Despite the heightened political excitement over the upcoming Pennsylvania primary, Penn's own student government candidates aren't getting as much of the spotlight. Students running for positions on the 2008-2009 student government mingled in Houston Hall yesterday evening, surrounded by free pizza, pretzels, popcorn and Vitamin Water, at the annual "Get Out the Vote" election kickoff.

Against Cornell on Saturday, the Penn men's lacrosse team is out to settle a score - an odd thing for a team that gave the Big Red their only Ivy League loss in the last three years. In 2006, Penn stunned No. 2 Cornell 8-6 at Franklin Field. It was the Big Red's only conference defeat since 2004, when they also lost to the Quakers.

Philadelphia is going through a growth spurt, and it's taking University City with it. As it stands now, the city is one of the smallest among its peers in terms of building height, especially when compared to cities such as New York and Chicago, where skyscrapers abound.

The last time the Penn baseball team shared a field with Brown, the Bears dumped 20 runs on the visiting Quakers to complete a two-game sweep in the Ivy League Championship Series last May. This time around, the defending champs come to West Philly to renew the rivalry.

As prescription stimulant use rises on college campuses, some neuroscientists think academia is entering an age of widespread drug-induced brain enhancement. "An era of doping is probably looming in the culture, and academia is going to be a part of that," said Anjan Chatterjee, an associate professor of neurology at Penn.

English is the common link To the Editor: As a first generation American and son of Indian immigrants, I wholeheartedly disagree with David Kanter's opinion ("This is America-tolerate some diversity", March 26, 2008). Although David may think he is defending the cause of immigrants, I believe he is sorely mistaken.

With five games in 15 days, the women's lacrosse team needed a break. S=ix match-free days following its Cornell match on Sunday allowed the Quakers to catch their breath. But now that time is up, as No. 8 Penn (6-1, 2-0 Ivy) will take on a middling Columbia team (3-4, 0-2) tomorrow at Franklin Field.

Penn's Information Systems and Computing staff is recommending a "wait-and-see" approach to updating to Vista's first service pack. ISC advocated a similar approach when the Windows program itself was first released last year. The service pack - which was released about a week ago - is mostly a compatibility, reliability and performance upgrade.

Softball freshman Taylor Tieman knew that college was a place to try new things. But she didn't think that would apply on the field, too. A pitcher in high school, Tieman has seen most of her action at third base for the Quakers. This weekend, the team will need relief from her right arm - along with solid infield play and offensive production - if it wants to emerge victorious in its first Ivy League games.

For the Penn men's tennis team, relief is coming at the right time. After spending the better part of its season with a rash of injuries, the team looks to return to full strength tomorrow when it faces No. 64 Princeton (8-5) at Lott Courts in both teams' Ivy opener.

Jesus Week, an annual Penn celebration that begins on Sunday, will look a little different this year. The week-long event, organized by PennforJesus and now in its 13th year, will focus more on engaging non-Christians at Penn than it ever has before. And while not everyone is entirely comfortable with this year's proposed evangelism efforts, PennforJesus says its main goal is to raise awareness, not to convert the campus.

Avery Lawrence is a College senior from Charlottesville, Va. His e-mail address is lawrence@dailypennsylvanian.com.

There won't be a huge "Hollywood" sign or sun-kissed celebrities, but movie magic comes to Philadelphia tonight for the third annual Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival. And when the silver screen flickers on at the University of the Arts at 7 p.m.

Women's tennis meets against the Tigers have always been a little special. "There's a certain rivalry with Princeton," senior Julia Koulbitskaya said. For the four seniors on the team, Saturday's trip up I-95 will be extra special: It will be a chance for them to go out as winners against the Tigers.

Harvard University recently announced a new financial-aid plan for medical students, but it's not yet clear how widespread its effects will be. In a plan outlined last week, Harvard Medical School committed an extra $3 million to its scholarship fund, an almost 40-percent increase from this year.

It starts with an innocent e-mail at the end of junior year, encouraging us to consider the importance of fundraising. And before we know it, we've graduated to become the recipients of nightly phone calls from chipper-voiced undergraduates soliciting us for hundreds of dollars' worth of donations.

Though it is impossible to replicate the comfort of a living room in a large auditorium, last night's interview with Chinua Achebe came close. With a 500-person audience filling the room to capacity, the setting created by the Free Library of Philadelphia managed to transform Achebe's dialogue into something more like an insightful fireside chat.