This morning, the NCAA sanctions regarding Penn State
University were announced in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Those penalties were severe: $60 million in fines, no post-season
appearances for four years, reduced scholarships for four years, and all of the
wins since 1998 vacated. There are
plenty of critics, who suggest that the NCAA has overstepped.
In my mind, this represents a signal ruling for our
culture. It represents a swing of the
ethical pendulum … in a positive direction.
We have all heard of the “good old boy” networks. Perhaps we have seen them portrayed on
television or on the big screen. Maybe
we’ve experienced them firsthand … positively or negatively. It was business-as-usual, and (in the worst
cases) it became de rigueur. Things were swept under the proverbial rug,
winks were traded, and the prevailing expectation was that nothing was amiss as
long as it was not blatant.
More recently – and I’m thinking of the Clinton-Lewinsky
scandal – media scrutiny has led unethical leaders to embarrassing
confessions. The person’s character was
called into question … doubts surfaced as to whether it may have affected other
areas of their lives … but, in the end, the major effect was to provide fodder
for comedians.
The NCAA sanctions announced today tell a different
story. They tell us that a flawed
character and a good-old-boy mentality cannot be overlooked. We should not praise a person for their
accomplishments in one area of their lives when we discover other areas which
hide filth and corruption. Bad people
are not worthy of praise … regardless of what they have “accomplished” in other
areas. Character counts.
Again, there will be many critics of the decision. I see a glimmer of hope, as the sanctions
tell us that the ethical pendulum has returned to a serious consideration of
the value of the person behind the deeds.
This may be one of the few positives to spill out of a tragic scandal …
but it is clearly a positive direction for our culture.
