<p>I feel so incredibly sorry for students of Penn State who, until 2 weeks ago, held their heads high and were proud to be a part of an incredibly wonderful institution (academically as well as philanthropically). </p>
<p>Through no fault of their own their reality has been shaken to the core. No longer does their beloved Joepa seem so genuine, their administration so honest and caring, and their student body is being criticized at every turn. BTW, the media enticed the students to riot by repeatedly asking them "aren't you angry. are you gonna just stand there and do nothing?" THE MEDIA WANTED GRAPHIC FOOTAGE THAT THEY COULD SELL.</p>
<p>Just wondering how current and past Penn State students are handling all of this......</p>
<p>Well, there certainly seem to be a large number of Penn State students who seem to be completely lacking in moral compasses. I feel no pity for them whatsoever–they should be ashamed of themselves. What disgusting behavior.</p>
Some of them handled it extraordinarily badly it appears. Sad and shocking that they are angry at everyone except the perpetrator of these awful crimes and the people that protected him and by so doing allowed more young boys to be abused. They need to take a serious look at their priorities. And they managed to do the almost impossible - make their beloved school look a whole lot worse than it already did. </p>
<p>Blame their behavior on the media? What a cop out.</p>
<p>I do feel sorry for the students who did not behave badly and have had their school further tarnished.</p>
<p>As a recent alumni, my son, is saddened, disillusioned and angry. His anger is directed at the administration and the current students who just don’t get it. He is in total support of the BOT decision to fire Joe Paterno and can’t understand why a man who did so much for the university was so selfish. Many of the ensuing issues could have been defused if Paterno had stepped down immediately and issued a statement to the effect that he was stepping down that day, not to finish out the season, in the best interests of the University that he so loved. It pains me to see him going through this.</p>
<p>KnitKnee- My niece (PSU '10) feels the same way, I think. She enjoyed her time there, but got very tired of the culture by junior/senior year and was glad to get out. She was a football fan and big Paterno supporter, but all she will say now is “I’m glad I’m out of there.” Having gone through the demise of my personal hero, Bobby Knight, I understand how it feels for a school community to watch someone bigger than life have to depart, but you simply have to have the maturity to understand that there are issues bigger than having a large fan base.</p>
<p>Those students did indeed make Penn State look bad, but their reaction will ultimately be no more than a footnote to the scandal. Written by a member of the faculty in the College of Communications–</p>
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<p>My husband, who is affiliated with the university, has received an outpouring of supportive emails from alums in his field. While they are appalled at what has happened, they understand that while football may for many be the public face of Penn State, Penn State is about much more than that. The quality academics and research that have caused them to support the school and hire Penn State grads have not changed and they will continue to support the school and hire the grads.</p>
<p>As a student at another Big 10 school when Bob Knight was at Indiana I never really understood the adoration he received. I know that he coached many winning teams, but he seemed like such a jerk. After the chair throwing incident (and the follow-up standing ovation by the students) you had to wonder what he was like in practice, when there were no cameras around. I even know one Indiana alum who named his son after Knight.</p>
<p>It is really sad that a few people are so one dimensional and concrete in their thinking that they consider everyone affiliated with Penn State to be tarnished by Sandusky’s alleged crimes or the behavior of a few who are accused of tragically mishandling the incident. No matter how powerful they were or what they represented to the school, any misdeeds implicate, or should, only those found to be involved. Likewise, the protesters numbered a small minority of the 45,000 Penn State Main Campus students. No excuses for any of the rioters, of course.</p>
<p>1moremom- You have to know more about Bobby Knight than what was reported in the press (BK and press had mutual dislike for each other). He was a wonderful man who did so much good and NEVER wanted any publicity for it. He also did great things for his players, and most of the players adored and respected him. He was tough, and did have an anger problem, but for many, many years the good outweighed the little bit of bad. This isn’t just my opinion- it’s the real story. Unfortunately, he did get a little over the edge at the end of the IU days- and while the minor incident with the student which led to his firing really was minor, it was just the last straw for the administration.</p>
<p>I can believe that it’s the real story, in part because my friend’s BIL, whose son’s middle name is Knight, otherwise seems like a reasonable guy. My only exposure to him was in the basketball arena; I was surprised he lasted as long as he did at IU.</p>
<p>"the media enticed the students to riot by repeatedly asking them “aren’t you angry. are you gonna just stand there and do nothing?”</p>
<p>I guess if the media asked them to jump off a bridge, they’d do that, too. If true, this makes me think even less of the rioters. They can’t even make their own bad decisions?</p>
I don’t think most people do think everyone affiliated with Penn State are tarnished. I know I don’t. My daughter is a college student and I keep thinking how awful it would be for her if all of a sudden her school became the center of a maelstrom like this. It is so unfortunate that on top of all the other bad things going on, that one set of students behaved in a way that managed to portray the student body, who after all were innocents in all of this, in a very negative light. They really did a huge disservice to the other students. Their behavior was reported all over the world including England where I have family. </p>
<p>And those trying to blame it on the media inciting them just make it even worse and perpetuate the image of a group that are unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions. I’m sure the majority of the student body and the alumni are as horrified, probably more so, than the rest of us. Unfortunately, as always, the loud ones are the ones getting the intention, not the quiet majority.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, I agree with everything you said - certain students are not doing the non-attention-seeking majority any favors. Hope you didn’t think I was directing any of my commentary to you!</p>
<p>No. But I did want to make sure that it was clear I did not feel that way. The whiny “the media made us do it” post kind of pushed my buttons, and I responded to that. I don’t want it to seem like I am condemning the whole student body - the ones who didn’t let the school down - I feel terribly sad for them, they must just be reeling.</p>
<p>We have seen badly behaving students in the past, for example when the IU students gave Bob Knight a standing ovation after he threw a chair at a member of an opposing team and when Michigan State students rioted (more than once) after losing in the Final Four. Unfortunately for PSU, the Penn Sate students’ bad behavior is tied in to a horrendous scandal, the media was all over the place and the way news is covered and presented has completely changed in the last ten years.</p>