C Olk mSßm 1 psucollegian.com Published independently by students at Penn State Howley owes THON $1,734 after Friday’s ‘perfect storm’ By Jourdan Cole COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Last Friday. Khloe Kardashian made one innocent tweet about THON. boosting awareness and support but Pat Howley said she ruined everything. It started simply enough: 'For every new follower of " abolish cancer TODAY ' PatHowley agrees to donate SI to ■.« THON to fight cancer." On Fridav. Howley. a Karena Smith (junior-community environment and development) senes spaghetti as part of Project Haiti's fundraiser for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Partners In Health on Monday night at Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church. 208 W. Foster Ave. More than 350 peeps attended the event, raising more than $2,500. For complete coverage j LOCAL, Page 4. UPUA asks for musical input By Lindsay Cryer COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Though contracts have yet to be signed and bands have yet to be scheduled, planning for this year’s UPUA-sponsored spring music festival is definitely under way. Plans for a new commission to plan this year’s Wallypalooza will be discussed at Wednesday's University Park Undergraduate Association meeting. Last year's Wallypalooza was created and largely planned by former UPUA Programming Chairman Mike Wallace (senior economics) and a small commit tee and ever since Wallace stepped down from his UPUA position because of a heavy aca demic load, the future of the fes tival has been up in the air. Once the committee designed to be led by Wallace is formally proposed at Wednesday's meeting, the UPUA assembly will confirm See UPUA Page 2. Interfraternity Council Panehell enic Dance Marathon (THON* hospitality committee member, pledged to give $1 for even- new follower of abolishcaneer. a Twitter account run by a cancer awareness advocate. Howley (junior-hotel restaurant institutional management' expected to be donating about $5O. with the average amount of new abolishcaneer followers falling between 20 and 50 per day. Then the unexpected happened. Show me the mone Penn State's endowment is currently on the upswing. Source: Lisa Powers and Board of Trustees 20C 9 fiscal report Justine King/Collegian Celebrity THON tweets worry local Mr zzszzssr J J about THON this weekend, eventually catapulting #THON to the top categories in the worldwide network. DJ “PJ" Mullen is worried that celebrity' role could take awav from THON goal. ' By Katrina Wehr COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER THON has recently caught the eye of several prominent celebri ties, but one local DJ said this attention is distorting the mission of the pediatric cancer philan thropy. Tweets and blogs written by celebrities like Perez Hilton, “The Big Ten Network tweet ed." Howlev said. ■THON tweeted and then Khloe Karda s h i a n screwed every thing up." At the end ot the Howley day. abolishcancer had 1.734 new fol lowers - and TIION 31.734 Working Howley at the Endowment rises after economy dips By Colleen Boyle COLLEG : AN STAFF WRITER After taking a hefty dip during the height of the recession last year. Penn State's endowments are now on the upswing, universi ty officials said Monday. The total endowment, which dropped to 51.28 billion at the end of last June, has rebounded to $1.46 billion. Penn State spokes woman Lisa Powers said. Powers wrote in an e-mail Monday "the university's overall Khloe Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan drew an influx of donations to the Interfraternitv Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon this weekend. But Phillip "PJ" Mullen, pro gram director and host of 894.5’s radio show "The Morning Zoo." said he is concerned that THON is risking its integrity by trumpet ing certain celebrity endorse ments. "With national exposure, stu dents' efforts are getting over shadowed." he said. “It’s going to become a celebrity 's baby and not the students ." The issue hits close to home for Roadhouse as a cook and a bus boy. Howley said he does not have that kind of money, but tie's dedi cated to raising it and fulfilling his owed pledge. "If I don't get Si./on through donations, then I plan on conservative and sound invest ment practices" helped Penn State to regain $lBO million in the last six months Use of Penn State's endow ment is divided into three areas: Sixty-two percent funds faculty and program support, 37 percent goes toward student financial aid and 1 percent finances other uni versity costs. But Penn State cannot spend endowments to finance just any university expense. Nearly all See ENDOWMENT. Page 2. him. In November, local band Audio Imagery wrote Find Tomorrow," an uplifting tune the band hoped would become a THON theme song. But when the THON overall committee heard about the song through its promotion on 894.5. it contacted the band and asked them to remove THON from the song and the advertisement. Mullen said he understood the reason behind taking the name out, saying the band and radio station did not go through proper channels to set up a promotion “There was a process and we See LOCAL. Page 2. working really hard." Howley said. In the meantime, he has switched over to Facebook for help, creating a group called "Thanks Twitter..now I owe THON $1,700 - HELP!" With more than 200 group members, Howley s hoping he can get people to help him fulfill his pledge to THON. He's also set up Pay Pal and chipin accounts and has already gotten pledges from fami ly and friends. See HOWLEY. Page 2. Strife starts over event By Casey McDermott COiIEGIAN STAFF WRITER As of press time, a Facebook group in favor of the "4th Annual State Patty's Day" boasted 8.3u4 members. But a counter movement is also gaining momentum, with 646 people advocating to "End the ‘State Patty's Dav' Tradition." And as the anti-State Patty's Day campaign spreads across social media Web sites, some students are calling on Penn State student leaders to take a stand against this growing tradi tion. Last week. Rainbow Roundtable President Steve Lucas posted this call to action for the University Park Undergraduate Association iUPUA) on Twitter: “Would love to see -a upuapsuedu step up to the plate and advocate for the END of State Patty's Day.” A firm stance from the UPUA and other organizations could See EVENT. Page 2. State Patty’s Day celebrators wait in line outside the Phyrst on Beaver Avenue last year. Some students have expressed concern over the upcoming holiday. Source: Twitter.com Jaclyn McKay/Collegian