<p>MODERATOR’S NOTE:</p>
<p>Links to blogs are not permitted on CC, so I had to delete this one.</p>
<p>Agree with Kumitedad. If we could see the email responses to Treponey from Paterno et al it could be illuminating and equalizing. PSU, however, does not have to any public documents. We’ve found that out wrt the police reports in State College. Their reach is frightening. </p>
<p>I have no doubt that students are not to blame here. And that this is a great opportunity for PSU to redefine itself in all ways as the excellent academic institution it is. But it has to be willing to make a sea change in the way it conducts itself, sportswise and institutionally.</p>
<p>For those that “claim” JoPa was just a coach and not in charge the following quote was from the woman (vice president for student affairs - Vicky Triponey) in charge of disciplining students (and football players). Interesting how JoPa also seemed to pull President Spanier’s chain. </p>
<p>[Paterno’s</a> rule at Penn State far-reaching ? USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2011-11-22/11-22-11-Paterno-Discipline/51346682/1]Paterno’s”>http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2011-11-22/11-22-11-Paterno-Discipline/51346682/1)
“Britt said the school’s handling of the case showed who was in charge. “The highest official in State College, Pa., is Joe Paterno. I don’t care what anybody else’s title is, he ran the show up there. And he knew about everything. There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that it all comes back to JoePa,” Britt said. “I got this from the (police) officers I dealt with. Basically they said it’s a nightmare, any case that involves the football team.””</p>
<p>I really think the football program needs to be shutdown for a year and wholesale changes need to be made not only to the people involved in the program but to rules and regulations regarding punishing football players, investigating abuses by football officials, etc. It is clear, despite the protests of Penn St. apologists, that the football program had gotten out of control. You’d expect this at Florida st. but aren’t all of you still claiming that Penn St. is first and foremost an academic institution? The further the investigation progresses, the more we will dig up. Penn State needs to step forward NOW and make a bold proclamation (such as to cancel the next football season) if it wants to escape with any sort of positive PR.</p>
<p>@kumitedad: While your first sentence is true, I don’t feel as if that was the main message of the article. It seems as if the author was trying to enforce that this story is rather one-sided (i.e. lacking numerous available counter-examples) and had already been reported upon once before.</p>
<p>@norcalguy: Out of curiosity, imagine you are a State College small-business owner. Or the parent of a field hockey player. Or the parent of a cheerleader or Blue Band member. Or a student athlete/student-performer.</p>
<p>Would you still be willing to shut down the football program for a year?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some sacrifices have to be made. Up until this point, it’s everything else about the university that’s had to make the sacrifices. It’s about time that we stop shielding the football program. This is about rectifying what happened with the (alleged) rape of young boys and about preserving the integrity of the university for the future. If that means a young lady has to go a year without cheerleading, then she’ll just have to find another hobby.</p>
<p>Right now, Penn State is at a crossroads. Is it going to make sure that its football players, band members, and cheerleaders are happy or is it going to make sure this never happens again? When a car is dying, it’s helpful to turn it off and fix it rather than keep driving on it until it no longer runs altogether. The football program is dying a slow death right now, in reputation, in terms of future recruits. Sometimes with a wounded animal, you just have to put it down. Joe Pa’s regime needs to be put down and give way to something new and uncorrupted.</p>
<p><<@norcalguy: Out of curiosity, imagine you are a State College small-business owner. Or the parent of a field hockey player. Or the parent of a cheerleader or Blue Band member. Or a student athlete/student-performer.>></p>
<p>Duke26 - Now the thought of a “small business owner” might make a few of these folks hesitate, but there is no sympathy among most of these “shut down the football program” folks for the band, dance team, or cheerleaders. They don’t care about the hundreds of other students involved. If it’s football-related…it MUST (by it’s very nature) be bad.</p>
<p>Actually, there would probably be little sympathy for any small business owner who earned most of his money during football season. It’s evil, ya know!</p>
<p><< If that means a young lady has to go a year without cheerleading, then she’ll just have to find another hobby.>></p>
<p>OMG! That is one of the most demeaning comments I have heard in a long time.</p>
<p>For the record - most college teams have MALE cheerleaders, too!</p>
<p>What’s demeaning is getting anally raped by a man 45 years your senior and then having the entire university standing around doing nothing. 10 years later, its students and parents are worried about the cheerleaders and band members. That’s what’s demeaning.</p>
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<p>Excuse me. Clearly, I’ve forgotten the real victims: the MALE cheerleaders. Here I am, perpetuating my 1960s sexist stereotypes. </p>
<p>“If that means a young lady (or man) has to go a year without cheerleading, then she (or he) just have to find another hobby.”</p>
<p>In the interest of promoting gender equality because clearly football is not sexist at all, maybe Penn State’s next football coach can be a woman.</p>
<p>to those of you who still think Joe P was doing what he needed to report what he heard to his “boss”, and there is no meaningful culpability on his part…</p>
<p>[Joe</a> Paterno Fought Penn State Official Over Punishment of Football Players - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204443404577052073672561402.html]Joe”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204443404577052073672561402.html)</p>
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<p>Are you still unsure about WHO truly ruled Penn State? And, ultimately, who MUST HAVE known all about what happened and chose to cover it all up?</p>
<p>And in light of all this, regardless of whether it’s fair for the players, band members, cheerleaders and local merchants, Penn State needs to send a very strong signal of their new start by shutting down the football program for some months or so.</p>
<p>Sorry, science fiction - I am personally horrified by this situation and the role that the administration (including Paterno) played in this - but I don’t think shutting down the football program is the answer. I do believe, however, that a complete change in leadership (in the entire athletic department) is needed.</p>
<p>I also found the cheerleader comment offensive. Just the notion of the 19-22 kids paying the price for the actions of a group of older men makes me sad. Why punish the students? It makes no sense to me.</p>
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<p>The goal is not to punish the students although that’s an unfortunate side effect of shutting down the program for a year. </p>
<p>I argue that Penn State is sinking lower and lower the longer it sits on its hands. Having fundraisers is nice but let’s face it, the crux of the original scandal wasn’t that there was a child molester on campus. It was that there was a child molester on campus and systematically that slipped through the cracks and nothing was done. You can raise $200,000 for child abuse if you want but it doesn’t address the original issue which was that the football program got in the way of morals. To address that issue, big changes need to be made to the leadership of the football program and major restructuring need to be done. It just isn’t a good idea to run the program next year with that kind of flux. Ultimately, you can worry a few cheerleaders not having anything to do or you can worry about preserving the integrity of the degree for the thousands and thousands of graduates you pump out each year. The rest of America is eagerly following the investigation and seeing what the Penn St. administration does with the football program.</p>
<p>completely agree with norcalguy.</p>
<p>I don’t think people who are wedded to Penn State one way or the other really understand how this whole thing looks to the outsiders without the Penn State filter on.</p>
<p>First the sex scandal. then the cover up. Then the “one more game” chanting rioters. Then news about a victim bullied out of his high school (no, this is not Penn State, but it still paints a picture of the whole community whose values were corrupted by the Penn State religion - football). Then the lastest about a former Penn State official’s story who was ousted by Joe P for daring to challenge his supreme power at Penn state… It is getting worse and worse with no end in sight. </p>
<p>The Penn State community is not dealing with a normal problem. It is dealing with a mega Tsunami. You need a shock therapy not only internally but a shock therapy to set a new course in public perception. The clearest, the most unambiguous, and the most attention catching crisis management option is a very public suspension of the football program for a few months. </p>
<p>No, it’s not fair for a tiny minority of the Penn State community: the cheerleaders, the band players, the football players. Yes, all of them mostly innocent. We all acknowledge that. But if you can jump start the process of refurbishing the greatly tarnished Penn State image for 40,000 student and if that comes with a bit of an inconvenience for these others, what should you choose? Why is it SUCH A BIG SACRIFICE not to be a football cheerleader, a football band players, and even a football player for a few months? After all, are they there for education? Or are they there for these activities. Is Penn State an educational institution or is it a football business enterprise? Does football exist for Penn State or does Penn State exist for football? Most of us think, based on the reaction from the Penn State community that most of the Penn State community members act like it’s the latter. </p>
<p>The total unwillingness to explore this most effective option for rebuilding Penn State is, in and of itself, a clear confirmation of how football completely dominates Penn State even after all this, and this is an ultimate sacred cow that can never be compromised even if that helps the rest of the community. </p>
<p>To me, this goes back to the root of the problem: football as a state religion at Penn State, in the name of which so much was covered up and so much was tolerated, and so much abuse was excused.</p>
<p>[BC-FBC–Penn</a> State-Discipline, FBC - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/bc-fbc-penn-state-discipline-fbc-094830861.html]BC-FBC--Penn”>http://news.yahoo.com/bc-fbc-penn-state-discipline-fbc-094830861.html)</p>
<p>Counterargument to players getting special treatment. Basically saying Paterno disagreed with punishments, but the punishments did not change.</p>
<p>[Corbett</a> sidesteps blame for not alerting Penn State about investigation | News | CentreDaily.com](<a href=“http://www.centredaily.com/2011/11/23/2996933/corbett-sidesteps-blame-for-not.html]Corbett”>http://www.centredaily.com/2011/11/23/2996933/corbett-sidesteps-blame-for-not.html)</p>
<p>Another interesting article about PA Governor Corbett - who said Paterno had to go cause he didn’t do enough.</p>
<p>Hmmm…more focus on the cheerleaders. I am not particularly worried about the cheerleaders nor the integrity of the Penn State diploma. As far as I know all of the undergraduates, the medical students, the law students, the graduate students did not cause this mess and they should not be overly concerned about the integrity of their degrees. I suspect many reasonable adults will share this opinion. </p>
<p>The investigation will continue, the victims will be compensated…and their lives will be forever damaged and forever changed by the brutality of a monster who was sheltered by the silence and inaction of many adults.</p>
<p>Good will ultimately come from all of this and laws will be strengthened to protect our kids. I am not naive in that I think this is limited to Penn State. Contributions to organizations like RAINN will, hopefully, empower more victims to come out of the shadows and tell their stories.</p>
<p>Many in the extended Penn State community will continue to support these efforts. As for football I see no point in canceling football. It may make some feel better but probably will not do much to help the victims. Also I will probably continue as I have always done to pay little attention to college football…just not a sports fan. I will, however, continue to focus on this case and hope that ultimately the greatest good that will come is better protection for our kids…and that silence will become not just morally unacceptable as I think most will agree but will become legally unacceptable. FTK For the kids!
Thon.org</p>
<p>Since the football program seems to be at the root of all of this mess, that would indicate that if there is not a full rethinking of the program vis a vis the school, that nothing positive has really come out of this. </p>
<p>Is Div I football really that important and vital?</p>
<p>Jerry Sandusky is at the root of all this mess.</p>
<p>I would say it isn’t plausible for the school to disband the D1 program. It isn’t the players’ fault and a lot less people would apply w/o football, not to mention the amount of money football brings in.</p>