[JoeRedskin]

What happens to people who stood up to Paterno?

Politi: Meet Vicky Triponey, the woman who stood up to Joe Paterno at Penn State | NJ.com

Triponey lived it. She took the job at Penn State in 2003 and, within a year, started butting heads with Paterno over disciplining his players. The general student population had one set of rules, she said, that didn’t apply to the football team — and any attempts to challenge that were not just met with resistance, but anger.

Her e-mail exchange with former university president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley, among others, created national headlines when it was uncovered last fall.

“I must insist that the efforts to put pressure on us and try to influence our decisions related to specific cases ... simply MUST STOP,” she wrote. “The calls and pleas from coaches, board members and others when we are considering a case are indeed putting us in a position that does treat football players differently and with greater privilege ... and it appears on our end to be a deliberate effort to use the power of the football program to sway our decisions in a way that is beneficial to the football program.”

Penn State, at the time, had earned the nickname Penitentiary State for a rash of off-field problems, including a 2007 brawl at an off-campus apartment involving a half dozen players that led to serious injuries. Triponey wanted suspensions. Paterno wanted to discipline the players himself, making them clean the stadium after games. The coach got his way.

It ran deep folks.