Friends and family gathered at St. Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church this afternoon to say a final good-bye to Engineering sophomore Ryan Smith. Packing the parking lot of both the church and its nearby parish school, they clustered around the central isles of this newly constructed building, some crying quietly to themselves, others silent as if deep in thought.

The South Street Bridge had only been closed for five hours, but people on the west side of the Schuylkill were already anxious about the effect of the closure on their work commutes. The bridge closed at 9:30 a.m. yesterday so Driscoll Construction Company could begin its projected two-year reconstruction of the bridge.

Alicia Puglionesi is a College senior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com

After a devastating start to the season with five straight losses in November, the women's basketball team was looking for a reversal of fortune heading into December. Now on a two-game winning streak heading into winter break, the Quakers (2-6) may have gotten just what they were hoping for.

As police continue their investigation of Engineering sophomore Ryan Smith's fall from the Quadrangle this weekend, Smith's family and friends say they do not believe the incident was a suicide attempt. University spokeswoman Lori Doyle confirmed yesterday that the student is Ryan Smith, an Engineering sophomore from Rose Valley, Pa.

The women's swimming team ringed in the New Year the best way possible: with a win. After spending the closing days of 2008 on a training trip in Boca Raton, Fla., the Quakers greeted 2009 with a first-place finish at the Florida Atlantic University Invitational on Jan.

Goodbye, plastic bottles. Hello, water. In response to Penn's commitment toward increasing environmental sustainability, Dining Services collaborated with the Penn Environmental Group to replace bottled water in McClelland in Ware College House and Hill Express in Hill College House with "Quench machines": environmentally friendly water coolers.

Don't underestimate the underclassmen. At the Nike Invitational hosted by Kenyon College this weekend, Penn freshman Brendan McHugh received Co-swimmer of the Meet honors as he broke a pool record in the 1650-yard freestyle on Thursday, came in second in the 100-yard breaststroke on Friday, and finished off the weekend with first-place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley on Saturday.

Classes may just be resuming today, but the No. 23 Penn wrestling team certainly did not have a break over the last three weeks. The only breather was the Penn Duals, in which the Red and Blue beat Franklin & Marshall, 49-0, Delaware State, 42-9, and East Stroudsburg, 38-7, and competed in an exhibition dual against Gloucester.

For the class of 2012 and later, students' course-loads have been and will continue to be a little more diverse than those of previous classes. This year, the College of Arts and Sciences implemented a new requirement for all classes after 2012: "Cultural Diversity in the U.

With 310 victories as Penn men's basketball coach, Fran Dunphy knew the taste of victory in the Palestra. But two years ago, in his first opportunity to savor success as a visiting head coach, Dunphy and his current team - Big 5 rival Temple -- blew an early 19-point lead and lost to Penn, 76-74, on a trio of Mark Zoller free throws with 1.

For four days in 1978, Penn students held a sit-in at College Hall. At first they were protesting University plans to cut sports programs, but soon the focus turned to anger about climbing tuition and residence fees. As the protest continued, a few participants began to think even bigger, setting their sights on a student organization to unite and empower campus minority groups.

Penn seems to have acquired a vigilante environmental group. In the past few weeks, stickers appeared on the toilet paper caddies in Huntsman Hall bathrooms requesting that students avoid taking an extra sheet of toilet paper. The stickers read, "Green Policy in Effect: Do you really need that extra sheet?" An image of an angry toilet paper roll and a crossed-out hand are also on the sticker.

com The Student Activities Council announced yesterday that it plans to give annual budgets to political groups for non-partisan and non-candidate-related purposes starting in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The move would give SAC funding to political groups for the first time, explained College junior and SAC chairwoman Natalie Vernon.

Five years and nearly 35,000 lawsuits later, the Recording Industry Association of America is stopping its legal war against individuals for file-sharing activities. The announcement comes as a relief for many students who worried about facing fines; however, the University has not yet determined how it will affect its policies, if at all.

In response to intensified conflict in the Gaza Strip, the University announced last week that it will no longer permit students to study abroad in Israel and the West Bank through Penn programs this semester. Ten Penn students planned to study in Israel or Palestine this semester.