The Penn State Mess: Not The First Time

“Penn State Assistant Coach Sandusky Forces Anal Intercourse On 10 Year Old Boy”

This is what the headlines should have said last week when the latest Penn State abuse scandal broke.  Why?  Because this is what happened.  If you read the Pennsylvania State Grand Jury report, this is what you will read.  Disgusting isn’t it?  The Grand Jury report details the allegation of 8 young men abused by Sandusky.  Find the report here: www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4181508116.PDF  Be forewarned: It’s not light reading. 

But this is not the first controversy to hit Penn State’s athletic programs.  Ironically I happened to come across a documentary entitled “Training Rules” (www.trainingrules.com), by Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker, a couple of weeks ago about Penn State women’s sports coach Rene Portland who resigned in 2007 after 25 years of successive championship seasons in Penn State’s women’s basketball program.  Ms. Portland was a goddess among collegiate women’s sports and racked up impressive victories for her women’s basketball team over the years.   

The problem?  Well wouldn’t you know it but this controversy involved sex also.  Not quite in the same way, however, as assistant coach Sandusky but remarkable as well.  Rene’s “problem” was that she wouldn’t truck even a whiff of lesbianism among her girls.  She even told prospective recruits and their families that there would be no homosexual activity in her program.  Over her 25+ years as head coach a score of female sportswomen were kicked off her team because they were outed as lesbians.  No hearings.  No judicial review.  No administrative reviews.  Just kicked off.

Like Penn State’s men’s program, the women’s program was sacrosanct since it brought enormous prestige and money to the university.  Even though the dozen women highlighted in the documentary were kicked off the team, lost their scholarships, were kicked out of school and had their careers sidetracked or destroyed, Ms. Rene’s autocratic and discriminatory ways prevailed despite repeated complaints to the university administration.  In fact, Ms. Portland did not resign from the program until one young woman, Jennifer Harris, filed a federal lawsuit against her and the university in 2006 based on gender discrimination and won.

What was the university’s response when they were sued? They rescinded the non-discrimination policy against LGBT men and women that nearly all universities adopted following Congressional passage of Title IX legislation deeming illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation by any college who received federal funds.  It didn’t work though.  Ms. Harris prevailed, received a settlement and Rene Portland was forced to retire in 2007.

I ask you – what’s up with Penn State’s sports programs?  Or is this the situation with all college sports programs.  Sadly, I suspect, that it’s the latter. 

NB:  “Training Rules” is well worth a look.  I ran across it accidentally and wasn’t all that interested at first.  But it is a fascinating account of the abuse and hardships caused by Coach Portland in her 25 years at Penn State.