• We Are the Law

    We Are the Law

    Supreme Court Justice, baseball savior and Sesame Street star Sonia Sotomayor visited Penn today for the official opening of Golkin Hall, the new law school building. Your faithful-ish correspondent was in the room and got all the juicy quotes. And by juicy I mean inspiring and profound. In dedicating a new building for Penn Law today, Justice Sotomayor was following [...]

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  • Obamamania Live Blog

    Obamamania Live Blog

    All the excitement of a national student campaign kickoff with none of the effort on your part! I’ll let you know everything live from Houston Hall, probably starting around 5:30. Refresh often, or check in periodically, so you don’t miss a moment. 5:12 PM My friend (and rising Penn Dems star) Matt Kalmans invited me to help set up, so [...]

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  • WatChu Want?

    WatChu Want?

    Secretary of Energy Steven Chu gave a lecture at Penn today. I know because I sat in a nearby room and watched him on a poorly mic’d screen. Chu discussed innovation in a variety of fields and the impact of that innovation, and three main themes emerged. The first was that he really likes to reference Nobel laureates, perhaps to [...]

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  • Emotional Animal: David Brooks’ Discourse at Penn

    Emotional Animal: David Brooks’ Discourse at Penn

    A few weeks ago, just before spring break, New York Times columnist David Brooks spoke at Penn as a part of a series sponsored by the Center for Neuroscience and Society. In the past, Brooks has written several columns and given a number of talks on the implications of cognitive neuroscience research in the social sciences. And on March 8, [...]

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  • Wordplay: Lessons from Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Visit to Penn

    Wordplay: Lessons from Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Visit to Penn

    Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s speech this past week left Penn with lots of food for thought. Is it appropriate to ask a politician personal questions? How should a campus newspaper avoid and recognize bias in its coverage of political events? And, of course, how did Gingrich’s arguments measure up in the current political environment? But in the week following [...]

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  • Penn Dems vs. Penn College Republicans: A For Effort

    Penn Dems vs. Penn College Republicans: A For Effort

    When people describe campuses as “bubbles” and “ivory towers,” they aren’t kidding and they aren’t (entirely) wrong. In my coursework, for example, I very often discuss the history of history, which I consider quite important. Penn’s University Council even has a Committee on Committees. Perhaps the only profession as self-referential and introspective as academia is political punditry – so it [...]

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  • Civility and Political Debate – A Debate

    Update: Ten minutes after I posted this, the DP posted their article. Pretty straight-ahead coverage. Penn has some big names and big connections, and it’s always gratifying to see them come together and discuss important things. The names at the David and Lyn Silfen Forum yesterday were Amy Gutmann (moderating), John Jackson, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, John DiIulio, Andrea Mitchell, and [...]

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  • We Have Every Right to Complain About Fling

    I am not as perturbed about Snoop Dogg’s playing Fling as the people who’ve been inviting you to the “petition to revise selection criteria.” But I do think that they have every right to complain. Dennie Zastrow, however, writing in today’s DP, takes a slightly different stance. I hope I’m not spoiling the ending by quoting the closing paragraph: Ultimately, [...]

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  • Why someone who doesn’t care about the UA should consider voting

    I am relatively apathetic to student politics. As a freshman, I found the emphasis of most candidates on dining dollars and high-rise elevators rather trite. And as the years went by, I resigned myself to the conclusion that this is the perpetual and pathetic preoccupation of student government. Ergo, lack of interest. But I’m coming to realize that issues like [...]

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