Starting this fall, employee and student insurance at the University of Pennsylvania will be covering a new procedure: sex-change operations.

According to The Daily Pennsylvanian the new benefit will cover the costs of "gender reassignment" surgery up to $50,000.  A typical surgery of this type averages around $20,000.

Also included in the new coverage are psychotherapy and hormone treatments for transgendered university employees and students prior to a sex-change surgery.

In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, 86 faculty members from the University of Pennsylvania surprised everyone by expressing support for the Occupy Wall Street protests. 

And by "surprised everyone", we really mean that everyone expected it.

Like most in academia, the Penn professors have found another liberal cause to throw their support behind. In typical fashion, they're changing the world by writing a nicely-worded letter to the school newspaper.

Their statement is rife with populist language, urging the country to, "address not the problems of Wall Street but the problems of the 99% [of other Americans]." 

However, their message goes far beyond "power to the people". 

They call for an expansion of entitlement programs - including social security, Medicaid, and Medicare.  They laud the "labor movement" for keeping the protests alive.  Moreover, they propose that the wealthiest Americans pay a more "fair share" of the tax burden (despite the fact that the top 1% pays more than 1/3 of the nation's taxes).

At a party at the University of Pennsylvania recently, a camel was hired from a petting zoo.  The camel, named Kahn, was a hit at the party, and appeared to enjoy being the center of attention. 

States such as Oklahoma and Tennessee are discussing or have passed prohibitions on the incorporation of Islamic Shariah law in American law.  These attempts have been met with scorn and mockery by the liberal media, with reporters snickering at the concept that Islamic law could one day replace the guarantees of the Constitution.  

Now, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) will host a conference on how to  best to incorporate Islamic law into the American judicial system.   

The University of Pennsylvania Muslim Law Students Association, National Muslim Law Students Association and the Muslim Students Association at UPenn are sponsoring a conference titled "Constructive Roles for Islamic Law in Western Society."

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn), a private Ivy League institution, was founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin. In the 2009-2010 school year, the university enrolled 10,337 undergraduate students and employed 4,127 faculty members.

Campus Life

Of the eight political campus groups, six are liberal and two are conservative.

The six liberal groups are the College Democrats; Amnesty International; Queer Student Alliance; Eco-Reps; Penn Environmental Group; and the Wharton Undergraduate Sustainability Initiative.

The two conservative groups are the Penn College Conservatives and the Federalist Society. Both groups are affiliated with CampusReform.org's Campus Leadership Program, which provides advice, assistance, and many kinds of support to campus groups.

In 2008, the Penn College Conservatives brought Dick Morris on campus to speak with students about the 2008 presidential election. The conservative group was able to host Mr. Morris thanks to financial assistance from the Leadership Institute.

Faculty

According to campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org, 92% of faculty donations in the 2008 presidential election -- $206,970 in total -- were given to Democrat Barack Obama; in contrast, just $18,926 was donated to Republican John McCain. For comparison, 55% of Pennsylvanians voted for Barack Obama.

Regina Austin is a feminist law professor at Penn. She is an advocate of "racial separatism" and judicial activism. "Law," she argues, "is useful as a supplement to activism." 

NEWSFLASH!

You can get an M.A. in Liberty Studies online!  Check out the #1 program here:http://www.libertystudies.org/html/online.html

Michael Balsam, Pennsylvania Field Rep for the Leadership Institute, apparently garnered some attention recently at U Penn. Cue lefty heads exploding. This is the power of mobilization.

There has never been a way for college student to get active. There have been groups like the College Republicans, but the online activism component has been lacking. I suppose that some lefty students may feel like we are infringing upon their territory. And it freaks them out.