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

Very soon, the College of General Studies as Penn knows it will no longer exist. CGS is redefining its mission and vision - and, within the next few months, its name - in response to changing global and national trends in higher education as well as shifts in Penn's administration over the last few years.

With the 1977 and 2002 Penn championship teams in town to be honored for their past achievements, the current Penn volleyball team gave the alumnae plenty to smile about. Friday, the Quakers swept Cornell, the defending champions, (30-28, 30-24, 30-26) and Columbia (30-9, 30-21, 30-21).

Hundreds of students went hungry for a day to experience a popular Muslim ritual and raise money for charity. Over 400 participants fasted from sunrise to sundown on Saturday at the annual Muslim Student Association Fast-a-Thon to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina, concluding with an end-of-fast banquet held in Houston Hall.

A new concert at the end of the month will bring to campus keyboards, pianos and all that jazz, courtesy of musician Robert Walter. The Social Planning and Events Committee's Jazz division is bringing Walter and dummer Eric Kalb to headline the committee's first-annual jazz show on Oct.

A fire started on the roof of the West Tower of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia yesterday, but it was quickly extinguished and no injuries or damages were reported.

Veteran journalist and ABC World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson sat down with aspiring journalists yesterday to offer his two cents on media. About 20 people congregated at Kelly Writer's House for a lunchtime question-and-answer session with the seasoned reporter - and no question was out of bounds.

Former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson canceled his scheduled speaking engagement at a national admissions conference last weekend, but the event still marked a public appearance from a figure who has otherwise maintained a low profile since his sudden resignation in August.

When Penn and Columbia meet on the pitch tomorrow night in New York, it'll be the story of two teams looking for a new beginning. The match is the first on each of their Ivy slates, and they hope to wipe clean the losses they've piled up in their tough non-conference schedules.

UA: Current election system works fine The opinion piece, "Sensible Politics," (9/27/2007) on The Daily Pennsylvanian's Opinion Page, was not only naively construed, but also greatly discounted the capabilities of the freshman candidates. We would first like to point out that the following day the DP ran an article conveying an interview with Class Board presidential candidates that explicitly asked frivolous questions to elicit frivolous responses ("For Class Board hopefuls, toilet covers, jousting" 9/28/2007).

If it has done anything this season, the Columbia women's team has proven that soccer statistics are overrated. Despite launching 30 fewer shots than their opponents on the year, the Lions (6-2-2, 1-0 Ivy) come into their home match with Penn (7-2-1, 1-0) tomorrow riding an eight-game unbeaten streak.

Penn volleyball captain Anna Shlimak leaves little to the imagination: "If we play our game well, then the other team I don't think has a chance against us," she said. Cornell (4-6, 1-0 Ivy) visits the Palestra at 7 p.

After their last meeting ended with a 0-0 tie in 1937, fans should hope the Penn-Georgetown matchup is something that gets better with age. The Quakers swapped Bucknell for Georgetown on the schedule this year after a seven-decade hiatus from playing the Hoyas, and it isn't hard to see why Washington D.

Penn field hockey coach Val Cloud admits she doesn't know much about the Bucknell squad. But by Saturday night, Cloud hopes to figure out the Quakers' Sunday opponent. After playing Lock Haven (8-4) tonight, the Quakers (3-5, 2-1 Ivy) will travel to Bucknell and stay there through Saturday night before playing the Bison (6-4) Sunday at 1 p.

About 50 percent of Penn students have entered their cell-phone numbers in the University's new emergency text-messaging system, a rate that is on par with or better than the sign-up rates at several other peer schools. Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said that, while she hopes to have 100 percent of all cell-phone numbers in the system, she is "very pleased" with the level of enrollment in PennAlert.

PennScience treated their editorial staff to a dinner and lecture from a celebrated ecologist, environmentalist, conservationist and Penn Biology professor Daniel Janzen. PennScience, the University's undergraduate research journal, hosted the event last evening in Skirkanich Hall in an effort to publicize some of Penn's research and to encourage undergraduates to engage in their own research.

For a small-town kid from the Midwest, Georgetown quarterback Matt Bassuener is as well-traveled as they come. But his one constant has been football. Bassuener, the Georgetown Hoyas' senior captain, got his start at John Edwards High School in Port Edwards, Wis.