Penn State Scandal

<p>I find that the really sad part of this whole thing…is that while everyone is pointing fingers at Penn State, when tragedies like this happen all over the country, and all over the world every day. What we all should be doing is reexamining our own lives, and making sure we are doing all we can to protect all children in our society, every day.</p>

<p>@lasma yes, this situation is way worse than any of those other scandals you have mentioned. but what you listed are all direct impacts on football games, while what Sandusky, Paterno and the rest of the administration did had no direct impact on any football game. none of the players or coaches violated any NCAA rules, the crime committed by Sandusky was off the football field. for this reason the players should not be penalized for something that they weren’t involved in.</p>

<p>[Joe</a> Posnanski Posts The End of Paterno](<a href=“Sports Illustrated”>Sports Illustrated)</p>

<p>To LasMa and Solcaldad42 – you’re still blaming the 40,000 students for the allegeded actions or inactions of a few men. When you talk about banning the football team from bowl games, etc., you’re hurting everyone on campus – every student, every faculty member, and every athlete in every other sport. Shame on you! </p>

<p>Maybe some of you parents out there ringing your hands over what you perceive as the debacle that is Penn State should spend some more time figuring out how to fix the economy in this country and less time trolling a website that’s always been a forum for students and perspective students. And the last time I checked, there’s no law against looking foolish. College students have looked foolish since the beginning of time. But we’re kids – it’s adults, and specifically men here, who are really the foolish ones. </p>

<p>And Solcaldad42, your nonsense about “hanging” Paterno & Sandusky? What’s wrong with you?</p>

<p>There will always be people that will continue to have negativity regarding Penn State. They won’t listen to why it will continue to be a strong academic school with a huge supportive student body and faculty. It’s not even worth your words to try and convince them otherwise. If they choose to not attend or to allow their son/daughter to attend, so be it. They are missing out on getting a great education and taking part in the many great things that Penn State has to offer. </p>

<p>I will always be proud to say that my son is a Penn State student.</p>

<p>I don’t see why people keep saying the academics will be the same. The academics will stay the same only if no faculty leaves because they don’t want to be associated with Penn State anymore, if Penn State retains its number of applications and its yield (and consequently the quality of its student body), if the amount of donations from alumni and private individuals stay the same, if it doesn’t lose a penny to civil lawsuits. This is a catastrophic scandal that will have long lasting effects, not only on the quality of the football program, but on the quality of academics as well. You didn’t just lose a football coach in all of this.</p>

<p>I really didnt want to comment on this situation because none of truly know everything that happened ,but I will say that the Virginia Tech administration did not shut down campus after a shooting in a dorm room and had they done that it could have saved many lives. The school was fined and people were fired (and civil lawsuits Im sure)-correct me if Im wrong. This was over 4 years ago and the incident did weigh on our minds as Tech is one of my S top picks. We feel that the school learned alot from the mistakes and is very concerned about something like that ever happening again. This makes their administration better and hopefully safer in the long run. The student body also stuck together through that tragedy and is amazing! This may happen to PSU as well in the future. Some kids may not want to attend because the football reputation was a big draw for them and I’m sure the program wont be the same. Overall, the academics will be the same and the students and athletes that are currently there should not be punished for this scandal! The scandal has saddened us but I think PSU wasnt S first choice anyway. He picked another school that had a major controversy 4 years ago instead.</p>

<p>Justed wanted to bring up a point about the civil lawsuits. My husband’s been in the corporate liability insurance/risk management business for the past 20 years. He made any interesting point, since Sandusky was not an employee of Penn State since 1999, the insurance carriers are not obligated to cover any damages resulting in civil lawsuits involving his actions after he was no longer employed by Penn State. They could end up paying millions out of their own pockets.</p>

<p>Terriergirl,</p>

<p>“Don’t blame the students”. I understand how you feel but it doesn’t work that way. The best and most recent example of this is USC and the whole Reggie Bush fiasco. Let’s compare.</p>

<p>USC was, and is, a football powerhouse. Bush’s parents accepted about $200,000 from a sleezeball in San Diego (about 200 miles south of USC). USC also had fun at practice often including minor celebrities (ex. Will Ferrell, Snoop Dog, etc.). The NCAA didn’t like any of this and they tagged USC with “lack of institutional control”. Long after Reggie Bush left the school USC got severe penalties that will continue to effect them for many years. Almost the “death penalty”. The NCAA, specifically Paul Dee, said that then coach Pete Carroll ‘should have known’ about the payment made in San Diego and that mixing celebs with students was wrong.</p>

<p>So the end result is that much loved Pete Carroll is gone and USC students who weren’t even in high school when all this happened will pay for this for many years. Was it the students fault? Of course not.</p>

<p>You can see the obvious parallels to PSU right? Except in this case we don’t have parents in San Diego, we have a pedi-monster in the locker room. We have at least one eye-witness that told the head coach. He told his boss. Nobody called 911. Then it was all covered up by the AD and a university VP and maybe more.</p>

<p>I would say that this is all about a million times worse than Snoop Dog and $200k wouldn’t you?</p>

<p>The NCAA is trying to sidestep this for some reason but they won’t be able to. They are charged with keeping schools accountable. Keeping institutional control. JoePa’s football program was obviously out of control and even worse, covered up by the university. The tail is wagging the dog.</p>

<p>Lack of institutional control is the phrase that you will all hear for years to come.</p>

<p>Sandusky’s fate is easy, his dance card will be full while he spends his remaining years in prison. PSU football’s future is uncertain but I would go to Saturday’s game if I were you because it’s possible (likely?) it will be the last home game for a long time.</p>

<p>Best Regards,
Wheaty</p>

<p>PS. For the record, I like PSU, USC, and even Reggie Bush. I think Grandpa Joe should have retired many years ago and I think college sports has been allowed to grow too large in comparison to academics.</p>

<p>[The</a> shame of Penn State - Salon.com](<a href=“http://www.salon.com/2011/11/11/the_shame_of_penn_state/singleton/]The”>http://www.salon.com/2011/11/11/the_shame_of_penn_state/singleton/)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2011-11-10/jerry-sandusky-investigation-victim-1-cover/51160950/1[/url]”>http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2011-11-10/jerry-sandusky-investigation-victim-1-cover/51160950/1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>While this entire scandal is despicable, sickening, heart-wrenching, and just disturbing…I do not feel the football program should be shut down because of it. That is unfair to the players who have worked SO hard to get to where they are. After hours of work, sweat, and stress, for their dreams to be ruined because of the foul mistakes of their superiors is just ridiculous. I agree that Penn State should be cleaned out and all people involved should be in a large amount of trouble. However, do not punish the players who didn’t have anything to do with crime. And please, fire McQueary.</p>

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<p>I doubt that many faculty will leave over this; the academic milieu is for the most part separated from the football program. (And then there is the economy; newly minted PhDs will take a position for much less pay than an established faculty member would require to consider relocating.) The number of applications may take a dip, but I don’t see that happening at a level that will really be significant, particularly a year or two out. Lastly, there are already alums saying they will redirect the contributions they have made to the football program and instead support the academic programs. They are appalled by what has happened, but the still feel a strong allegiance to Penn State.</p>

<p>Hi Sop520,</p>

<p>College football has no meaning, it’s a game and nothing more. It should always be way down a university’s priority list - it can not be #1. Ever. The head football coach should never be able to call his own shots. Take a poll of PSU professors and tell me how that comes out.</p>

<p>If PSU were to voluntarily shutter the football program for say 5 years it would go a long way to saying loud and clear that academics come first, that victims are first, and that PSU ‘gets it’. Sadly, I don’t think it’s going to go this way. Football has been first at PSU for so long that PSU will hold out and eventually the NCAA, or the Dept of Ed, will come down with sanctions.</p>

<p>I’ve seen this movie and it doesn’t end well. The academic standing will suffer if PSU clings to football. Sometimes it’s just best to punt.</p>

<ul>
<li>Wheaty</li>
</ul>

<p>1moremom,</p>

<p>I agree and in fact PSU now has the chance to redefine and improve itself. IMO, this is a great chance to rebalance the school’s priorities by pushing football down the priority list. Or just delete it… focus on academics! I’m guessing 99% of all PSU professors will cheer at that turn of events.</p>

<p>At this moment PSU needs strong leaders with a full understanding of what the school should be 10 years from now.</p>

<p>Best,
Wheaty</p>

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</p>

<p>from Cbssportsline</p>

<p>This is really unbelievable. Do they realize what damage they’ve done to the image of Penn State alumni when they do stuff like this? What are some of these people thinking? A Sandusky defense fund?</p>

<p>While I am not a football fan, I am mindful of the fact that football revenue supports the majority of the other sports programs at PSU. And this brings to mind a commercial the Big 10 ran highlighting students who excelled in other, less glorified sports, and also excelled in the classroom and went on to accomplish wonderful things. The leadership and other skills they learned as athletes, and the athletic scholarships that helped support their schooling, helped make those accomplishments possible.</p>

<p>There will always be misguided people like the ones mentioned in the previous post. People lined up to defend Roman Polanski.</p>

<p>The commercial was something like this–
[Became</a> a pro, in something else than sport - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>

<p>People keep talking about the importance of football revenue for universities. Hogwash. For example, Penn State’s entire football budget for the year is $70 million against a university-wide budget of $4 billion. </p>

<p>If you had a business where 1.75% of your sales were threatening your entire operation what would you do? Me, I’d nuke the problem.</p>

<p>PSU football is peanuts compared to the real product: educating students.</p>

<p>[What</a> Should Penn State Applicants Think? - NYTimes.com](<a href=“What Should Penn State Applicants Think? - The New York Times”>What Should Penn State Applicants Think? - The New York Times)</p>

<p>See comments too. Wide range</p>

<p>

Is this “budget” what PSU spends on football or the revenue it receives from football? How much less would the alumni contribute without football and the attention/interest it brings to PSU? Your 1.75% sales example is not close to equating what football means to PSU.</p>