Mac-Coleman

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Penn State’s ongoing sex abuse and cover-up scandal has had predictable results. For one, the student body’s response says a lot about individual students’ reasons for being at a university and how the scandal effects their decisions to stay. Precisely, this drama highlights how a university can create a powerfully cohesive force in society, a force that influences how alumni make personal decisions to make their society a better place to live.

Some students seek out a university life because it requires little discipline. Some Penn State students responded to the news that their beloved “JoePa” was fired by acting like the immature, selfish, pampered youth that they probably are. They destroyed a police vehicle and screamed off their energy for the night. The next day, after a hangover of violence and perhaps booze, they were fairly silent. These students were probably resting their livers for the weekend festivities that go with the last home football game of the year. A useful question: How many of the students who rioted last Wednesday night earned the money themselves for their tuition, books, rent, and beer. No matter, only four more days until Friday! Then, it’s party on, dudes!

Other students wore dark blue clothing and painted blue ribbons on their cheeks at the Penn State Nebraska football game on Saturday, in support of children who are sexually abused. These students displayed publically that they probably understood the horrible damage one perverted coach wreaked on the lives of at least eight children over the years. The question to those among the blue clad crowd who contend that the Board of Trustees should have allowed the head coach to retire at the end of the football season: Do you understand that there would have been fewer abused children if Penn State and its leaders had acted with moral courage years ago? These students probably are finding out who they are in legitimate ways.

Some pundits have commented that Penn State students are talking about leaving for other schools. Christmas is a natural break between semesters or quarters in most schools. How many students will study in other hallowed halls come January? Or next Fall? Specifically, how many students will leave because they cannot identify with a school that would allow such perverted destruction to go on? Or, how many students will leave because, pragmatically, they don’t want a degree from Penn State on their resumes when they look for a job? Both of these student groups probably consist of individuals who didn’t go to college to find out who they were. They probably already have strong associations with other groups wherein they find principled decision-making a common way to live life. These students already know who they are; they will have decided to not have Penn State a part of them.

Penn State has a huge alumni association, 500,000 according to one source. UPI reported that in the last decade, the president and head coach raised over a billion dollars for the university. Apparently, many alumni are still closely tied to Penn State and the “Success with Honor” brand that the head coach made famous. Association with the school seems to remain a big part of alumni’s lives. Therefore, their painful road ahead is clear: Will alumni recognize that they have a huge decision to make—perhaps the biggest decision in their lives, because it will drastically influence who they portray themselves to be.

Will alumni find continued meaning in their association with Penn State by focusing their anger on the supposed slight of their dear head coach being summarily fired, all the while ignoring the hypocrisy of their hero’s actions versus his “Success With Honor” battle standard? Or, will they accept the bitter truth that a horrible man committed despicable acts, that the beloved university, head coach and all, allowed it to continue for over a decade, and that they, the alumni, must restore the house they so proudly built?

The alumni who take the easy course will mutter in their beer every Saturday as they watch Penn State lose football games. They will talk about the “good ole days”, which were, in the cold light of truth, corrupt. They will be like the students who rioted last week, only they will be older and with less energy. Muttering will pass for rioting. But, the beer will continue to flow. Nothing will be done to correct anything.

The alumni who make the harder, more principled choice will analyze the university’s faults and champion a thorough cleaning of its dark corners, no matter who else may be disgraced. It will be a painful process. It may be long. But, it will restore honor to an influential institution in our society. The university will once again attract those who want to associate with a university whose leaders publically and privately display their virtues and values. It is up to the alumni to create a new Penn State. Success With Honor will prevail if the alumni take the principled road.