They have the right to kick someone off if they so desire. And the University has the right to control Paternoville the same way they have the right to mace students that rush the field. Is it their legal prerogative? Sure. Does that make it a good idea… Um, nope. They could just as easily make all campers sign a waiver that they’re camping at their own risk if they’re worried about being sued.

But honestly, it’s the turfgrass-ness of the PCC that irks me more than anything. The PCC didn’t create Paternoville. They don’t have any sort of credentials that give them the right to claim any sort of “ownership” over Paternoville or to make decisions on behalf of the other students. The members/officers of the PCC weren’t voted on by the students. The PCC’s decisions aren’t necessarily representative of the other campers’. I have no doubt that the PCC officers are in “regular contact with Athletic Department” and make “joint decisions.” My point is that there’s nothing that makes the PCC a legitimate student representative organization other than the endorsement of the AD – which is kind of suspect when it’s the students’ interests that they’re supposed to representing to the AD.

Furthermore, this boy scout camp they now call Paternoville isn’t the real thing. And that’s the real point – Guido and Curley are trying to recreate OSU 05 at every game with stupid theme days, control over Paternoville, excessive canned music, and worst of all the turfgrassiest of turfgrass groups, the “Great Show Squad.” (Honestly, could they have come up with a worse name?) There’s almost no allowance for anything to be organic or truly grassroots anymore – the things that really made OSU 05 so great. There was no one telling us to camp at Paternoville then, or how we were “allowed” to do it – we just did it because we were that crazy.

Also, I’m aware of the below-freezing clause; however, check Accuweather – it’s not going below freezing this weekend.

or some other area for an indoors Paternoville

in our military camp out in snow and 100+ temps in the middle of sand storms with a lot less than these kids have. They are adults (that’s part of the problem – no one treats them as adults). If they want to camp out in the snow, let ’em!!

I sent my 12 year old son on a Boy Scout backpacking trip last winter and the temp never went above 32F all weekend. Backpacking, as in, no buildings to go into to warm up. And he came home smiling, saying how much fun he had. These weekend he’s camping in the 45F rain. And he’s excited. And these are the exact same kind of trips I used to look forward to when I was his age. We used to make sure we camped when it was snowing, just for the fun of it.

The problem is that are too many rules nowadays. Somebody else always knows what’s best for you.

We would go on winter camping trips with the outing club, including a weekend in the Adirondacks with 3-4 feet of snow and temp consistently <20. College kids can make their own decisions about exposure to the elements.
That being said, the only concern I see is having drunk kids camping in this weather. From the liability standpoint I can understand why admin would not want to have a part in a drunk student dying from exposure.

I suggest due to the fact the University has involved itself with regulating PVille, instead of closing it down due to the highest freezing temperatures (32F, ooh no, grrr), prepare those kids for something they believe in. Shouldn’t the Univeristy encourage decision making by it’s students, encourage challenges, encourage this type of support from its student body and athletic fanbase? Shouldn’t the Univeristy, in a way, allow these students to get really frickin’ cold if that’s what they want?

Yes, the Univeristy has an obligation to itself and it’s students not to let anyone get frostbite or God forbid worse and get in trouble itself over it – no worse than a lost toe of course, but with proper preparation, these kids may, at worst get a case of the sniffles and a taut nipple or two. They’ve brought them pizze before, perhaps they should bring them blankets, heating pads, NorthFace PSU tailgating year and even the heater they failed to send to Iowa last year.

Military personnel, campers and even avid hunters succomb to temperatures these kids will face this weekend on a regular basis. Wrap em up and keep them warm and give them their pizza!! Mt. Everest ( – 32 F) never kicked anyone off her property and most have survived – unless they were ill-prepared.

So, instead of kicking these kids off the mountain they believe in, make sure, as administrators these kids are prepared to support the University and meet the challeneges of Big Ten Country!

The point is that it doesn’t matter. If stupid kids want to camp out in this kind of weather, that’s their decision. Unless they’re a prodigy, they’re 18+. They’re old enough to buy cigarettes, porn, and enlist in the military. That’s old enough that they can make their own decisions and deal with the consequences, whatever they may be. There’s a difference between offering advice (say if we had a “Paternoville Advisory Committee”) and telling everyone that they must go home.

What kind of babied, mindless, sheeple have we become that the idea of adults making their own decisions and accepting the consequences is a scary one?

I think this could fall under the “faking enthusiasm” thing

I think the constant P-ville controversies are amusing. There’s politics involved, fighting The Man, braving the elements, all that stuff. But there are a lot of good memories created by and for those students. It’s a good thing.

Just to say you did them. If they did Paternoville when I was in school, I’d have done once, just to say I did it.

Appreciate what you have. I live down here in S-E-C country, home of the Ole Miss Rebels and the fans are so fair-weather down here its disgusting. They can’t fill any section, student, alumni, hell the press box, in the stadium let alone pull off something like Paternoville.

I hope the tradition of excellence and winning at Penn State wouldn’t cause us to lose sight of what makes college football great and more importantly what sperates Penn State from the rest. Lets not take what we have as PSU fans for granted, cause if you were at 95% of the other schools in the country this thread would be about why we can’t even fill a 65,000 seat stadium against a top ten opponent.

You seem like a rational guy…

the fact that you posted that statement, like it would change anything… or do anything except blow in the wind is mind-boggling

So while I don’t have a problem with this week’s move, the general process and trend of taking student-started, self-run events/clubs and turning them into day care centers with a stupid political layer added to make the students feel like they are sill in control is garbage and makes being a student less fun.

And that’s my whole point. Also,

with so many cell phones, computers, TVs and refrigerators

Unfortunately all of that was banned after 2005. See your second point for why.

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