<p>As an academic institution, PSU will remain a top rated university. Like Globaltraveler said, employers are not going to turn away from PSU because of this scandal.</p>
<p>Penn State is an embarrassment. The sanctions have not yet begun. Expect State Pen to lose a lot of funding and other penalties. This is the greatest scandal in the history of american higher education! If you want to pay money to be affiliated with this trajedy tou must be crazy.</p>
<p>At least we hope they won’t turn away from PSU. The only reason Im starting to reconsider PSU as my #1 this coming year is for that reason.</p>
<p>My son and many, many of his friends are PSU alums and they all have great jobs and great memories of their PSU years.</p>
<p>They and tens of thousands of alumni (500,000 living I believe) are a force in the working world and will continue to be great ambassadors for their school.</p>
<p>I don’t think that the scandal is a reason not to go to Penn State.</p>
<p>It is still a good university.</p>
<p>The quality of their academic programs is no different than it was before this scandal hit.</p>
<p>I also suspect that many other universities with top football programs would have tried to cover up a scandal.</p>
<p>In fact, if the current administration handles this situation correctly, and deals with the issues that made this scandal possible, perhaps in the long run it will actually make the university a better university from an academic standpoint, with less emphasis on football.</p>
<p>I do concede, however, that it was disgraceful that what seemed to be a large number of Penn State students were protesting, and even rioting, after the University terminated Paterno. </p>
<p>A while back, SMU, then a top football program, got the “death penalty” for various violations. I would think that Penn State now faces a similar risk.</p>
<p>Going to Penn State is an absolutely horrible idea. Outside of your university, people are calling to close the university (not just the football program!) and I saw a few comments even suggest we revoke degrees from people who went to Penn State. </p>
<p>It’s not just Sandusky, Paterno, former President, and a few staff members who are to blame. It’s the entire culture of Penn State that allowed this to happen.</p>
<p>The fallout has just begun. I feel sorry for anyone who has to do with this university. But anyone who chooses to be associated with this place is just plain stupid.</p>
<p>Yes- it is a bad idea. By the way, the “We are Penn State” battle cry comes off mighty insensitive right about now and a little white knuckled to what was. If you are a Penn State student or alum, reflect on how you can salvage the school and its mission. Use it as a chance to make a change for the better. Shutting down the football program for a few years and taking down the Jo Pa statue will give the school a chance for real redemption.</p>
<p>“Outside of your university, people are calling to close the university” And the majority of those people are very ignorant. Anyone who has half a brain knows there’s nothing related to academics with this whole thing.</p>
<p>This is probably the most naive statement I’ve read regarding this whole scandal…</p>
<p>If people are calling for the university to be closed, who are they, and what credibility and or power do they have to make that happen…?</p>
<p>As for revoking degrees…the only party that has the ability to do that is the university itself, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to randomly revoke my degree because I bought some football tickets…</p>
<p>I don’t usually respond to trolling-type posts but with a grand total of SIX POSTS, I think MrBladder needs to be ignored. How would a student know about what Sandusky was doing while focusing on their major and degree?</p>
<p>I mean really?</p>
<p>My neighbor and I were just discussing the Penn State alum job situation. She works for a large accounting firm and said that they recruit heavily from Penn State and there has been no discussion of changing that.</p>
<p>Penn State is going to burn.</p>
<p>1) The civil lawsuits from this scandal can be north of $50 million alone.</p>
<p>2) The US Government is going to impose major monetary sanctions/fines for this, if not completely take away functions altogether.</p>
<p>3) The taxpayers of the state are going to pay major amounts to absorb the costs, and might have to end up negotiating taking away functions of Penn State to compensate for an inability to pay off fines. The Catholic church had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of its scandal. Penn State does not have those resources. </p>
<p>4) The NCAA is under immense pressure to impose death penalty on Penn State (even though it technically doesn’t meet the repeater requirement). Taking away Penn State’s football revenue basically collapses the economy of Penn State.</p>
<p>So yah, in 5 years…this university won’t look the same. I’m not sure it ever will in our lifetimes. Everyone here can huff and puff with rhetoric about being a “proud penn state” alum, but that doesn’t change the financial impact this scandal is going to have on the academic funding and abilities of the university afterward (this is not even mentioning the stigma).</p>
<p>FYI, I do hiring for a Fortune 20 company. I definitely have a negative stigma of Penn State now.</p>
<p>Also, to the people who say Joe Paterno was a good man…DID YOU NOT READ THE REPORT? Paterno actively PREVENTED Sandusky from being reported after meeting with university officials. And he kept “CLOSE WATCH” of the 1998 scandal even though he LIED about knowing anything in regards to it during his Grand Jury testimony.</p>
<p>What…the…hell? And let’s remember his non-actions in 2001, after being fully aware of 1998. </p>
<p>This is not a trolling post. This is the truth. Listen to the national outcry. Realize you’re the one with blinders on.</p>
<p>^So, you would not hire a Penn State student because of the inexcusable actions of a few people. Why would you hold those actions against someone who had nothing to do with them and had no way of knowing they were happening? I know that this is a heated topic but, I think the focus should be on who committed the crimes/coverup not the university as a whole.</p>
<p>Back to the OP’s question. </p>
<p>As a hiring manager these events or the fact a candidate attended Penn State would not color my opinion of a candidate (or at least I would sure hope it would not). This I’m pretty sure about.</p>
<p>As a parent if one of my kids was considering Penn State I’d give them a guarded OK. As stated above I am not worried about their job prospects. I’m also not worried about the academics … well, I have some worries here due to the violations of the Cleary ast; but even here I can’t imagine the penalties would cripple PSU; that would be self-defeating. However …</p>
<p>The one thing I am concerned about is the school’s response to the crisis … it the school continues to circle the wagons, doesn’t want the football team touched, takes the position that Paterno was a great man who made a big mistake … then that would give me pause about my kid going there. The culture are the school appears to be a prime cause to one horrific situation … and if that culture lives on it would give me pause. And frankly so far if anything the school’s response has heightened those worries. Here’s a new report on the trustees deciding the statue must stay for now with many trustees being adamant it should stay forever … [Joe</a> Paterno’s statue to remain at Penn State, sources say - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8166643/joe-paterno-statue-remain-penn-state-sources-say]Joe”>Joe Paterno's statue to remain at Penn State, sources say - ESPN).</p>
<p>Say what? For me this is pretty easy … if it was my child or grandchild who was raped how do I view PSU’s actions in response … and so far they are not coming close to getting a good grade (naming the commission = A+ … virtually everything else not so much).</p>
<p>If my child was headed for PSU this coming fall I’d be stuck since I do not really have time to see how things play out. For kids younger there will be plenty of time to judge … and PSU has some work to do to get an positive recommendation from me to one of my kids.</p>
<p>(PS - I am not an alum but I did apply to PSU instead of my state school back in the dark ages when I applied as an undergrad).</p>
<p>Yes, the lawsuits are going to be enormous, as it should be. Every school and business should get a real lesson in “don’t let this happen to you” via watching the financial crisis. </p>
<p>However, PSU spends a lot of money on non-academic things. LOTS of money. I think what will happen is all those things will stop. The building, the trips, the fancy landscaping, the over hiring, the army of TAs, the fleet of cars, the purchase of land…PSU will have to go back to …just teaching. I’m confident the faculty is more than ready to do that, with rigor and dedication.</p>
<p>As for the statue, again I say it’s only a matter of time. It’s not up to the trustees anymore. All it will take is student government, faculty senate, and (most of all) alum to call for the removal and it will come down. Penn Staters are stubborn though, and the more the “outsiders” insist, the longer the wait will be. But there are plenty of people who want the statue gone. Here in town it’s about evenly split, and that’s only now. Wait a bit, and the tide will continue to turn.</p>
<p>Parents and entering freshmen, don’t panic and don’t despair. The Freeh report (one filled with a good deal of conjecture and judgement, btw) has reignited the firestorm. The Washington Post’s report of Penn State as the number one choice of corporate recruiters cited excellent preparation for the work force as the number one reason. Will potential employers really think that the contemptible actions, or lack thereof, of a few individuals will negate that? Will they pass over the opportunity to hire a well-trained engineer, a teacher or a food scientist because of it ? As for those individuals who state they would not hire a Penn State grad, would you really want to work for or with such a short-sighted and prejudiced reactionary? Go, learn why Penn State is one of the greatest institutions of higher learning and why the enormous PSU alumni network is still proud to say “We Are…”</p>
<p>Quote: FYI, I do hiring for a Fortune 20 company. I definitely have a negative stigma of Penn State now.</p>
<p>So you’re not going to hire Penn State students anymore because of the actions of a couple of men? You sir shouldn’t be an employer !!!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here are the Fortune 20 companies:</p>
<ol>
<li>Exxon Mobil</li>
<li>Wal-Mart Stores</li>
<li>Chevron</li>
<li>ConocoPhillips</li>
<li>General Motors</li>
<li>General Electric</li>
<li>Berkshire Hathaway</li>
<li>Fannie Mae</li>
<li>Ford Motor</li>
<li>Hewlett-Packard</li>
<li>AT&T</li>
<li>Valero Energy</li>
<li>Bank of America Corp.</li>
<li>McKesson</li>
<li>Verizon Communications</li>
<li>J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.</li>
<li>Apple</li>
<li>CVS Caremark</li>
<li>International Business Machines</li>
<li>Citigroup </li>
</ol>
<p>Not knowing which of these you work for, I find your claim to a moral high ground highly amusing.</p>
<p>I’m devastated that someone from Walmart or CVS has a negative stigma of PSU now.</p>
<p>I think that 3togo hit the nail on the head in post #54. People aren’t blaming the students for the Sandusky cover-up; the increasingly negative impression of Penn State is due to the response to the cover-up now that more facts are known.</p>
<p>It’s great that students have done fund-raising and all, but what’s burned in the public image is students rioting when JoePa was fired and revering his statue after his death. It looks as though those students don’t care about the abuse victims and are more interested in football.</p>
<p>The school needs to work as a whole to change that public perception. It’s a shame the media didn’t give more attention to the student fund-raising – they should have; but it’s also a shame that the university decided to leave JoePa’s statue standing. Why? It would certainly make a statement that covering up abuses to protect a sports image will no longer be part of the Penn State culture.</p>
<p>People affiliated with Penn State need to understand that their defense of Paterno, the football program, and the administration’s failures looks very callous. I wouldn’t go around shouting We Are Penn State, because right now what the public hears is We Don’t Care About Child Abuse As Long As We’ve Got Football.</p>
<p>I applied to Penn State long ago and always admired it for its academics and its spirit. (And I admit that I was a huge fan of JoePa and the Nittany Lion football team for decades.) I think employers will continue to recruit at Penn State, because the graduates have proven their worth in the workforce. </p>
<p>However, as a parent, I’d sure want to see greater public house-cleaning on the part of the university before I’d encourage my kids to attend. The administration needs to take a stronger stand, and the JoePa apologists need to re-think their priorities.</p>