The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, October 12, 2010, Image 3

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    THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Eco-Action and Greenpeace march between the HUB and Old Main on Monday afternoon. The group signed
a petition and delivered to Penn State President Graham Spanier's office in Old Main.
Events promote sustainability
By Paul McMullen
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Blue and white were mixed
with green across campus the
past few days, as the community
came together behind one cause:
environmental sustainability
Students and faculty participat
ed in a variety of events, all of
which revolved around recycling,
renewable energy and combating
greenhouse gas emissions.
One of those events, organized
by Eco-Action, gathered students
on Monday during an on-campus
Renewable Energy March to pro
mote the utilization of clean ener
gy.
Stefan Nagy junior-economics
energy business and finance),
vice president of Eco-Action. said
that in order to advance environ-
Council hears presentation on bed bugs, Highlands safety
By Anita Modi
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
From bed bugs to police pro
grams, Monday night's State
College Borough Council work
session featured a number of
preparations that addressed the
community's safety.
Edwin Rajotte. an entomology
professor at Penn State, started
the series of presentations by
spealdng to the council on behalf
of the Centre Region Bed Bug
Coalition.
The coalition was established
Amnesty group rallies against capital punishment
international standards set by found innocent after the fact.
documents like the Universal Public Relations Officer Sara).
Declaration of Human Rights, Co- Kiessling said the U.S. rem ns
Candles lined the Allen Street President Brian Flowers said. one of the few industrialize:l
Gates in remembrance of Flowers said executions in the tries to still use the death penalty
By Mike Hricik
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Americans lost to the death penal- U.S tend to discriminate against as an option for criminals. Amnesty International member
ty as members of Amnesty minorities and the poor. "We're becoming very alone in Holly Jones said everyone has the
International at Penn State held a "Taking someone's life is the our country and there's good rea- right to live regardless of crime.
vigil against capital punishment ultimate denial of human rights," son for that," Kiessling (senior- "The right to your life is a
Monday night. Flowers (junior-computer sci- public relation) said. human right in its most basic
Amnesty International at Penn ence) said. Flowers said the vigil protested form," Jones (senior-anthropolo-
State, part of a global activist He said the U.S. government the treatment of Georgia death gy) said.
organization, works to protect has executed hundreds of row prisoner Troy Davis in partic
human rights in accordance with American prisoners who are ular. Davis was incarcerated in To e-mail reporter: mjhsso7@psu.edu
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mentalism at Penn State, efforts
on an administrative level need to
become more transparent and
student-involved.
Aside from promoting renew
able energy use, Nagy said he
hopes the march will show the
administration a side of the stu
dent body that will become
increasingly present.
- We are hoping that adminis
tration will see how passionate
students are about environmen
talism," he said. "We have a lot of
student support and are glad that
people are seeing this as more
than just a campus issue."
The march began outside of the
coal plant, which has been a
major cause of environmental
concern. From there, partici
pants marched through campus
to Old Main, where they hand
last spring to raise awareness
about the growing number of bed
bug infestations nationwide over
the past ten years.
What puts State College at par
ticular risk for the spread of bed
hugs, however, is its status as a
college town, Rajotte said.
"In a college town, bed bugs
have a very good highway to move
around." he told the council.
"They're hitchhikers and ride on
backpacks, clothing, everything.
As students walk around campus
or go to parties downtown, they're
taking the bugs with them."
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delivered a written proposal to
the office of Penn State President
Graham Spanier.
The proposal urged adminis
tration to work with students to
transition Penn State University
Park into an entirely carbon neu
tral campus, according to Eco-
Action's Greenpeace student rep
resentative Braden Crooks. The
letter also furthered the message
of student involvement in the
cause, he said.
"We don't think it is ethical for
Penn State to provide energy for
students that is damaging to our
planet," Crooks (senior-land
scape architecture) said. "We
think the march was a huge suc
cess and we hope to continue the
movement at the university"
To email reporter: phmso3o@psu.edu
Rajotte said while State College
already educates people about
and treats bed bug infestations
adequately, the community could
use a central system intended to
monitor future bed bug infesta
tions.
Currently, pest control compa
nies individually calculate how
many infestations they treat, but a
comprehensive database collect
ing information from every com
pany in the Centre County region
would allow the coalition to pin
point and target specific problem
sites in the community he said.
Error leads to
early admission
By Mike Hricik
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Less than two months into his
senior year of high school, North
Hills Senior High School student
Nick Treser was ecstatic Sunday
morning.
The Pittsburgh resident awoke
to a notification on his
MyPennState web page saying he
had been accepted to Penn State
University Park.
But then Treser checked the
website Monday only to see the
acceptance message removed.
"My day was demolished, -
Treser said.
Because of a computer error,
the Penn State Undergraduate
Admissions Office website noti
fied more than 700 prospective
students that they had been
accepted to the university
The Penn State
Undergraduate Admissions
Office removed the messages
from MyPennState after appli
cants questioned the results,
Penn State spokeswoman
Annemarie Mountz said.
But messaged applicants
should not take the removals
from the website as bad news:
Mountz said the acceptances
would be honored despite the
mistake.
Applications to Penn State
University Park as a first choice
and those requesting admission
at a Commonwealth Campus as a
A few hours after Rajotte spoke
about bed bugs, State College
Police Chief Tom King updated
the council about a new project
designed to target crime in the
Highlands neighborhood.
The Neighborhood
Enforcement and Alcohol Team
established last August assigned
two police officers and two Penn
State student auxiliary officers to
patrol the Highlands neighbor
hood on Thursdays, Fridays and
Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
By having the same officers sta
tioned around the area every
1991 after being found guilty of
first degree murder with evidence
of only testimonials from nine wit
nesses seven of which have
since recanted their statements.
TUESDAY, OCT. 12, 2010 I
first choice will be honored for
students who received notices,
and would have been accepted
regardless, Mountz said.
Acceptance notifications for
students who selected University
Park as a first choice but were
referred to a Commonwealth
Campus will not be honored.
Instead, these applicants may or
may not be accepted to
University Park in the coming
months. If they are not, admis
sion will be given to a
Commonwealth Campus, Mountz
said.
She stressed that computers
do not decide admissions results
applications must be organ
ized according to admissions cri
teria to streamline the process.
"Believe it or not, people go
through all these applications
individually," Mountz said.
The acceptance notifications
were sent when the admissions
office computer systems began a
process that should not start until
Nov. 1. The computers organize
applicant data according to
major, standardized test scores
and other criteria, Mountz said.
The admissions office will get
in contact with applicants who
received the message as soon as
possible, Mountz said.
Since his acceptance has been
confirmed, Treser said he can
breathe a sigh of relief.
To e-mail reporter: mjhsso7@psu.edu
weekend, a level of consistency
and ownership to the neighbor
hood is maintained, he said.
One aspect of the project, "pre
party contacts, - involves officers
offering partygoers flyers about
responsibility before they begin to
consume alcohol, he said.
King said decreases in thefts
and fights have been observed in
the area since the start of the proj
ect and said he plans to expand
NEAT to the Holmes-Foster
neighborhood.
To e-mail reporter: arms373@psu.edu
Kelsey Morris/Collegian
A student lights a candle at a vigil
against capital punishment.