<p>They end up in this place because they value their image over all else, including the health and safety of children. Anything to maintain the status quo and not tarnish the image. In the case of the Catholic church there is, as well, an unhealthy dose of group narcissism that enters into the mix in the sense that they believe that they are above reproach and are “special” in the sense that society’s rules do not apply to them.</p>
<p>When you combine the level of avoidance, denial and self servitude that we have seen in all of these cases (not to mention the issue of self policing) you have the perfect storm for victimization to happen.</p>
<p>"A decent flag ship public school. Better than most, but not top tier public either: definitely not in the same league of Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UVA, or UNC. Below U of Illinois Champaign Urbana.</p>
<h1>1 party school. Heavy Greek scene. Football rules it all."</h1>
<p>That would have been my impression as well. And I’m sure that they have some excellent departments, mighty fine professors, and committed, ambitious, and some outstanding students, too. But if someone walked in for an interview, and I saw that on their resume, it would certainly be the first thing I’d think of. I would try not to let it affect my judgment. But that, plus the scandal, would be the first thing to cross my mind. Hey, I’m human. </p>
<p>I would certainly NEVER mention it in an interview - neither football, nor the Greek Scene, nor the party school business, nor the scandal. But there’s no question it would be in my consciousness.</p>
<p>I would think an interviewer who mentioned the scandal in an interview with a PSU job applicant would be more than a little “off.” It’s the elephant in the room, AND there’s nothing more to be said about it - obviously anyone with any sense of decency is not in favor of child sexual abuse or coverups.</p>
<p>The town of Happy Valley has a problem, according to this. I think I might have underestimated the depth and nature and power of the “football culture” there. </p>
<p>Paterno should go to this school and explain to these kids that people are more important than football games.</p>
<p>how truly awful for this courageous young man. I hope those parents will explain to the bullies that “this is what courage looks like,” not somebody scoring a touch down.</p>
<p>It’s funny. I live overseas and this is definitely a topic of conversation. Now, we aren’t seeing this on the nightly news or seeing it in the local papers - but it’s all over the internet headlines. </p>
<p>But - no one here is criticizing the university (as a whole) or the students/alums. The people I have talked to (most from the US and many of whom are involved in recruiting/hiring/supporting programs at PSU and represent several companies) are all fully supportive of the programs from which they recruit and have no intention of changing their practices. They agree that there is a lot of blame to be thrown around -but also agree that most of the blame goes to the administrators, not to the students.</p>
<p>The comment I heard from one person/recruiter was interesting. To paraphrase - “Yes, there are small-minded people who will negatively associate this horrible situation with every student on campus. But I’ve been recruiting there for years and know the program and professors well. My opinion has not changed.”</p>
<p>(Note - Most of these are people I have only recently met, and I introduce myself as being from New Orleans - so they have no clue that I have a child at Penn State until I choose to tell them. LSU, yeah - that’s a given (DS#2 is there) -but not PSU.</p>
<p>“It’s the elephant in the room, AND there’s nothing more to be said about it”</p>
<p>Agreed. I had a Penn State resume in my hands yesterday. This thread and all of our conversations came to mind as soon as I read it. But it wasn’t relevant to our work, so I said nothing about it to the student.</p>
<p>When I first posted, a few days ago, I didn’t think it would affect the value of the degree. As I read more about the abuses and culture, I’m not so sure.
High school seniors tend to be very black and white in their thinking and have more maturing to do to become less judgmental. I could see a student who considers themselves as a highly moral person crossing PSU off their list - yes it would be a shame but just saying…
As an employee, it is not a place where I would look to work.
The stuff that’s been coming out looks like the culture was systemic to the university.</p>