Penn State Eco-Action held a protest at noon yesterday on the Old Main steps to further the Kyoto Now! campaign and to ensure Penn State President Graham Spanier's mailbox will be full today.

The group paraded a half-mile chain of 4,500 letters, each signed by a Penn State student in support of reducing Penn State's greenhouse gas emissions, through the main entrance of Old Main and up the right side of the double staircase before dropping them in front of Spanier's office.

The letters were then stuffed into garbage bags and taken into the office.

"We put them right in the middle of the room, so it's the first thing he sees when he walks in," said Eco-Action President Maura Cowley.

Before taking the letters inside the building, Cowley and Eco-Action Vice President Katie Stoner, armed with a portable microphone, stood on the Old Main steps and told those nearby their intentions and their reasons for the protest.

On April 14, Eco-Action presented a letter to the administration that outlined its concern about the school's climate policy and stressed the need for commitment to a greenhouse gas reduction program.

Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business, responded six days later.

"While your letter requests that we make a commitment to a specific reduction on greenhouse gas emissions, we must be mindful to our duty to satisfy the needs of our faculty/staff and students for adequate facilities," he wrote.

Citing passages from Schultz's response, Cowley and Stoner told passers-by that the administration's answers to their concern were "business as usual" and "insulting."

"Penn State cares about being No. 1 in everything else but the environment," said Stoner.

Although Schultz could not be reached for comment by press time yesterday, Penn State officials were on hand for the event.

"Philosophically, we're on the same page," Steve Maruszewski, deputy associate vice president for Office of Physical Plant,

said. "I think [work is] already being done, and this is just a reminder to make it a priority."

Philip Burlingame, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, said the administration was happy to receive the letters, and he would see to it that the appropriate administrators review them.

While the group's ultimate goal is to cut the school's emissions by 28.4 percent by 2012, it specifically wants to meet with Spanier in the near future .

Penn State's Kyoto Now! campaign is the biggest campaign of its kind in the nation, yet the group has gone two years without a meeting with Spanier, Stoner said.

"We're hoping that this is the final push and we'll finally get a meeting with Graham Spanier in order to reach a tangible goal," said Eco-Action member Jane Dahms (freshman-horticulture).

Following yesterday's festivities, Cowley said she felt optimistic about the group's chances.

"I felt our relationship with the university progressed today," she said, adding that she believes the administration now understands the support behind the movement and might be willing to enter private negotiations.

The group requested it be noted that 100-percent recycled paper was used to print the 4,500 letters.