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LOCAL, Page 4. opens its meetings to all | LOCAL, Page 3.
Collegian^!
Seat changes may increase noise
The proposed realignment and expan
sion of the Beaver Stadium student section
for the 2011 season should create a louder
atmosphere during games, Penn State
researchers say.
With the student section set to move from
its current range of seats between the ED
section and past the tunnel to the seats
between the EA and WA sections,
researchers say louder sounds from a more
condensed area should reverberate
through the stadium.
Andrew Barnard is a senior research
assistant at Penn State’s Applied Research
Laboratory and an acoustics Ph.D. candi
date. He and his team of graduate students
and professors were brought into Beaver
Stadium by the Penn State athletic depart
ment three times in the last three years to
measure noise levels.
WE’RE AH IN THIS TOGETHER
j Chloe Elmer/Collegian
! Blake Stadnik (freshman-musical theatre), center, performs as Troy Bolton in the Penn State School of Theatre THON organization's produc
i tion of Disney's “High School Musical" in the Forum on Tuesday night. The group used the show as a fundraiser to benefit 8-year-old THON child
| Bryan Weinsheimer and was inspired by the musical’s message, "We’re all in this together." For the full story: psucollegian.com.
PSU student
paralyzed by
‘O6 fall dies
By Peter Panepinto
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
A Penn State student set to graduate in
December died Sunday more than three years
after a fall from a apartment balcony paralyzed
him from the waist down.
Cory Anthony Wincek, 24, a State College resi
dent, was 21 when he fell 16 feet after a balcony
gave way outside his University Terrace apart
ment, 924 Bellaire Ave., on March 31,2006. He was
paralyzed from the waist down by the fall.
Penn State spokeswoman Jill Shockey said it is
always sad to hear about the loss of a member of
the Penn State community.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family
and friends at this time,” Shockey said.
Shockey could not provide any details as to the
cause of Wincek’s death. Wincek’s father declined
comment.
Wincek was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in
petroleum and natural gas engineering. He was
scheduled to graduate next month.
Shortly after Wincek’s 15-foot fall, University
Terrace apartments issued a memo stating they
would be installing a new railing system.
Wincek sued the owners of the building,
Keystone Real Estate Group and The Apartment
Store, for negligence in 2007, according to court
documents.
Wincek was seeking the recoverable expenses
from his medical bills in his lawsuit against the
building owners, according to the documents. The
lawsuit was settled in August 2007.
See STUDENT. Page 2.
By Matt Fortuna
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Considerably louder
Barnard and his team predict that changes to the student section could make
Beaver Stadium a louder environment
\
w ■-
o
Beaver Stadium
Student section noise travels to the field and out
of the stadium. Subsequently, only the east side
of the stadium is loud, giving opposing
quarterbacks on the west side an easier time.
Source: Senior Research Assistant Andrew Barnard
Coutesy of imdb.com
Actor Denzel Washington visited Centre County to film "Unstoppable.” The production
included a group of students who acted as extras and one who worked as a stand-in.
'Unstoppable’ filming
enthralls student actors
By Kristen Karas
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Standing a few feet away from actors
Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson
is not how most Penn State students would
expect to spend a cold fall morning in
Centre County.
But that is exactly what a group of the
atre students did Nov. 6 in Milesburg when
they got the chance to become extras on
the set of “Unstoppable,” a feature film
starring Washington, Dawson and Chris
Pine that just completed shooting in
Pennsylvania.
a ■ 0
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Beaver Stadium
'Witn tr-e proposed changes, noise from the
student section would hit the upper decks on the
south s:de of the stadium, bounce onto the field,
hi t ? r e upper decks on the north side of the
stadium and bounce back onto the field.
Megan Yanchitis/Collegian
"It was intoxicating,” Ashley Morocco
(senior-theatre) said. “The energy was so
intense you have all these people
buzzing around you. It was electric and
alive.”
Morocco and her fellow students attend
ed the set as part of Theatre 497 C (Acting
for the Camera). Professor Charles
Dumas, a Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
member, said he knew about the filming in
the area and inquired as to whether extras
were needed.
"The reason it happens is because there
aren’t too many professional actors,”
See FILMING, Page 2.
They were at the Nittany Lions’ 2007
game against Ohio State and the team’s
games this season against lowa and Ohio
State.
Using sound level meters handheld
microphones that measure sound pressure
levels the group would measure sound
every 10 seconds during the loudest parts of
the game in front of the student section by
the 10-yard line. At games this year, Barnard
said, the volume reached as high as 110 deci
bels.
Sustained exposure to decibel levels
between 90 and 95 could result in hearing
loss.
Looking to gauge what could make
Beaver Stadium louder, Penn State asked
the group to make predictions of what crowd
noise levels would be in different areas.
“Everyone talks about stadium noise,”
Barnard said. “But there are not a lot of cal
ibrated measurements.”
Tax
locally
As politicians in Pittsburgh
debate the legality of a 1 per
cent tax on tuition for colleges
in Pittsburgh,
members of the
State College
Borough
Council will be
watching close
ly-
“It is some
thing that cer
tainly has our Goreham
attention,” said
Borough Council President
Elizabeth Goreham. “The 1 per
cent tax looks mighty inviting.”
Pittsburgh’s tuition tax was
proposed by 29-year-old Mayor
Luke Ravenstahl as a solution
for a $l5 million gap in the city
budget.
Opponents of the tax in
Pittsburgh argue a specific peo
ple group should not be singled
out for taxation. Proponents say
the tax is allowable because
higher education is a “privi
lege” which the city is allowed
to tax.
Goreham, the mayor-elect,
said State College is in a tough
position because of the cost of
services it must provide to stu
dents who do not pay many of
the borough’s taxes.
“Although we welcome visi
tors ... we need to cover those
expenses,” Goreham said.
According to current Penn
State tuition rates, a 1 percent
tax would result in more than
$6O per semester for upper
classman residents of
Pennsylvania and more than
$92 for out-of-state upperclass
men.
Borough council member
Ron Filippelli agreed that the
tax is appealing.
“I think it would be attractive
and something we would con
sider if it turns out that we have
the authority to levy such a tax,”
Filippelli said.
The borough’s two major
sources of revenue are income
taxes and property taxes,
Filippelli said. These taxes don’t
bring in as much money as they
do in other cities because 74
percent of residents are stu
dents who pay little or no
income tax, he said.
Goreham had a response for
students who argue that they
should not be taxed because the
borough would not exist as it is
without them.
“It’s like your mother and
father saying, ‘Yes, you would
not exist without us, so why
should we give you any money?’
” Goreham said.
Penn State spokeswoman
Annemarie Mountz said she
See TAX, Page 2.
‘Mac’
c headlines tour
at the BJC tonight
VENUES
ollegian.com
See NOISE. Page 2.
looms
By Evan Trowbridge
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER