pfmrejjgßpf Q caogfME in local, Page 4. AH W The Daily I ollPCrT^Tl y A A psucollegian.com Published independently by students at Penn State 365 160 24 45 CALLS FOR SERVICE CRIMINAL ARRESTS ALCOHOL OVERDOSES DISORDERLY PARTIES UNDERAGES DUIs State Patty’s crime trends upward By Greg Galiffa COLIEGIAN staff writer The State College Police Department reported 160 arrests during State Path 's weekend more than the total arrests during the past two State Patty's week ends combined. Police said they responded to 365 total calls for service through out this past weekend, trumping last year's total of 311 and 2008's 262. Officers made 79 arrests in 2009 and 56 in 2008. With the exception of Dills j Brian Flowers (sophomore-computer science), Aaron Seener (sophomore-music education) and other members of Amnesty International hold a protest and vigil against capital punishment on Monday night in front of the Allen Street gates. Coordinator of the event Stephanie viggiano (junior-German) said the vigil was meant to generate discussion about capital punishment. Recruitment up despite dry policy By Jourdan Cole COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Despite stricter rules placed on recruitment this spring, Interfraternity Council (IFC) offi cials said accepted bids increased by 49 percent from last year. While 574 recruits registered last year far more than the 378 registered this spring only 184 accepted bids, a rate of 65.2 percent. By contrast. 274 recruits accepted bids under the new sys tem. a yield of 84.8 percent. "These numbers clearly Building name change vetoed By Nathan Pipenberg COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The State College Borough Council voted down a proposal to rename the State College Municipal Building after late Mayor Bill Welch at a Monday night meeting, even though a majority of council members had supported the idea at earlier meet ings. Council members split their votes 3-3 on the pro posal, with a seventh member, Theresa Lafer, not present to cast her vote. Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said he could not say when, or even if, the proposal would find its way back onto a council agenda in the future. Tom Daubert remained the only council member to not support renaming any borough government buildings at all. He said he would prefer to see a park or plaza named after the late mayor. “This building should be named the State College Municipal Building until it falls down,” said Daubert. See BUILDING, Page 2. this year compared to last year’s 14 statistics are higher than ever before, police said. "The trend seems to be going the wrong way," State College Police Department Capt. Dana Leonard said. "Everything is upward trending in the past three years calls are up, alcohol over doses are double. It's a disturbing three-year trend." Leonard said more than half of the arrests made by police involved non-students or visitors to State College, adding they were a significant problem demonstrate that a more person al method of recruitment is myre effective than simply throwing our glamorous social life in the faces of recruits,” IFC President Max Wendkos said. “Fbr a test run, this was a resounding suc cess.” He credits the new system, and said recruitment focused on indi viduals who were looking to go greek for the right reasons. Adding a $lO recruitment fee and eliminating alcohol from recruitment events discouraged students who never intended to actually accept a bid. he said. throughout the weekend. Penn State Spokeswoman Lisa Powers said she hoped the com bined resistance from community and Penn State officials would have lessened the severity of the holiday. “This was just a selfish, danger ous event with no merit that caused ill wifi in the town, cost a lot of resources, time and money, and took away from real security and safety needs." Powers said. "It’s a shame." State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham said the "staggering" What’s more, fraternities got to know their recruits better and vice versa, he said. Wendkos wants to keep the system in place next semester. “We will be working very, very hard to aid the recruitment efforts of our chapters in the fall semester, and expect to improve on our numbers and the quality of members for the fall 2010 semes ter as well,” he said. numbers are embarrassing and had her "flinching in regret." She singled out visitors, saying she hopes Penn State students aren't blamed entirely for other individuals' actions. "We want people to visit our town and appreciate it and enjoy it, but we don't want them to trash our town or trash themselves," Goreham said. There were 24 alcohol overdos es reported by police this year, up from 21 in 2009 and 12 in 2008, police said. Disorderly parties were up, too. IFC Vice President for Membership Mark Mixon said recruitment isn't only about the social scene it's about inform ing new members of the history of the chapter, the founding values and benefits. Despite a few communication problems, the new values-based system worked and the numbers are evidence of that, he said. Wendkos “The chapters believed it was going to work, and they made it work," Mixon said. To e-mail reporter: jpcs2ol@psu.edu with 37 reported this year, com pared to 31 reported in 2009 and 24 reported in 2008. And while neither Goreham nor Leonard could find a solution to the weekend's events, they said they both remain hopeful it will change in the future. "We're better than that," Goreham said. "The only w 7 av it can stop is if students stop it the student body not wanting to pro mote it. We're all adults here, whether or not we act like it." To e-mail reporter: gmgso4l@psu.edu CATA upset about holiday Officials said State Patty’s was the worst weekend thev ever saw By Greg Galiffa COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER After 10 hours of students vomiting, fighting and throwing snowballs at buses, CATA Director of Operations Sherry Snyder said State Patty's week end was the cruelest of her entire career. "It was the worst weekend we've ever experienced." said Snyder, who has been working with the Centre Area Transit Authority (CATA) for 11 years. “I was running for the hills when I left." When Snyder arrived on the job at 11 a.m. Saturday, most buses were already at capacity and running 15 to 20 minutes late. But not even the delayed serv ice could stop swarms of people from huddling at the stops throughout the weekend. Ridership for the WTiite Loop between the hours of 2:20 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. Saturday morning was the second highest on record, CATA General Manager Hugh Mose said. There were 820 riders Saturday morning, only 121 less than the record of 941 on Feb. 6. But while total ridership fig ures aren’t yet available, Mose doesn’t expect this year's State Patty’s Day to eclipse Feb. 27, 2009’s record of 45,157. That doesn’t mean it was a dull weekend. By the end of her shift at 9:30 p.m., Snyder said about 175 calls were made to CATA’s offices from people com plaining about service. “We were cursed at and sworn See CATA, Page 2. A group of students play beer pong at a State Patty's Day party on West Beaver Avenue.
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