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Vol. 96, No. 71 18 Pages ©1995 Collegian Inc.
Million Man March leaves mixed feelings
Students react to march attendance discrepancy
By JENNIFER REITZ
Collegian Staff Writer
Numbers never lie, but some
who attended the Million Man
March in Washington, D.C., said
the people who count might.
“How can the media tell a lie
when there are so many people wit
nessing it?” said Marvin Smith,
president of Phi Beta Sigma frater
nity.
The march, which intended to
bring one million black men to the
capital Monday afternoon, is the
center of a statistical controversy.
During the march Monday, figures
flew. Newscasters and speakers
threw around numbers throughout
Minority
students
harassed
By AMY BROSEY
and THOMAS A. MURSE
Collegian Staff Writers
When Sandra Choute returned to
her room on the fourth floor of
Ewing Hall in the early morning of
Saturday, Oct. 7, everything
seemed, and was, normal.
Before laying down to sleep, she
walked down the hall to the bath
room, taking no longer than five
minutes. When she returned some
thing was different someone had
drawn a swastika on her message
board that was hanging on her
door.
Now, more than one week after
she found the drawing, Choute
(sophomore-premedicine), who is
black, has taken down the message
board, but is keeping the message
in tact.
“I kept it as a constant reminder
that I’m here to get my education
and nothing else,” she said. “Some
people don’t want me here, but you
know what? I’m gonna stay.”
University Police Services said
six other fourth floor Ewing resi
dents some of whom are minori
ties also reported finding
swastikas and “KKK” written on
their message boards at the same
time Choute did. Also, police said,
several gay bashing posters were
taken from message boards on the
fourth floor.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Saulo San
tiago, director of the Undergradu
ate Student Government’s Diversi
ty Outreach Program, “that we
have to live in this kind of environ
ment ridiculous that human
beings have to act that way.”
Both the main office and South
Halls office of University Resi
dence Life refused to comment on
the matter.
Santiago, who labeled the inci
dent an “act of violence,” said the
perpetrators planned to be hurtful,
to cause discomfort among minori
ties, to create terror and to instill
pain in the minority community.
“This isn’t pranks,” Santiago
said. “If it is, it’s not funny at all,
Please see SWASTIKA, Page 9.
State College affects rest of Centre Region economic growth
Editor’s note: This is the third
in a five-part series on big busi-
ness in State College. This article
focuses on State College as a
regional center of business growth.
By RACHEL HOGAN
Collegian Staff Writer
State College’s retailers, resting
their storefronts at the foot of Penn
State’s campus, are in prime eco
nomic position to catch the spill-off
of University dollars.
But towns outside the Centre
Region do not have that luxury, and
they are forced to find another way
to stay alive.
In Bellefonte, a bedroom commu
nity of the University, the game is
the
daily
the day, the highest coming from
Minister Louis Farrakhan, who
estimated a crowd of two million.
Adjua Adama, who attended the
speech, said at 10 a.m. the crowd
was told one million people were at
the march. When people kept com
ing, it led Farrakhan to believe the
number had swelled to two million,
he added.
“I knew the park service was
going to underestimate,” said
Adama, Black Caucus political ser
vice chair, referring to the organi
zation that estimates the official
head count through aerial pho
tographs.
But when newspapers across the
country reported about 400,000
Painting pleasures
Regina Tancini (senior-art) finishes her oil painting, which is due today, in front of Palmer Museum of
Art. She was painting for her Art 250 class, Beginning Oil Painting.
survival, said Walter Peterson, bor
ough manager.
“For Bellefonte, it’s like surviv
ing. We can’t quite turn the corner
to become healthy,” he said. “We’re
not sliding down the doomsday tun
nel, either.”
That tunnel is always in sight,
though, and the marketplace in
Bellefonte has, out of necessity,
shifted to one of local service.
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Wednesday, Oct. 18,1995
people attended the event, Adama
said he was shocked and the figure
was a gross underestimate.
“There was mad discontent over
the 400,000 figure,” Adama said.
Adama said he estimated a
crowd of between 800,000 and
900,000, if not one million.
James Stewart, vice provost for
educational equity, said he attend
ed marches with crowds estimated
at 400,000. Stewart, who marched
Monday, said the Million Man
crowd well exceeded anything he
has seen before.
“My estimate is on the order of
700 to 800 thousand,” Stewart said.
But Laurie Roig from the Nation
al Parks Service said the estimate
Still, Bellefonte’s store owners
feel the presence of State College’s
malls and Wal-Marts, and have no
way to compete.
“They’re putting pressure on our
retail and commercial business
just like they are on the other
townships,” Peterson said. “The
people who would compete with the
malls and Wal-Marts are long since
gone.”
As towns surrounding Centre
County are working to keep afloat,
the exact reasons behind the con
tinuing growth of State College
elude some, including Michael
Berkman, assistant professor of
political science.
“It is somewhat of a mystery,
isn’t it?” he said. “Clearly (State
is at most 20 percent too small.
Roig, of the service’s chief infor
mation command post, said the ser
vice has a fairly accurate method
of estimating crowd size.
She said the service is frequently
accused of underestimating.
“What happens a lot of time is
Please see MARCH, Page 9.
Collegian Photo/Emily L. Forwood
College) is becoming more of a
tourist destination.”
Berkman, searching for the rea
sons behind the area’s growth,
points to cultural and environmen
tal amenities, and the access to
“high-tech” development through
the University.
“We have this big weather indus
try that’s built directly off the Uni
versity. We have Accu-Weather,
the National Weather Service,” he
said. The University’s military
research is also a catalyst for
growth, he said.
State College is footing the bill of
all this growth, though, Berkman
said, noting that the surrounding
townships are the ones that are
Please see BUSINESS, Page 9.
Attendees leave march inspired
By CONNIE CASS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Black
men energized by the huge rally in
the nation’s capital began spread
ing the spirit yesterday, making
plans to clean up inner-city neigh
borhoods back home, register votr
ers and simply help each other sur
vive.
As Washington, D.C., got back to
normal, meanwhile, both black and
white members of Congress urged
President Clinton to create a com
mission to study America’s racial
divisions.
After the long day of prayer,
songs and speeches on Monday,
USG Senate
in transition
By BETH YOUNG
Collegian Staff Writer
The Undergraduate Student Gov
ernment Senate suffered both
gains and losses at its meeting last
night as four new senators took
office and one resigned.
Town Senators Matt Brinkman,
Coni Zingarelli and Corey Gesford
and South Halls Senator Kendra
Ciesla attended their first senate
meeting last night after being
approved by the USG Town Caucus
earlier this week.
Some of the senators expressed a
positive outlook concerning the
new positions.
As a town senator, Gesford said
he has an opportunity to work with
important student issues, such as
the problems of absentee landlords
and the University’s corporate
sponsorship.
Gesford said he is optimistic
about his ability to make an impact
on the issues he plans to work on.
“I’m not afraid to get my hands
dirty,” he said.
Zingarelli also said she is confi
dent about her new position as a
town senator and is planning to
work on problems, such as the
computer labs and state funding
for higher education. Zingarelli has
not been a part of USG before and
sees the senate seat as a way to
bring new ideas to the organiza
tion.
“I think it’s an opportunity for
people with fresh ideas, who are
new to the position,” she said.
Although Zingarelli and others
are entering the senate with opti
mism, former town Senator Steve
Wakefield expressed his frustra
tion with the organization, prompt
ing his resignation at last night’s
meeting.
Wakefield said he was tired of
last minute work on important
issues and poor relations between
the senators.
“Why should I waste six months
of my time six months of sen
ate’s time for work that will just
be thrown out,” Wakefield said.
“I’m tired of fighting for things. I
just can’t give anymore.”
Where's Wal-Mart
As Central Pen:
Source: Melissa Fi
Published independently by students at Penn State
many men traveled all night by
bus, car or train to return home in
time to go to work yesterday, tired
but still inspired by the brother
hood that they felt on the National
Mall. Others who only saw the
event on TV said they too were
uplifted.
“I hope it reverberates around
the country in energizing people
right where they are,” Joseph E.
Lowery, president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference,
told ABC-TV.
Some men said they already are
volunteers in their communities
but left Washington, D.C., deter
mined to take on more responsibili
ties.
"I think it's an
opportunity for people
with fresh ideas, who
are new to the
position."
With Wakefield’s resignation,
three seats remain open on the sen
ate. The seats were vacated earlier
this semester. Senate is currently
accepting applications for the posi
tions. Candidates must go through
an open application and interview
process. The postions are open to
all students.
The four senators are not the
only new change within USG.
The Town Caucus was formed
just last week to fill the void left
after the Organization for Town
Independent Students merged with
USG in Spring 1995, said Senate
Appointments and Review Board
Chairman Mark Sosnowsky.
“With OTIS gone, there’s a vacu
um in how we appoint (the sena
tors),” he said.
OTIS was a resource for students
living off campus that provided
information on landlord/tenant
rights and downtown living
options. OTIS also made the final
approval for the town senators that
needed to be appointed mid-term,
Sosnowsky said.
With the recent senate resigna
tions, it was necessary for the sen
ate to appoint new senators, three
of which were town positions.
Because OTIS no longer exists, the
senate formed the Town Caucus to
take over the appointment process,
said town Senator Joshua Pechter.
But the responsibilities of the
Town Caucus will not end with the
appointment of new senators.
Town Caucus is a way to effec
tively organize the town senators
and will provide manpower for the
USG Governmental Relations Com
mittee and the USG Department of
Town Affairs, Sosnowsky said.
rlvania
Collegian Graphlc/Alicla Ma
Coni Zingarelli
new USG senator