Sex Abuse Scandal Rocks Penn State

[NC_Skins]

One of the first things I thought when the scandal broke is that everybody should be cleaned out to get rid of the stench, starting with the Board of Trustees. Their decision to keep Joe Paterno's statue up only solidifies my thought back then.

Joe Paterno's statue to remain at Penn State, sources say - ESPN

I find a few things sickening and disturbing.

"You can't let people stampede you into making a rash decision," a trustee said. "The statue represents the good that Joe did. It doesn't represent the bad that he did."

"It has to stay up," said another trustee. "We have to let a number of months pass, and we'll address it again. But there is no way, no way. It's just not coming down."

But privately, Peetz, board member Ken Frazier and most of the other trustees, whose leadership on the Sandusky matter as a whole was harshly criticized by the Freeh report, spoke adamantly about the need to keep the statue standing, the sources told "Outside the Lines." They said they hoped the passage of time would prove to be an ally, sources said.

The trustees "are hoping they can have more time pass and people will forget about it and then it won't come down," one trustee said.

Some alumni groups have continued to call for resignations of trustees, and one trustee said this about the statue: "We don't want to further upset the alumni."

One trustee said the board is learning from its past mistakes.

These quotes tell me that they indeed haven't learned. They are still idolizing a man who covered up child molesting, they are still putting the football team before the sake of people's well being. They are worried about alumni's and donors. Does anybody actually believe these people are going to shut the football system down?...lol No, and they were a huge part of what happened at PSU. Most of the BoTs and high ranking PSU officials ran in the same circles. My guess is the BoT heard the whispers and knew, but didn't really care as long as that endowment grew and the cash cow kept mooing.

I told my parents today that if PSU doesn't take down that statue, I'll drive my jeep down to college state and take it out myself. It's a crime shame that the alumni and fans haven't done this very thing, but they are part of the reason Joe and crew did what they did. They put football before all else. JR, you want to represent me bro when I do?

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

It's hard to really believe any of the "good" he did was even sincere or true anymore. If he covered (or at least helped cover) this up, why should I believe he was always on the up with smaller things like recruiting?

Well, we do know that all this good he's done was not sincere, but yet a mere ploy to raise his legend and status among humanity. You only need to look at Jerry Sandusky to understand this. Many in PA believe that Sandusky was a bigger "saint" than Joe. His relentless work with the 2nd Mile charity and his time giving/helping to all those children in need. Much greater than Joe's effort to say the least. However, we also know that Jerry's work wasn't sincere either, and probably a ploy to help cover his guilt of the crimes he's committed.

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

In many ways it's only symbolic but remove his name from buildings, take down the statue, remove funding for the school, shut the program down. Don't shut it down before 2013 or even 2014 though. Give the players on the roster right now the opportunity to transfer. Waive the one year waiting period to play after a transfer for these students.

Nike has already followed in the direction you suggest with their removal of his name from their Child Development Center.

Nike removes Joe Paterno’s name from its child development center | Dr. Saturday - Yahoo! Sports

Not sure how you can have his (or any of them) name on anything connected with PSU and go forward.