After twenty years away from his alma mater, 1987 Penn graduate Eric Furda will be back this March - with a few more responsibilities than he had while he was here as a student.

In keeping with his initiative to reduce the crime rates in Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter appointed Charles Ramsey as the city's new Police Commissioner. Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush says that she believes that "Commissioner Ramsey will be making a big difference in the Philadelphia Police Department and the City of Philadelphia.

If sophomore wrestler Rollie Peterkin feels he's experiencing some deja vu on Sunday when Penn visits Hofstra, don't blame him. He's already seen his opponent in action.

Thousands of Saint Joseph's basketball fans previously unable to get tickets to home games might have their best shot during the 2008-2009 season. As the Hawks' Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse undergoes a $35 million renovation and expansion, St. Joe's will play next season's home games at the Palestra.

Last Friday, members of the Service Employees International Union and their supporters gathered to protest a speech by David Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity firm, the Carlyle Group. Rubenstein was a keynote speaker at Wharton's 14th annual private equity and venture capital conference.

If Greek architecture is a riddle, producers of PBS' NOVA series think one Penn professor might have cracked it. That's the reason, they say, for featuring Art History professor Lothar Haselberger as a primary expert in their "Secrets of the Parthenon" special, premiering Jan.

For South Africa, a net exporter of agricultural products, it may seem strange that the new year brought an import of squash. On Dec. 30, the Penn women's squash team boarded a plane and travelled 25 hours to Cape Town, South Africa. The NCAA allows squash teams to take one trip every four years, and coach Jack Wyant decided to take full advantage of the opportunity this year to give his team a cultural and athletic experience unlike any other.

5,151 is a big number. When translated into meals, it is enough to feed roughly half of the undergraduate class. It is also enough to feed an extra 5,151 hungry mouths.

The United Minorities Council elected College and Wharton junior Lisa Zhu, who is also a DP columnist, as its new chair at the Greenfield Intercultural Center yesterday evening. The DP met with Zhu after the election to talk about her plans for the council.

The appointment of Eric Furda as dean of admissions last week came faster than Penn President Amy Gutmann had predicted, and also marked a deviation from industry standards. From the search committee's first meeting in October to the announcement of Furda as the new dean last week, Penn's formal search process took just over three months, a pace experts say is fast but not unheard of.

Hola! Estoy contenta! Despite Penn deeming me "proficient" in Spanish, that's about as far as I get before I accidentally refer to myself as a girl. After three years of taking Spanish in High School, Penn's online placement exam put me in Spanish 120 - one class above intro level.

No matter how often Glen Miller says he hates them, when you're 5-12, sometimes you just have to accept moral victories. Despite losing by 16 to Temple last night, the Quakers' coach saw his team play with a certain fire that they haven't had perhaps since the North Carolina game.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announced his support for Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign yesterday in a news conference at City Hall. Clinton, a Democrat from New York, made a last-minute trip to Philadelphia to speak at the event. Rendell was also joined by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who had already announced his endorsement of Clinton.

Out of the long list of problems Penn has experienced on the court this season, defending the three-point shot hardly stands out. But three minutes into last night's game at Temple, the Owls had already jumped out to a 12-point lead thanks to five open looks from long range, four of which went in.

Don't pass judgement To the Editor: I was appalled to read in your paper last week that, with a reckless disregard for journalistic ethics, common decency and any standard of good sense, you decided to release the name and address of Felix Qu, a Penn student currently awaiting trial for assault ("Student arrested for assault still enrolled at Penn").

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

Penn's admissions office is changing how prospective students can apply to the University. For the 2008-2009 admissions cycle, Penn is eliminating its own application and adding the Universal College Application as an option for students. Applicants will be able to use either the UCA or the Common Application, the latter of which the University first accepted last year.