Turmoil in financial markets is causing other top-tier schools to look for ways to cut costs as their endowments dip in value. Several schools - including Harvard, Columbia and Duke universities - are seeking to unload private-equity holdings in an effort to shore up cash, the Dow Jones and various financial blogs reported last week.

Amid economic troubles and uncertainty over gun laws after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated in January, one thing is clear: Gun sales are going up. Gun sales in the months of January to September rose 9 percent in 2008 compared with last year, according to FBI statistics.

Penn received the names of more than 1,000 students this fall from a College Board pilot program that helps schools recruit students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Thirty-nine schools are participating in the program, which provides institutions with names of low-income students who have taken College Board exams and which marks a departure from the usual criteria to match students and schools.

Sunday night's Undergraduate Assembly meeting came and went with an hour of discussion during the Open Forum and few new items of business brought up. Five representatives from the Living Water Christian Fellowship asked for the UA's help in spreading awareness about a casino on the 1000 block of Market Street in Chinatown.

With caramel apple dipping and electronics recycling last Friday, the Penn Environmental Group promoted going green with Greenfest 2008. An annual event held on College Green, Greenfest is part of PEG's Eco-Week that helps promote environmentally friendly initiatives and educate students about sustainability.

In light of this year's financial crisis, MBA programs around the country, including Wharton, anticipate a rise in the number of applicants. With thousands of corporate employees on the job market, the prospect of adding a graduate degree to one's resume is expected to be more popular than in the past.

Harold and Kumar's Kal Penn may have been a professor last semester, but he's not the only actor to recently grace Penn's campus. Class of '92 alumna Kate Jennings Grant led a conversation on her experiences as an actress last Friday. She has performed in many on- and off-Broadway plays including The Marriage of Bette and Boo by Christopher Durang, which Penn Presents will be performing this week.

Penn says they led the vote last Tuesday in a competition with Dartmouth College to turn out the greater number of voters on election day. But in homage to the 2000 presidential election, Dartmouth is challenging Penn's numbers and has yet to concede the competition.

Shaky economic times and a tumultuous housing market have not prevented new properties from springing up throughout University City in recent years. Since 2006, a number of mixed-use, luxury apartment complexes have come to call West Philadelphia home. With more construction on the way, it may seem like the area isn't feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis.

For three days last week, the University played host to a symposium hoping to reshape the future of city construction. The conference, entitled "Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil," was organized in the same vein as the historic "Conference on Urban Design Criticism" that took place 50 years ago.

When Marge Simpson calls someone "the bestest architect in the world," you know they've made it. That's what she said of famously flamboyant architect Frank Gehry in an episode of The Simpsons in 2005. On Friday night, the Collab Foundation echoed Marge's sentiment by awarding Gehry its 2008 Excellence in Design Award.

Last week Penn students got out the vote to help decide the next president of the United States. This week they are again being asked to cast their ballots. But this time, it's to decide if Penn will display its Quaker pride on its underwear. Offering everything from hooded sweatshirts to underwear, Victoria's Secret's PINK line of loungewear recently teamed up with 31 schools to form the Pink Collegiate Collection.

Crime continues to be significantly lower in 2008 compared to 2007, but some property crimes - like burglaries, bike theft and theft from buildings - have all increased from last year. Violent crimes, such as robberies and assaults, are down 37 percent for the year, according to the Division of Public Safety.

When Barack Obama was elected president last Tuesday, student volunteers across the country felt a sense of accomplishment in the victory. But for some black students, like College junior Lauren Wyatt, the victory meant "breaking the glass ceiling." Obama will make history on Jan.

According to some Radian residents, the luxury complex has not quite lived up to its lofty price and reputation. Initially touted for its state-of-the-art accommodations and convenient location, complaints about the Radian have become more common, with many suggesting the building is unattractive, ill-equipped or generally overrated.

There are a couple of conventional ways to earn extra cash at Penn - serving food, working at a College House front desk, maybe getting a paid summer internship if you're lucky. But some students turn to the slightly unconventional to earn extra spending money for that dinner in Center City or night out on the town.