John Harvey, the news adviser for The Daily Collegian, was fired yesterday.

According to a public Facebook group created by editor-in-chief Emeritus Terry Casey,

The Collegian has been looking to make cuts, but this was not a financial decision. It was a personal attack on the man who ran the country’s best training program for college newspapers.

The group’s explanation for the dismissal of John Harvey is that it was engineered by general manager Gerry Hamilton. Collegian alums claim that Gerry has had a “vendetta” against John for years and that the timing of the action was underhanded.

But the grievances against Gerry go deeper than just this incident. Explains Andrew Staub, former managing editor of content,

Let’s face it, the Collegian has been failing financially under Gerry’s reign as general manager, long before the current recession set in.

From 2001-02 to 2007-08, The Daily Collegian lost money five out of seven years, sometimes approaching losses of nearly $100,000.

This past year, the Collegian again lost a significant amount of money, lessened only by cowardly student scholarship cuts and layoffs. More scholarship cuts are coming next year.

Former writers and editors are speaking out in significant volume against the dismissal, and the group has only been active for less than a day. Many group members are saying that John Harvey was the most integral part of their education at Penn State.

An emergency Board of Directors meeting will be held today, according to a group member. Terry Casey confirmed in a separate comment that the board’s president is allowed to call emergency meetings according to the bylaws.

Let us know if you have anything to add to the story.