Gary DeVercelly just wanted to join Phi Kappa Tau. And for that desire, he paid the ultimate price. The 18-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., died in late March after a pledging ritual at the Rider University fraternity. DeVercelly, authorities said, had a blood alcohol content of 0.

Thomas Robertson's resume spans positions at several business schools stretching from Los Angeles to London. But Robertson, no stranger to Penn after he taught Marketing here 13 years ago, is settling in to a new office in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall.

Although Penn has had its fair share of hazing incidents in past years, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Directory Scott Reikofski said he's confident that his office has responded to each one appropriately, always conducting "a full investigation" and working with alumni and national chapter representatives when necessary.

The office of a West Philadelphia state representative was targeted by arsonists early Friday morning, an attack that officials say resulted from the politician's efforts to clean up the area. Police say that at about 4:05 a.m. Friday, an unknown person broke a plate-glass window on the side of state rep.

Freshmen interested in rushing a fraternity next semester may be able to do more than get their name etched onto another paddle. When Sigma Pi comes back to campus next month, they could end up as a founding father. Sigma Pi, which was first established at Penn in 1909, will have two expansion consultants on campus from Oct.

An alleged backroom deal has complicated the resentencing of former Neurosurgery professor Tracy McIntosh and has raised questions about the role and propriety of such agreements.

While Penn's $6 billion endowment may not be as huge as those of financial giants Harvard and Yale universities, it's safe to say that the University is doing its best to catch up. With the data on returns on Penn's endowment investments for the fiscal year to be released later this week, The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with the woman behind the numbers, Chief Investments Officer Kristin Gilbertson.

One university's tactics toward improving women's safety have shown the benefits of doing your own research. Worried about the violence against women on campus, the University of Kentucky engaged in a campus-specific "Women's Safety Study," beginning in 2004.

Pope Benedict XVI may come to Philadelphia next April, according to a report from the Catholic News Service. A Vatican spokesman had said earlier this year that the pope was planning a trip to the United Nations and New York City in 2008, likely in April.

When College sophomore Anne Ryan died from meningitis last Sunday, she left behind a legacy as a model of two kinds. First, as a girl whose striking beauty didn't stop at the surface, and second, as a scholar whose passions for learning and life made her an ideal student, her friends at Penn say.

Prosecutors continue efforts to send former Penn professor Tracy McIntosh to prison, but McIntosh's lawyers now argue that a previous backroom deal proposed by the case's former prosecutor should keep him from serving time.

There will always be that one student who just doesn't understand question five. Fifty minutes later, the frustration in the classroom is palpable, recitation is over, and the teaching assistant has yet to explain the answer thoroughly. It's a problem that is troubling - and all too familiar - to the undergraduate population: A lack of communication between TAs and students.

A report released last month by the panel charged with investigating the Virginia Tech shootings sheds light on a blatant shortcoming on the part of the Virginia Tech's counseling services, which may provide guidelines for other universities to follow in the future.

Jennifer Jagger is out to make giving birth a little bit easier - or, at least, the preparation for it. Jagger, a Nursing graduate student, co-edited the newly launched Philadelphia Guide to a Healthy Birth. Published by Choices in Childbirth - a non-profit consumer advocacy group that educates the public about women's rights and options in childbirth - the Guide lists 155 female-friendly practitioners, all of whom have been referred by mothers and midwives.

Thanks to the recent opening of the Jean Madeline Aveda Institute, students can get pampered on a budget.

A change in admissions deans notwithstanding, Penn continues to maintain that early decision is here to stay. After Harvard and Princeton universities announced last fall that they were both dropping their early-admissions programs, many expected Penn and the other Ivies to follow suit.

n "I just loved watching her life play out. It was beautiful. She was always doing something extraordinary. There was nothing ordinary she would do." "Her family came before anything else in the whole world. She would give anything up for her family." - Penn State University sophomore Missy Rupp, Ryan's high-school best friend n "I was obsessed since the moment I met her.