Rally Continued from Page 1 But not all of the audience was there to support LGBSA in their endeavors. Gary Cattell, otherwise known as the Willard Preacher, led a large group of students in chants of “Sodomy is perversion.” Joe Tomko, director of campus affairs for Penn State Young Amer icans for Freedom, was one of those students. “I don’t feel threatened by (les bian, gay, bisexual and transgen dered people),” he said. “They’re a joke.” But for Catherine Buck (junior women’s studies) being a lesbian in the world today is anything but a joke. Buck raised her quavering voice against Cattell as she broke down in remembrance of a friend who committed suicide, unable to cope with a homophobic society. “She’s dead,” she cried. “Don’t you get it?” Sally Maud Robertson, director of the Centre County AIDS Project, also brought a solemn note to the event as she warned the audience against becoming too confident in the progress of lesbian, gay, bisex ual and transgendered movement. A fight still lies ahead, she said. Police Continued from Page 1 Woodring said one of the biggest problems is that students take their personal safety for granted. He said there is a “Happy Valley Syn drome” at the University, which keeps students from thinking any thing bad can happen to them. USG Senate President Bill Roth well brought up the concern with bicycle theft. University police Officer Frank Bell said bicycle theft is steadily increasing. “The best way to prevent it is to lock your bike to an established bike rack,” he said. “Also register the bike. If it’s stolen and later recovered we can get it back to you.” Bell added, however, that the recovery rate is low, probably 2 percent. He said they do not know where the stolen bikes are going, but it may be to large cities where they are sold. “Where (registration) helps is that everything is computerized,” Woodring said. “If someone tries to register the same frame number, a red flag goes up and we know that bike was stolen.” He added it would be helpful if the University police received more calls about suspi cious activity. The relationship between police and students was among the issues discussed. Pechter asked officers how they think students view police. Attention all NPHC, IFC & Panhellenic Members Applications are Due Friday, October 13 by 5:00 pm in 2038 HUB Any questions call Susan at 862-2317 What's going on this weekend??? will give you the scoop 0n... m u Sj c WATCH FOR THIS SPECIAL MAGAZINE IN FRIDAY'S PAPER!!! Students gather at the National Coming Out Day rally in front of Schwab Auditorium. Over 500 students gathered yesterday for the rally. “The religious right wants us to remain in the closet,” she said. Robertson was accompanied by three students from State College Area High School who spoke about their hope for lesbian, gay, bisexu al and transgendered youth. “Sometimes when we look into the future things seem scary for us,” one of the girls said. Buck’s and Robertson’s emotion al pleas for sensitivity contrasted sharply with the general atmos phere of the rally. Most partici pants spoke of hope, of pride and of progress. Sue Rankin, women’s softball coach and LGBSA advisor, listed a slew of accomplishments “I’m going on 23 years of experi ence. It’s definitely improved,” Woodring said. “People are seeing that we’re more community orien tated. I think we’ve got a different caliber of students than we’ve had in years. They’re great.” But relations are sometimes strained. Bell spoke about being verbally abused by students. “I’ve always tried to be a nice, decent person,” he said. “When someone calls me a pig, gestapo, or nazi it goes through this uniform and goes to me. We’re paid to take that, so we do.” Former South Halls/Atherton Senator and current member of the activity fee committee Pat Scanlan asked how necessary the officers think it is to carry firearms at Uni versity Park and if they think it is also necessary at other Common wealth Campuses. “I feel that at University Park we’re professionals,” Woodring said. “Any officer that carries firearms, I have no questions about their credibility.” He said he thinks some of the Commonwealth Cam puses should give firearms to their police officers and some shouldn’t. Town Senator Mark Sosnowsky asked the officers if domestic vio lence is a prevalent crime on cam pus. “It is definitely under-reported,” Woodring said. “That’s probably because people don’t know that it is a crime. We are trying to reach out Order of Omega or Beth at 867-6745 F esl i va i X ° \ Cultures yA ...and more! made since she began her career at the University. If ten years ago, someone sug gested to Rankin that she would be speaking at a National Coming Out Day rally on campus she said she would have laughed at them. “I would have said, ‘Yeah. And the Yanks have a chance of win ning the World Series,” she joked. The Yanks are out of the race already, but yesterday a division one coach stood at a podium on campus at a major university and said she is proud to be a lesbian. “My athletes and students should be my primary focus,” Rankin said. “Not maintaining the door to my closet.” to people and educate them.” Bell said when a victim comes to the University police, their desires are the priority. “If a victim comes in and wants to make a report but doesn’t want an investigation, the investigation stops there,” he said. “It’s the vic tim’s desires that we see to on every level. Bell said the police would like sexual assault victims to prosecute, but they encourage victims to just talk to them about it if they do not want to go through the whole process. Sosnowsky also asked if hate crimes are increasing on campus. Woodring said they receive very few reports on hate crimes and Bell asked the senators if they think it is a big problem. “Harassment is on the rise,” Pechter said. “People think because they’re here, things don’t apply to them anymore.” Pechter later said that it is the little crimes that make life for stu dents uncomfortable, such as scalping tickets. “(Scalping) isn’t the biggest crime that we have out there,” Bell said. “Basically officers are getting what we can.” After the program, Pechter said it was a wonderful evening for the senators and students who attend ed. “We learned a lot,” he said. “I got more out of this than I thought I would.” U CQ •o Shandygaff Thursday October 12 Prohibition Party\ BPM l 1932 Prices for pitchers at 8 Women Continued from Page 1. The Sexual Assault Bill of Rights is an attempt to help new and unin formed women students, Maurer said. “A lot of women don’t know where to go,” Maurer said. “We’re trying to open up more opportuni ties for women.” The Women’s Affairs Depart ment is also examining the idea of consolidating the on-campus and off-campus services offered to women, Thaxton said. The depart ment is trying to coordinate a con solidation effort that would stream line all the services offered to women in State College, including the Center for Women Students, the Women’s Resource Center and Wellspring, she said. The department also hopes to help the various services coordi nate activities and programs and to eliminate the repetition of ser vices, Thaxton continued, saying the coordination effort is still in the research and planning stages. But Patty Johnstone, assistant director of the Center for Women Students, said while the Sexual Assault Bill of Rights is a good idea, the idea of streamlining ser vices may not be in the best inter est of women students. Although some of the services offered by the different organiza tions may overlap, the program ming is complimentary, Johnstone Crime Continued from Page 1 College Democrats said. “The lack of prevention tends to be a problem with politicians in general.” But Eileen Grimm, president of College Republicans said she agrees with Ridge’s current efforts. “I agree with a crackdown on crime in general,” she said. Criticism directed toward Ridge is unjust, Grimm said. “I don’t think it’s just for self interest.” Others directly affected by the crime session’s legislation agree with such criticisms. Jim Jones, administrator for the Central Counties Youth Center, said that while the majority of the laws emanating from the special session may ease the public’s con cern, they will do little to deter crime, especially among juveniles. “Kids are impulsive. They’ll do some dumb things sometimes and don’t think about the conse quences,” he said. Jones, who is responsible for the five-county cooperative youth facility, said too much emphasis was placed on locking offenders up rather than offering them help in order to prevent future crimes. RE-ELECT ROGER A. BIERLY REGISTER OF WILLS AND CLERK OF ORPHANS COURT CENTRE COUNTY THEN LATER IT'S... jOinu o ° the dogs of LOUC 112 WEST COLLEGE AVENUE * 2 3 4-1 03 1 DIVISION OF HOTII STATt COLLEGE t (0. "My vision of the Women's Affairs Department's purpose is to promote the positive facets of women to the University." said, using the Center for Women Students and the Women’s Resource Center as an example. “Neither of us is a very large organization and we need each other,” she said. “The more people doing the work, the better it is for the student.” The organizations also serve dif ferent purposes, with the Women’s Resource Center taking a commu nity-wide role and the Center for Women Students focusing on Uni versity students, Johnstone said. Some women students may also feel more comfortable using off campus services for personal rea sons and those students must be kept in mind when considering a streamlining effort, she added. In addition to the Sexual Assault Bill of Rights, the department is working on other projects such as a crisis line. The department is cur rently researching the idea of a cri sis line women would be able to call if they had questions about where they should go for help and what procedures they should fol- “My philosophy is that locking a kid up without giving him any kind of treatment or any kind of coun seling won’t help in the long run,” he said. The reason for at least the initial emphasis on punishment rather than prevention is directly related to the public’s demands, said Michael Young, director of the Center for Survey Research at Penn State Harrisburg. Young said criticisms surround ing the crime session are some what unfair. The governor and the legislature, he said, have respond ed to the public’s concern about crime. However, he said the impact of the legislation on criminal offenses is small. “It’s fair to say that what they did to reduce crime was pretty minimal,” he said. While he understands the com monwealth’s reaction to crime, Young said prevention goes beyond the public’s desire to lock crimi nals up. “You can’t stop by getting bad guys off of the street. There’ll be more bad guys replacing them,” he said. “That’s a Band-Aid approach, but when you’re bleeding you need a Band-Aid.” ’Brothers Pizza ’Fresh Salad ’Rottiniw/Marinara *Nachos& Dessert Jurat PHIUY'S GREAT PARTY 6AND< The Daily Collegian Thursday, Oct. 12, T 995 — director of the USG Women’s Affairs department low in cases of sexual assault, Thaxton said. Thaxton and other members of the department are also concen trating on smaller, but important issues many women might not think about, such as eliminating flip light switches in the women’s bathrooms on campus, Thaxton said. Thaxton also hopes to co-sponsor women speakers in Spring Semes ter. Women’s Affairs is currently co-sponsoring Women’s Awareness Week from Nov. 6 - 10 along with the Panhellenic Council. Johnstone said she is pleased with the role the Women’s Affairs Department has taken in address ing safety issues. Each year the Center for Women Students have relay messages concerning general safety to a large group of new and uniformed students any help in doing this is welcome, she said. “I think it’s important that they are highlighting safety issues,” Johnstone said. “It helps us do our job better.” Hurricane hits Mexican coast By ANITA SNOW Associated Press Writer TULUM, Mexico Uprooting trees, toppling streetlights and lev eling a concrete stadium, Hurri cane Roxanne swept through a southern Mexican provincial capi tal yesterday during a daylong march across the Yucatan. Roxanne’s 75-mph winds tore through Campeche, a state capital of 175,000 people. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries in the city or anywhere else in the hurricane’s path. Three thousand residents sought shelter from the storm, and televi sion footage showed people wading through waist-high water. The storm headed southwest late yesterday, sending shrimpers and oil workers fleeing to shore before it hit the city of Campeche, on the western Gulf coast of the peninsu la, flinging tin roofs into the air. The oil-rich lowlands of Mexico’s southern Gulf Coast are still recov ering from floods caused last week by Hurricane Opal, which killed at least 11 people in Mexico before veering north to hit the Florida Panhandle. Strange ITnMls Michelle Thaxton 18&OVER LOCAL MOTION D.J. S 18 & OVER LOCAL MOTION D. J/S SIMULCAST “ON THE AIR" IOPM - MIDNIGHT presents .SATURDAYS
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