Madonna. Cher. Prince. Quaker. So famous he needs no last name, the Quaker, Penn's famous mascot, holds a special place in the hearts of students and alumni. When not relaxing in his memorabilia-laden dorm in the Palestra, "Penn Athletic's #1 Fan" can be found cheering on his beloved football and basketball teams, encouraging the fans and meeting past and future Quakers alike.

When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) visited Penn's campus in November, he wasn't met with the welcome you might expect for the Republican Party's nominee for President. Kiley Austin-Young, a College junior and a now-devoted McCain supporter, didn't even consider attending the event.

It's been quite the two months for Cornell basketball. Despite unspectacular numbers from individual players - junior forward Jeomi Maduka's 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game aside - the Big Red continue to stifle Ivy League competition. They pummelled Yale and Brown by an average of 17 points this weekend, setting several school records.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! That's Happy Chinese New Year, to you. The Year of the Rat - also known as the Chinese year 4706 - began on Feb. 7, and residents of Chinatown in Philadelphia spent two weeks ringing in the new year in style. Chinese New Year is the most important of traditional Chinese holidays and is accompanied by parades, feasts and family reunions.

This summer, many Penn students will pay hundreds - even thousands - of dollars to work for free. Companies have long used college students as a source of free labor by offering unpaid internships. Still, employers are often wary of violating labor laws in the process, so they want to compensate students with academic credit.

Since hiring Tommy Amaker, Harvard has improved in a few areas. Closing out games has not been one of them. Going into the weekend, Harvard was 1-9 in games decided by ten points or fewer. That one win came in November, and since then the Crimson (8-18 overall) have lost close games in the most criminal of ways.

Penn Democrats will endorse a candidate for president next week, the organization announced yesterday - but there is still debate about whether it is too soon for such an endorsement, or whether the group should endorse at all. Penn Dems will hold an endorsement meeting on March 5 for all active members.

Inexperience and a season opener proved to be an unstable combination for the Quakers - one that blew up at just the wrong time. Up by three with 10 minutes to go, the men's lacrosse team looked primed for an upset win over No. 18 Drexel. But a bevy of mistakes let the Dragons score the game's final four goals to pull off a 9-8 comeback victory.

Having a roommate often means learning to live with differences in sleeping patterns and music tastes. For some, it can also mean getting used to someone else's eating habits. When living together with someone, dietary differences - such as being vegetarian or keeping kosher - require a degree of compromise between roommates to avoid potential flare-ups.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering junior from Houston, TX. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System is doing a little spring cleaning, rearranging and remodeling this year. In addition to the expansive new Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine - set to open in June next to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania - Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse, located at 18th and South Streets, will also see some development and expansion.

Engineering junior Peter Beltramo couldn't help but look up and stare as he walked down Walnut Street last week. He walks this way often and has observed Penn's newest off-campus housing option, The Radian, take shape from the start. But while Beltramo says he has enjoyed watching the construction, he doesn't like what he sees.

Debate was in the air at Sunday evening's Undergraduate Assembly meeting, which ran for four and a half hours and had a significantly higher attendance than usual. About a dozen students, mostly from Lambda Alliance, the umbrella organization for all LGBT groups on campus, and ALLIES, an on-campus gay-straight alliance, were present to support the much-anticipated Blood Donor Discrimination Proposal, which was ultimately passed by the body.

For some, the costs of studying abroad include more than just plane tickets, hostel fees and European bar tabs. With some study abroad programs in the Southern Hemisphere beginning as early as mid-July, students heading below the equator for fall semester will see their breaks cut in half and formal summer jobs and internships possibly impacted by their academic calendars.

The second largest group of physicians in the United States sees evidence that marijuana can relieve severe pain and supports its medicinal use, according to a recently issued position paper. This paper from the Philadelphia-based American College of Physicians urges the federal government to acknowledge and sanction research into the plant's medicinal uses.

Data breaches and identity theft have become a prime focus on college and university campuses. A recent report by Educational Security Incidents found that the number of data breaches on college campuses rose 67.5 percent last year, compared to 2006. But at Penn, officials say, a number of measures are in place to protect data.