Penn State University & The Pride of the Lion

About eight years ago (well before even a hint of all the sexual abuse of Sandusky became public), I went to a conference at PSU for the Advisors in the Division of Undergraduate studies. School counselors were invited to attend as to learn more about the issues involved with advising college undergraduates in PSU system. Since the high school to college transition was a big part of my doctoral research and Penn State is a "go to" school for many of our students at the high school I work at, I decided to attend.

I discovered that I was one of the few high school counselors in attendance. It was overwhelmingly a PSU conference for PSU employees, as well as a smattering of other college advisors and professors from other institutions of higher education. When it came time for the President of the university, Graham Spanier, to speak, I was interested in hearing what he had to say about the state of undergraduate education at PSU.

What the speech turned into was a very public attack on high school guidance counselors. I was very shocked by his allegations and inaccuracies of how school counselors do their jobs. It was brazen, it was highly unfair, it was uniformed, and even arrogant. I felt obligated during the Q and A to respond to his allegations. I was scared and nervous, I did not want to piss him off, and create problems for myself and my students in the future. So, I went to great lengths to not question his motives or honesty, I just tried to address his allegation point-by-point.

I recall Spanier clearly being shocked that I had the temerity to question him  in a public forum. He pretty much blew me off. There were hundreds of people in attendance. Afterwards, several PSU professors came up to me privately and applauded my courage and honesty in not backing down, including the person who ran the Honors College. I followed it up with an email to Spanier when I returned home providing further thoughts on what he said. I went out of my way to be constructive. I never heard back from him. I remember thinking to myself how odd it was that a college president of such an esteemed university could be so out of touch, so self-referential, and wrong. Maybe his high school guidance counselor was a jerk, because he was so virulent and vehement in his assertions. It seemed like he was trying to settle an ancient score of some type.     

In retrospect, I have to wonder if his attack of high school counselors, his unwillingness to acknowledge his inaccurate speech, and address my very legitimate concerns, was an indication of the same issues here in the Sandusky case. The oozing pride of those in charge, who thought that they were campus gods beyond mere mortals. Well, the PSU Pantheon is crumbling. All that power is now blown to smithereens. Because I believe in God, I try to not let man silence me. Speaking the truth to powerful people is scary. There is a lot of individual and institutional intimidation for those who dare to question our modern kings that He has no clothes on. And, PSU administration was naked for quite some time.