Campus Alert Archive
Penn State

The Five-Day Email Crisis That Preceded the Paterno Riot

PAotheradvisorymedium confidence

Between November 4-9, 2011, Penn State sent a cascading series of community communications about the criminal charges filed against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky for child sexual abuse, and the subsequent firing of head football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier. The communications — none of which were Clery Act timely warnings or emergency notifications, but all of which functioned as institutional advisories to a community in acute crisis — set the stage for the student riot in downtown State College on the night of November 9, 2011.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
The Pennsylvania State University
Public R1 · PA
~45,000 studentsPSUAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction481 chars
The University is aware of the grand jury presentment filed today by the Pennsylvania Attorney General concerning Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach who retired from the University in 1999. The allegations described in the presentment are deeply disturbing. The University will cooperate fully with the investigation. Counseling and support resources are available through the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) center for anyone affected by these reports.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent within hours of the grand jury presentment being unsealed — a remarkably fast institutional response by 2011 standards
Names Sandusky and confirms his prior university role — important transparency given the long history Sandusky had at Penn State
Mentions CAPS — the standard support referral, but particularly important here given the nature of the allegations and the likelihood that survivors in the Penn State community might be re-traumatized
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstruction420 chars
Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz have been charged today with perjury and failure to report. Both have taken administrative leave. The University is committed to transparency and to supporting the legal process. President Spanier has issued a statement affirming the University's full support for those who have come forward and committing the University to a thorough internal review.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Names two senior officials (Curley, Schultz) and confirms their leave — major institutional acknowledgment of the scandal's reach beyond Sandusky
References President Spanier's statement supporting 'those who have come forward' — language that drew significant criticism within 48 hours as the scope of cover-up allegations expanded
Mentions 'thorough internal review' — what later became the Freeh Report, commissioned formally days later
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Approximate reconstruction411 chars
The Board of Trustees has announced that Joe Paterno will not coach the remainder of the season and that Graham Spanier has resigned as President of the University. We understand the deep emotion across our community. We ask all members of our community to express their views peacefully and to refrain from any actions that could compromise the safety of others. Counseling Services remains available 24 hours.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent during the riot — which began with thousands of students gathering at Beaver Avenue and South Allen Street in downtown State College after the firing was announced
The line 'express their views peacefully' was the closest the message came to acknowledging the live, ongoing civil disturbance — a notably restrained institutional response
References '24 hours' Counseling availability — an extraordinary mobilization for a university CAPS office that was already overwhelmed by the week's revelations
Context

Background

Between November 4-9, 2011, Penn State University underwent the most consequential institutional crisis in modern American higher education — the unsealing of the Sandusky grand jury presentment, the criminal charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky for child sexual abuse, the firing of legendary head football coach Joe Paterno, and the resignation of university president Graham Spanier. The week produced a near-continuous cascade of institutional communications — none of which qualified as Clery Act emergency notifications or timely warnings, but all of which functioned as advisories to a community navigating acute moral and operational crisis. Penn State's PSUAlert system, designed for tornado warnings and active-shooter situations, was not the right channel for this kind of crisis; instead, the university used a cascading sequence of mass emails, web updates, and press releases that established what later became the standard playbook for institutional-scandal communications in higher education. The communications culminated in the Paterno firing and the violent student riot on the night of November 9, in which thousands of students gathered in downtown State College, overturned a news van, and battled with State College Police. The crisis prompted federal investigations, the Freeh Report (released in July 2012), $109 million in settlements to Sandusky's victims, unprecedented NCAA sanctions, and ultimately significant amendments to the Clery Act under the 2013 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. The institutional-communication failures of the preceding decade — Penn State's senior officials had known of the allegations against Sandusky as early as 1998 and had not communicated them to the community — became a defining negative case study in campus-safety communications.
Analysis

Key Findings

The Sandusky scandal communications of November 4-9, 2011 were institutional advisories rather than Clery Act notifications — illustrating the gap between Clery's threat-centric framework and the slower, more cautious tempo of institutional-scandal communications
Penn State sent at least four major community communications in five days, establishing what became the standard cadence for institutional-scandal communications across higher education
The November 9 late-evening communication announcing the Paterno firing was sent as the State College student riot was already underway — a rare example of institutional communication overlapping with active civil disturbance
The crisis prompted significant amendments to the Clery Act under the 2013 VAWA, including expanded categories for sexual violence reporting and clearer institutional-communication obligations
Outcome
Sandusky was [convicted on June 22, 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University_child_sex_abuse_scandal) and sentenced to 30-60 years in state prison. Paterno was [fired by the Board of Trustees on November 9, 2011](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/sports/ncaafootball/paterno-fired-amid-criminal-allegations.html); Spanier was forced to resign the same day. Paterno died of lung cancer on January 22, 2012. The university paid more than $109 million in settlements to Sandusky's victims and was hit with the [largest sanctions in NCAA history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State_child_sex_abuse_scandal_sanctions) (later partially rescinded). The crisis transformed how universities communicate about institutional scandals and informed the 2013 Clery Act amendments under VAWA.
Provenance

Sources

  1. secondary
    Penn State child sex abuse scandal (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  2. national media
    Paterno Fired Amid Criminal Allegations (New York Times)
    nytimes.com
  3. national media
    Student riot follows Paterno firing (CNN)
    cnn.com
  4. Official
    Penn State News
    psu.edu
  5. secondary
    Freeh Report (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  6. secondary
    Penn State child sex abuse scandal sanctions (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
institutional-crisisscandalchild-abusepaternosanduskyadvisoryclery-actvawafreeh-report2011
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion