As much as we enjoy our independence, sometime it helps to have the University’s resources behind you. They simply have power that we don’t.

At first, students were quite wary of the position that Paternoville was put in by the administration and/or athletics department. (Recall that the Paternoville Coordination Committee was created in 2006 by Jordan Cascino. It was forced into existence by “Penn State University’s unilateral decision to restrict camping.”)

With a few years of perspective, we can see that the repercussions have not been wholly bad. The most obvious plus is that Paternoville still exists (to be sure, the University would have been dumb to eliminate such a nice PR piece). The work of the PCC also gave students the ability to use wrist-bands to preserve their spot in line while they returned their camping gear before the game began.

The most recent yield  of the PCC’s creation was announced quietly this week through the athletics department’s social media presence. Paternoville is now equipped with power outlets.

Now the power outlets aren’t officially available for any use. On their website, president Alex Cohen said that,

When tents go up for the week, campers will be allowed to charge their air pumps for air mattresses. Also, campers may be allowed to use their laptop charger at these towers. However, any use beyond that is strictly prohibited. On Saturdays, the stadium staff will power their ID card scanners from these towers.

But let’s be serious– will that be enforced? The urge for a midnight rendition of Zombie Nation on legit speakers might just be too hard too resist…

Want to know more about Paternoville? Here’s a PowerPoint of the rules and regulations, a nice history of Paternoville, and an interview with the PCC president. Also, follow the Twitter account.