Penn in the News

Sarah Gordon of the Law School and the School of Arts & Sciences talks about the origin of the political import of displays like the Ten Commandments monument.

The average amount that college students spend on course materials appears to be declining. But not necessarily because textbooks are cheaper. A growing number of students, surveys show, simply skip buying required course materials. A survey of undergraduates on 23 campuses by the National Association of College Stores, expected to be released on Thursday, found that students spent an average of $563 on course materials during the 2014-15 academic year, compared with $638 the year before.

Mitchell Lazar of the Perelman School of Medicine is quoted about leading a research team studying anti-diabetes drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs).

Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School is interviewed about whether or not investing in college is worth the cost, through an economic lens.

Is the admission process broken for Chinese applicants to American colleges? Variations of that question came up again and again during sessions on Wednesday at the Overseas Association for College Admission Counseling [OACAC] conference. Persistent concerns about standardized test fraud, doctored transcripts and fake admission letters -- and the role of agents in helping to "pollute" the application process (as one session description put it) -- are causing some to worry that Chinese students might think cheating is their only choice.

Senator Marco Rubio, laying out an economic blueprint that will be central to his campaign for president, called Tuesday for dismantling the “cartel of existing colleges and universities” that he said left too many students without viable career paths and burdened by tens of thousands of dollars in debt. In a speech that was part history lesson, part policy prescription, and punctuated with barbs at Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr.

With its growing global clout, China has become the place to be for American colleges, with the number of academic partnerships and programs there increasing each year. But a law proposed by the Chinese government to regulate foreign universities and nonprofit organizations could put those warming relations on ice. Under the draft legislation, overseas colleges would be required to register with the national police ministry and have an official Chinese sponsor for all their activities, from study abroad to student recruitment, faculty lectures to joint research.

Robert Town of the Wharton School discusses what insurers want consumers to know about their coverage and costs.

Doctoral candidate Nora Becker of the Perelman School of Medicine and Wharton School is quoted about studying the money spent on birth control by American women.

When someone spray painted "KKK," "Black Lives Matter" and "Murderer" on the base of a statue of a Confederate soldier at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, people took to social media to discuss the incident. Many -- including those who want the statue removed -- criticized the tactic, calling it vandalism. Some comments were quite critical of whoever wrote those things, with many comments assuming they were students. "What's even worse that [sic] the vandalism is proof of failed educations provided to @UNC students.