About 40 Allies and Black Caucus members yesterday protested the April 18 decision to keep Rene Portland as head coach of the Lady Lions basketball team and fine her $10,000. They tried to deliver a letter to Penn State President Graham Spanier's office and were denied access by a locked door, but they slipped the letter under the door anyway.

Before marching to Old Main, the groups rallied on the ground floor of the HUB-Robeson Center, waving signs that said "Fines are for littering and overdue library books" and "no more foul play," and chanting "two, four, six, eight, no more Rene, no more hate."

Speaking into a microphone, Allies President Ed Rowe said the fine wouldn't punish Portland.

"I'm thinking the $10,000 fine doesn't hurt since she endows a scholarship for $5,000," he said. "What's the price of discrimination and ruining the lives of women students? Ten thousand dollars?"

Black Caucus President Darryl Watson said his group held several rallies and meetings against hatred but saw no change on campus.

"Nothing is being done," he said. "Jen Harris is not going away, and we have her back. Hate is too real at Penn State, and we must make sure this doesn't continue to happen."

Harris is the former Lady Lion who said Portland discriminated against her based on perceived sexual orientation.

When the students were prevented from entering Spanier's office inside Old Main, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Michael Gilbert offered to take the letter or to escort Rowe inside to Spanier's administrative assistant.

But Rowe said he didn't trust Gilbert to deliver the letter and demanded all students, not " just the two white folks," enter the office.

Because of the locked door, several university administrators and staff members could not enter their offices and listened to the students sitting outside Spanier's office chanting "let us in" for more than 20 minutes.

Then, the students passed around a bullhorn and took turns reading parts of the letter.

When Rowe questioned Gilbert about who locked the door, Gilbert said he wasn't authorized to unlock the door and refused to answer Rowe's questions.

To get an answer, the students walked across the hallway and entered the office of Vicky Triponey, vice president for student affairs.

Triponey said she was authorized by Spanier to accept the letter on his behalf and told the students to leave the building.

Instead, Rowe slid a copy of the letter underneath the locked door and called an administrative assistant on his cell phone to collect the letter.

On the ground floor of Old Main, the protesters exchanged angry words with two men holding a sign that read "Stop Bitching in the U.S.A." on one side and the word "protesters" next to a swastika on the other.

The two men said they were not Penn State students but graduated from high school and lived in State College their whole lives. They refused to state their names because they feared being the target of violence from the community.

"I got tired of all the complaining," one man said. "What good does an angry mob do? They say they're protesting peacefully, but they have police at their protests. If it hadn't been for the police, I might've gotten beaten up."

Clad in a spiked necklace and a Marilyn Manson T-shirt, the other man said college students frequently target him for his appearance.

"They dislike people who are different than they are," he said.

Penn State University Police Assistant Director Tyrone Parham, who was present at the protest, said although the protest was loud, there were no incidents or disturbances.

"We were just a presence to make sure everyone's freedom of speech was observed," he said.

Leaving the two men behind, the protesting students moved outside to the Old Main steps. Rowe spoke into a bullhorn, saying Portland should be fired and anything less would be unsatisfactory.

"The precedence should be: If you ruin students' lives, you don't pay a fine. You're gone," he said.