Penn in the News

Albert Maguire of the Perelman School of Medicine talks about testing a gene therapy product to help restore vision.

Microaggressions: everyday offenses or digs, sometimes subtle and unintentional, directed at a person based on his or her race. It’s a divisive term which some say has helped enable the “coddling” of college students nationwide. Other still say it’s given a name to the kinds of insidious discrimination that students of color and others have faced in the college classroom for generations. Like it or not, microaggression is now part of the mainstream college climate vocabulary, as a recent, public case at Mount Holyoke College and others like it illustrate.

They came to listen, to question, and to vent. Most of all, they came early to get a good seat: Nobody wanted to miss the hottest discussion in town. At the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s annual conference here on Saturday, a spirited crowd gathered to hear more about why 83 public and private colleges plan to build a shared college-application system, meant to “recast” the admissions process.

Swarthmore College's new president has a plan for dealing with a student body known for its vocal activism: Listen carefully to the students. Craft a careful, well-researched response. Communicate with them. "It's critically important to maintain open dialogue with students," said Valerie Smith, 59, who on Saturday was inaugurated as the first African American president of Swarthmore, one of the most prestigious and selective colleges in the country.

Susan Domchek of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on lifestyle factors that can help prevent cancer.

A Swarthmore College student died Saturday afternoon after accidentally falling several dozen feet off a cliff, police said. The school identified him as Anthony Chiarenza, a sophomore from Bayside, N.Y. He fell about 40 or 50 feet in Crum Woods, part of a wooded, rocky section at the back of the school's main campus, said Sgt. Raymond Stufflet of the borough's police department. Stufflet said the fall, which appeared to be accidental, occurred around 2:45 p.m.

Salamishah Tillet of the School of Arts & Sciences pens an op-ed concentrated on the Black Panther Party and feminism.

Let’s talk about fairness, the word no one can quite pin down. It echoes in high-school hallways and campus quads, in editorial pages and judicial opinions — wherever people have something to say about college admissions. But what is fairness, really? Ask the applicant, for whom an admissions decision from a selective college arrives like the last judgment. An acceptance rewards years of studying deep into the night, excelling in extracurriculars, and shelling out for those SAT-prep courses. And rejection is condemnation.

A few years back, many seeking to reform college admissions focused on early decision, under which applicants pledge to enroll if admitted, and both apply and find out if they got in months before the normal schedule. The system, they said, favored wealthier applicants and forced high school students to commit to a college earlier than was wise for many of them. Much of the discussion focused on the most competitive colleges and universities.

Namni Goel of the Perelman School of Medicine talks about how naps are helpful in staying productive after the midday slump.