Category: News

Penn’s board of trustees has made the first substantial changes to its code of conduct for the first time in more than a decade. The reform follows former president Liz Magill and former board chair Scott L. Bok’s in 2023 in response to turmoil surrounding the school’s response to incidents of antisemitism on campus.

Two months ago, The Wharton School launched the Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Master of Science in Quantitative Finance (MSQF) program, marking the first new degree offering in over 50 years. The new program was made possible by a $60 million donation by Wharton Doctoral alum Bruce I. Jacobs. The donation by Jacobs is the single largest donation in Wharton history.

A shooting that resulted in the injury of one man occurred at the intersection of 40th and Walnut on Tuesday, November 11th. 

On Oct. 15, the Supreme Court heard arguments for the second time on Louisiana v. Callais. The plaintiffs are challenging Louisiana’s proposed congressional district map, which they allege is a racial gerrymander.

The Penn Graduate School of Education experienced a cybersecurity breach, where an unknown body sent a series of mass emails via the email addresses of several GSE faculty members and the official GSE School Leadership Program.

Penn will pay significantly increased endowment taxes in the 2026 fiscal year as a result of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The act will affect many private, non-profit higher education institutions which have accumulated large endowments, such as the University of Pennsylvania.

At approximately 10 AM on October 20, 2025, Instructure’s Canvas, Penn’s preferred learning management system, began experiencing technical difficulties as a result of an Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that started around 3:11 AM EST. 

Itamar Dreschler, Professor of Finance at Wharton was hit by an e-bike in Norristown, Pennsylvania last June, suffering a traumatic injury which has sparked a broader dialogue regarding the safety of electric bicycles. He has since had to take a temporary leave of absence from teaching.

In a decisive move, the University of Pennsylvania rejected the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education earlier this afternoon. 

On the eve of Yom Kippur, Harvard Law Professor Carlos Portugal Gouvea was arrested near a Massachusetts synagogue. He is accused of firing a pellet gun adjacent to the synagogue, which caused it to enter lockdown given the current rise in antisemitic violence.