When Pia Ramchandani first signed up for "Introduction to Electrical and Systems Engineering" last semester, she expected a typical lecture course. But for this Engineering freshman, the class turned out to be a bit more exciting. Students in this course, which takes two semesters to complete, learn how to program robots.

After the first five years of Philadelphia's experiment with private management of district public schools, a study released last week indicates that it may be time to go back to the drawing board. But not so fast, education officials say. According to the study, released in part by Philadelphia-based Research for Action, students in the privately managed public schools - schools controlled by Educational Management Organizations - did not score higher than students in regular Philadelphia district schools on national and state tests, despite the extra money that is spent on these students Six private institutions, both for-profit and nonprofit - including Penn - manage the 41 EMO schools in the Philadelphia District.

Yale's early-season reign on top of the Ivy League was a short one. The Penn men's basketball team completed its Ivy-home-opening weekend sweep with a 67-53 win over Harvard to take back its conference lead. The win moved the Quakers to 5-1 Ivy, while the Elis dropped their second game in the Ancient Eight (6-2) with a 1-point loss to Cornell.

Instead of taking your valentine to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to impress her with your cultured intelligence, why not take her there to see the nudes? This Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be holding a scavenger hunt - with a special Valentine's Day twist.

Other voices To the Editor: The restructuring of graduate student government has been reported in the DP ("Merger in Grad Gov't Sparks Criticism," DP, 12/1/07; "Future of grad groups still hazy," DP, 12/12/06), but one aspect of this story hasn't been covered.

Granted it was against a 7-12, 2-4 Ivy Dartmouth team without its best player at the Palestra, Penn looked great. The Quakers destroyed a sloppy Dartmouth team with pressure defense and a solid inside game for the 73-53 win. It was Penn's first home Ivy game this season, and they looked energized and much more comfortable than they were in John J.

When trying to come up with a way to describe this weekend's Ivy League meet, junior All-American Ron Berkowsky said it best. "This is the most important meet of the year." Both the men's and women's fencing teams will compete in the first of two Ivy League weekends, in which they will eventually play a total of six other Ivy League teams.

The City Council took the next step in protecting the health of Philadelphians yesterday by approving a bill that bans trans fats from almost all foods in restaurants across the city. The first part of the bill will take effect Sept. 1, when restaurants will no longer be permitted to fry foods using trans fats-based oils or use trans fats-based spreads.

An Ivy League title is nice, but the National Championship remains the real prize. The Penn wrestling team will likely decide its Ancient Eight title fate when it wrestles Cornell and Columbia tonight and Saturday, respectively, in New York. But if the team is able to end Cornell's bid for a five-peat, it would only be a stepping stone.

Penn is the most financially stable it's been since 1998, according to Moody's Investors Service. Moody's, which provides bond ratings for commercial and nonprofit enterprises, upgraded the University from an Aa3 rating up to an Aa2 one at the end of last month.

Students, faculty and staff are once again partaking in Black History Month, taking time out of their busy schedules to reflect on black heritage and achievements. Black History Month is observed across the country throughout February. With an undergraduate class made up of an average of 6-percent black students, the Penn community is participating in the celebration as it does every year.

When Penn Law professor David Rudovsky walked through a Philadelphia prison this summer, he was disgusted by what he saw - severe overcrowding, prisoners without access to showers and inadequate medical care, among other issues. So Rudovsky did what any lawyer does best - he filed a lawsuit.

The Quakers are in unfamiliar territory, having lost their first game of the season at Princeton last week. But that hasn't put women's squash coach Jack Wyant in panic mode. "That night just wasn't our night," he said. "We have some great opportunities coming up, though.

If you're not one of the Killer P's, its time to get serious. The Ivy League basketball season will be more than half over for every team but Penn and Princeton after this weekend. And since the Quakers have their two toughest road trips behind them, the challengers will look to build up a cushion of wins this weekend and then hope for help.

Harvard University will likely appoint former Penn professor Drew Faust as its next president this weekend, according to The Harvard Crimson. Citing three unidentified sources, the Crimson reported yesterday that Faust, currently the dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, will be named as the university's first female president Sunday.

Just because the technology exists - in this case, robots that find library books - doesn't mean it has to be used.

The GSC's mascot, a garden gnome, was well-represented Wednesday night at the opening of the Global Gnome art exhibit, which featured an array of photographs of gnomes from eight University graduate student photographers.