Standing before a sea of excited students in black robes in the middle of a sunny Franklin Field, University President Amy Gutmann began the 252nd Commencement Ceremony by warning the graduates that, before receiving their diplomas, "you must prove yourselves worthy of your Penn degrees by performing one last task: Endure our speeches.

Heavyweight rowing continues losing ways In its final head-to-head competition of the season, the men's heavyweight rowing team continued its disappointing season, losing the Madeira Cup to Cornell. Penn fell first in the freshmen 8 race by 6.8 seconds. Cornell clinched the Cup in the varsity 8 race, clocking in at 6:11.

Drexel University announced last week that it will begin a graduate studies program in Sacramento, Calif. This program is just the first in what Drexel hopes will be a network of graduate campuses across the country. Other target cities for similar programs - pending the success of the Sacramento program - include Phoenix, Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas or Houston.

In 2004, a federal ban on assault weapons expired. Now, four years later, Mayor Michael Nutter and Governor Ed Rendell want to reduce violent crime nationally by convincing Congress to re-enact the ban. The ten-year federal ban forbids the possession, manufacture, use and import of assault weapons.

This Saturday, the Department of Dermatology and the University's Abramson Cancer Center will conduct free skin screenings to determine the chance of developing skin cancer. From 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., dermatology specialists will see patients by appointment only at the Department of Dermatology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

This weekend marks the beginning of the final stretch for many of Penn's best senior track and field athletes. They will be competing in the NCAA East Regionals in Tallahassee, Fla. on Friday and Saturday. Of the seven athletes wearing the Red and Blue, five will be running with the knowledge that a loss will bring an end to their collegiate careers.

With temperatures on the rise, the public has begun to swarm local movie theaters - but for some, the onset of the summer movie season means the hard work has just started as filming crews get to work on next summer's blockbusters. This June, Penn is slated to become one of the filming locations for the highly anticipated DreamWorks feature film, "Transformers 2.

"Imagine a world where you could manage your entire life from Facebook - it's not that far off!" While you were home recuperating from the intellectual hazing that was Finals Week, an academic juggernaut other than Penn was "Making History". Blackboard, a premier course management website, announced the release of the Blackboard Sync - its first ever Facebook application.

With just a year until I make the dreaded leap from undergrad to alumna, I can't help but wonder what my graduation day will entail. It's supposed to be one of the most important days of my life, one that I'll remember as I wander my way through life's ups and downs (and sideways).

Philadelphia's Legendary Blue Horizon boxing arena has hosted the stars of "Rocky" and some of the greatest middle-weight fighters of all-time - but its most recent competitors were amateur boxers from Penn's graduate school community. The latter visitors were not due to an out-of-control rivalry between the various graduate schools.

Avery Lawrence is a College senior from Charlottesville, Va. His e-mail address is lawrence@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Coming into Saturday's Women's Lacrosse NCAA quarterfinal against Boston University, sophomore Emma Spiro had a modest 14 goals and two assists in 16 games. So while she has contributed to the Quakers' offense this year, she's rarely been the player of the game.

The recent shooting of Philadelphia police Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski has spurred city residents and legislators alike to take another look at gun control in Philadelphia and across the state. Last week, Mayor Michael Nutter and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell urged members of Congress to vote for the reenactment of the federal assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004.

If you think reading The Daily Pennsylvanian's April Fools issue is funny, writing it is a riot. The joke issue is a time when DP editors can relax and have fun, and that April night two years ago should have been a break from my daily grind as a sports editor.

A month ago, you'd be hard-pressed to hear me give my experience at Penn a positive review. But like most things in life, you only really appreciate something once it's truly gone. And now, situated at that cusp between "the best four years of your life" and the rest of it, I've started to realize that my own natural tendency to be miserable and deprecating aside, Penn wasn't all bad.

College students have long been known as some of the most sleep-deprived people in the nation, but one recent study found that sleepiness may be the least of our problems. Sleeping too much or too little is associated with higher rates of obesity, smoking and alcohol use, according to a study released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The men's heavyweight and women's crew teams get set to push off this weekend in their respective Sprints races. For the heavies, the race marks the beginning of the final leg of a disappointing seasons. For the 20th-ranked women, though, the Sprints is just another step towards national recognition.