New attempts to protect students from debt will only hurt them in the long run

While most Penn students were settling in to another semester of math problems, term papers and study sessions, I was on the other side of the world, nervously fumbling with a piece of chalk as I presented grammar lessons to a group of 10-year-olds.

Burglary May 25 - A male employee, 22, reported at about 11:30 p.m. that an unknown suspect entered his secured apartment, located on the 300 block of 42nd Street, and removed personal items. May 31 - Property was reported at about 11:30 a.m. to have been removed from the 3800 block of Chestnut Street.

Penn's best underdog story of the year had to wait until after graduation. With several seniors fresh out of cap and gown, the women's Club Ultimate Frisbee team ventured to the Midwest for the UPA College Women's Championships last weekend. The team, known by its members as Team Venus, didn't leave Columbus, Ohio with the trophy.

Despite recent downgrades in credit ratings across universities, Penn remains unscathed. Penn has retained its original ratings of AA+ from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Aa2 from Moody's Investor Service that it earned last year. Last week, credit ratings of numerous colleges - including Dartmouth and Bard Colleges -- declined due to waning endowment values and other financial issues, said Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli.

To the unemployed graduate or student seeking a summer internship, a high-paying job with a low time commitment seems too good to be true. Most often, it is. Last week, Penn's Career Services office sent an e-mail to students warning them about fraudulent job and internship opportunities posted online.

The sentencing of former Wharton Marketing professor Scott Ward, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed. Ward pled guilty to five child pornography related charges last November. He could receive a sentence up to life in prison. He is currently serving a 15-year sentence at a low-security Western Pennsylvania correctional facility for other child pornography related convictions, to which he was sentenced in May 2007.

Darryll Oliver's performance at last weekend's NCAA East Regional Championships summed up the event for the men's track and field team: lots of talent but little results. None of the eight members of the Penn team were able to qualify for NCAA Championships next week, which requires finishing in the top five in an event or posting one of the best marks of the nation's remaining athletes.

Economic equality does not always guarantee happiness, according to two Wharton professors. In their paper entitled, "The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness," Business and Public Policy professors Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers compared changes in the levels of women's happiness with those of men in light of changes in economic equality since the 1970s.

Several incidents of crime occurred this past weekend involving a group of 12- to 17-year-old youths congregating around South Street. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, teenagers hijacked a taxi early Sunday morning at 12th and South streets after getting into a confrontation with the driver and proceeded to drive the vehicle into a tree at 12th and Fitzwater streets, injuring two passengers.

A best friendship might have little to do with common interests, longevity, or even proximity - it might just be the mutuality. This is the conclusion Penn psychologists Peter DeScioli and Robert Kurzban reached in their recent study exploring the cognitive aspects of human friendship.

I am pleased to report we have taken the first step toward reinventing the eastern edge of Penn's campus. Earlier this spring, construction was completed on the Weave Bridge, a beautiful new pedestrian span designed by Penn's own Cecil Balmond, the Paul Philippe Cret Practice Professor of Architecture.

Janice Dow is a rising College junior from Los Angeles. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.

They may be amateurs, but they proved they can play with the pros. The City 6 All-Stars - a compilation of the best college softball players at Philadelphia schools - held their own in an exhibition game against the city's Pro Fastpitch League franchise, the Philadelphia Force.

Nobody wants to get swine flu, and for good reason. With symptoms like fever, coughing, headache and possible death, the disease is the greatest threat to our health since the Great Meningitis Outbreak of 2009. But there is one thing people seem more afraid of than contracting swine flu - calling it that.

We all have our to-do lists, and incoming Provost Vincent Price is no different. As the first interim provost in the University's history chosen to permanently fill the position, Price already made his mark last Thursday when Penn President Amy Gutmann announced his selection - but he's not taking any chances on missing a beat.