Penn in the News

Jessie Cain was on his way to pay his son's tuition bill at the Community College of Philadelphia yesterday morning when crime-scene tape went up around him on Spring Garden Street near 16th and police officers forced him back down the block. Reports of an armed man on campus had placed the school on lockdown and Cain, 67, who worked in school security for four decades before his retirement, stood helpless at the corner, wondering if his son, Khalif, who was inside one of the classrooms, would be all right.

James McGann of the School of Arts & Sciences shares his thoughts on the challenges facing think tanks.

Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges sent alerts to students and faculty members this past weekend informing them that a posting on social media had threatened violence at an unspecified Philadelphia-area college or university, just days after the killings at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. On Tuesday, after a report of a man brandishing a handgun on the campus of Community College of Philadelphia, the police immediately sent SWAT teams to search buildings room by room. As helicopters hovered, students and faculty were put on lockdown for several hours.

German President Joachim Gauck’s remarks while at Penn about U.S.-German relations are highlighted.

Albert Maguire of the Perelman School of Medicine is quoted about gene therapy used to improve eyesight.

Faith N. Ferber, a junior at American University, finds herself intensely drawn to a subject that profoundly upsets her: sexual violence. She focuses her studies on it, helps run a campus group that advocates against it, and hopes someday to have a career fighting it. At the same time, she says, unexpected classroom discussions of the topic give her panic attacks — a reaction she attributes to post-traumatic stress disorder from being assaulted off campus just over a year ago. Such surprises can send her fleeing into a hallway or leave her rattled for days, she says.

Nowhere in the country are the governing boards, presidents and executive pay structures of colleges and universities receiving more scrutiny and attention than in Illinois. The state has weathered scandal upon scandal in recent months. Central among the controversies is the question of what kind of pay presidents should receive on their way out the door, especially when their tenure has been tumultuous. And contention in Illinois, some say, is highlighting a broader question about the state of nonsalary compensation in public higher education.

Research on M&A deals conducted by Robert Holthausen of the Wharton School is cited.

Every spring for decades, a similar scene played out at colleges across the United States: Students picked up their degrees — and Bill Cosby stood alongside them. Schools wanted Mr. Cosby, the popular, education-embracing comedian, to give their commencement address and he routinely showed up, often in a school sweatshirt, offering high fives, hugs and homespun advice. In exchange, universities and colleges gave him honorary degrees in categories like education, public service and law. Few people in American history have been recognized by universities as often as Mr.

German President Joachim Gauck’s visit to Penn is featured.