Penn State Should Shut Down Its Football Program

When the Penn State story broke we knew that the initial reaction would be to shut down the football program. We balked at that solution because it didn’t seem fair to punish hundreds of players, coaches and staff members not to mention thousands of students and alumni who had nothing to do with Sandusky’s sickening actions or the inexcusable cover up.  We felt that this was much more than a football scandal; it was a cultural cancer that had wormed its way to the highest reaches of the university and perhaps even the local community.  The PSU administration was such an integral part of this scandal we wondered how you could shut down the football program without shutting down the entire university.  We struggled over a fair solution. 

And then something happened that put everything into perspective.

There is a statue of Joe Paterno that stands near the PSU athletic facilities.  We now know that a number of Penn State students have taken up a vigil to guard the statue against acts of vandalism.  If this is the perspective from which PSU students view the horrific scandal that has enveloped their community; then the remedy is clear.  Penn State football needs to pay a price for looking the other way while children were being abused.  And the Pennsylvania State University needs to pay a price for creating an environment where money, power and celebrity are more highly valued than human decency...not just within the football program but the university community as well.

Pennsylvania State University should shut down its football program for the foreseeable future because the football program and the university are one in the same.  Football is PSU…and PSU is football.  They cannot be separated.  So ingrained is the importance of football in this place that the highest officials at the university chose to protect its legacy at the expense of the victims.  So powerful the coach that in the midst of a scandal so horrific it leaves one speechless, he has the audacity to negotiate a raise.  So integral is football into the very fiber of what this university is all about that students protect a monument to football’s guardian…even though that guardian valued his own legacy over the lives of children.

Make no mistake, Penn State is not alone.  There are any number of towns throughout the country where football holds an over abundance of power…not just within the university but the community as well.  It is the cash cow that funds the other athletic programs.  It is the ATM that floats the local economies.  It is the bell cow that puts many universities and many communities on the map.  In many cases without football there would be no university.  And without the university many communities would seek to exist.  But no amount of money, prestige or notoriety can excuse the culture endemic at Penn State.

The NCAA is reviewing the matter.  They may decide to shut down the football program for a year or two.  But why wait on an organization that is the embodiment of corruption and hypocrisy.      

We call on Penn State to shut down its football program and reclaim its university.  Send a message that human decency, compassion and the right of law are more important than power, money and celebrity.