Wharton Students Assigned Personal GSRs to Encourage Social Distancing This Fall

As Penn looks to try to bring as many students back on campus as possible in the fall, the Wharton School has announced a new renovation project in Huntsman Hall that will establish numerous new group study rooms. Now, instead of students booking out an entire GSR to cry and fall asleep in, they will each be assigned their own personal study pod. 

Each room entrance will have a gold placard engraved with the student’s name and their associated fraternity or sorority. Inside, an array of snacks and amenities will be provided. A pull-out couch and individual bathroom are also included so that the Wharton student never has to feel the need to leave their bubble. They can remain fully immersed in their studies, filling out excel sheets for thirty minutes each day before preparing for their next “networking” BYO or party that evening. 

When asked whether this was the best use of university resources, Penn administration stated that “the health and comfort of our Wharton School students is of the utmost concern. We’ve been receiving numerous requests over the years to shield our business students from interacting with the common folk of the other schools. Our social distancing plan for the fall finally gives us a proper reason to set this up. Wharton students will have minimal reason to leave their GSRs and will find that less cross-contamination with other non-business students will improve their overall experience.”