Penn State: Road to Recovery

Let’s start a riot. Penn State students have been thrust in to the turmoil currently facing their school. In the past two weeks they have lost a president, a coach, and most recently their credibility.

Students rioted in the streets facing tear gas and police force. Yet that have yet to face their biggest obstacle: the facts.

Regardless of who is specifically at fault, laws were broken. The university did what they thought was best for the school and for the community as a whole.

A detailed summary of the crimes that resulted in the firing of multiple Penn State affiliates including Joe Paterno can be found in the Grand Jury’s report regarding Sandusky. Grand Jury Report

Penn State has a long journey on the road to recovering their reputation. Years of violence against young boys went unnoticed and many people who had privilege to this information remained silent. 

Students began rioting in the streets not because of these injustices but because their football coach was fired. Students tipped over a media van chanting “one more game!”

The desire to have coach Joe Paterno reinstated resulted in violent acts including lighting fires on local streets. ”Joe Paterno is bigger than football,” said Jen Knoll a senior at Penn State, but that is exactly what the students are reducing this incident to, football.

Yet no one rioted for the boys who were raped and silenced. No one rioted for the lives that were forever altered in those locker rooms.

Instead students rioted over one man, one more football game, and one result: get Joe Pa back. These outrageous riots in the streets lost students their credibility as sound-minded individuals and manifested as rowdy school children.

These acts of outrage finally subsided. When these torrents of discontent ceased, Penn State took a step on the road to recovery.

Slowly but surely, students may be realizing that football is just a game and they are more than what headlines are proclaiming.

The community of a school is not defined by one horrible act. Yet, how a student body comes together in the face of scandal or heartbreak can speak volumes.

Some Penn State students attended the last game of the season adorned in blue. This blue showed more than school spirit, it was a response to all those victimized. The “blue out” was in support of foundations that advocated against child abuse.

As fans glanced over and saw that sea of blue, students finally got the response they not only wanted but also greatly needed. People stopped and saw that Penn State’s reputation may be damaged but it is not broken.

The peaceful response of students showed that despite allegations and rioting, there was grief. That is community. That is a positive lifestyle. “We are Penn State,” as Knoll so tactfully put it, “and we will not be defeated."


-KP