Penn in the News

Angela Duckworth of the School of Arts & Sciences joins a conversation about grit being a characteristic that successful people share.

As Texas prepares to become the ninth state to allow licensed holders to carry guns on campus, at least one question looms large for the University of Texas System's regents: Can faculty ban guns from their offices? Unable to settle this question Thursday, as well as the additional question of whether holders should be prohibited from keeping a bullet in the chamber of a semi-automatic weapon, the regents postponed any action until they meet again in July.

Armed with a blue and white megaphone and a poster featuring a female silhouette and the words "stop blaming victims," Kelsey Bourgeois was at the epicenter of a large protest late last month just off Brigham Young University’s campus. The crowd assembled with the goal of persuading the university to relax its strict honor code and to grant immunity to people who come forward about sexual assault. The cause is personal for Ms. Bourgeois. She was raised Mormon and is herself a sexual-assault survivor two times over.

Mauro Guillén of the Wharton School shares his views on the impeachment of Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff.

Graduate student Steve Jasinski of the School of Arts & Sciences is highlighted for identifying a new species of fossil dog.

Katherina Rosqueta of the School of Social Policy & Practice’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy says, “Philanthropic funds have always been a drop in the ocean compared to the resources that government and the private sector have.”

Gene Bishop of the Perelman School of Medicine writes about the benefits to the city’s health regarding the proposed soda tax.

David Mandell of the Perelman School of Medicine evaluates insurance mandates for autistic children.

After Harvard University announced plans on Friday to bar members of single-gender social clubs from leadership positions and scholarship endorsements from the college, many of Harvard’s women fought back. The policy is an attempt to crack down on Harvard’s historic "final clubs," which are not officially affiliated with the university. The new rule, however, does not single out those groups, taking in the campus’s unaffiliated five fraternities and four sororities as well.

David Reibstein of the Wharton School says, “Brands get their value from how customers perceive them.”