Holier than Thou

I must admit that I don't follow scandals that involve sex, harassment or just about anything else that's tawdry, but the story about Penn State's Joe Paterno really got to me. I don't need to know all the gory details. The idea that both he and Graham B. Spanier, Penn State's president, kept silent about this for so long is deplorable.

I have never been the victim of sexual abuse, but I have been the victims of bullying, sexual harassment and just plain cruel actions. To make it worse for me, my memory is better than I wish it were and I still carry the pain for decades. I hate myself for it. I try to remind myself of the line in Bernhard Schlenk's The Reader: "You are not significant enough to upset me." I even try to channel what Georgette Mosbacher wrote in her first book about how you perceive the punch that can be worse than the punch itself. On one level, I know all this. But tell that to my vulnerable feelings, to my eroded self-esteem. I can only imagine how much worse it is for the survivors of sexual abuse. (And people think I'm strong! I am at least as insecure as the next person. I just go ahead with my life, disappointment, pain and bitterness notwithstanding.)

It is not just sympathy towards those survivors that prompted me to expose my vulnerability. I am appalled at what is at the core of the silence. In this case, it really is golden, as in a falsely ascribed value to the university: money. Spanier was credited with helping the academic profile of Penn State while he was tenured. I -- and many others, no doubt -- only remember Penn State in connection with anti-Vietnam war demonstrations, something I personally consider positive. I never thought about its academic standing one way or the other. But what Spanier did to "improve" its image as an academic institution translated into money. Spanier was reportedly one of the highest paid university presidents. (Not that Larry Summers suffered, except for his reputation among women for his remark that women are simply not good at math and science and among OWS supporters who will not forgive him for his horrible advice to the White House. Obviously, his math skills could use improvement.)

Moreover, college sports mean big money. Both sports and big money are revered in the United States. A long-time friend of mine, who comes from a blue collar background, has always defended the high salaries of athletes because "they have a limited career span." I never bought that in part because of the middle class values my parents instilled in me, which included saving for a rainy day. Besides, many athletes also make fortunes from product endorsement, films and television, book deals and even management consultant. Very few go hungry just because they hit middle age. In addition, ballet dancers and actors often have limited careers spans. Dancers' joints become arthritic and age, especially among women, mean fewer roles. My friend, on the other hand, had a limited career span. Now unemployed for three and a half years, she may well fall into the group of middle-aged people who will never find employment again, and she has a very long wait until she is eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The idea of making money so sacred is already anathema to me, but when it comes to ignoring the pain of the victims, it is beyond the pale. If Jerry Sandusky is indeed guilty, he should pay for his crime, and Paterno and Spanier should be prosecuted as accessories after the fact.