For Penn, it's a chance to stay relevant in the Ivy League title race. For Princeton, it's the first step of many to salvage a winning season. If you listen to Roger Hughes describe it, tonight's 7:04 p.m. matchup between his Tigers (3-4, 2-2 Ivy) and the Quakers (4-3, 3-1) is more like an audition.

Despite its title, "An Intimate Conversation with Mira Nair: Between Two Worlds," last night's event hardly resembled an intimate conversation. Instead, the South Asian director Mira Nair, responsible for hits such as Mississippi Masala, The Namesake and Monsoon Wedding, drew a movie premier-worthy audience to Penn's International House.

Penn graduate students will soon be seeing more financial aid and less pressure to finish their degrees in time. Yesterday the School of Arts and Sciences received a $6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support graduate education in the humanities.

When Microsoft upgrades to its newest operating system, Penn is likely to follow suit. Microsoft recently announced the development of Windows 7, the seventh version of the Windows operating system and the successor to Windows Vista. Penn officials said they will consider testing and using the system, despite fairly recent upgrades to Vista.

CHICAGO - As one of the country's largest cities waited anxiously, people didn't have anything else to do but talk about what might happen for one of their own on election night. After covering the election for nearly a year, all I wanted to hear when I arrived in Chicago on Monday was what regular people had to say before they pulled the lever for a candidate.

You are who you associate with. We differentiate people by profession, social class, ethnicity, religion, IQ and many other standard groupings. And we use these natural divisions to continuously navigate life situations. Specifically in the recent election, there's been a concerted attempt to see shades of gray, to distinguish people from their chosen associations.

There are a couple of conventional ways to earn extra cash at Penn - serving food, working at a College House front desk, maybe getting a paid summer internship if you're lucky. But some students turn to the slightly unconventional to earn extra spending money for that dinner in Center City or night out on the town.

According to some Radian residents, the luxury complex has not quite lived up to its lofty price and reputation. Initially touted for its state-of-the-art accommodations and convenient location, complaints about the Radian have become more common, with many suggesting the building is unattractive, ill-equipped or generally overrated.

Keiffer Garton shined under the lights of Princeton Stadium on Friday night. In his first career start, the sophomore signalcaller rushed for one touchdown and threw for another, propelling the Quakers to a 14-9 victory over the Tigers on national television.

After the Penn field hockey team dropped its overall record to 2-10 with a 6-1 loss to Drexel on Oct. 15 , coach Val Cloud and the Quakers looked like they were ready to give up on the season. Cloud never could have imagined that going into the last game of the season, the Red and Blue would have a chance to finish tied for second in the Ivy League.

Alex Jacobson is a College junior from Los Angeles. His e-mail address is jacobson@dailypennsylvanian.com.

For 32 Penn students, arguing is more than just something you do with your roommate or in philosophy recitation - it's a structured competition. For those students, their affinity for arguing paid off last month at the Coast Guard Academy Mock Trial Tournament in New London, Conn.

For a moment, Marc Hembrough's 47 year-old body betrayed him. The Penn football team would receive the ball first against Dartmouth, and fired up, Hembrough ran over for some chest bumps with the squad. But padless and with his playing days 25 years behind him, Hembrough thought better of his move and turned off to his right, narrowly missing the Penn players in full gear.

Eight days ago, on a chilly night in South Philly, Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske and the Phillies won the World Series. All but the soundest sleepers heard the city's exhalation of relief and triumph. It came in waves of lusty yells and incessant honking.

Former Marketing professor Scott Ward will plead guilty this month to child pornography charges. Ward, who is already serving a prison sentence for producing and importing child pornography, was charged in August with two counts of inducing a minor to engage in sex to create photos or videos.

The price of a college education increases every year, but luckily, so do most schools' commitments to provide financial aid. At four-year public and private colleges, average tuition prices and financial-aid packages both increased for the current academic year, according to a report published by the College Board last week.

Joseph Cho, a former Penn Law student accused of trying to kill his neighbors, will go to trial on attempted murder charges. Cho was held for court on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and other related offenses at a preliminary hearing in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas yesterday, according to court records.