Eliana Atienza, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, recently garnered attention after asserting her ‘homelessness’ following her removal from campus due to her involvement in anti-Israel demonstrations. Atienza also mentioned that she was prevented from accessing her dormitory as her student ID was deactivated following a mandatory leave directive. However, it has since been disclosed that Atienza comes from a prominent and politically influential family in the Philippines.
Atienza’s father, Kim, is a well-known television talk show host in the Philippines, known for his opulent lifestyle, as evidenced by his social media presence. Her grandfather, Lito Atienza, is a distinguished politician who once ran as a vice presidential candidate alongside boxer Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines.
Further insight into Atienza’s family uncovered their wealth and achievements over the years. Her mother, Felicia Hung Atienza, previously held executive positions at Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan before founding the Chinese International School in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Additionally, she is an alumnus of The Wharton School, the same school attended by Donald Trump.
Notwithstanding Atienza’s declarations of being ‘homeless’ and a target of ‘administrative violence’, her social media platforms feature numerous posts about her various excursions and vacations, including a trip to Antarctica in January. Her website also contains remarks about indulging in coffee and shedding tears during protests, as well as recounting experiences of being doxxed online due to social justice activism.
In more recent developments, several University of Pennsylvania students, including members of Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, were apprehended in an effort to occupy a school building. The arrests took place following the dismantling of a protest encampment on campus. The attempt involved the retrieval of lock-picking tools and homemade metal shields, as well as the securing of zip-tied exit doors, barbed wire, barricaded windows, and blocked entrances.
In conclusion, the narrative of Eliana Atienza, the UPenn student who asserted her homelessness, is just a fragment of a larger sequence of incidents encompassing pro-Palestinian protests and detentions on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The coverage has shone a light on the contentious nature of student demonstrations and the measures taken by both the students involved and the authorities.