The scenes were awful and the anger was not just misplaced, but completely incomprehensible. And while it’s quiet in Happy Valley today, what happened on Wednesday cannot be wiped away.
Joe Paterno, in his 46th year coaching the Penn State Nittany Lions, was ousted yesterday as the school attempted to disentangle itself from a scandal so ugly it has tarnished both the coach’s legacy and damaged the school’s reputation.
Former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has been charged with sexual assault of eight boys over a 15-year period. Paterno was alerted to the alleged abuse at least nine years ago. He then alerted the athletic director and school vice president, but no one contacted police and the abuse apparently continued.
Paterno promised to resign at season’s end but the school’s board of trustees, rightly, opted to make an immediate break and fired Paterno.
The response on campus — a riot.
As word of the firings spread, thousands of students flocked to the administration building, shouting, “We want Joe back!” and “One more game!” They then headed downtown to Beaver Avenue, where about 100 police wearing helmets and carrying pepper spray were on standby. Witnesses said some rocks and bottles were thrown, a lamppost was toppled and a news van was knocked over, its windows kicked out. ablaze
This needs to be put in perspective: The ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests have been peaceful, aside from attacks by overzealous police, though the issues they are focused on — economic inequality, a bought political system, unending war — are far more important than saving a coach tarnished by his own silence.
I spent two years at Penn State as a student and understand the absolute mania for Penn State football. But loyalty should only extend to the gridiron and should not be used to excuse Paterno’s good-soldier routine or trigger a riot.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 