legacy

As a former resident of State College, Pennsylvania and an avid (one might almost say fanatical) football fan, I've obviously been deeply preoccupied with the recent scandal. (For a concise summary of these events, I direct you to the Will Cooley Fan Club.) I've come to very few conclusions; indeed, I think it is primarily questions that have come to light. I do, however, have some thoughts.

They should have canceled the football game this week. I think a call to end the season is extreme, and I would love as much as anyone for the Big Ten to redeem itself on and off the field. But it's not about that. Nor should such a move have been seen as punitive--against a team that bears no responsibility for this situation nor even against the student body, members of whom managed to make an unbearably difficult situation even worse. (I desperately hope that Nebraska's athletic director's call for increased security to ensure the safety of its fans and players is unnecessary, but, even if they go so far as to administer breathalizer tests at the gate, I share his fear.) But time to reflect is necessary, particularly given the height of the emotions over so many aspects of this situation, and I think this is all the more true given the fact that football is so central to State College's identity. I think taking some time to decide what Penn State stands for outside of what Joe Paterno stands for (and indeed what he claims to stand for) is the only way to move forward.

I reserve judgement on Mike McQueary, the graduate assistant and now receivers coach who witnessed Sandusky raping a ten year old child. Obviously he could and should have done more. But the central issue in every aspect of this case is the disparity of power between individuals: not just between Sandusky and his victims, but between witnesses (there was a janitor who witnessed a similar incident who was equally hesitant to break the chain of command) and the people to whom they reported. The issue of power is also pivotal in the decision not to include the police. We may never know who, ultimately, had the last word on whether this investigation would move forward; I suspect the former leaders of Penn State will soon be eagerly throwing each other under the bus, with the result that anything resembling objective truth on this issue will be obscured. However, I do have a question that I hope will be answered as this case goes to trial: this indictment was two years in the making--why? Why did it take so long to level charges, and what kind of evidence was Tom Corbett (then state attorney general and now governor) amassing, and was it worth the risk of Sandusky remaining at large? I understand that these are very serious allegations, and the victims deserve to not have Sandusky set free on a mistake or a technicality, but I suspect there is more to this case and its cover up that we haven't yet seen.

Finally, I think that the primary question need not be how could this have happened? The answer is simple: there are truly horrible people who do truly horrible things. This may smack of cynicism, but it's true. I think the real question is why? Why did this happen? Why the closing of ranks? The deliberate ignorance? The University law unto itself? One might suggest that this is what we get for deifying sports icons (there was an eerily posthumous--even beatified--quality to the revery surrounding Paterno, even as he was still coaching), and there's probably some truth to this, although, despite all his actions and inactions, I believe Paterno loves Penn State. One could also say that this was a simple matter of greed or pride; we've made major universities into institutions like every other, where money begets power and power begets hubris. I suspect that Paterno and the other top leadership at the university (not unlike the Catholic Church) believed that their alternate, self-serving morality was potent enough to supersede that of the outside world. But neither of these explanations accounts for the full story. Which leads me to, yet again, wonder what's left and whether we'll ever truly know why these men failed so deeply.