Their conversations stop as he moves to the podium.
He looks up at the crowd. "Good afternoon, everyone. It's always scintillating to see such participation."
He opens a thick binder on the podium. "Today, since this is Penn State University, and since our every breath is an immediate media story, I thought we could take the day off from Medieval English Lit., and just talk about how we all feel as Nittany Lions." He raises his eyebrows. "Any objections?"
Silence.
"Okay, we've all heard about the Freeh Report. 267-pages. It concluded Coach Paterno, president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz failed to protect children against a sexual predator for over a decade.
"The motive? To shield Penn State and its Football Program from negative publicity."
He looks up at the young faces. He sees fidgeting, squirming, and some throats clear.
"Do you think we deserve the NCAA's penalties?"
Silence.
"Please, " says the Professor. "Don't everybody jump. I'll start." He turns a page in his binder, and reads, "A $60 million penalty, a four-year football postseason ban and they vacated all our football wins dating back to 1998.
"Do you think that was the right thing to do? Should the NCAA be involved in this at all? Shouldn't this be a problem we clean up ourselves?"
Again, silence, then...
"Somebody had to do something," says a student, his head down. Then he looks around, his voice louder. "Sandusky would still be running around loose if the NCAA hadn't done something."
Another student. "Somebody had to do something. Administration's a bunch of cowards. What did Sandusky have on those guys, anyway?"
"It seems awful quick for the NCAA," says someone in the back. "Don't they have to have hearings, allow the university time to respond before anything is decided. Usually takes time. That Reggie Bush thing, he was playing pro before anything was decided."
"Why do you think it was so quick?" asks the professor.
A young lady in the front row. "It's obvious. This whole thing is so incredibly awful, they got the report done, and worked this deal with the NCAA. Get this off the Front Page, as fast as possible. No matter what it took. They paid the NCAA to get this done quickly."
"Got that right," says another student. "Worked a deal. NCAA agreed to take the word of this Freeh Report. Usually don't they do their own investigation? NCAA figured $60 million was good enough."
"Yeah but it's not going to change anything." says another. "Sandusky's already been convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse."
A lady sitting right up front. She folds her arms, and turns toward the other students. "I think everyone who knew about Sandusky should be criminally charged. Everybody who knew and did nothing. Edmond Burke...All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
"That's right," says the Professor. "Edmond Burke, over two hundred years ago. It applies today."
"And the report says Coach Paterno knew all about it," she says. "He made a decision, but it was one he couldn't live with. You could see it in his face. He had been dying inside for more than a decade."
"Professor." A hand goes up over by the wall. "Let me ask you this. Did you know anything about this? You must come into contact with football coaches, now and then. Did you hear about any of this?"
"If I say yes, I knew, and didn't say anything, I'd be as guilty as any perpetrator. If I said no, I knew nothing, just from your question, you wouldn't believe me." He points to a young man way up near the door.
"If Sandusky was doing all the things they're saying, they should closed this entire University. Talk about a freak show. "
Students turn and stare.
"Way I heard it," he says. "This Sandusky was not only molesting these poor young boys, but when the team went on road trips, he had a network of other pervs who were paying big bucks for the same little boys. $60 million probably cheap to get this whole thing over with."
A large man, workout muscle rather than work muscle, raises his hand. "The football program itself did NOTHING wrong. The guys responsible have been fired or have died. Those of us left aren't guilty. I think the NCAA is just trying to look real tough."
There are a few nods.
The professor moves over to the desk, picks up his briefcase, and throws his jacket over his arm. "Here's my problem. I read the Freeh Report last night. None of the people interviewed were under oath. And McQuery, the one who came out with the story, wasn't even interviewed." He lowers his head and walks toward the side door. "None of this feels right to me. There is more to this than they are telling us."
He raises his hand to the students and waves.
"So, after some intensive thought, I've decided to leave Penn State. It's a place I can no longer trust."
"But professor," says a voice from the back.
"Yes, Mr. Marks."
"Where are you going to go?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll take that trip to California. UCLA, Berkeley, maybe Stanford. Santa Barbara might be nice."
"How will that be any different?" asks the student. "We live in a society where the Corporation is more important than the Individual. Our banking system was too big to fail. Businesses get tax breaks for sending jobs over seas. Why are cigarettes still for sale in America? Come on, Penn State comes first when there is a scandal."
"He's right, Professor," says a student wearing a 99%-er T-shirt. "We live in a not so Brave New World. Sandusky was like a Cancer. So far we've cut him out. And, we'll need some more treatments to get it all, I'm sure. Let's just hope our insurance is adequate against all the upcoming lawsuits. Stay and fight to make it right here. Big corporations, and big money will always try to cover up the problems. That's were the fight is."
The lady in front. "That's the right thing to do, you know."
The professor stops. He stretches his neck, and slowly turns back to the podium. "Stay and fight?" he says
He smiles, dumps his briefcase back on the desk, and approaches the podium. "So," he says. "Guess I'm not quitting."
He stands with his head down.
"So you think I should stay, and fight the good fight, right here at Penn State? And how do you think I should begin?"
The young lady over by the window. "The responsibility of this University before anything else, is to teach every student to be moral, ethical, and always do the right thing. That's before Football, before Business, before Medieval English Literature. Our athletic department has been morally bankrupt for a long time. It is up to us to speak out. Not wait a decade. Regardless of who it hurts. We know what's right. If you teach us that, then you don't have to run off to California."
Most nodded in agreement.
"Well, this conversation was certainly helpful. It was for me. Now...back to Medieval English Lit." He looks up at the students, smiles, then flips pages in his thick binder. Again he smiles. "Remember the quiz on Friday. Okay, now, back to Thirteenth Century Wales. In a time when a word processor was only a dream, poets had to use..."
..........................
Help comes from:
thinkexist.com, readabilityformulas.com,
msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/penn-state-players,
usatoday.com/news/nation/story, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State,
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