In Rene news...

Via email yesterday, Centre Daily reporter Anne Danahy confirmed that she and another reporter have talked to "a couple more" former PSU players (in addition to Strom and Coleman) who say they never heard Rene say anything bad about lesbians. NCLR has said that it has talked to other players and staff who will say otherwise.

I've been critical, implicitly or explicitly, of the way PSU has handled this matter in the press. In the public statements of various spokespeople, the school has sounded defensive, intransigent, and far from neutral — not what you'd hope from a public university that is committed to ideals of pluralism and non-discrimination, and that is honestly hoping to discover the truth.

I asked Helen Carroll about that. She said that regardless of how the athletic department and the spokespeople come across, the university lawyers have been "sharing and working toward a common goal."

Regardless of outcome, that's good to hear.

In case you missed it, here is the complaint filed by Harris with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. The last few pages describe Harris's allegations in some detail.

In programming news, the OTL bit on Rene will be played on the 6 PM SportsCenter, probably around 6:40 eastern.

Tomorrow night Penn State public TV will air a special called "Rene Portland: Celebrating 25 Years at Penn State." Joe Pa, Suzie McConnell Serio, and Kelly Mazzante, among others, will pay homage to their pal Rene.