Appeared in The New Republic on November 12, 2011

When Joe Paterno, the coach of the Penn State University football team for forty-six seasons, was abruptly fired on November 9, 2011 for failing to report to the police an alleged incident of abuse between former defensive coordinator Jerry Sadusky and a young boy in 2002, much of the university’s student body interpreted his departure not as an opportunity to reflect on his legacy, but as a perceived affront to their own dignity: some even went on to participate in a raucous riot on the campus. That sort of reaction was a long time in the making, however: Paterno hadn’t just coached football, he had seeped into the school’s culture and warped at least some of its priorities. Here’s a look at some other incidents from Penn State’s past that should have raised flags about Paterno’s outsized role at the university.