Penn in the News

The first major update in seven years of a database on grade inflation has found that grades continue to rise and that A is the most common grade earned at all kinds of colleges. Since the last significant release of the survey, faculty members at Princeton University and Wellesley College, among other institutions, have debated ways to limit grade inflation, despite criticism from some students who welcome the high averages. But the new study says these efforts have not been typical.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center joins a conversation addressing the media coverage of the 2016 presidential race.

In a brightly lit classroom here at Harvard, Mia Karvonides was trying to explain to a group of bemused student leaders the difference between a romantic encounter and “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature,” as the university’s relatively new code of sexual misconduct defines it. She tried to leaven the legalistic atmosphere at the town-hall-style meeting with realistic-sounding examples, defying gender stereotypes. Jose and Lisa, chemistry students, are working late at night in the lab, she began, when Lisa comes up from behind and kisses Jose on the neck.

Aaron Wunsch of the School of Design says, “These church buildings often have a particular presence and many are great works of architecture. I feel the church has an obligation in some way to be a good institutional citizen.”

The Emory University community awoke on March 21 to “Trump 2016” and related messages chalked on walkways, stairways, building walls and other places across our campus. Anti-Trump protests followed. Free and open expression is strongly encouraged at Emory, so the chalked endorsements normally would not cause anyone to blink an eye. But, in this case, a particular set of circumstances created a flash point.

Kathryn Schmitz of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on the effects of cancer treatment on patients.

In a year in which student activism and free speech issues have dominated conversations on many campuses, and beyond, a Williams College official takes on the concerns of those who argue that students today are too quick to take offense at others’ language and perceived biases. He writes at a time when two speakers who had been invited to Williams as part of a series meant to challenge students with unfamiliar or unpopular views were canceled recently — first by students, last spring, then by the president of the elite private college in Massachusetts last month.

Professors in the fields of business, law, and engineering draw the highest salaries among faculty members who have tenure or are on the tenure track, according to the results of an annual survey released on Monday by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. Among full professors, faculty members in legal studies were the best-compensated in the 2015-16 academic year, earning an average of just above $145,000 across both private and public institutions.

One by one, women stepped up to a chalkboard at the back of a Baylor University chapel and erased one of the lies they’d been told about rape: that if they’d been drinking, they had it coming; that the guy had a right to expect sex; that if they’d forgotten some details, their account couldn’t be true.

Seven years ago, Ronke A. Oke felt as if she no longer belonged in philosophy. For Ms. Oke, earning a master’s degree at the University of Memphis had been difficult, and she considered quitting the discipline and not going for her Ph.D. Her experience at Memphis stood in stark contrast to her undergraduate years at Spelman College, a historically black institution. At Spelman, Ms. Oke, who is black, could imagine herself as a philosopher. Most of her professors were black women. She was not yet aware of philosophy’s reputation as an old boys’ club.