Penn in the News

Susan Sorenson of the School of Social Policy & Practice suggests that it is difficult to predict the impact of President Obama’s move to tighten gun-control laws.

How much has to go wrong at an institution before its top leaders are held accountable? That’s what some at the University of Louisville are asking. The public university has weathered several high-profile incidents in the last year, including a prostitution scandal involving the men’s basketball team, the president and his staff donning racially insensitive Halloween costumes, and, revealed most recently, the ongoing investigation of an executive vice president and other high-level staffers for possibly misusing federal funds.

Philip Tetlock of the Wharton School and the School of Arts & Sciences writes about the soft-side of psychology.

Graduate student Sarah Lyon of the Graduate School of Education writes about the importance of universities implementing orientation seminars to educate new students about mental health resources.

Weeks after two University of Missouri employees were caught on video trying to force student journalists from a protest about the campus racial climate, Republican lawmakers in the state are trying to force the women from their jobs. The Columbia Missourian reports that more than a hundred state representatives and 18 senators, all Republicans, have signed a letter urging that the university fire Melissa A.

Professors differ on how much their grading should be based on tests, written assignments, labs, class participation and other factors. But students' looks? Most faculty members would deny that physical appearance is a legitimate criterion in grading. But a study presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association finds that -- among similarly qualified female students -- those who are physically attractive earn better grades than others. For male students, there is no significant relationship between attractiveness and grades.

Dorothy Roberts of the Law School and the School of Arts & Sciences and Jeffrey Vagle of the Law School pen an op-ed about the history of racial surveillance.

Maurice Schweitzer of the Wharton School is the author of this op-ed on determining Hall of Fame ballplayers.

Pennsylvania authorities in late December filed criminal charges of felony indecent assault against Bill Cosby in regard to an incident involving a former employee of Temple University. 

Research from the Wharton School about New Year’s resolutions as “temporal landmarks” is cited.