05/15/09 5:00am
My application essay to Penn included the line "I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom," from the Elton John song appropriately titled, "Philadelphia Freedom." This was something of a lie.
As a native of Washington, D.C., I often passed the city on the Amtrak train to New York or Boston, and took class trips to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
04/01/08 5:00am
There are few who doubt that a new South Street Bridge is needed, and fast. From the cracked pavement to the corroded metal, everything about this 85-year-old structure demands renovation. In certain areas, the metal has worn away so much that pedestrians are given an unintended look at the Schuylkill River below.
02/26/08 5:00am
Engineering junior Peter Beltramo couldn't help but look up and stare as he walked down Walnut Street last week.
He walks this way often and has observed Penn's newest off-campus housing option, The Radian, take shape from the start.
But while Beltramo says he has enjoyed watching the construction, he doesn't like what he sees.
02/07/08 5:00am
King's College in London charged international students studying English a tuition of $9,400 to study there in the fall. According to Penn estimates, students paid an additional $8,285 for room, board, travel and other costs.
But a Penn student at King's paid $25,831 to be there, not $17,685.
01/28/08 5:00am
In the latest stage of an ongoing investigation into the study abroad industry, several colleges, including Harvard, Columbia and Brown Universities, have been subpoenaed for information. After striking big last year with his investigations into the student loan industry, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo turned his sights on study abroad.
01/18/08 5:00am
At small liberal arts schools vying for the attention of top students, announcements of sweeping financial aid reform at Harvard, Penn and other schools mean trouble. Like most colleges and universities, academically-renowned liberal arts schools do not have billion-dollar budgets.
02/20/07 5:00am
Don't be put off by the seemingly French name - Le Castagne offers Old World Italian with a modern and almost distinctly Philadelphian taste.
Located on an otherwise-quiet block at 19th and Chestnut streets - castagne means chestnut in Italian - the restaurant greets you with pleasant lighting and a friendly seating hostess.
12/12/06 5:00am
Unlike more recent campaigns to reduce crime on campus, the Nuisance Alarm Reduction Team prefers to keep a low profile.
Their goal: Stop falsely triggered alarms from disrupting the academic lives of students throughout campus.
And with the recent increase in the sophistication and number of alarm systems across campus, University officials say NART's job is more necessary now than ever.
12/08/06 5:00am
When 1996 Penn alumnus Peter Kuperman decided to throw financial support at Penn, he knew exactly how to gauge support for his philanthropic impulse.
Facebook.com.
12/05/06 5:00am
Nicknamed "Willing and Able" in his senior-class yearbook for the Penn School of Design, Julian Abele - pronounced "able" - was an overachiever.
When he graduated from the School in 1902, Abele was president of the Penn Architectural Society, the recipient of numerous architectural awards and was poised to join one of Philadelphia's top architectural firms.
11/28/06 5:00am
University President Amy Gutmann's last big bash at 3812 Walnut St. - the stately "President's Mansion" - turned into a public-relations nightmare after she posed in a photograph with a student dressed as a suicide bomber.
But Gutmann's staff didn't skip a beat, and they're already busy planning the next student soiree, Dec.
11/21/06 5:00am
When asked about the snowflake lanterns that line the tops of trees on Locust Walk, College sophomore Jordan Cohen's face lights up.
11/16/06 5:00am
The University of Delaware is courting Wharton Dean Patrick Harker to be its next president, current Delaware President David Roselle has confirmed.
Harker, who has been on the Wharton faculty for over 20 years, visited the Delaware campus yesterday and met with administrators
11/15/06 5:00am
An everyday nuisance for Penn students turned fatal last month at Ohio State University.
On Oct. 20, OSU freshman Andrew Polakowski of Erie, Pa., was killed when he tried to pile into an overcrowded elevator in a dorm on campus. The packed elevator - which had exceeded its maximum weight limit - began to move with the doors still open, and Polakowski was crushed between the elevator and the floor.
11/14/06 5:00am
The stucco wall on the west side of the Kappa Sigma fraternity house is, to be blunt, ugly.
11/09/06 5:00am
The fish may have been fresh, but that doesn't mean students were biting.
Faced with the task of pleasing the often-sophisticated palate of the average Penn student, Dining Services put its faith last month in the small island nation of Iceland to get students excited about eating on campus.
11/03/06 5:00am
For Penn's lawns, when it rains, it pours.
Even during the heaviest downpours, the University sprinkler system is in full operation - saturating grass that has already been watered by the elements.
10/31/06 5:00am
Student leaders have spoken: Green is good.
In a unanimous decision, the Undergraduate Assembly voted Sunday night to support environmentally sound practices at Penn.
The UA proposal calls for a University-wide policy supporting environmentally sound practices, such as campus-wide recycling, energy conservation and buying from vendors who are committed to the environment.
10/27/06 5:00am
If Benjamin Franklin were still alive, Skirkanich Hall would be his favorite building on campus, Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt predicted.
Nicknamed Penn's "miracle on 33rd Street" by University President Amy Gutmann, Skirkanich officially opened yesterday.
10/19/06 5:00am
Environmentalists, student leaders and University officials all agree: Penn is sending too much of its trash to the dump.
Student environmental leaders said that Penn doesn't recycle as well as its Ivy League peers and presented their proposal for better conservation on campus at yesterday's University Council meeting.
