WE ARE
By Aaron Swimmer, B.A., ’90
Being a Penn Stater means tradition.
Being a Penn Stater means something larger. The whole of Penn State is more than the many Nittany Lions.
Being a Penn Stater means having a huge sense of school spirit, pride, family, tradition, belonging, that leads to an amazingly unique and close connection with Penn State.
Being a Penn Stater means making friends that are as close as your family. It means having a best friend wherever you are (provided they’re wearing Penn State clothing, which they will be). No matter where, an airport, zoo, or the Panama Canal, there will be a Penn Stater, and they only need to hear two words to strike up a conversation: “We are…”
Being a Penn Stater means striving for success with honor, because without honor there cannot be true success.
Being a Penn Stater means your ethnic heritage.
One individual typically cannot bring disgrace to an entire institution, but the current scandal has taken its toll on what was formerly lauded as THE clean, moral university. Penn Staters have been rocked to their core. The ideal is no more. If one has the unfortunate experience of witnessing something terrible, be it rape, robbery, or worse, one has an obligation to report it. The police should be the first contacted. As we have witnessed, more harm can come about if certain types of events stay under wraps. Predators rack up countless victims because events often go unreported. Lives and families are destroyed forever.
Wrongdoers need to be punished. The innocent must be given the opportunity to clear their names. The victims must not be forgotten. Justice needs to be served as soon as possible.
Penn State, its hundreds of thousands of alumni, 97,000 students, and tens of thousands of faulty, administration and staff now have the duty to better itself; not only to rebuild its reputation, but also its integrity. The everlasting light must and shall be rekindled.
