For some professors, supporting Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama extends beyond the ballot box. Across the country, thousands of professors - several on Penn's campus - are advising the Obama campaign on a number of issues as part of policy committees.

A prettier Clark Park may be in the near future. With a local architect at the helm and newly unveiled designs, proposed renovations of Clark Park may begin as early as late spring. The park's pathways, lighting and center plaza will all get overhauls as part of a plan to revitalize the aging park.

Gay and straight students alike gathered for a candlelight vigil in Wynn Commons last night to commemorate the death of Matthew Shepard, who was brutally murdered 10 years ago for being gay. The vigil was hosted by Allies, an organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight students.

Four robberies were reported on or near campus over the weekend and early this week, marking an unusually high number of violent incidents in the area. On Monday night, Kasim Brown, 26 and unaffiliated with the University, was arrested in connection with a robbery at the World Café Live, located at 3025 Walnut Street, a little before 11 p.

We're nearing the end of October, Fall Break has come and gone, so that can only mean one thing - it's almost Halloween! That may be the first event which comes to most students' minds - my own costume is waiting impatiently to make its debut - but before Halloween week rolls in, some students find themselves playing host to mom and dad.

It has been their mantra for two years, written plain and clear across the top of their coach's whiteboard, but never before has it seemed so relevant. The women on the Penn soccer team have lived by the phrase "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

Janice Dow is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, CA. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Chances are you can't name the head coach of Penn men's soccer. Rudy Fuller? Wrong. Don't worry, even the team's media guide can't get it right. Born Brian Fuller, the Quakers' primary clipboard-wielder has carried the moniker 'Rudy' Fuller since eighth grade.

The Penn women's soccer team was held scoreless in the first half but ended up beating Rider, 3-0, tonight at Rhodes Field. Three different Quakers scored in the second half, with the first goal coming from senior captain Natalie Capuano in the 50th minute.

Just two weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a broken nose sustained in Penn's victory over Dartmouth, senior defensive back Tyson Maugle is back on the practice field and cleared to play this Saturday at Yale. The defensive leader - who is planning to become a doctor when he graduates from Penn - said he's "very surprised and very satisfied" with how quickly he healed.

After 33-plus minutes of the Penn field hockey team's game with Temple, the Quakers held a modest 2-1 lead. Then came a surprise onslaught. Kathryn Rose scored off a fast break, and right when it appeared the first half had ended, the Owls committed a penalty to give the Red and Blue one more play.

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Law & Order is the second longest-running primetime drama in television history, and yesterday Penn students could've killed for the chance to meet one of the writers responsible for the show's success. Jonathan Greene, a writer and co-executive producer of the NBC television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was brought to the Kelly Writers House by English professor Gail Shister.

After a lot of tinkering, field hockey coach Val Cloud may have finally found her secret ingredient for success. Last Sunday against Columbia, Penn (3-10, 2-2 Ivy) moved a defender up to play midfielder. With the 3-4-2 scheme, the Red and Blue responded by playing with more cohesion and coming up with a rare victory.

With less than two weeks left before Election Day, recent polls in Pennsylvania suggest Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama leads Republican nominee John McCain by as much as 10 percent. But this doesn't eliminate Pennsylvania's battleground status just yet.

Two higher-education groups are asking colleges and universities to provide them with completed copies of a questionnaire recently distributed by the Internal Revenue Service. The Association of Governing Boards and the National Association of College and University Business Officers hope to collate and analyze the data from the form, which Penn has not received.

Engineering senior Ryan Goldstein was sentenced yesterday to one year of various types of confinement and was fined $30,000 for his involvement in a hacking scheme that caused a Penn server to crash. He received five years of probation from U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson.