Reporter's Notebook: For students, an eternity in one day

(The reporter recounts his experiences covering the Virginia Tech tragedy in Blacksburg, Va.) Standing on the edge of the crowd at Monday night's vigil, I asked Virginia Tech junior Kathryn White how she was coping with the previous day's tragedy. "It's getting easier every day," she said.

Virginia Tech Massacre: With classes cancelled, decisions to stay loom

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Much of Tuesday night's emotional candlelight vigil focused on healing and moving forward as a community. But as Virginia Polytechnic Institute students dispersed from the service, they faced a more immediate, practical question: With classes canceled through the end of the week, what to do with all their time?

A 'somber' campus deals with emotional aftermath

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The day after the most brutal attack ever to take place on an American college campus, Virginia Polytechnic Institute students struggled to come to grips with their new reality.

To Serve And Protect (Part 2 of 4): An uncommon force

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings yesterday, the obvious question being asked on college campuses across the country is, what if it happened here? One of the principle steps the Penn Police took years ago - even before the Columbine attacks in 1998 - to deal with the potential of this type of attack was creating a SWAT team, officially called the Emergency Response Team.

To Serve And Protect (Part 1 of 4): Drawing pensions, retired Phila. Police officers take beats at Penn

Joseph Fischer spent 27 years working for the Philadelphia Police, mostly investigating homicides. By 1998, he had qualified for retirement and a pension and was ready to move on. "You handle 1,200 homicides, I guess you figure you've seen them all," he said.

Perspective: Trailblazers at Princeton together again at Penn

Pulling up a chair at one of the long dining-room tables, Robert Engs, Princeton class of '65, sat down to enjoy a meal with some of his fellow undergrads.

From Bio to books: The long path to the 'Last Word'

Larry Maltz graduated from Penn two decades ago as a pre-med biology major. Now, he runs an on-campus used bookstore.

Need a reason to vote? Try your financial aid

If the battle for control of Congress weren't reason enough for Penn students to flock to the polls for this Tuesday's congressional midterms, here's another: The outcome of the election could significantly affect how they pay for college. Two of the major issues on the table are Pell Grant and Stafford Loan funding for students.

On the Web, Penn leaves text to non-experts

Penn was founded in 1740. Benjamin Franklin founded Penn. Therefore, Benjamin Franklin founded Penn in 1740. Not quite, according to Wikipedia. Dan Smith, a 60-year-old software engineer from outside Boston, wrote on the site that a group led by evangelist George Whitefield tried to start the school that would become Penn in 1740, even putting up the first building.

News brief: Mayor with Wharton ties ousted in Shanghai

What do you get when you combine the Wharton School, rampant corruption and the Chinese Communist Party? A purging, of course. Last Sunday, Chinese security forces removed Chen Liangyu, a graduate of the first Wharton senior executive training program run in Shanghai in 1990, from his post as Shanghai's Communist Party boss and placed him under house arrest.

After the storm: Student films high school documentary

Jimmy Goldblum is no stranger to the halls of Ben Franklin High. Last spring, the College junior spent six weeks in New Orleans assisting his older brother Josh with the production of an online documentary about the school. Formerly the head of new media for the American Museum of Art as well as a Smithsonian employee, in the wake of Katrina, Josh decided that he wanted to create an online narrative to help educate people about the reality of the situation in New Orleans.

Their hardest assignment is rebuilding the school

NEW ORLEANS - Ben Franklin High may offer AP Calc, but it's a simple arithmetic problem that's been bedeviling it lately. Before Katrina, the New Orleans powerhouse magnet school was piping about four students per year into Penn, with 17 applicants vying for space in the Class of 2008.

In New Orleans, a little sunshine after the rain

Holly Kalman never thought she'd be donning a mask, goggles and gloves to help gut houses.

At Tulane, gay student finds fears groundless

Tulane sophomore Thomas Krouse is gay, and as a temporary Penn student last fall, he let the school know about it when he publicly complained that he didn't want to leave the liberal northeast for his southern home. Fast-forward to today, though, and Krouse says he could not have been more wrong.

In New Orleans, a different kind of retail therapy

NEW ORLEANS - A crazy quilt jungle of high-fashion headwear, the French Quarter boutique Fleur de Paris is already an overwhelming place to walk into. But 2006 College alumna Miji Park got more than she bargained for last weekend when, just seconds after she strolled in the door, owner Joe Perrino burst out from behind a hat rack and told her to get out.

After the storm: Perfum, mask shops among promising firms

Miji Park and her Idea Corp co-workers have been providing free consulting to 20 distinctive New Orleans small businesses since this summer. They've been helping the stores find ways to cope with the declining number of tourists by expanding their customer base and online operations.

After the storm: Two sides of the street

NEW ORLEANS - Linda Nunnery couldn't be happier. She lost her home and her job to Katrina, but that's all just a memory now that Habitat for Humanity has provided her with a pristine new house in New Orleans' Upper Ninth Ward.

New Orleans Closeup: Amid chaos, one man keeps it positive with music and cable TV

NEW ORLEANS - There's only one finished room in David Fountain's formerly flooded house in the Upper Ninth Ward, just a few blocks from the Habitat for Humanity construction site. But, oh, what a room. He's got a big color TV, Internet-connected computer, DVD player, VCR, camcorder, printer, CD player, some serious speakers and even a few old-fashioned turntables to spin records on.

Months after scandal rocked her office, student conduct head out

Just six months after her office brought the national media spotlight to Penn's campus - more specifically, to its dorm room windows - Office of Student Conduct Director Michele Goldfarb quietly resigned her post this summer.

Chaos