The Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal that rocked Penn State University and football fans across the nation culminated this week in an unprecedented fine of $60 million against the school and severe sanctions for the Division I football program. The Nittany Lions are banned from the postseason for four years, will lose 20 football scholarships a year for four seasons and had 14 seasons of football victories from the late coach Joe Paterno vacated.
There's been no shortage of commentary on the issue: Was the NCAA too quick to make the decision? What will it mean for football? What does it mean for the legacy of Paterno?
But there's also the issue of how the Penn State community will now come together. Alums have responded in force, tweeting, posting photos and defending their school – not for the actions that occurred – but to show the rest of the world they won't let this scandal be their school's best known chapter.
Some have posted photos with the "WE ARE" Penn State chant but somewhat altered. One said: "Don't let people who don't know who 'we are' ... tell us who WE ARE." It has been a rallying cry of sorts, joining together alums from long ago with recent graduates. Many have been tweeting with the hashtag #WeAreAndAlwaysWillBe. Groups on Facebook have been created so alums and current students can share their views, including one called "We Are (still) Penn State."
"This is a group dedicated to healing the scars of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, recognizing and honor the victims and rebuilding the reputation of Penn State University and its football team as one of the premier institutions of higher learning and athletic tradition not only in the country but in the entire world," the group's page said. "We still believe that 'Success With Honor' is who we are, and that Coach Bill O'Brien is the best man to carry on that tradition on and off the field. The actions of an evil man and those that enabled and apologized for him do not define us, and it is our responsibility to write the next chapter in the history of Penn State."
Patterson Weaver, a lawyer who graduated from Penn State in 2001, posted a lengthy note on Facebook describing how he cannot reconcile what happened with the school he knows. Weaver said the world should know the actions of the few responsible should not define the culture of the university as a whole.
Weaver has given CNN permission to post his note in entirety below:
"Apparently, Sports Illustrated will run a cover this week that reads 'We Were Penn State.' Sports Illustrated and so many others clearly have no understanding of who We are. As a second-generation Penn State grad, I have grown up idolizing Penn State, Joe Paterno, and the excellent institution of higher learning that Penn State was, is, and will always be. I am one of hundreds of thousands that consider the Penn State community something unique and special. This goes beyond a football field. This goes beyond school pride. The culture at Penn State, in no small part because of Joe Paterno, taught all of us how to be better people, better friends, and better members of our families and our community.
"So how do I reconcile that with the allegations that a few individuals, including Joe Paterno, remained silent about the terrible actions of Sandusky? Honest answer is I can’t. The allegations do not gel with what each of us learned from our university, and yes, from Joe Paterno. Penn State has always been a beacon of how to do things the right way. Of putting academics and building quality young men and women ahead of fame and wins. I cannot reconcile these allegations with the culture that helped mold who I am. The culture that helped teach me that success is only sweet when done right. That a loss with integrity is better than a win without it. That who we are as men and women is more important than fleeting glory. I cannot reconcile what people are saying of my school with the school I lived and experienced.
"But then, that’s how I know that Penn State is what we all know it to be. The apparent actions of a few individuals were tragically void of ethical wisdom or compass. But they are not Penn State. I am Penn State. We are Penn State. All of us. The hundreds of thousands that have become better people because of our school and the unique community it fosters. I find it sadly amusing that the NCAA handed down such unprecedented sanctions partly to, apparently, try to change the culture at Penn State. Clearly they know nothing about the culture at Penn State.
"But they are not alone. The media and social media frenzy that has arisen around this tragedy contains a shocking amount of glee and venom. For years many from rival schools and society generally despised Penn State and Joe Paterno for building our reputation on the motto Success With Honor. For being so squeaky clean and selfless that the football team did not even put individual names on its jerseys. They looked at Penn State with disdain, as self-righteous and egotistical. This tragedy is exactly what they have hoped for. With glee they can point at the tragic moral misjudgments of a few individuals as supposed proof of a fundamental character flaw of the community as a whole. With delight they can scream from the rooftops, tearing their robes, that the whole university must be punished, that they must be made an example. And with their own self-righteousness, the NCAA demonstrated their moral superiority by acting as judge, jury, and executioner in handing down sanctions so unprecedented that, some say, they will not only spell the end to the football program as we know it but to the prestige and pride of the whole school.
"These individuals seem to want us alumni to stand on the highest hills, screaming in anguish as we rip and tear our degrees into a thousand pieces, burning our Penn State belongings, and then burying ourselves in the mud in shame as we screech, weep, and wail about how we must repent for attending such an institution, how we were once Penn State, once unique and admired, but no longer.
"But we won’t. The actions of a few do not define us. The knee-jerk reactions of others will not end us. Our school taught us more than organic chemistry and music theory. It taught us to persevere. To overcome. To succeed – with honor. That is who WE are. That is what WE are.
"On September 1, Penn State will play its first game of the season against Ohio University. I wish I could be there. I wish I could hear what the world will hear. The earth-shattering cries of more than a 100,000 people, echoing from Erie to Scranton, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, of WE ARE PENN STATE. The cheer will not be merely for football. It will be for all of us. It will be a declaration that we are more than this tragedy. That we will not go quietly into the night in despair and shame. That we will improve, overcome, persevere, and excel – with honor.
"So to those so gleeful over the tragedy and the repercussions that have befallen Penn State, to those that so happily write us off as defeated and finished, to those that want to discount and disparage our pride, tradition, and principle of Success With Honor, I have bad news.
"WE ARE, AND ALWAYS WILL BE, PENN STATE."
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
Happy Valley cult members are, by and large, a sick group of people.
Penn State cult members still don't understand that it is the kind of obsession they have with their school that helped lead to this cover-up.
That's crap!!
We will rise? Sounds like that's why Sandusky got in trouble.
this piece is a bit dramatic. tear up your diplomas? please.
it is now clear that paterino did not practice what he preached. and to speak of "a few individuals" so cavalierly and lightly. These few individuals were powerful men that RAN the school. do you forget the day when paterino ran the ad and president out of his house?
The sanctions are rediculous. It's just a stunt for the NCAA to look like they are on top of things. But it really has little to do with the NCAA. It is about one man who committed crimes and a handful of people who covered them up. It's a criminal and a civil matter and it has been handled as such. You can't just wipe away 14 winning seasons because of staff actions. That just punishes players who made those acheivements. Taking away scholarship money just prevents the university from educating 20 people who they otherwise could have. And though there were certainly some issues within, it is a very good academic university. The university itself should not have been sanctioned. The university ousted those who covered this up as soon as the facts developed. You wanna punish someone then punish the handful of people who participated. I'm sick of seeing this broad brush approach being used to punish all for the mistakes of a few. The students didn't do this. The vast majority of the faculty didn't do this. The majority of the coaches didn't do this. The players didn't do this. How people can be supportive of these measures by the NCAA is beyond me.
I see it is still all about football as far as you and the Ped State apologists are concerned.
This is a grand delusion for your unique cult. As we all know cults cannot disassociate their illusions from reality.
Your unique culture is (thank God) unique just to Penn State. I don't thionk anyone could stomach any more of your kind of special.
Forever more Ped State
You need to get some perspective. Wow, missing what is important here.
you won't rise...face it Alum, your degree is now worth less.
Yes, that is where I would be concerned for PSU alums-how will this effect them in the marketplace even though they had zero to do with this and only a few people created this stiuation.
LOL I'll be sure to tell my employer what you said. All of my past achievements, both in the work place and in the community, are now ECLIPSED by the actions of 5 people. Thanks for the reality check.
Does it hurt to be so dumb?
rwerwrwrr
Idol worshippers...How sad that you attach so much of your personal self-worth to a game...
Wow, I can't wait to see what kind of punishment the NCAA will hand out to the Arizona movie theater shooter because apparently they are now involved in criminal justice. I still don't understand what place the NCAA had getting involved in a criminal case. I would like to know specifically what NCAA rules were broken and what the specific penalty was for each of those. The NCAA is supposed to monitor athletics. What Sandusky did and the others covered up was a criminal act. It had nothing to do with cheating to gain an advantage on the field, court, pitch, track, etc, nor did any of the players and other athletes at PSU that are being punished play any role in those criminal acts. And vacated games?
it is nothing but a change on paper that means nothing. The games were still played and won or lost. The NCAA must think they are President Obama; they can just hide or change records and act like those things never happened. The NCAA is out of control. They are part of the problem; driven by the same $ and need for recognition that drove those at Penn State to remain silent.
Bishi Bishi Bashara Bashara!
I have no problem with the alumni and students that focus on Penn State living up to the ideals that it failed to live up to in the past. These people may actually redeem the university. However, I have no tolerance for those who deny the severity and extent of what occurred, whine about the injustice of the punishment, and act like they are the victims of what occurred at Penn State. These people will just allow events to repeat themselves.
Right, because the focus should continue to be on the pathetic little football team and the unimaginable suffering of the penn state alumni. Go to hell.....Give an hour warning, sound the air raid sirens and NUKE penn state back to the prehistoric era. Pave it over into a parking lot, which would be a massive upgrade over this pathetic lot.....
Until they acknowledge that the school has a problem it will continue the way it has. These idolizers cant even admit anything was wrong and that their worship of football and image is what caused it all. Paterno really made his mark on these people, they think exactly like he did, if they deny and pretend everything is fine then the issue will go away. It is truly disturbing.
Thank you! I'll be one of those on Sept. 1 proudly displaying my Penn State flag in front of my home. The whole Sandusky tragedy rocked my core, but didn't break it. The strength from my healing will remind me to help the victims and be the solid, whole, honorable citizen that Penn State shaped me to be.
I don't get it–"WE ARE!" We are what? You are tens of thousands of kids who went to a huge school that had little to no admission standards. What's with all the gusto? WHO CARES?!
Where'd you go to school, Dave? And, can you please look up the standards of admission to PSU, copy and paste them back here, and explain your statement? Many Thanks! It's so very intersting that people feel the need to make ignorant statements about this "cult mentality" at PSU that the media is fueling. I went to PSU, got a quality education, make life-long connections, and yes, I even enjoyed football season. It's hard to imagine the failure that these top administators and yes, Joe Paterno, allowed. The victims will alway come first. Sandusky had his day in court, and justice will be served. I pray the victims are starting to heal...but it's a scar that will never go away. Please don't start yelling foul if people move the conversation toward other things, such as school pride, and *gasp!* football. It's not due to a lack of empathy for these victims, but rather a return to normal.