"We are not on the West Bank; we are in West Philadelphia." So said Sam Adelsberg, a College sophomore who organized a discussion that took place between the Penn Israel Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine last night in Huntsman Hall. This marked the first time that PIC and SJP have come together to jointly sponsor an event.

Despite recent attention from the Division of Public Safety on unattended theft, the number of theft-related crimes has skyrocketed so far this year. DPS officials said there were 30 reports of thefts during the month of March, bringing the total to 97 for 2008 so far.

For Wharton freshman Aneesh Jain, the Philadelphia Film Festival, which kicked off last night, is a "forced good opportunity." Jain - who is required to attend the festival for a Cinema Studies class - is just the type of viewer festival organizers say they are trying to attract.

As the Pennsylvania primary heats up, it may be a former Quaker and Clinton supporter who holds the key to victory for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). At a number of Pennsylvania rallies, Gov. Ed Rendell - a 1965 Penn alumnus - has used his energy and organization to turn out support for New York Sen.

Penn is looking for tenants to fill two empty area storefronts, but has not yet made a decision about any potential new businesses on campus. University Jewelers, located at 3401 Walnut Street, closed this past Monday. It is the second store to close or move this academic year.

After hearing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speak to area volunteers last night, students involved in his campaign say they are, to use a popular Obama slogan, "fired up, ready to go." The event, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, had several thousand Philadelphia volunteers for the campaign in attendance.

Congress may have awarded a record of nearly $2.25 billion in earmarked funds to academic institutions this fiscal year, but Penn will only see about $160,000 from the controversial grants. However, the University said it is not concerned by that small sum.

Yesterday, School of Arts and Sciences administration and officials in the Asian American Studies program met to discuss revisions to the proposed budget for the 2008-2009 academic year. The previously proposed ASAM budget would have been lower than those of past years, prompting an outcry by students and faculty alike that resulted in yesterday's talks.

At the AFL-CIO convention in Center City yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made his case to the working class, largely through responses to parts of Hillary Clinton's speech there the previous day. Obama addressed Clinton's economic proposals - and her jokes - while still maintaining his characteristic campaign theme of change.

As many students observed in New Orleans this spring break, professor John DiIulio encourages students to learn outside of the classroom. DiIulio, one of Penn's foremost political scientists and director of the Fox Leadership Program, spoke yesterday alongside Graduate School of Education professor John Puckett to students in Houston's Hall of Flags as part of Education Week - an annual series of events organized by the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education.

Atop the narrow staircase leading to College Hall's Philomathean Art Gallery lies an intimate photography exhibit documenting the spring break trips of 300 Penn students. However, instead of the predictable beaches and bars, the captured images display moments from various Penn groups' community service trips.

The lawyer for Joseph Cho, the former Penn Law student facing charges of attempted murder, has requested that Cho undergo another psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is fit to stand trial. Cho was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing yesterday, but it was postponed after Peter Bowers, Cho's attorney, asked for the mental-health evaluation, according to Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Melissa Francis.

Don't be surprised to find a sealed envelope with a velvet bag and a gold-plated medallion under the door - it might just be an invitation to join the Kairos Society. Founded at Penn, the Kairos Society is a worldwide invitation-only entrepreneurial society.

Last fall, high-school senior Christine Li, of George Walton High School in Marietta, Ga., applied early action to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When she was deferred and later rejected, she turned her attention to Penn. And after Shams Ahmed, a senior at Cherry Hill High School East in Cherry Hill, N.

The Philosophy, Politics and Economics department is in the process of devising new courses for the major, although there will not be any significant changes in the core of the curriculum. Cristina Bicchieri, director of the PPE department, said PPE faculty are working with several participating departments to expand the number of PPE course offerings, but she added that "nothing is written in stone" and said the exact details will not be available for a few more months.

With his greyish white hair cropped neatly, navy blue suit and persuasive mannerism, Michael Wilson looked and sounded like a man of power in the business world. In fact, Wilson was just that, until he left the private sector to become the 22nd Canadian Ambassador to the United States.

A shake-up in the admissions office and a projected lower yield rate likely contributed to Penn's slightly higher acceptance rate this year, admissions experts say. Penn's acceptance rate increased to 16.4 percent this year, up from 16 percent last year. In contrast, the other Ivies - excluding Cornell University, which has yet to release its information - have all reported record low admissions rates.