Several defaced Undergraduate Student Government campaign posters were photocopied and posted around Pollock Commons and the HUB Basement Friday. An administrator called the comments on the posters intolerant.

The comments ridiculed USG vice presidential candidate Michael LaFlam, a former political co-director of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance, for his sexual orientation. Comments included "fag" and modified the campaign slogan to read "for a gay time call Osborn/LaFlam."

"I wasn't at all surprised," LaFlam (senior-human development and family studies) said. "In fact, I thought there'd be more."

Stan Latta, acting associate division director of Campus Life, said his office received a complaint Friday about a defaced poster, but said the office could take no punitive action because the offender was not identified.

"Unless we actually see someone defacing a poster, it's really hard to do something about it," Latta said.

When defaced fliers appear around campus, Campus Life contacts the Office of Physical Plant and asks the janitorial staff to remove any intolerant fliers they encounter in campus buildings, Latta added.

Defacing or removing a flier that lists a registered student organization as its sponsor and is posted in approved places breaks University conduct codes, Latta said. The poster's comments qualify as intolerant behavior which could increase the punishment, he said.

A perpetrator, if identified, could also be punished under the USG Elections Code, said USG Elections Commissioner Wendy Goldstein. Any registered University student caught defacing campaign posters could be brought up on charges and fined, she added.

While no written complaint was filed about the defaced posters, Goldstein said, USG has received many complaints about campaign posters that have been torn down, posing a problem for candidates who cannot replace them due to campaign spending limits.

LaFlam said he realized when he decided to run that he would encounter harassment because of his sexual orientation and doesn't expect such harassment to hurt his campaign.

"I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I had a chance. You're always going to have opposition to progressive change," LaFlam said, adding that other groups, like women and African-Americans, have also experienced harassment when venturing into mainstream fields like politics.

Running mate Leslie Osborn (senior-advertising) agreed.

"I guess it's to be expected with a campus with such intolerance as Penn State," Osborn said. "I just think it's very sad that we're living in 1991 and things like this are still happening."

LGBSA member Catharine Buck, who said she saw several photocopies of a defaced poster hung around campus, said the posters probably would not harm the LaFlam/Osborn campaign.

"I think people recognize closed-mindedness for what it is," Buck said.