When The Stuff Hits The Fan

Many of us would agree that if Penn State were traded as a stock, it would have lost 50 percent of its value this week. Regardless of how you feel about Joe Paterno or the University itself, there is no denying Penn State faces a public relations and image problem of monumental proportions behind the allegations of sexual abuse of boys by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

New Jersey universities are no strangers to this kind of image nightmare. Rutgers is still struggling with the aftermath of the Tyler Clementi incident, where a bright young student committed suicide after his Rutgers roomate allegedly spied on him with a webcam for all to see.

Rider University struggled with an incident involving student binge drinking a few years back that resulted in the death of a student.

You might justifyably say that Penn State or Rutgers or anyone else should have a PR nightmare when something like this occurs. These institutions of higher learning spend a great deal of time and money portraying themselves as excellent academic choices for students and families.

But many times they come up ill-prepared when this kind of you-know-what hits the fan.