As Penn continues to discuss changes to its hiring practices, the possibility of a self-disclosure question for faculty has the University treading in uncharted waters.

It was already a busy week for Cornell wide receiver Shane Kilcoyne. With exams and a game against Dartmouth coming up that Saturday in late October, the last thing Kilcoyne expected was the news that raging wildfires had come within five miles of engulfing his home in San Diego.

After just two games, the men's basketball team realizes that wins will not come as easily as they did last season. "Our seniors bailed us out at times [last year]," guard Mike Kach said. "This season we don't have that individual talent. We need to play hard as a team every minute.

Wanted: recipient of a Purple Heart applying to the School of Nursing. No, the description is not from a personal ad. Rather, it's a more specific set of requirements for one of Penn's many endowed undergraduate scholarships, which make up about 15 percent of the $92 million financial-aid grant budget.

It's hard to imagine a more appropriate location for last weekend's Ron Paul rally than Independence Mall. The National Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall provided the inspiration for his political beliefs; the nearby U.S. Mint and Federal Reserve branch, he wants to do away with.

A training program at Penn is bringing nurses out of the hospital and onto the crime scene. This week at the Nursing School, 42 professional nurses participated in a 15-year-old training program to learn the information and skills necessary to become a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.

The Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee (SHIAC) has started its annual assessment of the Penn Student Insurance Plan (PSIP). This is my second year as part of SHIAC and I'm excited, because we have a couple of long-term projects in development and we have another good group of people this year to help us move these projects forward.

Inform yourself. This was the overarching sentiment yesterday evening when Penn Democrats, Penn Forum and Fox Leadership Program sponsored "A Democratic Presidential Primary Forum" in Huntsman Hall. Yesterday's forum gave students a chance to explore the policy views of the three leading Democratic nominees for the 2008 presidential election: John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

By now, students have probably heard of the infamous Jena Six case that triggered national outrage. While the gross injustice in this display of modern-day Jim Crow certainly should be redressed, I'd like to shift the attention to the less-obvious ethnic tensions that silently permeate our campus.

With the volleyball team's second-place finish in the Ivy League already secured, the Quakers fell, 3-1, to champions Princeton last night. For the Tigers, it was the final win in an undefeated Ivy League season. The Quakers' four seniors will graduate without an Ivy League title, but even they never expected to ever come this close to the trophy.

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

One year removed from a No. 5 final ranking, the Quakers enter this season looking for similar achievements. "It adds a little more pressure," coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said. "Excellence is no longer hoped for; it is expected." Still, there are many questions entering the season.

The Graduate and Professional Students Assembly has been working with the University over the past two years to create more on-campus housing for graduate students, but there may not be a point. With a nominal stipend and a more established group of friends, many graduate students say living on campus is simply not worth the convenience of being closer to classes.

It's what every 21st-century woman doesn't want to hear. "The Rules - they actually work," a friend of mine told me over coffee last week, referring to the infamous dating book that teaches women to play games, be passive and above all, wait for him to call.

On Monday, a horrible crime shook our campus. Our hearts go out to the victim, the female Penn student who was sexually assaulted in her home at 40th and Spruce streets. Sadly, the tragedy only added to the litany of recent crimes in the area surrounding Penn's campus, including the shooting at Koko Bongo just a few weeks ago.

Amy Gutmann hit newsstands this Tuesday. With the three other female Ivy League presidents, she strikes a jaunty pose for Glamour's Women of the Year issue. Hands on hips, she gazes upward, envisioning great things for the future of Penn. Gutmann is gaining national attention.

Dreams for another Ivy title for the men's basketball team took a hit yesterday when results came back on guard Darren Smith's knee injury. The sophomore, who took a knock on the kneecap early in the first half Friday against Drexel, will miss the remainder of this season with a fractured right patella.