The financial fraud of New York financier Bernie Madoff did not affect Penn's endowment, University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said - but that doesn't mean the University wasn't affected in other ways. Last month, the Picower Foundation of Florida - which funded two Penn research projects - announced that it would cease all grantmaking because the foundation had lost its entire endowment with Madoff.

Penn students this weekend harnessed a new power in the fight against AIDS in Africa: soccer. This past Saturday, 24 teams of three players gathered in Hutchinson Gymnasium for the first-annual "Lose the Shoes 3v3" soccer tournament. The event was organized by Penn AIDS Awareness to raise funding for the non-profit organization Grassroot Soccer, which trains professional soccer players to educate African youths and motivate them to fight HIV/AIDS.

Janice Dow is a College sophomore from Los Angeles. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.

SAS will implement a school-wide freeze on hiring, staff position reclassifications and salary adjustments, as well as various budget reductions, Dean Rebecca Bushnell announced in an e-mail to School of Arts and Sciences faculty and staff yesterday. Bushnell's office also plans to work closely with departments and programs to identify the most effective cost-cutting measures and to allocate remaining finances only to matters of the highest priority for the 2010 fiscal year.

The United Minorities Council, the umbrella for 20 minority groups on campus, elected Wharton and College junior Ezegozie Eze as its chair Wednesday night. Eze, who transferred from Princeton University this semester, won the three-way race for the helm of the organization, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

The Student Activities Council announced yesterday that it plans to give annual budgets to political groups for non-partisan and non-candidate-related purposes starting in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. The move will give regular SAC funding to political groups for the first time, explained College junior and SAC chairwoman Natalie Vernon.

The Spring Fling subcommittee of the Social Planning and Events Committee decided on the theme "Some Flings Never Get Old" for Fling 2009. Fling committee member and College freshman Garrett Albanesius came up with the theme, but he could not be reached for comment.

As of this week, a cab ride to Center City will cost a little bit less. The 50-cent gas surcharge taxis began charging in June was recently nixed in response to dropping gas prices. The Philadelphia Parking Authority's board voted to drop the extra charge - which raised the base fare from $2.

Family and friends of Ryan Smith, the Engineering sophomore who fell from the Quadrangle Saturday morning, have told University officials they do not believe the fall was a suicide attempt. University spokeswoman Lori Doyle confirmed the identity of Smith, a Digital Media Design major, Monday afternoon.

November saw a continuation of crime trends from earlier this year - violent crime and overall crime are both down significantly from 2007, but some types of property crime have risen. Violent crimes, like robberies and assaults, are down 39 percent for the year, according to the Division of Public Safety.

The South Street Bridge will close at 9:30 a.m. on Monday so Driscoll Construction Company can begin its projected two-year reconstruction of the bridge. Since the entire structure will be demolished, no traffic - cars, bicycles or pedestrians - will be able to use the bridge after Monday morning.

Breyten Breytenbach grasped the edges of the podium with a stack of his books before him. "We poets are lucky, we don't carry too much luggage. We can carry our tortuous lives in 500 pages." Breytenbach delivered a reading of his printed "luggage" at the Kelly Writers House Arts Café last night as part of KWH's new "Writers without Borders" series.

Wharton students celebrated the end of classes in style yesterday with the school's third annual Winter Whartonland. The Wharton Council and Wharton's cohort mentors marked the last Thursday of classes with hot chocolate, Insomnia Cookies, holiday candy and Wharton-branded gifts at the event in Huntsman Hall.

The closest most Penn students have ever come to hunting is probably watching Looney Tunes' Elmer Fudd try to catch that "wascally wabbit." But this past Monday, when most were still recovering from their post-Thanksgiving celebrations - or beginning to study for finals - high school students throughout Pennsylvania got the day off in honor of the first day of deer-hunting season.

December 3, 2008 Dear Members of Our University Community: Earlier this semester, I wrote to you regarding the turmoil in the American capital and credit markets, and how this economic instability was affecting our University. Since the time of that communication, the volatility of the economy has continued unabated.

You might have seen students studying you as you passed by on Locust Walk last month, but don't worry - it wasn't because you were having a bad hair day. Students in professor Paul Rozin's Psychology 001 class conducted a "racial association" study which found that, despite Penn's diverse student body, people on campus tend to spend time with others of the same ethnicity.

Former Economics professor Rafael Robb is appealing his five- to 10-year prison sentence for killing his wife, Ellen, in 2006. Robb's attorney, Frank DeSimone, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he filed a motion for reconsideration because he felt Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Paul Tressler misinterpreted the motive of a letter Robb sent to his 14-year-old daughter, Olivia.