Penn students did not generally express enthusiasm for the Social Planning and Events Committee's choice to have Ben Kweller as the headlining fall performer, but those who attended the concert would beg to differ.

Days after thousands of monks marched on city streets thousands of miles away, a group of students organized their own solidarity protests on campus. The vigil, which took place on College Green Friday, was held in reaction to the current events in Burma, which has seen a series of monk-led anti-government protests.

Haverford College inducted a former Penn professor as its 13th president Saturday. Stephen Emerson, a stem-cell biologist, comes to Haverford from the Penn Medical School, where he was a professor in Pediatrics and Pathology. He was also chief of oncology and hematology for the University's Abramson Cancer Center.

Like anyone who has lived in the high rises, Soleil Roberts has had her fair share of encounters with the notorious section of Locust Walk known as the wind tunnel. One day last year, the now-College senior half-jokingly tossed an idea around with her Environmental Science professor, saying, "You should put up a windmill here - you could power the whole school.

Veteran journalist and ABC World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson sat down with aspiring journalists yesterday to offer his two cents on media. About 20 people congregated at Kelly Writer's House for a lunchtime question-and-answer session with the seasoned reporter - and no question was out of bounds.

A fire started on the roof of the West Tower of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia yesterday, but it was quickly extinguished and no injuries or damages were reported.

Former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson canceled his scheduled speaking engagement at a national admissions conference last weekend, but the event still marked a public appearance from a figure who has otherwise maintained a low profile since his sudden resignation in August.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science is bending over backwards to recruit female professors, and thanks to several University hiring policies, it is having unprecedented success.

Music historian Irwin Chusid is an avid fan of The Shaggs, Judson Fountain and William "Shooby" Taylor. And you thought Ben Kweller was obscure. Chusid was on campus yesterday night to speak at the Kelly Writers House, an event co-sponsored by the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing.

Last night, racy jokes and lewd skits weren't just about making people laugh. Four of Penn's comedy groups - Bloomers, Simply Chaos, Without a Net and Mask & Wig - participated in the eighth annual Charitable Laughter show at the Irongate Theatre. The proceeds of this year's event will go to the Village of Arts and Humanities.

Baseball players aren't the only ones inducted into the hall of fame: Engineers are too. James West, the inventor of the electret microphone used in 90 percent of communication devices today, was the inaugural speaker for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Rachleff lecture series yesterday afternoon.

With Fairmount Park to the north, Penn has always had reason to be jealous. But now, the University is set to create a park of its own - a multi-acre piece of land set for development on campus. The University finally secured possession of 24 acres of land formerly owned by the United States Postal Service to the east of campus.

PennScience treated their editorial staff to a dinner and lecture from a celebrated ecologist, environmentalist, conservationist and Penn Biology professor Daniel Janzen. PennScience, the University's undergraduate research journal, hosted the event last evening in Skirkanich Hall in an effort to publicize some of Penn's research and to encourage undergraduates to engage in their own research.

About 50 percent of Penn students have entered their cell-phone numbers in the University's new emergency text-messaging system, a rate that is on par with or better than the sign-up rates at several other peer schools. Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said that, while she hopes to have 100 percent of all cell-phone numbers in the system, she is "very pleased" with the level of enrollment in PennAlert.

With official approval for funding from the Board of Trustees, Penn is ready to bring a seventy-year-old electrical system into the 21st century. With electrical voltage in some of its buildings dating back to the 1930s and '40s, the second phase of construction on Penn's electrical infrastructure will include replacing electrical cable and making electricity distribution more reliable.

Under former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson, the Penn admissions office gained a reputation for its emphasis on early decision and its outreach to minorities. Now, it's unclear how, or if, those priorities will change with Stetson's departure.

Several Ivy League schools have recently announced that students under their insurance plans will be eligible for a low-cost HPV vaccine, but Penn officials say they currently have no plans to do the same.