4 I Thursday, Sept. 20.2007
Thon dodgeball signups fill quickly
Registration yesterday
quickly filled up for the
event held in October.
By Katie Maloney
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | klmsls3@psu.edu
Within 20 minutes, the 64 team
spots available for the upcoming
dodgeball tournament that benefits
the Interfraternity Council/Panhel
lenic Dance Marathon (Thon) were
filled.
Registration was held yesterday in
the HUB-Robeson center for Thon
Dodgeball Tournament 2007, which is
sponsored by the Nittany Lion basket-
Officials
suit against PSU
By Alyssa Owens
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | alosol4@psu.edu
After discovering the presence of 12
commercially owned cell phone antennae
around the University Park campus,
Centre County officials said yesterday
that they are amending their lawsuit
against the university to include this vio
lation.
The lawsuit, filed in late August,
alleges that Penn State violated a 1992
agreement with the county, which
requires the university to pay in-lieu-of
tax payments on properties owned by
private entities.
The county’s complaint states that the
university has failed to make these pay
ments on Panda Express, the Penn State
Visitor’s Center and the Penn State
Bookstore for the past seven years and
that the payments total more than
$267,000.
The agreement also requires that
Penn State turn the lease agreements
with businesses over to the county within
30 days.
County Commissioner Chris Exarchos
said the university has continually failed
to turn over such leases and as a result,
the county is missing out on chances to
collect tax revenue.
Exarchos said the antennae are
emblematic of a larger problem. He said
there may be other properties on campus
that are subject to this agreement, but
that the county is unaware of them
because Penn State doesn’t hand them
over for inspection. “We keep stumbling
upon things by accident when they
should be telling us about it,” Exarchos
said. “This is the perfect example of why
we are bringing about this lawsuit.”
Student
activity
fee funds
allocated
The Penn State Funding
Allocation Board distrib
uted funds to 12 university
entities yesterday for the
2007-2008 academic year.
By Lauren Boyer
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | Imbsl22@psu.edu
After months of deliberations and
hearings, the Rinding Allocation
Board (FAB) finalized and released
its first allocation of more than $2.8
million in student activity fee funds
last week.
With seven student and three fac
ulty members, FAB began hearings
last March for 12 big budget enti
ties, including the Bryce Jordan
Center and the University Park
Allocations Committee (UPAC),
which formerly had control over
the entire student activity fee fund.
The dollar amounts were
approved without amendment by
Vicky Triponey, former vice presi
dent for Student Affairs, who
resigned last Thursday.
“There was a lot of thought that
went into them,” said Ellery
Loomis, FAB chairman. “Dr.
Triponey saw that and did what was
best for her students.”
Though he said the process ran
“smoothly,” Bob Orndorff, special
assistant to the vice president of
Student Affairs, emphasized that
much work went into each request.
“I remember processing
requests and ordering pizza at one
in the morning,” he said. “I can tell
you that the committee was so
invested in the process and making
sure the students’ money was put
to good use and put in the hands of
many students.”
He said the three faculty mem
bers took a “hands-off” role in the
process, serving as advisers with
“experience managing budgets.”
ball team and will be held Oct. 14 at
the Multi-Sport Facility.
All proceeds from the event will
benefit Thon.
More than $3,800 has already been
raised by collecting $6O per team for
registration fees, according to a Thon
press release.
“I was shocked. I really didn’t know
if everyone was going to be excited for
it or if no one knew about it,” said
Lindsay Johnson, a Thon event coor
dinator.
Johnson said she was impressed at
the number of students that showed
up to become a part of a good cause.
“We kind of thought it would be
popular, but we didn’t think it would
fill up as fast as it did,” said Dan
revise
The antennae are owned by a variety
of cell phone providers, including AT&T,
Verizon and Sprint, and are located all
across campus, said Mark Kellerman,
the county’s chief tax assessor.
The university has received a request
to inspect the cell sites and will comply
fully, Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon
wrote in an e-mail message.
He added that most of the antennae
are small and “do not lead to any large
revenue stream for Penn State.”
“We have no reason to ‘hide’ these
arrangements, as they certainly don’t
result in a large in-lieu-of tax obligation,”
Mahon wrote.
Mahon also said some of the antennae
are strategically placed to improve cell
phone coverage in critical locations
where large crowds gather, such as the
Bryce Jordan Center and Beaver Stadi
um area, and were constructed as a safe
ty measure.
Still, Mahon said this issue does not
affect the university’s position on the law
suit, and it does not see any merit in the
county’s claims.
Mahon said Penn State prepares a
spreadsheet every year listing all proper
ties for which in-lieu payments are being
made and shares it with the county for
inspection. Until recently, its accuracy
has never been questioned, he added.
Penn State served subpoenas to Pat
ton, Ferguson and Harris townships and
the State College borough last week,
seeking any correspondence between
the municipalities and Centre County
regarding the tax agreement with the
university or the lawsuit.
Each office has 20 days to turn over the
requested documents and all offices have
said they will comply.
Show Me The Money
The Funding Allocation Board recently made its first allocation in student
activity fee funds.
$ Requests $
The Bryce Jordan Center
h i
The Graduate Student
Association
The Student Programming
Association
The University Park
Allocation Committee
The University Park
.Undergraduate Association,
♦To see the full report, visit this
Source: www.sa.psu.edu/usa/fab_reports.shl
The reports, which were com
piled into an 80-page document
available on the Student Affairs
Web site, came from groups that
had effects “far and wide,” Orndorff
said.
“We would ask questions like,
‘are students with disabilities able
to participate? How do you make
that happen?’ ” he added.
“We wanted inclusiveness and a
high number of students. We really
encouraged folks who might not
have had tracking processes to look
and say ‘who did come to our
events?’ We encourage them to find
ways to track that.”
Special populations’ interests
were protected with the inclusion of
Christian Matheis, assistant direc
tor of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgendered and Allied Student
Resource Center, and Marcus
Whitehurst, assistant vice provost
for educational equity, on the board.
About $66,000 remained after the
final report was processed.
“Any monies that are left over get
pulled back at the end of every
year,” Loomis said.
“It always stays in the student
activity fee account.”
Learning from experience, Om
dorff added that next year’s
process will begin in October, three
months in advance of last year.
“We felt it was way too late in the
game. Student clubs and organiza
tions need to know earlier so they
can plan better,” he said. “We are
asking students to apply to serve on
the FAB board over the next
month.”
LOCAL
Ward, another Thon event coordina
tor.
The tournament was the basketball
team’s, idea.
Because of their schedules, the
players aren’t easily able to partici
pate in regular Thon activities held in
February, said Matt Checchio, mar
keting coordinator for Penn State ath
letics.
He said the team expressed their
desire to hold an event last spring and
wanted to put on the best event possi
ble in order to be a part of “the Thon
effort.”
The tournament will run very
much like NCAA basketball tourna
ments, Ward said.
Other efforts are in the works to try
Summit confronts topic
of domestic violence
The National Domestic
Violence Summit dis
cussed violence preven
tion and showcased a
video documentary.
Speakers from across the
nation addressed the epidemic of
violence against women and the
measures being taken to stop it at
the Second Annual National
Domestic Violence Summit held
at the Penn Stater Conference
Center Hotel yesterday.
The Verizon Foundation hosted
the event, along with Penn State,
Rutgers Uni-
versity and the
University of
Kentucky.
College of
Communica
tions students
created a
video docu-
menting the
life of a woman
killed by the man who assaulted
her her husband.
The video, funded with grant
money from the Verizon founda
tion, was shown on lliesday night
at a dinner held at Beaver Stadi
um. Dan Mead, president of Veri
zon Services Corp., said the new
system of training is “very focused
on prevention.”
Total Requested Reco iSS nd ed
$175,000
$21,099
$1,303,903
$1,537,015
$32,150
Web site }
tmi
Because this year’s requests out
numbered available funds, some
organizations received much less
than expected, like the Center for
Student Engagement’s PRIDE ini
tiative which received no funds.
“From what we gathered,
PRIDE attempts to show other
institutions how students show
their pride at intercollegiate athlet
ic events hosting opposing fans,
things like that,” Loomis said.
“It seemed like there were better
uses of the student activity fee.”
UPAC received the largest allo
cation, amounting to nearly $l.l
million.
Dan Green, UPAC chairman,
said the amount was “very consis
tent with what we have received in
the past.”
He added that after the first FAB
process, UPAC’s day-to-day activi
ties were virtually unchanged, and
they still hear about 10 requests per
week.
“We want to get the word out that
we’re still here,” Green said.
“There was a lot of confusion
when FAB was created amongst
student leaders that UPAC wasn’t
going to be here anymore.”
He said he wants to dispel any
rumors that UPAC and FAB are at
odds.
“I’ve gotten the sense that there
might be some type of reception
that FAB doesn’t like UPAC; UPAC
doesn’t like FAB. That’s not true,”
he said
“We are here for the same rea
sons, working toward a common
goal.”
By Katie Maloney
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
klmsls3@psu.edu
“We want technology
to be a tool that can be
harnessed by
[survivors],”
Cindy Southworth
A director at the National Network
to End Domestic Violence
$120,000
$21,099
$755,643
$1,099,582
$32,150
Maryann Bell/Collegian
“I really didn’t know if everyone was going to be
excited for it...”
to raise more money before the event,
Checchio added.
The tournament will run on an offi
cial Thon Dodgeball bracket, which
will be released on www.Thondodge
ball.com and www.gopsusports.com on
Sept. 26.
The first two rounds will run best
out-of-three because the organizers
wanted to make sure the teams got
enough playing time to warrant the
$6O registration fee, Checchio said.
The grant from Verizon paid for
the creation of the video as well as
the training program.
The program will teach supervi
sors and co-workers to know
when there is a problem and help
to encourage victims to come for
ward.
“It’s also a great communica
tion tool,” Mead said.
He added that there is a great
need to get across the message
that violence against women is
unacceptable.
It is important to start educa
tion about violence prevention at
the university level, said Carol
Jordan, director of the University
of Kentucky Center for Research
on Violence Against Women.
“We’ve got to get at the young
men,” Jordan said.
work to End
Domestic Vio
lence, said what is needed is a
“tech-sawy movement”
Southworth spoke about “Safety
Net,” a project with the goal of
making the Internet a safe place
for the victims of domestic vio
lence and protecting them from
further stalking and harassment
because of their computer use.
These safety issues extend to
Nickname portal
aids local crime
investigations
By Aiyssa Owens
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | alosol4@psu.edu
When Andrew Rogers was accused
of brutally killing a Penn State student
last year, he told police that a man he
knew only as “Sweet” instigated the
fight that precipitated the murder.
With nothing to identify this charac
ter save his nickname and a physical
description, officers at the State Col
lege Police Department logged on to
cNET, a Web-based Pennsylvania law
enforcement record management sys
tem, in search of a real name behind
the moniker.
Among a wealth of crime-related
information, the Web portal stores
aliases and nicknames of suspects and
offenders. The database is used by both
State College and Penn State police
departments, and both say it is becom
ing increasingly useful in local criminal
investigations.
“Teens and young adults often just
know people by their first name or
nickname or screen name or some
other online identity,” State College
police Lt. Dana Leonard said. “A big
part of our time is spent backtracking
from these names to the true name.”
Short for Crime Network, cNET
allows information to be instantly col
lected, stored and disseminated in a
database that is shared among law
enforcement officers across the state.
More than 750 municipal police
departments, all 67 counties, 54 state
agencies and 41 federal agencies have
access to the Web portal and its mes
saging services, according to the Web
site. Officers can log on to the database
from any computer, and its wireless
technology extends the Web portal’s
accessibility to police cars.
The Sweet search generated several
results and police followed all leads,
said Centre County District Attorney
Michael Madeira, who prosecuted
Rogers’ case. Some of the results took
investigators as far as New York City.
But the pool of suspects eventually
drained, as police ruled out those with
alibis or physical characteristics that
After those two rounds, the tourna
ment will move into single elimination
play.
The tournament will last about two
and-a-half hours.
Any student involved in Thon can
earn spirit points for either participat
ing in or attending the tournament as
a fan. There is currently a waiting list
for teams who would like the chance
to participate if one of the current
teams drops out.
Sexual Assaults
Source: Second Annual N;
The tech
nology of vio
lence against
women was
also explored.
Cindy South
worth, direc
tor of technol
ogy at the
National Net
college students, especially with
sites like MySpace and Faeebook,
she added.
According to a statistic South
worth offered, Internet traffic on
Facebook.com increased by 272 per
cent between 2005 and 2006.
She compared online profiles
with sign-up forms for grocery
store discount cards because they
ask for more information than is
necessary.
While predators do use the
Internet and computer monitoring
systems to stalk and harass their
victims, Southworth said technolo
gy should be a tool for victims, not
a hindrance.
“We want technology to be a
tool that can be harnessed by
[survivors],” Southworth said.
didn’t match Rogers’ description.
Rogers, 30, of State College, was
eventually convicted of third-degree
murder, with the jury indicating that
they didn’t subscribe to Rogers’
account of a third man, known only as
Sweet, instigating a fight that forced
him to beat a Penn State student to
death in self-defense.
Nicknames are not unusual around
the State College area, Madeira said,
particularly within the drug subculture.
Penn State police regularly use the
system to track down student offenders
with aliases or street names, said
Tyrone Parham, university police assis
tant director.
“A student might tell us that he
knows someone in class named ‘Boo’
but won’t know his real first or last
name,” Parham said. “Knowing just a
nickname can still really change the
complexion of the case and how we go
about identifying someone.”
Although it has proved beneficial in
many cases, the use of nicknames in
criminal investigations also has its
detriments, Madeira said.
On the one hand, he said, if a
moniker is the only thing police know
as they embark on an investigation, it
at least provides a place to start; how
ever, there may be 20 or 30 people in
the database that have that same nick
name, and the police may have difficul
ty narrowing the case down to one sus
pect, Madeira said.
cNET also archives physical descrip
tions, such as tattoos or distinctive
scars, which can often help whittle
down the search.
“If you’re pursuing someone known
as ‘J’ with a serpent tattoo on his right
arm and a scar above his left eye, you
have a lot more to go off of than if you
just have his nickname,” Madeira said.
Entries in the database also include
incident reports, contact information,
driver and vehicle registration informa
tion, missing person reports, criminal
history records, arrest photos and
other physical descriptions of offend
ers, allowing police to use the applica
tion for a range of investigations.
The Daily Collegian
Lindsay Johnson
Thon event coordinator
>nal Domestic Summit
Jill Marateck/Collegian