Making private stories public is what Neal Baer has been trying to do for the last 18 years in the entertainment business. Baer - who helped to write and produce television hits such as ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - spoke candidly about his career in television yesterday to lecturer Gail Shister's television-criticism class in the Fireside Lounge of the ARCH Building.

After an uncontested election last night, the Lambda Alliance - the one-year-old umbrella coalition for all undergraduate sexual- and gender-minority-groups - chose a new chairman: College junior Kevin Rurak. Rurak - who has been active in the LGBT community since his sophomore year at Penn- sat down for an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian last night.

Though the Penn women's squash team is ranked No. 1, coach Jack Wyant isn't finding it lonely at the top. On Sunday, his team defeated No. 3 Trinity 6-3, with all of the losses coming at the top three flights.

College senior Bryce LeFort was sentenced to two years of probation yesterday for his involvement in the Oct. 5 attack of College senior Andrew Scharf with a beer bottle. At a remanded trial hearing, LeFort pled guilty to misdemeanor simple assault and reckless endangerment charges. Philadelphia lower-court judge Lydia Kirkland approved the sentencing agreement reached between Lefort and Scharf, whose right ear was permanently damaged due to the incident.

It reflects poorly on Penn that a woman has yet to be chosen as a PIK professor.

In a local rivalry, it's normal to see some familiar faces on the opposite side of the net. But for Penn's Jonathan Boym and St. Joseph's Chris Chirico, the familiarity extends beyond the court. Boym and Chirico, who will face off in the second singles match, were former teammates on the International Junior circuit and even shared a room during trips to places such as Brazil.

The Institute of Contemporary Art should look to the Rotunda's success at attracting diverse audiences.

The high cost of college often forces students to use their degrees to pay back loans, rather than to pursue passions.

Although Japanese geishas have not traded their traditional dancing for the flying kicks of martial arts, the title of Veronica Chambers' newest book, Kickboxing Geishas, describes the changing roles of Japanese women in modern society. Chambers, a freelance writer, visited the Penn Bookstore last evening, where she spoke to a small, intimate audience.

Until last week, Alexander Adkins was just another curious Psychology major looking for some direction. A College sophomore, Adkins says he's interested in law but wasn't sure how to combine that with his major - or what exactly he should do to pursue a career in either field, for that matter.

$250 Millions Americans spend annually on "remedies" for the untreatable common cold. Source: The Washington Post

Yasser El-Halaby wowed the squash world the last four years on his way to four straight individual titles - a feat never accomplished before. However, El-Halaby was just one part of a recent tradition of exceptional international squash players. A United States-born player has not won an individual title in over 15 years.

The Undergraduate Assembly released its Mid-Year Report, detailing major accomplishments from last semester and outlining projects currently in the works, in a school-wide e-mail sent Monday night. Highlighted UA activity featured in the report ranged from introducing the student body to Ruckus - the free online music downloading service that is reportedly used by 6,000 students - and increasing the number of shuttles to the airport during vacation seasons to promoting advocacy for the rights of AlliedBaron security guards.

Alicia Puglionesi is an College junior from Haverton, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Atlantic City will set a bad example by allowing some smoking in its casinos.

Adopting a pass/fail policy that allows students to opt for a full grade later provides greater incentive to do well in harder classes.

Jacob Bevilacqua is looking forward to Spring Fling because he expects to "get a lot of action." But for this Nursing sophomore, that action has nothing to do with his social life. Bevilacqua is a lieutenant in the Medical Emergency Response Team - a group of student-volunteer emergency medical technicians, started last year - and Fling, Bevilacqua said, is the organization's busiest time of year.