultivating a relationship with Penn — including a 30-year dynasty of legacy alumni in his family — Biden has perhaps come to embody his own decades-old belief. In the run-up to his election as president, Biden joined Penn’s faculty, launched a campus think tank led by his eventual secretary of state, and developed a close relationship with the University’s longest-serving president, Amy Gutmann — culminating in her appointment as United States ambassador to Germany. Biden’s influence at Penn also extended into the University’s admissions processes. Text messages and emails examined by The Daily Pennsylvanian suggest that Biden repeatedly consulted Penn administrators about his granddaughter’s application to the University several years ago.

On at least two separate occasions in December 2018 and March 2019, Biden discussed the status of his granddaughter Maisy’s application to Penn with then-President Gutmann and then-Dean of Admissions Eric Furda, according to text messages and emails viewed by the DP. Three sources said that the correspondences was from a copy of a laptop hard drive belonging to Biden’s son Hunter. Hunter is the father of Maisy, a 2023 College graduate, and Finnegan, a 2021 College graduate. The text messages and emails provide an intimate look into one facet of Biden’s relationship with Penn and its longtime former president, Gutmann — a relationship that Republicans have cited to make unverified claims about impropriety and corruption. The conversations between Biden, Gutmann, and Furda about Maisy’s application have been examined previously in The Washington Free Beacon and

Students allege unfair treatment of Penn Engineering clubs Five Engineering students described a lack of club space as well as prohibitions on testing and machining laboratory use MAX ANNUNZIATA Staff Reporter

CHENYAO LIU | SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The Wall Street Journal — but the DP examined additional, unreported evidence of private communications between administrators and Biden’s relatives, granddaughters, and a family friend. Elite admissions experts who spoke with the DP assessed the relationship between Biden and Penn as one high-profile example of the many channels that top universities keep open with well-connected individuals, creating a pattern of “favoritism” in the application process — including at this University, with the family of the United States president. Penn declined a request for comment, while University admissions wrote, “We do not comment on applicants.” Furda and Gutmann did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication. A ‘great talk with Guttman’ about Maisy Biden’s application “Had great talk with Guttman,” Biden texted Members of two of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ largest “build clubs” described inadequate support and unfair treatment from Engineering administrators. In a series of conversations with The Daily Pennsylvanian, five Engineer ing students described a lack of club space, as well as prohibitions on testing and machining laboratory use. Those obstacles are not shared by other Engineering clubs, the students said. Dean of the Engineering School Vijay Kumar wrote in a statement to the DP that while there is a laboratory space shortage, renovations of existing Engineering School buildings as well as the construction of the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy, Science, and Technology and Amy Gutmann Hall “will create new opportunities for student spaces that will alleviate some of the challenges with project space.” “I am sympathetic to the needs of the Penn Aerospace Club and encourage them to reach out to the [Engineering] School leadership, including the dean’s office and department chairs, as we would be happy to discuss their challenges,” Kumar wrote.

See BIDEN, page 7

Penn sophomore Nathaniel Gordon died March 23 At Penn, Gordon was a member of the Pre-First Year Program and was involved with the Makuu: The Black Cultural Center community JARED MITOVICH Editor-in-Chief

Concerns about access to club space The Engineering School is home to three large “build clubs”: Penn Aerospace Club, Penn Aerial Robotics, and Penn Electric Racing. The

College sophomore Nathaniel Gordon died on March 23 at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Vice Provost for University Life Karu Kozuma and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Paul Sniegowski notified students of Gordon’s death in a Sunday email sent on behalf of Interim Penn President Larry Jameson and Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. “Whenever a student passes away, we feel a wide range of emotions and a deep sense of loss,” the email read. “Please rely on one another, your loved ones, and University offices for support. We grieve alongside you and will be there to support your needs during this time of great sadness.”

See ENGINEERING, page 3

See GORDON, page 3

Penn Engineering’s Moore Building is located at 200 South 33rd Street.

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Hunter Biden on Dec. 14, 2018 – the day after early decision results were released for the Class of 2023. “Maisy still in the game for regular acceptance… But must do well in class this period… It’s real.” The text messages appear to show that Maisy applied to Penn through the Early Decision Program in fall 2018, but her application was deferred for consideration during Regular Decision. “Bottom line is that Guttman made clear that in order for her to explain the 11th grade you had to show improvement in 12th,” Hunter wrote in a text message to Maisy on Dec. 15. Hunter also suggested that Maisy’s lacrosse coach at Sidwell Friends — where Maisy and Finnegan went to high school — speak to Penn’s women’s lacrosse coach. A Penn Athletics spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by

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