Penn State, a year after sex-abuse scandal

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - It was cold and damp Saturday, and at 10 a.m. Penn State's campus was mostly deserted. A blue school bus pulled up to Rec Hall and 10 prospective students, most accompanied by their parents, stepped onto the sidewalk.

"This is where the women's volleyball team plays," said the group's guide, a peppy student wearing a navy windbreaker. "They won four consecutive national championships and are awesome. They are one of the reasons I love this school."

The group continued on, walking toward the main mall of academic buildings.

For years, Joe Paterno's name would have been invoked incessantly on routine tours like this. The guides would brag about how many records the Hall of Fame football coach had broken. They would mention Peachy Paterno ice cream, discuss the "Grand Experiment" and tell the story of how Paterno turned down a high-paying job in the NFL to stay in Happy Valley.

On Saturday, the late coach's name was mentioned just once in the first 25 minutes.

"Joe Paterno and his wife donated millions of dollars to help build this," the guide said as she passed the university library.

That was it.

It's been one year since the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal broke, engulfing this secluded college in rural Pennsylvania. It's been one year since Paterno was unceremoniously fired, severely damaging his once virtuous reputation.

Much has happened since then, but if there's one common sentiment on campus, it's this: Nobody wants to talk about it. Everyone is trying to move on.

"Not many people think about it anymore in their day-to-day lives," said senior Luis DeJesus, a graduate of Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. "It only comes back to mind when someone mentions Sandusky, or anything related to the case, honestly. It's not really affecting us personally."

Penn State's student center features large TVs and couches, and it's a common gathering spot during big events. When the presidential election results filtered in on Tuesday, more than 50 students sat in front of the TVs showing CNN. When Sandusky's sentencing was announced Oct. 10, that space was occupied by only 11 students.

Nobody else was watching.

"Even though it's still in the news, everyone seems pretty withdrawn from the scandal," senior Jill Heron said.

That sentiment stretches from the student body to the football team. Penn State faced Nebraska on Saturday, the same team the Nittany Lions played on Nov. 12 last year, three days after Paterno was ousted. A season-high crowd of 107,903 fans filled Beaver Stadium, many wearing blue to raise awareness for child abuse victims. Before kickoff, both teams gathered at the center of the field for a prayer.

But when senior fullback Michael Zordich was asked this week about what he remembers from that game, his answer was simple.

"Uh, we lost," Zordich said.

When senior linebacker Michael Mauti was asked about playing for both Paterno and his eventual successor - the 43-year-old Bill O'Brien - Mauti seemed annoyed.

"First of all, I don't think we have enough time for all those comparisons," Mauti said. "Two totally different coaches, two different philosophies, and you can write a book."

Penn State football is at the heart of the scandal, so a large chapter of that book would be devoted to the obvious changes: the crippling and unprecedented sanctions the NCAA handed down to Penn State.

There have been subtle changes on campus, too.

Joegies, a sandwich shop at the student center, changed its name to "HUB Sub." A course titled "Joe Paterno, Communications and the Media" was not offered this fall. An ice cream flavor at the Penn State Creamery called "Sandusky Blitz" was discontinued. The flavor "Peachy Paterno" is still on the menu, though its proceeds are donated to organizations working against child abuse.

The most visible addition to the community are blue paper signs that appear in shops, apartments, and restaurants. In a large white font, they read, "Proud to Support Penn State Football." There are also signs that read, "Proud to Support Penn State Academics."

"Everything happened, but we're still a great academic school," DeJesus said. "We still work hard, we still go to class every day."

Indeed, but some classes have changed. Jonathan Marks has taught ethics courses at Penn State for six years, but in July he began altering and drafting a 16-page syllabus for his course, titled Philosophy 119: Ethical Leadership. A required reading for the course was former FBI director Louis Freeh's report on Penn State's handling of the Sandusky case. The first week of class included this discussion question: Should Joe Paterno's statue have been removed?

In essence, the scandal became a teaching point.

"Among my friends, nobody really talks about the scandal anymore," said Heron, one of Marks' students. "So when we began discussing about it in class, everyone kind of got excited. I think we all want to learn from it, and move on from it in a constructive way."