Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification standards hold a monopoly over colleges' sustainable construction projects. But a lesser-known alternative is beginning to make a mark at universities. Penn's master plan calls for the construction of a number of environmentally sound buildings, which will be certified as such by LEED, the widely used and expensive third-party review system.

CHEERS  To student political groups, for their impressive efforts in increasing voter turnout to record levels in the Pennsylvania primary.  To the University, for unveiling a bold financial-aid plan that will replace loans with grants and greatly increase the affordability of a Penn education to middle-income students.

The $26 million, three-phase construction project of Claire M. Fagin Hall, the building that houses the School of Nursing, will be completed on time and on budget for the fall semester. The final phase, which is already underway, will bring newly renovated research laboratories to the school, creating a "futuristic environment," according to Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis.

My time here comes to a close. I only got three years at Penn because I transferred here and I found out the difference between a good university and a great one (relax, this is the great one). Yet I feel a certain sense of disappointment that we, at an elite university, are not coming away with the education we should have received.

In the midst of falling national approval ratings for the Republican Party, a smile should be the last thing on the face of John McCain, the Republican nominee for president. But in Pennsylvania, McCain has reason to be happy. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's primary win over Illinois Sen.

It was their turn to play, and play they did. Decked out in bright red T-shirts with straw hats and canes, the Class of 2009 followed in the footsteps of 76 classes before them to celebrate Hey Day and officially become seniors last Tuesday. The juniors marked the event with a picnic on Hill College Field before making the traditional march down Locust Walk, lined with seniors clutching everything from streamers and silly putty to eggs, fish and Windex and ready to throw it all at the newest reincarnations of themselves.

The sentencing date for former Economics professor Rafael Robb, who confessed to killing his wife last year, has been postponed. Robb was slated to be sentenced in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Monday, but a hearing will be held instead. The hearing will be to examine a motion to disclose relevant case records.

Second year Annenberg graduate student Angel Ho wants us all to keep it in our pants. On April 22, Ho was named winner of the "Keep It In Your Pants" Student Video Contest for creating a public service announcement about the threat that credit debt poses to American consumers.

The men's lightweight rowing season is one filled with familiar races and familiar faces: the Navy Day Regatta, the Head of the Charles, the Princeton Chase, the Callow Cup - all year-in, year-out events. But this season brings a less familiar foe to the water: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Second-year MBA students Irene Susantio and Brian Smith are $20,000 closer to achieving their dream of fighting cancer. On Wednesday, their team, named Solixia, secured the title of Grand Winner at the tenth annual Wharton Business Plan Competition. A radiopharmaceutical company, Solixia has created an agent for diagnosing breast cancer and a treatment for ovarian cancer.

The men's lightweight rowing season is one filled with familiar races and familiar faces: the Navy Day Regatta, the Head of the Charles, the Princeton Chase, the Callow Cup - all year-in, year-out events. But this season brings a less familiar foe to the water: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

When the women's lacrosse team held its annual winter meeting in early 2005, the freshmen sat in the back of the room, as is customary for the team's youngest members. But when the coaches asked the Quakers what their team goals were, the Class of 2008 had something to say.

Assault April 25 - Two complainants unaffiliated with the University, one male and one female, reported that an unknown suspect tried to take the woman's laptop and assaulted the male by punching and kicking him on Franklin Field at 1:30 p.m. April 26 - Demaris Peters, 25, of the 400 block of 60th Street, was arrested for allegedly swerving his car toward police officers on Locust Street at about 1:30 p.

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

When Irshad Manji gets up in the morning, she checks her e-mail for death threats and forwards them to the police. It's a regular day for Manji, who has become a target for religious extremists after publishing her international best seller, The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith.

Alumni networking, once relegated mainly to reunions and Homecoming, is being transformed as more alumni join social-networking sites like Facebook - and schools are paying attention. Alumni clubs, which help alumni within a certain geographic region connect, are discovering that the Internet is a faster and more interactive way to reach alumni, especially those who have graduated since Facebook opened to Penn in 2004.

Lawyers for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania again denied any wrongdoing in College sophomore Anne Ryan's meningitis death last September. Jed Ryan, the brother of Anne Ryan, filed a lawsuit against HUP in January alleging negligence, wrongful death and negligent infliction of emotional distress.