Penn's main purpose may be to educate its students, but it seems like the Philadelphia Police Department could learn some lessons from the University as well.

The well-being of the world rested in the hands of 2,000 high-school students last Friday. The students - who came from all over the U.S. - were participating in the 23rd annual Ivy League Model United Nations Conference, organized by the Penn International Affairs Association.

College junior Raha Mozaffari awoke to news she never expected on Saturday morning. Away visiting friends, she received word that a fire had broken out at her residence at 210 S. 41st St. at about 6:15 on Saturday morning.

For some Penn students, the crowning moment of Prince Charles's visit to Philadelphia this weekend was a on e-hour visit to the International House just a block from campus. Taking an opportunity to interact with local students during their tour of Philadelphia, Charles and his wife - Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall - stopped by the International House Saturday afternoon to attend a student roundtable discussion focused on urban regeneration.

After Penn failed to acquire Rhodes or Marshall scholarships this year, a new program aims to put students back on the fast track to some of academia's most prestigious awards. Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships announced this week the establishment of the Provost's Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, which will provide 12 freshmen with $4,000 stipends to conduct research this summer.

For Philadelphia, it's nothing less than the royal treatment this weekend. Prince Charles of Wales and his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, are coming to the city to attend the Academy of Music's Gala Ball this Saturday, but will also be making stops around the city, including an afternoon trip to University City.

Most students used their winter breaks to tan, shop and catch up on much-needed sleep. Others took a less conventional route and traveled all the way to Africa - but to do community service, not to take a luxurious vacation. Three students, one alumnus and one faculty member from CommuniTech - an information-technology service organization in the School of Engineering and Applied Science - installed about 100 computers at 20 different locations in Cameroon.

Walk past the field outside Harrison College House late one night and you might see a crowd of people circled around a hookah, with Aman Agarwal passing the hose to his left. College students like Agarwal, a Wharton and Engineering sophomore from India, are increasingly smoking hookahs as a way to relax and socialize.

It was the biggest non-news event in the mayoral race thus far: Bob Brady is running for mayor. Long rumored to be a potential contender, Brady officially announced his candidacy at the Convention Center yesterday evening, becoming the fifth and likely final candidate to enter the upcoming Democratic primary.

Fifty years after the publication of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, students, faculty and area residents gathered together at the Kelly Writers House yesterday for a marathon reading to celebrate the benchmark novel. Starting at 4 p.m., 48 scheduled guests read for ten minutes each before an audience that filtered in and out throughout the evening - sometimes just a handful of people, and, at other times, swelling out of the room.

Penn has over a year to sort through its dirty laundry, but the Undergraduate Assembly is taking measures now to ensure that student complaints are heard. Come July 2008, the University's contract with laundry provider Mac-Gray Corporation will expire. In the meantime, the UA is compiling a survey to gauge just how faulty Penn's laundry facilities are - general student sentiment has confirmed a widespread dissatisfaction - but Housing and Conference Services is not rushing to do anything major before next summer.

A fire broke out at 210 S. 41st St. this morning, gutting it and forcing residents to evacuate. No one was injured. At around 6:15 this morning, the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to a 911 call made about the fire. According to a statement released by Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Karima Zedan, Penn Police were notified about the fire by the Philadelphia Fire Department at around 6:20 this morning, which then joined Philadelphia firefighters at the scene.

For the many Penn students that volunteer at Sayre High, last Thursday's shooting outside the West Philadelphia school hit a little too close to home. Tariq Hannibal, a 17-year-old student at Sayre High School on 58th and Walnut streets, suffered non-fatal wounds after being shot before classes last Thursday.

A pair of Yale University activists is fighting for better financial aid - by telling students to apply to Princeton University. Yale senior Phoebe Rounds and alumnus Peter Hasegawa recently called on high-school seniors at Phillips Exeter Academy and other top private schools to use aid offers from peer institutions - such as Princeton - to pressure Yale to up its aid.

Challenges for international graduate students don't stop after they recover from jet lag: Once they adjust to American culture, and even after they secure their visas, there's still a major price to pay. Graduate students at Penn on fellowships - research-intensive Ph.

The University has tapped Pamela Caudill to be the next executive director of the Office of Research Service, Penn officials announced earlier this week. Under her new post, Caudill will manage a wide range of proposals and final reports relating to various administrative research projects.

As College junior Annabelle Lyons wanders the stacks and study areas of Van Pelt, she observes not only stressed students unable to remove their gaze from their computer screens, but also a more worrying site - a number of laptops out of the eyesight of their owners.