As the summer winds down and we prepare to return to the fifth best place in the universe (we’ll be back to reclaim our spot next year), we begin to remember all the fun we’ve had over the past year(s). Fall Fest. Amy’s holiday parties. Spring Fling. That time Gretchen tried to make “fetch” happen.
Taking a leaf out of Columbia’s Bwog, we think it’s in the interest of the 2014-ers to culturally and socially enlighten them by sharing our craziest NSO experiences. Got a great story? Something you wish you had known before you came to Penn? Send it in, and we’ll post the best ones before orientation!
Unrelated, yet true (I think)
This past Thursday, scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute announced that they’d engineered a self-replicating bacterial cell using “off the shelf” chemicals and entirely synthetic ingredients. In the words of the Washington Post, they “creat[ed] life from scratch.” Zounds!
On its face, this seems pretty exciting (science! wow!), but it apparently poses a few ethical concerns – skeptics say that this new process presents new opportunities for a super-potent new set of biological weapons. Even though many have already written off the potential for a major threat, this crappy, mean use could possibly weigh out the associated benefits of, say, providing manufactured bacteria to “digest pollutants or produce fuels.” But where’s the Penn connection? Find out after the jump.
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A tipster snapped this pic of A-Gut surrounded by her adoring legion of followers before Commencement. We salute you, Amy, for daring to sit on Penn’s oldest/most expensive urinal. Hopefully that fancy robe will get washed before the prez breaks it out again next year.
This morning, the 2011 class board announced that voting on Hey Day t-shirt designs is underway. With 15 designs to choose from, this year’s crop has got a lot to offer.
But, what’s with this facade of democracy the board is presenting? In an e-mail to the class listserve, President Adam Behrens wrote, “final vote tallies will not be the final deciding factor in the selection of the design winner, and thus the website will not limit voting to one vote per person.” No one person-one vote! That’s a little Boss Tweed, if you ask us. Whatever, the designs are still untainted, and you can vote for your favorite one (or four) here. Voting ends this Friday, March 26, and design submissions will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis until this Thursday at midnight.
Some commentary on a few of the designs after the jump.
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What could be better than free snacks, hot chocolate, a second snow day and a little Amy G.? Honestly, we’re stumped.
Join our fine president (and her giiirl Leah, duh) for all of the above in Commons from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. today.
Happy N-S-Snow!
Today Amy Gutmann sent out a year-end economic update email to all of Penn’s undergrads. As per usual, it’s a bit lengthy, so here are the highlights:
- The university has saved $56.2 million this year, about $12 million of which has been saved since Gutmann’s last email in August.
- Penn’s endowment lost the least proportionally to its peers.
- Spending on need-based undergraduate grants increased by $20 million, or 19%.
- The tuition increase for 2009-10 was the lowest it has been in 41 years.
There is also mention of all the cool stuff Penn is building (Penn Park, the new nanotech building) and the cool stuff Penn profs are doing (did you know that researchers have been awarded $163.4 million for 303 projects… and counting?). Plus, Marshall Scholar Josh Bennett and Rhodes Scholar Sarah-Jane Littleford get shoutouts.
See the email in full after the jump.
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It’s pretty apparent that we at UTB have a thing for Amy Gutmann. We just do. And one of our favorite things about Amy is her ability to throw sicknasty parties, with her holiday party (you know, the one that’s held at her house!) being the most epic. Take a journey with us as we show you the highlights from this year’s affair.
Um, OMG. This tree is beautiful, and look at all the presents! We wonder if any of those are for Michael or Leah.
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Couldn’t wait to schmooze at President Gutmann’s house tonight? Neither could she! El Presidente stopped by Hillel’s “Hanukkasino” event to pregame her own holiday party and light the menorah. After a rousing cry of “Chag Sameach!” (which we’re assuming is Hebrew for “you’re the most talented and diverse mix of dreidel-spinners we’ve ever seen”), she gracefully departed to her totally decked-out pad.
It looks like Obama is continuing on his Penn kick with the appointment of Amy Gutmann to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. And oh yeah, she’s going to the commission’s chairwoman. Best birthday present EVER.
Today is Amy Gutmann’s birthday, and we here at UTB want to wish her a very happy day of birth. We apologize for taco snafus of weeks past, and look forward to another year of Photoshop and holiday parties.
Leave your own birthday wishes for Amy in the comments!
You guys are the best. You’re tipping and you’re commenting and you’re making this button the best place to be under. But here’s something that one of you did that was not great! Somebody said their name was Amy Gutmann and commented on our Coup de Taco review:
I had the sweet thai coconut chicken and it was delicious. Peanut sauce had a nice zing. However, I thought they were a little skimpy on the chicken.
Well, whoever wrote that was not Amy, and according to one tipster, here’s what happened next:
“The Coup de Taco guys brought tacos to Amy Gutmann’s office with a note saying something to the effect of ‘sorry the taco was skimpy, hope this one is better.’ Amy Gutmann’s office was quite confused why they had tons of Coup de Taco food.”
Whaaat? She’s so lucky! We’re wondering why the Coup guys would send chicken over based strictly on a UTB comment rather than, say, what they saw with their own eyes. She’s a total celeb! They must know her face, right?
But still, you guys need to stop impersonating people! We can’t approve those comments anymore and we want to be approving comments all the time. Just stick to “anonymous,” fictional characters, and maybe even your own names and we can all hold cyber-hands and internet-dance and have a great, great time all the time. Exception: comments that could get free tacos delivered to UTB headquarters. That would be fine and tasty.
In a move similar to the nerd-land conquests, Penn laid claim to 24 acres of land between Walnut and Spruce Street. Once serving as some US Postal Service thing, it then became some place east of campus that no one ever really thought about. Until now. Because we’re getting a park!
Set for A-Gut to break ground November 6th (how do you break ground on a park?), the lofty vision for Penn Park includes such things as sprint football turf, a softball stadium, new tennis courts, and “multi-purpose artificial fields (one enclosed by a seasonal air structure).” Tree-lined raised walkways and plenty of scenic Schuylkill River photo ops will almost make visitors forget they’re cozying up to the Amtrak and SEPTA lines that run through the area.
If you can’t wait until the projected 2011 completion to pack your picnic basket, fear not! There’s a really cool website where you can e-frolick to your hearts’ content, as well as look at the other projects in Penn’s pipeline (i.e. a new College House!?). Everything there seems legit, except one suspicious image. What is this, a park for ants!?
We have this running feature in Street called Overheard At Penn. If you’re a regular reader, you know that like 4 out of 5 are about what’s wrong with the education system and how we can fix it.
The Wall Street Journal must be reading all the time, because they noticed it’s a big deal at Penn. We guess it’s kind of our “thing.” So they asked our girl Amy to speak about that subject with Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, and Christopher Edley Jr., dean of the law school at the University of California at Berkeley.
Check here for a video of the panel and an edited transcript of the discussion. Lots of interesting stuff – there’s even a mention of Sputnik!
While her take on Legally Blonde really got us talking, MJ wasn’t the only freshman who made a campaign video this year. In fact, they’re all over the place. The approach makes a lot of sense, considering that we would never vote for someone until we had a good feel for his or her ability to rewrite and perform (or recruit friends to perform) a popular song from two plus years ago. Can you even fathom the repercussions of electing someone who does not possess a mastery of the name-rhyme-centric chorus? We shudder to think.
So vote responsibly, students, by checking out four campaign videos, scored using our very own meaningless point system, after the jump.
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Penn thinks pink. Amy thinks, "Oh god, what do I do with my hands?"
We’ll be the first to admit that we’re sometimes a little hard on Wharton. And we’ll probably be around the…oh 23rd or 24th to admit that some of the claims we have made or supported are not 100% deserved, 100% of the time. The suggestion that business students are severely lacking in the “soul” department, for example, has us feeling a little bad today. But that’s just because Wharton Women (in conjunction with a ton of Penn student groups) is bringing together these three things:
1. Cupcakes
2. The Color Pink
3. A Good Cause
It’s like a recipe for a smile! The initiative, called Penn Thinks Pink, is an effort to raise awareness of breast cancer along with $5,000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. To help achieve these goals, the illustrious cupcake truck will be returning to campus from 12-2 in support of the event. Get there before they sell out (That means exactly at noon. YESTERDAY). Later, at 6:30 in Huntsman, Komen Foundation President and CEO Hala Moddelmog will deliver a keynote address. Tickets are available for $5 on the walk or at the door.
We will most definitely revert back to our Whartonizing ways soon. But definitely not until after we’ve eaten a cupcake for a good cause.
For more details about the event, check out the press release after the jump.
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