This column pretty much speaks for me on the horrendous revelations coming out of my alma mater, Penn State. (I have a masters in lit there) If you have missed this, the bottom line is that one of Joe Paterno's top coaches is charged with serial rape of young boys, including one incident in the Penn State locker room (allegedly a favorite place for him to anally abuse his victims.) After the eyewitness account, Penn State's reaction was to allow the already retired coach to keep his honored emeritis position, but banned him from bringing his prey to Penn State. This arrangement was fine with Joe Paterno and even approved by Penn State's president Graham Spanier. Though the law requires reporting child abuse to the police, this was not done. And Penn State gave no public indication that this guy, with a foundation involving young kids, was anything but a pillar of propriety. The coach was free to continue his abuse elsewhere--and, according to the attorney general, he did. Oh, and two high Penn State officials are being charged with lying to a grand jury about all this.
I have met Graham Spanier and previously felt he was an impressive leader at a great school. So I'm dumbfounded that his reaction to this is to express support for the officials charge with lying. This is only the beginning of the repercussions, and I think that plenty of alums are like me -- demanding answers, accountability, and tough action. If the board of trustees doesn't act, it should be the governor.
One bizarre note to all this: the coach in question, Jerry Sandusky, published an autobiography a few years back, telling how great he was, especially in helping kids! It was called "Touched." A telling note is that besides the normal edition, there was a leather-bound edition, obviously for those who fetish-ize Penn State football. That's the nub of this--worship of a big-time sports skews the values of great universities. But rarely do things get this far out of whack.
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