Paterno. Penn State. The statue.

What bothers me most about the Penn Sate affair is the inaction by Penn State officials. That inaction is what ensnarled Penn State in a jam in the first place. Of course, the Paterno statue should be removed. Why is it still there? And further, Penn State officials are characterizing corrective action as a PR problem. Nothing should outrage Americans more than labeling this situation as a PR problem that can be corrected by a well funded PR plan. The underlying premise is the football program must be saved.

The AP had an article this morning titled "How Penn State can repair its image." The FBI investigator reported that Paterno and other Penn State officials allowed Sandusky to prey on boys for years. This is not a PR issue and it is impossible conceive of a new oversight plan that will solve the cultural problem. The cultural problem is that the football program image trumped correct human behavior.

Why else would Sandusky's deviant behavior be deliberately concealed?  An iconic view, an almost sacred belief in an untouchable football program, a money maker for Penn State, was the root of the evil. And the football program should be summarily punished. It is, after all, not the raison d'etre for a University anyway.

Penn State officials should take action and announce no football for at least 5 years.

And the Paterno statue still stands. Lack of action? Some PR experts say taking the stature down is a knee jerk reaction to the problem. What ever that means in PR-talk, my view is that only a jerk would vote for leaving the Paterno statue standing.

The whole idea that Penn State officials are characterizing the problem as a PR matter misses the whole point, which is the adoration of a football program is a huge mistake.  The Penn State affair should be a sounding bell to other universities to listen-up that, despite the NCAA, ESPN and other institutions, education is still the singular mission of a great university. To forget it is to invite disaster.

Help keep me alive.