NEWSBRIEFS: Senior class to hold Halloween benefit

The event, which will be held in the Penn Tower Hotel ballroom, is open to all seniors and costs $35 per ticket. The Halloween benefit will feature an open bar, hors d'oeurves, a DJ and dancing. Seniors can come in costume or in semi-formal attire, Fiore said. The Senior Class Gift Drive has set a goal of raising $19,960, which will pay for a lounge in the Perelman Quadrangle, Fiore added. Seniors can purchase tickets to the benefit on Locust Walk between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. this week and Monday. Tickets will be sold at the door for $40. The Gift Drive is being co-chaired by Wharton senior Rachel Bluth and College senior Norm Hetrick. -- Randi Feigenbaum Greek groups' party to be held tonight Students will be "Breaking Down the Walls" in the Annenberg Quadrangle tonight, courtesy of the Social Planning and Events Committee and the University's three Greek umbrella organizations. The event, which is non-alcoholic, will feature the funk band Tantra. It is free to all students with a PennCard. The idea of "Breaking Down the Walls" is to promote multi-cultural awareness in a social setting, according to InterFraternity Council Judicial Manager and College junior Josh Gottheimer. Gottheimer said SPEC and the IFC, as well as the BiCultural InterGreek Council and the Panhellenic Council, have distributed about 6,000 invitations for the event. The event will be held from 9:30 p.m. until to midnight tonight. Afterward, several of the fraternity houses on Locust Walk will be holding parties which will maintain the "Breaking Down the Walls" theme, Gottheimer said. -- Amy Lipman