Penn in the News

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.

John McDonald of the School of Arts & Sciences is cited as a coauthor on a study about how repairing vacant houses can have an impact on reducing crime. Charles Branas of the Perelman School of Medicine also shares his research on reducing crime and helping improve health in urban areas.

Michael Sinkinson and Amanda Starc of the Wharton School are cited for their paper entitled, “Ask Your Doctor? Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Pharmaceuticals.”

Graduate students employed by the University of Washington don’t have to put up with workplace microaggressions. It says so right in their union’s contract. Under the terms of a new collective-bargaining agreement between the public university’s administration and its graduate researchers and teaching assistants, such employees’ work environments should "be free from everyday exchanges — including words and actions" that denigrate or exclude them as members of some group or class.

Jeremy Siegel of the Wharton School comments on the Chinese stock market.

Mary Frances Berry of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses the Confederate flag removal from the South Carolina State House grounds and what is next in terms of addressing race relations.

Ask colleges’ Title IX coordinators today about their responsibilities, and you’ll hear a long list. They’ll talk about sexual-assault prevention, investigations, and educational programming. Or the sometimes dizzying complexities of the federal gender-equity law called Title IX, which are prompting more colleges to devote whole offices to compliance.

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.