Many at Penn praise Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) for his instrumental work to increase the National Institutes of Health's budget by 34 percent in the stimulus package President Barack Obama signed Feb 17. Yet the unclear time frame for and method of distributing stimulus funding has caused much anticipation.

"Come, whoever you are, come." This quote by Jalalud'din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet, was the message extended to those invited to the panel discussion last night, "Do religions oppress women?" Women and men of all faiths flocked to the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall for the conversation in recognition of International Women's Day, which this year will take place on March 8.

During her two years living in Penn college houses, College sophomore Jessica Renny has never used a landline phone. "I've never plugged it in, and I don't even know the number," she said. Although every room in college houses and University-owned Greek houses is supposed to come with a landline phone and jack, it appears that fewer students are making use of the provided service - and the shift away from landlines is taking place across the country, too.

March 12, 1:33 p.m. Leonore Annenberg, emeritus trustee and founding member of the Annenberg School for Communication, died Thursday morning in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at the age of 91. Annenberg was elected to the University's Board of Trustees in 1982, and was elected a life trustee in 1987.

Two students were swept up in Penn's effort last month to halt the spread of meningococcal infection that sent shock waves through campus. Between Feb. 12 and 13, three students were hospitalized with meningococcal infection, a bacterial infection within the bloodstream.

This wasn't how Kevin Egee imagined his senior year ending. Considering Penn made the NCAA Tournament in both his freshman and sophomore years, the Quakers' 9-16 (5-6 Ivy) record isn't exactly what Egee - and fellow active seniors Cam Lewis and Brennan Votel - had in mind for their final season in Red and Blue.

Some things, like gin and tonic or Beyonce and Jay-Z, are just meant to be together. An amicable relationship between Penn and Georgetown's baseball teams isn't one of them. Having already faced the Hoyas twice in their season opener last weekend, the Quakers will play them four additional times this weekend at Rollins College, as Penn heads down to Winter Park, Fla.

Forget the Grapefruit League - if you're looking for some good ball this break, the Ivy League will be out in full force in the Sunshine State. The Penn softball team will be one of five Ivy teams - Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Yale are the others - to head to Florida for the annual Rebel Spring Games, a month-long collegiate tournament held in Kissimmee.

Aside from the men's basketball team's performance, the new student-ticket policies have been some of the more popular gameday fodder this season. Breaking from its previous policy, the Athletic Department announced last September that the student section would be entirely general admission.

In economic and business classes across campus, students learn about labor as an abstraction, as a commodity, as something to be traded on the market. But for Peter Ho and three other hotel workers who spoke last week with a group of students, faculty and staff, labor is deeply personal.

Did you spend more time in piano lessons or watching TV when you were growing up? The answer may depend largely on your social class. Sociologist Annette Lareau addressed the idea of class differences in child-rearing practices during an event held by the Penn Education Society last night in Houston Hall.

"The time has come to think about sex," Gayle Rubin wrote 25 years ago as the opening of her paper Thinking Sex. Now that time has come again. Rethinking Sex: Gender and Sexuality Studies State of the Field Conference opened last night at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

In three years of participating in on-campus recruiting, College and Wharton senior Ravi Naresh is three for three - summer internships after his sophomore and junior years and a full-time job for after graduation. But Naresh is just one of approximately 1,800 students that go through the on-campus recruiting process each year, and the picture isn't quite as rosy for everyone else.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching studied 40 U.S. engineering schools last month and found that most schools place heavy emphasis on textbook learning and not enough on hands-on experience, leaving students unprepared for the real world.

For some of Penn's Greek houses, Earth Day is coming a little early this year. Six fraternities and one sorority have joined the eight-week Greek House Recycling pilot program in an effort to reduce waste and promote environmental awareness in Penn's Greek houses.

Brett Rendina roomed with golfing buddy Mike Blodgett freshman year. Ever since, Rendina's career has gone down a seemingly opposite path. While Blodgett made an impact from his debut season onward - ultimately becoming Penn's first individual Ivy League champion last spring - Rendina competed in just two events combined during his first two seasons.