By Dakota Jones, C '17

View photos from the event here, and the DP article here.

On Tuesday night, the Penn Government and Politics Association invited former Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) to speak at Penn. 140 students came to hear the Pryor speak about his experiences as a Southern Democrat; he fielded a multitude of questions about how to fix the American political system, the Democratic Party, and his experiences in the U.S. Senate.

Throughout the session, Pryor repeatedly spoke about the problems that are associated with money and politics. During his initial presentation, he presented a chart of all the different organizations that wealthy donors such as the Koch brothers used to fund candidates during the 2014 election. Pryor stated that there is “so much money out there floating through organizations that voters have no clue about.” 

Pryor also touched on the problems associated with political polarization throughout the session as well. He strongly asserted that the nation is currently too polarized to function, specifically noting that many legislators are afraid that bipartisanship could cost them their jobs. According to Pryor, “The Senate is broken, and the American people know it.”

Overall, I believe that the event was a rousing success because it gave me a chance to hear from a type of politician (a Southern Democrat) that I would never encounter in my home state of Alaska. It was definitely exciting to see him speak at Penn.

GPA kicked off the Fall 2015 semester with a bang Thursday night, hosting an event titled “Leaning In: A Panel Discussion on College Women in Politics.” In addition to the GPA Executive Board, the new GPA Women’s Liaison, Rebecca Heilweil, significantly contributed to the planning and execution of the event. The event was co-hosted by the Penn Women's Center and the Penn Association for Gender Equity — formerly the Penn Consortium for Undergraduate Women.

The panel brought together six women familiar with these issues on a campus-wide scale: Arielle Panitch, Jennifer Knesbach, Yessenia Moreno, Jane Meyer, Avivah Hotimsky, and Dr. Litty Paxton. (You can read the students’ bios here and Dr. Paxton's here.)

Dr. Paxton, the Director of the Penn Women's Center, guided the conversation from the individual scale to the national one, asking poignant questions on various topics ranging from personal background to the role of male peers. The five upperclassman women responded in kind, speaking to their diverse experiences in widely differing settings. Most referenced the tension of leading their respective student groups in light of the default expectation of a leader: a man with his default image, sound, presence, etc. Moreno (of Penn for Immigrant Rights and a former member of the Undergraduate Assembly) was quick to pinpoint intersectionality as an important facet to recognize in this matter, and commented on her own Hispanic identity and desire to run for office in the future.

Dr. Paxton used the concept of the pipeline of women in politics to lead into her question of how the national scene affects each panelist’s local experience. For Meyer, current UA President, the question brought to mind her internship with Senator Gillibrand’s office and its culture of strong professional and political mentorship. In the view of Knesbach, current Political Coalition Co-Chair and Vice President of Penn College Republicans, the low representation of conservative women should not be overlooked, while the idea of a gendered party is outdated and inaccurate. Similarly, Hotimsky, the other PoCo Co-Chair, referenced the discouraging lack of female CEOs on Wall Street, impressed upon her by her finance internships the past summers.

For Panitch, current Legislative Director of Penn Democrats, international women’s issues hit closest to home. As a Persian and Arabic major set on pursuing a career related to foreign service, she spoke of her greatly limited choices of countries in which to study abroad. Given the violence and harassment faced by women in countries like Jordan, she has had to reconsider the future of her political involvement in a region she is passionate about.

By the end of the event, advice for the freshman women in the audience included learning to say no when one is expected to say yes, seeing past the gender barrier to follow one’s passion, and finding a mentor/sounding board for one’s professional and personal development. The panel largely agreed that some level of mandating sexual violence prevention education could be a beneficial way for Penn as an institution to promote gender equality. An audience question on Secretary Clinton’s email scandal inspired Dr. Paxton to ponder whether it was necessary for the one specifically political question to the panel to be about Secretary Clinton, given that the email scandal has been news for weeks now. Another audience question exposed the matter of vocal fright and its professional and feminist implications.

Read The Daily Pennsylvanian’s account of the event here.

By Mitchell Chan, Deputy Director of Public Relations and PPU Press Secretary
March 28, 2015

The past week was perhaps the busiest to date of GPA's existence. For some of us, midday exhaustion, rich dark coffee, and days that dragged later and later into the night became reliable companions. But Penn breeds strong, hearty students, and nothing does that better than government and politics.

Monday, March 23: Former U.S. Congressman Rob Andrews

On Monday night, GPA hosted Rob Andrews, former congressman from New Jersey's 1st congressional district. Andrews' former constituency included Philadelphia's trans­-river neighbor Camden.

No stranger to controversy, Andrews proposed a bill to enhance sanctions against Iran in 2007. During his presentation, Andrews spoke briefly about the latest round of Iranian nuclear negotiations. He was particularly critical of the Senate Republicans' now­ notorious letter to the Iranian government. Andrews views foreign policy (especially diplomatic negotiations) as the President's prerogative. Congress' responsibilities with regards to foreign policy are to oversee and finance; the Senate letter did neither. Whatever his views of the incumbent president, Andrews has great respect for the office of the Presidency (and all it entails). That means supporting the President (or at least not publicly undermining him).

Andrews also spoke about the nationwide decline in political participation and civic engagement. Social media and the Internet, Andrews believes, are the future of American politics. To get more people involved in politics, both the Democrats and the Republicans will have to figure out how to use social media to target specific groups with specific views. The days of primetime TV campaign ads are ending. Strategic online campaigning is rapidly taking its place.

(Read the Daily Pennsylvanian's article here. View pictures from the event, taken by Deputy Director of Public Relations Melissa Tustin-Gore here.)

Tuesday, March 24: D.C. Power Attorney Benjamin Ginsberg

On Tuesday, GPA and College Republicans co-­sponsored a presentation by Benjamin Ginsberg, law partner at Jones Day. Ginsberg, who graduated from Penn in 1974 with a major in history, is a highly respected conservative jurist and recognized as one of Washington's most powerful attorneys. His clients have included state legislatures, congressional campaigns, PACs, numerous elected officials, and the Republican presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. He was a key figure in the aftermath of the 2000 Florida election recount that led to the Bush v. Gore ruling.

Friendly and conversational, Ginsberg spoke at length about the experiences that led him to becoming a top elections lawyer. Having been active on the DP while at Penn, Ginsberg had initially embarked on a post­-graduation career in journalism. He did not decide to get a law degree until he ended up in a workplace situation where knowledge of the law would have been beneficial. He does not regret this indirect path to becoming a lawyer; he feels he got much more out of working his way to that point instead of just going blindly to law school for lack of alternatives. He encouraged all present who were interested in law school to only consider it if
they knew that it genuinely was what they wanted their futures to be.

He had plenty of interesting stories to tell, especially about the 2000 Bush­-Cheney presidential campaign. He explained the restlessness in the campaign office as vote totals were gradually announced, the initial dismay when networks began calling for Al Gore, the excitement when they began calling for Bush, and the worry when the networks went silent as votes in Florida got closer. In an especially memorable anecdote, he said that he had joked earlier with several campaign staffers about how it might feel to walk up the steps of the Supreme Court to present a high­-stakes case. Weeks later, that's exactly what he was doing.

Ginsberg concluded his presentation with an interactive game in which the audience determined which Republican presidential campaign he should work for in 2016. He had quite a few things to say about various potential candidates (note: Lindsey Graham is not his favorite). He observes that never in history have there been so many Republican candidates gunning up for one primary season. The order of primaries (especially South Carolina's) will be especially important this time.

(Ed.: This event was immediately followed by a student debt workshop co-sponsored by GPA and Penn Democrats. The workshop, led by a representative from Philadelphia's own Clarifi, served as a primer to the personal finance workshops the following Friday, which were open to all students who registered.)

Thursday, March 26: Selling Sexual Solace, yay or nay?

On Thursday, the Penn Political Union held its sixth session. The question on the table was the proposed legalization of prostitution. Oh lord.

Opening statements proved the resolution to be divisive. The Liberal and Progressive Caucuses both supported it, while the Conservatives and Libertarians generally opposed (albeit not particularly passionately). Unsurprisingly, the Independents themselves were split down the middle.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of the issue, Speaker Britt Marsh warned she would not tolerate crude, offensive, or inappropriately provocative rhetoric. As a whole, the Union complied. It was, in the words of Klaudia Amenabar, "a professional, nuanced debate."

Two dominant lines of thought emerged. First, there was concern for the working conditions of prostitutes and other sex workers. On this, there were was virtually unanimous agreement that the status quo was unacceptable. Even the conservatives, who tend to oppose increased government regulations, recognized the need for reform on behalf of sex workers' safety, if not their survival. Second, there was talk about the appropriate actions to take in order to protect sex workers. This is where the disagreements began.

The entire evening was subject to live-­tweeting on the PPU Twitter page (@pennunion if you're interested­­--follow it!). Some choice tweets that will forever immortalize both the wisdom and cautious humor of Thursday's debate:

• Speaker Marsh will be tolerating: laughter, passion
• we shouldn't punish people for being good at sex
• I can't choose words today
  
• I can show you the citation if you want.
• a great philosopher once said that great sex is not possible without great books
  

Later in the evening, the Liberal Caucus introduced an amendment to legalize the sale, but not the purchase, of sexual favors. Caucus chair Kyle Grigel and caucus member GPA President Sarah Simon both summarized the amendment as essentially replicating the successful Nordic model of prostitution reform in the United States. This raised concern from the Libertarian and Conservative Caucuses, who were unconvinced that a system designed for small, largely homogenous Scandinavian countries would work in the 300-million-person, multi-­ethnic United States of America. Even a few members of the Progressive Caucus concurred with this point.

The amendment passed with 14 ayes to 13 nays, courtesy of a certain misspoken near-­last vote. Nine people abstained from voting on the amendment (yes, the abstinence joke was made). Ultimately, the resolution to legalize prostitution (with the amendment attached), passed with 22 ayes to 10 nays and 4 abstentions.

As an ending note, special thanks to both everyone who attended all of this week's event and those who had a hand in planning them! You all deserve hard-­earned praise for endurance.

Now stop reading and go to bed!

Dear reader,

We are pleased to introduce our redesigned website, which contains The Party Line, GPA’s new blog for recaps of our events, membership features, and issue spotlights. Thanks for taking the time to check it out! Stay posted here for highlights from our upcoming year. As we look forward to 2015, GPA wants to reflect on the past year and celebrate our successes in 2014. 

Over the past year, GPA hosted three members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Connie Morella, Bart Stupak, and Lou Barletta) along with the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. We organized professor and speaker panels on topics ranging from immigration to organized labor, from public education to local politics. We hosted over 75 events that catered to the different interests of GPA members, whether large events of over 150 attendees, or more intimate gatherings of a few people, usually gathered at the Polybian House for a heated debate — or maybe just a round (or twenty) of Mario Kart.

GPA’s branches grew in size and strength over the past year as well. The Polybian Society enjoyed its first calendar year of existence and nearly tripled its membership in just a year — but as we’ve grown larger, we’ve grown closer and stronger. Polybian has gone from a small group of friends who got together on Thursday nights for fiery debates on politics to a large, yet still tight-knit organization with a mentor-mentee system, housing for members, small themed discussion groups, coffee chats, and much more. 

The Penn Political Union also had an incredibly successful first semester. In our three sessions on tax reform, U.S. intervention in Syria, and universal preschool, we’ve seen raucous debate, cloakroom dealings, epic live tweets, close wins, and even some compromise. After three sessions alone, we have over 100 members, and the caucuses show no signs of slowing down. The PPU is gearing up for a passionate debate about election reform on January 22nd and will continue to grow in the coming months.

Finally, The Spectrum celebrated its first print publication in Fall 2014 and will be producing another publication for Spring 2015. Our columnists produced work on diverse subjects, foreign and domestic, political and social, intellectual and philosophical. Members of Polybian and the PPU also posted content regarding the topics of their debates in the popular Face-off and Last Word columns. With over 15,000 views and 20 columnists in 2014, The Spectrum will continue to be the place where, if you have a thought, you can publish that thought. 

Overall, GPA had a incredibly successful 2014, and if you like the programming and events we’ve done over the past year, have no fear — none of it is going away. As we move into the New Year, GPA is committed to doing what we’ve always done, but doing it better, bigger, and faster. Our new website is just the first of these changes. Over the coming semester, Polybian will continue to host its popular symposia on the first, second, and last Thursday of each month, and as always, membership in Polybian is open to all Penn students. The newly-elected Polybian board has plenty of fresh ideas of ways members new and old can get involved in the Society.

In addition, we hope to strengthen the PPU’s relationships with other political and activist groups on campus in the coming months, making PPU the hub for campus activists to produce legislation on their passion, have their voices heard, and create real change in local, state, and federal government. Finally, we have an exciting lineup of speakers coming to campus this semester — more to come on that later. You can hear more about those events as they approach through our new website, our Facebook page, and our listserv. 

Finally, we want to thank everyone who has made the first two years of GPA possible, including (but certainly not limited to) Imran Cronk, Liam Bobyak, Michael Sklar, Joe Kiernan, Jing Ran, Sasha Klebnikov, Sean McGeehan, John Zeng, Casey Libonate, Nick Zarra, Daniel Colson, Varun Menon, and Louis Capozzi. None of this would be possible without all of your dedication and diligence, and the new leadership of GPA promises to continue your hard work as we look forward to 2015. 

Sincerely,

The Executive Board of Penn GPA

P.S. Hope to see you at our State of the Union Watch Party on January 20th! More information can be found on our Events page.