Guest Columnist | Stuck outside in a sweltering city

By Elizabeth Song · July 19, 2007

If you can't beat the heat, you might as well embrace it. That was my philosophy for signing up for Bikram yoga in the middle of Philadelphia's recent summer heat wave.

Living in an urban setting means realizing that crimes can occur and taking the proper precautions - don't travel alone in dark alleyways late at night comes to mind. But Locust Walk doesn't exactly spring to mind when thinking of dark alleys. The main artery of campus, on 37th Street, played host to a recent theft, and a number of other instances of crime have been reported on Locust between 39th and 42nd streets.

Guest Columnist | Balancing the small-town and big-city girl

By Emily Garrett · July 19, 2007

In order to preserve the sanity of my parents and myself, I decided moving home this summer was simply not an option. And so I've spent little time at the bump in the road that is my beloved, rural Iowa hometown. Recently, though, I was lucky enough to travel home for the weekend.

Faculty hires and departures are often made with little notice from the University community. But, last week, one of Penn's most notable scholars has announced his appointment at another university. Religious Studies professor Michael Eric Dyson's departure from Penn for Georgetown seems sudden, given his short five-year term here.

Guest Columnist | SEPTA's far from being saved

By Alicia Puglionesi · July 12, 2007

On its billboard and subway ads, SEPTA upbeat slogan promised that it was "Serious About Change."

550Pounds that a recently found giant squid weighed. The squid, which washed up on an Australian beach, weighed less than a 1,100 pound squid found in February. Source: The Associated Press

Guest Columnist | Finding a reason for faith-based funding

By Mara Gordon · July 12, 2007

I was petrified of my boss this summer. Before I started work in May, I would spend nights lying awake worrying about what it would be like to work for her. I had never had to answer to someone like her, and I had no idea what to expect. No, she's not a workaholic i-banker in New York.

Guest Columnist | A different sort of July 4th

By Elizabeth Song · June 28, 2007

In Philadelphia's graveyards, history comes alive. Take a stroll through the cobble-stoned heart of Old City, and you'll find some of America's earliest burial grounds. Christ Church Burial Ground is one of these. On the corner of 5th and Arch streets, the church's property holds the graves of seven signers of the Declaration of Independence, including that of Benjamin Franklin.

It was with much ado and media attention that the Annapolis Group announced after a recent meeting that the majority of its members - presidents of well-regarded liberal arts colleges - supported dropping out of the much-read U.S. News & World Report rankings.

1MDollars Warren Buffet bet audience members at a Hillary Clinton fundraiser that the nation's wealthiest individuals pay lower tax rates then their subordinates. Source: CNNMoney.com

Guest Columnist | A new global war for a new president

By Kyle Burr · June 28, 2007

With Election Day still over sixteen months away, the 2008 presidential race is already well underway. We're in store for what will likely be another invigorating campaign season, and once again, a main issue on the mind of the average college student is, you guessed it - the War on Terror.

With the news that the House of Representatives passed a bill that would authorize $80 million of federal aid to study-abroad students - particularly those seeking to spend a semester in non-traditional locations -the future of international study seems to have brightened.

Guest Columnist | How Motorola started selling morality

By Jeremy Baron · June 21, 2007

The advertisements for Product Red are nothing else if not striking. A faded blood-red background plays host to messages printed in broken black block font: "As first world consumers, we have tremendous power. What we collectively choose to buy, or not to buy, can change the course of life and history on this planet," one such ad reads.