September 15, 2012
Ms Karen Peetz
Vice Chairman;
Chief Executive Officer, Financial Markets &
Treasury Services
The Bank of New York Mellon
One Wall Street
New York, NY 10286
Re: Passion
Dear Ms. Peetz:
This is a letter about
passion. My friends and family and I have often joked about how
Penn State alumni are fanatical about Penn State. Our passion for
our University is unlike any other school. I honestly believe that.
My passion is still
strong. But it is expressed often through tears. I cry over the
loss of my fanaticism.
My emotions have
changed to devastation, sadness, and even anger over the too many
losses. I once held my head high. Now it is with conscious thought
that I force myself to hold my head up high while I wait in dread
for the negative comments to fly at me from all kinds of unexpected
sources.
I cry over the
tremendous misrepresentation in the media about Penn State. I cry
over the cruel things people say about my school. I cry over the
loss of a wonderful reputation. I cry over the injustice of the
placement of blame on everything Penn State instead of on Sandusky,
the Second Mile, the Attorney General, the District Attorney, the
Governor, law enforcement, social services, and others where it
rightfully belongs. I cry over the loss of a great man, Joe
Paterno. I cry over the hurtful things people say about Joe
Paterno. I cry over the mishandling of the crisis by the Board of
Trustees. I cry over the continued lack of understanding and lack
of recognition by the Board of Trustees of what I and my fellow
alumni have lost, of how we feel, of how you have destroyed what we
have valued so highly for so many years, and especially how you have
almost made us ashamed and afraid to say we are from Penn
State.
Do you have any idea
what you have done to us, your valued alumni? You don’t.
That is evident in your strategy of acceptance—of the media’s
demands, of blame, of the Freeh report, of the sanctions. It is
evident in how you callously fired an icon. If I wanted to write a
case study that demonstrated how not to handle a crisis, this would
be it.
I watched the BOT
meeting yesterday. It was exciting to me that questions would be
heard from the audience. But once again I cried. Why? Because you
refuse to examine anything other than the
governance recommendations of the Freeh report. You diminished us
once again by not making sure the conclusions were sound and based
on sound facts and information. You diminish us by not asking
questions and looking around you. You diminished us by not fighting
for us and with us -- not fighting for what we were proud of, what we
valued, what we helped create.
I am hurting. I am
heartbroken. Because you do not recognize our truths and you do not
fight for us and for the glory of Penn State. For whatever
reason, you failed us and continue to fail us. You damage us by
letting the media and the public believe Penn State and the former
leaders at Penn State were evil. You belittle what Joe Paterno did
for the University through your actions and your silence. You did
this by showing no faith in him even in the face of the great things
he did for Penn State. You chose to forget. You did this even in
the face of knowing he was retiring. But you couldn’t wait.
You did this even in the face of knowing what his strong value
system was and his focus on students. But you somehow thought he
would neglect to protect children. You did this by firing him and
then remaining silent. You did not defend him or the University or
us, the alumni. You did this by taking down the statue. Once
again demonstrating to the world you believe the worst. Maybe you
think what you believe makes Penn State better? It hasn’t
made the public think any better of us. It is certainly not
what I believe.
I believe in standing
up for what is right and fighting injustice. I do not believe in
rolling over and playing dead as a strategy for righting wrongs. I
do not believe in burying my head in the sand and hoping the issues
will go away. That is why I do not fade into the background and
move on.
You have damaged me;
you have damaged the alumni, you have damaged the reputation of a
great University; you have damaged our self-esteem; you have damaged
our standing in the eyes of others; you have damaged our pride; you
have damaged our personal reputations; you have damaged our
fanaticism.
How could you?
Sincerely,
Peggy Bauer Glaser, Ph.D.
Class of 1970
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Last updated Sept 20, 2012, jlb
URL : http://www.joevpa.com/bot15sep12b.html