Penn State

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Ivy League Presidents Face Backlash Over Comments on Israel

Penn president apologizes for focusing too much on free speech policies at House hearing

(Newser) - Presidents of three colleges faced a backlash Wednesday over their answers to questions on campus antisemitism at a hearing in Congress the previous day. The New York Times reports that the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania said they strongly opposed antisemitism and supported Israel's right...

'Super-Rare' Bug Found at Walmart Stuns Experts
'Super-Rare' Bug Found
at Walmart Stuns Experts
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

'Super-Rare' Bug Found at Walmart Stuns Experts

It's the first giant lacewing recorded in eastern North America in half a century

(Newser) - Michael Skvarla, director of Penn State's Insect Identification Laboratory, was examining an insect in front of students over Zoom in the fall of 2020 when he froze. He'd just been explaining that this insect from his personal collection—plucked from the side of an Arkansas Walmart during a...

Before Her Plunge, a Text: 'Something Just Happened'
'Something Just Happened'
Was Final Text. Then She Fell
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

'Something Just Happened' Was Final Text. Then She Fell

Death of Penn State sophomore Justine Gross ruled accidental

(Newser) - Update: Police have ruled out foul play in the death of a Penn State sophomore who fell to her death down an 11-story garbage chute in her off-campus apartment building. Justine Gross' death has been ruled accidental and the case has been closed, the Centre Daily Times reports. Autopsy results...

No More 'Freshmen' or 'Sophomores' at Penn State
No More 'Freshmen' or
'Sophomores' at Penn State
in case you missed it

No More 'Freshmen' or 'Sophomores' at Penn State

Gendered terms will be dropped from course descriptions

(Newser) - Freshmen, underclassmen, and upperclassmen are going to be a thing of the past at Penn State, at least in course descriptions. The Faculty Senate has approved a proposition to remove gendered and binary terms from course and program descriptions as part of a push to use more inclusive language, the...

Penn State Clarifies Alarming Claim on Athlete Health

Team doctor said a third of athletes had heart issue after recovering from virus

(Newser) - Penn State's director of athletic medicine has apologized for causing "confusion" with an alarming claim about athletes who have recovered from COVID-19. Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, who is also the Penn State football team's doctor, said earlier this week that around a third of Big Ten athletes who...

Penn State to Students: You Must Sign This Waiver

The university is forcing students to sign COVID-19 waivers

(Newser) - Penn State students are running into a little hurdle at the school's online portal: a COVID-19 liability waiver. And they have to click "I agree" to get in. "They're basically saying they cannot guarantee our safety," grad student Maggie Hernandez tells Spotlight PA . Penn State...

Mask Policy Has Faculty Up in Arms
Mask Policy
Has Faculty
Up in Arms

Mask Policy Has Faculty Up in Arms

Letter argues Georgia Tech should follow the science of the coronavirus

(Newser) - As a research university with a staff of scientists and engineers, Georgia Tech is an institution that shouldn't ignore the realities of science, faculty members say. More than 800 of them—out of a total of 1,100—have signed a letter complaining about the university's plans to...

Penn State Alum Slams Player's 'Disgusting' Dreads in Letter

Jonathan Sutherland's football coach quickly comes to his defense

(Newser) - After a Penn State alum sent a letter to a Nittany Lions football player criticizing his dreadlocks, the football coach has come out with a strong response. Jonathan Sutherland on Tuesday tweeted an image of the letter he received from Dave Peterson, which said, among other things, that he and...

Penn State Professor Accused of Kidnapping 2 Women

He was moonlighting as an Uber driver

(Newser) - A Penn State professor is accused of putting two women through a terrifying experience while moonlighting as an Uber driver. Police in Pittsburgh say Richard Lomotey, 36, departed from the app's route after picking the two women up around 1:30am Saturday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. He told them...

Pledge Died After a Frat Party. Now Come the Jail Sentences

Dad of late Timothy Piazza: Men were 'individual players in a larger cast, but they knew the script'

(Newser) - Sentencing day has come and gone for four ex-fraternity brothers at Penn State tied to the death of a 19-year-old pledge. Per the Centre Daily Times , Michael Bonatucci, Luke Visser, and Joshua Kurczewski were sentenced Tuesday by Centre County Judge Brian Marshall to minimums behind bars ranging from 30 days...

Police Helicopter Causes Havoc at Tailgate Party

It sent tents flying before Penn State game

(Newser) - State police in Pennsylvania are defending their use of a low-flying helicopter to bring a rowdy Penn State tailgate party under control Saturday. Video shared on social media shows the helicopter sending tents and grills flying as it hovers over the gathering outside Beaver Stadium before the game against Ohio...

1st Frat Brother Sentenced in Penn State Hazing Death Case

Ryan Burke avoids jail, is sentenced to house arrest

(Newser) - A Penn State University fraternity member who plied a pledge with vodka the night he was fatally injured in a series of falls avoided jail time on Tuesday when a judge sentenced him to three months of house arrest, the AP reports. Ryan Burke, the first frat brother sentenced in...

Penn State: Outdoors Too Risky for Outdoors Club

98-year-old group is banned from leading expeditions

(Newser) - Penn State University has banned its near-century-old outdoor recreation club from going outside because it is too dangerous out in the wilderness. The 98-year-old Penn State Outing Club announced last week that the university will no longer allow the club to organize outdoor, student-led trips starting next semester. The university'...

2 Dead in Shooting on College Campus

Police say it was a murder-suicide involving Penn State employee, estranged husband

(Newser) - Two people are dead in what Pennsylvania State Police say was a murder-suicide on a college campus Wednesday, KDKA reports. Police say a female employee at Penn State Beaver was convinced to come outside by her estranged husband, who shot her in a parking lot outside a campus dining hall....

Recovered Video Shows Pledge Given 18 Drinks in 82 Minutes

The police were able to recover deleted video related to Tim Piazza's death

(Newser) - Newly recovered security camera footage from inside a Penn State fraternity house showed a pledge had been given at least 18 drinks in 82 minutes , investigators said Monday in announcing dozens of new charges related to the pledge's death. Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller charged 10 new...

Police Report Sheds Doubt on Paterno's Claims on Sandusky

Alleges Paterno told complainant in 2001 it was the '2nd complaint' he'd heard

(Newser) - It's long been alleged that the late Joe Paterno had been informed about sexual abuse at the hands of Jerry Sandusky decades before the Penn State head coach said he knew. But a Pennsylvania State Police report seen exclusively by CNN appears to strengthen those claims, laying out newly...

Manslaughter, Assault Charges Tossed in Death of Frat Brother

18 members of Penn State fraternity had faced charges in death of Timothy Piazza

(Newser) - After preliminary hearings that stretched over three months regarding the death of a Penn State fraternity brother , a judge has thrown out the most serious charges against 18 of the deceased's fellow brothers, Penn Live reports. According to WNEP , the judge dismissed all charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault,...

Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal Sends 3 More to Jail

Former school officials received at least 2 months in jail each

(Newser) - Penn State's former president and two other ex-administrators were sentenced Friday to at least two months in jail for failing to report a child sexual abuse allegation against Jerry Sandusky a decade before his arrest engulfed the university in scandal and brought down football coach Joe Paterno, the AP...

Frat Pledge Who Died Was Treated Like 'Roadkill,' Say Parents

Jim and Evelyn Piazza speak out on son's death

(Newser) - A fraternity pledge who was ordered to guzzle alcohol during a hazing ritual and twice fell down a flight of stairs before his death was treated like "roadkill," his father said Monday, days after criminal charges were filed against 18 of his son's Penn State fraternity brothers....

'Sickening' Details of Fraternity Pledge's Final Hours Revealed

Eighteen frat members charged in death of Timothy Piazza

(Newser) - Eighteen fraternity members have been charged—eight of them with manslaughter—after a 19-year-old died during a pledging party in February at Penn State, the Washington Post reports. Video from security cameras inside the Beta Theta Pi frat helped authorities piece together the final hours of Timothy Piazza's life....

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