Tell me a joke. Or a funny story. Actually, what's your favorite food truck on campus? These questions may not seem out of the ordinary to the average person, but when they appear in the middle of an On-Campus Recruiting interview this week, students may be thrown for a loop.

The InterFraternity Council wants the University to allow registered parties during New Student Orientation, and the Undergraduate Assembly is backing its efforts. At its third meeting of the semester, the UA took up its first new item of business: the NSO Fraternity Safety Proposal, authored by IFC president and College senior David Ashkenazi and UA member and College sophomore Alec Webley.

The most tumultuous year in the financial markets in recent memory led Penn's endowment to shrink by 3.9 percent over the past year. As of June 30, the close of the fiscal year, the endowment was valued at $6.3 billion. And while the decline poses a setback to the University's endowment, officials are not terribly worried about the longterm prospects of financial growth.

Come fall 2009, University City will likely see a more aesthetically pleasing, pedestrian-accessible Market Street. Several organizations in the area, including the PennPraxis-affiliated Friends of 40th Street , have developed a plan to revitalize the Market Street corridor from 34th to 41st streets.

Mill Creek Farm is not much different from any other farm. Patches of okra, cherry tomatoes, eggplant and more than 50 other crops rotate with the season. The smell of basil permeates the air, chirping crickets are the closest thing to noise and the greenness of the crops can blind y

Republican presidential nominee John McCain used a rally in Media, Pa. yesterday to discuss the economy and introduce the region to his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. While McCain has made several campaign appearances in the Philadelphia area, the rally, held on the steps of the Delaware County Courthouse, was Palin's first stop in the area since being tapped as McCain's vice-presidential pick in late August.

College students may move frequently, but they don't move far - and that has the potential to complicate voter registration. Because students can move each year but stay within the same county, it can be easy to get around re-registering. But if students do not re-register with their cProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 rent addresses, a citywide audit could look suspicious and election-da

With the recent appointment of Harbir Singh to the newly created position of Vice Dean for Global Initiatives, Wharton is moving toward the internationally-focused school that Dean Thomas Robertson outlined last fall. This new appointment comes at a time when Wharton has been adding a more international perspective to its programs and needed someone to take the lead, officials said.

After over a year of hard work and $1.1 million spent, the green roof renovation on Kings Court/English House is now officially complete. Dedication of the green roof occurred yesterday afternoon and featured speeches by the College House's Faculty Master Jorge Santiago and Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli.

For the next year and a half, a new sound will be coming from the music building on 34th and Walnut streets - that of construction. For the first time since it was originally built as an orphanage in 1890, the building is undergoing major renovations. Construction began early this summer and is scheduled to finish in January 2010.

The College Houses and Academic Services system had a "sweet" 10th anniversary celebration this Friday on College Green. So sweet, in fact, that Penn President Amy Gutmann called the College House system the sugary frosting on top of Penn's cake. Students of all schools and classes joined the 11 College Houses amid colorful balloons, food tents and informative exhibitions - including the Peers Helping Incoming New Students T-shirt tye-dye stand, the Penn Athletics giant football helmet and a life-sized representation of a Stouffer College House living room.

Financial firms aren't the only companies being taken over these days. Come Oct. 1, Bucks County Coffee, the popular student cafe and campus alternative to Starbucks, will become Saxbys Coffee. The Philadelphia-based Saxbys - which opened its first location in 2004 and now operates around 70 chains nationwide - purchased Bucks County Coffee Company earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.

In the eyes of Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, this election is more than just a presidential race - it's a generational transition. Last Friday, The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down to discuss the role of young voters in the 2008 election with Dean and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

With the quiet grace of a conductor leading an orchestra of talented musicians, Dean Gary Hack has presided over the School of Design for the last 12 years. And like any humble conductor, he's quick to praise the talents of his staff before his own. "I've been the beneficiary of a lot of people who have done very well," said Hack, who steps down next week.

Both on and off campus, Penn's Internet2 network is about to see an expansion. Internet2 is a faster network than regular Internet. It is specifically geared toward research and education, and Penn's access point went live in February 2007. Internet2 allows for nearly instantaneous data transfer, making it useful for international data sharing.

Behind the Quad, in an area many students never explore, some of the nation's best research is being conducted. Penn's Nursing School, consistently ranked among the top in its field, is home to five of the National Institute of Nursing Research's 10 "Landmark Nursing Research Studies.

Baltimore Avenue is scheduled for a makeover, but not all residents find the prospect pretty. For the next five years, University City District will receive annual grants of $75,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to improve the facades of businesses along Baltimore between 45th and 50th streets.