Bye Bye Vicky

I have no idea why Vicky Triponey vice president for Student Affairs at Penn State unexpectedly announced her immediate resignation on Thursday. But if I had to guess, I'd have to say that it was the result of losing a turf war with JoPa over Judicial Affairs. Spanier had commissioned the report last summer on Judicial Affairs which was delivered last Monday. From an Adam Smetz CDT article on the report.

Donald Suit knows the Office of Judicial Affairs.

For 25 years through the late 1990s, he directed the on-campus student judiciary at Penn State.

And for the record, he said, head football coach Joe Pater-no “was good at backing up Judicial Affairs, at least while I was there.”

But Suit, speaking from his Ferguson Township home this week, said some reforms suggested this month for the campus judiciary would “reflect a little more leniency in how (the university) is treating students, I think.”

“I think it’s more of a concern to me related to the prestige of the university and how it handles athletics,” Suit said of some proposed changes. “ ... We’re beginning to look like some Southern schools that have some shaky practices.”

[...]

Under one recommendation, many punished students could continue their extracurricular activities — such as sports — unless an “administrative leader” in their extracurricular area were to decide otherwise.

“To me, the athletic department has undue influence on Judicial Affairs,” a former Judicial Affairs employee told the Centre Daily Times, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Paterno was the only Penn State sports coach who was interviewed by the advisory committee, according to an index attached to the committee report.

The former Judicial Affairs employee said the judiciary needs to resurrect “more student input.”

“It feels like there is undue influence by the administration in this whole process,” the source said.

The source declined to be named because he or she did not want to cause trouble for former colleagues, the source said.

That sounds to me like JoPa got what he wanted in the report at the expense of Judical Affairs which would be a loss for Triponey.

Keep in mind, that while the public found out about Triponey's resignation late in the day on Thursday, according the CDT story, Penn State flack Bill Mahon said that Triponey had alerted administrators a couple of days earlier. That would be Tuesday or,if Mahon was speaking loosely, Monday at the earliest, which places the decision in the immediate wake of the report. Hence the resignation may have been in reaction to the report.

Let me add that I would rule out the possibility that she resigned or was fired as the result of anything done by the student group SOS, which has been a vocal critic of hers. One reason for this judgement is that there is no event involving them which correlates with her resignation which would have served as a trigger.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Paterno, Spanier, Triponey, SOS

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My Name is Nittany Lion and I'm an Alcoholic

The first step toward recovery from an alcohol problem is admitting that you have an alcohol problem. Let's see if we can find such an admission in this press release announcing a new partnership between Penn State and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ostensibly targeting Penn State's drinking problem.

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State will launch a nearly $600,000 program to aggressively target the increasing national dangerous-drinking problem that is having a detrimental impact on its students.[Nope. No admission that that it is a Penn State Problem here. It just a national problem.]

The unique program,[Graham is fond of claiming things that he does are unique, even when they aren't.] funded by Penn State with assistance from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), will be in addition to other significant steps Penn State launched starting a decade ago in attempt to keep students safe from a dangerous drinking problem that is growing nationwide.[There's that nationwide problem causing problems for Penn State again.]

"There is a pervasive culture of dangerous drinking in Happy Valley,[We are getting closer to home, but still no admission that it is a Penn State problem.] and our community is paying an enormous price as many lives are lost or changed forever as a result of alcohol overdose, alcohol-related accidents, bar fights and drunken driving crashes. The tragic consequences -- which include alcohol related deaths -- are staggering and heart-wrenching," said Vicky Triponey, vice president for student affairs at Penn State.

"This initiative, combined with other significant steps Penn State has taken in recent years,[You can find a list of everything Penn State has done from 1984 through 1999 here; it includings partnering with the PLCB in 1998. Still there is a problem. Shouldn't one conclude at this point that Spanier has failed to deal with this problem?] is an indication how serious we think this problem is within our community," said Triponey. "This is a national problem; it is a problem that exists in every community. [There we go again. These guys really have trouble admitting that they have a problem.]It is a problem that typically begins for most students in high school and continues into adulthood. But it is a problem for which Penn State will leverage its research capability, its substance-abuse expertise and its years of experience with this issue to develop even bolder approaches to confront the problem and create a healthier environment."[This looks close to an admission of a problem, but it misses the mark. Short version:They were drunks when they matriculated, but we'll straighten them out.]

The Penn State Commission for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) will administer the initiative, which is being funded by nearly $344,000 from the University, along with a grant of $250,000 from the PLCB. The grant will be used to implement substance abuse prevention initiatives at 20 Penn State undergraduate campuses.

"This initiative is the first of its kind [Even the PLCB chairman is taking up the uniqueness talk.] between the PLCB and a statewide university system, and it is an important advancement in our mission to prevent underage and high-risk drinking," said PLCB Chairman Patrick "PJ" Stapleton. "This study will have an unprecedented impact by helping to educate more than 80,000 college students [And he decide not to point out that those 80.000 college students are all at Penn State.] about the harmful effects of alcohol. It will also help to prevent long-term alcohol misuse."

Throughout the three-year grant period, CSAP will provide training opportunities and resources for campus representatives on proven, effective strategies to address substance abuse. In addition, a social norms campaign will be developed for all campuses using campus-specific data obtained through the National College Health Assessment that will be administered during the grant period.

"We are very excited that this PLCB funding will provide us with increased resources and opportunities to address high risk drinking at all our Penn State campuses," [This is about as close to an admission as we get that Penn State has a problem.]said Susan Kennedy, associate director for educational services at University Health Services and primary investigator for the project.

The grant proposal includes funding for a full-time community health educator, who will be responsible for the grant implementation and will guide campuses through the assessment, strategic planning and implementation processes. This staff member will serve as the liaison with the PLCB and ensure the grant objectives are being met.

A decade ago Penn State President Graham Spanier was one of the first university leaders in the nation to speak out about the huge impact dangerous drinking was having on college students. [One of the first. Why of course, but he didn't talk about Penn State's unique problem. Rather, it is a generic problem for college students.] Since that time Penn State has launched a number of programs to address the issue, a number of which have served as models for other college campuses. [As I wrote above these programs didn't actually do much to solve the problem. The reason other schools have adopted them, if any in fact did, is likely because of their PR value.]

The CSAP is an advisory group to Triponey. The group's mission is to foster an environment that does not support the abuse of alcohol, tobacco or other substances. Its membership consists of students, faculty, staff and administrators.

The PLCB is an independent state agency that manages the alcohol beverage industry in Pennsylvania. Using funds derived from the revenues of its Wine & Spirits stores, it regularly awards grants to study and prevent alcohol abuse.

The $600,000 is a big pot of money which could be used to some good effect. My guess is that for Old Main this is about appearing to do something, while in fact kicking the (beer) can down the road.

Technorati Tags: Penn State, Spanier, alcohol abuse, PLCB

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Florence in the Shadow of Mt. Nittany

During the Summer of 2004 Old Main revoked the power of the USG Supreme Court to approve new student organizations. This aroused suspicion amongst student leaders and former leaders that Old Main was trying to rescind powers that were once delegated to the USG. Vicky Triponey, vice-president for student affairs, responded to these concerns with the following,

The university's administration lacks the resources, domain and interest to micromanage the various social, political or service endeavors of the thousands of students who participate in extracurricular and co-curricular activities at Penn State. Students can learn valuable educational lessons from taking on their own governance of these aspects of campus life. In fact, Penn State's student governance system serves as a national model for peer leadership in student-run endeavors.

That was written in September of 2004. By November of 2004, here is what Triponey had to say about the USG,

Vice President for Student Affairs Vicky Triponey said she thinks the organization's current structure fails to give students an effective voice because internal fighting "jeopardized their credibility" in the eyes of outsiders.

What occurred in that two month period to radically alter Triponey's assessment of the USG? It would seem that the proximate cause was the impeachment of USG president Galen Foulke. Why was he impeached?

Triponey said Foulke's recently established commission to review the USG Constitution is a step in the right direction, but according to the assembly's impeachment charges, the commission is a violation of his oath of office.

He was impeached for establishing a commission to review the USG Constitution and Triponey who, in September, had praised the USG, in November, praises Foulke's efforts to change USG. The resistance to this change then becomes the reason for why the change is needed. Never mind what Triponey wrote way back in September, the spin in November was that this was not a new problem. No, it had always been such. Triponey couldn't risk being caught in a contradiction. Hence it fell to one of her assistants to make the claim.

Internal fighting in USG has plagued the organization for years, said Philip Burlingame, assistant vice president for student affairs. He said the bickering often makes students outside USG disinterested in student government.

What's going on here? I think Taylor Rhodes, former USG Supreme Court Chief Justice, hit the nail on the head in September of 2004.

Let there be no mistake, the administration's actions and policies, especially those of President Spanier and Vice President Triponey, are far from student oriented. They support a bureaucratic junta, creating problems as justification for administrative intervention. Last year they dissolved the Student Organization Appeals Board, which had appellate jurisdiction for organizational disputes. This year the administration stripped students of the ability to be governed by students within the organizational registration process.

The bureaucratic tools they use are pitting students against students and hoping that the rest are too apathetic to ever care.

Today the USG is no longer the officially recognized voice of Penn State undergraduates. The students were no match for the Machiavellian Spanier.