Penn in the News

Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine talks about the Penn Working Dog Center and a shortage of explosive-sniffing dogs.

Jeffrey Hom and Krisda Chaiyachati of the Perelman School of Medicine write about difficulties patients encounter surrounding opioid addiction treatment.

On the scale of the global crises she deals with on a daily basis, the issue that Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, weighed in on during a commencement speech at Yale last week might have seemed a minor, even insular concern. The subject in question was the university’s decision not to change the name of Calhoun College, named after a Confederate leader and vocal advocate of slavery. Ms. Power, a Yale graduate herself, made clear that she regarded the issue as a serious one.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center comments on the growth of negative political campaigning.

Susan Wachter of the Wharton School is quoted about first-time home buyers.

Wealthy private colleges and universities are under the microscope for failing to open their doors to more smart students from poor families. Congress has asked 56 private colleges with endowments of more than $1 billion each for detailed information about their holdings. Some lawmakers would like to force these elite institutions to devote at least 25% of their annual endowment income to financial aid or lose their tax-exempt status. Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett recently chided schools with large endowments and high tuition for not spending more on aid.

On the City College of New York’s handsome Gothic campus, leaking ceilings have turned hallways into obstacle courses of buckets. The bathrooms sometimes run out of toilet paper. The lectures are becoming uncomfortably overcrowded, and course selections are dwindling, because of steep budget cuts. The faculty of the college’s well-regarded engineering school is so “disengaged and beaten,” an assessment last year warned, that if “serious shortcomings” were not rectified, the school could fail to earn reaccreditation.

Kyle Kampman of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on the benefit of an implanted drug to help treat opioid addiction.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves is featured for speaking on campus to the Association for Advancement of Baltic Studies.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center comments on what makes Donald Trump appealing for media outlets to cover him in the election season.