Former Penn State Coach Arrested

[*winter*]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

I can only speak for myself, but the reason we're personalizing it is because other people (non-Penn Staters) are making it personal. I looked at one of my sorority sister's Facebook walls yesterday, and one of her "friends" posted, "If you're an old woman who's attracted to little boys, you're a cougar. If you're an old man who's attracted to little boys, you're a Nittany Lion."

People are ignorant. And that ignorance is offensive, and it's insulting something that we love so dearly. Today, my heart breaks.. And not for Paterno, and not for Spanier, but for the students and alumni who have to deal with the fact that their alma mater will forever be looked at as "the school where that coach raped young boys.". People are already referring to the school as Pedophile State University. It hurts. Plain and simple.

I think SWTXBelle summed it up best. I want to believe that these things couldn't happen; not neccesarily to a person I adore, but at a place I love.

I work with like 50% PSU grads so of course it was allllllll anyone could talk about at work today. I can understand feeling affected by it. Something they cared about, believed in, thought was such a positive place is now...tainted. Really harmful things happened at a place they love and have a strong alliance to...it's conflicting. It's just a process of absorbing that THIS happened at a place that you are associated with, a place filled with positive memories and experiences. It is going to take a while to digest it all and process it, for those connected to Penn State.

Penn State is such an institution. It's SO big here. It's seen as this mighty place where everything is so perfect and pristine, it's just unbelievable that something like this could have happened there (or, hell, anywhere, considering some of the atrocities in the indictment!) I guess it comes back to the old tenant, "you always think it will happen to someone else." Only in this case, "you always think it will happen somewhere else."

I guess I could compare it to being a Catholic and then discovering that horrible things were happening to kids in Catholic facilities by Catholic priests. It's confusing, because here's this hugely influential, positive thing in your life, but at the same time, it's a vehicle for abuses that can only be described as torturous. It formed so many of my beliefs and created a sense of pride as a part of my identity...but people who are nothing short of evil have been affiliated with it, even using its rites and facilities for unspeakable acts. It's astounding.

Correct me if I'm wrong, PSU grads, but this is the impression I've gotten to those I've spoken to...