University of Pennsylvania controversies
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[edit] Water buffalo incident
The 1993 water buffalo incident concerned a Penn student who was charged with violating Penn's racial harassment policy for shouting "Shut up, you water buffalo" from his dorm window to a crowd of noisy, mostly-black sorority sisters. Dispute raged over whether or not "water buffalo" was a racial epithet and also whether the university ought to prohibit racially offensive speech. After national media attention, including a Doonesbury cartoon, the women agreed to drop charges.[1] and [2]
[edit] Photography and the First Amendment
In the fall semester of 2005, two University of Pennsylvania undergraduate students were unknowingly photographed as they had sex against one of the windows of a sixteenth floor dorm room in Hamilton College House (now named Rodin College House). The photographer, who shot the photos from Harrison College House, was another University of Pennsylvania undergraduate student and the photos he shot were posted on the web. The story was picked up by the local and national media and the controversial photograph was published in The Daily Pennsylvanian and other local newspapers. Penn originally intended to press charges against the photographer through the Office of Student Conduct, and the photographed student threatened to sue[citation needed]. With the assistance of Professor Alan Kors all charges were eventually dropped. The event sparked heated debate over First Amendment rights and how the private university would respond in light of its own declared commitment to the rights of its students and faculty.[1]
[edit] Halloween Incident
On October 31, 2006, a student attended president Amy Gutmann's annual Halloween Party dressed as a suicide bomber. Gutmann claims that she unknowingly posed for pictures with the student. She has received harsh criticism for this act, spurring a debate among Penn alumni regarding whether or not Gutmann's actions were tolerable.[3]
