Standing lonely on the corner of 36th and Chestnut streets, the 'Big Belly' looks like any other trash can - barring the solar panels on its top. The quirky design serves a purpose. Big Belly is the first solar-powered compacting trash can in Philadelphia.

Last Friday, I walked into class wearing jeans for the first time. My students, accustomed to seeing me in slacks, button down and tie predictably freaked out. "Mr. Brosbe's wearing jeans! Finally!" None of the other male teachers at P.S 33, an elementary school built for 750 students but currently serving 1,050, wear a tie.

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly has a new agenda and set of priorities for the semester, said Alina Badus, vice chair for communications for GAPSA. One of the biggest policy priorities for the semester is the issue of increasing graduate student stipends at Penn The stipend has been the central issue within the GAPSA Research Council for the last six months, SASgov GAPSA representative Lucas Champollion wrote in an e-mail.

If Friday's Ivy League tipoff against Harvard was any indication, this season is going to be a fight. The Crimson scratched and clawed - and even wrestled - for 40 minutes, but it wasn't enough to give Penn its first home Ivy loss in four years. The Red and Blue used a 20-point effort from Tyler Bernardini and a 15-point, nine-rebound, four-assist performance from Brian Grandieri to hold off Harvard, 73-69.

Though recent changes in the nation's largest student-loan company's lending policy will halt private loans for some students nationwide, most experts say the changes are unlikely to affect Penn students. Sallie Mae, which has about 10 million customers enrolled in a variety of publicly and privately funded loan programs, announced on Jan.

Two rounds into its match against No. 21 Maryland on Saturday at the Palestra, the wrestling team found itself down 9-0. It looked like the rout was on. But the Quakers battled back, tying the game at 16 going into the final match. And in that match, it was all Quakers, as sophomore 125-pounder Rollie Peterkin dominated his opponent 6-0, leading the Quakers to a 19-16 upset win.

One week after suffering a two-point loss to Navy, the women's swim team had extra motivation in its final dual-meet before Ivy Championships. "The goal of the meet was to take the frustration of losing to Navy to fuel our race against West Chester," said co-captain Megan Carlin.

The renovation and development of Penn's campus was the overarching topic at yesterday's Undergraduate Assembly meeting, the time of which was moved up to 1:30 p.m. from the usual 9 p.m. due to the Super Bowl. Attendance was not mandatory for UA members due to the changed time, leading to a significantly shorter meeting than usual.

From Au Bon Pain to Pottruck Fitness Center, a growing number of Penn students are traveling with their e-mail accounts in tow. Few can deny it: The BlackBerry mobile device has earned its place in undergraduate culture at Penn. Au Bon Pain shift supervisor Tamika Deshazor said a majority of customers in the Huntsman Hall cafe approach the cashier with a BlackBerry in hand, and many are rudely preoccupied during their turn to pay.

Former Wharton senior Jason Myers, who was arrested on Nov. 29 for ten burglaries he allegedly committed in Harnwell College House over Thanksgiving break, was held for trial by Judge Deborah Shelton Griffin at his Jan. 25 preliminary hearing. Myers, a bodybuilder who won last year's Mr.

Injuries and illness could not stop the men's and women's tennis teams from earning victories this weekend. But they eventually took their toll on the men, who after winning against Georgetown on Saturday fell in a contested battle with Old Dominion, 4-3, one day later.

After a gutsy come-from-behind win against Princeton last Wednesday, the women's squash team showed no sign of a letdown in a doubleheader against a pair of upstart squash programs on Saturday. In its first year as a varsity program, George Washington was doomed from the start.

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

Ahead for nearly the entire game at Harvard on Friday, Crimson guard Lindsay Hallion stole an inbounds pass to set up an Emily Tay jumper with 14 seconds left.

If the price to pay for a semester abroad in Japan is eight weeks of couch-surfing, Wharton and College sophomore Baylee Feore is more than happy to live out of her suitcase. While waiting for the academic year to begin in April at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Feore has been living with a different friend each week while she bides her time.

With ambitious initiatives on his agenda for 2008, Wharton Dean Thomas Robertson has a busy year ahead. Last Friday at the Wharton Undergraduate Leadership Forum, Robertson laid out his core strategies for the upcoming years, which include a Wharton campus expansion plan, the fundraising campaign and faculty recruitment.

As the rain fell outside, a thoughtful crowd of 200 gathered in the transformed multipurpose room of the W.E.B. DuBois College House last Friday evening. Dimly lit and decorated in the red, black and green of the African American flag, the space invited guests to groove to notes of mellow jazz.