SAN FRANCISCO — Right after a former assistant coach of Penn State’s football team was indicted on pedophilia charges in November 2011, alumni association officials decided to tear up their nearly-finished January-February issue of Penn Stater magazine and instead devote that issue to the scandal that had engulfed the entire university community.
The result was a magazine with a one-time, solid black front cover in which the Penn Stater nameplate was dropped to the bottom, its letters purposely jumbled and misaligned as a metaphor to the shattered morale of university constituents.
“We treated the alumni as intelligent people,” said Roger Williams, executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association (Pennsylvania State University main campus). He suggested that alumni groups lacking magazines or other regular publications should nevertheless strive to “be honest and straightforward with your alumni. Give them the honest scoop. If your trust and credibility go up in smoke, then it’s ‘Game over.’”
Williams’ remarks came during a panel discussion earlier this week at an annual conference of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The CASE event was a summit of college and K-12 advancement leaders from throughout the United States and 16 foreign countries.
At a session titled “The Sky is Falling,” Williams recounted how he and his colleagues tried to provide Penn Stater readers with unparalleled insight into the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. For instance, one magazine article focused on the fate of the campus statue of former head football coach Joe Paterno. The article included quotes from a faculty member with expertise in statues.
The importance of teamwork during a campus crisis cannot be overstated, alumni association officials said.
