Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003
LEAVES ARE A BLOWN’ • Leaf removal has begun on and off campus. See page 4 for full story.
Senior class
By Jessica Golden
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | jmg43l@psu.edu
Starting today, seniors will begin the
process of leaving a class gift to mark
their time at University Park campus.
Voting to determine the gift begins at
8 a.m. online today and will continue
through Friday at 5 p.m. with the win
ning gift announced a week from today.
The Senior Class Gift Ballot Selection
Committee chose three proposals for
this year’s ballot, including replacing
deteriorating benches donated by the
Class of 1900. The benches are found in
the area of the Pattee and Henderson
Malls.
A second choice is to fund the
improvement of Willard Plaza in coordi
nation with the current Pollock Road
reconstruction. The plaza would
include outdoor seating, brick paving,
plantings, and bicycle parking
Or, seniors may choose to create an
obelisk garden in the northeast corner
of the Hintz Family Alumni Center gar
dens. The area will be turned into an
open lawn with seating along the
perimeter.
Students can go to the Web site for
additional information about the gifts
and to see pictures of the proposals.
Amber Krieg, senior class gift advi-
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THE DAIUtikOLLEGIAN.
gift voting begins today
sor, said the choices were narrowed
down from more than 40 proposals sub
mitted from students, faculty, alumni
and members of the Office of Physical
Plant (OPP).
“We wanted three choices that would
generate excitement for students but
would be feasible for the amount of
money we have,” Krieg said. “Also, that
it would go with the tradition of Penn
State.”
Janet Moccia, the advertising and
public relations chair for the commit
tee, said having members of OPP as a
part of the decision-making process
was vital to discover if the proposal
could be completed in a reasonable
time frame within its budget.
Moccia estimates raising $lOO,OOO
from the senior class, and OPP expects
to be able to complete the project
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When and where to go to cast a ballot
■ Online: from 8 a.m. today until 5 p.m. Friday at www.seniorclassglft.psu.edu.
■ Today: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., HUB-Robeson Center and Allen Street Gates.
■ Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the HUB and the Student Book store,
330 E. College Ave.
■ Thursday: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the HUB and the Student Book Store,
■ Friday: 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the HUB and Student Book Store.
l5 The Scene.
l4 Weather..
Published Independently by students at Penn State
from start to finish in two years.
The theme of this year’s senior class
gift is “Honoring Tradition, Leaving a
Legacy,” and all the three choices fit
into this idea, Krieg said.
The ballot selection committee was
made up of about 15 members includ
ing the sue members of the overall sen
ior class gift committee, senior stu
dents, faculty members and OPE
Scott Upright, a senior student cho
sen to be on the committee, said while
it was hard narrowing down to three
options, he believes the committee did
a good job.
To vote, students need to have sev
enth-semester standing. Students in
their fourth year may not necessarily
meet this qualification.
Voting will take place online at
See VOTING, Page 2.
Cho uses political comedy to send message
By Meghan Gaffney
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | meg226@psu.edu
Margaret Cho, the second speaker in
this season’s Distinguished Speaker
Series, “rocked the house” in Eisen
hower Auditorium last night just as she
promised she would.
“I feel kinda weird,” said Cho to the
sold out crowd of 2,500 people. “I’m sup
posed to be a distinguished speaker?
Wow. What do I do?”
Cho was at Penn State last night as
part of her tour; CHO Revolution. Her
work is known for its political founda
tion, and she did not stray from her bit
ing political comedy last night
“I am staying away from California,”
she shouted to the crowd. “We already
had a governor! No take-backs!” Cho
said Schwarzenegger referred to Hitler
while campaigning, which should have
kept him from winning the position.
“The one person you cannot give a
shout-out to is Hitler,” she said. “You
cannot say that Hitler is a homie.
Maybe Mussolini, maybe.”
Cho said voters were misinformed,
which is why people voted for
Johnson to face
alcohol chaiges
By Nicole Charsar
and Robert Spruck
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS
nmcls2@psu.edu, rjs336@psu.edu
Penn State football player Tony
Johnson was arrested early Friday
morning for driving under the influ
ence.
Johnson, 21, faces one count of driv
ing under the influence of
alcohol or controlled sub
stance, two counts of driving
on roadways laned for traffic
and one count of obedience to
traffic control devices.
Johnson is the starting
wide receiver for the Nittany
Lions. He is the brother of for
mer Heisman Trophy candi
date Larry Johnson Jr. and
son of Larry Johnson Sr.,
Penn State defensive line coach.
A preliminary hearing date is set for
Nov. 26.
The following occurred according to
police reports:
The charges stem from a 3:03 a.m.
Friday incident in which Penn State
Police Services Officer Brian Rose
observed a black Mercedes Benz trav
eling north on Bigler Road in front of
his patrol vehicle.
The car is registered to his father,
Larry Johnson Sr.
. The Mercedes turned right onto
Park Avenue and, while traveling west
bound, both driver’s side tires crossed
Spanier addresses
filesharing program
By Kristen Neufeld
and Daniel Bal
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS
kmnl33@psu.edu, drb226@psu.edu
Penn State President Graham
Spanier spoke about the university’s
efforts to adopt a new file-sharing pro
gram, among other concerns, at last
night’s Undergraduate Student Gov
ernment Academic Assembly meeting.
Currentfy co-chair of the Joint Com
mittee of the Higher Education and
Entertainment Communities, Spanier
said the university hopes to have a free
file-sharing service available to all stu
dents by next fall semester.
“We want to get a system in place
before our students get in trouble,” he
said. “It’s going to get pretty serious if
we don’t deal with it.”
The program will allow students on
and off-campus to access approximate
ly 500,000 of the most frequently down
loaded songs at no additional fee,
Spanier said.
“I have a good feeling about this
falling into place,” he said. “What we
end up with could be quite wonderful if
we pull it off.”
However, Council of Commonwealth
Student Governments academic
affairs director Kyle Templin said the
program will only offer streaming
access, not ownership, of files.
“The services are just ‘tethered’
downloading,” he said. “It can transfer
Margaret Cho shares laughs with a crowd
of 2,500 in Eisenhower Auditorium.
Schwarzenegger at all “People are so
stupid and voted for him because they
actually think he is a robot from the
future.”
Cho received the greatest reaction
when she turned her comedy towards
Bush.
Vol. 104 No. 64
over the center yellow line on two
occasions.
Rose initiated a traffic stop,
approached the vehicle and identified
Johnson by his Pennsylvania driver’s
license. He said he detected the strong
odor of alcohol throughout the car.
A series of standardized field sobri
ety tests were given to Johnson, all of
which he failed. Rose placed Johnson
under arrest for driving
under the influence of alco
hol and transported him to
Centre Community Hospital
Johnson was informed
about the implied consent
rule. The rule states that
when a person signs for a
driver’s license, the person
is also giving consent to give
breath, blood or urine sam-
Johnson
pies if picked up for a DUI,
Penn State Police Services Supervisor
Bill Moerschbacher said.
A blood test was performed at the
hospital, and it was later determined
that Johnson’s blood alcohol concen
tration was 0.136 percent, which is
more than the state’s 0.08 legal limit
Jeff Nelson, Penn State sports infor
mation director, said Johnson would
not be made available for comment
yesterday.
He added that head football coach
Joe Patemo would not comment until
today.
Several phone calls to Larry John
son Sr. went unretumed yesterday.
Graham Spanier and D. Josh Troxell
discuss file sharing.
to an MP3 player on your computer,
but can’t be burnt onto a CD.”
John Ten Hoeve, representative for
the College of Earth and Mineral Sci
ences, said quality is sacrificed with
streaming.
“Students won’t be happy and the
recording industry won’t care as
much,” he said. “The whole system
[Spanier] is proposing is going to have
a lot of bugs.”
“If we were gonna have a recall elec
tion, why don’t we recall the presiden
tial election?” she shouted above roar
ing laughter and applause.
Cho’s ultimate message was that
everyone should unite against inequali
ties. “We should have a million minority
march,” she said. “That would indude
everybody.”
Cho criticized the government’s
action to ban same-sex marriages
under the premise that “marriage is
sacred.” She said the government
should look at marriage before they
make such a statement
“Carmen Electra and Dennis Rod
man got married,” Cho said. “Michael
Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. Liza
Minelli and David Gest—now that is my
idea of marriage.”
She took on a more serious tone as
she reminded the audience members to
“de-colonize” their minds. Cho spoke
about how 1,049 federal rights are
denied when lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people are not
recognized as married couples.
“This can mean so many things, from
See CHO, Page 2.
IC off campus
See SPANIER, Page 2.