Origins of the college

Benjamin Franklin, founder of the University of Pennsylvania, was the primary founder, benefactor, and a president of the board of trustees for the Academy and College of Philadelphia, which merged with the University of the State of Pennsylvania to form the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.

In 1740, a group of Philadelphians organized to erect a great preaching hall for George Whitefield, a traveling evangelist who toured the American colonies delivering open-air sermons.^[29] The building was designed and constructed by Edmund Woolley and was the largest building in Philadelphia at the time, drawing thousands of people the first time in which it was preached.^[30]: 26 The preaching hall was initially intended to also serve as a charity school, but a lack of funds forced plans for the chapel and school to be suspended.

According to Franklin's autobiography, it was in 1743 when he first had the idea to establish an academy, "thinking the Rev. Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution". Peters declined a casual inquiry from Franklin, but was one of Penn's founding trustees from 1749 to 1776, president of the board of trustees from 1756 to 1764, and treasurer of the board of trustees from 1769 to 1770.^[31]).

Six years later, Franklin again contacted Peters and others.^[30]: 30 In the fall of 1749, Franklin circulated a pamphlet, "Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania", his vision for what he called a "Public Academy of Philadelphia",^[32] which argued for establishing an institution that would provide higher education to its citizens.

The 1749 proposal was seen as innovative at the time, and Franklin organized 24 trustees to help guide the institution he envisioned. The group acquired a dormant building after its owners asked Franklin's group to assume their debts and, accordingly, their inactive trusts. On February 1, 1750, a new board of trustees took over the building and trusts of the old board. On August 13, 1751, the Academy of Philadelphia, using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets, was established and began taking in its first secondary students. A charity school also was chartered on July 13, 1753,^[33]: 12 by the intentions of the original donors, although it lasted only a few years. On June 16, 1755, the College of Philadelphia was chartered, paving the way for the addition of undergraduate instruction.^[33]: 13 All three schools shared the same board of trustees and were considered part of the same institution.^[34] The first commencement exercises were held on May 17, 1757.^[33]: 14

The University of Pennsylvania considers itself the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, though this is contested by Princeton and Columbia Universities.^{[note 4]}

Unlike the other colonial colleges that existed in 1749, including Harvard, William & Mary, Yale, and the College of New Jersey, Franklin's new school did not focus exclusively on educating clergy. He advocated what was then an innovative concept of higher education, which taught both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the practical skills necessary for making a living and performing public service. The proposed program of study could have become the nation's first modern liberal arts curriculum, although it was never implemented because Anglican priest William Smith, who became the first provost, and other trustees strongly preferred the traditional curriculum.^[45][46]

Franklin assembled a board of trustees from among Philadelphia's leading citizens, the first such non-sectarian board in the nation. At the first meeting of the board of trustees on November 13, 1749, the issue of where to locate the school was a prime concern. Although a lot across Sixth Street from the old Pennsylvania State House, later renamed and famously known since 1776 as Independence Hall, was offered without cost by James Logan, its owner, the trustees realized that the building erected in 1740 by Edmund Woolley for George Whitefield,^[47] which was still vacant, was an even more preferable site.

The institution of higher learning was named and known as the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779. In 1779, not trusting then provost William Smith's Loyalist tendencies, the revolutionary State Legislature created a university, and in 1785 the legislature changed name to University of the State of Pennsylvania.^{[34][note 5]} The result was a schism, with Smith continuing to operate an attenuated version of the College of Philadelphia. In 1791, the legislature issued a new charter, merging the two institutions into a new University of Pennsylvania with twelve men from each institution serving on the new board of trustees.^[34]

Although Penn began operating as an academy or secondary school in 1751 and obtained its collegiate charter in 1755, it initially designated 1750 as its founding date. Sometime later in its early history, Penn began naming 1749 as its founding date, which it continued to reference as the founding date for over a century, including at a centennial celebration in 1849.^[48] In 1899, the board of trustees voted to adjust the founding date earlier again, this time to 1740, the date of "the creation of the earliest of the many educational trusts the University has taken upon itself", according to a book on the university's history.^[49] The board of trustees voted in response to a three-year campaign by Penn's General Alumni Society to retroactively revise the university's founding date to 1740 for a number of reasons, including to appear older than Princeton University, which had been chartered in 1746.^[50]

First university

A 1765 admission ticket to "A Course of Lectures" given by Dr. John Morgan, the founder and first professor of medicine at Penn's Medical School

The University of Pennsylvania considers itself the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies, though that claim is contested by other universities. Penn has two claims to being the first university in the United States, according to the former university archives director Mark Frazier Lloyd:

(1) the 1765 founding of the first medical school in America^[51] made Penn the first institution to offer both "undergraduate" and professional education ("the 'de facto' position")

(2) the 1779 charter made it the first American institution of higher learning to take the name of "University" ("the 'de jure' position").^[52][53][54]

Original campus

A c. 1780 sketch of the Academy and College of Philadelphia when its first dormitory (on right) was built

The Academy of Philadelphia, a secondary school for boys, began operations in 1751 in an unused church assembly hall building at 4th and Arch Streets, which had sat unfinished and dormant for over a decade. Upon receiving a collegiate charter in 1755, the first classes for the College of Philadelphia were taught in the same building, in many cases to the same boys who had already graduated from The Academy of Philadelphia.

Campus as Capital of United States

When the British abandoned Philadelphia during the Philadelphia campaign in the American Revolutionary War, College Hall, the college's only building at the time,^{[note 6]} served as the temporary meeting site of the Second Continental Congress from July 7 to 20, 1778.^[55] The British Army, led by General Sir William Howe, damaged many important parts of Philadelphia. Howe's attack caused significant damage to the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, the site where the Second Continental Congress convened and which it was forced to abandon in anticipation of the British attack and occupation of the city.^[56]

By July 7, 1778, the Second Continental Congress returned to Philadelphia with the requisite quorum, but convened at College Hall since Independence Hall was damaged by the British attack, briefly establishing Penn's campus as one of the early capitals of the United States.^[57][58] Penn's brief status as the nation's capital is evidenced by a July 13, 1778, letter sent from Josiah Bartlett, a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence, to John Langdon, who was also a Founding Father from New Hampshire. Langdon, who later became a signatory of the United States Constitution, wrote: "The Congress meets in the College Hall^{[note 7]} as the State House was left by the enemy in a most filthy and sordid situation, as were many of the public and private buildings in the City."^[59]

9th Street campus

A c. 1815 illustration of the Ninth Street campus of the University of Pennsylvania, including the medical department (on left) and the college building (on right), which was originally intended to serve as the residence for the President of the United States before the national capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. in 1800

A ticket to an 1807 lecture by Benjamin Rush, then a professor at Penn's Department of Medicine^[60]

The Ninth Street Campus, located on the west side of Ninth Street between Market and Chestnut Streets, and a hand-colored lithograph created in 1842 by John Caspar Wild of Medical Hall (on left) and College Hall (on right), both built between 1829 and 1830

The Ninth Street Campus above Chestnut Street and Medical Hall just prior to the university's 1871 move to its current location in West Philadelphia

In 1802, the university moved to the unused Presidential Mansion at Ninth and Market Streets, a building that both George Washington and John Adams had declined to occupy while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.^[33]

Among the classes given in 1807 at this building were those offered by Benjamin Rush, a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice who was also a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress,^[61][62] and surgeon general of the Continental Army.^[63] Classes were held in the mansion until 1829 when it was demolished. Architect William Strickland designed twin buildings on the same site, College Hall^{[note 8]} and Medical Hall (both 1829–1830), which formed the core of the Ninth Street Campus until Penn's move to West Philadelphia in the 1870s.

West Philadelphia campus

An illustration of Penn's College Hall from a pocket guide to the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

An illustration of the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia from a Brief Guide to Philadelphia, published in 1918

After being located in downtown Philadelphia for more than a century, the campus was moved across the Schuylkill River to property purchased from the Blockley Almshouse in West Philadelphia in 1872, where it has since remained in an area now known as University City.

Residential university

In the 1750s, roughly 40 percent of Penn students needed lodging since they came from areas in the U.S. that were too far to commute, or were international students.^[64] Before the completion of the construction of the first dormitory in 1765, out of town students were typically placed with guardians in the homes of faculty or in suitable boarding houses, such as the one run by widow Rachel Marks Graydon, mother of Penn College Class of 1775 student Alexander Graydon.^[65][66]

In 1765, the campus was expanded by opening of the newly completed dormitory run by Benjamin Franklin's collaborator on the study of electricity using electrostatic machines and related technology and Penn professor and chief master Ebenezer Kinnersley.^{[note 9]} Kinnersley was designated steward of the students in the dormitory and he and his wife were given disciplinary powers over the students and supervised the cleanliness of the students with respect to personal hygiene and washing of the students' dirty clothing.^[67][68]

Even after its construction, however, many students sought living quarters elsewhere, where they would have more personal freedom, resulting in a loss of funds to the university. In the fall of 1775, Penn's trustees voted to advertise to lease the dormitory to a private family who would board the pupils at lesser cost to Penn.^[69] In another attempt to control the off-campus activities of the students, the trustees agreed not to admit any out-of-town student unless he was lodged in a place which they and the faculty considered proper.^[64] As of 1779, Penn, through its trustees, owned three houses on Fourth Street, just north of the campus's new building with the largest residence located on the corner of Fourth and Arch Streets.^[70][64]

Starting in 1849 with formation of Penn's Eta chapter^{[note 10]} of Delta Phi by five founders and 15 initiates,^[71] Penn students began to establish residential fraternity houses. Since Penn only had limited housing near campus and since students, especially those at the medical school, came from all over the country, the students elected to fend for themselves rather than live in housing owned by Penn trustees. A number chose housing by pledging and living in Penn's first fraternities, which included Delta Phi, Zeta Psi, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Delta Psi.^[72] These first fraternities were located within walking distance of 9th and Chestnut Street since the campus was located from 1800 to 1872 on the west side of Ninth Street, from Market Street on the north to Chestnut Street on the south. Zeta Psi Fraternity was located at the southeast corner of 10th Street and Chestnut Street, Delta Phi was located on the south side of 11th Street near Chestnut Street, and Delta Psi was located on the north side of Chestnut Street, west of 10th Street.^[73]

When Penn moved to West Philadelphia in 1872, the new campus and its associated fraternities centered on the intersection of Woodland Avenue, 36th Street, and Locust Street. Among the first fraternities to build near the new campus were Phi Delta Theta in 1883 and Psi Upsilon in 1891. By 1891, there were at least 17 fraternities at the university.^[74]

From its founding until construction of the Quadrangle Dormitories, which started construction in 1895, the university largely lacked university-owned housing with the exception of a significant part of the 18th century. A significant portion of the undergraduate population commuted from Delaware Valley locations, and a large number of students resided in the Philadelphia area.^[75] The medical school, then with roughly half the students, was a significant exception to this trend as it attracted a more geographically diverse population of students. For example, in the 1850s when Penn's medical school accounted for two-thirds to three-quarters of the student body, over half of the population of the medical school was from the southern part of the United States.^[76][77]

The university experienced increased need for housing in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century as it began to compete with peer institutions to recruit foreign students.

George Henderson, president of the class of 1889, wrote in his monograph distributed to his classmates at their 20th reunion that Penn's strong growth in acreage and number of buildings it constructed over the prior two decades (along with a near-quadrupling in the size of the student body) was accommodated by building The Quad.^[78]

Henderson argued that building The Quad was influential in attracting students, and he appealed for it to be expanded:^[79]

And the new buildings? First of all there is need of greater dormitory room. Did you ever live in the "dorms?" Then you do not know what "dorm" life means for college spirit. Several hundred men who live in the same big family have a feeling of common fellowship. Life in the "dorms" develops what our sociologists call a "Solidarity of Responsibility." Men who live there learn to care for the associations that brought them together and that keep them related. And this college spirit they never lose or forget. Some parents, living at a distance, do not like to send their sons to live in a general boarding house. But a dormitory, a University institution, appeals to them, and the boys come and live there. You would scarcely believe it, but when College opened last fall not only were the dormitory rooms over subscribed, but there was a long list of anxious ones, ready to snap up the room of any unlucky fellow who might miss his examinations, and be forced to spend another year at preparatory school grind. So we need the new dormitories, and although they are going up steadily, they might well go up faster.^[79]

In 1911, since it was difficult to house the international students due to the segregation-era housing regulations in Philadelphia and across the United States, the Christian Association at the University of Pennsylvania hired its first Foreign Mission Secretary, Reverend Alpheus Waldo Stevenson.^[80] By 1912, Stevenson focused almost all his efforts on the foreign students at Penn who needed help finding housing resulting in the Christian Association buying 3905 Spruce Street located adjacent to Penn's West Philadelphia campus.^[81] By January 1, 1918, 3905 Spruce Street officially opened under the sponsorship of the Christian Association as a Home for Foreign Students, which came to be known as the International Students' House with Reverend Stevenson as its first director. The International Students' House provided " ... counseling and information services for a host of problems foreign students might encounter, including language, financial, health and diet, immigration and technical problems as well as maladjustment to living in the United States. It was also used for recreation and leisure, as lounges had radio, phonograph and television facilities and there were game and reception rooms. The International Students' House also provided for programs including forums, debates, lectures, panels and planned trips and outings as well as weekend activities such as dances, films and game nights. Also, for the next thirty-three years, the International Students' House would be sponsored by the Christian Association of the University of Pennsylvania."^[82]

The success of efforts to reach out to the international students was reported in 1921 when the university reported that the university's 12,000 students at the time came from all 50 states and 253 came from at least 50 foreign countries and foreign territories, including India, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and "...every Latin American country, and most of the Oriental and European nations".^[83]

By 1931, first-year students were required to live in the quadrangle unless they received official permission to live with their families or other relatives.^[76] However, throughout this period and into the early post-World War II period, the undergraduate schools of the university continued to have a large commuting population.^[84] As an example, into the late 1940s, two-thirds of Penn women students were commuters.^[85]

University Motor Inn on the Schuylkill River—sold to Penn in 1964; used as a dormitory for medical students until 1971; demolished in 2023^[86]

After World War II, the university began a capital spending program to overhaul its campus, including its student housing. A large number of students migrating to universities under the G.I. Bill, and the ensuing increase in Penn's student population highlighted that Penn had outgrown previous expansions, which ended during the Great Depression era. But in addition to a significant student population from the Delaware Valley, the university continued to attract international students from at least 50 countries and from all 50 states as early as of the second decade of the 1920s.^[83][87] Penn Trustee Paul Miller wrote that, in the post-World War II era,: "[t]he bricks-and-mortar Capital Campaign of the Sixties...built the facilities that turned Penn from a commuter school to a residential one...."^[88] By 1961, 79% of male undergraduates and 57% of female undergraduates lived on campus.^[89]

Controversies

From 1930 to 1966, there were 54 documented Rowbottom riots, a student tradition of rioting which included everything from car smashing to panty raids.^[90] After 1966, there were five more instances of "Rowbottoms", the latest occurring in 1980.^[90]

In 1965, Penn students learned that the university was sponsoring research projects for the United States' chemical and biological weapons program.^[91] According to Herman and Rutman, the revelation that "CB Projects Spicerack and Summit were directly connected with U.S. military activities in Southeast Asia", caused students to petition Penn president Gaylord Harnwell to halt the program, citing the project as being "immoral, inhuman, illegal, and unbefitting of an academic institution".^[91] Members of the faculty believed that an academic university should not be performing classified research and voted to re-examine the university agency which was responsible for the project on November 4, 1965.^[91]

In 1983, members of the Animal Liberation Front broke into the Head Injury Clinical Research Laboratory in the School of Medicine and stole research audio and video tapes. The stolen tapes were given to PETA who edited the footage to create a film, Unnecessary Fuss. As a result of media coverage and pressure from animal rights activists, the project was closed down.^[92]

The school gained notoriety in 1993 for the water buffalo incident in which a student who told a group of mostly black female students to "shut up, you water buffalo" was charged with violating the university's racial harassment policy.^[93]

In 2022, some asked for the tenure of a University of Pennsylvania law school professor to be revoked after she said the country is "better off with fewer Asians."^[94][95]

On December 9, 2023, the University of Pennsylvania president, Liz Magill and the chairman of its board of trustees, Scott L. Bok, resigned.^[96] Magill had been Penn's president since July 2022; she will remain until an interim replacement is found. After that, she will be a tenured member of the Penn Law faculty.^[97] During a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce on December 6, Magill did not unequivocally affirm that calls for the genocide of Jewish people constituted harassment at the university. Magill's resignation followed a series of controversial incidents since September 2023.^[97]

Educational innovations

Houston Hall, the first college student union in the nation

Penn's educational innovations include the nation's first medical school in 1765; the first university teaching hospital in 1874; the Wharton School, the world's first collegiate business school, in 1881; the first American student union building, Houston Hall, in 1896;^[98] the only school of veterinary medicine in the United States that originated directly from its medical school, in 1884;^[99][100] and the home of ENIAC, the world's first electronic, large-scale, general-purpose digital computer in 1946. Penn is also home to the oldest continuously functioning psychology department in North America and is where the American Medical Association was founded.^[101][102] In 1921, Penn was also the first university to award a PhD in economics to an African American woman, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander.^[103]

Motto

In 1932, all elements of the seal were revised. As part of the redesign, it was decided that the new motto "mutilated" Horace, and it was changed to its present wording, Leges Sine Moribus Vanae, 'Laws without morals [are] useless'.^[104] Penn's motto is based on a line from Horace's III.24 (Book 3, Ode 24), quid leges sine moribus vanae proficiunt?, 'of what avail empty laws without [good] morals?'. From 1756 to 1898, the motto read Sine Moribus Vanae. When it was pointed out that the motto could be translated as 'Loose women without morals', the university quickly changed the motto to literae sine moribus vanae, 'Letters without morals [are] useless'.

Seal

The 1757 seal of the academy and College of Philadelphia; in 1779, the college was renamed the "University in Philadelphia" and, following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1782, assumed its current name, the University of Pennsylvania

The official seal of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania serves as the signature and symbol of authenticity on documents issued by the corporation.^[105] A request for one was first recorded in a meeting of the trustees in 1753 during which some of the Trustees "desired to get a Common Seal engraved for the Use of [the] Corporation". In 1756, a public seal and motto for the college was engraved in silver.^[106] The most recent design, a modified version of the original seal, was approved in 1932, adopted a year later and is still used for much of the same purposes as the original.^[105] The official seal of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania serves as the signature and symbol of authenticity on documents issued by the corporation.^[105] A request for one was first recorded in a meeting of the trustees in 1753 during which some of the Trustees "desired to get a Common Seal engraved for the Use of [the] Corporation". In 1756, a public seal and motto for the college was engraved in silver.^[107] The most recent design, a modified version of the original seal, was approved in 1932, adopted a year later and is still used for much of the same purposes as the original.^[105]

The outer ring of the current seal is inscribed with "Universitas Pennsylvaniensis", the Latin name of the University of Pennsylvania. The inside contains seven stacked books on a desk with the titles of subjects of the trivium and a modified quadrivium, components of a classical education: Theolog[ia], Astronom[ia], Philosoph[ia], Mathemat[ica], Logica, Rhetorica and Grammatica. Between the books and the outer ring is the Latin motto of the university, "Leges Sine Moribus Vanae".^[105]

Parks and arboreta

In 2007, Penn acquired about 35 acres (14 ha) between the campus and the Schuylkill River at the former site of the Philadelphia Civic Center and a nearby 24-acre (9.7 ha) site then owned by the United States Postal Service. Dubbed the Postal Lands, the site extends from Market Street on the north to Penn's Bower Field on the south, including the former main regional U.S. Postal Building at 30th and Market Streets, now the regional office for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Over the next decade, the site became the home to educational, research, biomedical, and mixed-use facilities. The first phase, comprising a park and athletic facilities, opened in the fall of 2011.

In September 2011, Penn completed the construction of the $46.5 million, 24-acre (9.7 ha) Penn Park, which features passive and active recreation and athletic components framed and subdivided by canopy trees, lawns, and meadows. It is located east of the Highline Green and stretches from Walnut Street to South Streets.

Penn maintains two arboreta. The first, the roughly 300-acre (120 ha) The Penn Campus Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania, encompasses the entire University City main campus. The campus arboretum is an urban forest with over 6,500 trees representing 240 species of trees and shrubs, ten specialty gardens and five urban parks,^[115] which has been designated as a Tree Campus USA^[116] since 2009 and formally recognized as an accredited ArbNet Arboretum since 2017.^[115] Penn maintains an interactive website linked to Penn's comprehensive tree inventory, which allows users to explore Penn's entire collection of trees.^[117] The second arboretum, Penn's Morris Arboretum & Gardens (the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is 92 acres (sited over 15 miles from Penn's "Campus Arboretum") and contains more than 13,000 labelled plants from over 2,500 types, representing the temperate floras of North America, Asia, and Europe, with a primary focus on Asia ^[118]

Bolton Center

Penn also owns the 687-acre (278 ha) New Bolton Center, the research and large-animal health care center of its veterinary school.^[119] Located near Kennett Square, New Bolton Center received nationwide media attention when Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro underwent surgery at its Widener Hospital for injuries suffered while running in the Preakness Stakes.^[120]

Libraries

Van Pelt Library, Penn's main library building

School of Design library

Penn's library began in 1750 with a donation of books from cartographer Lewis Evans. Twelve years later, then-provost William Smith sailed to England to raise additional funds to increase the collection size. Benjamin Franklin was one of the libraries' earliest donors and, as a trustee, saw to it that funds were allocated for the purchase of texts from London, many of which are still part of the collection, more than 250 years later.

Penn library system has grown into a system of 14 libraries with 400 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees and a total operating budget of more than $48 million.^[121] The library system has 6.19 million book and serial volumes as well as 4.23 million microform items and 1.11 million e-books.^[7] It subscribes to over 68,000 print serials and e-journals.^[122][123]

Penn has the following libraries, associated by school or subject area: (1) communications library, located on campus on Walnut Street between 36th and 37th Streets in the Annenberg Communications School; (2) Biddle Law Library, located on campus on 3500 block of Sansom in the Law School; (3) The Holman Biotech Commons library, located on campus, on 3500 block of Hamilton Walk, adjacent to the Robert Wood Johnson Pavilion of the Medical School and the Nursing School; (4) chemistry library, located on campus, on 3300 block of Spruce, in the 1973 Wing of the Chemistry Building; (5) dental medicine library located on campus, on 4000 block of Locust Street, in Dental School; (6) fine arts library, located on campus, on 3400 block of Woodland Ave, within the Fisher Fine Arts Library; (7) Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies library, located off campus, at 420 Walnut Street, near Independence Hall and Washington Square; (8) humanities and social sciences library (including Weigle Information Commons) located on campus, between 34th and 35th streets on Locust Street in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center; (9) Lea library collection of Roman Catholic Church history, located on campus, between 34th and 35th streets on Locust Street, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center; (10) Lippincott business library, located on campus, between 35th and 36th streets on Locust Street, in the second floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center; (11) Math/Physics/Astronomy library, located on campus, on 3200 block of Walnut Streets, adjacent to The Palestra on the third floor of David Rittenhouse Laboratory; (12) archaeology and anthropology library within Penn Museum; (13) Rare Books and Manuscripts library (including the Yarnall Library of Theology) located on campus, between 34th and 35th streets on Locust Street, in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center; (14) veterinary medicine library, located on Penn Campus, between 38th and 39th streets on Sansom Street, within the Vet School (with satellite library located off campus at New Bolton Center. Penn also maintains books and records off campus at high density storage facility.

The Penn Design School's Fine Arts Library was built to be Penn's main library and the first with its own building. The main library at the time was designed by Frank Furness to be first library in nation to separate the low ceilings of the library stack, where the books were stored, from forty-foot-plus high ceilinged rooms, where the books were read and studied.^{[124][125][126]}

The Yarnall Library of Theology, a major American rare book collection, is part of Penn's libraries. The Yarnall Library of Theology was formerly affiliated with St. Clement's Church in Philadelphia. It was founded in 1911 under the terms of the wills of Ellis Hornor Yarnall (1839–1907) and Emily Yarnall, and subsequently housed at the former Philadelphia Divinity School. The library's major areas of focus are theology, patristics, and the liturgy, history and theology of the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It includes a large number of rare books, incunabula, and illuminated manuscripts, and new material continues to be added.^[127][128]

Art installations

The Covenant, designed by artist Alexander Liberman and installed at Penn in 1975

The campus has more than 40 notable art installations, in part because of a 1959 Philadelphia ordinance requiring total budget for new construction or major renovation projects in which governmental resources are used to include 1% for art^[129] to be used to pay for installation of site-specific public art,^[130] in part because many alumni collected and donated art to Penn, and in part because of the presence of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design on the campus.^[131]

In 2020, Penn installed Brick House, a monumental work of art, created by Simone Leigh at the College Green gateway to Penn's campus near the corner of 34th Street and Woodland Walk. This 5,900-pound (2,700 kg) bronze sculpture, which is 16 feet (4.9 m) high and 9 feet (2.7 m) in diameter at its base, depicts an African woman's head crowned with an afro framed by cornrow braids atop a form that resembles both a skirt and a clay house.^[132] At the installation, Penn president Amy Guttman proclaimed that "Ms. Leigh's sculpture brings a striking presence of strength, grace, and beauty—along with an ineffable sense of mystery and resilience—to a central crossroad of Penn's campus."^[133]

The Covenant, known to the student body as "Dueling Tampons"^[134][135] or "The Tampons",^[136] is a large red structure created by Alexander Liberman and located on Locust Walk as a gateway to the high-rise residences "super block". It was installed in 1975 and is made of rolled sheets of milled steel.

A white button, known as The Button and officially called the Split Button is a modern art sculpture designed by designed by Swedish sculptor Claes Oldenburg (who specialized in creating oversize sculptures of everyday objects). It sits at the south entrance of Van Pelt Library and has button holes large enough for people to stand inside. Penn also has a replica of the Love sculpture, part of a series created by Robert Indiana. It is a painted aluminum sculpture and was installed in 1998 overlooking College Green.^[131]

In 2019, the Association for Public Art loaned Penn^[137] two multi-ton sculptures.^[138] The two works are Social Consciousness^[139][137] (created by Sir Jacob Epstein in 1954 and sited on the walkway between Wharton's Lippincott Library and Phi Phi chapter of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity house) and Atmosphere and Environment XII (created by Louise Nevelson in 1970, which is sited on Shoemaker Green between Franklin Field and Ringe Squash Courts).^[140]

In addition to the contemporary art, Penn also has a number of more traditional statues including a good number created by Penn's first Director of Physical Education Department, R. Tait McKenzie.^[141] Among the notable sculptures is that of Young Ben Franklin, which McKenzie produced and Penn sited adjacent to the fieldhouse contiguous to Franklin Field. The sculpture is titled Benjamin Franklin in 1723 and was created by McKenzie during the pre-World War 1 era (1910–1914). Other sculptures he produced for Penn include the 1924 sculpture of then Penn provost Edgar Fahs Smith.

Penn is presently reevaluating all of its public art and has formed a working group led by Penn Design dean Frederick Steiner, who was part of a similar effort at the University of Texas at Austin (that led to the removal of statues of Jefferson Davis and other Confederate officials), and Penn's Chief Diversity Officer, Joann Mitchell. Penn has begun the process of adding art and removing or relocating art.^[142] Penn removed from campus in 2020 the statue of the Reverend George Whitefield (who had inspired the 1740 establishment of a trust to establish a charity school, which trust Penn legally assumed in 1749) when research showed Whitefield owned fifty enslaved people and drafted and advocated for the key theological arguments in favor of slavery in Georgia and the rest of the Thirteen Colonies.^[143]

Penn Museum

University Museum and Warden Garden

Since the Penn Museum was founded in 1887,^[144] it has taken part in 400 research projects worldwide.^[145] The museum's first project was an excavation of Nippur, a location in current day Iraq.^[146]

Penn Museum is home to the largest authentic sphinx in North America at about seven feet high, four feet wide, 13 feet long, and 12.9 tons (made of solid red granite).

The sphinx was discovered in 1912 by the British archeologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, during an excavation of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis, Egypt, where the sphinx had guarded a temple to ward off evil. Since Petri's expedition was partially financed by Penn Petrie offered it to Penn, which arranged for it to be moved to museum in 1913. The sphinx was moved in 2019 to a more prominent spot intended to attract visitors.^[147]

The museum has three gallery floors with artifacts from Egypt, the Middle East, Mesoamerica, Asia, the Mediterranean, Africa and indigenous artifacts of the Americas.^[145] Its most famous object is the goat rearing into the branches of a rosette-leafed plant, from the royal tombs of Ur.

The Penn Museum's excavations and collections foster a strong research base for graduate students in the Graduate Group in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. Features of the Beaux-Arts building include a rotunda and gardens that include Egyptian papyrus.

Other Penn museums, galleries, and art collections

The Institute of Contemporary Art, known as ICA, located just South of the Graduate Towers, the residence hall for graduate and professional students at the corner of 36th Street and Sansom Street

Penn maintains a website providing a detailed roadmap to small museums and galleries and over one hundred locations across campus where the public can access Penn's over 8,000 artworks acquired over 250 years and includes, but is not limited to, paintings, sculptures, photography, works on paper, and decorative arts.^[148] The largest of the art galleries is the Institute of Contemporary Art, one of the only kunsthalles in the country, which showcases various art exhibitions throughout the year. Since 1983 the Arthur Ross Gallery, located at the Fisher Fine Arts Library, has housed Penn's art collection^[149] and is named for its benefactor, philanthropist Arthur Ross.

Residences

Every College House at the University of Pennsylvania has at least four members of faculty in the roles of House Dean, Faculty Master, and College House Fellows.^[150] Within the College Houses, Penn has nearly 40 themed residential programs for students with shared interests such as world cinema or science and technology. Many of the nearby homes and apartments in the area surrounding the campus are often rented by undergraduate students moving off campus after their first year, as well as by graduate and professional students.

The College Houses include W.E.B. Du Bois, Fisher Hassenfeld, Gregory, Gutmann, Harnwell, Harrison, Hill College House, Kings Court English, Lauder, Riepe, Rodin, Stouffer, and Ware. The first College House was Van Pelt College House, established in the fall of 1971. It was later renamed Gregory House.^[151] Fisher Hassenfeld, Ware and Riepe together make up one building called "The Quad". The latest College House to be built is Guttman^[152] (formerly named New College House West), which opened in the fall of 2021.^[153]

Penn students in Junior or Senior year may live in the 45 sororities and fraternities governed by three student-run governing councils, Interfraternity Council,^[154] Intercultural Greek Council, and Panhellenic Council.^[155]

• 
  The university's first purpose-built dormitory in the foreground (on right), built in 1765^[156]
• 
  The Upper Quad, originally called The Triangle,^[157] and formerly "The Men's Dormitory", viewed from the Memorial Tower^[158]
• 
  Woodland Walk pathway between Hill College House and Lauder College House
• 
  Hill College House, a dormitory designed in 1958 to house female students, was designed by Eero Saarinen
• 
  "The Quad", formerly known as the Men's Dormitory, in 2014
• 
  The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house, built by George W. Childs Drexel as one of two mansions for his daughters

Campus police

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department (UPPD) is the largest, private police department in Pennsylvania, with 117 members. All officers are sworn municipal police officers and retain general law enforcement authority while on the campus.^[159]

Admissions

* SAT and ACT ranges are from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Undergraduate admissions to the University of Pennsylvania is considered by US News to be "most selective". Admissions officials consider a student's GPA to be a very important academic factor, with emphasis on an applicant's high school class rank and letters of recommendation.^[173] Admission is need-blind for U.S., Canadian, and Mexican applicants.^[174]

For the class of 2026, entering in Fall 2022, the university received 54,588 applications.^[175] The Atlantic also ranked Penn among the 10 most selective schools in the country. At the graduate level, based on admission statistics from U.S. News & World Report, Penn's most selective programs include its law school, the health care schools (medicine, dental medicine, nursing, veterinary), the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Wharton business school.

Coordinated dual-degree, accelerated, interdisciplinary programs

Smith Walk with a view of Towne Building and the Engineering Quad

Penn offers unique and specialized coordinated dual-degree (CDD) programs, which selectively award candidates degrees from multiple schools at the university upon completion of graduation criteria of both schools in addition to program-specific programs and senior capstone projects. Additionally, there are accelerated and interdisciplinary programs offered by the university. These undergraduate programs include:

• Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business^[176]
• Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology (M&T)^[177]
• Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management (LSM)^[178]
• Nursing and Health Care Management (NHCM)^[179]
• Roy and Diana Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER)^[180]
• Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences (MLS)^[181]
• Singh Program in Networked and Social Systems Engineering (NETS)^[182]
• Digital Media Design (DMD)^[183]
• Computer and Cognitive Science: Artificial Intelligence^[184]
• Accelerated 7-Year Bio-Dental Program^[185]
• Accelerated 6-Year Law and Medicine Program^[186]

Dual-degree programs that lead to the same multiple degrees without participation in the specific above programs are also available. Unlike CDD programs, "dual degree" students fulfill requirements of both programs independently without the involvement of another program. Specialized dual-degree programs include Liberal Studies and Technology as well as an Artificial Intelligence: Computer and Cognitive Science Program. Both programs award a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and a degree from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Also, the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences allows its students to either double major in the sciences or submatriculate and earn both a BA and an MS in four years. The most recent Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER) was first offered for the class of 2016. A joint program of Penn's School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, VIPER leads to dual Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees by combining majors from each school.

For graduate programs, Penn offers many formalized double degree graduate degrees such as a joint J.D./MBA and maintains a list of interdisciplinary institutions, such as the Institute for Medicine and Engineering, the Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management and International Studies, and the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, commonly known as Penn SP2, is a school of social policy and social work that offers degrees in a variety of subfields, in addition to several dual degree programs and sub-matriculation programs.^{[187][188][189]} Penn SP2's vision is: "The passionate pursuit of social innovation, impact and justice."^[190]

Originally named the School of Social Work, SP2 was founded in 1908 and is a graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania. The school specializes in research, education, and policy development in relation to both social and economic issues.^[191][192]

The School of Veterinary Medicine offers five dual-degree programs, combining the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) with a Master of Social Work (MSW), Master of Environmental Studies (MES), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Master of Public Health (MPH) or Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree. The Penn Vet dual-degree programs are meant to support veterinarians planning to engage in interdisciplinary work in the areas of human health, environmental health, and animal health and welfare.^[193]

Academic medical center and biomedical research complex

In 2018, the university's nursing school was ranked number one by Quacquarelli Symonds.^[194] That year, Quacquarelli Symonds also ranked Penn's school of Veterinary Medicine sixth.^[195] In 2019, the Perelman School of Medicine was named the third-best medical school for research in U.S. News & World Report's 2020 ranking.^[196]

The University of Pennsylvania Health System, also known as UPHS, is a multi-hospital health system headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by Trustees of University of Pennsylvania. UPHS and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania together constitute Penn Medicine, a clinical and research entity of the University of Pennsylvania. UPHS hospitals include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania,^[197] Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Hospital, and Princeton Medical Center.^[198] Penn Medicine owns and operates the first hospital in the United States, the Pennsylvania Hospital.^[199] It is also home to America's first surgical amphitheatre^[200] and its first medical library.^[201]

• 
  The Pennsylvania Hospital as painted by Pavel Svinyin in 1811
• 
  Perelman School of Medicine
• 
  Penn School of Dental Medicine
• 
  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
• 
  Penn owned Princeton Medical Center, eastern facade

International partnerships

Students can study abroad for a semester or a year at partner institutions, which include the Singapore Management University, London School of Economics, University of Edinburgh, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Melbourne, Sciences Po, University of Queensland, University College London, King's College London, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and ETH Zurich.

Rankings

U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings place Penn sixth among national universities in the United States^{[241][242][243]} and Center for World University Rankings' ("CWUR") 2020/2021 survey also ranks Penn as the eighth best university in the world.^[244] The Princeton Review included Penn in its Dream Colleges list in 2015.^[245] As reported by USA Today, Penn was ranked first in the United States by College Factual for 2015.^[246] In 2023, Penn was ranked as having the 7th happiest students in the United States (the highest in the Ivy League).^[247][248]

In their 2021 edition, Penn was ranked tenth in the nation by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds).^[249] In the 2020 edition, Penn was ranked 15th in the world by the QS World University Rankings^[250] and in 2019, 17th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and 12th by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In 2019, it ranked 12th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings.^[251] According to the 2015 ARWU ranking, Penn is also the eighth- and ninth-best university in the world for economics/business and social sciences studies, respectively.^[252] University of Pennsylvania ranked 12th among 300 Best World Universities in 2012 compiled by Human Resources & Labor Review (HRLR) on Measurements of World's Top 300 Universities Graduates' Performance.^[253]

The Center for Measuring University Performance places Penn in the first tier of the United States' top research universities (tied with Columbia, MIT and Stanford), based on research expenditures, faculty awards, PhD granted and other academic criteria.^[254] Penn was also ranked 18th of all U.S. colleges and universities in terms of R&D expenditures in fiscal year 2013 by the National Science Foundation.^[255] The High Impact Universities research performance index ranks Penn eighth in the world, whereas the 2010 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (published by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan) ranks Penn 11th in the world for 2007,^[256] 2008^[257] and 2010^[258] and ninth for 2009.^[259]

The Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers measures universities' research productivity, research impact, and research excellence based on the scientific papers published by their academic staff. The SCImago Institutions Rankings World Report 2012, which ranks world universities, national institutions and academies in terms of research output, ranks Penn seventh nationally among U.S. universities (2nd in the Ivy League behind Harvard) and 28th in the world overall (the first being France's French National Centre for Scientific Research).^[260]

The Mines ParisTech International Professional Ranking, which ranks universities on the basis of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies, ranks Penn 11th worldwide and second nationally behind Harvard.^[261] According to a U.S. News article in 2010, Penn is tied for second (tied with Dartmouth College and Tufts University) for the number of undergraduate alumni who are current Fortune 100 CEOs.^[262] Forbes ranked Penn 17th, based on a variety of criteria.^[263] In 2022, Poets & Quants ranked the undergraduate Wharton business school as the top business school in the nation for the fifth year in a row.^[264]

Demographics and diversity

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States

Jonathan and Philip Gayienquitioga, two brothers of the Mohawk Nation,^[269] were recruited by Benjamin Franklin to attend the Academy of Philadelphia,^[270] making them the first Native Americans at Penn when they enrolled in 1755.^[271] Moses Levy, the first Jewish student, enrolled in 1769 (and was also elected Penn's first Jewish trustee in 1802, serving to 1826).^[272] Joseph M. Urquiola (aka José María de Urquiola y Fernández de Zúñiga), School of Medicine class of 1829 was the first Latino (from Cuba)^{[273][274][275]} and Auxencio Maria Pena, School of Medicine class of 1836, was the first South American (from Venezuela)^[276] to graduate from Penn.

William Adger, James Brister, and Nathan Francis Mossell in 1879 were the first African Americans to enroll at Penn. Adger was the first African American to graduate from the college at Penn (1883),^[277] and when Brister graduated from the School of Dental Medicine (Penn Dental) (class of 1881), he was the first African American to earn a degree at Penn.^[278] Mossell was first African American to graduate from Penn Med (1882)^[279] (and had a brother, Aaron Albert Mossell II who was the first African American graduate of University of Pennsylvania Law School (in 1888) and ^[280] niece, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, Albert's daughter, who not only was first African American woman to graduate from Penn Law (in 1927) and be admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, but prior to such noteworthy accomplishments was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in the United States (from Penn in 1922)).^[281] Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander's uncle (via her mother's Tanner family), Lewis Baxter Moore, in 1896 became the first person of African descent to earn a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and only the fifth black person in the United States to earn a doctor of philosophy degree^[282] and in 1899 founded the Teachers College (now known as the School of Education) of Howard University and served as its dean continuously from 1899 through September 1920.^[283]

Tosui Imadate was the first person of Asian descent to graduate from Penn (College ^[284] Class of 1879).^[285] In 1877, Imadate became the first Asian member of a fraternity at Penn when he became a brother at Phi Kappa Psi.^[286] In a quote from a portion of a letter published in December 1880 issue of The Crescent, Imadate is described by a Phi Kappa Psi brother as a "brother member of Penn's I [iota] chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, who is a professor in college at Kiota [(Kyoto, Japan)]".^[287][288]

Fuji Tsukamoto, Penn Graduate School Class of 1889, became the first woman of Asian descent to matriculate at Penn when she started her study of biology and botany in 1885 and, like Tosui Imadate, also taught at Kyoto college in Japan.^[289]

Mary Alice Bennett and Anna H. Johnson were in 1880 the first women to enroll in a Penn degree-granting program and Bennett was the first woman to receive a degree from Penn, which was a PhD.^{[290][291][273]}

Julian Abele in 1902 was the first African American to graduate from University of Pennsylvania School of Design (then named Department of Architecture) and was elected as the president of Penn's Architectural Society.^[292] Abele won a 1901 student competition where he designed a Beaux Arts pedestrian gateway that was built and still stands on the campus of Haverford College,^[293] The Edward B. Conklin Memorial Gate at the Railroad Avenue entrance to Haverford College.^[294] Abele contributed to the design of more than 400 buildings, including the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University (1912–1915), Philadelphia's Central Library (1917–1927),^[295] and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1914–1928).^[296] and was the primary designer of the west campus of Duke University (1924–1954).^[297] Duke honored Abele by prominently displaying his portrait, the first portrait of an African American to be displayed on the campus.^[298]

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, paternal niece of Nathan Francis Mossell and maternal niece of Lewis Baxter Moore, was the first African American to receive a PhD in economics in the United States (and third black woman to earn one in the United States in any subject)^[299] and first from Penn in 1921, the first African-American woman to receive a law degree from Penn Law in 1927, and the first African-American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania.^[281]

Alan L. Hart, who earned a master's degree at Penn Med in radiology (class of 1928),^{[300][note 12]} was born in 1890 and publicly identified as a female, Alberta Lucille Hart, through much of 1917, the year Hart transitioned to being a man by having a hysterectomy, one of the first in the United States to be performed to help a person become a trans man, and lived the rest of his life as a man.^[301] Hart, Penn's most prominent transgender alumnus in the first half of the twentieth century, was a pioneer in using x-ray photography to detect tuberculosis, allowing the identification of asymptomatic TB carriers (seventy-five percent of the total infected), permitting treatment of patients before they had complications, and allowing for separation of TB patients from others to stop the spread of one of the more infectious deadly diseases known to humanity.^[300]

The first openly LGBTQ+ organization funded by Penn was formed in 1972 by Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and Penn alumnus from the college's class of 1966, when he created the Gay Coffee Hour, which met every week on campus and was also open to non-students and served as an alternative space to gay bars for gay people of all ages.^[302] Penn funded the Gay Coffee House program (via a grant from the student government), which was held in Houston Hall at six o'clock in the evening every Wednesday and attracted, on average, roughly sixty people of all ages with roughly "one-quarter to one-third women and two-thirds to three-quarters men."^[303] In March 2023, Penn announced a first in the United States LGBTQ+ scholar in residence after a $2-million gift.^[304]

As detailed in part above, by the first decades of the twentieth century, Penn made strides and took an active interest in attracting diverse students from around the globe. Two examples of such action occurred in 1910. Penn's first director of publicity, created a recruiting brochure, translated into Spanish, with approximately 10,000 copies circulated throughout Latin America. That same year, the Penn-affiliated organization, the Cosmopolitan Club, started an annual tradition of hosting an opening "smoker", which attracted students from 40 nations who were formally welcomed to the university by then-vice provost Edgar Fahs Smith (who the following year would start a ten-year tenure as provost)^{[305][306][307][308][309]} who spoke about how Penn wanted to "bring together students of different countries and break down misunderstandings existing between them".^[273]

The success of such efforts were reported in 1921 when the official Penn publicity department reported that

We have an enrollment at the University of 12,000 students, who have registered from every State in the Union, and 253 students from at least fifty foreign countries and foreign territories, including India, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and practically all the British possessions except Ireland; every Latin American country, and most of the Oriental and European nations.

— George E. Nitzsche, 1921^[83]

Of those accepted for admission in 2018, 48 percent were Asian, Hispanic, African-American or Native American.^[7] Fourteen percent of entering undergraduates in 2018 were international students.^[7] The composition of international first-year students in 2018 was: 46% from Asia; 15% from Africa and the Middle East; 16% from Europe; 14% from Canada and Mexico; 8% from the Caribbean, Central America and South America; 5% from Australia and the Pacific Islands.^[7] The acceptance rate for international students admission in 2018 was 493 out of 8,316 (6.7%).^[7] In 2018, 55% of all enrolled students were women.^[7]

In the last few decades, Jewish enrollment has been declining. c. 1999 about 28% of the students were Jewish.^[310] In early 2020, 1,750 Penn undergraduate students were Jewish,^[311] which would be approximately 17%^[312] of the some 10,000 undergrads for 2019–20.

Penn Face and behavioral health

The university's social pressure surrounding academic perfection, extreme competitiveness, and nonguaranteed readmission have created what is known as "Penn Face": students put on a façade of confidence and happiness while enduring mental turmoil.^{[313][314][315][316][317]} Stanford University calls this phenomenon "Duck Syndrome."^[316][318] In recent years, mental health has become an issue on campus with ten student suicides between the years of 2013 to 2016.^[319] The school responded by launching a task force.^[320][321] The most widely covered case of Penn Face has been Madison Holleran.^[322][323] In 2018, initiatives were enacted to ameliorate mental health problems, such as requiring sophomores to live on campus and the daily closing of Huntsman Hall at 2:00 a.m.^[324][325] The university's suicide rate was the catalyst for a 2018 state bill, introduced by Governor Tom Wolf, to raise Pennsylvania's standards for university suicide prevention.^[326] The university's efforts to address mental health on campus came into the national spotlight again in September 2019 when the director of the university's counseling services died by suicide six months after starting the position.^[327]

Selected student organizations

Oldest organization

The Philomathean Society Presidential Library named after United States President and Penn Med alumnus William Henry Harrison

The Philomathean Society, founded in 1813, is the United States' oldest continuously existing collegiate literary society and continues to host lectures and intellectual events open to the public.^[328]

The Daily Pennsylvanian

The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper, which has been published daily since it was founded in 1885.^[329] The newspaper went unpublished from May 1943 to November 1945 due to World War II.^[329] In 1984, the university lost all editorial and financial control of The Daily Pennsylvanian (also known as The DP) when the newspaper became its own corporation.^[329] The Daily Pennsylvanian has won the Pacemaker Award administered by the Associated Collegiate Press multiple times, most recently in 2019.^[330][331] The DP also publishes a weekly arts and culture magazine called 34th Street Magazine.

The Daily Pennsylvanian also operates three principal websites, thedp.com, 34st.com, and underthebutton.com, and publishes opinion, news, and sports blogs. It has received various collegiate journalism awards.

Academic organizations

The Penn Debate Society (PDS), founded in 1984 as the Penn Parliamentary Debate Society, is Penn's debate team, which competes regularly on the American Parliamentary Debate Association and the international British Parliamentary circuit.^[332]

The Penn History Review is a journal, published twice a year, through the Department of History, for undergraduate historical research, by and for undergraduates, and founded in 1991.^{[333][334][335]}

LGBTQ+ organizations

Penn has been ranked as the number one LGBTQ+ friendly school in the country.^[336] Penn's LGBTQ+ center is second oldest in the nation^[337] and oldest in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as it has been serving the LGBTQ+ community since 1979 by providing support and guidance through 25 groups (including Penn J-Bagel a Jewish LGBTQ+ group, the Lambda Alliance a general LGBTQ social organization, and oSTEM a group for LGBTQ people in STEM fields).^[338] Penn offers courses in Sexuality and Gender Studies which allows students to discover and learn queer theory, history of sexual norms, and other gender orientation related courses.^[339] The first Penn funded LGBTQ+ organization was formed in 1972 by "Steve" Kiyoshi Kuromiya (Penn college class of 1966) when he created the Gay Coffee Hour, which met every week on campus and served as an alternative space to gay bars for gay people of all ages.^[302] Penn funded the Gay Coffee House via a grant from the student government and the weekly event was held in Houston Hall Wednesday evenings.^[303]

Penn Electric Racing

Penn Electric Racing unveiled REV8 on March 31, 2023, in front of the Benjamin Franklin statue in front of College Hall.

Penn Electric Racing is the university's Formula SAE (FSAE) team, competing in the international electric vehicle (EV) competition. Colloquially known as "PER", the team designs, manufactures, and races custom electric racecars against other collegiate teams. In 2015, PER built and raced their first racecar, REV1, at the Lincoln Nebraska FSAE competition, winning first place.^[340] The team repeated their success with their next two racecars: REV2 won second place in 2016,^[341] and REV3 won first place in 2017.^[342]

Performing arts organizations

Penn is home to numerous organizations that promote the arts, from dance to spoken word, jazz to stand-up comedy, theatre, a cappella and more. The Performing Arts Council (PAC) oversees 45 student organizations in these areas.^[343] The PAC has four subcommittees: A Cappella Council; Dance Arts Council; Singer, Musicians, and Comedians (SMAC); and Theatre Arts Council (TAC-e).

Penn Glee Club

Penn Glee Club's 1915–1916 academic year membership photo

The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club, founded in 1862, is tied for fourth oldest continually running glee clubs in the United States^[344] and the oldest performing arts group at the University of Pennsylvania. Each year, the Penn Glee Club writes and produces a fully staged, Broadway-style production with an eclectic mix of Penn standards, Broadway classics, classical favorites, and pop hits, highlighting choral singing from all genders (as of April 9, 2021, it merged^[345] with Penn Sirens, a previously all female chorale group), clever plots and dialogue, dancing, humor, colorful sets and costumes, and a pit band.^[346] The Glee Club draws its singing members from the undergraduate and graduate students (and men and women from the Penn community are also called upon to fill roles in the pit band and technical staff when the club is involved with theatrical productions). The Penn Glee Club has traveled to nearly all 50 states in the United States and over 40 nations and territories on five continents.^[347] Since the 1950s, Penn Glee Club has appeared on national television with such celebrities as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Ed McMahon, Carol Lawrence, and Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco and has been showcased on television specials such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and at professional sporting events for The Philadelphia Phillies where club sung the National Anthem at the 1993 National League Championship Series. Since its first performance at the White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1926, the club has sung for numerous heads of state and world leaders. One of the highlights of 1989 was the club's performance for Polish President Lech Wałęsa. Bruce Montgomery, its best-known and longest-serving director, led the club from 1956 until 2000.^[348]

Penn Band

Main article: The University of Pennsylvania Band

The University of Pennsylvania Band at the 2019 homecoming game

The University of Pennsylvania Band has been a part of student life since 1897.^[349] The Penn Band presently mainly performs at football and basketball games as well as university functions (e.g. commencement and convocation) throughout the year but in past it was known not only as the first college band to perform at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but performed with notable musicians, including John Philip Sousa, members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the U.S. Marine Band ("The President's Own"), Doc Severinsen of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Beginning in the late 1920s and 1930s Penn Band recorded with the Victor Talking Machine Company (RCA-Victor Company) and was nationally broadcast on WABC (AM). In 1977, Penn Band performed with Chuck Barris of The Gong Show and in 1980 opened for Penn alumnus Maury Povich in his eponymously named show.

Penn Band has performed for Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco (sister and aunt to number of alumni), alumnus and District Attorney and Mayor of Philadelphia, and Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell, Vice President Al Gore, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan, and Polish dissident and President Lech Wałęsa. By the 1970s, however, Penn Band had begun moving away from the traditional corps style and is now a scramble band. The first one hundred years of the organization's history was described in a book from Arcadia Publishing: Images of America:The University of Pennsylvania Band (2006).^[349]

Penn's a cappella community

Penn Masala performs in the Blue Room of the White House in October 2009 on invitation from President Barack Obama.

The A Cappella Council (ACK) is composed of 14 a cappella groups. Penn's a cappella groups entertain audiences with repertoires including pop, rock, R&B, jazz, Hindi, and Chinese songs.^[350] ACK is also home to Off The Beat, which has received the most contemporary a cappella recording awards of any collegiate group in the United States and the most features on the Best of College A Cappella albums.^[351] Penn Masala, formed in 1996, is world's oldest^[352][353] and premier^[354][355] South Asian a cappella group based in an American university, which has performed for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Henry Kissinger, Ban Ki Moon, Farooq Abdullah, Imran Khan, Rajkumar Hirani, A.R. Rahman, Narendra Modi^[356] and Sunidhi Chauhan, had their a cappella version of Nazia Hassan's Urdu classic "Aap Jaisa Koi", (originally from the movie Qurbani) sung in the movie American Desi.^[357]

Penn alumni Elizabeth Banks (class of 1996) and Max Handelman (Banks' husband, class of 1995) invited Masala to appear in Pitch Perfect 2, as Banks reported that Penn's a capella community inspired the film series starring and/or produced by Banks and Handleman.^[358]

Comedy organizations

The Mask and Wig clubhouse

Mask and Wig, a club founded in 1889, was (until fall of 2021^[359]) the oldest all-male musical comedy troupe in the country. In 2021 the club voted to become gender-inclusive, with auditions open to all undergraduates: male, female, and non-binary.

Bloomers comedy group, founded in 1978, is the "... nation's first collegiate all-women musical and sketch comedy troupe...".^[360] Bloomers was founded at Penn by Joan Harrison.^[361] In the mid teens, Bloomers revised its constitution to be open to "... anyone who does not identify as a cisgender man...".^[362] and now accepts all persons from under-represented gender identities who perform comedy.^[363][364] Bloomers performs sketches and elaborate shows almost every semester. The comedy troupe is named after bloomers, the once popular long, loose fitting under garment, gathered at the ankle, worn under a short skirt (developed in the mid 19th century as a healthy comfortable alternative to the heavy, constricting dresses then worn by American women), which were in turn, named after Amelia Jenks Bloomer. Bloomers most well known performing alumna is Vanessa Bayer, formerly of Saturday Night Live and is SNL's longest-serving female cast member.^[365]

Religious and spiritual organizations

The following religious and spiritual organizations have a significant on campus presence at Penn:

(A) Mainstream Protestantism: Dating back to 1857, The Christian Association (a.k.a. The CA), is composed primarily of students from Mainline Protestant backgrounds.^[366] Historically, the CA ran several foreign missions including one in China^[367] and for decades ran a camp for socio-economically disadvantaged children from Philadelphia.^[368] At present the CA occupies part of the parsonage at Tabernacle United Church of Christ.^[369]

(B) Judaism: Organized Jewish life did not begin on campus in earnest until the start of 20th century.^[370] Jewish Life on campus is centered at Penn branch of Hillel International,^[371][312] which inspires students to explore Judaism, creates patterns of Jewish living that can be sustained after graduation, provides religious communities, promotes educational initiatives, social justice projects, social and cultural opportunities, and groups focusing on Israel education and politics, and hosts a Kosher Penn approved dining hall (supervised by the Community Kashrus of Greater Philadelphia).^[372] In addition to Hillel, the other major Jewish organization with significant impact on Penn's campus is The Chabad Lubavitch House at Penn (founded in 1980^[373]), which, among other activities, brings together Jewish college students with noted Jewish academics for in-depth discussions and debate.^[374]

(C) Roman Catholicism: The Penn Newman Catholic Center (the Newman Center), founded in 1893 (as the first Newman Center in the country) with the mission of supporting students, faculty, and staff in their religious endeavors. The organization brings prominent Christian figures to campus, including Rev. Thomas "Tom" J. Hagan, OSFS, who worked in the Newman Center and founded Haiti-based non-profit Hands Together;^[375] and James Martin SJ (Wharton undergraduate class of 1982^[376]). Father Martin, an editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America,^[377] and frequent commentator on the life and teachings of Jesus and Ignatian spirituality, is especially well known for his outreach to the LGBT community, which has drawn a strong backlash from parts of the Catholic Church, but has provided comfort to Penn students and other members of Roman Catholic community who wish to stay connected with their faith and identify as LGBQT.^{[378][379][380]}

(D) Hinduism and Jainism: Penn funds (via the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly or similar undergraduate organization) a variety of official clubs focused on India including a number focused on students who are Hindu or Jain such as: (1) 'Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH)', a center for students to celebrate South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, culture and religion,^[381] (2) 'Rangoli – The South Asian Association at Penn' that educates and informs Penn students (mainly graduate and professional students) with ancestry and/or interest in South Asia whose goals include a desire to "rekindle the spirit of community" through events,^[382] and (3) 'Penn Hindu & Jain Association', a student-run official club at Penn that has 80 to 110 student members and an extensive alumni network, dedicated to raise awareness of the Hindu and Jain faiths and foster further development of these communities in the greater Philadelphia area by providing a variety of services and hosting a number of events such as Holi Festival (which has been held annually at Penn since 1993^{[383][384][385]}) and ". . . aims to be a home to anyone seeking to explore their spiritual, religious, or social interests."^[386]

(E) Islam: In 1963, the Muslim Students' Association (MSA National) and Penn chapter of MSA National were founded to facilitate Muslim life among students on college campuses.^[387][388] Penn MSA was established to help Penn Muslims build faith and community by fostering a space under the guidance of Islamic principles^[389][390] and towards that goal Penn MSA supports mission of its related umbrella organization, Islamic Society of North America, to "foster the development of the Muslim community, interfaith relations, civic engagement, and better understandings of Islam."^[391] The Muslim Life Program at Penn also provides such support and helped cause Penn (in January 2017) to hire its first full-time Muslim chaplain, the co-president of the Association of Campus Muslim Chaplains, Sister Patricia Anton (whose background includes working with Muslim, interfaith, academic and peace-building institutions such as Islamic Society of North America and Islamic Relief). Chaplain Anton's mandate includes supporting and guiding the Penn Muslim community to foster further development of such community by creating a welcoming environment that provides Penn Muslim community opportunities to intellectually and spiritually engage with Islam.^[392] Penn also has a residential house, the Muslim Life Residential Program, which provides a live/learn environment focused on the appreciation of Islamic culture, food, history, and practice, and shows its Penn student residents how Islam is deeply integrated in the culture of Philadelphia so they may appreciate how Islam influences daily life.^[393]

(F) Buddhism: Penn has a Buddhist chaplain^[394][395] (as well as chaplains of other faiths) and funds the Penn Meditation and Buddhism Club, which (1) is dedicated to helping Penn students practice mindfulness and meditation and learning about Buddhism, (2) conducts weekly meetings that begin with a guided meditation and are followed by discussions of topic(s) relating to mindfulness and Buddhism, and (3) organizes other activities such as ramen nights and weekend meditation retreats to the local Won Buddhism center.^[396]

Cricket

The first University of Pennsylvania cricket team, reported to be the first cricket team in the United States composed exclusively of Americans,^[403] was organized in 1842 by a member of Philadelphia's prominent Wister family, William Rotch Wister (class of 1846 for Bachelor of Arts and 1849 for Master of Arts).^[404] Penn never possessed its own "ground" except in 1846 when it leased one day a week, for a total sum of $50, a "ground" (located east of the Delaware River).^{[405][note 13]} From 1846 to 1860, there is little evidence of Penn playing cricket but just as Civil War began, Penn students resumed playing cricket matches between classes of Penn students.

On May 7, 1864, Penn played its first intercollegiate game against Haverford College^[406][407] and then proceeded to play Haverford for three consecutive years until 1869, when the Haverford faculty banned cricket away from their college grounds.

After Penn moved west of the Schuylkill River in 1872, Penn played cricket at one of the local clubs (Belmont Cricket Club, the closest to campus at 50th Street and Chester Avenue, Merion Cricket Club, and Germantown Cricket Club), or at Haverford College.^[406] Though there is evidence of an occasional game during period 1870 through 1875, none were played against other colleges and there were no yearbook pictures for the three years after 1872 when Penn moved from Center City to University City. Starting in 1875 and through 1880, Penn fielded a varsity eleven, which played a few matches each year against opponents that included Haverford College and Columbia College.^[408]

George Patterson, president of the University of Pennsylvania cricket team in 1877^[406]

In 1881, Penn, Harvard College, Haverford College, Princeton College (then known as College of New Jersey), and Columbia College formed The Intercollegiate Cricket Association,^[407] which Cornell University later joined.^[399] Penn won The Intercollegiate Cricket Association championship (the de facto national championship) 23 times (18 solo, 3 shared with Haverford and Harvard, 1 shared with Haverford and Cornell, and 1 shared with just Haverford) during the 44 years that The Intercollegiate Cricket Association existed (1881 through 1924).^[409]

In the 1890s Penn's cricket team frequently toured Canada and the British Isles.^[410] In July 1895 an international cricket match between Canada and the United States was played on the Manheim grounds in Germantown section of Philadelphia with six of the United States team being Penn student athletes and, in September of that year, past and then current members of Penn's varsity cricket team played past and then current members of the English cricket teams of Oxford and Cambridge resulting in Penn defeating the Oxford-Cambridge team by one hundred runs.^[399] This was not surprising as in the last two and a half decades of the 19th century and first decade of the 20th century, Philadelphia was the center of cricket in the United States^[411]

Cricket had gained in popularity among the upper class from their travels abroad and cricket clubs sprung up all across the Eastern Seaboard (even today Philadelphia still has three cricket clubs: the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Merion Cricket Club, and the Germantown Cricket Club).

Perhaps the university's most famous cricket player was George Patterson (class of 1888), who still holds the North American batting record and who went on to play for the professional Philadelphia Cricket Team.^[412]

Following the First World War, cricket began to experience a serious decline (as baseball became the preferred sport of the warmer months and Imperial Cricket Conference, Cricket's "... international governing body and forerunner to the current International Cricket Conference (ICC), introduced a regulation making it clear that only countries within the British empire were welcome to compete")^[405] such that in 1924 Penn fielded its last team in the twentieth century. Starting in 2009, however, Penn once again fielded a cricket team, albeit club, that ended up being the first winner of a tournament for teams from the Ivies.^[413]

Rowing

Penn's eight-oared crew in 1901, the first foreign crew to reach the final of the Grand Challenge Cup^[414] at Henley Royal Regatta

Joe Burk, Wharton School class of 1934 and crew coach from 1950 to 1969, was named the "world's greatest oarsman" in 1938^[415]

Rowing at Penn dates back to at least 1854 with the founding of the University Barge Club. The university currently hosts both heavyweight and lightweight men's teams and an open weight women's team, all of which compete as part of the Eastern Sprints League. Ellis Ward was Penn's first intercollegiate crew coach from 1879 through 1912.^[416] During the course of Ward's coaching career at Penn his "... Red and Blue crews won 65 races, in about 150 starts."^[417] Importantly, Ward coached Penn's 8-oared boat to the finals of the Grand Challenge Cup (the oldest and most prized trophy) at the Henley Royal Regatta (but in that final race was defeated by the champion Leander Club).^[418]

Penn Rowing has produced a long list of famous coaches and Olympians. Members of Penn crew team, rowers Sidney Jellinek, Eddie Mitchell, and coxswain, John G. Kennedy, won the bronze medal for the United States at 1924 Olympics.^[419]

Joe Burk (class of 1935) was captain of Penn crew team, winner of the Henley Diamond Sculls twice, named recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award for nation's best amateur athlete in 1939, and Penn coach from 1950 to 1969. The 1955 Men's Heavyweight 8, coached by Joe Burk, became one of only four American university crews in history to win the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. The outbreak of World War Two canceled the 1940 Olympics for which Burk was favored to win the gold medal.

Other Penn Olympic athletes and or Penn coaches of such athletes include: (a) John Anthony Pescatore (who competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games for the United States as stroke of the men's coxed eight which earned a bronze medal^[420] and later competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the men's coxless pair), (b) Susan Francia (winner of gold medals as part of the women's 8 oared boat at 2008 Olympics and 2012 Olympics), (c) Regina Salmons (member of 2021 USA team),^[421] (d) Rusty Callow, (e) Harry Parker, (f) Ted Nash,^[419] and (g) John B. Kelly Jr., son of John B. Kelly Sr. (winner of three medals at 1920 Summer Olympics) and brother of Princess Grace of Monaco, was the second Penn Crew alumnus to win the James E. Sullivan Award^[422] for being nation's best amateur athlete (in 1947), who was winner of a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics).

The Penn men's crew team won the National Collegiate Rowing Championship in 1991. A member of that team, Janusz Hooker (Wharton class of 1992)^[423] won the bronze medal in Men's Quadruple Sculls for Australia at the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[424] The Penn teams presently row out of College Boat Club, No.11 Boathouse Row.

Rugby

John Heisman, a University of Pennsylvania Law School class of 1892 alumnus and rugby football player, posing at Penn in 1891 holding elongated ellipsoidal rugby ball and gestures resembling the famed "Heisman Pose"^[425]

Lithograph of University of Pennsylvania rugby player in 1907

The Penn men's rugby football team is one of the oldest collegiate rugby teams in the United States. Indeed, Penn first fielded a team in mid-1870s playing by rules much closer to the rugby union and Association football code rules (relative to American football rules, as such American football rules had not yet been invented^[400]). Among its earliest games was a game against College of New Jersey (which in 1895 changed its name to Princeton) played in Philadelphia on Saturday, November 11, 1876, which was less than two weeks before Princeton met on November 23, 1876, with Harvard and Columbia to confirm that all their games would be played using the rugby union rules.^[426][400] Princeton and Penn played their November 1876 game per a combination of rugby (there were 20 players per side and players were able to touch the ball with their hands) and Association football codes. The rugby code influence was due, in part, to the fact that some of their students had been educated in English public schools.^[427]

Among the prominent alumni to play in a 19th-century version of rugby in which rules then did not allow forward passes or center snaps was John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Trophy and an 1892 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.^[428]

Heisman was instrumental in the first decade of the 20th century in changing the rules to more closely relate to the present rules of American football.^[429] One of Heisman's teammates (who was unanimously voted Captain in the fall after Heisman graduated) was Harry Arista Mackey, Penn Law class of 1893^[430] (who subsequently served as Mayor of Philadelphia from 1928 to 1932).^[431]

In 1906, Rugby per Rugby Union code was reintroduced to Penn^[432] (as Penn last played per Rugby Union Code in 1882 as Penn played rugby per a number of different rugby football rulebooks and codes from 1883 through 1890s^[433]) by Frank Villeneuve Nicholson (Frank Nicholson (rugby union)) University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (class of 1910),^[434] who in 1904 had captained the Australian national rugby team in its match against England.^[435]

Penn played per rugby union code rules at least through 1912, contemporaneously with Penn playing American gridiron football. Evidence of such may be found in an October 22, 1910, Daily Pennsylvanian article (quoted below) and a yearbook photo^[436] that rugby per rugby union code was played.

Such is the devotion to English rugby football on the part of University of Pennsylvania's students from New Zealand, Australia, and England that they meet on Franklin Field at 7 o'clock every morning and practice the game. The varsity track and football squads monopolize the field to such an extent that the early hours of the morning are the only ones during which the rugby enthusiasts can play. Any time except Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a squad of 25 men may be seen running through the hardest kind of practice after which they may divide into two teams and play a hard game. Once a week, captain CC Walton, ('11), dental, who hails from New Zealand, gives the enthusiastic players a blackboard talk in which he explains the intricacies of the game in detail.^[437]

The player-coach of United States Olympic gold-winning rugby team at the 1924 Summer Olympics was Alan Valentine, who played rugby while at Penn (which he attended during 1921/1922 academic year) as he was getting a master's degree at Wharton.^[438]

Though Penn played rugby per rugby union rules from 1929 through 1934,^[439] there is no indication that Penn had a rugby team from 1935 through 1959 when Penn men's rugby became permanent due to leadership of Harry "Joe" Edwin Reagan III^[440] Penn's College class of 1962 and Penn Law class of 1965, who also went onto help create and incorporate (in 1975) and was Treasurer (in 1981) of USA Rugby and Oreste P. "Rusty" D'Arconte Penn's College class of 1966^[441] Thus, with D'Arconte's hustle and Reagan's charisma and organizational skills, a team, which had fielded a side of fifteen intermittently from 1912 through 1960, became permanent.

In spring of 1984^[442][443] Penn women's rugby, led by Social Chair Tamara Wayland (College class of 1985 who subsequently became the women's representative to and vice president of USA Rugby South from 1996 to 1998),^[444] Club President Marianne Seligson, and Penn Law student Gigi Sohn,^[445] began to compete. Penn women's rugby team is coached, as of 2020, by (a) Adam Dick,^[446] a 300-level certified coach with over 15 years of rugby coaching experience including being the first coach of the first women's rugby team at the University of Arizona and who was a four-year starter at University of Arizona men's first XV rugby team and (b) Philly women's player Kate Hallinan.

Penn's men's rugby team plays in the Ivy Rugby Conference^[447] and have finished as runners-up in both 15s and 7s in the Conference and won the Ivy Rugby Tournament in 1992.^[448] As of 2011, the club uses the state-of-the-art facilities at Penn Park. The Penn Quakers' rugby team played on national TV at the 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship, a college rugby tournament that for number of years had been played each June at Subaru Park in Philadelphia, and was broadcast live on NBC. In their inaugural appearance in the tournament, the Penn men's rugby team won the Shield Competition, beating local Big Five rival, Temple University, 17–12 in the final. In the semifinal match of that Shield Competition, Penn Rugby became the first Philadelphia team to beat a non-Philadelphia team in CRC history, with a 14–12 win over the University of Texas.^[449]

As of 2020, Penn men's rugby team ^[450] is coached by Tiger Bax,^[451] a former professional rugby player hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, whose playing experience includes stints in the Super Rugby competition with the Stormers (15s) and Mighty Mohicans (7s), as well as with the Gallagher Premiership Rugby side, Saracens^[452] and whose coaching experience includes three successful years as coach at Valley Rugby Football Club in Hong Kong; and Tyler May, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who played rugby at Pennsylvania State University where he was a first XV player for three years.

Players on the 2019 men's team came from 11 countries: Australia, Botswana, Chile, Great Britain, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, South Africa, and the United States).

Penn's graduate business and law schools also fielded rugby teams. The Wharton rugby team has competed from 1978 to the present.^[453] The Penn Law Rugby team (1985 through 1993) counts among its alumni Walter Joseph Jay Clayton, III^[454] Penn Law class of 1993, and chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 4, 2017, until December 23, 2020, Raymond Hulser, former Chief of Public Integrity Section of United States Department of Justice,^[455] and Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart^[456] who approved the search of Mar-a-Lago, the residence of former U.S. president Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida.^[457] Other recent Penn Rugby Alumni include Conor Lamb (Penn College class of 2006 and Penn Law class of 2009), who played for undergraduate team (and had an additional year of eligibility allowing him to continue to playing for undergraduate team while a student at Penn Law per USA Rugby rules), and, as of 2021, is a member of United States House of Representatives, elected originally to Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district, since 2019 is a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district.

Football

Chuck Bednarik, also known as Concrete Charlie was a three-time All-American at Penn who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, the first player selected in the 1949 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he went on to win the 1960 NFL Championship and was inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Penn first fielded a football team against Princeton at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia on November 11, 1876.^[426]

Penn football made many contributions to the sport in its early days. During the 1890s, Penn's famed coach and alumnus George Washington Woodruff introduced the quarterback kick, a forerunner of the forward pass, as well as the place-kick from scrimmage and the delayed pass. In 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1904, Penn was generally regarded as the national champion of collegiate football.^[426] Among the key players on the teams from 1897 to 1900 was Truxton Hare, Sr. who was selected as a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. While primarily a guard, he also ran, punted, kicked off, and drop-kicked extra points.

The achievements of two of Penn's other outstanding players from that era, John Heisman, a Law School alumnus, and John Outland, a Penn Med alumnus, are remembered each year with the presentation of the Heisman Trophy to the most outstanding college football player of the year, and the Outland Trophy to the most outstanding college football interior lineman of the year.

Also, each year the Bednarik Award is given to college football's best defensive player. Chuck Bednarik (class of 1949) was a three-time All-American center/linebacker who starred on the 1947 team and is generally regarded as Penn's all-time finest. In addition to Bednarik, the 1947 squad boasted four-time All-American tackle George Savitsky and three-time All-American halfback Skip Minisi. All three standouts were subsequently elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, as was their coach, George Munger (a star running back at Penn in the early 1930s). Bednarik went on to play for 12 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

Penn's game against University of California at Berkeley on September 29, 1951 (in front of a crowd of 60,000 at Franklin Field), was first college football game to be broadcast in color.^[458][459] ESPN's College GameDay traveled to Penn to highlight the Harvard–Penn game on November 17, 2002, the first time the show had visited an Ivy League campus.

Ice hockey

University of Pennsylvania team in front of photo of College Hall in 1896–97, its first season of existence, featuring George Orton, the future winner of gold medal in the 1900 Summer Olympics 2500 meter steeplechase (top row, second from the end of the right side

Penn's first ice hockey team competed during the 1896–97 academic year, and joined the nascent Intercollegiate Hockey Association (IHA) in 1898–99. On the first team in 1896–97 were several players of Canadian background, among them middle-distance runner and Olympian George Orton (the first disabled person to compete in the Olympics). Penn fielded teams intermittently until 1965 when it formed a varsity squad that was terminated in 1977. Penn now fields a club team that plays in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II,^[460] is a member of the Colonial States College Hockey Conference, and continues to play at the Class of 1923 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[461]

Basketball

Penn played Yale at one of the first basketball games at "Cathedral of College Basketball", Penn's Palestra on December 31, 1927.

Penn basketball is steeped in tradition. Penn made its only (and the Ivy League's second) Final Four appearance in 1979, where the Quakers lost to Magic Johnson-led Michigan State in Salt Lake City. (Dartmouth twice finished second in the tournament in the 1940s, but that was before the beginning of formal League play.) Penn's team is also a member of the Philadelphia Big 5, along with La Salle, Saint Joseph's, Temple, Villanova, and Drexel. In 2007, the men's team won its third consecutive Ivy League title and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Texas A&M. Penn last made the NCAA tournament in 2018 where it lost to top seeded Kansas.^[462]

Olympic athletes

The University of Pennsylvania men's track team was the 1907 IC4A point winner. Left to right: Guy Haskins, R.C. Folwell, T.R. Moffitt, John Baxter Taylor, Jr., the first black athlete in the U.S. to win a gold medal in the Olympics,^[463] Nathaniel Cartmell, and J.D. Whitham (seated)

At least 43 different Penn alumni have earned 81 Olympic medals (26 gold).^{[24][note 14]} Penn won more of its "medals"^[24] (which were actually cups, trophies, or plaques, as medals were not introduced until a later Olympics) at 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris than at any other Olympics.^[464] Penn's track and field alumni who won 21 'medals' at the 1900 Paris Olympics are: (1) Alvin Kraenzlein (University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine class of 1900),^[465] known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique",^[466] who was first sportsman in the history of Olympic games to win four individual gold medals in a single discipline;^[467][468] (2) Josiah McCracken, MD (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine class of 1901) who won the silver medal in the shot put and a bronze medal for the hammer throw;^{[469][470][471]} (3) John Walter Tewksbury (Penn Dental School class of 1899) who won five 'medals' (gold in the 200 meter dash and 400 meter hurdles, silver in the 60 meter dash and 100 meter dash, and a bronze in the 200 meter hurdles);^[472] (4) Irving Baxter (Penn Law class of 1901) who won five medals, including gold in both the men's high jump and men's pole vault and silver in all three of the standing jumps (long, triple, and high);^[473][474] (5) Meredith Colket (College Class of 1901 (BS), Penn Law class of 1904) who won the silver 'medal' in the pole vault,^[475] (6) Truxton Hare (Penn Law class of 1904) who won the silver 'medal' in the hammer throw^[476] (and at 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, won (i) bronze medal in the all-around discipline (which consisted of 100 yard run, shot put, high jump, 880 yard walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yard hurdles, long jump and one mile run), and (ii) gold medal as part of United States tug of war team),^[476] and (7) George Orton (University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Arts and Sciences class of 1894 (MA) and class of 1896 (PhD)) who (as first physically disabled Olympic athlete) won a gold 'medal' in the 2,500 meter run and a bronze metal in the 400 meter hurdles^[477]

The first African American in the United States to win an Olympic gold medal at an Olympics, the 1908 London Olympics, as part of Medley relay where he ran the third leg, the 400 meters, was John Taylor (University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (class of 1908)). Taylor was followed by William Hamilton and Nate Cartmell (fellow Penn athlete).^[463]

In the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, in summer of 2021, nine Penn students and alumni played in six different sports from six different countries.^[478]

Curling

University of Pennsylvania Curling Club qualified for the 2023 National Championship at 6th place, the same ranking they qualified for the 2022 National Championship (where they finished in 2nd place), but in 2023 the team won the national championship by defeating arch rival Princeton University in the championship match (6 to 3).^[479][480] Penn Curling also won the National Championship in 2016 and is the only East Coast team to have won the Curling National Championship.^[481]

Facilities

Penn's Franklin Field, in photograph taken shortly after completion of the upper deck in 1925.

Franklin Field, with a present seating capacity of 52,593,^[482] is where the Quakers play football, lacrosse, sprint football and track and field (and formerly played baseball, field hockey, soccer, and rugby). It is the (a) oldest stadium still operating for college football games,^[483] (b) first stadium to sport two tiers,^[484] (c) first stadium in the country to have a scoreboard, (d) second stadium to have a radio broadcast of football (in 1922 as Pitt versus West Virginia was broadcast in 1921), (e) first stadium from which a commercially televised football game was broadcast (in 1940),^[482] and (f) first stadium from which college football game was broadcast in color (on September 29, 1951).^[458] Franklin Field also played host to the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958 to 1970 (where installation of artificial turf in 1969 caused it to be first NFL stadium to have such artificial turf),^[482] and was the site of 18 Army–Navy games between 1899 and 1935.^[485]

It is currently also used by Penn students for recreation such as intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket. Since 1895, Franklin Field has hosted the annual collegiate track and field event "the Penn Relays", which is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States.^[486]

Palestra (in a photo taken in 2007, eighty years after it was built) is home to Penn's basketball, volleyball, and wrestling teams

Penn's home court, the Palestra, is an arena used for Penn's men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big Five basketball, and other high school sporting events. The Palestra has hosted more NCAA Tournament basketball games than any other facility. Penn staff and students make use of the Palestra to play and/or watch basketball, volleyball, and fencing.

Penn's River Fields hosts a number of athletic fields including the Rhodes Soccer Stadium (for both women's and men's soccer, which includes elevated stands for 650 spectators, a 180-degree rotating scoreboard, and the Rapaport Family Suite), the Ellen Vagelos C'90 Field Hockey Field (with special artificial turf), and Irving "Moon" Mondschein Throwing Complex (for javelin, shot put, discus, and Hammer throw).^[487] In addition, Penn baseball plays its home games at Meiklejohn Stadium at Murphy Field.

Penn's Class of 1923 Arena (with seating for up to 3,000 people) was built to host the University of Pennsylvania Varsity Ice Hockey Team, which has been disbanded, and now hosts or in the past hosted: (a) Penn's Men's and Penn Women's club ice hockey teams, (b) practices and/or exhibition games for the Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes, (c) roller hockey for the Philadelphia Bulldogs professional team, and (d) rock concerts such as one in 1982 featuring Prince.^{[488][489][490]}

Penn Rowing Clubhouse, at 11 Boathouse Row on Schuylkill River (in photo taken in July 2023 after renovation), is located roughly two kilometers from main campus

The Olympic Boycott Games of 1980 was held at the University of Pennsylvania in response to Moscow's hosting of the 1980 Summer Olympics following the Soviet incursion in Afghanistan. Twenty-nine of the boycotting nations participated in the Boycott Games.