This will be, in all likelihood, the last time that Penn State offers a class on "Joe Paterno, Communications, and the Media," otherwise known as COMM 497G, but if this was its final semester, it's going out with a bang. Today, Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski and Yahoo's Pat Forde spoke on how the media handled this story. To read what they had to say, check out student tweets, mine included, from the class.
After 62 years, 409 wins, 2 national championships, millions of dollars donated, one library, and countless lives touched, Joe Paterno is going out in the worst possible way. After a lengthy private meeting, Penn State's Board of Trustees announced in a press conference late Wednesday that Joe Paterno, the face of a university, and perhaps of college football, would not be able to leave this football team on his own terms.
In January of 2010, Penn State hired Cynthia Baldwin as the university's full-time general counsel and chief legal officer. This wouldn't have been notable, if it weren't for the fact that she was the first in-house lawyer the university ever had. Before Baldwin, Penn State relied on Wendell Courtney, an attorney in the Central Pennsylvania law firm of McQuaide-Blasko, for most of its legal work. In addition to serving as primary counsel for the university, he also did work, pro bono, for The Second Mile charity.
Multiple sources have informed Onward State that Penn State President Graham Spanier announced on Monday a 1% raise for all faculty members. It is believed, but not yet confirmed, that the raise was a university-wide one, extending from professors "down to janitors and grounds crew."
Even before this sordid affair began, we had our doubts. Could the 84-year old, who's spent more time up in the press box than down on the field, really demand a contract extension? Deep down, we'd all been wondering whether this would be Joe Paterno's last year. But now, I think it's safe to say, we know it will be.
If it was a heavyweight battle then, I'm not sure what you'd call it now. But although the power struggle between the man labeled its leader and the man who enjoys that perception may appear inconsequential, it looms large over how the university has responded to the allegations that have shocked a nation.