Penn in the News

A U.S. Senate subcommittee on Tuesday passed a spending bill for health, labor and education programs that would increase funds for biomedical research and boost the maximum Pell Grant -- but slash spending on workforce training and AmeriCorps and block the Obama administration from implementing regulations relating to gainful employment for vocational programs and its college rating system.

Postdoctoral researcher Eldin Jašarevi of the School of Veterinary Medicine is quoted about studying the effects of stress during pregnancy.

When the Rev. William Gibbons died in 1886, 10,000 people attended his funeral in Washington. A second service in Charlottesville stopped traffic and commerce as throngs of mourners from the black community rushed to the Baptist church. Gibbons and his wife lived and died at a time of great change, from slavery – they were owned by professors at the University of Virginia — to emancipation, to leadership and great renown. Now U-Va. is telling their stories, and naming a new dorm in their honor, as the university delves into the darker side of its storied past.

Anthony Rostain of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on signs of adult attention-deficient/hyperactivity disorder.

David Rudovsky of the Law School comments on the reduction in shootings in Philadelphia.

It was a messy affair when the University of North Carolina at Wilmington closed its chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, in 2012. The group was kicked off campus for providing alcohol to minors, sponsoring a social affair after its activities were supposed to be suspended, and then lying to university officials about having done so. So far, the fraternity’s return to the campus isn’t going much better.

Susan Wachter of the Wharton School talks about the current status of homeownership in America.

This viewpoint from the University of Michigan’s president comes as the prestigious public flagship is releasing data from a survey of its students about sexual misconduct. Read about the survey here. The university in Ann Arbor has about 28,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students. — Nick Anderson

Phillip C. Stone believes in the power of a good story. Storytelling was a key part of Mr. Stone’s fund-raising strategy at Bridgewater College, in Virginia, where he served as president for 16 years, according to Carol A. Scheppard, its vice president for academic affairs. He is also easily moved by other people’s stories, said Ms. Scheppard, especially ones about students who beat the odds. "He was very efficient about running the institution," she said, "but you couldn’t trust him with giving away money to students who came in with a hard-luck story."

Minyuan Zhao of the Wharton School comments on the competition of car services in China.