Agustin Torres | An apology is not enough for crash

Most recent failure of SAS Webmail is the last straw - the University must make the switch now.

Agustin Torres | Common courtesy is hard to come by

Too many Penn students don't offer a hand to a person who trips or falls - unless the person falling is very attractive.

Agustin Torres | Dept. Web sites are behind the times

Many departmental Web sites can't follow simple rules of consistency or haven't been updated in years.

Agustin Torres | Exaggerations plague Penn's housing brochures

Let's play a little game. I'll give you two description of one of Penn's college houses, and you'll try to guess which one is more accurate. For the moment, let's call our test case "Gutmann College House." Gutmann is the complete college house. It is ideally located near major academic buildings, libraries, retail shops and athletic facilities.

Agustin Torres | Mr. Bush, tear down that wall!

On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan gave a famous speech at Germany's Brandenburg Gate, where he challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. And, just four days ago, President Bush signed a bill authorizing the construction of a 700-mile fence along the border with Mexico.

Agustin Torres | Economists lack logic? Blame the Math dept.

Not too long ago, I thought economics was about making money and getting rich. Now I know it's about using weird mathematical models to understand human behavior and perhaps try and predict what will happen, and then - says the joke- use some more of that math to explain why those predictions were wrong.

Agustin Torres | Shorter summer break? Int'l students say, 'Yes'

There are a number of simple changes that could vastly improve quality of life for international students at Penn.

Agustin Torres | All-or-nothing grading doesn't reflect learning

Suppose you have a bucket with infinite space. If this is starting to sound like one of those out-of-touch-with-reality math problems, it is, but please bear with me. When there is one minute left until noon, add 10 balls to the bucket, labeled one through 10, and then remove the ball labeled "one.

Agustin Torres | Mexico's political future hangs in the balance

On July 2, Mexico faced the most competitive presidential election in its history. On Sept. 5, the Federal Electoral Tribunal - the ultimate arbiter of Mexican elections - officially declared conservative Felipe Calderon the president-elect of Mexico.

Agustin Torres | Wharton's admission policy favors the easy road

Wharton's current internal transfer policy admits students in descending order by GPA. This means students who take a light, easy courseload freshmen year have a better chance than those who challenge themselves.