Sometimes, child sex charges are not enough to fire a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. University policy allows for the firing of professors implicated in serious crimes, but Penn officials say charges previously brought against ex-Wharton professor Scott Ward Ward were not significant enough to dismiss him.

There are 25 freshmen on the Penn football roster. And if the last couple of years are any indication, odds are that only seven will see action in 2006. In a school where freshmen in other sports are often immediate contributors, football players have not had the same impact.

In one of the more defining moments of my Penn life under Amy Gutmann's reign, 34th Street asked the University president if she believes art has to be beautiful. "No," she answered flatly, definitively. Next question. The notion of what art truly is and what it looks like is a topic that connoisseurs and dilettantes debate with equal tenacity - what qualities make something art? What makes a Jackson Pollack "art" over, say, a larger-than-life rendering of a fictitious Philadelphia icon? The Philadelphia Museum of Art has wondered that recently, as it fought to preserve its artistic hegemony over a city proposal to set an eight-foot-six-inch bronze Rocky Balboa statue at its steps.

Going into last night's game against Saint Joseph's, the Penn field hockey team has been shut out in both of its matches.

You may soon hear "Hallelujah" all over campus: Rufus Wainwright is coming to Penn.

Students crowd the economics aisle of the bookstore on the first day of classes.

Just six months after her office brought the national media spotlight to Penn's campus - more specifically, to its dorm room windows - Office of Student Conduct Director Michele Goldfarb quietly resigned her post this summer.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Bail for former Wharton professor emeritus Scott Ward was set at $2 million yesterday, as prosecutors sought a tougher ruling and the defense called evidence into question.

With 10 returning players, eight new freshmen and two new assistant coaches, this volleyball season seems to be full of promise. But the team will have to turn things around; Penn went 10-16 (7-7 Ivy) last season, a tough follow-up to 2004, a season in which they went 15-11.

Former Duke University anthropologist John Jackson has arrived at Penn to kick off Penn Integrates Knowledge, the University's initiative to recruit faculty members who will have appointments in multiple departments. Jackson will be teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in both the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts and Sciences, where he will share his research on issues of race, religion, class and the impact of the media in contemporary America.

The number of burglaries and sex offenses during New Student Orientation rose this year, while police reported a precipitous drop in the number of thefts. Overall, crime during NSO was down from the same period last year, but officials from Penn's Division of Public Safety say the drop is insignificant.

The School of Arts and Sciences e-mail system didn't even wait to for the semester to begin before its first breakdown. On Sept. 1, the thousands of professors and students who check their e-mail via SAS's Webmail system were unable to access their account for more than 8 hours.

"It could have been worse." Penn soccer optimists - and senior captain Dan Cepero - were reduced to that phrase after Monday's 2-0 defeat to Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. The game was a rematch from last year's clash at Rhodes Field, which Penn won, 2-1. This time around, the Quakers were never a threat to the Mountainhawks, who outshot Penn 17-6.

Penn's School of Medicine ranked second in the nation in National Institutes of Health research and training grants received in the last fiscal year. The NIH awarded Penn 924 individual grants worth $399 million, a 1.4-percent increase from last year and a record sum for the University.

On the first day of school (for you suckers who - unlike me - couldn't avoid Wednesday classes), it's fitting to welcome you all to another exciting year of Penn sports. Good to see we're off to a flying start with the three Quakers teams that have started their seasons going a combined 0-3-1.