Penn in the News

Excavation work began this month on a privately owned portion of a Revolutionary War battlefield that historical activists are trying to preserve from development by a prominent academic institute. The Princeton Battlefield Society is hoping to halt the plans of the Institute of Advanced Study, which is starting work to build faculty housing.

Much of what I’ve learned about the intersection of American and African-American history, I’ve learned as an extracurricular activity. Whether it was the emergence of the formerly enslaved into positions as governor or members of Congress during Reconstruction, the backlash to that progress post-Reconstruction, or the heroism of scores of African-American soldiers who fought even as they were denied their basic rights as citizens, this history has been marginalized.

Students speaking out on race. An alumna fighting to save her college. A governor taking on tenure. This year’s group of 10 influencers and agitators shook up higher education in the classroom, on campus, and beyond.

The University of Wisconsin has become the latest university system to officially affirm the right to free speech and academic freedom for all students amid concerns that academia is trying to protect students from being offended by classroom lectures and discussions. The system’s Board of Regents voted 16 to 2 on Friday to adopt a resolution stating that the university should not shield people from ideas or opinions they find unwelcome or offensive. “These are not just pretty words we are going to put in a brass plaque,” said a regent, José Delgado.

Only a handful of gun-rights advocates and those supporting Texas’ new, less restrictive campus-carry law showed up near the University of Texas campus here on Saturday for a highly publicized but divisive demonstration and mock shooting in favor of ending gun-free zones. A few demonstrators carried legal AK-47 and AR-15 rifles before the first stage of the gathering, a walk that began at a parking garage just west of the 51,000-student campus. They were outnumbered by throngs of reporters, photographers and television cameras, and later by counter-demonstrators.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia just stirred up another controversy with comments about why African Americans might be better off if they are not accepted into top colleges and universities but rather to “slower-track” schools.” Scalia made the comments during a court hearing in a case challenging the race-conscious admissions plan at the University of Texas at Austin.

Tukufu Zuberi of the School of Arts & Sciences is profiled for his latest book, African Independence: How Africa Shapes the World.

Yasmin Kafai of the Graduate School of Education wrote an op-ed on the importance for students of learning to code.

With the advent of Google Scholar and other metrics for faculty productivity, advancing one’s career as a professor is much more of a numbers game than it used to be. 

Arthur van Benthem of the Wharton School co-writes an article about the EU’s carbon-trading system.