Kent State University had plans to name its basketball court “Cope Court” during a ceremony before this Saturday’s game, in honor of alum Jason Cope, who gave $1 million to the school.

The event was called off, though, after the student newspaper’s enterprise reporter dug into Cope’s past. Doug Brown reported:

Cope was the branch manager of a financial firm that defrauded 190 investors of $8.7 million in late 1999 and early 2000. Cope was one of four defendants required to pay a total of more than $19 million in penalties, according to litigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and court documents.

Asked about the $1 million donation and Cope’s SEC violations on January 4, athletic director Joel Nielsen said that “it was an action that was 12 years ago, it was fully litigated and he abided by the letter of the litigation.

“Obviously we were aware of the litigation of 10 to 12 years ago,” he said about Jason Cope, who was to become the namesake of the basketball court.

The Daily Kent Stater editorial board wrote on Monday:

We’re wondering why Kent State would knowingly accept money from someone with a disconcerting financial background.

At first glance, it makes us question the athletic department’s ethical standards. Sure, the university can accept the money, but should it? It doesn’t quite seem right.

The Plain Dealer reports Brown spent two weeks working on his Cope story and editors planned to run it on Monday. It was posted on Friday, though, after Cope announced that he was withdrawing his gift.

* “Cope Court” donor withdraws $1 million gift

* Kent Stat alumnus withdraws $1 million gift

* Our view: Fraudulence shouldn’t be overlooked

* Doug Brown rounds up stories about his investigation

UPDATE: I asked Doug Brown to tell my readers about his investigation. His email is after the jump.
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Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications “easily claimed the top spot,” writes Jarre Fees, who surveyed 438 news professionals and others for the TVWeek.com/NewsPro survey. It was followed by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism; Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; University of Missouri at Columbia School of Journalism; and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Fees writes:

A veteran journalist wanted more grammar taught, writing: “When I studied journalism, we had a writing and a grammar course every semester. The basic skills are sorely lacking in today’s communications.”

Several respondents said schools should be teaching more “digital or new media.” At the same time, a number of respondents praised journalism schools for doing just that, indicating all J-schools seem to have risen to meet that challenge in the past few years.

One reply stated schools should teach “objectivity. Too many schools are teaching advocacy journalism.”

Another subject respondents wanted J-schools to teach is plain old ethics, which was mentioned 23 times.

This issue of TV Week (PDF) also includes “The Most Powerful in Television News” rankings, with Roger Ailes on top of the list.

* Most powerful in TV News, top j-schools, more (TVWeek.com)

Penn State’s Daily Collegian is tweeting and live-blogging today’s Jerry Sandusky hearing. Get reports at:

@DailyCollegian and the live blog

UPDATE: “Sandusky just chose to waive his preliminary hearing,” the Collegian tweets. “No hearing today. Case will head to Court of Common Pleas.”

Editors at Sacramento State’s Hornet apologized in October 2010 for a cartoon (left) titled “Why Baseball is the Best Sport Ever,” which ran after a student was beaten to death with a baseball bat by his roommate. Now the school’s provost, Joseph Sheley, has ordered the Publications Board to make sure offensive material is killed before publication. He told the Sacramento Bee’s Diana Lambert:

I want the advisers and the editors to work a little harder – to discuss the issues and some of the pitfalls that might accompany certain kinds of stories, instead of dissecting them after the fact.

The Publications Board says it recently introduced a checklist for student reporters to use to guard against legal, accuracy, privacy, taste or ethics problems, and added a “not to offend for the sake of offending” policy. Hornet Editor Dustin Nosler says the cartoon flap has prompted staffers to “take more care in what we’re doing. It opened our eyes a little bit.”

* Sac State provost pushing for changes at school newspaper

Robert Carpenter is a 22-year-old Applied Mathematics major at Texas A&M, and editor-in-chief of The Battalion. What does he do after graduation? “I love journalism and the thrill of investigative reporting, but I also enjoy the intellectual challenge that mathematics provides and appreciate its structure. Fortunately, I don’t have to make this decision today.” A few questions for the college senior:

Robert Carpenter

At what age did you become interested in journalism and how did that happen?
I’m actually a bit of a newcomer to the journalism art — or at least the production side. I’ve always followed politics, and was glued to print and television media during the 2008 election cycle. I grew to appreciate the critical role that journalists play in a functioning society and applied shortly thereafter to the student newspaper at Texas A&M. I suppose that was when the ‘journalism bug’ set.

What publications do you read daily?
I make time for the Wall Street Journal and maintain a subscription to the Houston Chronicle. I also frequent the Texas Tribune website for state issues and have a copy of the latest edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education sitting on my desk.

Your journalism heroes/role models?
One who comes to mind is Norman Pearlstine. I admire his organizational accomplishments with The Wall Street Journal and Time Inc., and his diverse background covering domestic and international stories.

How many hours a week do you spend in the campus newsroom vs. hours spent in classrooms?
I had a conversation with one of my editors a few weeks ago about his grades. In the course of the conversation he said The Battalion is the most important class he will take at A&M. While I’m still concerned with his (and my) academics, I agree with the sentiment. The newsroom and classroom aren’t necessarily distinct units.

But answering your question, I probably average 50-60 hours per week in the newsroom and around 5-10 in the classroom.

Are your journalism instructors on top of the latest tools ands media trends, or are they stuck in the 20th century?
I feel that I need to qualify my response to this question. As an applied mathematics major, I haven’t taken as many journalism classes as the majority of my peers. I’ve been exposed to both kinds of instructors, though, and I don’t think that’s a bad background to have. With the instructors who may be a bit too nostalgic for the history of print media, I’ve learned the importance of responsible reporting and to respect the finality of sending stories to press. Others have been more ambitious about adapting to the future — teaching me to engage the reader in previously-unconventional ways and not to fear change.

Everybody’s looking to your generation to “save” the news business. Your ideas?
Great question. I wish there were an easy answer. With the interactive nature of social media, I believe news outlets have to find ways to make the news consumer feel involved and invested in the product. We’re trying to do that on a small scale with The Batt, but I don’t know what it looks like in the grand scheme of things.

Kristina Helfer’s “Mounting Nittany” sex column used to run every Thursday in Penn State’s Daily Collegian — typical fare: “Let’s talk sex, hugs and handjobs” — but it’s been MIA for several weeks now. The last “Mounting” was published Nov. 3; Jerry Sandusky was arrested Nov. 5. Helfer didn’t respond to my email, so I called the Collegian newsroom. A man who identified himself as “a campus editor” linked the column’s disappearance to the Sandusky scandal. He transferred me to the managing editor, and she said she couldn’t discuss this because only the editor-in-chief is allowed to speak to the media. (When did college newsrooms become so bureaucratic?) I’ll post top editor Lexi Belculfine’s email when it arrives.

UPDATE: Belculfine writes:

Initially, I wouldn’t call the absence of Mounting Nittany a decision. During the week of Monday, Nov. 7, the paper — and opinions page — evolved as the story did, often by the second.

Mounting Nittany would have ran in the Nov. 10, 2011 issue of The Daily Collegian. This was the edition that chronicled the removal of former Penn State President Graham Spanier and former football coach Joe Paterno. We ran three opinons pages that day — as opposed to our typical one. One was a full page editorial and two were filled with letters to the editor, reflecting the influx of community input the paper was receiving.

In the week that followed, we offered Kristina Helfer the opportunity to write a sex column on the scandal or sexual assault, but she decided that based on the tone of the previous columns that it would not be “respectful to those who have been affected by sexual assault” to write the column that week. Instead, we ran another columnist’s piece on the importance of not being a passive bystander.

Looking forward, based on the current situation and mood at Penn State, we have decided to remove the column for the time being.

> Critic: “What’s disturbing is how lax Helfer’s attitude is toward sex”

A front page editor’s note says:

The Daily Orange publication calendar did not include a paper for the Monday after Fall Break, but because of the developing stoy about Bernie Fine, former associate head coach for men’s basketball and the allegations of sexual abuse against him, the editors at The D.O. felt it was important to have one. No advertisements appear in the paper to focus on content. We hope our readers will continue to follow the story through The D.O. and, as always, feel free to voice their opinions about the news happening on campus with a Letter to the Editor. Send any comments, concerns or questions to editors@dailyorange.com.

Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com tweeted Sunday night: “Just wrote 1,000 words on Jim Boeheim. Did it in 45 minutes. When I’m angry, I’m fast. Will post ASAP.” || Here is what he wrote.

* Former player and trustee still defends Fine | Full coverage Daily Orange coverage
* Read the Syracuse Post-Standard’s coverage of the Fine allegations and firing