Philadelphia may be home to a few more founding fathers this year as a new fraternity arrives on campus. Phi Gamma Delta, also nicknamed FIJI or Phi Gam, was recently approved to restart its Beta chapter on campus. The fraternity, FIJI's second chapter, was colonized on Feb.

Philadelphia public schools reported significantly higher crime rates in 2007 than in previous years, but some say those statistics distort the actual environment in the schools. Penn officials and students who have worked in Philadelphia schools are worried that the latest round of statistics might deter potential me

The reporter recounts her experiences at the Democratic and Republican conventions. DENVER - Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama stood on a stage in a football stadium packed with more than 80,000 cheering supporters. Waving to the crowd were his wife and two daughters as confetti rained down and fireworks went off.

A daunting winter notwithstanding, Jonathan Goodman, a freshman in the College, left the beaches in San Diego last week for Penn's campus in West Philadelphia. Like Goodman, more California high-school seniProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 s than ever before are hoping to make the move

Gas prices aren't the only costs that are skyrocketing. Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted that food prices would increase by 4.5 to 5.5 percent this year due to the rising cost of fuel and ethanol and unpredictable weather patterns in crop-growing nations.

The Philadelphia Police Department is adding to its arsenal of crime-fighting techniques. For the first time in the department's history a select group of officers will carry tasers on duty as part of a new public-safety initiative, the Philadelphia Crisis Intervention Team.

The Delta Upsilon fraternity relocated its chapter house late this summer in response to University concerns that the property did not meet its standards for safety and quality of life. With Penn's assistance, the brothers moved from 4035 Walnut St. to a vacant University-owned site at 3829 Walnut St.

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After standing in line in 85-degree heat for several hours, Alex Roman was finally able to rest comfortably in her Radian apartment on Sunday night. Roman, a College sophomore, said she had "a horrible move in experience," a sentiment echoed by many others who moved into the new 14-story apartment complex at 39th and Walnut Streets.

When the Republican National Committee called Ashley Gunn out of the blue two weeks ago to speak at its convention, the Wharton junior said she was stunned. With young people getting more involved than ever in politics this election year, the Repu

Penn will increase its presence in West Philadelphia this fall with the introduction of two more after-school tutoring programs. The Community School Student Partnerships, a student-run group that provides after-school activities at several nearby West Philadelphia schools, is expanding its work to two more elementary schools this fall.

The psychiatric records of former Economics professor Rafael Robb and his murdered wife, Ellen, were released to both prosecutors and Robb's defense at

Those who knew Engineering sophomore Michael Sheahan, who died in an automobile accident last Monday, say they will remember him as both an ambitious student and a caring friend and son. "What really made him special was that even though he was so brilliant, you wouldn't know it because … he was such a down-to-earth person," said College sophomore Liz Grant, one of Sheahan's friends.

After almost eight years and seemingly endless delays, SEPTA's $710 million Market Street Elevated Reconstruction Project is nearly finished. The project replaces 11,000 feet of El support structure from 44th Street to Millbourne Street, renovates six stations and includes the construction of two new train control buildingsProxy-Connection: keep-alive

Although winning a slew of scholarships in high school sounds like a great way to fund a college education, a combination of federal regulations and institutional policies often prevent students from seeing where their money goes. If the total amount of scholarship money exceeds $300, that money must go toward reducing need-based financial aid awarded by the school, according to Mark Kantrowitz, director of advanced projects for the scholarship-searching Web site FastWeb.

Over the past four decades, not only has Penn's campus changed, but so have its students. Click through this slideshow to see a few examples of what has changed and what hasn't.

A number of violent crimes plagued the area around Penn's campus in the weeks before students returned for the fall semester. Police are still looking for the man who robbed Cosi, located at 140 S. 36th St., at gunpoint on Aug. 9. Two Cosi employees reported that a black man robbed the re