International students choose Penn in the hopes of accessing premier jobs. But once they're here, it's a race against the clock to find domestic companies to sponsor their visas.
Somewhere on campus, a man calls a female student a terrorist from his car window, a group of students passionately argue the logic behind public bans on hijabs and a TA refuses to give a student her exam until she removes her headscarf.
It’s one against 70, and the recruiter is losing. Rather than file out, the students swarm him, ply him with resumes and cover letters, jostle his arm in hopes of a handshake.
They are many in number. They are stoic. They are strong.
They are the guardians of Penn’s campus– of our souls and ourselves.
They are bound to stand by us, in sickness and in health.
They are the support we need, not the support we deserve.
They are walls.