Sep | Oct 2018
Volume 117, No. 1
FEATURES
A Death in South Sudan
Trying to understand the loss of a young journalist and family friend, who was killed last year while covering the
civil war in South Sudan.
By Samuel Hughes
Film for Social Change
Penn students from a variety of disciplines are learning the essentials of film storytelling and production while helping to give a voice to marginalized people and communities, from Philadephia’s high schools to a refugee settlement in Kenya to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
By Dave Zeitlin
The Rigors of Success
New York’s Success Academy charter school network has been lionized for its sky-high test scores and robust curricular offerings—and decried for a rigidly disciplinedschool environment one opponent describedas “abuse.” Opinions are just as divided on its combative and committed leader, Eva Moskowitz C’86. She’ll be happy to tell you who’s right.
By Julia M. Klein
DEPARTMENTS
From the Editor | A life cut short, film’s social power, charter champion.
From College Hall | Uniqueness and unity are not opposed.
Letters | Understanding blockchain, loving movies, and more
Views
Notes from the Undergrad | Afterlife of a grand gesture.
Alumni Voices | A different side of Philip Roth. Plus: Philip Roth Gave Me an A Minus.
Elsewhere | “I will soon be with my son. I am fine.”
Expert Opinion | The Supreme Court’s double standard.
Gazetteer
Political Science | Restitching the dis-United States.
Education | 2018–19 costs up 3.8 percent; financial aid up 5.25 percent.
Campus | Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics opens.
Economics | What’s wrong with the domestic Chinese stock market?
Astronomy | Visiting researchers discover most distant star yet.
Church and State | Mitchell Center’s “The States of Religious Freedom.”
Campus | Construction under way on new Wharton building.
Sports | Football and men’s soccer look to the future.
Arts
Exhibition | OK, I’ll Do It Myself at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.
Design | Architect Paul Cret’s legacy in Philadelphia.
Performance | Presenting the Morris Arboretum Suite.
Alumni
David Branson Smith C’06 is an overnight success after 10 years.
Ann Reese CW’74 is the new president of Penn Alumni.
Anne Klein W’64 ASC’65 tells classmates’ stories—and her own.
Old Penn | The College for Women at 30.