Penn State’s administration just can’t help themselves.
After Paterno was fired in 2011 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Penn State faced an arduous rebuild, for both the football program and respectability for the university as a whole. Almost five years later, you would think they’d have learned that their best shot at progress is to look forward, or at the very least look back with a more critical eye.
I'm disgusted at decision by Penn State to honor Joe Paterno. Time doesn't heal those wounds. https://t.co/gALaja80UR #paterno
— Linda Cohn (@lindacohn) September 1, 2016
And yet, earlier this week, they announced a plan to honor the 50th anniversary of Joe Paterno’s first game in charge.
That’s fairly tone-deaf, and considering Paterno’s role in the ongoing, systematic abuse of boys by a long-term member of his coaching staff (a role that at best was of criminal negligence, and at worst an accessory in the cover-up), it’s fair to wonder why exactly Penn State considers the anniversary of his first game more important than the scandal that ended his career.
But as difficult as it is for outsiders to process, it has to be even more difficult for current students at PSU. On Friday The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper, published a lengthy and heavily critical editorial on the subject.
They didn’t pull any punches:
But in light of these past years — even these past few weeks — this is in no way the right time or manner to “commemorate” him, if he even deserves to be so.
Currently, the undergraduate students at Penn State do not know what it is like to see the “legendary” coach jog onto the field with our boys in blue and white. We do not have the opportunity to bump into him in Pattee Library and exchange a few kind words.
Currently, the only associations these classes of students have with Paterno is reading and hearing his name tied with Jerry Sandusky’s and lawsuits or coming from the mouths of Penn State alumni who can’t accept that their time here is no longer.
This is our Penn State. It is a Penn State without Joe Paterno. It is a Penn State that is still trying to rebuild, make amends and propel forward.
Those of us here now are beyond ready to move on.
That’s dead-on, and the whole thing is worth a read.
Imagine being a student there now. You’ve most likely arrived on campus post-scandal, well aware of what had gone on, and well aware of where your tuition money is going, and seeing your school decide to do this, despite all that has come out in the interim.
Penn State putting football above everything else isn’t new for them, of course. But considering what that attitude has already wrought, perhaps it’s time for a new strategy.
