After a long night of filling out job applications, Engineering senior Jonathan Lehr sat down at 1 a.m. yesterday morning to play some good, old-fashioned video games with his three roommates. "Who's player one? 'Cause I just [expletive] you up," Lehr yelled at his roommates as all of them played the first-person-shooter game Perfect Dark.

No, College Hall was not on fire. The crowd of firefighters and Penn Public Safety officials on College Green yesterday were assembled to perform several demonstrations as part of Campus Fire Safety and Emergency Preparedness Month.

While earning praise from many in higher education as well as newspapers' editorial pages, Harvard University's plan to eliminate its early-action program has left the students who will be actually be affected less than unanimous in their endorsement. The new policy - which Harvard has said is intended to allow lower-income students to compare financial aid packages without being at a disadvantage to students who apply early - will go into effect for the Class of 2012 with a single application deadline on Jan.

Finals week usually brings stress, headaches and sleep deprivation, but for Laura Salcido, it was a time to celebrate.

One hundred University employees are about to become eligible to get a pillbox they won't have to worry about misplacing. Employees with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol will receive access to a Med-eMonitor System that will alert them when it is time to take medications and tell them how to follow their health care plans.

Stronger community service efforts, improved curricula at local schools and a diverse student body may sound like Christmas in September for many West Philadelphia residents. But such may be the benefit of letting teenagers study what they love, Penn officials say, adding that the ripple effects of a new internationally themed high school in the area could reach beyond the schoolhouse walls and into the surrounding community.

Hispanic Magazine has rated the University fifth in the nation for Hispanic students. The magazine measured selectivity, graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratios, Hispanic enrollment, cultural programs and organizations, the percentage of Hispanic faculty and the percentage of students receiving financial aid.

A fire alarm at about quarter to 7 yesterday morning sent bleary-eyed residents of Rodin College House out of their beds and into the stairwells, where they were told to await further instructions over. Firefighters found no evidence of smoke or fire, said Karima Zedan, a spokeswoman for the Division of Public Safety, which means it was most likely triggered by dirt or by a bug.

Ready to have your mom surf your photo galleries or be 'poked' by someone who is not a college student? Facebook.com is set to become accessible to anyone with a valid e-mail address, company executives say. The change will come within a month, but no specific date has been announced yet.

Harvard University announced yesterday that it will eliminate its early admission program next fall, replacing it with a single Jan. 1 application deadline for the Class of 2012.

People come to Penn for all sorts of reasons. Some cite the top-notch academics. For others, it's the urban location. For Rob Carpick, it was health insurance for his husband.

A multi-million dollar performing arts space is an unlikely priority for a university best-known for its business school.

Once again, politics is coming before the health of Philadelphia citizens. After City Council finally came together - despite years of infighting - to ban smoking in restaurants, Mayor John Street is threatening to once again ruin everything.

College sophomore Irmina Gawlas was vice president of her class last year. But she didn't even bother running for the sophomore class board because she was so disenchanted with the election process at Penn. "Many students were disenfranchised over something so silly," she said, referring to a flurry of freshman candidates being disqualified last year for campaigning early on Facebook.

Phones have been ringing non-stop at Student Health Services. And that's because if students don't submit their health insurance waivers by tomorrow, they will be paying about an additional $2,000 for the Penn Student Insurance Plan.

A routine arrest turned into high drama outside Fresh Grocer last night.

College sophomore Lauren Eskreis-Winkler doesn't expect students to rely on Penn Course Review or word of mouth to decide which classes to take. Instead, she has developed a Web site called Course Previews that posts video footage of and syllabi from a variety of classes throughout the University, from Africana Studies to Health and Societies to Urban Studies classes.