Penn in the News

Ann Harrison of the Wharton School discusses the roles of trade and trade agreements in the current presidential campaign season.

A former student of the University of Mississippi pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal civil-rights crime, acknowledging that he and another man had tied a noose and a Confederate flag around the neck of a statue honoring the black man who integrated the state’s flagship university. Austin Reed Edenfield of Kennesaw, Ga., waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of using a threat of force to intimidate African American students and employees because of their race or color, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release.

The growing federal emphasis on combating sexual harassment on campus, along with universities’ broadening definitions of inappropriate sexual behavior, has had a chilling effect on academic freedom and speech, especially on female professors in areas like gender studies, a report released Thursday by the American Association of University Professors said.

Undergraduate students Kriya Patel, Vaishak Kumar and Melanie Mariano are listed as the 2016 President Engagement Prize winners announced by President Amy Gutmann.

It’s long been a rite of passage at major research universities: To have a chance at tenure, scientists first need to win at least one full-size federal grant. Now that’s changing. Though they’re reluctant to discuss details, several large research universities admit that they’ve begun granting tenure to faculty members who haven’t yet crossed that threshold, a concession to several years of flat federal support for science. Faculty members still are expected to demonstrate independent research activity, says Gary K. Ostrander, vice president for research at Florida State University.

Andy Porter of the Graduate School of Education co-authors an article explaining The Common Core Standards.

The government-led push against sexual assault on college campuses has unintentionally produced a new batch of victims: male students accused of rape, yet never found guilty in criminal court. These college men say they can face suspension, expulsion, and hiring challenges for years to come. Overall, sexual assault is believed to remain vastly underreported, despite a strong push from the US Department of Education in 2011. Some 23 percent of undergraduate women reported being threatened or forced into nonconsensual contact in one 2015 survey of more than two dozen colleges.

Undergraduate Kim Bernardin of the School of Arts & Sciences publishes an article based on her senior thesis in urban studies.

In May 2010, Faisal Shahzad hoped to kill dozens of pedestrians when he parked his Nissan Pathfinder near Times Square, loaded with improvised bombs. Four months earlier, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to bring down a trans-Atlantic flight carrying 289 passengers by igniting explosives sewn into his underwear. Last year, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military facilities in Tennessee, killing five soldiers.

Fourth-year medical student Rebekah Lucien of the Perelman School of Medicine recounts her experience finding out on Match Day where she would fulfill her residency.