W The Daily
Collegian
Published independently by students at Penn State
Vol. 110 No. 11l Wdw»d«y, M»rch >, 2010 30 c«nt» ot« crnnpui
Erie dining hall
catches on fire
No injuries resulted
from the fire that began
late Monday night.
By Laura Nichols
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The fire that broke out in a
Penn State Erie. Behrend College
dining hall late Monday night did
n't result in any injuries, but it did
leave the administration scram
bling for a replacement building.
The fire began sometime
between 11:30 p.m. Monday and
midnight Tuesday in the gazebo
■ I
Kai-lan, right, and friends celebrate at the Monkey King's Castle during “Nickelodeon's Storytime Live" on Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan
Center. Storytime Live, Nickelodeon's latest musical, features four of the top-rated preschool shows: ' Dora the Explorer," "The Backyardigans,"
“Ni Hao, Kai-lan” and “Wonde r Pets!” To read a story on Nickelodeon's Storytime Live. | LOCAL, Page 2.
Roberto Candia/Associated Press
Maria Isabel Pena, 70, searches for her belong
ings outside damaged houses in Constitucion,
Chile, after Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake.
Students safe
after disaster
Chilean students at Penn State and
those studying abroad react to quake
By Edgar Ramirez
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Though Saturday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake
in Chile left about 800 dead, all Penn State stu
dents studying abroad in the country have been
accounted for, university officials said.
Barbara Owe, executive director for education
abroad, said the four students studying through
the education abroad program in Santiago are all
OK
“We heard through the program providers that
the students were all okay, and we were able to
get in touch with the students’ parents to assure
them that everyone was all right,” Owe said.
Though classes are delayed for a couple of
days, programs in Chile didn’t have trouble get
ting in touch with Penn State to let the university
know of the students’ status.
“Whenever there is an international event or
disaster, the first thing we say is, ‘Do we have any
students there?’ Owe said. “Once we heard of the
See CHILE, Page 2.
at the west end of Dobbins Dining
Hall. Penn State Police at
Behrend said.
No injuries were reported, and
no one was believed to have been
in the closed building when the
fire started, said Bill Gonda, direc
tor of marketing and communica
tions at Penn State Erie.
The Brookside Fire
Department in Erie was the first
unit to arrive on the scene, but the
Pennsylvania State Police fire
marshal will assess the damage
and determine the cause of the
fire. Gonda said.
Firefighters were able to extin-
IFC asks fraternities
for policy feedback
After the Interfraternitv Council (IFC)
saw an increase in accepted bids for the
spring semester, executives are soliciting
feedback from fraternity
chapters about the new
recruitment system.
Because of the appar
ent success of the new
“values-based recruit
ment," registration fees
and a dry recruitment
process are likely to stay
in place in the fall,
Interfraternity Council
President Max Wendkos said
“Considering the effectiveness of this
spring’s recruitment and the executive
board’s dedication to further facilitating
the recruitment efforts of our chapters in
the fall, I do not anticipate we will be elim-
PSU players reflect
on Combine results
Daryll Clark entered the 2010
NFL Scouting Combine as a
quarterback and leaves it to
continue training as one.
Penn State’s starting quarter
back for the last two seasons
was one of six Nittany Lions to
participate in the Combine in
Indianapolis' Lucas Oil
Stadium.
The Combine concluded
Tuesday and leaves players a
little less than two months away
Firefighters work to put out the flames that engulfed the Dobbins Dining
Hall at the Erie campus after it caught on fire late Monday night.
guish the flames quickly, but the unusable until further notice,
gazebo was destroyed and much A makeshift dining hall has
of the building suffered major been set up in a commons area at
water and smoke damage. Gonda Penn State Behrend. and other
said. The dining hall is currently See FIRE Page 2.
By Jourdan Cole
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
By Wayne Staats
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
mating any of these aspects." Wendkos
(senior-economics and psychology) said.
During spring recruitment, fraternities
saw an increase in the number of recruits
who were offered bids and accepted them.
This semester. 323 registered recruits
received bids and 274 accepted them, an
acceptance rate of 84.8 percent. That’s an
increase from last year, when 282 regis
tered recruits were offered bids and 184
accepted, a rate of 65.2 percent.
Wendkos said the high percentage of
acceptance was due to the bonds formed
among chapter members in the new
recruiting process.
Indeed, Delta Chi President Dan Kutz
said he saw improvement in the number of
recruits for his fraternity go up and
accredits it to the amount of time mem
bers of his fraternity spent getting to know
its new members.
The fraternity held events specifically to
See RECRUITMENT. Page 2.
from the NFL Draft, which
starts April 22.
Dan Shonka of Ourlads.com
said Clark could be selected by
a team to use him as a running
back or to run the Wildcat
offense, much like San
Francisco 49er Michael
Robinson, Penn State’s starting
signal caller in 2005. That's fine
by Clark.
“I’ve always been a whatever
it-takes type player. If that’s how
they view it, that’s how they
take it,’’ Clark said.
See COMBINE. Page 2
Penn State's Andrew Quarless runs a drill at the NFL
Scouting Combine in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium.
psucollegian.com
Police:
Rape
didn’t
occur
A rape was reported on
Monday, but the woman
withdrew her story.
By Laura Nichols
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
A woman who told police she
was raped at Innovation Park by
an unknown man in a ski mask
Monday night withdrew her
statement Tuesday afternoon,
telling police she made up the
entire story.
Penn State Police Deputy
Director Tyrone Parham said the
woman was brought in to the
police station for questioning on
Tuesday, when she "essentially
retracted her statement."
No identifying information was
released about the woman, and
police would not confirm if she
will face charges. Parham said
he's glad no rape actually
occurred, but he's disappointed
the Penn State community had
to be put through the stress of a
false alarm.
The woman, who is employed
at a private firm in the Lubert
Building at Innovation Park,
originally told police she was in
the parking lot around 8:30 p.m.
Monday when she attempted to
assist a driver who she thought
needed help, police said.
The woman said a man in a full
black ski mask, dark clothing and
tan boots then got out of the car
and forced her to the ground,
where he raped her, police said.
The woman initially said she
was able to escape and receive
help. Police said she received
treatment at Mount Nittany
Medical Center. In a press
release issued Tuesday night,
Penn State Police said after a
“thorough" investigation that
produced no evidence of any
crime, the woman was re-inter
viewed by detectives and eventu
ally told them that the incident
had not occurred as she had orig
inally described.
“Sexual assaults and rapes
committed by strangers are
unusual occurrences in our com
munity and we can all take com
fort in the fact that this particular
incident did not take place,”
Penn State Police Director Steve
Shelow wrote in the press
release.
Penn State spokeswoman Lisa
Powers said the unnecessary
concern over the report of a
second incident in a month
at Innovation Park is veiy
unfortunate especially for
those who frequently use the
building. Regardless, she
encouraged victims of assault to
come forward when incidents
happen.
To e-mail reporter: Icnsol9@psu.edu