As I walked to class last Friday morning, I was abruptly shaken out of my 10 a.m. stupor by a series of CNN trucks and secret service vehicles blocking my path to the Fine Arts Library. I looked up to hear students buzzing about Vice President Joe Biden's visit and thought to myself, Toto, we're not in Buffalo anymore.
It's that time of year again. What's the beginning of spring without a column about graduation speakers? With 76 days to go before the Class of 2009 becomes the newest group of Penn alumni, the senior class is forming expectations about this year's Commencement speaker, Eric Schmidt, Google chairman and chief executive officer.
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As a result of a last-minute amendment to the stimulus bill, some Penn students may find themselves out of a job come this summer. The amendment, which will affect any bank or company receiving money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, places stricter limits on employers' ability to hire foreign workers with H-1B visas.
Janice Dow is an College sophomore from Los Angeles. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Can a crusade consist primarily of gentle suggestions? Something along the lines of, "Hey all you heretics, how about maybe converting? Just think about it, OK? Please?" As an English major, I care a lot about usage and about not getting tangled in bad analogies.
Can a crusade consist primarily of gentle suggestions? Something along the lines of, "Hey all you heretics, how about maybe converting? Just think about it, OK? Please?" As an English major, I care a lot about usage and about not getting tangled in bad analogies.
As I walked to class last Friday morning, I was abruptly shaken out of my 10 a.m. stupor by a series of CNN trucks and secret service vehicles blocking my path to the Fine Arts Library. I looked up to hear students buzzing about Vice President Joe Biden's visit and thought to myself, Toto, we're not in Buffalo anymore.
It's that time of year again. What's the beginning of spring without a column about graduation speakers? With 76 days to go before the Class of 2009 becomes the newest group of Penn alumni, the senior class is forming expectations about this year's Commencement speaker, Eric Schmidt, Google chairman and chief executive officer.
Ilana Millner is an College junior from Washington Crossing, Pa. Her e-mail address is millner@dailypennsylvanian.com.
It was 10:56 on a chilly Wednesday evening. Six of us hunched over the coffee table, waiting for the finale while I attempted a complicated recipe I had seen the week before. "Dammit! I never should have tried this!" My roommate peered up at me. "You're microwaving popcorn.
At last week's Trustees' meeting, architect Michael Van Valkenburgh unveiled the plans for Penn Park, the new site of athletic fields and an important part of PennConnects, the University's eastward-expansion plan that will unfold over the next several years.
Rome wasn't built in a day - we've all heard that one before. Well, Penn also wasn't built in a day and in fact, Penn is being built and rebuilt every day. Our University has come a long way since 1740. It has seen new buildings and new leadership and different policies and different priorities.
Many have been arguing that "Harvard Narcissists With MBAs Killed Wall Street." In a recent Bloomberg News column, Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the neoconservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, alleges just that. Hassett argues that over the past 20 years there's been a significant increase in the number of Ivy League graduates pursuing careers in finance - and that this trend is inextricably connected to the current economic crisis.
Alicia Puglionesi is an College senior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Positive news has been few and far between when it comes to finances these days. Therefore, it's heartening to hear that Penn administrators have worked hard to keep the necessary tuition and board increases as low as possible. This year, Penn tuition will rise 3.
'It doesn't matter if you win or lose - it's how you play the game." If you played Little League or soccer growing up, you probably heard that all the time. The idea that "everyone was a winner" didn't seem silly. If the losing team of the league didn't get some kind of prize for trying, those poor kids might be sad.
Daniel Schwartz is a College junior from Decatur, Ga. His email address is dschwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com
Ensuring fairness in teaching To the Editor: I am appalled at Penn's permissive attitudes toward political activists who wrongly use their authority in the classroom to politically indoctrinate students. Although the concept of academic freedom allows professors to teach subjects of their own choosing in their own way, professors specifically sign a contractual code of ethics with the University, and are required to adhere to professional standards which specifically prohibit taking sides on controversial issues.
How many times have you been accosted by a panhandler, who you think is homeless, outside of Wawa? The attitude among students is overwhelmingly "not in our backyard." So I recently asked a random sample of Penn students what their first reaction would be if a student group planned to operate a homeless shelter on campus.
Amira Fawcett is an Engineering senior from Houston. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.
Last week, as I waited on the corner of N. 8th and Lehigh for the No. 47 SEPTA bus that would take me back to Center City, I was struck by the depressing, sporadic gaps of land every few houses. The entire street was pockmarked with vacant lots on which scrubby brown grass competed for space with broken glass, crushed beer cans and discarded candy wrappers.
By now, many of the facts are widely known: three students hospitalized for confirmed meningococcal infection in a period of days; numerous other students evaluated in the Student Health Service and the Emergency Room, some admitted to the hospital for observation and empiric treatment pending test results; upwards of 3,000 students dispensed preventative treatment; measles; ongoing communications and updates to students and the broader university community; one very tired Health Service director.
