The Daily Collegian
Alumna
shares
lifestoiy
By Micah Wintner
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Joanne Finegan told a crowd of
nearly 70 students that at the age of
six, she fell but wasn’t able to get
up.
Finegan, Class of 1983. said she
was diagnosed with Legg-Calve-
Perthe syndrome, causing the ball
of her hip to disintegrate.
But Flnegan’s bone grew back,
and she was able to walk without a
brace again.
It was this experience that led
Finegan to a life dedicated to help
ing physically and mentally dis
abled people, she said.
Finegan spoke as part of an event
presented by the College of Health
and Human Development Alumni
Society's Distinguished Alumni
Speaker Series.
“I hope it will push each of you to
capture what makes you unique and
different," Finegan told the audi
ence.
Finegan is currently the chief
Simmons officials talk safety concerns
By Casey McDermott
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
After another trespassing incident
in the second-floor Simmons Hall
women's restrooms was reported to
Penn State Police early Thursday
morning, Residence Life officials
held an "urgent" meeting with the
building's residents to address safety
concerns.
Officer Ryan French told students
that a female student said she saw a
man “slink" into the shower area of a
women's restroom at about 3 a m.
while she and her friend were in the
bathroom.
The two said they noticed he was
holding a recording device and tiying
to take pictures or videotape the area
and confronted him. police said. At
that point, the students said the man
left “hurriedly" down the hall, police
said.
Police arrived on the scene within
several minutes and began search-
ing both inside and outside of the
building, but they weren't able to find
the man. French said.
French said the students
described the man as pale with dark
hair, college-aged, slender, and about
5-feet-8 to 5-feet-10.
Yesterday's incident is the newest
of four reported cases of trespassing
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Joanne Finegan, Class of 1983 and CEO of ReMed Recovery Care Centers
speaks to a group of students Thursday night about recreational therapy.
executive officer and managing
partner of ReMed Recovery Care
Centers. Finegan told the audience
a story about a man she called her
"hardest" patient: Rob.
Rob was an introverted amputee
with little hobbies or interests.
Finegan tried and failed at convers
ing with Rob, but finally got through
to him by inviting him along on a car
ride, which he quickly accepted.
Rob was happy to leave the reha
bilitation center, Finegan said.
After slowly forming a friendship
with Rob. Finegan said that one day
she brought out a special sports
chair that he started to race in.
After refusing to interact with
on the all-girls floor of Simmons Hall
since Monday morning. But after
knocking on doors in the building.
French said students told police
about several other similar incidents
that happened over the past month.
French said he w'as not able to pro
vide any details about the incidents
outside of the past week's. The first
case this week occurred between
midnight and 1 a.m. Monday, police
said, when a female student said she
saw a man in the shower area after
she was exiting the shower. About an
hour later, police said another female
student reported she saw an uniden
tifiable individual peering through
the slats of a bathroom door.
On Tuesday, another female stu
dent said she saw a man in a
women's restroom between mid
night and 1 a.m.. police said.
Also at Thursday's meeting with
Simmons residents was Residence
Life Coordinator Jared Hammond,
who said he would be following up
with, another e-mail telling students
w hat was discussed at the meeting.
On Monday. Hammond sent an e
mail to all residents of Simmons Hall
telling them about one incident of
trespassing. But additional e-mails
were not sent when the other inci
dents were reported this week.
And Carolyn Harpster
others. Finegan said Rob had found
a new passion and friends who
shared that passion with him.
Finegan said Rob taught her
never to give up on a patient.
Deven Spitler. a ROTC student,
said Finegan's work in 2008 with
disabled soldiers resonated with
him.
“It was pretty cool." Spitler (jun
ior-recreation. park and tourism
management ' said. “That could be
me one day."
Finegan said she loves her career
and hopes students find something
they are passionate about.
To .-.-mail re
dent of Simmons said she didn't
hear about any incidents m her build
ing until Thursday morning.
“1 woke up and had a text from my
triend who lives in East Halls who
read an article about it asking me.
'Are you okay?' " Harps'er (fresh
man-public relations) said. “And 1
kind o! freaked out because the sto
ries were scary, and all week I had
been in the bathroom late at night."
When asked why students weren't
notified of tie multiple incidents in
the building w given more details.
Hammond a
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was okuv :_t
and did not want to aiarm more peo
ple than necessary. Hammond also
said that residence staff is in “con
stant comnewieaiion" with both
police and Simmons residents.
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773@psu,edu
Office Hours:
Mon-Fri 8:30-5
ESSES Sat 11 -4
gnrealty.com -119 S. Burrowes St- (814)238-1878
Diversity discussion
explores race issues
By Vera Greene
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Steve Roberts went through his entire high school career
without working on a group project with a black person.
Out of a school of 4.000 students, there were nine black
people enrolled throughout his four years there, he said. So
when Roberts 'junior-economics and finance) came to
Penn State, he was shocked at its diversity.
On Thursday night. 19 students discussed issues of race
on the Penn State campus with student leaders.
From 7 to y p.m. in the Cultural Lounge at Waring
Commons, University Park Undergraduate Association
President Christian Ragland. Penn State NAACP President
Travis Salters, and Johnnie Geathers, diversity chair for the
Association of Residence Hall Students, hosted a “What’s
Race Got To Do With It?” forum to talk about race, culture
and experiences at Penn State specifically.
Salters said when he first came to Penn State he was a
nervous wreck.
After his family and friends told him that the school was
fairly racist and 'full of hatred," Salters wasn’t sure what to
expect.
But, when he got here and experienced it himself, his per
ception changed.
"I realized people weren't walking around with white
hoods." Salters; 'junior-broadcast journalism and African
and African-American studies) said.
Although, he said, going by numbers and statistics, Penn
State isn’t diverse.
Ragland said he went to Penn State knowing he was
going to be a minority.
Even when he came for a campus tour, he was the only
black person in his group but he didn't care.
Instead, he said, he cares about people, communication
and being race-free.
Ragland said he wasn't atttending the meeting as the stu
dent body president but instead as a student who wants to
think critically about issues that many college campuses
may lace, like race and diversity.
Race relations and sometimes self-imposed segrega
tion - - at Penn Slate is apparent all over campus, Geathers
(senior-human development and family studies) said.
"Just look at liu HUB." he said. "From 11 to 2 you can
walk in and see ali the African Americans together in a
group and the white people all together."
But. Ragland said, ultimately, at the end of the day. he
sees himself as a human being, and people should be
defined by what they do. not by what color or culture they
are.
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Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 I
To e nai! reporter: vhgsoo3@psu.edu
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