"I came to Penn State because of its legacy, because of the pride people have when they say they attend this school, not to be bashed and ridiculed because of a scandal." This is exactly how I felt when I received text messages and saw Facebook and twitter posts and the issue. I was more annoyed than hurt and more embarrassed than angry.
When I first came to Penn State, I was excited. Everyone talked about how great of a school it was for so many reasons. I had never heard a bad thing about it. I was happy to get away from home, meet new people, experience different things, and, of course, attend the ever famous football games. Everything was all good until the month of November came and the knowledge of Jerry Sandusky's sexual crimes with young boys surfaced. I remember hearing about it, first, from my mom. I was shocked, but I hadn't heard much about it from people on campus, so I brushed it off.
As things started to unfold in the following days, my feelings about the issue grew stronger. I was disgusted when I found out and I still am. How could you take advantage of a child like that? How can you keep your crimes to yourself for so many years? This scandal is absolutely horrifying for parents and students and faculty who attend and teach at this university. So many emotions are still running high and it's a shame how much has come from this.
As a result of what Sandusky did, Joe Paterno, our then-head football coach, and Graham Spanier, then-president, have been terminated. Joe Paterno was huge part of the Penn State legacy and the way he was fired was wrong. He has been here for most of his life and football and the students are a big part of his heart. I think the Board of Trustees should have let him retire and leave it at that. I think he was treated unfairly, but I don't think it was wrong for him to be fired. He obviously knew things, but he didn't do all he could to end them. As for Graham Spanier, I couldn't care less what happens to him. He knew about this and didn't make a move to handle it. Instead, he decided to cover it up. He deserves what he gets. Both Paterno and Spanier knew things that were crucial to this whole scandal and it's sad because if they would have spoke up or done something about it, things would have been different.
The world is taking this in so many different ways, but most of the people who speak on it don't attend or are not affiliated with Penn State. Their comments are usually ignorant because they know nothing about how we feel. There have been so many times where I wanted to tell someone to just shut up because they don't know what we're going through. After Paterno was fired, the students rioted. People thought we were dumb and we looked like animals. I agree, it was stupid, but most of the things people are seeing are through the media and they make things look worse than they are.
I was angry at first because, now, every time I tell someone I go to Penn State they say, "Oh yeah, the school with the scandal." But, I realized that that's not all we are. I knew we were a family before, but now our bond is even stronger. We were leaning on each other in this tough time and it helped. One person's actions hurt our image as a school, but they can never break our pride and our love for each other. I will always be Penn State proud and I will never be ashamed to say, "We are...Penn State!"
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