Penn in the News

In 2010, advocates for students who don't identify as straight or conforming to one gender asked the Common Application to add optional questions on gender identity and sexual orientation. In 2011, the Common Application declined to do so. While some colleges in the intervening years started to ask such questions, they represent only a small minority of the institutions to which students apply. This week, that's changing.

Before she could move into a dormitory at Brigham Young University or sign up for freshman classes, Brooke had to sign the college’s Honor Code. Part moral compass and part contract, the Honor Code is a cornerstone of life for the nearly 30,000 students at Brigham Young, a Mormon-run university. It points students, faculty and staff members toward “moral virtues encompassed in the gospel of Jesus Christ,” prizing chastity, honesty and virtue.

Ronac Mamtani of the Perelman School of Medicine is quoted about leading a study that suggests cholesterol levels, not statins, influence colorectal cancer risk.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s fake-classes scandal is one of the worst athletic-impropriety-meets-academic-fraud dramas that anybody can remember. Following the release in 2014 of an expansive and damning report by the former federal prosecutor Kenneth L. Wainstein, Chapel Hill watchers were quick to ask: What’s the NCAA going to do about it? They got their first major signal on Monday, when the NCAA released its amended Notice of Allegations against the university.

On entering the cavernous atrium at the center of Istanbul’s sleek new 19-story Palace of Justice, said to be the largest courthouse in Europe, visitors are greeted by two two-story statues of Justice flanking the main stairway. The unusual pairing is discomfiting, suggesting two versions of justice, one for the state’s supporters, the other for its critics, both dwarfed by the edifice of the state itself towering above.

Students come to West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs in quest of an officer’s commission and a bachelor’s degree. Many cadets and midshipmen gravitate toward majors in science or engineering. But the nation’s service academies also want these future officers to learn something about the human condition. “We want people to think critically,” said Lt. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson, superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy. “I find myself being a champion of the humanities.”

Michael Ashburn and Jeanmarie Perrone of the Perelman School of Medicine discuss treating pain while opioid addiction rates rise.

Adam Grant of the Wharton School is cited about researching ambiverts.

Paul Rozin of the School of Arts & Sciences is cited for studying the cultural evolution and psychological impact of foods.

David Rudovsky of the Law School comments on Bill Cosby’s legal troubles.