Saturday, June 16, 2012

Sandusky is doomed, so what's next for Penn State?

With the Sandusky trial moving swiftly and surely toward a momentous guilty verdict, Penn State now must begin the process of properly addressing the two Sanduskys for posterity.

Jerry Sandusky is getting his day in court, he and his attorney shunning a plea and once again tormenting those alleged victims he abused so many times before.

Thankfully, barring the unforeseeable, Sandusky soon will spend the rest of his life behind bars. And this wretched chapter will close.

For the alleged victims (who will no longer be referred to as "alleged" after the verdict), it will provide a small measure of justice, brought about by their courage to testify. For the rest of us, it will provide a small measure of closure and renewed faith in the justice system.

But where will this leave Penn State, specifically with regard to Sandusky's grand contributions to the school? And what about with regard to acknowledging his decades-long abuse of children?

After all, Sandusky contributed significantly to the glory of PSU football for more than 30 years. For the last 15 or so - until his retirement in 1999 - he was perhaps the second-most revered figure on campus.

Can that Sandusky, the hero-coach, be deleted from Penn State annals?

No, not quite, not completely. But the school sure can take steps to minimize his past existence, and eliminate any glorification of him that surely exists in school archives.

Penn State must scrub itself of Sandusky the coach as much as is possible. Time to get out the Boraxo and get to work.

This isn't to pretend Sandusky never coached at Penn State. This certainly isn't to try to ignore and forget his horrifying reign of abuse upon children.

But there are two Sanduskys, and they must be separated and dealt with separately: Sandusky the great coach and Sandusky the pedophile monster.

Here's what must be done with the first Sandusky: In all of the videos, highlights, books, yearbooks and so forth - anything produced by PSU that features Sandusky - he needs to be, where possible, eradicated or edited.

It will be exhaustive and painstaking. If PSU has to hire a small editorial army to get the job done, so be it. I'm available, and I'm sure many others are as well. It's a gargantuan editing process, but it must be done.

He can't be expunged from everything. When Sandusky is in a room with five other coaches, well, that photo, or footage, will remain. A list of members of the coaching staff from, say, 1977, shouldn't suddenly erroneously omit Sandusky.

Do not pretend he was never here. Do not write or produce anything false or untrue. No lies, no fact manipulations. Do not burn photos with Sandusky in them (unless he's the only one in it).

But he cannot be glorified in any way. With regard to Sandusky's contributions, the bare facts should remain and that's it. Eliminate him from all of the rest, wherever possible, whenever it doesn't interfere with others' contributions or cause a falsification.

If Sandusky is speaking in a how-to video, destroy it. If there is a long quote raving about Sandusky's work with the defense, cut it from the text. If there is feature item written about Sandusky, toss it into the incinerator.

Now about the second Sandusky, the pedophile monster. How can PSU appropriately acknowledge what occurred and what Sandusky did, and how it impacted the school?

Through the creation of some sort of plaque and/or monument.

It could be called the Monument for Children (or something like that, but better). The text would specifically say Sandusky's name and concisely mention the horrors he perpetrated, the design should reflect the darkness he created and the hope for a better future, and the location should be relatively conspicuous and appropriate.

What a tragic irony: Through THON, perhaps no school does more for children. Through Sandusky, perhaps no school has endured such a scandal for crimes against children.

A special committee could be appointed to determine exactly how to create this Monument for Children. And perhaps an annual event of some sort, maybe a candlelight walk for abuse victims everywhere, could begin and/or end at the monument. And surely other events will be created to remember the (alleged) victims.

While Sandusky's conviction seems like a sure thing in the next couple of weeks, many big occasions still remain in matters related to this scandal. Most notable is the impending release of the massive internal investigation led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and the aftershocks that will come from it.

For now, Penn State needs to address the two Sanduskys.

The former great coach must be minimized in all school materials and archives.

The monster pedophile needs to be acknowledged permanently and appropriately.


9 comments:

  1. Have you read George Orwell's chilling novel, 1984?

    Once we start re-inventing the past to suit our current sensibilities, where do we stop. This "scrubbing" of the record retroactively is not just a bad idea, it is a frightful one.

    Jerry Sandusky was, is, and will be. There are lessons to be learned and they shouldn't be papered over or distorted.

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  2. Not sure I see the analogy. The post specifically says not to whitewash Sandusky completely out of Penn State football's past, and not to remove his name from any sort of factual record keeping. No lies, no rewriting of the facts, no distortions.

    It's about the glorification of Sandusky's coaching past: anything and everything that glorified Sandusky's past at Penn State coaching days should be removed. He forfeited that privilege.

    There aren't any "lessons to be learned" from Jerry Sandusky videos about playing linebacker, or from lengthy bio sketches extolling Sandusky's good deeds in the community. Again, he forfeited the privilege of having such items included in PSU's archives.

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    1. When I see PROOF of new policy-with-teeth implementation, it'll be a good START. It should never be overlooked that on an executive management level, there's no such thing as "The Sandusky Scandal" (...what a lame-O attempt to under play the REAL term for it). There is ONLY "The Penn State FAILURE".

      The entire "look the other way" and attempted cover up that ENABLED such garbage to perpetuate FOR MANY YEARS, serves as testament to what a powerful narcotic BUSINESS REVENUE $$$ can become as it consumes ethics and morality.

      If not the FAILURE that enabled a predatory pedophile rapist like Sandusky to execute his brand of evil, WHAT THEN would it take for the masses to admit in their hearts and act with their wallets how STUPID it is to forget that football is merely a fun sport. It has been allowed to morph into an absurdity. With the SOLE major exception of Stanford University, it seems the bigger the school and richer its football program-the more mediocre the diploma mill, all halftime advertising to the contrary- dismissed.

      Perhaps most sadly, I believe that the Joe Paterno of the '60', 70's and even early '80's would've pulled Sandusky's plug IMMEDIATELY -AND- the unvarnished truth would have reached him immediately enabling him to do so -State Police involved first.

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    2. Good points. Elaborating on one of your points, Stanford is a great school but there are many other very good schools that play major college football (Virginia, Duke, Northwestern, etc.), so Stanford isn't alone on a pedestal. That said, while many major college football players might be very good students, many are not and are below the minimum level of student at the school. Football at many of these major schools is like a different planet from the university. The real issue is that there should be no such thing as massive multi-million dollar revenue generating and expending collegiate sports programs that serve as farm systems for the pros. College football might be awesome, but it is a very flawed model that does not mesh well with higher education. The NFL should have a real, developmental minor league, and not rely solely on higher education to supply its players. Then, those that simply want to be apprentice NFL players would have somewhere to go after high school - the NFL minor leagues - and not be force-fed into college. And those that want to get a college degree and also play college football could do so, albeit as part of a college football system that wouldn't be at the level it is today. But it will never happen, not anytime soon. This deeply flawed system is even more deeply entrenched.

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  4. I agree with you whole-heartedly. fyi- Before PSU took this Sandusky _____ up the 'ol turd cutter, Stanford and Penn Stute alone in the unblemished NCAA DIV I game- New York Times ran a biggy on it last fall. Yes- there will be no fixing the flawed system. Life. mvm

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  5. THE PENN STATE FAILURE: ----> NEVER AGAIN

    8 STEPS TO HEALING

    1. DONE http://www.waow.com/story/18860742/official-jury-has-reached-verdict-in-sex-abuse-trial-of-ex-penn-state-assistant-sandusky

    2. JUSTICE (Attempt): HARD SENTENCING of Sandusky

    3. LAVISH FINANCIAL REMUNERATION TO ALL VICTIMS AND
    IMMEDIATE EFFECTED FAMILIES PLUS OPEN-ENDED LIFE-
    LONG ACCESS TO THE VERY BEST PSYCHIATRI TREATMENT /
    MENTAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL COVERAGE PROGRAMS IN
    THE U.S.

    4. PERJURY TRIALS of PENN STATE EXECUTIVES

    5. CONVICTION

    6. SENTENCING of PSU EXECUTIVES

    7. BOARD OF TRUSTEES DRAFT and IMPLEMENTATION of NEW
    POLICIES WITH TEETH THAT WILL SERVE TO INSURE THAT
    THIS CRIME CAN NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.*

    8. TIME and PROOF via TIME.

    * Penn State is NOT an S.E.C. University. You go there first and foremost FOR AN EDUCATION at reasonable expense- i.e. "Value". Priorities must be re-established. If "fans" can't hack that, send your football players to another school. Let THEM endure corruption hence-forth. Re-direct your mania to the AFL / NFL. Pressure and huge $$$$ caused this. Never Again.

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