Penn stole our senior year over the common cold

    Surprise, surprise: Academia, fragile. I was willing to look the other way until their anal-retentive coronavirus craze culminated in cancelling the only senior year I'll ever have.

    coronavirus cancels senior year
    Penn cancels Class of 2020's senior year over the common cold: We may never coalesce on College Green as undergraduates again. We will certainly miss Final Toast. We will never get back some of the finest of memories we were destined to make during a good, natural, senior year in person. It is time to consider the costs of the coronavirus cancellation craze. (Image from archive)

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: Several readers have alerted me to the possibility that one could take this column to mean COVID-19 is not potentially deadly. In case you have not heard, the novel coronavirus is literally not the same as your average common cold. As you know, it is a deadlier, more contagious relative. If you were somehow unaware of this, please bring yourself up to date by reading up over at the CDC’s website, and promptly resume living under a rock to prevent getting others sick. My point there, as in the rest of the column, was to ridicule Penn and other trend-setters for reacting to a moderate (though important) danger as if it were the apocalypse. The university has since added further credence to this claim by kicking international and graduate students out of their homes, threatening students, and diluting the quality of a Penn education. After stockpiling supplies and beginning to develop treatments, vaccines, and herd immunity, it will be time for society to return to a semblance of normalcy. That Penn left open no possibility of doing so before the summertime suggests a disproportionately sensitive aversion to risk.

    Our alma mater’s response to coronavirus is officially over-the-top. I was willing to look the other way until the anal-retentive cancellation craze culminated in robbing us of the only senior year we’ll ever have.

    In case you missed it, epidemiological events since January have proven President Trump wildly correct. Correct to distrust supply chains that rely on volatile China for stability, correct to peg foul-playing Xi Jinping as a threat to the global economy, correct to lock down control of national borders.

    Here we are in no-man’s land again. “Trump the victor” territory again.

    Ivy League administrators reacted by pulling out their probably-faux-blonde hair—it hurt less than seeing Bad Orange Man get it right for the umpteenth time—and cancelling literally everything.

    NCAA entry tournament? Yale (men) and Princeton (women) each crowned without a fight.

    Classes, extracurriculars, service opportunities, guest lectures for intellectual enrichment? Cancelled; cancelled and a half; double cancelled; maybe next year.

    All of this would be nothing to me. Water under the bridge, just another hypersensitive overreaction from the hippie-millennial coalition that has long colluded to fragilize my classmates and me, one last shrill email to neglect before we get to walk our campus one last triumphant time.

    That is, if our beloved university had not just ripped senior year right out from under our feet.

    President Gutmann, Provost Pritchett, Dr. Dubé, and company have contacted us via email—yes, another coronavirus update message—to share their decision to extend spring break by a week, discourage cavorting about campus or really visiting the neighborhood at all, suspend university-related social engagements, and push all classes online until the end of the semester.

    Read: until my classmates and I are no longer Quakers.

    No last walks to class, whistling down Locust Walk on an unseasonably warm spring morning. No last chance to get bombarded by Mask and Wig flyers, no last chance to turn down the weird Yoga people trying to sell us the Bhagavad Gita (Have you ever tried meditation?), no last chance to step defiantly on the Compass before our last exams in our last classes at Penn.

    No Final Toast on Hey Day, no last Spring Fling, probably no Walnut Walk—maybe no Senior Week at all.

    Will we even get to walk in graduation? (Edit: That’s a “nope” followed rapidly by a “please attend a substitute ceremony over 2020 Alumni Weekend,” which may or may not actually occur within the calendar year.)

    Look—I understand the university, and her comparables in the League and across the state, act out of an abundance of caution. I am glad they are on high alert, and I am optimistic about the health of our nation when I see so many disparate players show such commitment to coordinate containment of infectious disease. I will even permit that I might be a young, otherwise-healthy, privileged asshole for wanting to live out the final days of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to attend the school of my dreams in person.

    I don’t care. I’m seething.

    I opened my Penn years writing columns to point out that Trump was shockingly pretty correct on policy, and to lampoon special snowflakes for being all too fragile. It looks like I will close it doing the same.

    I wish 2020 did not reek of 2016.

    I wish the economy and the academy were not so easily incapacitated by the common cold.

    I wish President Gutmann had heard the COVID-19 mortality rates in the U.S. were just above 0.1 percent, very similar to the seasonal flu, and acted like it.

    (Note: A few readers have raised issue with the approximate fatality rate I cite above. These objectors claim that to quote federal officials who have estimated that the U.S. death rate lies between 0.1 and 1 percent is to spread “medical misinformation.” On the contrary, the “just above 0.1 percent” figure is based on reasonable estimates and is probably accurate considering many asymptomatic carriers have gone undetected so far. Should the true rate be proven not to fall between 0.1 and 1 percent, then I will publicly admit error.)

    I wish all the emails said to simply observe standard hygiene during cold and flu season, and I wish we could teach our students how to weigh odds prudently and face relatively modest risks with a little virtuous courage.

    I wish senior year were not cancelled.

    I wish I weren’t seething.

    Maybe I should try meditation.

    This post was last updated on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 at 12:53 a.m.

    115 COMMENTS

        • Yes, and let’s keep it that way–by continuing to socially distance and practice good hygiene, by canceling mass gatherings and other places where “superspreading” events can happen, by ramping up testing, and by taking other radical measures to keep the death toll from rising.

          • Taylor
            USA Flu Season Numbers
            —2017-2018–
            900,000 hospitalized
            80,000 deaths
            Nothing shut down…Fauci?
            Stock Market at 24,000

            —2018-2019 Oct thru May—
            647,000 hospitalized
            61,200 DEAD
            NOTHING shut down…Fauci?
            Stock Market at 26,000 points.

            —2019-2020–
            (Oct – Feb 29th – 3 months to go per CDC)
            36 MILLION flu illnesses
            370,000 hospitalizations
            22,000 DEATHS including 144 children.
            NOTHING shut down …Fauci ?
            Stock Market zoomed to 29,551

            —COV19 Numbers As of 3/18/2020–
            5,881 cases and 107 deaths
            Stock Market has plunged 10,000 points
            Everyday American life has screeched to standstill.
            Chicken Little Fauci is in total panic mode.
            Why?!

            • Ever hear of something called “exponential growth”? COVID-19 has a higher r_0 than flu. It has a higher death rate, as well (just divide the number of deaths by the number of total cases for COVID-19 so far, versus the 2019-2020 flu season, if you’re not convinced). It will have an even higher death rate as healthcare systems become saturated and we start to run out of beds, ventilators, etc.

              Copy-pasting from my below comment:

              A recent study by the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team suggested that an unmitigated spread of the virus could result in as many as 80% of the population infected and 2.2 million American deaths. That’s about five times as high as the number of Americans who died in World War II. See: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

              Personally, I take the lukewarm and uncontroversial stance that diseases that stand to kill hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people should be vigorously combated with every tool at our disposal. Don’t you agree?

            • —2019-2020–
              (Oct – Feb 29th – 3 months to go per CDC)
              36 MILLION flu illnesses
              370,000 hospitalizations
              22,000 DEATHS including 144 children.

              22,000/36,000,000 = .06%
              corona as of 02/21 according to WHO:
              11,000/266,000 = 4.1%

              4.1% of 36,000,000? 1,476,000 DEATHS

            • 36 million cases with 22K deaths = 0.06% death rate. 5881 cases with 107 deaths = 1.8% death rate. And there’s no guarantee we’ll see only 36 million cases. If you were a math major, you should demand a tuition refund.

            • I just wanted to point out that Italy’s confirmed case rate today rose by “only” 10.4%, as opposed to yesterday’s, which rose by 14%, or March 9th’s, which rose by 26%. So the social distancing in Italy is beginning to have a desired effect. For fans of calculus, the derivative of the curve is decreasing, even though the slope of the curve is still positive. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that doesn’t include our buddy Dom.

            • Great rant, at least you got to experience campus life for 3 years. What about all the kids who will never have the opportunity for scholarships and possibly miss out on higher education completely? This “rant” is embarrassing.

            • The speed and effectiveness that corona spreads means that it could eventually get to almost everybody and kill millions, even with the lower mortality rate. Also, it’s not logical to compare a completed flu season really with corona season, which is just beginning

          • Taylor, it’s pointless debating with a demagogue with an autist’s predilection for cherry-picking statistics. Speaking as a professional statistician, this person has literally ZERO idea what he is talking about. Yes, some random person on the internet can outthink the world medical community, CDC, etc., citing stock market numbers in support.

            But thanks for trying. It’s nice to read someone sensible here, instead of Trump Fanboys.

        • Do you always compare the final score of a baseball game to the 1st inning of the following game? Of course you don’t, because that’s a stupid, disingenuous comparison. You can’t compare the end result of flu season to the very beginning of the Coronavirus.

          Also, you can’t compare them because THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. COVID-19 is NOT the flu. Anyone who compares it is an idiot and broadcasting their ignorance to the world. It’s mortality rate is anywhere from 10x-40x higher than the seasonal flu.

        • yes, 12 months of the flu has killed more than 3 months of this virus. Id we did not act however that would not be the case in 9 months, as we would have vastly more deaths than this. It was a good thing what Penn did, not a bad thing.

        • Michael.
          Pay attention.
          Covid19 is spreading so exponentially fast, it is overwhelming health facilities.
          Do you want your grandfather to be denied care, because services are so overwhelmed that they have to choose between him, and someone younger with a higher potential of survival? That is already happening in some areas of the US.
          Try to be smarter.

      • Seriously, what is Dominic majoring in, finger painting? It can’t be anything related to math or science. Just… Wow. Hey Dom, stay away from Las Vegas… Stats, not your strong suit.

    1. This piece is extremely disheartening, ignorant, and uninformed. As a fellow senior, I sympathize with your disappointment of senior year being taken away, but it is selfish of you to believe that this is the common cold. We are social-distancing and taking precautions so that we can stop the spread of the coronavirus. The idea that you would risk other people’s lives because of your own selfish wants and needs is upsetting. As we have seen in Italy, this virus is not something to take lightly, recording 475 deaths in one day. The elderly and other people at risk would suffer even more if we did not take necessary precautions. With China on the decline, the United States can only hope that they will learn from their mistakes.

      I hope you enjoy your postgrad life, you pretentious prick.

        • Says the one who got their fee-fees hurt ’cause they’re not allowed to have any more frat parties. I’d tell you to go home and cry to your mommy, but then you’d probably be putting her at risk (on top of her having to put up with your little bitch fit). Now quit being a little baby and deal with it like a man.

        • Isn’t a snowflake the reactive over sensitive self centered person? That would be you Michael.

          The rest of us understand that we have extreme mathematical limits to our medical system in America, we understand that Italy is a week ahead of us, and that they are letting people die in hallways because they don’t have enough icu rooms, ventilators, and that they have more per person than we do.

          The only snowflake here is you sweetheart.

          The rest of us are stoically putting up with our disappointment, stoically dealing with our grief about lost opportunities, senior year and not being able to walk and thesis shows and debates and so on.

          Ever hear of a stiff upper lip? It used to be and ivy attribute. You should look it up.

      • I wouldn’t get too angry at him. He’s going to have to spend the rest of his life knowing that whenever anyone googles his name they get this turd of an article which is only going to age worse and worse as time goes by and makes him look like an ignorant, self-centered, psychopathic monster who cared more about his senior year than the millions of Americans who lost their lives to COVID19. Dude basically screwed up his entire life in order to echo a Trump talking point that everyone knew was false when he said it.

        Good job, Dominic! Way to demonstrate that education doesn’t work on everyone.

      • Because WSJ is just a libtard shill site, dontya know?

        It’s POINTLESS arguing with people like this. They’re convinced everything is set up to defeat Trump. Unreal.

    2. What a selfish generation! Have you ever considering of your father and grandfather generation suitation under this virus? it is your generation’s 911, and that is how you deal with it?

      • NPR reported 53% of hospital beds are filled with infected young adults. This isn’t just my generation’s epidemic, although I agree it will kill more of us than you.

    3. You might get an undergraduate degree from an ivy league school but as human being your worth is zero.
      Clearly your superficial personality focuses more on a meaningless “toss” than the importance of a human being life and the safety of others. Considering that all you care about is a graduation ceremony, it is good that you won’t get it.
      If that it is what upsets you the most in this hard times, I pity you for such a lack of basic sensibility and respect.
      And yes, for sure you are a privileged asshole

      Also, educate yourself. You don’t have to look at the raw numbers to say “this kills more than that” but you need to look at the percentage.

    4. the regular flu will not kill more people more ppl in USA than Corona virus in the whole world. It is projected that without any safety measure it would 10x worse.

      Your whole state is being mandated to shut down by the governor isn’t it?
      Does that sound like a common cold issue?

    5. “I’m seething” sure ok bro. Stop whining and thinking solely about yourself and your “robbed” senior year. Such a selfish childish rant from broadcast from such an esteemed institution, perhaps you’re not ready for graduation Doninic?

    6. Your writing ability tells me you didn’t absorb your education properly, regardless of your misinformed nature about a global pandemic.

      Read: you’re such a terrible writer. You don’t seem to have earned a fun senior year.

    7. Oh yay…writing another school featuring entitled jerks off of DDs short list. Between sophmoric and ‘Michael’ and self-absorbed Dominic, Penn admissions professionals have some soul-searching to do.

      • Michael, maybe some fine day you can hold Trump’s little hand and take that Walnut Walk together, stepping on each walnut and talking about your shared rage and entitlement issues. Isn’t that a lovely dream?

    8. Let me tell you about all the times in the last 20 years I have wistfully thought of those last walks through campus. Maybe as many times as I have thought of my senior prom.
      Welcome to reality snowflake. Grow a pair of ovaries and move on.

    9. Wow, such ill-informed, self-important drivel coming from a college student! Your years in college should have been used to educate yourself on how things really work instead of maintaining your myopic, MAGA-inspired, limited world view. The truth of the matter is that the United States lacks the testing capacity that would potentially reveal how much of a problem COVID-19 really is. The blame for that one lies squarely at the foot of the POTUS who not only refused testing kits offered by the WHO, so that one of his rich buddies could develop a test that POTUS could profit off of, but ignored the situation until state governors took actions to protect their populations. These governors’ actions made it all but impossible for POTUS to keep ignoring the potential problem facing our country. Add to the fact that, in 2018, POTUS shuttered this nation’s pandemic response team, despite the fact that, during the presidential transition before his inauguration took place, Trump’s team was fully briefed about the threats that infectious diseases could pose to the public health and the health of our economy.

      You choose to ignore the potential problems COVID-19 could cause to our society, and that is your right. It is my right, however, to inform you of how erroneous you are and the potential damage that your point-of-view, when exposed to impressionable people, could ultimately cause. To any detractors reading this response: I am not being alarmist; I am just being a realist.

      It is downright irresponsible to downplay the situation, when we really don’t know how bad the situation is.

    10. I suggest that you wander over to fark dot com and read thread comments slash 10751522.

      In short, people think that you should ask for the tuition that you spent back, since you obviously didn’t learn much of anything.

      I also hope that you’re not in a profession that directly impacts another person’s life. Your ability to think critically, and thus solve a non-textbook problem appears to be completely lacking. I’m basing this assessment on your horrific writing skills.

    11. Three bankruptcies = great businessman. Three marriages and multiple affairs = moral example. Draft dodging and mommies doctors note = patriot. Son-in-law and daughter in administration = no nepotism. You can have your stable genius.

    12. I’m going to invest a bit of money in making sure anytime a potential employer googles your name this tone-deaf, childish drivel is the first thing that pops up. You’re a damn child playing at being an adult with no understanding of epidemiology or public health. Nobody gives a damn about your incoherent whining that you lost your sporting events and parties to reduce deaths. Take a look beyond your own ass to countries and you might realize what a mess we are in. I hope your parents take away your allowance for this stupidity.

    13. Good god. The author complains about snowflakes but continues on with how HE is so put out by not being allowed to be an over privileged prig. No Final Toast on Hey Day nor a Walnut Walk, two things that have no real world consequence.
      Two million people filed for unemployment this week.
      He was correct on two points, when he wrote he is a “privileged asshole” and when he wrote “I don’t care”.
      You now have all you need to know this young man.

    14. Michael Dell and other industry leaders – please make note (like you did of the Miami Beach partiers) of this bozo’s name. You want neither him nor his self-centered, juvenile, and apparently uneducated attitude anywhere near your company.

    15. Why don’t you go to Europe then? Italy? Or how about China? I will personally pay for your ticket to Wuhan region, I’m sure they’re quite cheap.

    16. Penn has failed you.

      But not because they’ve “robbed” you of your senior year. They have failed you because you’re somehow graduating while still being this ignorant and immature.

    17. The most hilarious part of this article is knowing that the administration is probably horrified that you are one of their graduates. They are probably wondering where on earth they went wrong! I’m trying to figure out if you’re just selfish and entitled and lack compassion for others or if you are actually ignorant. I’m thinking it’s probably a mixture of all of that.

    18. This article sucks and it’s written like garbage, go post this trite BS on Facebook instead of trying to be fancy by pretending it’s legitimate by putting it here.

      First, I hope no one in the author’s family is affected by this virus. And I just want to add that’s it’s a bit hypocritical to gripe about not getting what you want and rag on others in your generation for being what you call snowflakes. Sounds to me like you’re mad about no getting what you wanted yet feel compelled to voice your opinion in a clearly inflammatory way.

      Maybe you could get a job at Fox news

    19. This is some of the most ignorant and self-centered garbage I have read about the current situation. This isn’t just about you, dude. Did you learn your lack of empathy from your parents or did you learn that all by yourself? Or maybe Upenn? If I were Penn, I would not allow you to graduate, since it seems like you haven’t learned a damn thing. Then again, maybe they’ll give you a job in the administration,since nowadays most college administrators are more interested in money than in education–as this pathetic attempt at whatever it is proves.

    20. From a 33 year old professor: you are being immature, and you will look back on this piece in five or ten years and cringe. Please take a step back and reflect on how your own needs are not more important than those of others.

    21. In case you haven’t noticed, there is a huge death toll in China, Iran and Italy. People are dying. In times of a pandemic, we are all making sacrifices. Your senior year is not important, nor is it a good reflection on you or Penn State to write such a whiny and immature article. Yes, I read the article and your response. No, you don’t show any compassion at all for others. All you do in this article is complain when you should be thankful that you got your education, and that the administrators had the good sense to shut the school down before you infected each other. Had they not done so, you would whine that you and your classmates were all sick, and the administration had not done what was needed to protect you. Grow up.

    22. You write pretty well for a narcissistic, innumerate, entitled fool. 20 years ago you could have been Bret Easton Ellis. Today you’ll have to settle for Tucker Carlson’s copy editor.

    23. If social frat boy ‘ish’ is the most triumphantly important thing about college to you, then you’re doing college wrong. You could also fail or drop and go for another year. Sounds like you need it, anyway. Or, and this is a novel idea, go to grad school, genius. Or would that be too much work? Above all, yes, you peaked at 23. Have fun with the next 60 years.

    24. The University should be ashamed that an entitled, scientifically illiterate simpleton with a clear inability to evaluate the quality of evidence is this close to graduating college.

    25. WOW! I guess sympathy and empathy is not something you picked up in your four years of college. Remember that the internet is forever and you just left a really black mark in your life as a human. I write this as a professor with two doctorates. #thepriviledgeisstrongonthisone

    26. I graduated from a bog-standard state college in Georgia when textbooks were on clay tablets in cuneiform, and I’m smarter than the self-absorbed bellend that wrote this twaddle. His university must be so proud of you. Next time I hope he doesn’t sleep through statistics class, the poor little pumpkin.

    27. Generally, we feel badly for all students who have had their studies and matriculations disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak. We think, however, that we can manage to make an exception in your case. See, the optics of simultaneously calling for “free market” solutions to healthcare (because libertarianism) and making a mockery of a public health care crisis are not good. And yes, we get that you are hampered and hindered, perhaps forever, by your inability to congregate at the Walnut Walk, or the Maple March, or the Sock Hop, or whatever, and spread COVID-19 to the uninsured hoi polloi (because libertarianism). We just think it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving twatwaffle.

    28. 1st you casually toss out “Trump was right” and “trump the victor”, ignorant of or pretending that Trump hasn’t been consistently wrong on corona-virus response to the point that his actions are willfully, criminally negligent.

      Next you go on to complain that you won’t be able to take part in social activities that social distancing by its very nature demands be skipped, for the safety of the United States citizens.

      Finally, you raise the debunked rhetoric of corona-virus having less of a death count than the seasonal flu, which means now YOU are pushing dangerous rhetoric that amounts to propaganda.

      you are a sad example of irrational thinking and being just plain stubbornly wrong.

    29. I am glad to see so many others have already pointed out your immature, selfish, narrow-minded, short-sighted stance.
      University has failed you, and you have failed your community.
      You should be ashamed of this article that you have written. I hope it follows you as you attempt to find employment, and potential employers see your moral deficiencies and your childishness. The internet is forever.

    30. 3/1: 89
      3/2: 105
      3/3: 125
      3/4: 159
      3/5: 227
      3/6: 331
      3/7: 444
      3/8: 564
      3/9: 728
      3/10: 1,000
      3/11: 1,267
      3/12: 1,645
      3/13: 2,204
      3/14: 2,826
      3/15: 3,505
      3/16: 4,466
      3/17: 6,135
      3/18: 8,760
      3/19: 13,229
      3/20: 18,763
      3/21: 25,740
      Now: 32,502

    31. Please read this: https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/doctors-covid-19-united-states-response-173911258.html

      I understand your frustration, as every single human on the planet is frustrated right now. HOWEVER, please try to take a step back and try to empathize a bit more. You may not die from this virus. Your parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle, immunocompromised friends, and any other loved ones can, though. We unfortunately need to take EXTREME measures and do so NOW so that we can enjoy our future springs and big celebrations. Venting to oneself is okay but please lets spread kindness and support on social media. This also applies to some of the awful comments I am seeing on here from people who do not agree with this post. We all need to take a few breaths, realize and accept that this situation is suboptimal, but then do whatever we can to ensure those who are in dire need of our help and support have access to it. Thank you.

    32. You are an insulated, whiny, sloppy-thinking, perspective-lacking, intellectually dishonest, scientifically illiterate, empathy free, self-centered, demanding, callous child. I am astonished that anyone so lacking in maturity or critical thinking would graduate from any college.

      Perhaps someday you’ll have a moment of clarity.

      • Hey kristinc, just wanted to share that I think you are an open-minded, stoic, sharp-witted, deeply perceptive, intellectually courageous, scientifically gifted, empathic, selfless, accepting, kind-hearted adult. I am reassured that a person as pure and clear-sighted as yourself would grace this comment section with such an astute and constructive critique.

        Perhaps someday people like you will save us from people like Dominic.

    33. You’re right, you are a priviledged asshole and a whiney little bitch. You are off in your death rate by a factor of at least 100, so you clearly didn’t excel at statistics. I hate to tell you this but Donald Trump has been right about very little, and I imagine you give him credit for the gains in the stock market he built on 80 plus months of growth by the Obama administration, which took place when you were in elementary school, but will be loath to blame him for the disappearance of all that growth as the market sinks every time he goes off script. So since you’re sure this is the “common cold” and that you are youth and good health will save you, why don’t you go give Rand Paul a big French-kiss, attend a Trump rally, and stay the hell out of the hospital if you start showing symptoms? Your stupidity and lack of empathy show that you don’t deserve the privileges of graduation anyway

    34. Hey Judd, it seems to me that this article’s biggest failing is its treatment of COVID-19 as something trivial, when in fact it is quite lethal. For anybody, getting infected could be a death sentence. Would you really wish a potential death sentence upon someone for writing a flawed article? I doubt it! Seems a bit out of proportion, and in crazy times like this, it’s especially important to keep things in perspective. Cheers 🙂

    35. What an entitled, immature, ignorant, elitist whiny little snowflake. Yale, huh. They either care not about undergraduate education at all or you really need to learn how to pay attention. Better yet, get some much needed help with your issues.

    36. You can be upset these things are cancelled but you can also write about it without 1) making things up about the death rate, 2) acting like Penn is somehow a special case that exists in a vacuum and somehow its leaders are uniquely wrong and 3) praising the president for his ineptitude. I’m sure someone somewhere wrote beautifully about that sentiment, the loss of your senior year of college while recognizing the need for solidarity (or even just the loss part! again, it’s ok to be upset!) but that’s not here. Here there’s just bitterness.

    37. Dear Dominic: You would do well to check your ratio, check the exponential growth of Covid-19 infections and global fatalities, and write another piece walking this one back. You will appreciate the feeling of not having this column dog you the rest of your career, should you have one. I was a student journalist and went on to a long career in the field. It can feel fun to rip off a pouty diatribe, I well know. But the reality of the coronavirus is that it could end up killing hundreds of thousands if not millions, leaving tens of millions jobless and tanking the world’s economy. Do you really want your take about not being able to walk on the quad in the face of all that to be the one future employers, newspapers (should they exist) and anyone who web-searches your name to find this? Take another swing or get out of the game. Sincerely, Douglas

    38. Dear Dominic, what would you say if I, a political liberal, got my medical/pandemic advice from Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer? You’d call me an idiot, and rightly so. Well, I think that you, sir, are an idiot for believing in the Cheetoh-head monster so much that you get your pandemic advice from him. Give me Fauci or give me death.

    39. Alim, I understand your motives but please understand what we’re doing here. We, to borrow your own words, are taking EXTREME measures NOW so, in this author’s case, “don’t you know who my dad is??!” today doesn’t become “don’t you know who I am??!” in the future. Libertarianism is a mental disease, the ultimate expression of the sophomoric mind – our continued haranguing of this young fool is only an attempt to save his life (and/or the lives of the spouse and children he will abuse if he doesn’t grow the eff up). We’re saving lives here.

    40. The editorial staff shouldn’t allow something this flagrantly dangerous and misinformed to be published. Please consider removing, if at least to protect the idiot author from internet mobs.

    41. My friends are shaking our heads at your privilege and your ignorance, young Dominic. I’m not sure what classes it is exactly that you will be missing out on this semester, but you could certainly use a refresher course on Professional Writing, Statistical Analysis, and a seminar on How to Be a Decent Human. Whatever major you have chosen has certainly not prepared you very well for the harsh realities of life in the real world, and I feel sorry for all the money spent towards your education which seems at this point to have been in vain.

      Your pompousness is exceeded only by your ignorance. Common cold, my ass. Wake up, dude, and smell the coronavirus- it just might kill you. By the way, referring to your university and college association as “her comparables in the League” is the epitome of smugness and elitist gar-bahge. It makes you sound not sophisticated, but like the irritating little asshole you actually are. I hope you don’t get sick and die, buddy. By the way, 4 people have just gotten the virus at University of Maryland. This is not overreaction – this is a worldwide pandemic buddy – get a clue.

    42. I’m going to make a wild guess and say that attaching your name to such ignorant, immature, self-centered crap is probably a pretty terrible idea for when you’re looking for a job in the journalism industry, especially in this currently tanking economy. This is definitely a piece you’re going to be embarassed of in the future.

    43. Start with a large helping of ignorance, stir in a pound of arrogance, a few shakes of entitlement, bake for a bit and voila, you have a nice Idiot Pie ready to be served. Sad to see this from someone who is supposedly “educated”. Maybe we can chalk it up to youth?

    44. How did this even get published? Is he still going to be allowed to graduate? Aren’t there basic math requirements that need to be met? I’d start scanning his old papers for plagiarism- this is not college graduate level thinking here.

    45. Please go and volunteer at a NYC hospital right now and see what’s it’s like for the people who are infected. I’m embarrassed to say that we went to the same school.

    46. You sure look like a moron tonight, don’t you? I’d ask Penn for my money back, because you clearly did not receive an education.
      Did you take math? We have 706 deaths and 53,812 confirmed infections as of tonight. If this continues at this pace, without social distancing and flattening the curve, we will have 53 million cases and 716,000 dead by Easter, dumbass. Thankfully, most of America doesn’t have you and your president’s Penn education and is paying attention to smart people, and we won’t have that happen.

    47. I’m thinking he’s hoping for a job offer from faux. I sure hope he gets it since this whinge is forever, and I’d say ol’ Dom here just killed his the employability advantage usually granted by a degree from an Ivy.

    48. “Robbed of the only senior year I’ll ever have”…one could only hope that like Groundhogs’ Day, you’d be forced to repeat it ‘til you got it right, but alas. My heart breaks for the poor student that was denied admission because you were extended a slot, not just here at Penn, but anywhere as it was apparently wasted. It appears from your follow-up comments that you remain unrepentant and locked into your ignorance and privilege. Sad, but I don’t wish you any ill-will; there is balance in the universe and we will all witness your well deserved reward. I do believe your Groundhog Day will be this article that you will be forced to revisit and revisit…

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