One of the hottest debate topics for the upcoming presidential election has been the choice between universal or free-market health care insurance. However, health care is just damage control, according to contributing doctors of the TV series "Unnatural Causes" on PBS.

Biden, a last name that may have meant very little to most college students just a month ago, is now a surname on the tip of everyone's tongues. Joseph "Beau" Biden, a 1991 College alumnus, Attorney General of Delaware and son of Vice Presidential nominee and Delaware Sen.

The second Undergraduate Assembly meeting of the year was spent mostly on member suggestions for improving student life and internal business. With freshmen elections around the corner, many students who are running for a seat on the UA attended the meeting to learn more about its work.

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

The annual ritual of freshmen elections began yesterday as students gathered at the Office of Student Life to formally declare their candidacy. Freshmen from all four undergraduate schools are represented with 23 students from the College, 20 from Wharton, eight from Engineering and one from Nursing.

When students apply to Penn this fall, the admissions office will not print out their essays, grades or test scores. Instead, their applications will form the basis of a digital file that will stay with them throughout their years at the University. Admissions officers will manage student applications on Penn's new digital media imaging system - Oasis.

Like most people, I don't think I'm a racist. And until recently, I believed that the racism our country struggles with came from somewhere else - where, I didn't know, but certainly not from my own actions. I was wrong. Just under a year ago, I wrote a column about DuBois College House and what I then termed its false diversity: a column that was written essentially from the perspective of the dumb white Penn student, a perspective that too many of us white kids share.

After the Penn field hockey team couldn't get going in the first half of either of its games this weekend, coach Val Cloud could think of only one solution to remedy her squad's slow starts. "Put a bomb under them," Cloud said. "I'm at wits end." The Quakers fell to William & Mary, 3-2, on Saturday and to Virginia Commonwealth, 3-1, yesterday.

Coming into Friday's game, the women's soccer team was 0-10 all time against Villanova. Unfortunately for the Quakers, they still haven't beaten their rival from the Main Line. Despite leading, 2-0, after 47 minutes, Penn gave up three late goals to fall, 3-2, to the Wildcats, who ended up winning the Penn Invitational at Rhodes Field.

Lauren Sadaka understands that for the youngsters on the women's tennis team, it's all about confidence and experience. From these points of view, the Quakers were able to kill two birds with one stone this weekend. But they also showed that they are too green to seriously contend with the big boys of the Ivy League.

Last May, President Amy Gutmann talked to FastCompany Magazine about Penn's efforts in fields that "are not just life enhancing but also life saving." We're glad this isn't just talk. In June, Penn received a $50 million donation for a translational research center to help facilitate interactions between clinical and academic medical staff, and the $232-million Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine opened its doors.

On Friday, Wharton officials released a statement revealing that three current and past students' scores for the Graduate Management Admissions Test were cancelled last week because of cheating. "We are in the process of investigating the matter and, after we have completed our review of the facts, appropriate action will be taken in accordance with our policies," said Anjani Jain, vice dean of Wharton Graduate Division.

Sometimes you can't leave something dead and buried. That was apparent in many of Edgar Allan Poe's stories, and it now seems to be true in an ongoing debate over the author's remains. Last October, local writer Edward Pettit began arguing that Poe's body should be moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia.

Hearing about emergencies on campus is about to take on a new meaning. DPS is planning an audible-alert system, which will include audible sirens and a public-address system spanning the area from 33rd to 40th Streets. Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush explained that the system would benefit University visitors and nearby residents -- people not included in UPennAlert, Penn's emergency-notification system that alerts students and faculty through e-mail and text messages.

I've never been particularly drawn to activism. I always thought of it as unproductive: too extreme, too angry. So when I met the women of the Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia, I was surprised on two fronts: first, that they were pragmatic and pleasant, and second, that they were old and liberal.

Alicia Puglionesi is a College senior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.

PRINCETON, N.J. - It had been 36 seasons since Penn posted four consecutive shutouts. But at the Princeton Soccer Tournament this weekend, Drew Healy tied the program mark, blanking American and the previously unbeaten Seton Hall. He has now played all 380 minutes this season, recording 16 saves without a ball crossing his line.