<p>psufan1993 asks why does everyone seem to care about this so much? The fact that this question would even be asked shows many in the Penn State community just don’t get it. Perhaps, it makes people angry when children are raped on a college campus and it was more important to the leadership to protect the football program than to stop the abuse. The arrogance and denial must end.</p>
<p>Yes, Sandusky has been convicted, and the three awaiting trial will likely see prison time. They will be punished. Paterno has not been punished - yes he is dead, but so far his legacy has remained intact. The NCAA may have standing, if any of the young men who visited PSU with Sandusky ended up going to PSU and playing football, as they would have been recruits. Of course, it’s possible Sandusky was told to steer clear of anyone with such potential (in which case they can be thankful for that potential). I can’t picture one of his victims wanting to stay around to play for PSU, but then until recently I couldn’t picture one of them accepting adoption into his family either.</p>
<p>The staff from 2001 may or may not all be gone, be we don’t know how long this continued after that. Anyone with ties to the program until he was completely out of the picture could be remotely involved. We don’t know what any of them might have witnessed. Saying the students and community are completely blameless is like saying the citizens around Auschwitz and Dachau were completely blameless. They did not victimize any children, but they were responsible for the atmosphere in which it happened - and so are the students and community at every other school that idolizes there athletic programs. Our society is to blame, and unfortunately those most closely associated with PSU will be the ones to suffer, as will the other schools in their league, when the football program is shut down. Maybe it will act as a wake up call.</p>
<p>I guess my main question is; say PSU gets the DP, the entire athletic program is crippled, thousands are out of work, and the local businesses suffer, is that justified by the acts of 5 men? I think there are more constructive ways to punish the university. I think over time more will come out that will clarify the situation so that this can be addressed properly.</p>
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<p>Yeah, because it was the entire culture that led to this. It could be more than 5 men too. </p>
<p>If that’s not good enough for you, then here’s my other suggestion: Ask every PSU student/staff “Should the Penn State football team be punished?” </p>
<p>If they respond “yes, they should be punished,” nothing happens to them. If they respond “no, they should not be punished” chuck them from the school. They are part of this problematic culture.</p>
<p>The main perpetrator is in jail for the rest of his life. Joe Paterno is dead. The president of the university, the athletic director, and other coaches have been fired. PSU is appropriating money to help abused children. The leaders failed the University and have paid for their poor judgment - at least to some degree. Punishing the University would only hurt the fine people at PSU who had nothing to do with the scandal. It would also cut the revenue stream that would be set up to settle civil suits and help abused children. Plus I don’t see this being inside the legal or moral purview of the NCAA. Elements of the University need to be fixed, and lots of actions have been taken in that direction. PSU is not just football, and I am confident that the new leaders will take the appropriate steps to help some victims and restore the justifiable pride in the University.</p>
<p>The main perpetrator is still, til this day, Professor Emeritus. Not a single tenured Penn State faculty member, not a single member of the Administration, not a single athletic coach, not a single member of the Board of Trustees, not a single legislator or public official has publicly stepped forward to say that’s not a good thing.</p>
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I’m not sure that everyone has thought of that yet - there have been more important things to do, like putting the ■■■■■■■ in jail. If no one has mentioned it publicly yet, I am sure that sooner or later someone will realize that he still has that title and take care of the issue. There is a lot going on right now. He might still have a reserved parking space for all I know!</p>
<p>Remember also that the BoT got rightly trashed for poor public communications at the start of this thing, and put a tight clamp on all public announcements. It may well be that this is bottlenecked waiting for approval to announce.</p>
<p>I thought you had to have a PhD to be a professor. What a joke of a school.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that they might lose their funding. I think it’s ridiculous to punish people who had nothing to do with the scandal.</p>
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I believe that Mini is referring to Spanier, not Sandusky.</p>
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Tragically, he isn’t - as part of his retirement package, Sandusky was made an Assistant Professor Emeritus at Spanier’s request. While such an award was unprecedented for a member of the coaching staff, university regulations permit the university President to make such an award so despite many concerns it went through. While I agree that this award was incorrect and at the time certainly seemed bizarre, the fact that it has not yet been revoked is probably because of the desire to wait until the criminal proceedings were finished so as to minimize the cost of potential legal challenges by Sandusky.</p>
<p>[Why</a> Death Penalty doesn’t make sense for Penn State football - Michael Rosenberg - SI.com](<a href=“http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/michael_rosenberg/07/19/penn-state-death-penalty/index.html]Why”>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/michael_rosenberg/07/19/penn-state-death-penalty/index.html)</p>
<p>I don’t think the NCAA will shut down the FB program, but they should penalize FB with fines as well as loss of X number of FB scholarships for the next few years. That loss of recruiting power will effectively diminish the strength of the FB team/program, but won’t unduly punish athletes who did nothing wrong.</p>
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<p>Sadly, the arrogance and denial won’t end without a serious outside intervention - and that’s the death penalty, for a minimum of 5 years. The death penalty would be the best thing that could happen for Penn State’s health in the long term.</p>
<p>Even after the scandal broke, and the active coverup had been exposed, PSU leadership closed ranks, circled the wagons, and continued to try to ride it out - and they’re still doing the same today. Many members of the board are tainted, along with much of the administration. It’s a cancer that took over the entire institution, turning it upside down.</p>
<p>This is a flagship state university, and the people of Pennsylvania need to take control and bring it back to its core mission. State residents and alums should be leading the way on this. But the cult is strong, and the football mentality produces a lot of fuzzy thinking. Sadly, PA, PSU and the PSU family are going to need the NCAA and the government’s help to force them to do what they won’t be able to do for themselves.</p>
<p>This probably could have happened at many other football powerhouse schools, but it actually did happen here. Penn State needs to be disinfected and rebuilt, and other similar institutions need to take notice, and begin to reign in their own problem programs.</p>
<p>They should get the Death Penalty to their football program for 4 years. That would allow a whole “generation” of a class (freshman year to graduation) to pass thru the campus and force Penn State to realign itself to one that is free of the Paterno football legacy.</p>
<p>They need a whole class of students free from the cult that has become the football program.</p>
<p>That cult-like adoration of the football program, and the “protect it at all costs” attitude, is STILL prevalent on campus, even with all the key players in the scandal gone.</p>
<p>The monsters are gone, but the environment that created them is still there. And that leaves too much chance that new ones will be born.</p>
<p>The alumni and trustees need to get back to focusing on academics. The boosters need to find some other reason to support the school other than football.</p>
<p><< They need a whole class of students free from the cult that has become the football program.>></p>
<p>Wow- way to generalize. So you’re saying that my son, who was 9 years old when this happened, is part of the problem? My son, who is an aerospace engineering major who spends most of his days studying for classes that I don’t even remotely understand, my son who is at Penn State on an ACADEMIC scholarship, my son who is spending his summer at NASA working on space projects and my son who spends his free time participating in a few clubs and raising money for pediatric cancer is part of the problem? </p>
<p>So does Penn State just shut down after football season? The students just crawl into a cave and hybernate until the next season? Give me a break. Penn State is about so much more than football. Just like many other universities that offer a wide variety of opportunities. I’m not going to get into a debate about whether football should be cancelled or not. But it’s incredible the way that you and so many others talk about our children. My son is intelligent, well-spoken and is a great student. He chose Penn State because of the engineering oppotunities - not because of football. Does he go to football games? Yes. He also goes to soccer games, basketball games, volleyball games, etc. Yes, he likes sports. He also misses many sporting events as academics comes first.</p>
<p>Please don’t talk down about my son or anyone else’s child without knowing who or what you are talking about. Penn State is about so much more than football - you and others just chose to not see that.</p>
<p>ljrfrm-
Thanks for that.</p>
<p><<please don’t="" talk="" down="" about="" my="" son="" or="" anyone="" else’s="" child="" without="" knowing="" who="" what="" you="" are="" talking="" about.="" penn="" state="" is="" so="" much="" more="" than="" football="" -="" and="" others="" just="" chose="" to="" not="" see="" that.="">></please></p>
<p>You said it much better than I could. Thanks!</p>
<p>I implied nothing about your son, or any other student, being part of the problem. </p>
<p>My point was that Penn State should break from all things football so that the environment that was allowed to flourish there won’t take root again.</p>
<p>I said NOTHING about your child or any other child. </p>
<p>If Penn State is so much more than football, then cutting off the oxygen to that part of the body until the cancer there is truly wiped out isn’t something you should take so personally.</p>
<p>What I take personally is that you say my son, and all the other students there, are part of some football cult. You are lumping them as part of the problem. You don’t know my son, or the other students. You don’t know their intentions of why they’re at Penn State, or whether they even like football. Don’t demean them, judge them or generalize. I told you I wasn’t going to debate football vs. no football. I’m not going to discuss whether “cutting off the oxygen to that part of the body until the cancer there is truly wiped out” is necessary. But as long as you and others continue to lump my child in (stating they are part of the culture/cult, etc.) with those that broke the law and truly did bad - then yes, I will take it personally.</p>