While other groups on campus have seen recent pullbacks in spending and drops in funding, Penn's Big Brothers Big Sisters program is growing more robustly than ever. The five-year-old organization received its largest number of applicants this semester, bringing up its "matches" between Bigs and Littles to 300 so far this spring, according to Penn student director and College senior Eileen McKeown.

The Undergraduate Assembly is beginning work on an initiative to add American Sign Language to the list of courses that can fulfill Wharton's foreign-language requirement. The initiative - headed by Wharton and Nursing sophomore and Undergraduate Assembly volunteer member G.

He may be 6-foot-6, but Hicham Laalej does not have a devastating jump shot - he has a wicked forehand instead. The junior transfer from Stetson and Morocco native plays No. 1 singles for the Penn men's tennis team and has lived up to his ranking. Ironically, his Quakers teammates dubbed him "Hicham the Dream," due to a pronunciation error, confusing "Hicham" (pronounced He-sham) with the first name of NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon.

Huntsman Hall was host last night to "Mental Health Camp," a program designed to "show that everyone could use a little help," according to College junior and Reach-A-Peer Line President Jordan Coello. The event, now in its second-annual installation, was the result of collaboration between a variety of mental-health and minority groups on campus.

For longtime Philly resident Tamara Ali, William Penn High School changed her life. A 2000 graduate of the North Philadelphia school, Ali participated in its communications and journalism program, which at the time was one of the best in the city. "I transferred to William Penn from Strawberry Mansion, which was in a bad neighborhood," she said.

Last night, the students in Accounting professor Victor Defeo's Managerial Accounting class were the victims of an April Fool's Day prank. At 9:22 p.m., an e-mail was sent to the course's listserv from what appeared to be Defeo's Wharton e-mail address saying that, because a number of students were discovered to have cheated on the last exam, all students enrolled would be required to take a make-up exam this Saturday at 10 a.

Two days ago, potential members of the Class of 2013 logged on to the MyPenn Admissions Portal to find out whether they could stop praying for admissions and start praying for a room in the Quadrangle. This year, Penn accepted 17.11 percent of overall applicants, a negligible increase from last year and not a number to scoff at.

2008 college alumnus Alexander McCobin has been sued by Perspectives Debate Inc. for breaching his fiduciary duty to Perspectives and misappropriating its funds, including allegedly withdrawing more than $37,000 from its bank account.

BALTIMORE - Samantha Bird - who entered the night with just nine goals in 35 games - notched a hat trick and added two assists as the women's lacrosse team cruised to an 11-3 victory over Johns Hopkins. So one day after dropping a slot to No. 3 in the latest IWLCA rankings, the Quakers extended their season-opening winning streak.

South Street Bridge tower designs proposed Due to safety concerns, four design alternatives to the towers above the road deck of the South Street Bridge were introduced to community members on Monday. The design of these glass-and-steel towers - which will take the place of the four watch towers that have been demolished - is the last step of the redesign, 30th Ward Democratic leader Marcia Wilkof said.

Beginning next fall, the School of Engineering and Applied Science will offer a master's degree in embedded systems. In the current academic year, the school also created a master's in integrated product design. The IPD program also includes classes taught in Wharton and the School of Design, since engineering, business and aesthetics are the three aspects of product design, according to IPD director and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics professor Mark Yim.

"Full equality for gay Americans will be achieved, 100-percent guaranteed ... It's not a question of if, it's only a question of when." These were the words of Cheryl Jacques at a lecture she gave on the gay rights movement last night at the Law School.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering senior from Houston. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Originally scheduled to open in early April, Capogiro Gelato is now slated for opening in the latter part of the month, according to owner John Reitano. The reason, he wrote in an e-mail, is that it is tough for a "family-owned small business . to grow in a challenging economic environment.

The Penn women's golf team thought they had finally edged past one of their top Ivy rivals, Columbia, at the annual Hoya Invitational yesterday at The Members Club at Four Streams course in Beallsville, Md. But by some stroke of fate - and some good strokes from the Lions - the Quakers were leapfrogged on the leaderboard.

So, you're a Penn sports fan. Tough sledding, eh? No football titles since 2003, the worst basketball season in nearly two decades, and if Glen Miller has to wish one more departing hoopster "well on his future endeavors," you might just burst out of your Red and Blue Crew T-shirt like some sort of Incredible Ivy League Hulk.

Last year, on the plot of land on the 3900 block of Walnut Street stood an odd-looking complex. Asymmetric gaping holes spotted the metallic exterior. When students came back to campus last August, they found that the skeletal structure had materialized into the Radian.