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The woman who stood up to Joe Paterno
CNN ^ | July 15th, 2012 | Ann O'Neill

Posted on 07/16/2012 4:36:36 PM PDT by Third Person

(CNN) -- Vicky Triponey knows all too well the power Penn State's late football coach, Joe Paterno, held for more than half a century over the insular slice of central Pennsylvania that calls itself Happy Valley.

She experienced firsthand the clubby, jock-snapping culture, the sense of entitlement, the cloistered existence. It's what drove her five years ago from her job as the vice president who oversaw student discipline. She was told she was too aggressive, too confrontational, that she wasn't fitting in with "the Penn State way."

She clashed often with Paterno over who should discipline football players when they got into trouble. The conflict with such an iconic figure made her very unpopular around campus. For a while, it cost Triponey her peace of mind and her good name. It almost ended her 30-year academic career.

Another person might have felt vindicated, smug or self-righteous when former FBI Director Louis Freeh delivered the scathing report on his eight-month investigation of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal.

The inquiry, commissioned by the board of trustees, exposed how the personal failings of Paterno and three other Penn State leaders -- along with the university's football-first culture -- empowered an assistant football coach who molested fatherless boys for more than a decade.

"There's no joy," Triponey told CNN as she sat down for an interview Friday, the day after the Freeh report was released. She said she found solace in the public recognition of Penn State's "culture of reverence for the football program," as the report phrased it, and that it is "ingrained at all levels of the campus community." Freeh found that the culture contributed to the Sandusky scandal.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: athletics; discipline; psu; sandusky
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To: Third Person
Vicky Triponey experienced firsthand the clubby, jock-snapping culture, the sense of entitlement, the cloistered existence. It's what drove her five years ago from her job as the vice president who oversaw student discipline. She was told she was too aggressive, too confrontational, that she wasn't fitting in with "the Penn State way."

Great, now feminism is trying to get some mileage off of the Paterno scandal.

Listen, lady, it's not about you, okay? Jocks are jocks everywhere, and who's to say there weren't serious problems with your behavior, in addition to Paterno? Generalizing the Paterno story into an anti-jock screed IS abusing your power, but can you even see that anymore? Or are you too far gone?

Like all feminists, your problem is hating men. It's a mental illness you refuse to deal with, and instead choose to try to politicize and destroy millions of good people over, and enslave the rest.

You're sick. Get help before you hurt any more men with the lies and bureaucratic power you use as your weapon.

41 posted on 07/16/2012 6:56:01 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Lurker
F*** Joe Paterno. His lack of decisive action enabled a serial pedophile to rape children for decades.

Corrected in light of the conclusion made in the Freeh report.

42 posted on 07/16/2012 7:34:23 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Literals will believe anything.)
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To: lightman
Maybe a rookie guard will give him his shoestrings back. Those things make a great noose.
43 posted on 07/16/2012 7:58:11 PM PDT by Jay Redhawk (Stevens, Remington, and Mossberg all make good zombie blasters.)
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To: Jay Redhawk

We can only hope for some “jailhouse justice”.

“Accidents” happen.


44 posted on 07/16/2012 8:01:21 PM PDT by lightman (Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini--nevertheless, Vote Santorum!)
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To: Student0165
Back then, you couldn't drive around Athens with your windows down, lest someone might toss a diploma in your lap.

Her name was indeed Jan Kemp. She sued UGA and won. Today, as a Ga Tech grad, I freely admit that UGA has become an outstanding academic school.

45 posted on 07/16/2012 8:07:46 PM PDT by Hoodat ("As for God, His way is perfect" - Psalm 18:30)
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To: mass55th
Before setting him on fire, they should figure out a way to clone him, and then kill his clones, set them on fire, and feed them to dogs, too. They also should raze the entire campus, bulldoze it over, and then use it as a nuclear waste dump site.

Am I being too lenient here?

46 posted on 07/16/2012 8:12:18 PM PDT by Hoodat ("As for God, His way is perfect" - Psalm 18:30)
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To: Third Person
She clashed often with Paterno over who should discipline football players when they got into trouble. The conflict with such an iconic figure made her very unpopular around campus.

This sickens me. For decades, Paterno was billed as this staunch by-the-rules disciplinarian who ran a clean program. We now find out that Paterno makes Jackie Sherrill look like Bear Bryant.

47 posted on 07/16/2012 8:15:59 PM PDT by Hoodat ("As for God, His way is perfect" - Psalm 18:30)
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To: Hoodat
"Am I being too lenient here?"

You're just an old softy ;-)

48 posted on 07/16/2012 8:22:31 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: MinorityRepublican

LOL, nice!


49 posted on 07/16/2012 9:04:03 PM PDT by mbennett203 ("Bulrog, a tough brute ninja who has dedicated his life to eradicating the world from hippies.")
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To: Lurker

A deep look suggests that the president of the university at the time, Graham Spanier, who is a big LGBT promoter, likely gave the whole thing a wink and a nod, and swept it under the rug for another 10 years.


50 posted on 07/17/2012 3:00:19 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Hoodat

Hoodat, that was too funny. “...lest someone might toss a diploma in your lap.” LOL.


51 posted on 07/17/2012 6:52:24 AM PDT by Student0165 ("If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: FreedomPoster
A deep look suggests that the president of the university at the time, Graham Spanier, who is a big LGBT promoter, likely gave the whole thing a wink and a nod, and swept it under the rug for another 10 years.

I sincerely hope there are multiple counts of aiding and abetting in his future. The thought of that creep spending the rest of his life doing hard time warms my black heart.

52 posted on 07/17/2012 8:15:27 AM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is, it is the only answer.)
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To: Hoodat
Back then, you couldn't drive around Athens with your windows down, lest someone might toss a diploma in your lap.

OMG, funniest thing I've read in a long time, thanks!

53 posted on 07/17/2012 10:45:24 AM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (ABO)
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To: Student0165
Same thing happened to Jan Kemp (I think that was her name) when she blew the whistle on the athlete grade fixing priorities at UGA in the 1980’s. She was crucified.

As we said at UF when I was there, "Let the Big Dawg Read."

54 posted on 07/17/2012 10:48:08 AM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: Talisker; Third Person

If you find and read any of the lengthy and detailed reports of Triponey’s run-ins with Paterno, you’ll know she had some specific issues with the football program and Paterno, and not jocks in general.


55 posted on 07/17/2012 3:27:19 PM PDT by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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