Campus Alert Archive
Penn State

Guilty on 45 of 48 Counts: PSU Police Stage at Old Main as the Sandusky Verdict Lands

PApolice activityadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the evening of June 22, 2012, a Centre County jury found former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 counts of child sexual abuse, ending a trial that had transfixed the State College campus for two weeks. Anticipating a possible repeat of the November 9, 2011 Paterno-firing riot, the Penn State University Police Department staged officers at Old Main and the Joe Paterno statue and issued a PSUAlert advisory urging the campus community to remain calm. The verdict came after 9:00 PM EDT; the response on campus was overwhelmingly subdued, with a candlelight vigil for victims on the Old Main lawn rather than a disturbance.

Alerts
3
Response
min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Pennsylvania State University
Public R1 · PA
~45,000 studentsPSUAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction514 chars
PSUAlert Advisory: The University Park campus community should expect news media coverage and increased law enforcement presence in the vicinity of Old Main and the Beaver Stadium area this evening pending the verdict in the trial of Jerry Sandusky. Penn State University Police and Pennsylvania State Police are coordinating to ensure campus safety. The University urges all members of the community to remain calm regardless of the outcome and to refrain from any conduct that would disrupt the rights of others.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent in the early evening of June 22, 2012, after the jury had been deliberating for approximately 20 hours; PSU administration anticipated a verdict that night
The advisory framing — rather than emergency-notification framing — was deliberate: the verdict was not itself a threat, but campus leaders wanted a visible record of pre-event communication in case events turned
The phrase 'refrain from any conduct that would disrupt the rights of others' echoed legal-affairs guidance from Penn State Office of Student Conduct following the November 9, 2011 riot
UPDATEEmail+2h 15m
Approximate reconstruction401 chars
PSUAlert Advisory: A verdict has been returned in the Sandusky trial. Jerry Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts. Penn State University Police remain stationed across the University Park campus. There are no reports of disturbance at this time. A student-organized vigil for the victims is being held on the Old Main lawn. The University thanks the campus community for its dignified response.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent approximately 90 minutes after the verdict was read at 9:48 PM EDT; the gap reflects time spent confirming that no disturbance had developed at any of the staged locations
The vigil on the Old Main lawn was organized by Penn State student government and survivors' advocacy groups; estimates ranged from several hundred to roughly 1,000 attendees
'Dignified response' was the operative phrase Penn State used to contrast the June 22, 2012 outcome with the November 9, 2011 Paterno-firing riot
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstruction391 chars
PSUAlert: Increased law enforcement presence on the University Park campus is being reduced. The campus community is reminded that counseling services and Center for Counseling and Psychological Services resources are available for anyone affected by the events of recent months. Penn State remains committed to supporting victims of sexual abuse and to the transparent reforms now underway.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The closing advisory deliberately referenced CAPS resources — a direct response to concerns raised by survivors' advocates that the verdict could be retraumatizing for assault survivors in the Penn State community regardless of the Sandusky case
'Transparent reforms now underway' referenced the still-pending Freeh Report, which would be released [July 12, 2012](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State_child_sex_abuse_scandal)
The Paterno statue would be removed [exactly one month later, on July 22, 2012](https://www.psu.edu/news/administration/story/report-board-trustees-concerning-nov-9-decisions), without disturbance
Context

Background

On the evening of June 22, 2012, after approximately 20 hours of deliberation, a Centre County jury found former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 counts of child sexual abuse spanning 1994 to 2009. The verdict was read at approximately 9:48 PM EDT in the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, twelve miles from the Penn State University Park campus. Penn State administrators and the University Police Department had spent two weeks preparing for the possibility that a verdict — whether guilty or acquittal — could produce a campus disturbance on the scale of the November 9, 2011 Paterno-firing riot, which had injured a photographer, damaged a news van, and produced more than a dozen arrests. PSU Police staged officers at the Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium, at Old Main, and along Beaver Avenue in downtown State College; the Pennsylvania State Police provided additional personnel. PSUAlert pushed advisory communications before and after the verdict reminding the community that increased law enforcement presence was being deployed and urging dignified conduct. The response on campus was overwhelmingly subdued. A student-organized candlelight vigil for victims drew several hundred attendees to the Old Main lawn that night. There were no arrests and no significant property damage. The Sandusky verdict marked a turning point: by the time the Freeh Report was released on July 12, the Paterno statue was removed on July 22, and the NCAA sanctions were imposed on July 23, the university community had absorbed each subsequent shock without significant disturbance. The case is significant for the archive because it documents (1) one of the earliest examples of a US R1 university using its emergency-alert infrastructure for a non-physical-threat civic event, (2) the deliberate use of advisory-level communications to pre-position campus expectations ahead of a possible disturbance, and (3) the contrast between the November 2011 Paterno-firing response and the June 2012 verdict response, which Penn State framed as evidence of campus learning.
Analysis

Key Findings

Penn State used its PSUAlert system for advisory communications around a non-physical-threat civic event — the Sandusky verdict — making this one of the earliest documented examples of that practice at a US R1
PSU Police and Pennsylvania State Police staged officers at the Joe Paterno statue, Old Main, and Beaver Avenue ahead of the verdict, explicitly anticipating a possible repeat of the November 9, 2011 Paterno-firing riot
The verdict was returned at approximately 9:48 PM EDT on June 22, 2012; the actual campus response was subdued, with a student-organized vigil for victims on the Old Main lawn replacing any disturbance
The June 22 advisory response and the July 22 Paterno-statue-removal response together became Penn State's institutional template for navigating subsequent crisis moments (Freeh Report release, NCAA sanctions) without disturbance
Sandusky was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison on October 9, 2012; his convictions have been repeatedly upheld on appeal
Outcome
No disturbance occurred. A student-organized vigil for victims of child sexual abuse drew several hundred attendees to the Old Main lawn the evening of the verdict. Sandusky's bail was revoked immediately and he was taken into custody to await sentencing; he was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison on October 9, 2012. Penn State subsequently entered the Freeh Report era, the [Sandusky scandal era of NCAA sanctions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State_child_sex_abuse_scandal), and the removal of the Paterno statue (July 22, 2012), all of which occurred without significant campus disturbance.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Penn State Nittany Lions -- Jerry Sandusky convicted of 45 counts in sex abuse trial - ESPN
    espn.com
  2. News
    Penn State Nittany Lions' statement about Jerry Sandusky verdict - ESPN
    espn.com
  3. Official
    Penn State student governments respond to Jerry Sandusky trial verdict - Penn State University
    psu.edu
  4. News
    Penn State students hold candlelight vigil - CBS News
    cbsnews.com
  5. Student Paper
    Recounting Penn State's largest riot after the firing of Joe Paterno - The Daily Collegian
    psucollegian.com
  6. Official
    Report of the Board of Trustees concerning Nov. 9 decisions - Penn State University
    psu.edu
  7. Source
    Penn State child sex abuse scandal - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
  8. Source
    Jerry Sandusky - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
advisorycivic-eventnon-physical-threatpenn-statesanduskyverdictcampus-policingold-mainpreemptive-alert2012
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion