Nov
08

Penn State Alumnus Questions Lessons in Honor and Integrity

Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.  – Joe Paterno

 

Post by Ted Donnelly


As a Penn State graduate, you can’t help but feel firmly ensconced in tradition and history.  There is a deep seeded sense of pride that comes with your ties to Happy Valley.  Being a Penn Stater includes membership to a community that is founded on shared interests, passions and values.  WE ARE…PENN STATE is more than a rallying call.  It becomes part of your very identity.  Sure, there is the warm and cozy sense of nostalgia felt when you descend upon State College on an autumn weekend.  But it runs much deeper.  It is a tradition of excellence.  Of striving to be all you can through hard work and dedication.  Above all, it was supposed to be about acting with honor and integrity first and doing things the right way.  The Penn State way.

This was the lesson taught to all of us.  Sure, it was sometimes conveyed in the classroom, while we learned the finer details about things long forgotten such as materials science, art history or anthropology.  More often, we learned about it from the south end zone of Beaver Stadium.  Joe Paterno was the architect of the Grand Experiment, which culminated in two national championships that were won with academics prioritized first.  The venerable coach further buttressed his standing through additional years of on field success, mixed with high graduation rates and a reputation for running a program immune to corruption.  He was renowned as someone who understood his role was not simply to mould better football players, but to make better people.  Educator first.  Humanitarian second.  Football coach third.  He spawned a culture of "Success with Honor" that is at the very core of the pride legions of alumni tout. 

These are the lessons that have served me well both as a marketing researcher and a business manager.  They have guided me far beyond the foundational teachings I received in research methodology, statistical analysis and business management.  Like thousands of other alumni around the world, this is why I consider what is currently unfolding in Central Pennsylvania to be so painful on a profoundly personal level.

The allegations against Jerry Sandusky have been reported in ghastly detail, so there is no need to repeat here.  Suffice it to say, the Grand Jury Presentment is nothing short of horrifying, gut wrenching and heartbreaking.  The chronicles are so vivid and with such chilling commonality between victim accounts, that it challenges any decent human being’s notion of innocent until proven guilty. 

While we are left to ponder the impact of these atrocities perpetrated on innocent souls, it is the inactivity of Penn State officials that has left me truly shaken.  Sandusky will surely face justice, albeit far too late.  But how many lives could have been prevented from ruin had individuals in positions of trust just acted with the principles that they espouse?  While there are still many questions to answer, you cannot help but wonder if the reputation of a brand was put before the lives of children.  We sit on the sidelines as our beloved institution smolders in the media left only to wonder whether we were ever really inoculated with genuine values and virtues; or whether it was merely a very elaborate marketing campaign.  There is this hollow feeling that what we believed was nothing more than rhetoric and empty promises.

That the Athletic Director and a Senior VP may have enabled these crimes by failing to report allegations from a credible witness is nothing short of devastating to anyone associated with Penn State.  These are our leaders, who are supposedly Penn State men with Penn State ideals.  However, let’s not be so quick to accept their dismissals as enough in this tragedy.  The reports were premature to insulate Coach Paterno, claiming he met his legal obligation by reporting it to his “superior.”  If, in fact, the details as outlined in the Grand Jury Report were brought to him by his assistant coach, we would expect a man of his stature to do more than meet his legal obligation.  This man is an icon with influence that rivals any politician and a reputation that shines as brightly as the bronze statue that canonizes him outside Beaver Stadium.  While it is true that Sandusky was no longer his employee when the allegations were brought to his attention, it just simply isn’t good enough.  The alleged abuse occurred under his nose in his football facilities.  Yet he never felt compelled to follow up or demand further action even as Sandusky was allowed access to those facilities for an additional decade.  Never did he search out the truth knowing this predator was continuing his “work” with his children’s charity. Sandusky’s only restriction was he was no longer allowed to bring children into campus buildings.  You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.    

While the lurid details will continue to be unveiled in the coming months, we all are left to wonder how much further horror could have been prevented if the men we trusted acted in good faith.  The Penn State Community will demand accountability for anyone who failed these children.  It matters not whether you are an otherwise reputable administrator or a name synonymous with an American pastime.  That you met your legal obligations is just not good enough.  We expect more.  It was a virtue instilled in us by a legend we once knew long ago.