started to tell the story fairly early on, or at least before the season started of that same year. I don’t know how big it was nationally, but as you might imagine there was a ton of fallout locally with the paper because Penn State is a beloved institution. It was easy for people to dismiss the story as just another witch hunt to sell papers, but it started to become evident that it wasn’t just smoke. But boy did the gas hit the fire in the middle of the season when the grand jury report was published. At that point, it was very clear that it had all happened, but the real controversy was how it happened and the people involved.

It was a very big deal everywhere, but especially in the state. I was in grad school there at the time, so it could be difficult to know what the rest of the world was thinking when it seemed like everything was on fire on campus. It created lots of emotions all around and rightfully created lots of conversation and debate because just about everyone felt embarrassed and let down.