FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas chancellor David Gearhart was hurting for Penn State, the university community, and the victims Monday.
He couldn’t ignore anyone as the massive sanctions levied to the football program were announced by NCAA president Mark Emmert. And Gearhart thought of one word: Tragic.
“It’s obviously tragic for the young people whose lives were affected. The innocent victims,” Gearhart said. “I think we have to continue to think about them and just what an awful situation it is. But also I think about the alumni of the institution, the great professors that are there. And the students.
“It’s just tragic on so many levels.”
The NCAA dropped the hammer on Penn State for the failures of its leaders in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal Monday, decimating a football program now destined to struggle.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The school was fined $60 million, which is equal to the money pulled in by Penn State football in one season. The Nittany Lions also face massive scholarship reductions which will limit them to 65 a year for the next four years. They received a four-year bowl ban and any current Penn State can transfer elsewhere where they’ll be eligible to play immediately.
The severity of the NCAA’s actions sent shockwaves around university campuses and college athletics on Monday. But it hit especially close to home for Gearhart.
Arkansas’ chancellor spent 11 years of his professional career working at Penn State (1985-95) as the senior vice president for development and university relations.
“Unfortunately, I guess the NCAA had to send a message. And they did. That was a pretty stiff message,” Gearhart said. “But I can’t fault them with doing it. I mean, what has happened up there is so egregious and so wrong by the leadership of the university. You have to expect that something like this would happen.”
Gearhart knows Penn State after living in the area for 15 years. He raised two children there. One has two Penn State degrees, while Gearhart was named an honorary alumnus in 1996.
He still has deep ties to the area, too, saying he felt for “dear friends” who either work at the school or are business leaders in the community. Gearhart noted the NCAA’s assertions Penn State’s athletic culture went horribly awry, saying it was a shame how “the actions of very few create harm for so many.”
“They talk about culture and there’s no question that there was a culture of wanting to win,” Gearhart said, looking back on his time at the school. “But the times I was there I always felt the balance was reasonably good in that they were a top flight academic institution. Their graduation rate was one of the highest in the country of a public university. I always felt there was a real commitment to academics. But somehow, over the past number of years, it got out of whack.”
Now at Arkansas, Gearhart said it’s important the tragedy at Penn State serve as a reminder for leaders at other schools. Football is but one part of a university and the drive to protect programs at all costs can’t go on.
Gearhart and his staff have discussed the ramifications of the Penn State case numerous times since last November’s revelations and it was a topic of discussion again Monday.
The most important thing, Gearhart said, is to carry a clear message Arkansas is not a “compartmentalized university.” He also has stressed no one should be afraid to speak out if something is wrong anywhere at the school.
“We’ve talked a lot about it here with our staff,” Gearhart said. “I just have to believe that somebody, we would’ve said, wait a minute. … It’s just so hard to understand how a university could allow it to go on.”
Gearhart knows the past year and Monday’s announcement regarding its football program been devastating. But he’s also certain Penn State will recover from the tragedy.
“It’s just a wonderful place to be and live,” Gearhart said. “They’ll come back. It will take them a long time, but it’s a resilient university. They’ll find a way to climb back.”