College sophomore Irmina Gawlas was vice president of her class last year. But she didn't even bother running for the sophomore class board because she was so disenchanted with the election process at Penn. "Many students were disenfranchised over something so silly," she said, referring to a flurry of freshman candidates being disqualified last year for campaigning early on Facebook.

Harvard University made yet another splash in the world of higher education yesterday by announcing it will no longer accept any early applications for admission.

Phones have been ringing non-stop at Student Health Services. And that's because if students don't submit their health insurance waivers by tomorrow, they will be paying about an additional $2,000 for the Penn Student Insurance Plan.

A routine arrest turned into high drama outside Fresh Grocer last night.

College sophomore Lauren Eskreis-Winkler doesn't expect students to rely on Penn Course Review or word of mouth to decide which classes to take. Instead, she has developed a Web site called Course Previews that posts video footage of and syllabi from a variety of classes throughout the University, from Africana Studies to Health and Societies to Urban Studies classes.

The Penn women's basketball team has revealed its schedule for its upcoming season, and the slate features faces both old and new. Loyola (Md.) and Xavier both make their first-ever appearances on the schedule, although neither will make the trip to the Palestra.

When Engineering junior Jeff Weinstein and his roommates host parties, they invite their guests to hang out on their rooftop deck, entirely lined with rope lights and overlooking Center City. The vision for the deck, and for the rest of their apartment, is what Weinstein calls "the lazy man's creativity.

The Penn field hockey team knows exactly how Lafayette feels. Entering their fourth game of the season, the Leopards find themselves in the same position as the Quakers (1-3, 1-0 Ivy) were less than a week ago - with an 0-3 record. But just as Penn notched its first win of the season in its fourth game, coach Val Cloud isn't taking anything for granted tonight when the two teams face off in Easton, Pa.

The University has literally taken a safety recommendation to heart.

Once again, politics is coming before the health of Philadelphia citizens. After City Council finally came together - despite years of infighting - to ban smoking in restaurants, Mayor John Street is threatening to once again ruin everything.

A multi-million dollar performing arts space is an unlikely priority for a university best-known for its business school.

People come to Penn for all sorts of reasons. Some cite the top-notch academics. For others, it's the urban location. For Rob Carpick, it was health insurance for his husband.

Though the offensive coaching staff for the Penn football team features a completely new look this year, don't expect the style of play to be much different from last year. Head coach Al Bagnoli does not intend to implement many different strategies in the team's offensive scheme this year, despite several important coaching changes that occurred in the off-season.

The Quakers' 2006 defense couldn't be any more different from the 2005 defense - not in terms of the 11 men on the field, but in terms of the expectations at each position. Last year, a young, inexperienced front seven joined a secondary stacked with seniors, but that didn't seem to matter much.

Harvard University announced yesterday that it will eliminate its early admission program next fall, replacing it with a single Jan. 1 application deadline for the Class of 2012.

Ready to have your mom surf your photo galleries or be 'poked' by someone who is not a college student? Facebook.com is set to become accessible to anyone with a valid e-mail address, company executives say. The change will come within a month, but no specific date has been announced yet.

A fire alarm at about quarter to 7 yesterday morning sent bleary-eyed residents of Rodin College House out of their beds and into the stairwells, where they were told to await further instructions over. Firefighters found no evidence of smoke or fire, said Karima Zedan, a spokeswoman for the Division of Public Safety, which means it was most likely triggered by dirt or by a bug.