Political Rally Planned for Old Main Lawn

Several local groups will join forces Friday afternoon for a political rally on the Old Main Lawn, the groups announced.

Scheduled for 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., the event will spotlight Occupy Penn State — a local outgrowth of the Occupy Wall Street movement — and an upcoming State College borough referendum.

The referendum, to appear on the Nov. 8 ballot, centers partly on a proposed local bill of environmental rights. It also will ask voters to decide on a proposed gas-drilling ban in the borough.

Friday’s rally is formally dubbed ‘The 99 Percent for Community Rights and Fracking Ban Rally.’ Its hosts are Groundswell, the political group behind the borough referendum; the Sierra Club Moshannon Group; Eco-Action; and Occupy Penn State.

The rally is expected to take shape on the Old Main Lawn’s southern end, closest to East College Avenue.

Occupy Penn State, an emerging activist voice on economic-equity issues, has maintained an ‘occupation’ in the university’s HUB-Robeson Center all week.

Earlier coverage

• Proposed Gas-Drilling Ban, Environmental-Rights Question Set for State College Ballot (Aug. 30, 2011)

• PHOTOS: Occupy Wall Street Movement Reaches Penn State (Oct. 19, 2011)