Despite 1,000 people dying every day in South Africa from AIDS, international response is moving at a snail's pace. Stephen Lewis, former UN ambassador, deputy executive director of UNICEF and special UN envoy for HIV/AIDS, spoke at yesterday's Penn Global Forum about both the many setbacks and achievements with regard to the disease and its spread throughout Africa.

For the first time, Penn has chosen to take advantage of the free ad space given to all tournament participants by the CBS network and will air one of three 30-second spots that it has developed with the advertisement agency Red-Tettemer.

Without the surgery, her heart would stop. But Esther refused because it just wasn't kosher - literally. As an Orthodox Jew, Esther deemed a pig-valve replacement unkosher, and the world watched as everyone's favorite surgical interns scrambled to find an appropriate alternative.

While Penn's campus may be more gay-friendly than other parts of the country, tolerance of public displays of affection between same-sex couples may be for the wrong reasons. A New York Times article published Sunday examined the taboo of same-sex intimacy in public, raising the question of how Penn students react to such situations.

Most Whartonites can't wait to graduate and enter the world of business, but a few hope that earning graduate degrees will help keep them in the classroom even after graduation. The Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership, an MBA program started at the end of last month, aims to "teach the teachers," said Liv Mansfield, associate director of Wharton Executive Education.

The Law School has established a professorship devoted to the study of civil rights and race relations. The Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professorship was made possible by a $1 million grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and a $100,000 contribution by Duane Morris, a Philadelphia law firm.

"Amy, don't you run away, listen to what we have to say!" This was just one of many chants that could be heard on Locust Walk yesterday as about 55 graduate student protesters, led by a ten-foot tall puppet of Amy Gutmann, converged on College Hall at 12:30 p.m. The protest was organized by Graduate Employees Together - University of Pennsylvania, a graduate-student group that advocates for graduate-student teachers and research assistants at Penn.

The Undergraduate Assembly passed its $1.62 million budget proposal Sunday night with little protest from the other branches of student government. The UA is responsible for allocating funds to other student government groups, including the Nominations and Elections Committee, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, the Social Planning and Events Committee and the Class Boards.

'Innocent until proven guilty" isn't just the mantra of the United States legal system - it's also the way Penn oversees its tenured professors.

Mayoral candidate Bob Brady's blog may be feeling a little lonely. It only contains one post, and there's no way for readers to add their comments, a crucial feature in a successful blog, says Toby Bloomberg, a blogger and advertising consultant on new media.

School of Arts and Sciences Grad Student Jonathan Fisher will make his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York on March 10. A pianist since the age of eight, Fisher will perform at 5:30 p.m. next Saturday in the facility's Weill Recital Hall - only two months before he expects to receive his doctorate in physics and astronomy from Penn.

Seven assaults occurred on or near campus in the last week, including attacks on two students and a University staff member, as well as an assault on a police officer by a student.

For most Penn students, four straight hours spent at night in a classroom would be the equivalent of a nightmare. But for Alberto Rosa, it's nothing less than a dream come true. Rosa, who recently returned from tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, is now packing his bags once again to head off to University Park after being accepted to Penn State this year, all with the help of Penn's Veterans Upward Bound program.

"I have a car at school." "Well, I have a Mercedes at school." "But I got an A on that last midterm." "Really? I got an A+." Obnoxiously trying to one-up a friend typically results in a never-ending conversation. But for one actor, it served as inspiration for a Web site: OneUpMe.

Once again, the Rotunda is pursuing its stated goal of being a "catalyst for social change" by promoting arts and culture. Acoustic Philly - a group of Philadelphia-based professional musicians - performed this past Saturday night in front of a welcoming and intimate crowd, comprised mostly of friends and family members It was the second year the group had performed at the 4014 Walnut St.

Philadelphia's Independence Mall is getting a face lift, with a bit of a Jewish flair. Serving as the region's central museum for Jewish history since its opening in 1976, the National Museum of American Jewish History is preparing to move into a brand-new, $100 million facility at 5th and Market streets by 2010.

Andrew Porter will take the helm as dean of Penn's Graduate School of Education this summer, University President Amy Gutmann announced at Friday's meeting of the Board of Trustees. Porter will come to Philadelphia from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.