The Daily Collegian Student faces assault charges Police say a 22-year-old man is charged with eth nic intimidation after an incident Wednesday. By Casey McDermott COLLEGIAN STAF WRITER A Penn State student faces charges after he swung a knife at another student he had taunted for speaking Spanish, the State College Police Department said. Robert Skinner, 22, is charged with one count of felony aggravat ed assault, one count each of a misdemeanor simple assault and ethnic intimidation and one count of a summary offense harass ment. He was arrested in connection with an incident that occurred at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday out side of the Acacia fraternity house, 234 Locust Lane, police said. No one was injured as a result of the incident, police said. Skinner, of Hermitage, Pa., did not return an e-mail requesting comment by press time Wednesday. Juan Jafit Morales, the student Skinner approached, said he was PSU announces TEDx speakers By Micah Wintner COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER You Tube sensation Jordan “DJ Earworm” Roseman is coming to Penn State in October. Roseman is one of 14 speakers attending a TEDxPSU event scheduled for Oct. 10. The day’s theme is “attend, listen and enlighten,” Zach Zimbler, presi dent and general of The Lion 90.7 es and talks on its website FM, said during a radio announce- ted.com that have been viewed ment of the speakers on The Lion by more than 250 million people, Wednesday night. Zimbler (junior-. TEDxPSU executive director supply chain management and Steve Garguilo said, information sciences and technol- The Xin TEDxPSU signifies an ogy) said Roseman is famous for independently organized TED his music “mash-up” videos in event. The TEDxPSU event is which he combines several pop headed by an executive team songs into one. made up of Information, Science Schreyer Honors College Dean and Technology (IST) alumni and Christian Brady said during the Zimbler, a current IST student, announcement that Technology, With a list of potential speakers Entertainment, Design (TED) is a well into the hundreds, Garguilo nonprofit organization founded in said it took an organization com -1984-dedicated to ideas worth mittee of morethan 100 people to sharing out in the open. . reduce the list to 14. The commit- TED features videos of speech- tee wanted to bring in speakers Sustainability Starts with You. Want to make your campus more walking with two friends near Highland Avenue and Locust Lane when Skinner confronted him for speaking Spanish and asked where he was from. Morales (senior-industrial engi neering) said he told Skinner he was from Colombia. Skinner then made derogatory statements about Morales’ ethnic ity, Morales said. Skinner began to argue and eventually pulled a knife on the student, swinging it at him, Morales said. Morales said he ducked out of the way in time to avoid being cut, but the blade did slice his shirt. Police said a witness told them Skinner threatened to stab the student, then threw a bottle of liquor on him and charged at him with the knife. The witness told police Skinner then ran into the Acacia fraternity house, police said. But in a statement provided to police, Skinner denied swinging the blade at Morales. Skinner told police an argument broke out between three other men and him, and one of the men began swinging punches at him, police said. Skinner said he pulled a knife out and told the men to If you go What: TEDxPSU event When: Oct 10 Where: Schwab Auditorium Details: Attendees can register at tedxpsu.com sustainable? ■BRTTA LOCAL leave and also said he made com ments to the other men that denounced their Colombian her itage, police said. Skinner was taken to the Centre County Correctional Facility on Wednesday after he was arrested at the Acacia fraternity house and released for 10 percent of his $35,000 bail, jail officials said. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 8 at the Centre County Courthouse, according to court documents. University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) President and former UPUA Student Life and Diversity Chairman Christian Ragland called news of the inci dent an “eye-opener” and said he was sorry to hear about the con flict. Ragland (senior-political sci ence) said similar incidents are probably often underreported, and he wants to take this as a cue that Penn State needs to work harder to improve race relations and educate students about diver sity. Morales said many minority students are targeted because of their heritage and their problems too often go unnoticed. To e-mail reporter: cmms773@psu.edu from outside of Penn State as well as showcase some of Penn State’s researchers, Garguilo said. As Zimbler announced the speakers he provided their back grounds, which ranged from architecture, humanities, busi ness, sociology and more. Michael Pritchard, inventor of the Lifesaver water purification bottle, and Tonee Ndungu, a media consultant from Kenya, will also speak. Garguilo said each speaker brings something unique to the podium. “We are equally excited about everybody,” he said. “Everybody is going to have an amazing talk,” he said. Garguilo and his team have been working on the event since March he is looking forward to seeing all the hard work come together. “I think TED is truly a revolu tion of global education,” he said. To e-mail reporter maws43B@psu.edu WMH • y •!* Start Making a Difference Today with FilterForGood • Take the FilterForGood pledge and get a $5 Brita coupon on Filter your own water with a Brita water pitcher and use a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water. • Make a short film for a big change Tell us o.n Facebook about an environmental challenge you’re facing, a story that needs to be told. If selected, a Sundance filmmaker will turn it into a short film. You’ll also win a VIP trip to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for the premiere. Go to http://facebook.com/BritaFilterForGood to learn more!* ‘fiO :ASV a P-JSOMASf WKI NOT tNC*o-»stiCns.v»vitwwwf?S SraiKtsvay,Cteidand.CA —■/Collegii A broken elevator In University Towers forces tenants to climb stairs. Residents annoyed by broken elevator By Colleen Boyle COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Since the elevator broke in University Towers Apartments this summer, resident James Lenz has taken the stairs to his seventh floor apartment. After weeks and countless trips up and down the stairs, Lenz said he is furious his requests for a fixed elevator have been ignored. He noticed the elevator was broken on July 5 a situation that has left residents without another option to get to their apartments for at least seven weeks. Lenz (senior-security and risk analysis) blames the apartment company Associated Realty Property Management (ARPM) for failing to repair the eleva tor quickly while he continues to pay his $9OO per month rent. “You run into people on the stairs and eveiyone seems angiy,” he said. “I gotta go down and up and down and up. It’s really a pain.” ARPM President Mark Bigatel said control over the repairs has been delegated to the elevator companies Eastern and Otis and is out of his hands. The elevator —which is 12 years old requires a new computer part, Bigatel said. After building a new control panel in the elevator, repairmen found that other changes needed to be made and other parts had to be ordered—including pieces yet to be manufactured. “They found that they needed another part to meet safety m- m Thursday, Sept. 2,2010 I 3 requirements,” said Bigatel. “It’s been a long four weeks for all of us.” Over the weekend, workers are scheduled to work overtime. By early next week, Bigatel esti mated, the work should be com plete. But for now, the elevator remains at a standstill. Building resident Sam Robins said she notices that other resi dents are very upset by the lack of an elevator, especially when venturing down to the basement to do laundry. Residents contin ue to speculate about when they will be able to ditch the stairs, she said. “There’s all this confusion and nobody really knows,” Robins (junior-psychology) said. “When we signed our lease, the elevator was considered as part of the convenience. It sucks.” Despite the inconvenience of a broken elevator, Bigatel said his main concern is safety. Ensuring a completely safe elevator, he said, along with complications in the repair work is why the eleva tor has been out of commission for so long. “Safety people from the state come in to certify the elevator,” he said. “They can’t just put a part in and get it going. It has to be all certified and safe.” Still, Lenz said he’s outraged by how the company has han dled the situation. “Every time you call about it, they rush you off the phone and we just have to accept it,” he said. To e-mail reporter: cabs3s6@psu.edu