4/22
Penn in the News
A round-up of Penn mentions in local, national, and international media.
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Penn In the News
After Gaining Legitimacy, Can Online Higher Education Replace Traditional College?
For much of their modern existance, distance-education courses have suffered from an image problem. In the 1970s and 1980s, they were seen as cheap knockoffs of on-campus offerings, hawked on late-night television by the likes of Sally Struthers, who asked viewers, “Do you want to make more money? Sure, we all do,” in commercials for the International Correspondence School.
Penn In the News
Clinton Courts Pennsylvania Women, Cites Trump’s Miss Universe Fight
Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences comments on how close the polls are between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Penn In the News
Afraid to Speak Up: In the Era of Trigger Warnings, a Tenured Professor Stays Silent
There has been a lot of debate about speech on campuses across the country lately, with some students demanding safe spaces where they can avoid people whose opinions they find offensive, and trigger warnings before sensitive topics such as rape are mentioned in class. Some university officials have pushed back, telling students that they are concerned about academic freedom and don’t support faculty providing warnings before discussing controversial ideas.
Penn In the News
Scholars for Trump
Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University, spent two and a half years working in the George W. Bush administration and, later, voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Now Bauerlein, one of the country's most vocal conservative academics, is one of the few in the profession openly supporting Donald Trump. "We've reached a point where we need a jolt. We need someone who can take on the taboos and do so in a canny and effective way," Bauerlein said.
Penn In the News
How One College Quelled Controversy Over a Koch-Financed Center
Western Carolina University stood on the brink of a battle with its faculty after it announced plans last fall to take $2 million from the Charles Koch Foundation to establish a Center for the Study of Free Enterprise. The Faculty Senate overwhelmingly adopted a statement criticizing the gift agreement as a threat to both academic freedom and the university's reputation. The free-market-oriented Koch Foundation fueled tensions by seeking to obtain the emails of its critics on the faculty through North Carolina’s open-records law.
Penn In the News
Princeton Scientist Shares Physics Nobel for Study of ‘Strange’ Materials
Charles Kane and Eugene Mele of the School of Arts & Sciences are mentioned for their theoretical work on topological insulators.
Penn In the News
‘Long Overdue’: Colleges Needed Lower Standard of Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases, An Advocate Says
In the five years since a federal agency announced new rules governing how colleges should respond to allegations of rape and sexual assault, opponents have argued that student and faculty rights have been dangerously eroded. The directive known as the “Dear Colleague” letter brought national scrutiny to the issue, upended the way most school officials responded to claims of sexual assault and made the problem a much greater priority for many schools.
Penn In the News
What a $2-Billion Loss Really Means for Harvard and Its Endowment
Over the past week, administrators and investment managers at Harvard University have had to endure some public scrutiny over a $2-billion loss in the university’s endowment value. The editorial board at The Harvard Crimson, for example, gave administrators a scolding for the "sub-par" performance of its investments. Harvard had been bested in the market by Princeton and others, the Crimson has noted in several articles. "Let’s not mince words: this is unacceptable," the editorial said. "… As crass as it might be to say, money makes Harvard go round."
Penn In the News
Philly School District Should Follow Penn Alexander Method
The Penn Alexander School is highlighted for its success and being awarded a 2016 National Blue Ribbon for excellence.
Penn In the News
An Estimated 4.5 Million Women Have Been Threatened With Guns by Abusive Partners
Susan Sorenson of the School of Social Policy & Practice is quoted about the lives of women who have been threatened with guns by abusive partners.