Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

wall of screen icons streaming different content and a hand with a remote

Streaming endures growing pains

With several new contenders entering the streaming wars in the months ahead, faculty from Wharton and Cinema and Media Studies weigh in on the state of streaming and obstacles ahead.

Brandon Baker ・

looking up at a Union Jack flag hanging from a balcony under a blue sky

Brexit strategy Q&A: What’s next?

Political scientist Brendan O’Leary, an expert on U.K. politics, talks about the latest deal on that country’s efforts to leave the European Union, what the Dec. 12 parliamentary election may bring, and what comes after Jan. 31.

Kristen de Groot ・

Aerial view of a large crowd in Barcelona, many holding Catalonia flags

Barcelona protests: An expert take

Barcelona erupted in chaos and violence in October after Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced former leaders of Catalonia’s independence push to steep prison sentences. Three Penn experts talk to Penn Today about the ruling, the protests, and what it all means for the upcoming Spanish elections.

Kristen de Groot ・

Pen and ink drawing of the Addams Family cartoon from the cover of the Pennsylvania Gazette.

The Addams Family legacy lives on

Former Penn student Charles Addams’ creations are back on the silver screen in a new 3D computer-animated film, more than 80 years after the characters were created by the artist.

Louisa Shepard ・



In the News


Architectural Record

Why removing the melted scaffolding from Notre Dame is the key to its preservation

Frank Matero of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design said removing the Cathedral of Notre Dame’s melted scaffolding is key to protecting the cathedral’s masonry vaults. “Vault collapse would destabilize the entire structure and significantly compromise its overall integrity in every way,” he said.

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Inside Higher Ed

An intelligent argument on race?

Quayshawn Spencer of the School of Arts and Sciences said it’s a “fatal flaw” for an article on the role of heredity in determining character traits to not address how race effects both the researchers and their subjects.

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The New York Times

Why Trump persists

Diana Mutz of the Annenberg School for Communication and School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the effects of education on individual world views. “Every study I’ve ever seen across the social sciences shows that education promotes less in-group favoritism and greater tolerance toward those unlike ourselves,” she said. “In panel studies that track the same people over time, as people gain advanced levels of education, they become more tolerant and favorable toward liberal democratic norms.”

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The Wall Street Journal

Can a woman win in 2020?

Sarah Shaiman, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, wrote an opinion piece encouraging voters to look beyond identity politics when selecting a presidential candidate. “Electing a woman to be president means nothing if she doesn’t commit to materially improving the lives of the nation’s women, including working-class women,” she wrote.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

With 2020 election, Women’s March on Philadelphia ‘more important now than ever,’ organizers say

Dawn Teele of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the Women’s March, calling it “a cathartic show of solidarity rather than a solid movement with a specific end.”

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