Collateral Damage

The statue of Joe Paterno at Penn State has been taken down. The NCAA has imposed sanctions which include a fine equal to one year of gross revenue (not profit) of the football program, four years of ineligibility for bowl games, and vacated wins going back to 1998.

There are many people who will be affected by this in State College, Pennsylvania. People who personally did nothing wrong. Those young men who dreamed of playing football for Penn State will be living a very different reality from that of their dreams. Businesses will suffer because the economy in that area is dependent on the school. Some will likely find themselves out of work.

Collateral damage, like the loss of innocent civilians during war. It's unavoidable in this case. But the NCAA and its president Mark Emmert are not to blame. It's important, I believe, to remember who is really responsible for all the carnage. Jerry Sandusky and the people such as Joe Paterno who sheltered him.

All of our actions in life have consequences, both pleasant and unpleasant, for those around us. We can become cavalier in our atttiude that what we do only affects us, but that is never true. How we live impacts others in both direct and indirect ways. It goes against what we as Americans often believe. We celebrate the rugged individualist who does it his own way. Yet we are all in this together, whether we like it or not. And my life affects other people, in ways I can't even begin to understand.

Susan

Stand Up Guy

One of my favorite people is a Penn State alum. He loves my niece and makes her very happy. That alone would make me love him, but as I have gotten to know him over the years I also love him for who he is. He is funny, and any event becomes instantly more fun when he's a part of it. He has a Bachelor's degree and a graduate degree, and he plans to pursue his doctorate as well. So, yes. He is smart. But not just "book smart" smart. He is very insightful about people and situations and I always sit up and take notice when I hear something he has to say. He loves his kids, but just as important, he understands them and really takes the time to know them as individuals. He is what you might call a "stand up guy." And he's not alone. All over the country, all over the world, there are Penn State grads who have gone on to do great things with their lives. They should be proud of the education they got there, and they should be proud of who they are.

There has been a lot of good that is coming out of this horrible tragedy surrounding the school. Jerry Sandusky is in jail, thanks to the jury who made the right decision. Their ties to the school made no difference to them. There's Sara Ganim, the Penn State alum who first broke the Jerry Sandusky story. She's what you might call a stand up girl. The school dismissed the major perpetrators. There is a new football coach, a man from the outside. The NCAA is deciding what sanctions are appropriate. There is a great opportunity for Penn State to turn this whole thing around, to move forward, each step of the way doing the right thing. Each step of the way, saying never again.

I hope no one has buried their Penn State spirit wear, their tee shirts and caps and sweatshirts, in the bottom of a drawer or the back of a closet. There is no reason to be ashamed of being a Nittany Lion, to not proudly shout, "We ARE Penn State!", to allow the actions of some to define that image forever. That image can be changed for the good, forever a turning point where people begin to do the right thing.

The stand up guys. They ARE Penn State.

Susan

Joe Paterno Statue

Flying over Penn State, photo by Nabil K. Mark of The Centre Daily Times

Susan

The Death Penalty

Twenty-five years ago, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) cancelled the entire football season at Southern Methodist University. A number of rules were broken, the worst being that payments had been made to players for over a decade. The NCAA sent a very strong message when it shut down the program for the season, the death penalty in college sports, if you will. To date it is the harshest sanction ever given by the NCAA.

Today Louis Freeh released his report on the cover-up at Penn State. The late coach Joe Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley, university president Graham Spanier and vice president Gary Schultz are all clearly implicated. These men harbored, enabled and protected child rapist Jerry Sandusky. Powerful men there in Happy Valley, where Penn State football is practically a religion. Back in 2000, a janitor saw Sandusky rape a young boy in the showers. A Korean War veteran, the janitor had seem some bad things, but this sickened him. He spoke with the other janitors, and they all agreed to go up against the powers that be would be like "going after the president of the United States." The janitor feared losing his job. Freeh said at a news conference today, "If that was the culture at the bottom, God help the culture at the top."

Sandusky is in jail. Others may find themselves facing criminal charges as well. Our justice system is working, but there needs to be, in my opinion, a response from the culture of college football. An official response. There is nothing in the NCAA rule book about sexual abuse and rape. The rule book should be revised.

Before his death in January, Joe Paterno wrote a letter that has now been released by his family. In it he says that the rapes were not a football issue. Really? I wonder what the little boys who were sodomized in the football locker room showers by a Penn State coach would say about that. College football is big business. It lines pocketbooks and feeds egos to the point where some people think they are untouchable, above the law.

The Nittany Lions should get the death penalty. Shut the program down for the upcoming season, at the very least. Everyone involved in football there would then have lots of time on their hands, time to contemplate what happened, what went wrong, and how it can be prevented in the future. Allow those players with scholarships to play for another Division I team and get their education. It's a great opportunity for the entire college football community in our country to band together and do the right thing.

What was perpetrated at Penn State makes the shenanigans at SMU back in the day seem like small potatoes. If that school had its entire season cancelled, how much more so should the NCAA exact the death penalty on Penn State.

Susan

Give Them Back Their Souls

The jury is sequestered as they deliberate the fate of Jerry Sandusky, the former Notre Dame coach who is accused of raping young boys. I wrote about him here. Because they are cut off from the world, they don't know that Matthew Sandusky yesterday publicly accused his father of molesting him as well. Last fall, Matthew Sandusky's ex-wife obtained a restraining order keeping their children away from their grandfather.

While the evidence against Sandusky seems overwhelming, what it comes down to at least from my point of view, is whether or not the jury believes the testimony of the alleged victims. As I write this, the jury is still out. In closing arguments, prosecuting attorney Joseph McGettigan asked those twelve people to do right by the victims by finding Sandusky guilty and "give them back their souls."

I don't know if Sandusky committed the crimes. I have never suffered sexual abuse. I have never been raped.  So I can only imagine how those who have might feel. It seems to me that McGettigan used the perfect words. Give them back their souls.

Susan

David and Goliath

I have a new hero. Her name is Sara Ganim, and she is all of twenty-four years old. She is the recipient of the prestigious Sidney Award for socially conscious journalism. The Baltimore Sun has compared her to Woodward and Bernstein, the two young men who broke the Watergate story back in the 1970's. CNN has just hired her. When she was 22, Ganim worked for a tiny little newspaper in the small town of State College, Pennsylvania. If you've never heard of Ganim, maybe the name Jerry Sandusky rings a bell. Or how about the late Joe Paterno, affectionately known as Joe Pa? Ever heard of him?

With dogged determination and cleverly using the online message boards and social media around the university, Penn State grad Sara Ganim is the woman who broke the story of Jerry Sandusky, the man accused of raping innocent young boys. A judge just ruled against Sandusky's motion to dismiss charges, and the trial starts June 5.

It's a modern day David and Goliath story, where a young unknown person with just a slingshot causes the mighty to fall. Sara Ganim. Remember that name, because we haven't heard the last of this great young woman.

Susan

Fat Cats

College football is big business. I've believed for a long time that college athletes should be paid a salary. It's true that they receive a free college education in exchange for playing a sport, yet it's nothing compared to the money universities make off them. In addition to the criminal charges leveled against alleged rapist Jerry Sandusky, I hope the victims bring civil proceedings against Penn State to hold it accountable. All the money in the world would never compensate a child for being raped, but money is the only language these fat cats seem to speak.

Authority figures at every level failed these children, and there are so many accomplices to Sandusky's crimes it is difficult to keep a count. The most visible accomplice is larger-than-life legend Joe Paterno himself. He was never going to retire. I always imagined him passing away suddenly one Saturday afternoon in autumn, right there on the sidelines of the football field. So I suppose being fired was the worst thing that could happen to him, yet it's nothing compared to the rape of these children.

If civil lawsuits are filed, the fat cats will be eager to settle out of court. The victims have already suffered so much that they might not want to relive the horror all over again with a civil trial, so maybe a financial settlement from the school will feel like justice to them. Any way it happens, they deserve justice since they got no mercy.

I imagine that over the past few days, there have been lots of men and women in suits conferring nervously with lawyers and talking about damage control there in State College, Pennsylvania. This bombshell had to have given the fat cats a heart attack. Yet it's nothing compared to the rape of these children.

Susan

Lyrics to "Uprising" by Matthew Bellamy