Through
4/26
A round-up of Penn mentions in local, national, and international media.
Penn In the News
On Monday night, San Jose State University students in California were alarmed to find Swastika signs displayed in the common areas of two dorms, with hateful speech scribbled alongside the symbols. The two incidents were unrelated, according to the campus police's investigation, despite happening around the same time. University officials announced Thursday that the two male students who committed the act, whose names and ages were not released, said they did it as “a joke.”
Penn In the News
Thrifty librarian Robert Morin made headlines after he donated his $4 million estate to his alma mater and employer, the University of New Hampshire. Now, the university faces criticism for deciding to use $1 million of his donation to buy an electronic football scoreboard. Critics say that it is a misuse of money that could be better used for academic or library development purposes. A UNH official says that the plans for the donation respect Mr. Morin’s wishes.
Penn In the News
On Tuesday, US News and World Report released its 2017 Best Colleges Rankings. The report – now in its 32nd year – sorts more than 1,800 US schools into categories, then rates them on academic quality. Over the years, the rankings have come under fire from many directions. Some colleges have refused to share data with US News. The White House also expressed concern about the rankings: In 2013, President Obama announced that the government would release its own ratings. (The plan was abandoned in 2015, amid heavy criticism by college and university presidents.
Penn In the News
Collaborative research from Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences about the media depiction of a divided political scene is cited.
Penn In the News
Michael Horowitz of the School of Arts and Sciences comments on the United States’ role in developing best practices for drone use.
Penn In the News
A study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that just 36 percent of Americans could name all three branches of the U.S. government and 35 percent could only name one.
Penn In the News
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center is quoted on Republican reaction to the party’s presumptive presidential candidate.
Penn In the News
In recent weeks, the first outlines of a culture shift in college football have begun to appear. Most obviously, Baylor University fired Head Coach Art Briles last week after an independent investigation found the university had mishandled accusations of sexual assault against his players. For a university to fire a coach like Mr. Briles, who had almost single-handedly made Baylor a college football superpower – was “ a milestone,” wrote ESPN columnist Ivan Maisel. “Someone in the gridiron-industrial complex stood up and said some standards are more important than winning.”
Penn In the News
In what appears to be a growing trend in colleges and schools across the nation, Yale has decided to introduce gender-neutral bathrooms. The school is promoting the policy changes on it website ahead of its 315th commencement. And in addition, Yale will also allow transgender graduates to use on the diploma their preferred name rather than the name on their birth certificate, according to the Associated Press.
Penn In the News
Freshman Sean P. acknowledges the objections to having Bill Clinton speak at his school’s commencement ceremony this year – the former president's record on abortion and same-sex marriage hardly make him a role model for graduates of a Roman Catholic institution, critics have said. But to Sean, Mr. Clinton’s politics and policies have little to do with his presence at Loyola Marymount University on graduation day. “The president [came] here to speak,” not promote an agenda, says Sean, an international relations major who asked that his last name not be used.