CAMPUS BRIEFS: Thursday, March 25, 1999

Tickets for DeGeneres speech on sale Monday Half of all available tickets will be sold each day and students are limited to two tickets per person to gain entrance to the event, which will be held in Zellerbach Auditorium. But in what Connaissance Co-chairperson Dara Gruen called "the twist for this semester's speaker," the group will also sponsor a scavenger hunt for five free pairs of tickets. According to Gruen, a College senior, the scavenger hunt -- which will begin Saturday at 2 p.m. and finish at midnight Sunday -- is intended to help those who like DeGeneres the most. Connaissance members will hide five envelopes in University-owned buildings scattered throughout campus. Each envelope will contain one voucher good for two tickets. -- Molly Selzer Fires causes damage to Irvine Auditorium ceiling The Philadelphia Fire Department responded to a report of a small fire in Irvine Auditorium at 3401 Spruce Street yesterday at about 1:15 p.m. A male employee of the contracting company working in the building was brought to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to be treated for smoke inhalation that he suffered while attempting to put out the fire, police said. The fire started when canvas and planking in the building's roof area caught on fire from an open flame being used by workers in the auditoriums scaffolding. Fire fighters had the fire under control by 1:33 p.m., a fire department spokesperson said. The auditorium's ceiling was "heavily damaged" and the artwork was destroyed, police said. The value of the damage was unknown, police said. Irvine Auditorium is currently being renovated as part of the Perelman Quadrangle project. -- Laura McClure