By Peter Goldberger and Anna Durbin

The forum held in Marshall Auditorium on Friday evening, September 4, provided an opportunity for students to air some of their questions about legal issues arising in the wake of the previous night’s State Police “alcohol awareness” raid on an indoor-outdoor party at Lloyd Hall. As career criminal defense lawyers and longtime friends of Haverford College (one of us an alum from the Class of 1971 and the other an experienced local attorney for many arrested students over the last decade), we were invited to participate in the forum as legal resources. This op-ed shares some of what we had to say. The reader must understand, however, that all of the information in this column is necessarily very general and superficial; it is no substitute for individual, confidential legal counseling, tailored to the facts and circumstances of a particular person’s situation.

(more…)

From the Altoona Mirror

Penn State Altoona freshman Acacia Kelley has a good idea how an underage drinking citation could affect her life.  School expulsion, future career plans, the 18-year-old rattled off as she balanced a laptop on her legs while sitting on a campus bench Wednesday afternoon.

“My mom wouldn’t be too happy with me,” she said. “I try to be smart about that stuff.”

Beside criminal charges and disappointed parents, college students caught drinking while under age also face consequences at school.

(more…)

STATE COLLEGE — Remember the fallout surrounding the student-created holiday “State Patty’s Day” in February?

Bars attracted a lot of students during State Patty’s Day, but also the attention of liquor control enforcement.

(more…)

On Oct. 25 last year, thousands of students rushed into Beaver Canyon to celebrate Penn State’s victory over rival Ohio State.

We didn’t know it, but the First Amendment was on the line.

(more…)

July 27, 2009

PENNSYLVANIA — A photographer at Pennsylvania State University’s Daily Collegian was cleared of his remaining failure to disperse charge July 22 in a pre-trial motion after he was arrested last fall while covering a post-football-game riot.

(more…)

Centre Daily Times

STATE COLLEGE — Council on Monday began to look at a “nuisance gathering ordinance” intended to give police a new way to cite hosts with summary offenses if their guests break the law.

(more…)

Andrew Shubin, a private attorney acting on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), attended Felletter’s Judicial Affairs conference Wednesday and said the university issued no sanctions and found no violations against the photographer.

Shubin, a member of the Board of Directors for the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the ACLU, called the decision “an excellent result and the correct result.”

(more…)

Sara Ganim – sganim@centredaily.com
Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009
A Daily Collegian photographer charged with inciting revelers during the October downtown State College riot has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a judge.

Michael Felletter had fought the two misdemeanor charges — filed by police who said his pictures were making the crowd act more rowdy and that he did not leave the scene when police ordered — on First Amendment grounds.

“In the U.S., we don’t arrest the press for covering major events and protests,” said Felletter’s attorney, Andy Shubin, who called the case “doomed from the beginning.”

(more…)

In a college community where 65% of all crimes after 8:00 p.m. are known to be alcohol fueled, identifying the supplier of alcohol becomes a critical component to effective enforcement.  In State College Borough, home to 40,000 Penn State University students, fighting underage drinking is a constant battle.  A little over a year ago, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board provided the borough with the financial resources — $80,000 — to focus on identifying those persons illegally supplying alcohol to people underage.

(more…)

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board gave State College Borough $80,000 about a year ago to initiate an 18-month pilot program aimed at getting to the source of  underage drinking.  State College’s program is winding down (please read story below), and the Borough has crafted a manual with strategies and advice for implementing an effective Source Investigation Program (SIP).

(more…)