General Motors is re-evaluating its sponsorship of Penn State following the child sex abuse scandal that has wrapped the educational institution in a morass of problems. GM spokesman Tom Henderson said that the automaker is reviewing whether to continue sponsoring the Nittany Lions but couldn’t comment on if or when the decision would be made.
Henderson added that GM supports “a number of teams” in the NCAA, although no exact figure was provided, and that sponsorships such as Penn State are made by GM’s regional offices. Specific terms of GM’s Penn State funding were not disclosed.
GM’s re-evaluation of Penn State support comes on the heels of penalties levied by the NCAA, the governing body of college sports, after a report by former FBI Director Louis Freech concluded that top Penn State administrators, including head coach Joe Paterno, hid allegations of child sex abuse against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The organization fined Penn State $60 million, issues the program a four-year bowl ban, drastically reduced its number of available scholarships, and forced the school to vacate all games played from 1998 to 2011.
While General Motors has not yet announced a decision about its sponsorship of the institution, State Farm insurance has already decided that it would no longer air ads during Penn State’s televised home football games. The insurance company will continue to run commercials during away games.
“We will not directly support Penn State football this year,” State Farm spokesman Dave Phillips told the AP. “We just feel it was the best decision.”
In June, 68 year-old Sundusky was found guilty on 45 charges of child-sex abuse. While Sandusky has not been sentenced yet, it’s widely expected that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, hopefully the maximum sentence of 442 years.
Comments
Seriously, GM needs to pull out. Penn State itself yanked Paterno’s statue off it’s base and hid it in a warehouse.
The whole incident reeks and any sponsor who supports the school would only suffer reprecussions. Better safe than sorry. Penn State deserves all it gets.
GM shouldn’t even be hesitating. They should unplug themselves from all Penn State support for the duration of the ban. Brown University has erased all signs of Paterno from the campus. He was an Alumni there. Shocking that GM cannot do the right thing,
that’s old penn state let new penn state prove it’s self your punishing people who have nothing to do with the sandusky scandal pulling ads isn’t going to undo what happened but it will keep the school from moving foward
Ok, now I absolutely must come out of cyber retirement on this site. GM stands to lose more than a half million (PSU alumni) customers if it does this. I am a Penn State alumnus who has been following this situation very closely. It would take much more space than that allotted here to appropriately present the issues, so I am providing a link to many links that will help you, the reader, and GM come to an intelligent understanding. At a minimum it is disturbing that the mainstream press has incorrectly reported on this issue and continues to fail in correcting its mistakes.
The bottom line is that Joe Paterno, his legacy, and the current football program are erroneously being made to take the fall for failures within the school’s administration, 2nd Mile charity (founded by Mr. Sandusky, no doubt to provide a source of victims), child welfare organizations, and possibly the PA governor himself. The Penn State role in this is likely minor, yet it’s been played up in the press because Penn State was a role model for decades in terms of balancing academic and athletic performance, much to the envy of those slinging the mud.
You mention the Freeh report. Did you know that, if you were to closely examine the “evidence” in the report (something the mainstream press has not been doing) you might conclude the exact opposite of what Freeh claims in his summary and press conference? The real crime, outside of the child abuse itself committed by Sandusky, is this: Why would Freeh do something like this? So I am encouraging all of you to have a look at the following, and get all of your friends to consider the real truth. If GM wants to get on the wrong side of this issue, so be it. I’ll buy a Mazda.
Information that will shock you …
http://bwi.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=36&mid=156633159&sid=890&tid=156633159&style=1
@VeranoHatchForUs:
I know your blood runs blue and white. I know you, as an alum want to save dignity….
Big deal, all this pales in comparison to ANY child abuse and even one head turn the other way.
There’s enough evidence to Penn State culpabity, and yes, Penn State is tainted.
GM should stay awaaaaaay, and you go buy your Mazda, Chief.
Please state the evidence, not simply the title of a report. State what you think happened. I’ll bet you get it wrong.