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

In the wake of the Obama administration's relaxation of policies toward Cuba, educators are calling for easier student travel to that country. But Penn is already ahead of the game with its study-abroad program in Cuba. "Whether or not the [Penn program in Cuba] will run each year is always contingent upon us getting our license renewed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.

For the Penn women's track and field team, this year's Penn Relays were all about the record books. Having qualified for Friday's ECAC final with its best finish of the season Thursday, the 4x100-meter relay team topped that in the final with its time of 46:74.

The Division of Public Safety is on track to complete Phases Four and Five of its Blue Book Project by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Blue Books are crisis-management action plans located in every University-owned building that help authorities respond to emergency situations.

Penn has always seemed a bit out of place in West Philadelphia. The privileged students of this Ivy League University practically live side-by-side with some of the city's most economically impoverished families. We are, to put it simply, two harshly different worlds.

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The Social Planning and Events Committee elected its new executive board for 2009-2010 last night. College junior Dasha Barannik will lead SPEC as the body's new president. College junior Preston Hershorn will serve as the vice president, Wharton sophomore Adam Thompson will take over as treasurer and College junior Eileen McKeown will be secretary.

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Improving Quakers get same result Though the year was different, the result was the same for women's golf at the Ivy League Championships. The Quakers finished fifth for the third-straight year this weekend at the Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, N.

EVANSTON, Ill., April 25 - On a cold, wet and windy day, the Penn women's lacrosse ship was sunk by a familiar storm on the shores of Lake Michigan. The No. 3 Quakers traveled to face fellow undefeated No. 1 Northwestern Saturday in a battle of two of three remaining unbeatens in Division I.

By SAYANI MUKHERJEE Staff Writer mukherjee@dailypennsylvanian.com A report published this month by the National Consumer Law Center aims to help students with private loans who would otherwise have difficulty making payments. Titled, "Too Small to Help - The plight of Financially Distressed Private Student Loan Borrowers," the report was developed by the NCLC's Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.

This year's Hey Day saw the usual tossing of flour and condiments and shooting of milk-filled super-soakers - but in smaller doses than in past years. According to College Senior and Class of 2009 President Brett Perlmutter, this slight shift away from hazing - a custom that began in 2002 - is a result of a pledge nearly 1,600 seniors signed promising to go easy on their younger classmates.

Large crowds of a few hundred high-school aged West Philadelphia residents gathered at 40th and Walnut streets Saturday night before being dispersed by police. One person reportedly assaulted a police officer, according to a member of the Philadelphia Police Department, though this report was contradicted by other police officers.

In an effort to boost the transparency of the men's basketball program, Penn Athletics hosted its first annual "town hall" meeting with coach Glen Miller yesterday at the Inn at Penn. In his opening remarks, athletic director Steve Bilsky said that the meeting had been planned since last summer as part of an effort to open up the team to its most loyal supporters - season-ticket holders, former players, parents and alumni - and was not a result of the team's 10-18 performance this season.

The student hospitalized with a meningococcal infection at St. Joseph's University has been confirmed to have strain B of the infection, the same strain that infected four Penn students in February and March. But according to Penn spokeswoman Lori Doyle, the cases are not related.

'We live in an age in which we must please everyone. And by everyone, I mean 'minorities.'" On March 27, Ryan Benjamin used this quote to depict the negativity inherent in group recognition along the lines of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion and other social identities.

On Friday, juniors tapped their canes down Locust and happily bit corners off Styrofoam hats as they took part in one of Penn's few truly revered traditions. At the same time, seniors enjoyed drinks and entertainment as they were symbolically welcomed into Penn's alumni community in a new traditional exercise.