Penn men's swimming coach Mike Schnur is sick and tired of standing alone. Of all the men currently part of the Quakers' swimming program, Schnur is the only one who has ever beaten Columbia in a meet. "It's about time we changed that," Schnur said. The Quakers will have a chance to do just that on Saturday, when they host the Lions at Sheerr Pool at noon.

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

On Wednesday night, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition elected a new board, with College junior Benjamin Alisuag serving as chairman. The APSC serves as an umbrella organization for 20 student groups on campus. The group acts as a liaison between the Asian Pacific community and the University administration.

Penn President Amy Gutmann has announced a general timetable in the search for a new dean of admissions to replace Lee Stetson, the former dean who resigned mysteriously at the beginning of the semester. Gutmann said the search is proceeding on schedule, and a list of finalists should be complete by the middle of next semester.

Penn's eastward expansion over the blighted postal lands has been greeted with mostly nods and applause. But what if the renewal project built casino resorts instead of nanotechnology centers or dorms? Whether you like it or not, two casinos are going to break grounds along the Delaware River waterfront in a few weeks.

Last night's student government address featured presentations by student leaders set to chart-topping hits like Pras' "Ghetto Supastar" and Mandy Moore's "Candy" - but the event wasn't all fun and games in the Nomination and Elections Committee's fifth annual State of the School Address.

The Latino Coalition elected its new board for the upcoming year last night in Huntsman Hall. An umbrella organization for Penn's 23 Latino-interest student groups, LC tackles a broad range of issues including Latino faculty recruitment and increasing admission of Latino students.

It has taken a "media mix" to publicize Penn's plans for eastward expansion into the postal lands said University spokesman Tony Sorrentino. But after weeks of PowerPoint presentations and distributing brochures, University officials feel their best publicity tool may just be warming up - the project's 150-page Web site, which they hope will help people broaden their understanding of Penn's future and its past.

Instead of spending $40,000 a year, you can now take a course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for free from the comforts of your own home. MIT has now made 90 percent of its courses available online, as part of the school's OpenCourseWare program, which began in 2000.

With a new multi-million-dollar endowment, the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program is about to get a whole lot foxier. Robert Fox, a 1952 College alumnus, and his wife Penny Grossman Fox, who graduated from the School of Education in 1952, announced their gift of $10 million to support and expand the School of Arts and Sciences program, which will bring the family's total contribution to the program to $23 million.

There's a massive, non-violent protest going on in our very own backyard. Community leaders are calling for 10,000 men to flood the streets with peacekeeping patrols in an effort to stem the rampant violence. Philadelphia has organized town-watch movements and Father's Day rallies before, but the city has never hosted something of this scale.

Could "gay shame" ever take the place of "gay pride?" It did in the past. Professor Heather Love appeared at the Penn Bookstore last night to discuss her book, Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History, which highlights the importance of remembering the dark and lonely past of the gay and lesbian community .

As this semester draws to a close, it's evident that Penn's administrators are trying hard to get through the "perfect storm" of crime. And while the semester did include the glamorous launch of an ambitious capital campaign, along with an exciting eastward expansion effort, those successes haven't been able to gloss over the disturbing assortment of incidents that have dented Penn's reputation and campus life.

The Quakers surpassed their previous game's point total by halftime last night against Lafayette, but they were hardly in the mood to celebrate. In their first contest since the 26-point showing at Villanova on Saturday, the Quakers fell to the Leopards 71-56 at the Palestra, dropping to 3-5 as the team begins its two-week hiatus for finals.

With eight minutes remaining and his team trailing by 31 points to the No.1-ranked team in the country, freshman Remy Cofield finally got the call from coach Glen Miller to enter the game. Cofield was the tenth man off the bench on Tuesday. He got a quick steal for his only crooked number on the score sheet, but was taken out two minutes later.

Parents looking for lodging in University City while visiting their children could soon have a more affordable option if the proposal for a new off-campus hotel is approved by local organizations and the University's Board of Trustees. A coalition made up of Campus Apartments, private developer Tom Lussenhop and the real-estate company Hersha Hospitality are in the process of developing and approving a plan to lease a site from the University on the corner of 40th and Pine streets.

The only two wins for the men's basketball team so far this season have been against military academies - The Citadel and Navy. That's just so un-American. If it hasn't already, the NSA should hurry up and get a wiretap in Glen Miller's house. In all seriousness, though, Penn's two lone victories highlight a jarring truth: This non-conference schedule is beating up on the Quakers.