The firing of head football coach Joe Paterno sparked  a night of rioting on the Penn State campus.
With the sex scandal scenario getting worse and worse every day, tensions at Penn State are getting higher and higher.
After the announcement was made thousands of students took the streets in protest. No major damage was reported,  though a TV satellite truck was overturned.
There are mixed emotions in this entire situation, but the one thing in common is that every single person who has an opinion on this is very passionate about their feelings. The ones who think “Joe Pa” did nothing wrong were out rioting, while the ones who agreed with his firing appeared to stay at home.
So what do people do when they are mad in the 21st century? We take our emotions and throw them on media websites in hopes of attention.  Any Facebook page associated with Penn State exploded with comments from students and alumni expressing their feelings about the recent firings.
Again, the emotions ranged from exuberant to full blown rage. Quotes like “Penn State will burn tonight for what they did!” appeared, and were often countered with quotes such as, “If you’re going to protest, make it peaceful.”
The Penn State Daily Collegian put out a story of the incident online the very next morning. At around 8:30 a.m. the story had about 100 comments. By 10 a.m. the story had almost 250 comments, and every time the page was refreshed anywhere from five to 25 more comments were added.
It seemed as if most comments were against the Penn State students who were “protesting.” Statements such as “time to think before you act” and “you are just disgracing the school” were littered throughout the comment section. There were a few students defending the campus, saying “It was a few thousand kids if that, not the whole campus. Stop blanketing us into one group.”
This scandal has become national news; Penn State is no longer in its own little bubble world of Happy Valley. A school that was once viewed as prestigious by the nation is, according to some observers, very quickly turning into a joke.
Meredith Spiegel, a resident of New York City, finds this whole situation annoying. She says, “I’m sick of hearing it in the news and on social media sites.” One can see where she is coming from, since you literally can’t escape it. It’s on the television, it’s on the radio, it’s online, and everybody you pass is talking about it.
Sierra Williams, a student who attends Antonelli Institute in Glenside, was one of the few who are managing to escape the fiasco. When the 19-year- old was asked about the situation, she kind of laughed and said, “Honestly, I don’t know enough to give you an informed opinion.”
Nico Cisneros, however, is well on top of the case. Though her hometown is Bensalem, she currently attends St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. The English writing & rhetoric major was very open with her opinions and didn’t hesitate to express herself. “I honestly think this is an utter disgrace on the parts of all involved – Paterno, McQueary, Spanier but especially Sandusky.”
The 19-year-old wanted to make it clear she didn’t support the protests the students put on, but also wanted to remind the country to not forget who really should be in trouble.
“We shouldn’t lose sight of the ultimate evil committed here: Sanduskys’ forceful taking of the boy’s innocence and dignity,” she said.
So in summary: Penn State fired a bunch of people, including Joe Paterno, who is the closest thing to a walking god in State College. They are starting to “clean house.” However, not everybody involved in the scandal is gone, and not every secret has been revealed.