Michael Bérubé held an endowed chair in literature at Penn State, one that was funded by and named for the Paterno family and which Professor Bérubé recently resigned. He leads into his essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education with the following:
I don’t need to explain why I resigned the Paterno Family Professorship in Literature at Pennsylvania State University, do I? I mean, really. It was the Paterno Family Professorship in Literature. That’s all you need to know.
Except that’s not all you need to know. And much of what you think you know is wrong.
“The Sandusky scandal is a criminal matter. It is not an opportunity for those of you who hate college football to opine about the evils of college football.” —Prof. Michael Bérubé
Read it. I guarantee you that it will get your blood pumping like an oil rig. You won’t regret it.
I won’t write a bunch of my drivel here, for Bérubé needs no help from me. Read it!
I can promise you that he hits on just about everything you would hope that he hits on, including that vindictive witch, Vicky Triponey:
And I have watched in amazement as Vicky Triponey, a former vice president for student affairs who became infamous in some circles at Penn State for eliminating the right of students to have a say in what groups are recognized on campus, remade herself as “the Woman Who Stood Up to Paterno” (to cite a CNN.com headline from July 2012). If you never heard of Triponey until she began to take her sweet revenge on Paterno, you don’t know how surreal it is for many of us to see the woman who tried to cut funds from the student radio station—for its criticisms of the university administration, some students charged—being touted as the brave whistle-blower who lost her job for crossing the football coach.
Ya gotta love it!
Thanks to reader zbeard for pointing us toward Bérubé’s article.
