Most of the country has moved on from talking about the Penn State scandal, accepting that university administrators and former head coach Joe Paterno made grievous errors in judgment upon becoming aware of Jerry Sandusky's crimes. According to a letter that was sent today by the university to a massive listserv of alums, though, not everyone in the Penn State community is done arguing about this.
The letter, which was forwarded to us by an alum who received it, begins with some Thought Catalog-y hemming and hawing about free speech and all points of view being valuable, but it eventually arrives at its purpose: a plea to Penn State truthers to stop acting like crazy people. To wit:
Today, civility is an issue that arises in many areas of campus debate. Some may argue that the lack of civility is a national issue, promoted by a growing community involved in posting anonymous comments on blogs or by acrimonious national politics. We cannot afford to follow their lead, not if we are to serve our students as role models, not if we expect to continue to attract the outstanding volunteers who serve our University in so many ways, and not if we wish to have Penn Staters take our University to new levels of excellence.
Respect is a core value at Penn State University. We ask you to consciously choose civility and to support those whose words and actions serve to promote respectful disagreement and thereby strengthen our community.
The Freeh report was released over two years ago, and yet Penn State still has to send letters like this to its alums. Please chill out already, truthers.