The Nittany Turkey

Primarily about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Ready, Folks? (Updated)

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Just a reminder of today’s schedule.

At 9:00 AM the Freeh Report will be released to the public. A PDF version of the report in its entirety will be available at www.TheFreehReportonPSU.com. (NOTE: Predictably, the servers are overloaded, so it might take several tries to get through. While you are waiting, ESPN is reporting that the “long-awaited internal investigation into the Jerry Sandusky [child sexual abuse scandal] says senior leaders disregarded the safety and welfare of his victims.” The report is 267 pages long, so don’t plan on reading it during your morning crapper break, unless you’re as old as this Turkey!)

UPDATE: I’ve posted the report here.

Meanwhile, PSU posted this statement:

Statement from University leadership and the Board of Trustees:

Today with the report released by Judge Louis Freeh, the Penn State Board of Trustees delivered on the commitment we made last November when we engaged Judge Freeh to conduct an independent investigation into the University’s actions regarding former Penn State employee, Jerry Sandusky, and the handling of allegations of the child abuse crimes of which he has since been found guilty.

Judge Freeh and his team conducted a rigorous eight-month investigation into all aspects of the University’s actions to determine where breakdowns occurred and what changes should be made for the future. We, like many others, have eagerly anticipated Judge Freeh’s Report of the findings of his investigation.

His 267-page report has just been released at http://www.TheFreehReportonPSU.com/ and we are currently reviewing his findings and recommendations. We expect a comprehensive analysis of our policies, procedures and controls related to identifying and reporting crimes and misconduct, including failures or gaps that may have allowed alleged misconduct to go undetected or unreported. We will provide our initial response later today.

We want to ensure we are giving the report careful scrutiny and consideration before making any announcements or recommendations. We are convening an internal team comprising the Board of Trustees, University administration and our legal counsel to begin analyzing the report and digesting Judge Freeh’s findings.

As we anticipate the review and approval process will take some time, our initial response and immediate next steps will be presented at 3:30 p.m. at the Dayton/Taylor Conference Room at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center.

These top-line reactions will provide an overview of our process for developing and implementing a plan once we have studied the report and have a better understanding of what it means and how we can implement findings to strengthen Penn State’s role as a leading academic institution and ensure that what occurred will never be allowed to happen again.

At 10:00 AM there will be a press conference in Philadelphia.

I’ll be tied up for part of the morning, but if you happen to read the report and want to comment, please feel free to add comments to this post. I’ll be back later in the day with my take on the Freeh Report after reading it.

Let us hope that the results of this investigation give us some closure, and that they answer more questions than they leave!

Freeh Report Imminent

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANNOUNCEMENT OF JULY 12 PUBLICATION OF REPORT REGARDING THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY AND PRESS CONFERENCE LED BY JUDGE LOUIS FREEH

Philadelphia, PA, July 10, 2012 – Judge Louis Freeh announced today that his report of the investigation into the facts and circumstances of the actions of The Pennsylvania buy xanax online safe State University surrounding the child abuse committed by a former employee, Gerald A. Sandusky, will be published online at 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 12. Judge Freeh will also hold a press conference for members of the media at 10 a.m. EDT on the same day to discuss the findings and recommendations in the report. Judge Freeh and his law firm, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP, were retained in November 2011 on behalf of the Special Investigations Task Force of the Board of Trustees of The Pennsylvania State University to conduct the independent investigation.

The report will be available as a PDF file at www.TheFreehReportonPSU.com.  The publication of the report will be the first time anyone outside of Judge Freeh’s investigative team will in any way receive the report, including The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees and the Special Investigations Task Force.  With the exception of the interim recommendations made by Judge Freeh’s team in January 2012, this will also be the first time the full recommendations will be shared.

A live feed of the press conference will be available to the media through satellite broadcast detailed below. Additionally, a video replay of the press conference will be available to the general public later that day on the same website.

Badgernuity: A Model for the Rest

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We set aside the sordid Sandusky scandal and the summer footballess slump in order to turn to another favorite Turkey whipping boy: the higher education system. However, this time, we lay down the whip and hand out some kudos.

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, best known for his union busting efforts in the public sector and the failed recall attempt at the behest outraged unioners and unionettes, has released a proposal to revamp higher education in his state, which this Turkey hopes is the vanguard of other states’ innovation to modernize curricular delivery and reduce the overall cost of education.

Bloated modern universities pursue a set of conflicting aims with a great deal of inefficiency and dilution of product. If the primary function of most state universities is producing well educated baccalaureates, then their mission has largely failed and has done so at so high a cost as to cause a student loan crisis to boot. Attempts to throw money at the problem by the misguided federal government has only served to exacerbate the problem.

Walker’s proposal, dated June 19, aims to reform public higher education in his state by creating a hybrid model between  on-line and in-class instruction that is self-paced and aims at competency and mastery of material rather than tight time tables. He states:

The unique self-paced, competency-based model will allow students to start classes anytime and earn credit for what they already know.  Students will be able to demonstrate college-level competencies based on material they already learned in school, on the job, or on their own, as soon as they can prove that they know it.  By taking advantage of this high quality, flexibility model, and by utilizing a variety of resources to help pay for their education, students will have new tools to accelerate their careers.  Working together, the UW System, the State of Wisconsin, and other partners can make a high-quality UW college degree significantly more affordable and accessible to substantially more people.

You’re talking my language, Your Excellency!

For more information on the UW Flexible Degree plan, check out this brochure.