Penn State "Protests"

 If you look at pretty much any significant social movement in the 20th century, chances are that a good portion of those within the movement were college students (or college-aged kids) and that many of their demonstrations and protests happened on their college campuses. Civil rights, Vietnam, apartheid. All of these had their roots within the youth, and it's no coincidence. College should be a "coming of age" time. It's a time when kids make the transition from living in their parents' world to seeing what their world is going to be. During this time, their eyes are opened to many different ideas and events going on around them that they may not have had full awareness of, or realized the implications on their own future. They must take this new influx of knowledge and try to make sense of it all. Sometimes when these students look at the world from this new perspective that what is out there is theirs to inherit, they don't like what they see. They see injustice, abuse in the world. It's at this time that in the past these young people decided to take ownership of their futures, to take it upon themselves to change the world that they were about to step into.

Tonight, Penn State students had a protest of sorts. If you aren't up to speed, Penn State is in the middle of a child rape scandal that has rocked the university to the core. If you need to catch up on that, here's a link to an article detailing what we know so far: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_penn_state_child_sex_case_110511. Because of the scandal, word is that legendary football coach Joe Paterno, who has been at Penn State since 1966, will lose his job sooner rather than later. In light of this, several hundred students gathered at Paterno's home in support of their coach. After the 84 year old addressed the crowd, thanking them, many of the students went to the school's administration building and then to the statue of Paterno. Their numbers swelled to the thousands as they chanted "Joe won't go!" and "We are! Penn State!" and singing the alma mater and, for some reason, "Sweet Caroline" (according to Pat Forde and Gregg Doyle).

This is what we're protesting about? There is potentially a cover-up of child molestation allegations from the top levels of your institution and thousands come out in support of a football coach? I'm sorry, but that's ludicrous. To be fair, those in the crowd made clear that they were not in support of the university president who may have been at the very top of this scandal and there has been plenty of outrage and smaller demonstrations against those at the head of the scandal. But the crowd was also pretty clear that they were there to support JoePa through anything, and that's about it. This gathering of thousands wasn't asking for an investigation into every possible person connected with a cover-up. They weren't trying to push their university to take responsibility for the actions of its employees. They weren't demanding that something be done to help the children that were allegedly affected by this. This massive crowd asked for nothing except please don't take our coach away.

I'm not trying to assign guilt or innocence on Paterno here. Whether he is one or the other will come out as this story continues. My point is that Paterno is down the list as far as what is and isn't important right now. Football means nothing in this scandal anymore. I understand that for Penn State, Paterno is more than just football. But even his legacy isn't important right now. All that should be considered are his, and every other individual's, actions and involvement within this case. These people are rallying for a football coach in the midst of the most tragic scandal we've seen in college sports. Joe Paterno isn't a victim here.

I love sports as much as the next guy, and probably more. But sports aren't a reason to do something like this. Penn State students, look at the world around you. If Joe Paterno isn't your football coach tomorrow or next week or next year, is that going to significantly impact the world that you go into when your time in State College is done? I have a bunch of issues with the #Occupy people, but at least what they're talking about may actually be of value. If you're bored and want to protest something or riot or whatever, make it worthwhile. Better yet, find something you believe in, something greater than a octogenarian.