Penn in the News

Starting next fall, students applying to any of the University of California’s 10 campuses will have the option of signaling their sexual orientation and any of a number of gender identities before they even arrive on campus. The option, part of a host of other accommodations in an effort to make the campuses as inclusive as possible, comes at a time of rapid change for gender identity politics, with high-profile symbols such as Caitlyn Jenner driving the conversation forward, elating some and distressing others.

Colleges and universities are teaming up with technology entrepreneurs in an effort to keep students safe — on and off campus — by using their smartphones. Mobile apps geared toward campus safety are booming: with a few clicks, text messages will contact friends or social media, employ GPS to pinpoint a location and automatically connect to 911. Many will connect to campus security offices and national emergency hotlines. Others use countdown timers that will automatically send messages and GPS information if a user is past due at a destination.

Lance Becker of the Perelman School of Medicine is mentioned for serving on panel that focused on cardiac arrest.

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde of the School of Arts & Sciences is quoted about the value of the euro.

A growing group of Columbia University undergraduates are calling for an overhaul to the school’s required reading list and asking whether classics with sexually violent content should bear cautionary notes.

After a racially motivated shooting in Charleston earlier this month left nine black people dead, a nationwide conversation about the Confederate flag began. Politicians jumped on the bandwagon, major corporations removed merchandise displaying the flag from their shelves and the topic pervaded social media and news coverage. At the University of Texas at Austin, students are lobbying to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president.

Drexel University has laid off "several dozen" administrative employees as a result of a new admissions policy that brought in fewer freshmen for the fall. University officials declined to specify the number of layoffs or how many vacant positions were eliminated, but said the move - along with other cost-cutting - will save $18 million. No faculty members were cut. The employees were to be dismissed by Wednesday.

Michael Kahana of the Perelman School of Medicine talks about how quickly memories can be formed.

Adam Finkel of the Law School is quoted about standards from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Campus hearings, even when they’re regarding an activity as serious as sexual assault, are not courtrooms. It's a distinction that the U.S. Department of Education has embraced, requiring colleges to conduct their own investigations into claims of sexual assault, and to adjudicate those cases under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Colleges use “preponderance of evidence” instead of “beyond reasonable doubt” as the standard of proof. If a student is found in violation of campus rules, he or she is “responsible” for the misconduct, not “guilty” of a crime.