Penn in the News

Jules Lipoff of the Perelman School of Medicine and recent Penn Medicine graduate Jenna Peart are highlighted for co-authoring a letter urging physicians to do more to aid asylum seekers.

The cost of college is almost certainly too high, and a consequence of that is alarming student debt. Does that mean our goal should be to make college debt free? Depends how you do it. First, let's be clear: While the cost of college is probably much higher than it should be, and millions of people enter but never finish, a degree still tends to pay off handsomely, with the average graduate making far more over her lifetime - some estimate $1 million more - than someone who ended their education after high school.

A Harvard University task force has recommended a significant increase in sexual assault prevention efforts on campus, according to a report submitted Monday to University President Drew Faust Monday.

Clarence G. Williams grew up in the segregated South and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at historically black institutions, where African-American faculty members mentored him and inspired him to pursue a career in academe. But when Mr. Williams arrived at the University of Connecticut, in 1969, to pursue a doctoral degree in higher-education administration and counseling psychology, black faculty members and students were few. He felt isolated at Connecticut, but one of the people he says played a pivotal role in helping him succeed as a Ph.D.

Amanda Starc of the Wharton School talks about the pros and cons of pharmaceutical advertising.

There’s surprisingly little research on the effects of graduate student instruction on undergraduates and of teaching experience on graduate students’ eventual careers. But conventional wisdom suggests that seasoned faculty members make better undergraduate instructors and that graduate students benefit from more time spent on finishing their dissertations than on teaching. For those reasons and others, some institutions -- most recently Purdue University -- have taken steps toward increasing faculty-undergraduate interaction and limiting the use of graduate students as instructors.

After a professor at Oberlin College posted comments on social media and shared posts claiming that Jews and Israelis control much of the world and were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Islamic State, the college’s president defended the principle of academic freedom. But as reaction intensified from alumni, some Jewish groups and others, the chairman of the board of trustees called for quick action at the college in Ohio.

Education is supposed to be a key out of poverty. Work hard, learn more, get a college degree — or two or three — and you can follow the American Dream. And if you don’t get that degree, if you don’t succeed, then it’s all on you. It sounds good on the surface. There is a strong correlation between educational level and earnings and a negative correlation with unemployment level. The higher the degree, the more money one makes and the less likely one is to be unemployed. But there are some caveats hidden behind the averages and encouraging statistics.

Dominic Sisti of the Perelman School of Medicine critiques bioethicists who overlook the area of correctional mental health care.

David Zaring of the Wharton School share his opinion about global insurance regulations.