(Photo: Dave Cenker)
If you turned on the news sometime in the past week, you saw the story that’s been putting Penn State in the headlines for all the wrong reasons… yet again.
There was lengthy coverage on CNN, a New York Times byline, a feature on NPR, and an interview with Philly Magazine that tore through the ceilings of social media.
The chapter of Kappa Delta Rho at Penn State threw us in the national spotlight once again, this time for photographing unconscious women in the nude and documenting those pictures in a private Facebook group.
If that act wasn’t heinous enough, an anonymous brother from KDR went on to publicly justify the actions of his fraternity by calling it “satire” and a “small misdemeanor.” Please, don’t make me laugh.
Every day I find thousands of reasons why I am so proud to call myself a student of the Penn State University, but the scandal with Kappa Delta Rho gave me one big reason to feel ashamed and embarrassed to do so.
As I literally watched the story unfold, I braced myself for the remarks that I was pretty positive I would soon hear.
I was sure my fellow students would defend their honor as Penn Staters because that’s one of the greatest parts about this school. Students are always proud. A lot of people find that obnoxious, but I love it. It’s a part of our culture.
But, for the first time ever, I didn’t hear that. No one was saying, “This isn’t just a problem at Penn State.”
While it is true that sexual assault on college campuses is becoming a national epidemic, the students at Penn State did not use that excuse in an attempt to write off the horrific acts of the brothers of Kappa Delta Rho.
Our university as a whole recognized that maybe there really is a problem here and took responsibility for what happened. Now, we’re taking the initiative to fix it.
I hope that we can take a situation that is truly disgusting and make it better by setting a national precedent saying that the violation of women is not tolerated at Penn State, nor should it be tolerated anywhere else.
Every time a timely notification warning about sexual assault flashes across the screen of my phone, I cringe, but I never said anything about it. Our university as a whole never really said anything about it.
Until now.
Over the course of the last few days there have been countless rallies, opinion editorials, columns, and statements made from students and public figures in an attempt to fix the problem of sexual assault on our campus once and for all. It is a huge problem nationally and it needs to be eradicated.
While we can’t clear the entire country of this potent epidemic, we can start with Penn State.
I am proud of all the women who have come forward to share their stories and experiences with sexual assault and rape. I am proud of all the people who stood in the rain and snow and demanded change from the administration. I am proud of all my fellow colleagues at The Daily Collegian who have gone on national news and condemned the administration and the actions of this university, even if their harsh statements of reality may not have made them the most popular.
Saying you’re disappointed in a place that we all truly love so much is not the easiest thing to do, but we recognize a problem and we’re doing something about it… and I’m proud of that.