Tuesday
Nov. 15, 2011
Penn State made right decision; students need to think about victims and set blind loyalty aside
Since the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno last Wednesday night, there has been much speculation as to whether the Penn State board of trustees made the correct decision. The decision they made—to fire both Paterno and university President Graham Spanier—caused thousands of Penn State students to break out in protest Wednesday night in downtown State College, Pa. As the night went on, the situation escalated as a TV news van was tipped over and rocks and beer bottles were thrown at police officers and members of the media. Many members of the media, including reporters from ESPN and ABC, eventually evacuated the location in fear for their safety. The students also spent much of the night chanting things such as, “We are Penn State!” “We want Joe!” and “Tip the van!” Needless to say, these are the type of incidents that can happen when you get thousands of ticked off college students gathered in one location. But why were they ticked off? They say it was because the board of trustees fired their legendary coach, but do they really understand the severity of the situation? Judging by their reactions, I would say no. What these students need to do is read the 23-page grand jury report. The report explains in graphic detail the alleged incidents that took place throughout the entire scandal. It includes details of the alleged sexual molestation that was brought upon numerous young boys by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Reading through the descriptions of what happened to each of the victims was shocking and disturbing on many levels. What he did to those boys was disgusting.
Jon Poorman Editor-in-Chief Reading about the way these incidents were not reported by Penn State was also disturbing. To think that adults could blatantly ignore the safety of children is outrageous. But yet, it happened. Many people at Penn State, from assistant coach Mike McQueary—who witnessed an alleged molestation—all the way up to Spanier, failed to report any of these alleged happenings to the police. Stephanie Smith, the regional director for the National Child Protective Training Center at Northwest Arkansas Community College, said that in situations where children are at risk, more has to be done to stop the abuse. “My initial reaction was of course being very sad for the victims, but not terribly shocked, because unfortunately this happens all the time,” she said. “There is plenty of research to back up the fact that people don’t report abuse. “As a former prosecutor, I saw many situations where schools, churches and other individuals who were mandated reporters didn’t say anything to law enforcement or to Child Protective Services when they had clear indication from something they had seen or something the child had said that it was possible that something was going on.” Smith said that in the situation with Penn State, there was a failure to appropriately act upon the allegations made internally against Sandusky. “It certainly does appear to me that more action should have been taken,” she said. “It certainly appears from
what’s been published in the grand jury report that (Paterno and Spanier) were in a position to, at the minimum, ask a lot more questions than they did.” Smith said that when it comes to the possible abuse of children, everything else must be set on the back burner, even if it involves prominent figures or programs, such as in the case of Penn State. “That can go back to hesitation to believe that something this heinous could be going on in your area, in your community,” she said. “Especially in a situation such as Penn State, where they’ve kind of prided themselves on having a lot of integrity in their program and not having problems with the NCAA and some of the other problems that schools have gotten into. “But I do think a message has to be sent—not just by Penn State, but by all of us in general—that we’re not going to look the other way anymore when you fail to report. We’re not going to say, ‘Oh well, that’s OK. Maybe you should have said something, but we know about it now, and we’ll fix it.’ We’ve had 10 years now where they’ve documented additional victims, and that’s the real tragedy in this.” The fact of the matter is that people at Penn State, including Paterno and Spanier, knew information that warranted reporting Sandusky to the police. They failed to do that and because of it, seven more children—that we know of— were molested by Sandusky. Legendary basketball commentator Dick Vitale summed up the situation best when he tweeted, “Joe Paterno fired—PSU doing the right thing. Clean place of all those that FAILED to be LEADERS & let down a # of innocent kids & a gr8 Univ.” The students who rioted because of this firing need to set their blind loyalty aside and realize that protecting innocent children trumps protecting the reputation of an athletics program, no matter how prominent it or its coach is.
What do you think Missouri State needs more of? Taylor Richards
Jesse Boaz
Colby Salchow
Breon Brown
Junior Recreation Management
Freshman Biology
Sophomore Nursing
Senior Elementary Education
More school spirit.
Better food on campus.
More computer space in computer labs.
More school spirit.
Students should fully embrace the mustache
Chevron. Dali. Handle bar. Fu Manchu. Walrus. English. Pencil. Toothbrush. To facial hair lovers and growers, these are some of the most popular and well-known types of mustaches, according to the American Mustache Institute. But in addition to looking fly and attracting the ladies, mustache-growers can now support men’s health awareness and raise funds for cancers that affect men. The Movember Effect, sponsored by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, asks men to register and grow mustaches to raise awareness about men’s health issues during November. “Men start Movember 1 clean-shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery,” according to their website. “Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship of their Mo-growing efforts.” The funds that Mo Bros raise go to programs run by Movember and other men’s health partners, such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG, to raise awareness, education and research. During October, Missouri State students, faculty and staff came out to support Breast Cancer Awareness month. Now it’s time for the MSU community to advocate men’s health. So support research for men’s cancer, register at http://us.movember.com and grow the stache!
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Aid should increase to prevent debt Graduates used more loans in 2010
As if college students needed more bad news, the Project on Student Debt reported this month that students graduated with more debt last year than in the year before. Missouri State graduates were among those that had more debt in 2010, and while it’s not pleasant news, it’s hardly surprising. Across the country, tuition has been rising at a rate far greater than inflation, and young degree-seekers are paying the price.
According to a 2010 Forbes story, tuition has increased sixfold over the past 20 years, while the consumer price index has risen only two-and-a-half times over that span.
And while the cost of a college education gets more expensive, the kind of low-wage jobs college students hold aren’t able to keep up. The answer of course is financial aid. And while there are scholarship and grant opportunities for many, most students are forced to take out at least some loans to help cover costs. As tuition rises, borrowing becomes even more necessary.
The Standard
The first question should be why tuition is increasing so much. Two economics professors at the College of William and Mary studied the reasons behind the high price of college and found little reason to blame universities. They’re probably correct in that assessment. They explain the high cost of technology and labor that universities have to take on if they’re going to keep up with educational demands. There are likely ways to trim costs in any budget, but it’s not as if colleges are swimming in pools of money. So if the costs have to be passed on to students, the solution has to come in changes to the financial aid system. Currently, that system is not meeting the needs of students who are struggling to afford higher education. Missouri State is different than many universities in that it’s relatively affordable. However, its students tend to fall into a growing group of those from families who aren’t as financially prepared to send kids to college. There are many first- and second-generation college students in this part of the country who come from families that may not have the high-paying jobs that theoretically come with a college degree. While it’s a good thing that more students are seeking a college edu-
sions are also welcome. The Standard reserves the right to edit all submissions for punctuation, spelling, length and good taste. Letters should be mailed to The Standard, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO 65897 or e-mailed to Standard@Missouri State.edu.
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‘Student Debt and the Class of 2010’
Stephen Herzog Columnist cation, there needs to be a way for those students to afford it.
Naturally, this issue is among the top concerns for Occupy Wall Street groups. Student loan debt is now part of the cycle in which graduates can’t find work and return to school in an attempt to improve their marketability or find different careers. Of course, once they return to school they begin taking on more debt without the promise of any way to pay it back once they graduate.
The solutions that involve making college free or forgiving all student-loan debt sound great but aren’t realistic. The solution likely lies within altering the student loan industry, particularly in the repayment process. Certainly there still need to be jobs for graduates. Even the most lenient repayment plan isn’t sufficient for someone who is unemployed, but improving that aspect of student borrowing needs to be part of the answer.
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The Project on Student Debt at the Institute for College Access & Success in Oakland, Calif. released their annual report “Student Debt and the Class of 2010” about the state of college graduates’ debt in 2010 on Nov. 3, 2011. The report collected data from more than 1,000 colleges, including half of all public and private non-profit four-year colleges in the United States. The report does not include data from private for-profit colleges. The report found that students with the highest amount of debt graduated from colleges in the Northeast and Midwest. Those with the lowest amount of college debt graduated from colleges in the West.
National 2010 college graduate debt • Average debt of graduates • Proportion of graduates with debt • Unemployment rate for graduates
$25,250 90 percent 9.1 percent
Missouri State University 2010 graduate debt • • • • • • •
Average debt of graduates Proportion of graduates with debt Nonfederal debt Full-time enrollment in 2009 2009 - 2010 in-state tuition and fees 2009 - 2010 total cost of attendance 2009 - 2010 percent Pell Grant recipients
$21,359 69 percent 12 percent 13,319 $6,276 $16,628 27 percent
Source: All data was collected from the Project on Student Debtʼs website at http://projectonstudentdebt.org.
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