State College Business and Community Leaders Discuss Moving Forward, Remembering Victims

Evan Myers said people on the outside of State College looking in aren’t seeing past the negativity perpetuated by Louis Freeh’s report, the NCAA sanctions and ongoing controversy regarding Penn State in the media.

Days before the NCAA announced Penn State’s sanctions, State College residents and local business owners concerned about ongoing events scheduled a meeting to decide how to best ‘tell the story’ of State College and Penn State.

On Monday, NCAA President Mark Emmert delivered sweeping sanctions to Penn State’s football program. And on Tuesday, State College residents, including Myers, the Chief Operating Officer at AccuWeather, assembled a meeting to discuss how to best move forward.

State College, Penn State and the Centre Region have come under fire, Myers said, and the discussion was not meant as an image-fixer or to outweigh any pain suffered by victims.

‘It was time for the people of this community to tell our story,’ Myers said. ‘We are not the victims but that doesn’t mean we deny the truth. Horrendous acts occurred – they need to be acknowledged, they need to be corrected.

‘People are trashing Penn State, people are trashing the State College area and we want to show what’s good about this area.’

Myers said Penn State’s rich academic history, research successes and the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, THON, were all touted at Tuesday’s meeting as well as local businesses that work to combat violence, like the Centre County Women’s Resource Center.

Conversation focused on making Penn State a destination for people outside of football season, such as using Beaver Stadium for events beside football games.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson signed a document when the school accepted the NCAA sanctions that conceded guilt on the part of the university – part of that acknowledging that at Penn State, football came first.

Football doesn’t and never will trump academics, Myers said, but leadership needs to make some changes.

‘A few people at the top did horrendous things … it took a lot of courage, tremendous courage for the victims of Sandusky to come forward. We don’t need to exhibit that same courage (just) to tell the truth,’ Myers said.

‘We need people to step forward. We’re not here to work on image, we’re here to work on and say what the truth is and get out a more unified message.

‘The fact is that a lot of people are stunned, they’re grieving, they feel betrayed.’

No plans have been set to meet again, but Myers left Tuesday’s meeting hopeful there will soon be a way to promote the positives of Penn State and tell the story of the Centre Region.

The Chamber Business Industry of Centre County meeting will be held Thursday, a separate event for local business leaders to discuss the ongoing events in the area and address possible solutions.