UNIVERSITY PARK - Paternoville is no more.
The officially-recognized student group that manages the encampment of Penn State students outside Beaver Stadium for home football games has changed its name to "Nittanyville."
The group, one of more than 900 student organizations under the Office of Student Affairs, will also change its name to the "Nittanyville Coordination Committee."
"This is a decision undertaken by and made solely by the Penn State student officers," President Troy Weller, a Penn State senior, said Monday in a statement. "Our four major officers, plus our six organizational officers, met via conference call and after careful deliberation decided, by a vote, that moving forward the group will be named Nittanyville.
"We have informed Penn State administrators in both Student Affairs and Athletics of our decision. They said we will continue to have their support, which has been the case since we became an official organization in 2006."
The area was dubbed Paternoville in 2005 and the name continued through the 2011 season.
"Now, it's a new era of Nittany Lion football," Weller said. "And by changing the name to Nittanyville, we want to return the focus to the overall team and the thousands of students who support it. We thank the Paterno family for their gracious assistance and support over the last several years," Weller said.
Throughout the 2012 football season, to raise awareness of child sexual abuse, students at Nittanyville will donate a portion of the proceeds from their fundraising efforts to the newly established Center for the Protection of Children, based at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.
