STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Before Lauren Davis finished writing her editorial about Joe Paterno for The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student-run newspaper, she braced for the response.
The piece she wrote, an editorial reflecting the opinion of about a dozen editors at the paper, said the university “needed a reality check” after it announced plans to commemorate Paterno at the Penn State-Temple football game Saturday, when it will host a celebration of his first game as coach of the Nittany Lions, 50 years earlier.
Davis, the opinions editor, wrote that it’s not the right time or the right way to honor Paterno when current students associate him with Jerry Sandusky, a longtime assistant coach who was found to be a serial child molester.