<p>“I was very heartened to hear that his ‘first lesson learned’ was that we should be mindful of children and their engagement in activities.”</p>
<p>Does he mean football players? </p>
<p>It was clear that he wasn’t talking about football players. Why do you insist on stirring the pot?</p>
<p>Good segment this morning on CBS TV with the the old hound dog newsman, Bob Schieffer. Local Harrisburg newspaper reporter’s comment about covering PSU was not at all surprising. ‘We had a joke in the newsroom that Penn State was the Kremlin. The university, the administration, the football team, etc. were not transparent at all regarding information or access.’</p>
<p>Lake, agreed. I heard a news clip from the new coach, O Brien, as to what he thought of the NCAA penalties, and he said that to him, the most important things were, in addition to no Death Penalty and being able to have televised games and home games. Then he went on to clarify, that he had communicated these things “up the chain” to the AD, who had communicated to the President. Its time for Erikson to say to all faculty, employees, coaches and students, listen, if it doesn’t involve a legal matter, if it just your opinion, if it is anything that happened from today on, tell whomever you want.</p>
<p>I would like to see the head (president, chair, whatever) of the Faculty Senate be given a voting seat on the PSU Board. It would emphasize that academics come first and provide a link from the faculty to the Board. </p>
<p>I would also like to see a procedure implemented by their new compliance people that every professor or instructor in any class with a student-athlete sign at the end of the term that they were not asked to, nor did they give any special treatment to an athlete, including but not limited to grading, assignments, attendance.</p>
<p>A powerful statement by Jeff MacGregor at ESPN that Penn State is rushing to put the scandal behind it and not trying to address the underlying issues.</p>
<p>[Penn</a> State still needs to work toward reconciliation - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8205420/penn-state-needs-work-reconciliation]Penn”>Penn State still needs to work toward reconciliation - ESPN)</p>
<p>O’Brien’s statement about it being time for Penn State to “punch back” is particularly disappointing.</p>
<p>"“I was very heartened to hear that his ‘first lesson learned’ was that we should be mindful of children and their engagement in activities.”</p>
<p>So what activities is he talking about? Being part of organizations that serve low-income kids like Second Mile? Being adopted by football coaches? Being taken to sporting events by “mentors” endorsed by the respected headcoach of Penn State football?</p>
<p>I didn;t see the TV interview. The quote doesn’t inspire confidence, and I hope the TV appearance was better than this. (I really do.)</p>
<p>I think (for me) the problem is that all the energy seems to be put into “putting the events behind us” when, in fact, we (and they) don’t really know fully yet what actually transpired? (Which is why I truly think Penn State would have been much better off with the so-called death penalty.) Others will differ of course.</p>
<p>From the above:</p>
<p>"Nothing is resolved. Sandusky, Paterno, Penn State, the jackhammered statue, the Freeh report, the NCAA sanctions – all of it rushed, unfinished, provisional. The Grand Experiment fails and the race to forget begins. The contract extension kicks in, the civil suits line up, the opportunists circle the parking lots, and we’re talking about money and Hawaii and which players stay and which players go as if it were all over. Tim Curley and Gary Schultz don’t have trial dates yet. Jerry Sandusky hasn’t even been sentenced.</p>
<p>“It’s time to punch back.” All due respect coach, but are you out of your mind? The penalties fall and the punishments drop – none of them even a week old – and already the language rings defiant, as if there’s been a persecution, an injustice done against Penn State football. Who are the real victims here? And who are the martyrs?</p>
<p>“We took a lot of punches. Penn State has taken a lot of punches over the last six months,” Bill O’Brien said at Big Ten media day, “and it’s time to punch back.”</p>
<p>This tragic story has been told by lawyers and the judicial system. To truly move forward, Penn State should open other safe avenues of communication and reconciliation.</p>
<p>Against what? Against whom? Against the monster this program harbored for so long? Or do you mean to punch back against the critics and those who said maybe football was less important than atonement?</p>
<p>Where’s the effort at reconciliation? The restoration of trust in your own community? Where’s the contrition? Financial compensation, no matter how lavish, is not by itself restitution. Money alone heals no one.</p>
<p>Penn State missed the chance to voluntarily suspend football operations until it knew where it stood. Until it knew what happened and for how long and to whom. Instead it rushes into another season without knowing where the next accusation is coming from, or where the next investigation might lead. In the weeks and months and years ahead, how many more names will be read out in how many more courtrooms?</p>
<p>But no one need miss a single down of football."</p>
<p>I agree that PSU has been short on contrition and long on moving ahead and forgetting very fast.</p>
<p>I saw the interview. Erickson rehearsed his lines well. IMO, it was all about Penn State’s image. Which, to be fair, is what any good President of a college would do. Erickson said PSU is working on becoming a national leader in the child abuse area. When asked how could this have happened, he mentioned human frailties, and said everyone needs to look into their hearts and think deeply about that.</p>
<p>When asked about Paterno, he said Paterno contributed greatly to education at Penn State and nothing can change that, which is why he kept the name on the library. He said the statue is in a safe place and no decision on whether it will come back will be made until time has passed, giving it perspective.</p>
<p>I had asked, a couple thousand posts ago, what we think would happen if this were an engineering professor, an econ prof, etc. at some prominent school. Apparently, the answer is nothing. How is it possible for Wharton to get away with this? </p>
<p>As far as Erickson’s comments, I think his point is well taken. People are frail. People are awful. What will the rest of us do, to make sure children in our towns are safer than they were before Penn State’s catastrophe?</p>
<p>[Spencer:</a> Another child sex saga, different result - delcotimes.com](<a href=“http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/07/29/opinion/doc5014a4b8a74d8854164929.txt?viewmode=fullstory#.UBV9y2ZCQyM.facebook]Spencer:”>http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/07/29/opinion/doc5014a4b8a74d8854164929.txt?viewmode=fullstory#.UBV9y2ZCQyM.facebook)</p>
<p>I assumed he was talking about being an advocate for children’s safety on many levels. Children in schools, children in after-school activities, children in church activities…wherever children are we should make their safety a priority. If that means having your awareness increased about the possibility of child molestation because of the tragedy that befell these children, so be it.</p>
<p>ljfrm - I certainly did not infer that he was talking about football players. I have no idea what you mean by stirring the pot. I consider myself an advocate for children and have, on many occasions, reported suspected child abuse to DCF. It is required in my line of work but I think I would do so in any event. If he thinks that the first lesson learned is to mindful of children and care for them in ways that protect them from harm, that is a good thing.</p>
<p>Green, when someone shows me that the Penn administartion knew and did nothing, I will comment. Even before the Freeh report, there was grand jury testimony indicating that Paterno, the AD and the VP knew. I am not aware of that being the case in the incident you site, as terrible as it was.</p>
<p>That’s a sad article greenbutton. I had asked the same thing, also, 1001 posts earlier back in the middle of the posters talking about “cults” when I committed the cardinal sin of suggesting the NCAA probably shouldn’t stick their noses too deep into this and that it was an administration issue.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Suppose that the engineering school has a decades-long history of students and faculty avoiding criminal prosecution because the campus police deliver transgressors to the dean instead of booking them. Suppose that the engineering school brings in so much grant money that the university president is afraid to step on their toes. Now suppose that the entire campus and surrounding area put the engineering schol on a pedestal because of its national reputation, not to mention its contributions to the local economy. Only if you have all of the features can your analogy begin to capture the situation at Penn State. But even then, the critical difference is that engineering is central to the university’s mission whereas football is not, so there would still be a much weaker case for shutting down the engineering school.</p>
<p>
Woody, I think that was meant for mini, not you. Mini is our resident pot-stirrer. It’s an ugly job, but somebody has to do it. (I say that with humor, mini. You add an interesting perspective here.)</p>
<p>" I committed the cardinal sin of suggesting the NCAA probably shouldn’t stick their noses too deep into this and that it was an administration issue."</p>
<p>You know, you might be right (facts of the case being as they are). It would have been far better if Penn State had given itself the death penalty. And then really looked hard at what they needed to restore Penn State as an institution with academic integrity, not dependent on man-boys carrying pigskins (I am VERY supportive of athletic scholarships!) for money, reputation, or the town’s economic vitality. I honestly believe they might have come out stronger as a result - and everyone would have gained as a result. Or perhaps not even the death penalty, but simply suspended football until they are really sure they understand what happened (I don’t think any of us are really close), and then figure out what they need to do over the long term. </p>
<p>But the NCAA has to protect the image of college athletics, and its income stream. That’s what they felt they had to do, and perhaps have done so effectively (though after all the facts are fully known, they may have total egg on their faces). It didn’t have very much to do with Penn State, really, and everything to do with their own core mission. </p>
<p>Nothing ultimately prevents Penn State from doing the right thing regardless of what the NCAA wants.</p>
<p>I still really don’t know what Ericson means, though I think his heart may be in the right place? After all, we’d all want to support organizations that serve low-income kids, and want these kids to become involved. We’d want these kids to have mentors who take an interest in them. We’d want football coaches to take an interest in them. We’d want respected personalities to lend their names (and money) to these efforts. We’d want mentors to help expand these kids’ horizons. Would Ericson NOT want these things to happen?</p>
<p>I applaud his newly found interest in child safety. That’s a good thing, for all of us. But let’s remember that for every former Professor Emeritus caught and imprisoned, there are more than a hundred others out there. There are lots of sick people out there. The real criminals are those who enable them. It’s hard to swallow that he’d use that line about Paterno “contributing greatly to education at Penn State”. You mean he really can’t find anyone more worthy to paste on the building, a name that can help restore the University’s academic integrity?</p>
<p>(He may be a good man; I think he should resign.)</p>
<p>What I found most interesting about the Face the Nation piece this morning was the panel of people they had commenting afterwards. One of them was Sara Ganim, the reporter who apparently brought this whole story to national attention. She won a Pulitzer for her work on it. </p>
<p>According to Ganim, a source mentioned that Sandusky was being accused of child abuse. Then, a couple of weeks later, that same source called her and said something like, “Remember what I told you? Well, it didn’t happen.”</p>
<p>She has info on her site: [url=<a href=“http://saraganim.com/]saraganim.com[/url”>http://saraganim.com/]saraganim.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I could be nuts, but is seems pretty weak to me that a college official is just learning that protecting kids is important.</p>
<p>
greenbutton, Im outraged that there was NO outrage concerning Scott Ward and Whartons protection of him. But, I disagree with Gil Spencer - the problem is not that PSU was punished too harshly rather UPenn failed to be punished at all. Spencers article is the first Ive read about Scott Ward. He is as despicable as Sandusky. Interesting how they both setup foundations to procure their victims. Ward is finally in prison but anyone who is still at UPenn that had knowledge of his crimes should be fired. His victims should be found and civil suits should be filed against Ward and UPenn.</p>
<p>Agree that the Scott Ward story is horrendous! I’d never heard of it either.</p>
<p>Ummm… Mini, I’m not saying the cases are equivalent (altho I realize the author is making that leap). But it is startling to see what Wharton has done and gotten away with. My reaction was like Tututaxi’s – how is it they weren’t punished at all? Am I the only one who sees a really appalling lack of public outrage about the Wharton case as a red flag regarding society’s blindness about abuse? Kayf and coase, you are really gonna go the whole “penn state was worse, so the Penn case isn’t so bad”? route? That’s how I’m reading your reactions, and that’s not possibly what you mean. Should I twist what you’ve said to mean child molestation is only a problem if it’s covered up? Since Wharton admits this guy’s guilt, it’s okay to enable him? (Yes, I know you don’t mean those things. But then why do the differences in the cases actually matter? As far as employing the guy?)</p>
<p>I’ve said before, I’ll say it one more time: PSU deserved everything it got from the NCAA. They can carry the lesson forward with them and become the school they thought they were, or they can become preoccupied with the past. Time will tell. PSU’s choice to continue with a football season is theirs to make, not the general public’s, and they’ve made it with intentions good and yes, with intentions not so admirable. Putting them squarely in line with the rest of the NCAA.</p>