PSU's Erickson thinks 'this is not a Penn State scandal.' Seriously.
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PSU's Erickson thinks 'this is not a Penn State scandal.' Seriously.
Attytood's coverage of the Penn State alumni "town hall" in King of Prussia:
There was no unruly throng flowing through the wide parking lots of King of Prussia last night, just a orderly single-file line of well-dressed Penn State alums filing into a carpeted hotel meeting room with a stage decked out in soothing flowers and tall potted plants. Despite an air of hostility toward a news media that one questioner accused of “McCarthyism,” there was never a thought of flipping over any of the news vans lined up on the outskirts of the Radisson Valley Forge.
Yet in kinder and gentler way, the more than 650 Penn State alumni who packed a so-called “town hall” meeting with already embattled new president Rodney Erickson were animated by the same basic instincts that caused some students to riot in the streets of State College two months earlier: Anger focused much more on the firing of football legend Joe Paterno than on the child-sex-abuse scandal and cover-up that provoked it, and shock and despair over the implosion of a campus football culture with quasi-religious overtones.
And so the first two questions tossed at Erickson from the floor of largely disaffected Penn State alums – and many of those that followed – dwelled on how the university could ever make things right with Paterno and why the university board of trustees was so quick to fire the winningest coach in major college history.
“He (Paterno) is the most single important Penn Stater in the history of the university,” declared the first questioner, who said he was a 1973 graduate and the son of a faculty member, causing the room to burst out in applause.
“Our overall thing is the lack of due process for Joe Paterno – he was a scapegoat,” said Steve Tross, a 1974 Penn State grad who lives in Paoli and works in marketing, one of last night’s early arrivals. “Everybody else is getting due process except Joe…I think there was a rush to judgment.”
if last night’s town hall – the second in a series of three confabs that started in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and ends tonight in New York – showed anything, it was how difficult it will be for Penn State to come to terms with November’s indictment of Paterno’s former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on charges of molesting at least 10 boys going as far back as 1994 and the deepening questions over the university’s handling of the matter.
No one seemed to embody the conflict – and a stunningly persistent sense of denial – than Erickson, the genteel white haired former provost at center stage. Erickson, signed on to guide Penn State through 2014, repeatedly said his goal was “the guiding principle of openness and communication” – but those communications last night ignored the overwhelming failures of Penn State’s leaders in the Sandusky case.
“It grieves me very much when I hear people say that this is the Penn State scandal,” Erickson told one questioner last night. “This is the Sandusky scandal. This is not Penn State.”
Never once did Erickson, or anyone else, even mention that two former top Penn State officials – then-vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley – face criminal charges for allegedly lying about their handling of Sandusky. And for all the talk last night about Paterno, concerns that the football coach should have done more when learning in 2002 about a locker room allegation against Sandusky were never mentioned.
Indeed, for Erickson and Penn State, the new and belated drive for transparency still feels like what Richard Nixon’s Watergate-era White House famously called a “modified limited hangout” – and that may be giving this tour too much credit. Just this week, Erickson revealed that trustees and top officials were briefed on the Sandusky probe months before the indictment, raising new questions about what Penn State’s leaders knew and when did they know it. Many alumni asked, and rightfully so, why top trustees are not at these town halls, or why the minutes of the Nov. 9 board meeting at which Paterno and then-president Graham Spanier were ousted have not been made public. Others, including the Penn State faculty. still seek a real independent probe conducted by outsiders.
They shouldn’t hold their breath. Not when the No. 1 man in Happy Valley is still clinging to the fantasy that this is only “a Jerry Sandusky scandal.”
psualum2000 said:
"Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but at least get your facts correct. Joe Paterno did not say he wished he had done more. Another typical misinformed person taking something out of context. What he said is KNOWING WHAT I KNOW NOW i wish I had done more. That is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT statement. Know your facts idiot."
Yes, it's a different statement. However, it doesn't remove the burden on JoePa. Do you think that the most powerful man in PS history could have found out more then IF HE CARED TO? I mean, this only involved CHILD ABUSE and HIS OWN STAFF in 1998 and 2002. Doesn't this imply he could've done more from the beginning?— hairball- "While high ranking representatives of the University, they don't compose the entire makeup of the organization." While they don't make up the majority of representative power, theirs is significant, and seems to have reached into the office of the (former) president and more egregiously, their actions deferred to the best interests of the institution to the bane of justice.— Murrayman
- But you can't hold a whole football team responsible for the behavior of a sick, twisted individual. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole NCAA system? And if the whole NCAA system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Bunch - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!— Mr. Smith
"My answer is that finger-pointing and smug certainty of moral superiority is not likely to prove beneficial." . . . Since when is recognizing a moral obligation considered a claim of moral superiority? It's placing someone on such a high pedestal that we refuse to believe they can do any wrong - that's what's not beneficial.- "My answer is that finger-pointing and smug certainty of moral superiority is not likely to prove beneficial" Its a claim of the anarchist within a system of rule of law and speaks more specifically to Tribalism, with its attenuating appeal to the Big Man.— Murrayman
Comment removed.- Okay sactimonious ones. Those of you supporting conservative viewpoints regarding the limited role of government, slashing funds for children's mental health and social services, and erosion of safety net - know this. You are enabling and causing victimization of children. No surprise the children caught in Sandusky's web were "at risk" children, as child abuse and neglect disproportionately effects poor children. As we pander this "scandal" treatment programs for child abuse victims are having to shut down, mental health systems are in shambles. So, please, go back to pontificating about Charlie Sheen, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lolife, and all the clowns running for the Republican presidential race. You're all in one big glass house casting stones. Or shut your tv's stop reading all this gossip and go out and actually do something about child abuse. That includes all you pandering writers.— retzlaff
- JOE PA A SCAPEGOAT... WHAT??? LOOK I am the class of 65--BEEN TO MANY GAMES--JOE PA WAS THE BIG MAN ON CAMPUS AND YES HE DID WONDERFUL THINGS FOR OUR UNIVERSITY--BUT HE ALSO RAN THE DARN PLACE --IT WAS HIS EMPIRE--so for gods sake HE had a responsiblity to act or if he was ignorant then he was malfeasant in office---HE WAS NOT AN OSTRICH HEAD IN THE HOLE type of guy--so YES in my opinion he merited his firing--this is a henious act that went drifitng thru MY PSU--AND AS SOON AS JOE WAS INFORMED BY RED HE PASSED it up the labyrinth of PSU OFFICIALDOM??- there was no one with more power then JOE PA-COME ON FOLKS he was KING --he should have gonE right tothe POLICE!!!!!!— carmen2
- If there is anyone sanctimonious, its you retzlaff.
"For me, the point is how can we hold on to the fact that sometimes, as humans, we avoid seeing what we don't want to see, without somehow justifying a failure to act in a situation that calls for action."
This is a great question. Just look at the parents in the Conlin allegations. They knew, but didn't take it to the law. They handled it witha phone call or by not allowing their kids in contact with him. Clearly, while they abhorred what he was allegdely doing, they didn't want to rip apart the family.— RG - Comment removed.
- >>>>>>>> WORST PRESIDENT EVER- OBAMA....................
Obama Called Smaller Bush Debt Rise “Unpatriotic”
President Obama Thursday quietly notified Congress that the government needs another $1.2 trillion to continue operating.
That’s both irresponsible and unpatriotic of him.
How do I know? A presidential candidate named Obama told me.
— Keep The Change - Erikson clearly doesn't "get it." Still waiting for JoePa to tell "his side" of the story. From everything that I have read on this case, PSU leadership enabled Sandusky to commit these horrible crimes. They made their bed, no sleep in it! To all the alumni, worrying about JoePa, the football program and anything else PSU. It will survive albeit trarnished.! The focus shold be on the victims!— chasing history
- >>>>>>>> WORST PRESIDENT EVER- OBAMA....................
Obama Called Smaller Bush Debt Rise “Unpatriotic”President Obama Thursday quietly notified Congress that the government needs another $1.2 trillion to continue operating. That’s both irresponsible and unpatriotic of him. How do I know? A presidential candidate named Obama told me.
Clearly nice and simply put to the Conservative masses by the talking head masters is working. This of course makes plenty of sense, this line of thinking (sarcasm), seeing that the economy of course is in the very same set of circumstances facing both Presidents. Of course the needed increase is due to a spending problem, therefore more austerity will be needed to regain confidence so that conditions may finally improve. In other words, Keep the Change, thanks for the example of cognitive dissonance, it speaks well to the PSU alumni sitting at attendance.
— Murrayman - Precisely on point, RG. So what's the explanation that the "outrage" about PSU isn't similarly directed at the parents of those kids? Theoretically, the failure of one parent to report Conlin to the police enabled him to molest other children.
Outrage about PSU is more palatable than outrage about the parents. Understandable, of course - but self interest in both cases likely distorted reasoning and caused people to be unable to see what they didn't want to see. That, to me, should to be the point of focus - not demonization of certain individuals for an all to human tendency. I doubt that PSU officials said to themselves, "Sure, he's going to continue to molest children, but stopping him would harm the institution so therefore I won't do anything." Possible, but my guess is pretty unlikely.— Talking point sleuth - Penn State sheep love Paterno, even if he'd allow a subordinate molest their children.— Tyrone Biggums
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