In a mix of education and activism, hundreds of students gathered on the Old Main lawn yesterday afternoon to wave signs and hear political speeches.

The event, called the “March for Democracy,” featured six speakers and a group of actors. The audience followed the speakers as they walked from Old Main lawn to the HUB lawn and back.

Sam Richards, a senior lecturer in sociology who helped organize the march, called the gathering a “classroom without walls,” and many of the students were there as part of an assignment in one of his classes.

But among messages about how big businesses control the government, cheering students gave the event the feel of a political rally.

“This march is about coming together and talking about ways in which we can empower ourselves,” Richards told the crowd through a bullhorn. “The system can change . . . It has changed in the past and it will change in the future.”

Speakers encouraged students to participate more in government, wrestling control away from the rich and spreading it among everyone equally.

“You may feel like the minority,” said Ken Clarke, director for the Penn State Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs. “But it has always been the creative minorities, as Martin Luther King, Jr., reminds us, who are at the vanguard of significant social and spiritual change.”

Speakers focused on progressive political ideas, including some of the same issues that led to anti-corporation protests recently in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

At least one local Green Party candidate was at the march, passing out fliers.

Meanwhile, students held up cardboard signs with messages such as “Human need not corporate greed,” “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” and “Democracy kicks ass.”

Richards said it was the first time he’s led a march like this for a class, but said there are already plans for another one.

Students’ reactions to the event ranged from wild enthusiasm to begrudging attendance to get the grade.

“I thought it was a good idea,” said Michelle Boyd (sophomore-elementary education). “They gave a lot of information. But I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t for my class.”

Many spoke highly of Richards and his sociology classes about racism and social injustices. Several students ran to him after the rally to give him a hug.

“Even if I didn’t have him as a teacher, I would go listen to him speak as much as possible,” said Mark Stern (junior-human development and family studies).

Although some of the speakers emphasized international issues, such as U.S. relations with China, they found plenty to get upset about at Penn State and in State College.

Andy Shubin, a local American Civil Liberties Union attorney, addressed the students about free speech. He mentioned a person who police cited last week for wearing a shirt with an expletive on it. The shirt apparently had a message critical of oil companies.

“Let’s engage in a little first amendment exercise,” Shubin suggested. “I’d like you all to repeat after me: Fuck petrol!”

The crowd did.

“Congratulations,” Shubin said. “You’ve all engaged in an act of civil disobedience.”

The rally’s final speaker was Barbara Anderson, director of the Penn State Center for Sustainability. She said people can improve society if they care strongly about a cause.

“I truly believe love is one of the most powerful motivators for change,” she said, just before leading students in a chorus of “America the Beautiful.”

Although an extensive debate between Pennsylvania State University Judicial Affairs and Olivia Guevara ended last week, the motives behind her prosecution are still being questioned. (more…)

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As Penn State University President Graham Spanier prepared to offer his annual State of the University address to an audience in the school’s Eisenhower Auditorium eight days ago, a line of nine students stood and turned their backs on him. (more…)

STATE COLLEGE (AP) — A computer engineering major at Pennsylvania State University who helped hang a protest banner outside a National Governors Association reception on campus faced defiant trespass charges that were later dropped.

But Justin Leto was placed on deferred suspension by the university’s Judicial Affairs Office. He is among several students voicing concern that the state’s largest university doles out swift punishment to some — whether or not they are convicted of anything in court — while the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback Rashard Casey faces assault charges in New Jersey and no discipline on campus.

“We think they’re going to bend over backward to find Rashard Casey innocent. But they’ll do whatever it takes to find other people guilty,” Leto said.

Other critics of the university’s student justice system say it rushes cases through a process that does not ensure Fifth Amendment rights or that they be represented by attorneys.

“The law’s clear. The university can act to discipline students, and their Fifth Amendment rights don’t have to be applied when the students are going through that disciplinary process,” said Andrew Shubin, a State College lawyer representing three students cleared of charges in connection with hanging the banner more than two months ago.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s wise or fair,” Shubin said.

Casey was charged May 14 with assault in an attack on an off-duty police officer outside a bar in Hoboken, N.J. Police say Casey and another man kicked the victim until he was unconscious. Casey denies the charges. University spokesman William Mahon said Penn State’s disciplinary system is fair, and has received “overwhelming” approval from students who have faced it.

“The system’s a good system, in place for many years,” Mahon said.

Complaints about how the university has handled Casey’s case emerged when students arrested early July 16 for what authorities called “riotous behavior” found themselves quickly facing suspensions before their cases went to court.

That night 28 people — including 18 Penn State students — were arrested after a mini-riot near the campus at the conclusion of the annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

Two years ago some 1,500 students gathered as rioters during the same festival, and set bonfires, tore down light posts, battered storefronts and injured more than a dozen police officers.

July’s melee was smaller, with the most serious charge aggravated assault for throwing a rock at a police officer. Most were accused of failure to disperse and resisting arrest.

Of 11 students disciplined by Penn State for their roles in the mini-riot, five were suspended for a year or given probation. The other six are appealing their punishments, including suspensions.

One of those, Martin Austermuhle, is a senior majoring in international politics who is attending Penn State on a student visa. He said he was charged with failure to disperse, though he wasn’t a rioter. His case has yet to go to court.

Penn State suspended him for a year. He could lose his visa and be sent home to Costa Rica.

“I’m willing to take a penalty, but this indirect deportation is too much,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Mahon said the university met with police and viewed videotapes. “I’m not surprised that some people facing discipline would have complaints,” he said.

Others support the university’s swift action, particularly in light of the riot two years ago.

“The riot is troubling because it happened two times now, and we don’t want it becoming part of the culture,” said Peter Marshall, manager of State College Borough.

In light of recent violence and threats to federal judges, the possibility of threats on local judges and attorneys has caused some concern, but most officials agree that Centre County doesn’t have a serious problem. (more…)

BELLEFONTE, PA – (July 19, 2000) Misdemeanor and summary charges filed against 15 anti-death penalty protestors arrested on July 9 at the National Governors Association meeting were dismissed at a preliminary hearing in the District Court of Centre County this afternoon. Centre County District Attorney, Ray Gricar, who personally prosecuted the case, was unable to convince District Justice Daniel Hoffman that the state had enough evidence to proceed with a trial against the 15 activists. State Troopers arrested the members of Pennsylvania Abolitionists on a public roadway leading to the conference center where the governors were meeting. The charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway carried a maximum penalty of 15 months in prison.

Officer Kenneth Epfield of the Pennsylvania State Police, who supervised the arrests, was the sole witness for the prosecution. He stated that the individuals in the group marched in a single file line along the shoulder of the road leading to the conference center bound together with a chain and locks. Epfield testified that State Troopers formed a line on the roadway, blocking the berm and an entire traffic lane. As the individuals neared the police officers, Epfield ordered one of the protestors at the front of the line to not block the roadway. As the demonstrators stepped onto the road, Epfield stated that within seconds he informed them that they were under arrest and that troopers encircled the protesters and moved them onto the berm by “pushing, pulling, and dragging.”

Andy Shubin, a Centre County criminal defense and civil rights attorney representing the abolitionists, asserted that it was not the protesters who blocked the roadway but the police standing in the way of the Penn Stater Hotel Conference Center. Under cross-examination, Epfield acknowledged that several cars drove by the scene during the arrest and were not impeded by the disturbance.

Justice Hoffman agreed with the defense and commuted the misdemeanor obstruction charges to a summary offense. The judge then informed the defendants that if they entered a guilty plea to the summary charge, he would give them a minimal fine of $25 plus court costs; if they refused the offer, they would immediately move from the preliminary proceedings into a trial on the summary charge. None of the defendants was willing to accept the deal, and Shubin informed the judge that he was not prepared to move to trial and would not represent the abolitionists in such a trial. Facing the prospect of 15 pro se activist-defendants, Justice Hoffman decided to dismiss all the charges against the abolitionists.

“These people were here to express their opinion about the death penalty and expressing it in the best tradition of our democracy,” Shubin said following the preliminary hearing.

District Attorney Ray Gricar said that he felt the case was solid and did not understand the reasoning behind the judge’s decision. Gricar is urging the State Police to refile the charges and so that he may begin new proceedings against the abolitionists. Gricar is a staunch supporter of executions in Pennsylvania.

Shubin scored another NGA-related protest victory in the same courtroom earlier in the day when charges were dismissed against five Penn State students who were arrested on July 10th for refusing to take down a banner when the governors visited the university. The students were members of Redirection 2000, a group protesting the domination of the NGA by private corporations “hosting” the meetings and the total banning of citizen groups from the event.

UNIVERSITY PARK — Three Penn State students will learn within five days whether they will be held responsible and punished for charges stemming from a protest on the Osmond Laboratory balcony in July. (more…)

The First Amendment debate surrounding The Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter’s charges in connection with the Oct. 25 riot spilled over into a Centre County courtroom Wednesday, months after the charges were first filed. (more…)

By Mandy Hofmockel

Penn State Judicial Affairs will not sanction The Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter after he was charged in connection with the Oct. 25 riot, a result his attorney said showed the university “understood the prominent First Amendment issues involved.” (more…)

By Mandy Hofmockel
Collegian Staff Writer

All charges against Daily Collegian photographer Michael Felletter were withdrawn Wednesday morning, ending for now a case that began with the Oct. 25 riots and escalated into a First Amendment debate. (more…)