Penn State to let Paterno statue stay…are you serious?
Most people would find this to be unconscionable. After an independent investigation of Penn State University head football coach Joe Paterno’s (and other school executives’) involvement in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case found that Paterno was heavily involved in the cover up for 14 years, many are angry. They want something to be done, especially when it comes to removing references to Paterno on the school’s campus.
Specifically, there are more than a few people that want his statue removed. People don’t want to be reminded of one of the ugliest situations in the history of collegiate sports.
But, sources close to the board of trustees tell ESPN that, for now, there are no plans to remove the statue.
“You can’t let people stampede you into making a rash decision,” a trustee told ESPN. “The statue represents the good that Joe did. It doesn’t represent the bad that he did.”
What? How does that work? How do you decide what it represents?
We just found out that he covered for a child molester. We just found out that he knew about the 1998 incident of Sandusky showering with a young boy and that if he had dropped the hammer and done something about it, many other children wouldn’t have been touched.
You leave a statue up of someone like that? Seriously? This guy specifically chose his reputation and that of the school and the school’s football program over saving children from being molested.
“It has to stay up,” said another trustee. “We have to let a number of months pass, and we’ll address it again. But there is no way, no way. It’s just not coming down.”
Yeah, whatever. I actually have no problem with the “let’s wait a few months” argument. Everyone probably needs to calm down right about now. But, if this isn’t at the forefront of things that could/should be changed moving forward, then that is seriously messed up. Why would you want a constant memory of this incident that will – yes, I said will – destroy PSU in ways that we can’t even imagine right now?
If you want to take some time to make a rational decision, that’s fine. But, in the end you have to make the right call. The statue needs to be removed.
