Opinion

Opinion Board | Out of focus

If you have a maintenance request, you better hope it's an emergency. That way you can call Facilities Services directly. Either that or be prepared to lie and say it is, because there's no way you're going to figure out how to use FacilityFocus, Penn's new Web site for service requests.

Ernest Gomez | The great sex survey scam

We might be unranked in football, but we've almost cracked the top 10 in the world's most-played sport. Penn took 11th place in the second annual Sexual Health Report Card, a ranking of sexual health resources at 139 U.S. colleges and universities released by the makers of Trojan condoms.

Opinion Art | Amira Fawcett

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering junior from Houston. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Harry Lee | An unfortunate dilemma

I wiped my savings account this summer and, in the last weeks, I lost six toes to hunger. I hope you fared better. Perhaps you worked as an intern, earned a tidy sum and wound up indentured to some soul-sucking firm. I heard that graduates on the International Teaching Assistants Program (ITAP) did very nicely.

Jim Saksa | Dr. Gutmann, tear down this housing system!

This is a sad fact to many, but, unfortunately, Penn is not Hogwarts. Not even close. Sorry. We don't even have a talking hat to sort first years into Houses. No, we have "Assignments Operations" for that. Nothing magical here. Instead of housing students by their year in a dorm system, like most colleges, Penn tosses the freshmen into various College Houses.

Michaela Tolpin | Spooning with strangers

Cuddle parties. Until accidentally picking up an old New York Times this past summer, I had never even imagined that such a thing could exist. But there it was, wedged under a photo of happily intertwined people lying on pillows and holding hands: an invitation to a cuddle party taking place right in the heart of inhospitable Manhattan.

Opinion Board | A refreshing change

It's a new year and students and laundry-service provider Mac-Gray are off to a fresh start. The new machines, which were first implemented in Mayer Hall last year for a trial run, will be installed in the rest of the College Houses by the end of the month.

Opinion Art | Alicia Puglionesi

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

Meredith Aska McBride | Point: Let Ahmadinejad speak

I'm scared of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Under his presidency, Iran has grown to be a bigger threat to the United States than Iraq ever was. He has called the Holocaust a "myth," said Israel should be "wiped off the map," and continues to develop nuclear capabilities despite United Nations Security Council sanctions.

Opinion Art | Daniel Schwartz

Daniel Schwartz is a College sophomore from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is schwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Opinion Board | Paying Dividends

$6.6 billion. Wharton alum Donald Trump's fortune? Nope. Try the size of Penn's skyrocketing endowment. At last Thursday's Board of Trustees meeting, Penn officials announced a 20.2 percent return - as compared last year's 12.5 percent return - on its endowment investments for the fiscal year that ended on June 30.

Julie Steinberg | Counterpoint: Academic freedom can go too far

Columbia University's decision to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on its campus today before his visit to the United Nations has provoked heated discussion among students and political pundits alike. One Facebook group called for students to welcome Ahmadinejad to America so as to better understand his views; presidential candidate Sen.

Stephen Krewson | PC 101: Gender, Politics and Frat Theory

Fraternity. The word is derived from frater, Latin for brother. In broad terms, it means a collection of similar people joined together by a shared purpose. Most college students have a hazier definition that typically involves beer, chicks, bros and the occasional ho.

Opinion Art | Avery Lawrence

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

Jenny Zhan | Bad news for the 'Social Ivy'

Sure, the Quakers may no longer bask in the past glory of winning Ivy League football championships, but it's never difficult to uphold our "Social Ivy" title. All that entails is copious amounts of alcohol. Disclaimer: I am neither condemning nor condoning the use of alcoholic beverages, especially among the underaged.

Your Voice | Letters

Defending Aramark To the Editor: As director of the Penn Reading Project, it pains me to think that the choice of this year's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, might have spurred extra criticism aimed at Penn Dining. For the record, my experience with Aramark has been entirely positive.

Rina Thomas | The pornographer's pet peeve

A war is being waged on hypocrisy. Statesmen will fall, and political empires will crumble. But the adult entertainment industry will live on. Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, is billing himself as a crusader in the fight for public integrity. In June this year, he ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post, offering up to $1 million cash to anyone who could "provide documented evidence of illicit sexual or intimate relations with a Congressperson, Senator or other prominent official.

Opinion Art | Joanne Tong

Joanne Tong is a Wharton senior from Manila, Philippines. Her e-mail address is tong@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Mara Gordon | Connected 24/7 (literally)

I think it started over the summer. Slowly but surely, e-mails I was getting from my friends started looking a little different. Nothing big, just a tagline at the bottom: "Sent from my Verizon wireless Blackberry." Before, I'd only really seen it on e-mails from my dad and a few high-powered professors.

Opinion Board | Turn it down

If you believe campus brochures, attending class at Penn is something of a transcendent experience. Wide-eyed students utilize their diverse backgrounds to spar intellectually while a charismatic professor imbues his pupils with the "practical knowledge" they need to become leaders of tomorrow.