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

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

VOL. CXL

NO. 21

Biden: ‘I want to’ return to Penn after presidency Biden assumed a Penn professorship and used the the Penn-affiliated Penn Biden Center as his main office in Washington after he departed the vice presidency DIAMY WANG Senior Reporter

‘FLAGRANTLY

Former Benjamin Franklin Professor of Presidential Practice and President Joe Biden said in an interview on Wednesday that he “want[s]” to resume his involvement in the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement after leaving the White House. Biden used the Penn-affiliated global think tank as his main office in Washington after he departed his vice presidency under former President Barack Obama in 2017. In a conversation with The View on Wednesday, Biden said he planned to build upon his work as president through the two academic centers named after him — the other being the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. “I’m less concerned about what my legacy is … because there’s so many other things I want to do in terms of the Biden Institute at Penn on foreign policy and the Biden Institute in Delaware on domestic policy, to keep the things going that we started,” Biden said. A University spokesperson did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The Penn Biden Center’s fate and activity has long been unclear after Biden’s campaign and eventual victory in the 2020 presidential election. Biden took a leave of absence from the University in April 2019 — just over one year

UNPROFESSIONAL’ Penn Carey Law professor Amy Wax was suspended after years of discriminatory comments — becoming the first tenured professor in decades to face sanctions ELEA CASTIGLIONE AND ETHAN YOUNG Senior Reporter and Staff Reporter

See BIDEN, page 3

JESSE ZHANG | DP FILE PHOTO

The Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility publicized its decision on sanctioning Wax on Sept. 24.

The University’s historic sanctioning of University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Amy Wax this week has invited a wave of reactions on campus and nationwide — with many applauding a long-awaited response to Wax’s controversial comments, and others apprehensive about the decision’s implications for free speech. Wax’s sanctions are wide-ranging, including a one-year suspension at half pay that goes into effect next fall, and the removal of her named chair, which is now ref lected on her faculty website. Penn also eliminated her summer pay

and instituted a requirement that Wax note in public appearances that she is not speaking on behalf of nor as a member of Penn Carey Law. The rare decision to punish a tenured faculty member — the first such occurrence under Faculty Senate processes in at least 20 years — has invited commentary among students, faculty, and administrators. “Faculty, not administrators, acting through their selected bodies and procedures, are best positioned to ensure that institutional censure of faculty respects the bounds of academic freedom,” Lee wrote. “These findings are now

final, following a determination by the Faculty Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility that the proper process was followed,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. Wax’s history of discriminatory statements has included her claiming that Black students never graduate at the top of the Penn Carey Law class and that “non-Western groups” are resentful towards “Western people.” The sanctions mark the first time in recent

Wharton omits donation totals in annual report following year of backlash

College first year Mert Kayabas elected Class Board 2028 president

See WAX, page 3

Kayabas was elected with 456 votes — more than twice as many votes than runner-up ELEA CASTIGLIONE AND DIAMY WANG Senior Reporters

Prominent donors like Marc Rowan, the chair of Wharton’s board of advisors, publicly announced that they would stop giving in 2023 SHEEN GUPTA Staff Reporter

The Wharton School’s most recent annual donor roll is significantly shorter than previous years and lacks statistics which have been present in past editions. The Donor Honor Roll, which is primarily comprised of a list of donor names and their affiliation to Penn, is released annually and recognizes all individuals who have made gifts, pledges, or pledge payments during the University’s fiscal year. The shortened nature of the 2024 Donor Honor Roll, which is 161 pages — 23 less than its 2023 counterpart — indicates a reduction in Wharton donors over the past 12 months. The 2024 roll consists of donors from July 1, 2023 through June 30 — thereby comprising the entire period of donor backlash against Penn amid concerns of an insufficient respond to antisemitism on campus. The backlash — which was led by Wharton Board See WHARTON, page 4

PHOTO COURTESY OF MERT KAYABAS

College first year Mert Kayabas was elected Class of 2028 president on Sept. 23.

Penn Student Government announced the results of the Class Board 2028 and Undergraduate Assembly elections on Monday morning. College first year Mert Kayabas was elected Class of 2028 president with 456 votes — more than twice as many votes as runner-up and Wharton first year Joel Wang, who received 218 votes. College first year Eddie Mukalazi was elected executive vice

president of the class with 370 votes. Kayabas, who is also a former staffer for The Daily Pennsylvanian, said he is “excited” and “ready” to take on his new role. “I think the people — my peers — trusted me to do a job, and … I’m going to execute [it],” Kayabas said. The Class of 2028 elected College first year Chinmay

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SON NGUYEN | DP FILE PHOTO

Former Penn professor and President Joe Biden said he will return to the Penn Biden Center after leaving office.

Deshmukh as vice president of external affairs, College first year Leo Ding as vice president of internal affairs, and College first year Megan Chan as vice president of finance. In addition to class board, Kayabas ran for the role of student representative in the Undergraduate Assembly, in which there were nine open seats to fill. With 370 votes, he received the most votes out of any student running. However, Kayabas told the DP he withdrew from that race after winning class president. “I think it’s the right thing to do for somebody else to have [the] opportunity to serve in student government, and also to devote all of my time to my role as president, instead of taking out a large chunk of my weekends to get my duties done as new student representative,” Kayabas said. “So I just thought somebody else could have done better at the role right now and put more time into it.” College first years Eddie Mukalazi, Leo Ding, Khushi Patil, Megan Chan, Tanvi Deshmukh, Chinmay Deshmukh, Taya Allardice, and Aidan Shaughnessy — who is also a DP staffer — were elected as new student representatives on the UA. College first year Julia Axler, who had received 10th place in the election, received the position after Kayabas withdrew. College first years Annabel Shic and Alejandra Picon were elected as the College class chairs, and Engineering first year Daniel Ranaudo was elected as the Engineering class chair. Running unopposed, Wharton first year Andreas Petropoulos was elected as Wharton class chair, and Nursing first year Jeongmi Ahn was elected as Nursing class chair. College senior and Nominations and Elections Committee Chair Vincent Lepani highlighted the energy of this year’s candidates and emphasized the importance of encouraging as many Penn undergraduates to vote as possible. “It was really great to see all the candidates campaigning, really involved, and spreading their platforms,” Lepani said. Kayabas said that he looks forward to working with the people in the vice president positions and finding “a community [where] we work together to make other people happy.” “I feel like that’s going to be super rewarding,” Kayabas said.

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