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.”
- Try as you may, you are not enhancing your argument, only making yourself look dumber. Sandusky coached under Joe for 30 years. May not have been the best of pals, but you don't keep someone around three decades if you don't like him. After the first incident was reported and sandusky "retired" Joe found he had a previous engagement and didn't go to the dinner. As the first alum in the story said, JoePa is the single most important man in PSU history. There wasn't anything Joe didn't know, including the allegations on sandusky. He just wasn't going to work with him, but did nothing to keep him from bringing kids to the school. My question has always been about what woud Joe do if his kid was being molested. You say you would cut the guy's nuts off. Would Joe will still only talk to the AD? That's all he did, he never followed up on it.So much for the most important man at the school. Joe screwed up,period. Face it. It's fact.
— mike l - It is Saturday night and I do not have the time to pick apart your stupid response, but I will waste time doing it anyway. Joe said in his interview that Sandusky is 18 years younger than him. They had a professional, not social relationship. I personally don't like my boss and he doesn't like me but I have been with him for the past 11 years and hope it reaches 30. Joe also said that he knew nothing about the 1998 investigation. There is a 100 page report on that. If Joe knew it is likely in that report. And again, to suggest that you would react the same way if someone told you your son was anally raped as opposed to some vague account of something inappropriate happening to an anonymous boy is ludicrous. You must be a Robot then. Bottom line while I can understand the criticism that Joe didn't do more, the way he has been treated by the media, the majority of people who get all their misinformed information from the media, and the spineless board of trustees is completely pathetic. Later. — psualum2000
- The "Scandals 'R' Us' media sends the message that this is a PSU scandal engineered by the most famous person on the scene. Media folks live in their own fantasy world of sensationalism, stereo types and gross generalizations. From something as mundane as a football game or season to child abuse we are bombarded with controversy both real and imagined where it's difficult to decipher the salient core of a story. From day one of this story Joe Paterno was pegged as the chief culprit, the message being that his mafia like rule of Penn State caused children to be violated. Sheridan and Ford accused him of felonious behavior. The Daily News had Paterno's full page picture on the front page. I work in child advocacy, currently trying child abuse cases on a daily basis. There are often many people who after the fact wish they had "done more" and were fooled by the extent of the victimization. Most of the folks in my courtroom had many other concerns about the at risk children victimized by Sandusky besides the role of the big bad university and its famous coach. So we'll continue to pander this story, reform PSU, make changes in reporting laws, tighten criminal statutes, and courtrooms like mine will be just as busy. Maybe busier with the danger now of false negative reports. (See Domestic Violence) From my perch all the sanctimonious gossip mongers are tiring, especially in at time when
budgets for child mental health and social services are being sliced by our cultures hypocritical conservatives. Keep reading each spine chilling episode until it fades away into the next big scandal. At least ensure children's mental health budgets increase.— retzlaff - this is another "opinion piece" where an opinion is offered without all the facts. Until all the facts are made available no one really knows what happened here and who made mistakes.
I believe this is the primary concern for most Penn Staters regarding this situation. Do we all have the facts? How can blame be assigned without those facts.— krisC - retzlaff, you can;t have it both ways. You can;t have alumni claiming Paterno was gthe most important man at PSU,then defend him when he did little to stop sandusky or get the police involved. Again,and no Paterno supporters have yet to answer my question: if McQueary told JoePa it was his grandson he saw being molested, whould Joe have only passed that info onto the AD? Retzlaff, if it had been your grandson or son, at a football camp, being molested, would you be satisfied that Paterno did all he could? I wish someone has asked that last night.— mike l
- @retzlaff curiosly you say "my courtroom", "extent of victimization" and "false negative reporting". what episode of law and order did you get that rhetoric from? you have stated in prior posts that you are indeed a lawyer now you claim to work in child advocacy. its much more likely that you are merely an unemployed penn state alum. stop watching csi or whatever television program you got your law degree from and be part of the solution. stop blaming the media and lay the blame directly at the feet of the resposible. most of all stop misrepresenting yourself to make your points more salient. you just sound like an idiot.— poorcarole
- retzlaff, if you read his ever-present comments, is like that Woody Allen character, Zelig. He is/was everywhere and saw everything. — mike l
- In the biggest 4th and 1 of his career Paterno punted. I believe McCathyism is a bar full of drunk Irish (redundant?) divorcees.— 2ndNlong
- Will, I hardly ever agree with you, but no doubt, Erickson is clueless. Spanier, Curly, Paterno were all involved in looking the other way....that is a fact. It is a Penn State scandal.— jimmymack
- Erickson thinks this is not a PSU scandal? He's too dumb to lead anything, let alone a university. This is HIS scandal, the scandal of the university and of the Board of Trustees, all of whom should be ousted and required to pay back the fees they got for serving on the Board. This is not going to go away.— farhorizons
- Will, CComment, and TPS all have good points. Clearly, the football program's stature caused members of the university to look the other way. However, it appears to be 5 or 6 people, tops, who didn't do the right thing and looked the other way. The University as a whole shouldn't be condemned, especially since those people invovled have been swiftly removed.— RG
- Yep, and its a DN/INQ scandal regarding the pedophile you harbored and drank with, you sanctimonious piece of garbage.— HypocrisyNow
- Bill Conlin is not a Daily News scandal? Seriously?— ALJ
- No matter how they try to bounce the issue around, the Trustees knew what was going on..therefore..it is a PSU scandal. The fact that they aided and abetted the "cover up" is ths crux of the problem. What and/or who are they protecting? Their financial empire, reputation, each other..or because of some other insidious, hidden motives? An investigation is needed to force these folks to "fess" up to their complicity in trying to dodge or suppress this debacle from day one. They knew what was going on..they are culpable in the disaster that followed and the chaos that will be exposed as time wears on...They are a disgrace...— oblekr
- Conlin's not a DN scandal because nobody at the company/paper were aware of the alegations. According to testimony, people at PSU knew abotu the accusations against Sandusky and didn't take the appropriate action.— RG
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