When Bob Schoenberg started working at Penn's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center in 1982, a student in Gregory College House had just been beaten up in a violent incident of homophobia. Yesterday afternoon, as the LGBT Center officially opened a state-of-the-art "Cyber Center" in the Carriage House on Spruce Street, Schoenberg, now the director of the organization, said Penn had made great progress over the past 25 years.

University of Florida freshman Jason Attermann arrived on campus in Gainesville, Fla. several days before classes began in August. He didn't want the extra time to settle in, participate in a community service program or even get a head start on course readings.

This weekend may be your last chance to talk about the birds and the trees. The Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibit entitled "Kacho-ga: Flowers and Birds in Japanese Art," will end its summer-through-fall run this Sunday. The display of over 75 works of art ranges from paintings to sculptures and weaponry.

Some federal officials want the power to monitor Internet activity on college campuses. But although Penn - and most American universities - apparently won't have to go along, they are not entirely out of the line of fire. Last year, the federal agency that regulates communication extended a law so that it could keep tabs on Internet activity, including that on college campuses.

Jimmy Goldblum is no stranger to the halls of Ben Franklin High. Last spring, the College junior spent six weeks in New Orleans assisting his older brother Josh with the production of an online documentary about the school. Formerly the head of new media for the American Museum of Art as well as a Smithsonian employee, in the wake of Katrina, Josh decided that he wanted to create an online narrative to help educate people about the reality of the situation in New Orleans.

Smokey Joe's is about to become smokeless.

For Ann Dapice, when it comes to the situation of Native Americans in her home state of Oklahoma, one sentence sums a lot up: "Oklahoma does not like Indians." Dapice, who is of Cherokee and Lenape heritage and is a Penn alumna, shared her views on the current status of Native Americans in Oklahoma yesterday at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology by describing the current state of her hometown.

For Karan Shah, fall rush is his big second chance. The Engineering sophomore wanted to join the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity last spring, but couldn't attend a majority of the rush events, eliminating his chances of getting a bid. Yet Shah continued to hang out at the house, where several of his friends are brothers.

NEW ORLEANS - Ben Franklin High may offer AP Calc, but it's a simple arithmetic problem that's been bedeviling it lately. Before Katrina, the New Orleans powerhouse magnet school was piping about four students per year into Penn, with 17 applicants vying for space in the Class of 2008.

There's nothing better than a free ride. This weekend, NJ Transit will allow college students to use its system for no cost.

New Orleans seems like three different cities. First, there is the eerily empty Ninth Ward. Across the canal, the French Quarter is astir with nightlife and recovering businesses.

A chain-link fence surrounds Cedar Park at 50th Street and Baltimore Avenue, enclosing landscaping machinery and old playground equipment. For the time being, it is abandoned, and does not appear impressive. But by Thanksgiving, the fences will be down and the machinery will be replaced with new landscaping, benches and improved lighting - worth a combined $200,000.

Election officials will record more than just your vote this week. Votes in the upcoming student government elections will be tallied by race and gender, among other criteria. This is part of a program thought up by the Nominations and Elections Committee - which runs student elections - and the Undergraduate Assembly designed to give minority groups more representation in student government.

Florence Cohen will not be taking her late husband's spot in city government. Cohen, 88, said that she will not run as an independent for City Council, after ward leaders did not select her as the official Democratic at-large candidate for the Nov. 7 special election.

Nonwhite students may still be in the minority at American colleges, but the rate at which they're enrolling far surpasses their white counterparts. Statisticians at the U.S. Department of Education predict that while nationwide college enrollment will continue to grow, among minorities, there's going to be a boom.

The Upper Quadrangle was evacuated Thursday night because of a bomb scare, though there turned out to be no threat. At about 7 p.m., SEPTA police investigated a suspicious package on Woodland Walk outside of the 37th Street trolley station.

Penn faculty revived a protest technique time-honored on college campuses last night: They staged a teach-in. For the second of three evenings, Penn Faculty & Staff Against the War on Iraq sought to make their case about the current conflict by turning the Huntsman Hall basement into an antiwar event after normal business hours ended.