5/18
Penn in the News
A round-up of Penn mentions in local, national, and international media.
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Penn In the News
Yale College Dean Torn by Racial Protests
His cellphone started humming at 11:20 p.m. on Thursday. An urgent voice jolted Jonathan Holloway from his slumber. Students protesting against racism on campus were streaming toward the home of the university’s president, the caller said. Dr. Holloway is the first black dean of Yale College, a scholar of African-American history, and an administrator who prides himself on his close ties to his students. But the late-night march took him by surprise. Within minutes, he was dialing Yale’s president: “You might want to get dressed.”
Penn In the News
Naming of Margaret Spellings as UNC System President Called ‘A Disturbing New Low’
In recent years the University of North Carolina system — long considered one of the best in the country — has sustained massive budget cuts by the state legislature as well as efforts to force some academics to change their priorities. Now there is a new challenge: the appointment of Margaret Spellings, education secretary under President George W. Bush, as system president. The move — by a Republican-dominated governing board — is being attacked by students and faculty as a political move that will damage the state.
Penn In the News
When Pursuing Diversity, Victory Is Hard to Define
Shaun Harper of the Graduate School of Education talks about the “semantic substitutes” used to described racism on college campuses.
Penn In the News
Mizzou’s Impact Is Felt on Campuses Nationwide
The protests at the University of Missouri, which upended an entire campus system this week, continue to have an impact across the country as student demonstrators seize on the energy of the moment and racial tensions escalate. “They smell blood in the water,” said Raymond Cotton, a lawyer who represents university presidents and boards, of activists who have been emboldened by the success of the protesters at Mizzou. “The students out there got their university not only to back down, but they got the heads of two administrators.”
Penn In the News
Widening Access to Study Abroad
Andres Castro Samayoa, Marybeth Gasman and Paola Esmieu of the Graduate School of Education write about creating more access and resources for study abroad opportunities.
Penn In the News
Do Debates Matter?
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center is quoted about the large number of Republican candidates still running for president.
Penn In the News
Purdue vs. Yale and Mizzou
The Wall Street Journal couldn't have been much more excited about what Mitch Daniels said Wednesday about the protests at Yale University and the University of Missouri. "We’ve been wondering all week what happened to the grown-ups on American university campuses, and it appears we have a sighting. Mitch Daniels, the president of Purdue University, spoke up Wednesday about the children’s revolt at Yale and Missouri," said the Journal in an editorial. While many conservatives joined in praising Daniels, his comments angered many black students at Purdue and some critics elsewhere.
Penn In the News
Professors Dispute Depiction of Harvard Case in Rape Documentary
The veracity of one of this year’s most talked about documentaries, “The Hunting Ground,” has been attacked by 19 Harvard Law School professors, who say the film’s portrayal of rape on college campus is distorted, specifically when it comes to their school’s handling of one particular case. Directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Ziering, whose previous team efforts include the Oscar-nominated “The Invisible War” (2012), about sexual assault in the military, “The Hunting Ground” interviews victims of sexual assault at colleges around the country.
Penn In the News
It’s 2015. Where Are All The Black College Faculty?
Colleges and universities talk up a blue streak about their commitment to diversity, in their student bodies and faculty. But when it comes to actually hiring black faculty at most schools, the commitment doesn’t match the rhetoric. The recent racial trouble at the University of Missouri, leading to the resignation of the president, underscores this reality. Here’s a piece on this issue, by Leslie T. Fenwick, dean of the Howard University School of Education and a former visiting scholar in education at Harvard University, and H.
Penn In the News
Dean at Claremont McKenna College Resigns Amid Protests
The dean of students at Claremont McKenna College stepped down Thursday in response to protests over the treatment of students of color. Mary Spellman, the dean, said in an email to the student body that she believed her resignation was the best way to allow for healing at the campus. Students at Claremont McKenna, an exclusive liberal arts college east of Los Angeles, had been agitated by racial tensions similar to those that sparked protests at universities across the country in recent weeks.