March4Truth: Why Penn Staters Will NOT Move Forward Without the TRUTH

March4Truth and for the glory of Old State!

By

Ray Blehar

For more than six decades, the Penn State fans would rise as one on fall Saturdays and cheer not just for a football team, but for something that extended far beyond the end lines of the football field.  

When we chanted, “We Are…Penn State,” it was not about football, but about an idea – a belief.  A belief in doing things the right way and believing in something that was bigger than any one of us. 

For more than six decades, we were PENN STATE and we were unified with our pride in a school we referred to as Dear Old State.  

But that is no longer the case.  Dear Old State does not exist except in the words of the alma mater.  Instead, a bastardized version of Penn State has taken it place.

While we are still PENN STATE, and some resemblance of Dear Old State rises when we go inside the stadium to cheer on Bill O’Brien’s Nittany Lions, that feeling ends shortly after the final whistle blows.   

And that whistle, ending that feeling, is merely the echo of a pre-mature whistle that was blown by the Penn State University (PSU) Board of Trustees (BOT) on November 9, 2011.  

On November 4, 2011, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG) released a one sided, prosecutorial document, known as a grand jury presentment that was an indictment of not just Jerry Sandusky, but of PSU.   And in the face of adversity, the PSU BOT didn’t fight to the end, like those teams we watched for so many decades.  Instead, they surrendered. 

The lawyers on the BOT – especially one who famously defended Merck in the Vioxx case -- didn’t even bother to check the relevant laws in the presentment.  They accepted the presentment’s lies as facts and they allowed the University to be unfairly smeared by the press.  

On November 9, 2011, the BOT, led by John Surma, succumbed to media pressure and removed legendary coach Joe Paterno and long-time President Graham Spanier from their positions, without either man being allowed to speak in his own defense.  On that day, the BOT declared PSU guilty of all crimes and placed a black mark on the University – that if left to stand – would stain PSU for the next fifty years. 

In the ensuing eight months, the BOT did nothing to defend PSU.  Instead, it worked with the NCAA and the firm of Freeh, Sporkin, and Sullivan to cover for its own mistakes and place blame on PSU’s “football culture.”  When Louis Freeh provided his (now discredited) report,  the trustees praised his work and used it to again condemn PSU. 

Then they told everyone to “move forward.”

It is clear, the PSU BOT does not understand what it means to say, “We Are…Penn State.”  They either don't know or have forgotten about "Dear Old State" and what that means to Penn Staters.

Penn Staters do not move forward when they know that doing so keeps children in danger.  

Penn Staters do not move forward when innocent people, especially students, are punished for acts for which they were not responsible.  

And Penn Staters will not move forward without knowing the TRUTH.

Please join us for MARCH FOR TRUTH, Friday, September 20th, 330PM at the Penn Stater Hotel.

Details at March4Truth.com