From the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday 29 Jan 2012:
Quote:
Can Penn State heal?
Thousands of grieving Penn State supporters crowded the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday to say an emotional last goodbye to beloved football coach Joe Paterno - but Karen Peetz and Keith Masser, the chair and vice chair of the university board of trustees, weren't among them. ...
That's what it's come to: The Pennsylvania State University board of trustees is so reviled by some alumni that its members could not attend the mass public tribute to their most popular employee, lest their mere presence possibly cause an ugly disturbance. …
A vocal, angry, and mobilized alumni-and-fan base that's working to seat new board members in a coming election and overhaul how the board is organized and run. Many are furious that Paterno was fired without a hearing or waiting for the outcome of investigations.
A faculty doubtful of the board's ability to conduct its own impartial inquiry into the scandal.
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Step one to a solution. The trustees should publically apologize for an obvious, erroneous, and destructive decision. The name Paterno should be restored to its rightful place first by the trustees. Otherwise the trustees should remain reviled. Trustees made so many mistakes. They owe the public and Penn State an apology. Every day they delay only makes them – even the new chair and vice chair – complicit.
32 of them and a Governor. Not one could bother to learn facts before making a decision? Not one could apologize for their obvious and tragic mistakes? No public apology means more scars and justified contempt. Literally every organization – alumni, students, faculty – know what the trustees still refuse to admit.
Step one to healing is that obvious. They must apologize for making a decision without first learning facts. They must restore the Paterno name to where it belongs.
Every day the trustees delay confirms how divorced they are from reality.