Some students and University officials are praising a move to discourage tray use in campus dining halls, but others are finding it difficult to adjust. In an effort to reduce food waste and conserve energy, trays in the dining halls are no longer easily accessible, though officials say they are still available.

Sitting in the audience at Freshman Performing Arts Night, many of the bits rattled me. The acts and the actors, the songs and the singers impressed me, but all the humor centering on having sex and having money left me quite uncomfortable. I'm not a prude, and I don't possess such a sophisticated sense of humor that I can't enjoy my peers' performances.

Yarimar Rosa has already received international acclaim for her volleyball prowess. At the ripe age of 15, the outside hitter played for the Puerto Rican National Team, and one year later, became captain on its under-18 squad. Now, she's a junior at Florida International University, which hosts a four-school tournament this weekend.

Val Cloud has lost plenty of recruits to William & Mary over the years. Indeed, a rising freshman spurned the Penn field hockey coach to play for Tribe. Cloud has returned the favor - tapping the high-school pipeline for talent that had considered the Williamsburg, Va.

Information Systems and Computing has reconfigured Penn's wireless settings. ISC has remodeled the available wireless networks on campus, consolidating older networks and creating new ones to provide better access and support. Prior to this summer, AirPennNet, AirSAS, AirSEAS and Wireless-PennNet were all wireless networks available in specific areas around campus.

During freshman year, I decided to audition for CityStep, an organization under the Civic House umbrella that provides an extra-curricular dance program for several elementary schools in the West Philadelphia area. Imagine my surprise when I found out halfway into my service at the Harrity school that because of a piece of legislation passed in the spring of 2007, the school district would be requiring all volunteers to undergo criminal background checks and fingerprint testing by the FBI.

Despite a new dean, Penn's major undergraduate admissions policies and initiatives have remained intact. Early decision enrollment and Exploring College Options have become standard admissions programs at Penn, and according to Dean of Admissions Eric Furda - who took over the position in July - both are here to stay.

A chippy match at Myslik Field fell Penn's way, 1-0, by a penalty, as the Quakers secured their second tournament title of the young season. Omid Shokoufandeh nailed a handball-induced penalty kick low and right in the 24th minute, and Drew Healy picked up his fourth consecutive clean sheet.

The Penn women's field hockey was forced to swallow its second tough loss tonight at Franklin Field, falling, 2-1, to Saint Joseph's. Although the Quakers swarmed the opposing goal over the final five minutes, their late offensive show didn't lead to a shot, as they lost to the Hawks for the third consecutive year.

As they say, you can put lipstick on a pig - but it'll still be a pig. Pennsylvania's Liquor Control Board is using a whole lot of lipstick. The Board, which regulates alcohol sales, recently announced a $3 million effort to revamp the image of Pennsylvania's state-run liquor stores.

Legal experts are divided over whether universities are common targets in discrimination lawsuits. In July, two former University employees - one of the Medical Center, the other of the Dental Care Network - filed lawsuits against Penn, citing discrimination and retaliation.

Penn Law and Wharton announced yesterday that the two schools would partner to form a three-year graduate program in which students would pursue both a JD and MBA. The accelerated program would be one of just a handful of its kind in the country. "As the world becomes more complex, leaders must be able to integrate financial, legal, political and cultural issues like never before," Law School Dean Michael Fitts said in a press release.

Some students have been opposed to it for years, but general-admissions seating is coming to Penn basketball this fall, no doubt about it. The first 500 students who participate in The Line will still have access to the best seats, but none will be reserved, a policy that Athletic Department officials hope will encourage students to arrive before tipoff and centralize the section.

When College sophomore Pamela Putnam was deciding which classes to take this fall, she knew she wanted to take a Political Science course along with her pre-med ones. Putnam said November's presidential election motivated her to learn more about American government.

The verdict is in: Harvard, apparently, did not cheat. A statement released last week by the Ivy League batted back allegations of wrongdoing in a March New York Times article centering on the Crimson basketball team and coach Tommy Amaker. The Times article cited coaches past and present who alleged that Harvard's standards for admission had fallen under Amaker's reign.

While attending college in Philadelphia, Nick Miccarelli's experience was twice interrupted to serve in the military overseas. The 2007 Penn alumnus and Iraq War veteran has long been preparing for a life of service - he completed basic training with the Pennsylvania National Guard before finishing high school - and is now running for a position in Pennsylvania's General Assembly.

Jennifer Lesser is a College junior from Minneapolis, Minn. Her e-mail address is lesser@dailypennsylvanian.com.