Ivy League Penn is not Penn State

Published 3:43 pm Thursday, September 6, 2012

In your editorial Thursday, not only did you make the grievous error of confusing the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) with Penn State University (PSU), you also missed an opportunity to compare and contrast two quite different institutions. The University of Pennsylvania was founded by Benjamin Franklin, is located in Philadelphia, and is a member of the Ivy League, along with (in alphabetical order) Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale. That is undoubtedly the most distinguished group of academic institutions in the world.

Ivy League members do not award athletic scholarships. They have no special academic programs or courses for varsity athletes nor any separate living or dining facilities for them. The Ivy League requires that athletes “be representative of the student body as a whole.” In varsity football, the season is limited to 10 games, with post-season participation not allowed. However, Penn (and others) have separate intercollegiate participation in what is called “Sprint Football,” which is the successor of 150-pound football.

There is a report which may be apocryphal, but which captures completely the nature of Ivy League intercollegiate sports. It is about a former basketball coach who, when recruiting players, would tell parents, “I cannot offer your son a scholarship, but I guarantee that he will get an education.”

You owe an apology to a great academic institution, which also has a football team. As the legend on a popular campus T-shirt states — “Not Penn State!”

Peter H. Knutson, PhD

Edmonds