THURSDAY
Oct. 19, 2000
Vol. 101 No. 63 20 pages
Students,
By Daryl Lang
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Angered by the hate-filled messages sent
out last week, hundreds of students packed
the ground floor of the HUB-Robeson Center
yesterday to stand against racism.
Penn State Black Caucus president
LaKeisha Wolf, one of four people specifically
targeted by the threatening mail, shared a
podium with former Black Caucus president
Joseph Dawkins. Wolf and Dawkins both
answered questions from the crowd, which
included many Black Caucus members.
"This is not just my problem," Wolf said.
"This is not just a black problem. This is
everybody's problem."
The event was billed as a press conference
but attracted far more student supporters
Protesters
`win' case
against
university
Meanwhile, a former USG
senator will not be able
to return to his position.
By Fred Cichon
and Heather Cook
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS
A university punishment without conse
quences is considered a civil rights victory
for three students of the Osmond Five, but
another student is still losing his battle
with Judicial Affairs.
The Osmond Five comprises the five
arrested in connection with a banner
hung in protest of this summer's National
Governors' Conference Annual Meeting
in July.
Robyn Stephens, Justin Leto and
Michelle Yates were all charged with fail
ing to follow police orders to leave a bal
cony at the Osmond Building during a
protest of the conference. The students
were arrested on July 10, but their crimi
nal charges were dropped.
Penn State's Office of Judicial Affairs
still charged the students with breaking
two university rules. The students said
they had permission to be on the balcony
and a First Amendment right to hold their
demonstration.
In a letter of notification Tuesday, a
Judicial Affairs Administrative Hearing
found Robyn Stephens and Michelle Yates
"responsible for one charge each of fail
ure to comply to a directive or condition
See PROTESTERS, Page 9.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Weather
Calendar
National
Science and Technology
International
Opinions
Sprwts
Scoreboard
Horoscope
Classifieds
TV listings
Comics
Crossword
CONTACT US
Newsroom: 865-1828
Ads/Business: 865-2531
ON THE WEB
www.collegian.psu.edu
officials speak against hate
than it did reporters. Several university
administrators were in the audience, but
Penn State President Graham Spanier was
absent.
Spanier and other university officials met
with some students Friday to talk about the
mailings and the overall racial problems on
campus.
Fbur people Woli, Don Edmond (senior
history), a third student and a Penn State
trustee received unsigned racist threats in
the mail last week.
Wolf received two letters; the envelope con
taining her second letter also included a note
for Edmond.
Wolf and some other students visited
Edmond at 1:30 a.m. Friday morning to tell
him about the letter.
"It was a pretty rough going that night
Kyle Petaja/Collegon
Frank Edmiston of Bellwood helps put the finishing touches on The Bryce Jordan Centers
new scoreboard.
New system lights up
Bryce Jordan Center
Fans of the Nittany Lion and Lady
Lion basketball teams will now have an
easier time seeing them this season.
The Bryce Jordan Center has finished
upgrading the old sports lighting system
with the new North Star Lighting Inc.
system just in time for the upcoming sea
son.
The new sports lights were used on
Oct. 9, when the Philadelphia 76ers
played a scrimmage. They operated very
well, said Bernie Punt, director of public
relations at The Bryce Jordan Center.
When the photographers were holding
up their light meters, they informed Punt
that it was twice as bright as it used to
be.
"They had very big grins on their face.
They were obviously very pleased with
it," Punt said.
The original system contained 152
lights. With North Star, there are now
four quads of 74 Lights each, totaling 296
lights. This includes sports lights, house
..16
16,17
..18
..19
..19
CROWNING MOMENT: Kristen Schein and Walt Breuninger were elected this
years Homecoming King and Queen. The couple was crowned yesterday at Old Main.
By Kristin Osborne
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
studying," Edmond said yesterday.
Edmond and Wolf both may have been sin
gled out because of their recent letters and
columns in The Daily Collegian.
Despite this, Edmond said it's a positive
step when people speak up about racism.
"I think more students have to do what I
did," he said. "I wrote a letter to the editor. I
spoke out."
Wolf said the university has responded
appropriately in addressing her safety. Both
her letters contained physical threats laced
with racial slurs and profanity.
The second letter to Wolf stated: "Thanks to
your picture in the paper, now we know what
you look like."
Wolf and Dawkins both said the letters
aren't isolated incidents, but reflect a persist
ent climate of racism on campus.
lights, aisles, catwalk lights, the score
board and other lights around the arena,
said Bill Voigt, engineer staff assistant
for maintenance at the BJC.
"We had a lot of problems with the pre
vious system," said Voigt. "We spent a lot
of time investigating other systems."
During the investigation, they visited
Eastern Michigan University, where they
already use the North Star lighting. Also,
the United Center in Chicago, where the
Bulls basketball team and Blackhawks
hockey team play, and the Palace Tower
of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas both use
North Star lighting. According to North
Star Lighting Inc., they offer sports, com
mercial, industrial, and architectural
lighting, plus camera and light lowering.
"We have more control over the sys
tem, now more than ever," Voigt said.
One problem with the previous system
was the controls not functioning proper
ly. Also, cost was an issue. Each bulb
costs about $4OO. They also took three
months to ship. With the new system,
bulbs cost less and are readily available,
saving money and time, he said.
ENN STATE
Palestinian leaders said Israel needed to
remove soldiers from the fringes of restive
Palestinian cities to end the fighting.
Yitzhak Herzog, Israel's Cabinet secre
tary said the cease-fire would test Palestin
ian leader Yasser Arafat's ability to "exer
cise governance over the various gangs
swarming around and saying vociferously
that they don't intend to honor the agree
ment."
Meanwhile, Israeli security forces arrest
ed six Palestinians suspected of taking part
in the mob killing of two Israeli reserve sol
diers last week in the West Bank town of
Ramallah, according to Israeli security
sources. Israeli and Palestinian leaders
both refused to comment.
Jewish group meets to discuss
Troubled by students' lack of knowledge
about the current Israeli-Palestinian con
flict and negative media portrayals of Israel,
a group of Jewish leaders organized a meet
ing last night to foster discussion.
Penn State Hillel: The Foundation for
Jewish Campus Life sponsored the town
meeting in the HUB-Robeson Center to
heighten awareness about the current situ
ation in the Middle East.
An Israeli flag hung in the background as
Tuvia Abramson, Hillel director, addressed
the crowd of about 70
Abramson began the session by selecting
a poem to remember those who have died.
"The Parade of the Fallen" had images of
Alex de Jesus/Collegian
soldiers in heaven, at peace and at rest, but
solemnly reflective of the families they left
behind.
"We find ourselves in an environment today
we're supposed to be in a progressive, edu
cational, enlightened environment where a
young woman can have her life threatened,
her life in mortal danger, for no other reason
than the color of her skin," Dawkins said.
Students at the press conference said they
hoped the emotions there would carry over to
the rest of the campus.
"Right now, I'm outraged but at the same
time I'm happy to see so many people togeth
er," said Mikaela Marmion (senior-letters,
arts and sciences).
Like several other students at the event,
Marmion said she would have preferred to
see a more diverse mix of races in the crowd.
"I think that, first of all, white students need
to recognize that this is a problem," Marmion
See MAILINGS, Page 9.
Rock-tossing suspects
stand trial
ordered to
By Alison Kepner
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
BELLEFONTE Two Penn State stu
dents charged with throwing rocks at
pedestrians from a dorm roof Sept. 29 were
ordered to stand trial yesterday at their pre
liminary hearings in Centre County Court
house.
Evan Gugliuzza, 18, and William Loftus,
19, were charged earlier this month with
one count each of disorderly conduct, crimi
nal trespass and recklessly endangering
another person.
Police said the men threw rocks at three
black women from the top of Shulze Hall on
Sept. 29. No one was injured during the
attack The victims said the incident might
have been racially motivated. Other non
black students walking nearby were not tar
geted, the women said.
According to police, the women were
walking near the south side of Shulze Hall
when they heard rocks hitting the sidewalk
a few inches from them. When they stopped
Low-level fights persist
despite Tuesday's truce
By Greg Myre
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JERUSALEM The first full day of a
cease-fire produced a muddled verdict yes
terday: scattered clashes kept tensions high
on rock-strewn Palestinian streets, but
overall violence dipped as Israeli and Pales
tinian security teams moved to halt three
weeks of upheaval.
Faced with Palestinian militants bent on
confrontation, the Palestinian leadership
issued "strict orders" to observe the truce
reached Tuesday at a summit in Egypt. The
Israeli army withdrew tanks from the out
skirts of the West Bank town of Nablus and
planned to remove more heavy weaponry
from other flashpoints if the violence ebbed.
reactions to Middle East conflict
By Alissa Wisnouse
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
WEATHER Page 2
TODAY: Mostly sunny
30 cents off campus 02000 Collegian Inc
mailings
Jennifer Borkoksy/Collegian
LaKeisha Wolf, president of the Black
Caucus, held a press conference last night.
The group discussed the racist letters she
received.
and looked up, more rocks hit the sidewalk
near them. The women walked away, but
the rocks continued to fall directly behind
them, one rock just missing one victim's
face.
The women told police they saw two
white males of medium build standing along
the south side of the roof. After being sum
moned by a resident assistant, Penn State
Police Services found Loftus, Gugliuzza and
another white male on the south side of the
roof.
An arrest may be pending against a third
suspect. Penn State Police Services Super
visor Clifford Lutz said he anticipates anoth
er person will be charged. He could not
specify when the third arrest would be but
said the investigation is continuing.
Loftus waived his preliminary hearing
yesterday. Gugliuzza was bound over on all
charges, and two additional charges of reck
less endangerment were added.
Loftus and Gugliuzza's pretrial confer
ences are scheduled for Jan. 25 with crimi
nal jury selection is slated for Feb. 12.
Israel radio said one of those tracked
down by Israeli agents was the Palestinian
man who emerged from the killings with
blood-coated hands triumphantly raised in
the air. The photograph appeared on news
paper front pages worldwide.
In yesterday's unrest, Palestinian gun
men fired at Israeli troops and rock-throw
ing clashes erupted at several friction
points in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
injuring more than two dozen Palestinians.
Also, an Israeli army officer suffered
facial wounds from a firebomb in Gaza. An
explosive device went off as an Israeli civil
ian bus passed near the Jewish settlement
of Gush Katif in Gaza, the army said. No one
was hurt.
But as of yesterday evening, no deaths
were reported a rarity in the 21 days of
violence that have left 102 people dead, the
vast majority Palestinian.
High-level Israeli and Palestinian securi
ty officials held meetings yesterday to
implement promises made to President
Clinton, who mediated at the summit in
Egypt.
Israel said it was encouraged by yester
day's developments, and eased tight restric
tions on the movements of Palestinians.
Authorities lifted the internal closure on
See FIGHTING, Page 9.
■ Israeli commandos found suspects who they say
took part in a mob attack. I INTERNATIONAL, Page 7
Following the poem, there was an infor
mal question-and-answer period.
"What happened in Israel is the collapse
of the peace coalition and the feeling that
there is no partner for peace," Abramson
said. "There is the feeling that the other
side does not want peace."
Marc Herzog, liaison to Penn State Hil
lel's Israeli political action committee,
reminded the crowd that although a cease
fire was called Tuesday, violence continued
yesterday.
One woman in the audience asked how
she could justify Israel's use of force to her
friends.
Abramson told her that he, too, has strug
gled with how to justify the deaths at the
hands of Israelis, particularly those of chil
dren.
"I don't understand that, but I also don't
understand when children shoot guns and
See HILLEL, Page 9.