Guest Columns

Guest Column by Jay Chung | A magnolia for North Korea?

It seems as though the international community’s unspoken desire is for North Korea to be within its realm of control. It needs North Korea to be predictable, or else, it is simply labeled crazy.North Koreans are not crazy. They are being human.

Guest column by Jonelle Lesniak | Why I can’t leave Penn saying that I loved it

If we carry a competitive, self-seeking and elitist mentality with us into society, we will find it affecting our relationships with colleagues, friends and all sorts of others.

Guest column by Jennifer Toth | Clinicals — to me, they mean everything

Unless you’ve spent 12-hour shifts caring for critically ill patients or have yourself been one of those patients, I would ask you not to jump to the conclusion that our clinical experiences are meaningless. 

Guest column by Hector Kilgoe and Ana Schwartz | Breaking-Up with the Idea of the Friend

To define a “friend” goes against the grain of what is so rich and valuable about friendships — qualities like flexibility, pliability and resilience.

Guest column by Noah Feit and Uriel Epshtein | Ivy Plus Leadership Mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories

My partners and I believe that this trip will serve to temper the polarized dialogue that currently characterizes the conversation about Israeli-Palestinian issues at Penn. Through the mission, we hope to create a space for nuanced discussion on the United States’ role in the Middle East.

Guest column by Alyssa Dickinson, Joyce Kim, Conor Nickel and Yamini Nabar | Hungry for impact

Penn is full of noteworthy initiatives. But we would like to highlight one in particular: Penn Dining and Bon Appetit’s efforts to work with students to implement a food recovery program.Starting this fall, our dining services providers, Penn Dining and Bon Appetit, will establish a program that transfers food unable to be consumed at dining halls to a local hunger relief agency.

Guest column by Alina Liu | Let's talk about social justice: Brandeis’ decision on Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Through her years of advocacy work, various death threats have been made toward Ayaan Hirsi by religious extremists because of her outspoken style against Islam.

Guest column by Sam Janney | Syringe exchange saves lives

An IDU will inject drugs an average of 1,000 times per year. That is 1,000 opportunities to contract HIV or HCV.  

Guest column by Chelsea Keeler | Affirmative action today

Here’s the catch. Intelligence isn’t the biggest predictor of test scores — it’s socioeconomic status. Critics of affirmative action base their arguments on a completely faulty standard.

Guest column by Devan Spear | Making justice fashionable

I, like many Penn students, own clothing produced by VF Corporation. Every backpack I’ve owned since middle school has been a JanSport, and I love a warm North Face jacket as much as anyone else. As consumers of VF apparel and as Penn students, we are in a unique position to stop VF from getting away with this injustice.

Guest column by Jeremiah Keenan | Majoring in Wikipedia at the University of Google

As far as incentives are concerned, your teacher is a research scientist who works as a part-time proctor.

Guest column by Xavier Flory | Could the real Gabe Delaney please stand up?

Delaney enjoys the process of politics and admires the rhetoric of the greatest presidents of the past, but even a short conversation with him shows that he is informed and cares about the issues facing the Penn community.

Guest column by Ariel Koren and Jesus Perez

Penn needs a student body president who is equipped to work tirelessly to solve the aforementioned problems, and UA presidential candidate Joyce Kim has the track record, the vision, the relationships and the commitment that it takes.

Guest column by Donald Joseph | More than just wins

Jerome Allen's primary goal - like the goal of the legendary coach he played for, Fran Dunphy - is to produce, as much as he can, fine young men. 

Guest column by Allyson Zucker

We think that by taking our problems lightly-by turning our insecurities into just another competitive game, we can minimize whatever is really going on.

Guest Column by Braden Amundsen, Imran Cronk, William Dossett, Robert Lundquist, and Jordan Rodnizki | A call to the Class of 2016

As a student body and administration, we are letting other things hold our attention, topics of lesser importance. We’re silencing this issue, letting the very real threat of sexual violence on this campus slip back under the radar.

Guest Column by Rob Gurnee and the Christian Association Student Board | A third way

The Penn community needs different expressions of Christianity and the DP needs to do its part in understanding the richness of the faith landscape at Penn when writing on the subject.

Guest Column by Micah Sandusky, Jeremiah Keenan, Hannah Victor and Faith Concepcion | An Anchored Hope

Like Ravi, we need rationally grounded answers to maintain hope through the ups and downs of life.