#the dp

[evergreenshenanigans]

[blaqpanther]

There aren't a lot of things I like more than panoramic shots of Clarke Griffin.

[dreambitten]

*whispers* I want to get forehead kisses from the dp

[nipplesxoxo]

[ernestowens]

We are adding our names to this statement to affirm our commitment to diversity. We believe there is a lack of equality in coverage on minorities, especially when it comes to media and news stories published by The Daily Pennsylvanian (DP). Moreover, when minorities are covered in the paper, they are often not depicted as the multi-faceted individuals they should be depicted as. When was the last time anyone saw a Latino on the front page of the DP for something other than an article on immigration, or a dance performance?

The DP has become especially egregious in its depiction of minorities very recently. On Monday 3/11/2013, the DP published a full-page ad depicting all Muslims as violent, ignorant, and hateful. Would we have stayed silent if they had run an anti-Semitic ad? What if they had printed an ad depicting all blacks as gangsters? While the DP did not create the ad, it chose to run it. In doing so, it enabled a hate group to spread their message and make generalizations about an entire group of people.

This is not the first time the DP has done something of this nature and, unless we act, it will not be the last. This petition goes beyond putting a band-aid on a symptom and hopes to address the underlying disease. We wish to enfranchise and give a voice to students of every race, religion, political ideology, sexual orientation, and gender.

In 1993, 14,000 copies of the DP were trashed by students who were frustrated by the system and wanted to change it. By signing our names on this petition, we are hoping to send a message just as powerful, but we hope to engage the DP as we work (instead of only antagonizing them), in order to ensure that they are hearing our message and to promote an atmosphere conducive to change.

To administrators of the University of Pennsylvania: We recognize that The Daily Pennsylvanian is a separate entity from the University. However, there is a relationship that exists between the two. Administrators generally cooperate with the DP, and the DP has rights that are enjoyed by other student groups-- as well as others not enjoyed by most student groups, such as space in virtually every building on campus. We are asking you to use your influence with the DP to ensure that the cycle of apathy, on the part of the DP, is broken. We are not only students, we are human beings, and we demand to be treated as such. We hope to have you, as the people who run the University of Pennsylvania, among our most ardent supporters.

To the editorial staff at The Daily Pennsylvanian: We are asking you to formally acknowledge the need for diversity and the value added by a wide range of opinions and viewpoints. We are additionally asking you to formally publish a commitment to change for the better, including plans for: recruitment of a more diverse staff, covering stories on minorities that reflect their presence on campus, and specific points to watch out for when considering whether or not to run an ad. Finally, we ask that you not only set these goals, but that you outline steps you will take in order to meet these goals.

[ernestowens]

Beyond an Ad: The Daily Pennsylvanian Needs to be Put in Check

Dear Student Body of the University of Pennsylvania, 

After reading all of the op-eds online (I now refuse to actually read the paper), I have only one question to ask: what are we really going to do about it?

Yes, the ad was despicable. It was malice, ignorant, and showed a side of our campus that we only hoped would not embed into our campus-affiliated media. But now, it has happen. And we are left figuring out why.

I can only assume, but I think it boils down to three major reasons: representation, revenue, and response. 

Representation. Answer this question: How many Muslims are on the board of editors for the DP? How many Muslims are editors and staff writers? If any, I would say less than 5. Representation in the coverage of Muslims have always been an issue I have seen during my time at Penn. One of the last projects I worked on before exiting as Video Producer was a video with the president of the Muslim Student Association about a lecture on Malcolm X. Was this event covered in the DP? Absolutely not. Have hardly any of their events have? Just check the archives. If anything, Muslims have unfortunately gotten the bad rap of being either anti-Pro Israel or exploited as cultural guinea pigs just like Latinos, South Asians, Blacks, and any other minority on campus that does not reflect the majority of their staff. Furthermore, I beg to make the argument that if this ad was a similar attack on Asians or Jews, the ad would not have been published. Rarely have I been on the business side, but being told constantly that I had to consider "the other audience" (that being non-minority) their focus is on that set rather than many of us. 

Revenue. I can only assume that the financial situation at the DP is not too bright. Even though I have stronger proof to make a stronger assertion, I will just rest my logic on this ad. A full page ad costs lots of money. Hundreds. Whomever paid for this ad wanted to make their statement loud and clear and nasty. Mission accomplished. Yet, at what cost do we pay to exploit and discriminate? Have finances become an issue so much that we are willing to disrespect our fellow peers to make a profit? Is it because many of those peers do not look like you and you care nothing about? Actions speak louder than words and allowing a xenophobic organization to place such an expensive ad in your paper means that you somewhat value and acknowledge the message behind it. Objectivity my ass: right is right and wrong is wrong. Yes, we all know the DP is a separate entity of the university. They are not funded by Penn and they are required to stay afloat financially through ads and other promotions. However, they actually stay afloat by the readership and engagement of their peers and to disrespect anyone of that matter causes for grave concern and re-evaluation. Money or manners?: the DP choose the former. 

Response. The DP really haven't made one, and chances are they think they are doing something profound by letting you have your fifteen minutes of fame. All of my campus peers, your guest columns were superb and excellent. You spoke the truth in many capacities far greater than I would have imagined. But once again, we are playing into the game that is the DP, allowing them to control our voices and how we express them. To be quite frank, them publishing our thoughts and labeling it "Your Voice" is just bullshit with the intention of covering their ass. As a campus, we are all preaching to the choir. We all know that ad was deplorable, but the actions by the DP were intentional. Look, we are Ivy League students, we know better. I am not giving them the benefit of the doubt because historically that doubt has been abused time after time after time. Such a similar ad happened a year ago, and the 128th board of the DP made a promise to the Muslim community that it would not happen again. March 11, 2013, it did...and if we don't address this issue as soon as possible, it will happen again in 2014.

Enough is enough. I am tired of seeing members of my community be misquoted, misrepresented, and misunderstood. Dr. King once said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Whether you are a minority or not, we can no longer ignore the lack of diversity and respect that the DP has shown to our fellow peers. When I came to Penn and when I came to the realization that I wanted to work in media, my biggest goal was to help give others a voice and also challenge the system. What the Daily Pennsylvanian have taught me over the past few weeks is that they do not care about the very communities they cater to. Or at least those that are a tad tanner and come from a different religious background or socially economic crowd. 

So if I were Muslim, minority, or someone who wanted this to end: here's what I would do. Boycott. I would not read the DP, and I would not encourage others to as well. I would not allow them to quote me or interview my organization or allow them to even use us for possible exploitation. I would tell my house dean of my college house to figure out a way we can no longer accept them for our residents. I would stop waiting for the DP to make a cheesy ass response and make broken promises and just take matters into my own hands in a safe, respectable and meaningful way. Civil disobedience? Perhaps. I would go to local companies that sponsor the DP and show them the ad and ask them to consider divesting from the organization due to their insensitivity. There are numerous Muslim-affiliated organizations that cater to ads for the DP and if they saw such a despicable image, they most likely would take their business elsewhere. I would then talk to my fellow student organizations and formulate a petition challenging the legitimacy of the paper and what it currently stand for. I would get creative and imagine the idea of an alternative news source for the campus. The possibilities are endless and effective and as the Executive Editor reads this and possibly be enraged, perhaps this would be enough to wake up the staff that have been ordered previously not to respond to such criticism. 

The dictatorship that is the DP rests on our responses. This is beyond an ad. This is bigger than that. Now is the time to make a Goliath be at  the knees of a David. We should expect better from our profiting school paper and realize that a show beats a tell in many ways. Enough talking with "relevant leaders"...the campus at large is relevant to our coverage. 

In closing, it is best that we continue to challenge and pro-actively move this campus forward. I am dedicated to the notion that we express ourselves more freely. However, we should also do so in a way that respect our peers and their communities for we are a larger community that is the University of Pennsylvania. 

Best, 

Ernest Owens

Class of 2014

[ehorkley-blog]

Putting Faces to the Fire

The Daily Pennsylvanian. 1/25/2012.

Robert Cohen was in the Poconos with his family when the fire at Windermere Courts apartments, located at 48th and Walnut streets, erupted on Jan. 10. He watched his apartment complex burn down as it happened on the news.

Cohen received another important piece of information through the news — Windermere residents were being moved into the nearby Alain Locke Elementary School for the night.

Had he not caught the news of the evacuation on television, he wouldn’t have known where to be the next day to receive his security deposit, as well as January’s rent.

The way such security deposits were returned to residents is a matter of controversy. According to JB Farley, a former resident of Windermere, tenants were only given security deposits on a special condition.

“The management company just showed up and they were calling people in one by one to a room with them,” Farley said. “They had checks with their deposits made out, but to get the deposit you had to sign a liability waiver.”

College of Liberal and Professional Studies students and former Windermere residents Katie Shafer and Daniel Gerhart — along with two other Penn students who lost their apartments in the fire — are working with an attorney affiliated with Penn’s Office of Off-Campus Services to get their security deposits back without releasing liability.

The cause of the fire at Windermere has not yet been determined, but former resident Cheryl Robertson has an unsettling theory.

“If you ask me, I really believe that this was an intentional fire set by the owners,” she said, citing the suspect practices involving security deposits and the management’s inaccessibility since the fire.

“They wouldn’t talk to anybody and everything is just so hush hush,” she said.

Former resident Natalie Shaak had a completely different experience. Maintaining a good relationship with her landlords before the fire, Shaak was able to reach the management, and believes she will be receiving her security deposit shortly.

“A lot of those people are very angry, and they want to find somebody to blame,” Shaak added.

Robertson is also dissatisfied with the Red Cross’ efforts to help Windermere’s former tenants.

Having received a total of $150 in aid, as well as a $300 voucher for the Salvation Army from the Red Cross, she doesn’t believe the amount to be enough for her own and her daughter’s needs.

Dave Schrader, director of communications for the Southeast Pennsylvania division of the Red Cross, offers a possible explanation for Robertson’s complaint.

“There is a formula that we base the amounts we give to people on, and it’s based on what they lost, the number of people in their family, and what they need,” he said.

He further added that the Red Cross’ duty is to replace basic necessities lost for the victims of disasters, not to replace everything they owned.

“It’s not an insurance policy,” he said.

Farley, in contrast, was pleased with the Red Cross’ response.

“I was amazed that they showed up while the fire was still going,” he said, adding that he was also impressed with the speed with which the Red Cross assessed victims’ needs the next day.

As an organizer of several clothing drives — one of which took place Jan. 17 at Local 44, a University City bar located at 44th and Spruce streets — Farley has been happy with the public support he has received thus far. Donations were so great at Local 44 that the drive was shut down early because the organizers could not accommodate any more clothing.

Shafer received an outpouring of support from the Penn community, especially from members affiliated with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. An e-mail addressing Shafer’s loss was circulated throughout the Penn community, resulting in a number of personal donations.

She advises students who want to help victims of the Windermere fire to go to www.helpthewindermere.blogspot.com, a donation website moderated by Farley.

Gerhart has not been so lucky in terms of donations. He cites his large clothing size as being a factor in not being able to benefit from clothing drives.

Furthermore, with respect to on-campus aid, Gerhart said, “I really don’t know where to go in terms of where the clothes and donations would be.”

Farley is working on establishing a non-profit charity to raise money for the victims of the fire, but in the meantime, he urges laymen to donate to the Red Cross.

Schrader echoes this advice.

“The money that we get from donations is used to help folks in the next major disaster,” he said. “And unfortunately, there will be another one.”