Penn State Student Reaction to Paterno is Misguided

Joe Paterno was a great man. Joe Paterno was a morally ambiguous individual.

Joe Paterno deserves to coach the remaining of the year and retire with his legacy. Joe Paterno needs to go now and pay the price for turning the blind eye.

There are a lot of differing opinions about the man known as Joe Pa and his role in the Jerry Sandusky Scandal that has left Penn State embroiled in one of the worst cases of conspiracy and cover-up ever to befall an American university or sports institution. People have been calling for his head all week over his inaction upon learning that one of his trusted assistants was fondling young children, and at least once in the Nittany Lions locker room. When the board of trustees finally gave in to the pressure and axed both Paterno and school President Graham Spanier, students took to the streets and engaged in a miniature riot in support of the once-beloved coach.

There is just no pleasing some people.

Regardless of the student reaction, the board of trustees had no other choice but to let Paterno go now. Paterno showed that he has a complete inability to make the right decision, from staying quiet for 13 years while a child-molester walked the streets to choosing to try and save his legacy by retiring at the end of the season rather than stepping down immediately when his indiscretions came to light. The board of trustees simply saw it as something the school needed to distance itself from and took the choice out of Paterno's hands.

Let's face facts; the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky Scandal is never going to produce a winner of any kind. This entire tragedy is filled with nothing but victims, from the eight young men who were victimized by Sandusky to the thousands of students who had bought into the code of ethics that Penn State once prided itself on. Nobody wins when a child is harmed by someone they trust. Nobody wins when someone chooses to stand by silently rather than put a stop to this kind of depravity. Nobody wins when a child's voice is lost in the wake of a code of silence enforced by men more concerned with how history will see them rather than the well-being of the victim.

So while the students themselves may feel robbed by having Paterno's career ended this way, they are misguided as to where they displeasure truly needs to rest. They need to think of the 13 years of torture those eight young men have had to live through waiting for just one person to step up and stand up for them. They need to think of the clouded sense of bureaucracy that was prevalent enough of Penn State that decisions were made to bury the truth rather than do what is demanded of them by law.

Truth be told, the board of trustees should finish what it started with a broad sweeping reaction, cancelling what is left of the football season as a showing that they don't stand behind the thought that football is life on the Happy Valley campus; it is a privilege and once exploited, it needs to be removed, if only temporarily.

But it doesn't need to stop there. The school needs to be proactive in trying to make things right with those unfortunate victims. They need to provide the support that should have come much easier 13 years earlier. There will be financial repercussions here and the university, Paterno, and anyone else involved would be better to man up and take responsibility now.

The school is reaping what it has sewn. Rather than be known as a school that stood up for the protection of those who couldn't protect themselves, they chose to disassociate themselves with the situation in general, and in turn made it a thousand times worse for themselves.

No longer is Penn State a model institution dedicating to educating and fostering the next generation. Now it is nothing more than a brittle reminder of the fact that they are defined by our ability to tell right from wrong.

The students rioting and outraged are proof positive of their inability to teach that ability to others.