Remember that tried-and-true line from admissions officers, "If you have two people and a common interest, then you can start a group at Penn"? Well, that's literally how it is for Six Directions, Penn's sole group for students of Native American descent.

When College freshman Marissa Finn was deciding where she wanted to live next year, she said price was a huge factor in her decision. "Because of the state of the economy, I had to consider whether or not the Radian was affordable," she said. Finn is not alone - for many, the economic crisis has complicated decisions about where to live, forcing students to choose their future housing based on price tag rather than personal preference.

Poet, author, civil rights activist and "Phenomenal Woman" Maya Angelou will speak this evening at 6:30 in Irvine Auditorium. Angelou will deliver the keynote address for Women's Week, a series of events honoring women organized by the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women.

For those who may not want to get a flu shot, a video starring employees at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania - "Baby be Wise, Immunize" - may make them reconsider. College junior Ryan Leonard and Mel Kearney , an occupational medicine nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, produced the video last fall to raise awareness about flu vaccines.

Last night, students and community members gathered to learn more about the candidates for the Office of Philadelphia District Attorney. Four of the five candidates participated in a panel which took place at Claudia Cohen Hall yesterday: Seth Williams, Michael Turner, Dan McElhatton and Brian Grady.

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has had a busy couple of weeks in Washington and is making a stop at Penn to talk about it. Specter - who is one of the most senior members of the Senate, having served five consecutive terms since his election in 1980 - will address students and faculty at 3:30 p.

The Undergraduate Assembly saw its largest turnout yet this semester at Sunday's debate on the recent decision to update the current Information Systems and Computing calendar rather than endorse DormNoise as the official University-wide calendar system. While DormNoise - created by Wharton sophomore and UA member Jay Rodrigues - functions as a social networking Web site with a built-in calendar, ISC would rework the Penn calendar system on Penn Portal.

Penn received slightly more regular-decision applications for the class of 2013 than in past years, while the total number of applicants remained about steady, the Admissions office announced this week. The University received 19,179 regular-decision applications, up slightly from last year's 19,023.

The upcoming renovations to DuBois College House mark yet another step in Penn's college house makeover. In the past 10 years, about $325 million have been devoted to improving on-campus residences. Throughout the renovations, all college houses have received new security, sprinklers and fire alarms and laundry-facility upgrades, among other things, according to Business Services Executive Director Douglas Berger.

The Dean's Advisory Board believes Penn students can change the world, and is creating a new International Development minor to help. Last spring, the DAB conducted a survey on Locust Walk asking students about their academic experiences. Feedback showed significant interest in international development.

The first student diagnosed with meningococcal infection last Thursday was discharged from the hospital today, and the other two students are both doing well, according to Student Health Services officials. The second student has been moved from the Intensive Care Unit to another room in the hospital, and the third is expected to leave the ICU as soon as a bed in another ward becomes available, SHS director Evelyn Wiener said.

Do women and computers mix? Why are geeks usually seen as male? Last night, History and Sociology of Science professor Nathan Ensmenger posed these questions in a talk about women and computers at the Wu and Chen Auditorium in Levine Hall. The problem: a lack of women pursuing computer science degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

When 2-year-old Zion saw Penn students encouraging a little girl to let them check her eyes with a large camera, he removed his thumb from his mouth and cried, "I want a turn." Zion and 20 students from his day care class at the West Philadelphia Community Center, located at 36th Street and Haverford Avenue, participated in vision screenings last Thursday morning as part of Focus First, a Penn community service initiative.

A Lambda Law protest of the national "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy last Thursday raised recurring questions of the presence of military recruiters and the Reserve Officer Training Corps on campus. The protest was held to voice dissent against the policy and to show support for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community while the Judge Advocate General Corps' military recruiters conducted interviews on campus.

Despite cold weather and dying 127 years ago, Charles Darwin was in a festive mood yesterday at the University Museum. Darwin's appearance was part of an "Evolutionary Teach-in" at the museum Sunday afternoon to celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday and his legacy of scientific thought and inquiry.

The three students who were hospitalized for meningococcal infections last week are now recovering, and the condition of two other students hospitalized with flu-like symptoms is not serious, University officials said yesterday. Student Health Services sent a Universitywide e-mail yesterday afternoon saying the two students were not critically ill and SHS could not confirm whether they have meningococcal infection.

In Houston Hall, a girl on a cell phone paced while consulting her mom about getting the preventative treatment for meningitis. This was a common sight Saturday morning, as over 3,000 students received the antibiotic supplied by University and City public health officials over the weekend, according to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman.