penndisorientationguide

Penn’s Pipeline to White Collar Crime

Huntsman Hall, the home of the Wharton School of Business.

While highlighting the accomplishments of its most notable entrepreneurs at every chance, the University seemingly overlooks the white collar crimes of graduates using a Penn education for selfish gain.

Penn and the Climate Crisis: A System of Destruction for Profit

Penn is a business first, and an educational institution distantly second. That means, however, that as a researcher, an investor, a pipeline of money and talent, and a power player in Philadelphia politics, Penn’s environmental impact is massive, and is more than just the carbon it burns.

Resources for FGLI Students: From Professional Connections to Textbook Access

We’ve compiled a set of resources that FGLI students can use to make their transition to Penn as seamless as possible.

Nurses as Cops: Penn Nursing Teaches Complicity, Not Care

We need the number one nursing program in the country to teach the truth about mandated reporting. Nurses and providers must resist demands to ensnare our patients in the criminal legal system for seeking healthcare. We cannot wash our hands of state violence when we hold the power to report.

Keeping Cops Out of Mental Health

Students and community members who are most impacted by policing know that care means more resources, not more cops. It is a deliberate choice by the administration to fund policing over initiatives that actually promote safety. We don’t want Penn’s co-responders. Our communities need housing, just compensation, and accessible, police-free mental healthcare.

Defanging Radicals

Penn continuously undermines its own students and community members to preserve its institutional power. Here are some of their strategies, so you can name and successfully oppose them…

Say NO to the arena in Chinatown!

Chinatown faces an existential threat from the proposed development for the 76ers stadium. While the billionaire developers, all with strong ties to Penn, still try to charge full steam ahead, residents, business owners, and visitors alike are organizing fervently against the development.

A History of Displacement: Penn’s Broken Promises to the Black Residents of “University City”

A mosaic of a map of West Philadelphia's Black Bottom neighborhood.

As Penn’s endowment grows to over $20 billion and develops real estate across the city, tens of thousands of Philadelphians are struggling to find housing, turning to friends for shelter or living on the street. Penn is not just complicit in this violent inequity; it is one of its foremost perpetrators.

A Case of Institutional Failure: Penn’s Response to COVID-19

A white girl in a mask and a winter jacket stands at a table in one of the COVID testing tents on Penn's campus.

For many, the pandemic was a breaking point: watching those with power and wealth profit while everyday people lost their jobs and their lives spurred many into radical action. Had the people leading our institutions taken the right steps to save lives instead of protecting their reputations and profits, thousands of lives could have been saved. Penn is no exception, and activists and community members have had to fight fiercely to hold the University accountable.

Understaffed, Underfunded, Unsupported: Medical Services at Penn

Penn’s Student Health Services (SHS) is supposed to support students in both their physical and mental well-being However, changes in accessibility, insurance policies, and the quality of mental health services raise concerns regarding its commitment to student wellness.