In its quest to catch up to perennial Ivy League powerhouses, the women's swimming team had the best season in program history. Unfortunately for the Quakers, the teams they were chasing got better as well. The Penn swimmers came up just short in reaching their elusive third place goal at the Ivy League Championships, finishing only 49 points behind Yale.

If you were a little baby trying to catch a nap in Dad's arms up in Section 207, this was your kind of week. The Quakers played five home games in nine days, going 5-0 and drawing a combined crowd of 26,982. And you still wouldn't have been awakened until Ibrahim Jaaber threw himself an inbounds pass off Andrew Naeve's back Saturday night.

The two convicted sex offenders discovered by Penn officials last month to be working for the University are no longer employed at Penn, University officials said Friday. University spokeswoman Lori Doyle confirmed that the two employees are no longer affiliated with the University but refused to provide further details about the reasons for their departure.

Were you disqualified from a student election last year for early campaigning on Facebook.com? Well, the race is on once again: The Nominations and Elections Committee has officially gone Facebook-friendly. The NEC, the branch of student government that handles elections, passed four amendments last week adjusting election procedures, and two will have a major impact on the election processes for the Undergraduate Assembly and Class Boards.

Despite what most schools would have you believe, black Americans are under-represented at top-tier universities, and that number, dissatisfying to some, has raised issues concerning black identity in academia.

Richard Smith knows the value of a good pair of gloves. In an attempt to avoid the cold, Smith stands near the entrance to the subway at 40th and Market streets, trying to absorb some of the heat coming from underground.

The Penn gymnastics team just can't seem to shake Towson. At the Shelli Calloway Memorial Invitational, the Quakers finished behind the host Tigers for the third time this season. Towson (193.5) won the meet and Cornell, an Ivy League and ECAC rival, came in second at 189.

Penn's mentoring program for middle schoolers emphasizes the importance of pursuing a degree at a critical age.

Working at an unpaid summer internship is hard enough without having to worry about expensive room and board.

Students are taking time out of their busy midterm schedules to spread awareness about human rights-related issues. About 20 different human rights groups are gathering for the second-annual Human Rights Week, a student-run set of events aimed at fostering discussion and proactive initiatives about relevant issues.

The plan to put lectures on iTunes reflects poor prioritizing within the UA.

The women's squash team would like nothing more to than to get a second chance at Princeton. Just over two weeks ago, Penn saw its undefeated season end after a 7-2 romp by the Tigers. But in order to see an opportunity for revenge, the Quakers (8-1) will have to get through Williams (9-5), the first team they will face today during the Howe Cup in New Haven, Conn.

It's not often that any Penn team gets a chance to face the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, let alone three top-20 teams in as many days. But that is exactly what the men's tennis team has on its plate this weekend as it heads into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, to be held in Chicago.

The road to the Ivy League title was always destined to go through the Palestra. But for the first time this year, one of its main challengers actually will. Cornell, a half game out of the Ivy League lead, will make its annual trip to Philadelphia with its season in the balance.

If it was at all apprehensive about its upcoming weekend match against a nationally ranked team, the Penn women's tennis team failed to show it. "This is a team we always look forward to playing. They're tough," captain Julia Koulbitskaya said about No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth.

Preceptorial facts To the Editor: In his recent blog entry, Stephen Morse manipulated several points of our e-mail interview and inaccurately represented preceptorials. The Preceptorials Committee would like to clarify the following points of fact: 1) Cancellations are extremely rare in the current preceptorials system.

When Columbia takes the floor tonight at the Palestra, it will be clear to even the casual basketball fan who its anchors are. This is a squad that runs through its big men.