Harvard University proved that its trend-setting ability extends outside the Ivy League yesterday, with the addition of the University of Virginia to the ever-growing list of schools nixing their early admission policies. Applicants to the UVA Class of 2013 will have to wait until the spring to find out if they have been accepted, UVA officials said.

One freshman-class-board candidate supposedly tore down a competitors' signs and put up hers instead. Another was 30 minutes late in turning in documentation of his campaign finances. And both may be disqualified from the election.

Sometimes, all Penn needs is a kick in the ass. On Jan. 22, Amy Gutmann unveiled a plan to beef up Penn security, increasing the Division of Public Safety's budget by 22 percent. The number of Penn Police officers was set to go up 20 percent; the number of security guards, by 50 percent.

After previewing his new animated series, Freak Show, David Cross said he felt sorry for subjecting his audience to such a tasteless show. "We can only apologize so much for what you saw tonight," Cross said in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge last night. Jon Benjamin and Cross, the show's creators, fielded questions from students after previewing two episodes of their new Comedy Central show, which follows a group of carnival freaks who are members of a superhero group.

When the Princeton football team rolled into Franklin Field last season for homecoming, Penn fans were already planning their post-game celebrations. The Quakers had defeated Princeton in the last nine meetings, blurring the line between historic rivalry and annual blowout.

Have you heard of the human papillomavirus? You should have, because it already affects 20 million Americans. The virus causes 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Genital HPV is spread through skin-to-skin contact, unlike most STDs.

David Hollenberg - Penn's new Unversity architect - is all about "Penn-ness." It's an undefinable word Hollenberg uses to describe the aesthetic heart of Penn's campus - an undefinable mixture of architectural styles and eras. Hollenberg - who began the job in June - is now faced with the unique task of preserving "Penn-ness," as the University embarks on a historic period of expansion, building and preservation.

Our country's most important ally in the war on terror is about to be killed, and most Americans don't even know it.

The walk eastward from the Penn campus to Center City is, as Penn President Amy Gutmann put it, "ugly." But Gutmann says the school's planned eastward-expansion project, whose first phase is slated to cost $1.94 billion, will change that. Gutmann and Stephen Starr, the famed Philadelphia restaurateur, formed the panel for a Philadelphia Talks lecture series event at the World Cafe Live last night.

When Craig Thompson was a student in Penn's School of Medicine in the '70s, he wanted to work as a military-base physician. More than 30 years later, however, Thompson is still at Penn, and he was recently appointed director of the Abramson Cancer Center.

Penn coach Al Bagnoli had an appropriate parallel for his team's performance in its 27-20 loss to Villanova Saturday - junior defensive back Greg Ambrogi. At first, all was well for Ambrogi, who is also the punt returner, but then things got worse and stayed that way.

A year ago, the Penn field hockey team shocked the Villanova Wildcats by scoring three straight goals in the second half to earn a 3-2 comeback victory.

WILMINGTON, Del. - Prosecutors presented evidence yesterday that Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya was planning to use a computer program to spy on someone.

As far as college football scandals go, this one wasn't too bad.

The drug commonly known as the "birth control patch" now carries yet another warning, Food and Drug Administration officials announced last week. A new study shows that the patch - known by its brand name Ortho Evra - doubles women's chances of blood clots.

Amira Fawcett is a Engineering sophomore from Houston. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

An FBI shoeprint expert testified yesterday about two prints found on the murdered body of Irina Zlotnikov - one near her neck and one between her breasts. Zlotnikov was found dead in the apartment of Robert Bondar, her boyfriend at the time. Bondar had previously dated Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya, who is on trial for Zlotnikov's murder.