Can a Penn State fan explain what exactly this is? I assume these kids aren't skipping classes, so they're basically just sleeping on the ground at night instead of their dorm room? Or is it just some hangout that looks good for the cameras & when the chill comes at 2am they all go back to their dorms?
They can only start camping on Thursday but one game a year they are allowed to camp out for a week. They have been camping out for a while but things got organized in 2005 after the week long camp out for Ohio State. They set up tents, cots, air mattresses, and leave for things like class and showering. There are rules, I think one person from the group has to be present, to hold your place. The point of it is because seat assignment are based on first come, first served, to get the rail seats kids need to be at the front of the line.
It not just for the cameras, in fact I'd say the 2 am hour is when most people would be there.
Here is a YouTube clip from 2013. Starting about the 54 sec mark there are some shots of the "facilities". I realize you probably don't want to watch the entire video so I tried to use a link that started it there but I think it got parsed out by the media linker.