Grateful students and proud donors gathered last night in Wynn Commons, with financial-aid recipients interacting with the people who have made their education possible. The event also served as an opportunity for Penn President Amy Gutmann and other administration officials to call attention to Penn's ongoing capital campaign and encourage donations to Penn's financial aid programs.

After a disappointing loss this week to Lafayette, the men's basketball team won't have to wait for a chance to atone thanks to a quick turnaround. Unfortunately for the Quakers (2-5), atonement will not be easy to come by as they travel to the Main Line to take on Villanova in this season's Big 5 opener tomorrow night.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the indictment of Engineering junior Ryan Goldstein yesterday for his alleged involvement in a global computer-hacking conspiracy. Goldstein was arrested Nov. 1 and charged with computer-fraud conspiracy, to which he pled not guilty.

The number of early-decision applications to Penn dropped slightly for the second year in a row, admissions officials announced yesterday. Penn received 3,929 early-decision applications this year, a 1.8 percent fall from last year's 4,001 applications. Interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan said he expects early-decision applicants to make up 45 to 48 percent of the class of 2012, which translates to an acceptance rate of about 30 percent.

Proud of our women professors To the editor: As Electrical and Systems Engineering Department chairman, I write to allay your worries about diversity in faculty hiring ("Defenseless Diversity" 11/19/2007). We only hire faculty who have achieved preeminence in high impact areas of technology and engineering science and whose compelling intellectual vision sets the standard for research and teaching in their fields.

Troy Brown, the man charged with committing 10 robberies last November by threatening his victims with a screwdriver, heads to court today for trial. Jury selection for Brown's trial in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas begins this morning, and opening arguments will take place in the afternoon.

There are certain things you will never read if you are a student here. These include: "Penn professor acquitted in murder trial," "Unidentified woman ambushed with flowers outside Wizzards," and "Security guard exposes his amazing personality." Trust me, you just won't.

An abortion debate hosted yesterday by OurVoice 2008, a group that aims to mobilize young voters, repeatedly broke down into a single vitriolic exchange between the pro-choice and pro-life debaters. "Why can't we agree on common-sense measures to reduce the need for abortion?" Aubrey Montgomery, an executive of pro-choice organization NARAL asked her pro-life counterparts.

Villanova's Pavilion only seats 6,500 people - compared to the Palestra's 9,821 - and the Penn Band nearly found itself in the unlucky 3,300 or so. But thanks to a long-standing tweak in Villanova's policy concerning visiting bands, the Band will be playing at the men's basketball game in Villanova, Pa.

Guitar pedals, Buddha machines, book promotions and art-history lectures make up just another day for musician and composer Alan Licht, who finished his visit to Penn yesterday with a presentation at Kelly Writers House. Licht, known for his experimental free-form improvisations with partners ranging from Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo to a huge rotating metal cylinder at the Institute of Contemporary Art, spent two days at Penn.

The chair recognizes the ambassador from the University of Pennsylvania. Penn President Amy Gutmann joined 24 other university presidents from around the globe at the third annual United Nations Global Colloquium of University Presidents, held yesterday at New York University, to discuss climate change.

Here in Philly, VIP treatment isn't just limited to the hottest nightclubs in town. At the highly anticipated Republican Senator John McCain /Utah Governor Jon Huntsman event last Monday, while hundreds of students patiently waited outside Zellerbach Theater, my Huntsman colleagues and I effortlessly skipped the queues despite our late arrival.

Two shootings at two night clubs on the corner of 38th and Chestnut streets in the past month shouldn't come as a surprise, experts say. Problem bars and night clubs tend to cluster together and night clubs that attract a dangerous clientele are recipes for incidents like the shooting that occurred at Club Wizzards Monday morning.

A patchwork of AIDS history is spreading across Penn's campus to honor over 90,000 individuals who have lost their lives to the fatal disease. Ten 144-square foot panels from the 54-ton AIDS Memorial Quilt have been hung at the LGBT Center, Van Pelt Library and other campus locations through next Tuesday, when they will be relocated to Houston Hall's Hall of Flags for a memorial event.

Joanne Tong is a Wharton senior from Manila, Philippines. Her e-mail address is tong@dailypennsylvanian.com.

EASTON, Pa., Nov. 28 - The last time Penn and Lafayette met, the Quakers hit the century mark. Satiated students went to bed with cheesesteaks in their stomachs. Not last night, when the return game was played some 70 miles from Abner's. There would be no cheesesteaks, no hundred points, and certainly no win.

We've been called a lot of unflattering things lately. Some call us the millennial generation, a hyper-needy bunch. Put-upon college administrators are forced to acquiesce to our demands for bigger dorm rooms and fancier dining options. Thomas Friedman calls us Generation Q, the quiet Americans.