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

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2025

VOL. CXLI

PENN RECEIVES DEMANDS

NO. 15

Federal government reactivates Penn affiliates’ immigration statuses The reactivations come as the Trump administration walked back its cancellation of over 1,500 student visas nationwide on April 25, following weeks of ongoing legal action to halt the revocations AYANA CHARI Staff Reporter

ETHAN YOUNG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Department of Education issues Penn demands after finding University violated Title IX The April 28 announcement includes a ‘Resolution Agreement’ from the Office of Civil Rights that gives Penn 10 days to ‘voluntarily’ enact three demands ANVI SEHGAL, NORAH FINDLEY, AND VALERI GUEVARRA Staff Reporters and Sports Editor

Content warning: This article contains instances of misgendering that may be disturbing and/or triggering for some readers. The Department of Education announced that Penn violated Title IX by allowing transgender

athletes to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and issued three demands to the University on Monday. In its April 28 announcement, the Education Department included a “Resolution Agreement”

from the Office for Civil Rights that gave Penn 10 days to “voluntarily” comply with three demands: issuing a statement affirming compliance with Title IX, restoring accolades to “female athletes See TITLE IX, page 2

The federal government reactivated the visas and immigration statuses of all seven Penn affiliates whose statuses had previously been terminated, according to a University spokesperson. On April 25, a University spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian that three of the seven Student and Exchange Visitor Information System accounts of Penn affiliates that had previously been terminated were restored. As of April 27, the remaining four SEVIS profiles had been updated from “Terminated” to “Active.” The reactivations come as the Trump administration walked back its cancellation of over 1,500 student visas nationwide on April 25, following weeks of ongoing legal action to halt the revocations. An April 25 announcement from International Student and Scholar Services stated that Penn confirmed that three SEVIS records were “updated to ‘Active’ status” on April 24. According to ISSS, Penn first learned of the terminations through a check of SEVIS — an online database managed by the Department of Homeland Security that tracks the records of international students studying in the United States. Amid sweeping revocations across the country, Penn has been conducting twicedaily routine checks of SEVIS and notifying See VISAS, page 7

Former Board of Trustees Chair Scott Penn research associates, postdocs Bok discusses resignation, attacks on file petition to unionize with National Labor Relations Board Penn ahead of book release Bok reflected on his departure, his forthcoming book release, and the federal government’s campaign against higher education — which he said ‘started at Penn’

Of the 1,500 postdoctoral researchers at Penn, 1,000 signed authorization cards in support of forming Research Associates and Postdocs United, according to the group

JASMINE NI AND ELEA CASTIGLIONE News Editor and Senior Reporter

DANIYA SIDDIQUI Staff Reporter

Sixteen months after his highly publicized resignation as chair of the University Board of Trustees, Scott Bok sat down for a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian ahead of the release of his new book. Bok’s book — titled “Surviving Wall Street: A Tale of Triumph, Tragedy, and Timing” and set to be published on May 6 — spans the course of his life, including his undergraduate experience at Penn, his career on Wall Street, and his tumultuous tenure as board chair. In a 90-minute interview with the DP, Bok reflected on the events that led to his departure, discussed the forthcoming release of his book, and offered a candid assessment of the federal government’s campaign against higher education — which he said “started at Penn.” Bok — who has not publicly spoken on these topics aside from a Dec. 12, 2023 op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer after resigning — said he didn’t think the situation at Penn could “be easily folded” into “sound bites or even short articles, or even a quote here or there.” The final two chapters of Bok’s book provide a detailed account of what unfolded behind the scenes in the weeks and months leading up to his and former Penn President Liz Magill’s resignations on Dec. 9, 2023. Bok likened the donor retaliation, calls for Magill’s resignation, and heightened political scrutiny at Penn to another “boardroom situation,” similar to the “tough decisions and real crises” he faced throughout his career on Wall Street. Bok explained that the events leading to Magill’s resignation felt like a “corporate takeover.” More specifically, he described it as an “activist shareholder situation” where stakeholders — many of whom were from Wall Street themselves — used “various tools and tactics to

get control of the board.” In the book, Bok describes serving on a board as usually either “boring or scary.” Throughout his career — which included serving as chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History — he explained that “almost every board ends up having a moment that’s scary.” However, Bok noted that nonprofit and university boards are not well equipped to handle crisis situations like the one that unfolded after the Palestine Writes Literature Festival in September 2023 and subsequent campus discourse surrounding the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. The controversy over the Palestine Writes Literature Festival was the first major flashpoint in a semester of turmoil at Penn. Though the festival was not officially sponsored by the University, its use of Penn venues and inclusion of speakers accused of antisemitism provoked outrage from some Jewish groups, alumni, and national organizations. Donor and trustee backlash escalated after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, with several major donors pulling their support from the University and calling for Magill’s resignation over what they perceived as Penn’s insufficient response to antisemitism. Bok said that it would have been “unprecedented” for Magill to cancel Palestine Writes or to exclude specific speakers. In the book, Bok recalled his private conversations with donors and trustees about the festival, including individuals who publicly denounced the event. “One of the ironies that I make very clear in the book is that … some people who were the most staunch See BOK, page 3

Penn research associates and postdoctoral researchers have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on April 24 to form a union. Of the 1,500 postdoctoral researchers at Penn, 1,000 signed authorization cards in support of forming the union, Research Associates and Postdocs United, according to the group. The research associates and postdocs are part of a national wave

of academic researchers pushing to unionize, as well as a broader increase in union organizing taking place at Penn. RAPUP will represent Penn’s postdoctoral researchers and research associates in bargaining with the University, if a majority vote in favor of unionization. Organizers say they aim to negotiate See UNION, page 3

SADIE SCOTT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Research Associates and Postdocs at Penn rallied on Jan. 30 to announce its union formation.

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