Straightening historical facts To the Editor: I'm assuming others will write in to debunk Emerson Brooking's offensive defense of the Confederate flag and the racism that it has symbolized through the decades ("In defense of Dixie" 4/15/2009). But I was also struck by the line in his piece that read: "Almost 300,000 Southerners fought and died under the flag of the Confederacy, and the resulting Reconstruction altered the course of the South's economic and cultural development, creating a depression that would linger for generations.

It'd be pretty awesome to have President Barack Obama speak at Penn. Given his popularity and prestige, I think almost all students and alumni would be honored for him to appear on campus. But apparently not everyone feels the same way, because significant objections have been raised about his invitation to address graduates at the University of Notre Dame next month.

The economic downturn has had a mixed effect on summer programs at Penn, with some experiencing growth and others seeing a decrease in applications. Penn hosts a wide variety of summer programs, including athletic and academic programs targeted at high-school and college students.

While many Penn students spend tonight getting an early start on Spring Fling, the brothers of Beta Theta Pi will be hosting a concert for life-saving research. Nappy Roots, a Southern rap quintet, is set to play at the Roxxy tonight for the fund-raising concert put on by Beta.

Erin Brennan could get used to beating Princeton. Playing her first game against Penn's archrival, the freshman midfield had a hat trick and an assist, as the women's lacrosse team cruised to a 10-5 victory over the No. 7 Tigers that was not as close as the score indicated.

When Penn President Amy Gutmann checks her mail in the near future, she might see letters from students urging her to take a stance against the plans for the new casinos in Philadelphia. Last night at the Rotunda, College senior and Daily Pennsylvanian copy and design assistant Lauren Ladd and College junior Jeannie Tso outlined negative consequences of the proposed casinos and urged the audience members - many of whom were Penn students - to write to Gutmann to express their concerns about the potential new gambling outlets.

John Agbaje, Wharton senior and creator of the Penn Art Club's "Squirrels on Locust" exhibition, said the project began with the hope that the "whole campus would be brought together." Seven months later, a host of larger-than-life squirrels representing Penn's diverse student population are lining Locust Walk.

Flanked by two burly security guards, U.S. conservative writer and activist David Horowitz posed the question to a packed crowd: are we all being indoctrinated? Last night, the Penn College Republicans brought Horowitz to Huntsman Hall to discuss his latest book, One-Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America's Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy.

As the school year comes to a close, students with one-year bound leases for their rooms are faced with a challenge: summer sublets. For those seekers, the economic crisis seems to add an extra burden. College junior Michael Kleinman is actively looking for a student to summer sublet a room in his house.

The most recent turn of events in the never-ending Philadelphia casino saga - a new location for the proposed Foxwoods casino - has the city going all in on the developer's demands. At a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board meeting last week, Foxwoods revealed that they were now planning to move into the former Strawbridge & Clothier building at 8th & Market streets.

In the fall, Penn became the last Ivy League university to establish a group promoting vegetarian interests when two freshmen created the Penn Vegetarian Society, according to the club's Facebook group. In the past month, the group has worked with the Undergraduate Assembly and Penn Dining Services to create a Nutrition Week.

Robert A. Fox Professor of Leadership Donald Kettl, a Political Science professor, was appointed dean of the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, the school announced Tuesday. Kettl will officially step into the position in June, although he admitted he might act as "virtual dean" via e-mail until he can officially become settled in College Park, Md.

A recent proposal is weighing the value of pot in more than just grams. A new proposal called the Emerald Initiative calls on college and university presidents to consider reducing penalties for marijuana use as a way to lower alcohol abuse. Drafted by the nonprofit Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, the proposal claims that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol to users and to society and advocates that colleges punish for marijuana use no more than for alcohol use.

After seven months of class and only-God-knows-how-many exams and papers, there's little doubt that if Penn students are entitled to anything, it's Spring Fling this weekend. We've worked hard, and now it's time to take a break and bask in some of our favorite Fling things: bounce houses, dunk tanks, a capella performances, trying to sneak alcohol into the Quadrangle (don't try, freshmen, it won't work) and, of course, those fried Oreos.

Spring Fling is overrated. . Please don't hurt me. Somebody had to say it, though, and I know I'm not the only person on campus who feels that way. (I'm not saying it's a widely held opinion, but there are 10,000 undergrads here. There's some law of probability that says someone else agrees with me.

By MATTHEW BURNARD Staff Writer burnard@dailypennsylvanian.com At a time when a cash-strapped media industry lacks the resources to monitor government spending, one recent Penn alum is using new media to fill this role. Stephen Morse, an '07 College alumnus and a former Daily Pennsylvanian columnist, recently founded the Web site mytwocensus.

The economic downturn has had a mixed effect on summer programs at Penn, with some experiencing growth and others seeing a decrease in applications. Penn hosts a wide variety of summer programs, including athletic programs and academic programs targeted at high school and college students.