Penn’s Class Board 2026 is under fire after distributing Gildan sweaters in place of the promised Champion-branded P-Sweaters.
Photo Credit: Reagan Reese
By Reagan Reese
A slew of backlash from members of Penn’s Class of 2026 was released on the anonymous social media platform, Sidechat, yesterday following the first round of P-Sweater distribution.
Some have taken to Sidechat to dub the incident “Sweatergate.”
Complaints appeared to revolve around the brand of the P-Sweater, which were initially advertised on Instagram by the 2026 Class Board as being Champion branded. However, the P-Sweaters received upon distribution were Gildan branded. The cost of the P-Sweater was $45, which totaled to $48.33 after an additional $1.90 “Service Fee” and 3% fee for credit card transactions through the purchasing site, Ticket Leap.
One post on Sidechat insinuated that the 2026 Class Board intentionally withheld information from the Class of 2026 regarding misprinted sweaters and change in brand from Champion to Gildan due to the recent Class Board elections, which closed on April 10th.
It wasn’t just juniors who were upset by the change in P-Sweater brand. Others outside of the Class of 2026 also took to Sidechat to give input on the situation. One post that garnered over 1,400 upvotes said the following: “I’m not class of ‘26, but buying champion and getting gildan is 100% false advertising and everyone should get a full refund.”
As a result of the complaints circulating Sidechat, an email was sent on April 18 at 11:34 PM EST by 2026 Class Board President, Vedika Jawa. She noted that the original Champion branded sweaters were out of stock when the order was placed in January and would not be expected to restock until late April, meaning distribution would have to be pushed until Fall 2025 at the earliest.
Jawa indicated that the 2026 Class Board made an internal decision to move forward with a different brand to ensure that the Class of 2026 would receive P-Sweaters during the Spring 2025 semester. In the email, Jawa stated, “…when we made the decision, we didn’t realize that we had explicitly mentioned Champion in our earlier emails.”
Others on Sidechat voiced concerns regarding the price disparity between Champion branded sweaters and Gildan branded sweaters despite being charged the same price of $45. A user on Sidechat claimed that “[Class Board 2026] was def pocketing at least $20/sweater, if 20% of ‘26 bought sweaters that’s $10k they stole.”
In her April 18 email, Jawa addressed the above claim by stating: “We also want to clarify that we’re not profiting off of any of this. All funds raised from the P-Sweaters (or other merch and events) go directly toward Feb Club, which the P-Sweaters have helped fund for years. Every dollar goes back into programming for the class.”
The Pennsylvania Post reached out to Jawa for an official comment, but she has not responded.
For more clarification as to how “Sweatergate” came to be, here is a timeline of communication from the 2026 Class Board and Office of Student Affairs (OSA) regarding P-Sweaters:
November 9th, 2024: The P-Sweaters were teased on the official Class Board 2026 Instagram page.
November 11th, 2024: The sale of the sweaters was announced via email from 2026 Class Board President, Vedika Jawa. The deadline to purchase was announced as November 24th, and was later extended to November 27th.
November 19th, 2024: A P-Sweater giveaway announced via email from 2026 Class Board President, Vedika Jawa. In the same email, a FAQ about P-Sweaters was provided. P-Sweaters were listed as being sold for $45, with subsidies available to FGLI (first-generation, low-income) students. P-Sweaters were detailed as being “Champion branded sweaters, running true-to-size”. Proceeds from P-Sweaters were mentioned as going “back to the class,” to be used for ‘Junior Smokes Night’ and ‘Feb Club’.
November 25th, 2024: Class Board 2026 posted an official announcement on Instagram that the pre-order deadline for P-Sweaters would be extended to November 27th.
December 2nd, 2024: The P-Sweater pre-order deadline was pushed to December 5th.
February 18th, 2025: Emails from TicketLeap, the platform used to purchase P-Sweaters, were sent regarding refunding entire P-Sweater purchases to those who requested financial subsidy. No communication was provided from the Class Board 2026 at this time.
February 20th, 2025: An email was sent from Class Board 2026 President addressing concerns about the cancellation of P-Sweater orders, among other updates. The official message was as follows:
“I wanted to quickly address the P-sweaters since I know many of you have reached out. They have NOT been canceled! They’ve already been ordered, and we’ll keep you updated as soon as we receive more details about their arrival. If you received an email about your order being refunded, don’t worry—this was part of the financial subsidy process. Keep an eye out for an email from OSA with the next steps.”
February 24th, 2025: Rodney Robinson, Associate Director of the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), sent an email to students who requested financial subsidy for P-Sweaters detailing the amount of the subsidy that would be provided to individual students. Students were assured that their original order was not canceled as the February 18 email from TicketLeap suggested.
April 11th, 2025: The P-Sweater distribution was announced via email from 2026 Class Board President, Vedika Jawa. Pickup was scheduled for Friday, April 18th and Friday, April 25th from 1–5 PM in Houston Hall. Students who requested a financial subsidy were instructed to wait for an email from OSA to “complete that process” prior to picking up their P-Sweater.
April 15th, 2025: Students who requested financial subsidy received an email from Robinson to submit their new subsidized payment no later than 9 AM on Friday, April 18th.
April 17th, 2025: Class of 2026 received an email from 2026 Class Board President, Vedika Jawa, regarding a misprint on white P-Sweaters and a reminder for pickup times. The email noted that they had begun unpacking the shipment the day prior, April 16th, and noticed that the white sweaters were printed with a red “P” and not the usual blue “P.” They stated that the corrected sweaters would not be available for pickup until the Fall 2025 semester. They also mentioned that students who had ordered a white sweater were offered the option of taking a misprinted sweater for free in addition to picking up the corrected sweater in the fall.
April 18th, 2025: 2026 Class Board President, Vedika Jawa, sends an email to Class of 2026 addressing the backlash. The full email can be read here.
More communication from the 2026 Class Board is expected to follow.
Reagan Reese is a junior in the College studying Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Ocala, FL. Reagan is also the Social Media Marketing Editor and Board Secretary for The Pennsylvania Post. Her email is reaganr@sas.upenn.edu.
