Professors will try almost anything to get you to sign up for their classes.

Millions of hurried passengers depend on taxi drivers, but relatively rarely to they talk to their drivers about history, politics and justice. Last night, however, members of the Penn community had the chance to do just that with Biju Matthew and Ronald Blount at a dinner and discussion at the Greenfield Intercultural Center.

As a high-school senior in Texas, Justin Allen knew he wanted to study art in college, but family finances left him without a lot of options. Expensive art schools were out of the question, and remaining in-state seemed very likely. But then Allen found one school that was affordable for anyone - The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City.

Student leaders have spoken: Green is good. In a unanimous decision, the Undergraduate Assembly voted Sunday night to support environmentally sound practices at Penn. The UA proposal calls for a University-wide policy supporting environmentally sound practices, such as campus-wide recycling, energy conservation and buying from vendors who are committed to the environment.

Homicides for the year in Philadelphia are now projected to surpass 400 after a brief downturn in crime in September, according to city police.

The "art of networking" has some very big fans at Penn- - namely Barbara Hewitt and her team of career counselors at the University's Career Services office. "I found my job through networking," Hewitt said. "I'm a believer." In a small room packed with about 30 students yesterday, Hewitt, an associate director at Career Services, expounded upon the merits of social and professional networking as paths to employment in a seminar she called "Networking 101.

Zeta Beta Tau initiated 12 sophomores and juniors on Saturday, putting the fraternity one step closer to an official return to campus. But the process of recolonizing has come with a major challenge for ZBT - re-establishing itself as a legitimate fraternity, separate from the underground group that many students associate with the name ZBT.

Penn's Center for Bioethics announced Friday that it will team up with Sermo - a Cambridge-based company that provides online resources for doctors - to give doctors more up-to-date ethical guidelines for their practices. "The partnership with [Center Director Arthur Kaplan] . is one of many steps Sermo is taking to . handle information that can substantially affect the public health," Sermo chief executive Daniel Palestrant said in a statement.

It's 2 a.m., and Suresh Nagaraj is huddled next to a space heater to keep warm. His only companions are a few other students, a security guard and his laptop. He drinks hot chocolate to stay awake, but he nods off occasionally during the loneliest parts of the night.

Singapore's former ambassador to the United Nations will speak as part of the Provost's Global Forum next month. Kishore Mahbubani - who served as president of the U.N. Security Council in 2001 and 2002 - will speak in Huntsman Hall on Nov. 13. The Global Forum, entitled "The Greatest Asian Century," is designed to bring prominent international figures to Penn's campus.

For four Penn alumni writers in journalism and non-fiction, the memory of a beloved professor is reason enough to return to campus every year. The writers discussed their careers in a panel discussion at the Kelly Writers House on Saturday. The event, which was standing-room only, celebrated Penn professor Nora Magid.

Chanting "no contract, no peace" and "in unity: strength!" employees of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News staged an informational picket line with labor representatives at noon yesterday. With contracts set to expire at midnight, the "Walk for a Fair Contract," headed by the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, was a rallying cry to support the union's position in the ongoing negotiations with local investors' group Philadelphia Media Holdings, which bought the papers after an industry shakeup earlier this year.

The streets of University City have already seen parades of sexy witches and scantily clad police officers, but tonight the youngest crowd of Halloweeners will get their turn. But will Penn students hear knocks on their doors tonight from area kids seeking candy? College junior Brooke Prashker, who lives off campus, will be prepared no matter what.

Weekly meetings held by Philadelphia police officials will no longer be open to the public and media, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Compstat sessions, which are now only open to police personnel, were launched in March 1998 by the Philadelphia Police Department so that police could have concrete forum in which to analyze and map weekly crime statistics from across the city.

Two new faculty appointments were announced on Friday, but three of Penn's schools are receiving professors. University President Amy Gutmann announced the appointment of two professors for Penn Integrates Knowledge - her program launched in 2005 to hire professors to hold appointments in multiple schools - at Friday's trustees meeting.

A controversial campaign ad run last week against Penn alum Harold Ford, Jr. - currently running for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee - has brought the issue of boundaries in political campaigning to the national spotlight, but experts say it is unlikely to make or break the race.

Officials announced that they are more than $1 billion into the largest fundraising campaign in University history as the annual fall trustee meetings drew to a close. Friday was the second and final day of trustee committee meetings that had been taking place at the Inn at Penn.