At the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s annual dinner for The Regulatory Review held last month, Interim University President Wendell Pritchett PhD’97, James S. Riepe Presidential Professor of Law and Education, saluted The Regulatory Review’s board and staff on a notably successful year, during which they published more than 400 articles, saying to them, “you’re doing something truly important.”
The annual dinner — which had been interrupted for the last two years because of COVID — recognizes the law students who edit and publish the daily, year-round publication, which is the leading global source of regulatory news, analysis, and commentary on all facets of regulation and the regulatory process.
In his keynote remarks, Pritchett discussed important regulatory issues facing higher education today, a topic he covered in a six-part series of essays that The Review published in 2016. Noting that “in the more than 50 years since the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and the focus on management-based regulation through self-assessment, this model has largely worked and largely worked well,” he went on to discuss the general current consensus that “there is considerable room for improvement within the current accreditation structure.” In the end, says Pritchett, what is called for today is “a fully thought-out management-based approach, with an emphasis on student outcomes and on the vital issue of institutional financial soundness and security.”
“The students were extremely honored to have Interim President Pritchett join them,” said Cary Coglianese, the Edward B. Shils Professor of Law at Penn Carey Law. “President Pritchett inspired the students by his own dedicated institutional and public service, and, in his keynote remarks, he offered the students the opportunity to reflect on important regulatory issues directly related to their own professional education.”
Coglianese founded The Regulatory Review and serves as its faculty advisor. He also directs the Penn Program on Regulation, which sponsors The Review.
“The students who produce The Regulatory Review perform an important public service by making accessible to the broad public an array of vital but complex legal and policy issues,” Coglianese said. “What they do is extraordinary — publishing new content six days a week, every week of the year,” he said.
Launched in 2009, The Regulatory Review attracts readers from about 200 countries, delivering incisive and timely coverage of regulatory issues by leading academics and practitioners, as well as by members of The Review’s student editorial team. Its many contributors from around the world have included a variety of leading figures, including sitting members of Congress, regulatory leaders and cabinet officials, White House advisors, judges, and lawyers.
The Penn Program on Regulation brings together 60 affiliated faculty and researchers from across seven schools at the University of Pennsylvania. Their research examines how regulatory policies are designed, implemented, enforced, and evaluated, and offers recommendations for improving these policies and their deployment.
In addition to sponsoring The Regulatory Review, the program brings regulatory practitioners and policymakers to campus for public events, workshops, and seminars with students and faculty. The Penn Program on Regulation also organizes executive education programs for experienced government officials, senior managers, and other professionals seeking interactive learning.