Last week, thousands of passionate fans piled into a stadium to end their college football regular season with quite the statement. The stakes were almost as high as the emotions among the crowd as bowl games, bragging rights and relevance were all on the line. In the end, State College, as it’s called by so many, prevailed, and the school’s fans celebrated a decisive victory over the holiday weekend.

Penn State University, our peer institution, claimed a spot in the Big Ten title game and potentially the College Football Playoff.

Their turn around has been praised as poised, impressive and Cinderella-esque. Five years removed from the disturbing revelations that defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted young boys over a 15-year period, prospects of the reclamation of Penn State as the crown jewel of the Big Ten might sound like music to the ears of any college football enthusiast. A program seemingly decimated by the NCAA has returned from its ashes, but, at the same time, the underlying problem still exists.

Penn State is tone-deaf to the topic of sexual assault, alongside many public institutions across the nation. 

Joe Paterno, the legendary coach of the institution, knew about the actions that occurred and harbored Sandusky for years. Still though, on Sept. 17, just five years removed from the initial shock of the allegations and death of Paterno, Penn State honored Paterno before their home contest against Temple with a ceremony and tribute video. Alongside the video, the school paid tribute to members of the 1966 football team — the same year that Jerry Sandusky joined the staff as a graduate assistant.

Today, five year later, we celebrate the rise of Penn State, but seemingly forget the reasons for which it was eradicated. Columnists and journalists alike are spending their days writing about the adversity that the football program has faced, which is insulting to the situation by which the adversity was built upon.

While the players and coaches on the staff are undoubtedly not to blame for the NCAA sanctions brought down upon them, cries of their victory only feed into a narrative that rewards the athletes and university for escaping a situation that the university produced. This isn’t focused on the survivors. Rather, the focus has turned toward the males flinging their bodies at each other for the spectacle of American athletics. We’re rewarding the football players and losing sight of the heinous acts protected by the institution that is benefitting from the success. 

This has become the case across the country, with the reaction to sexual assault being flashy words and reactionary promises to provide support for those affected. Everyone agrees that the actions that Sandusky did are despicable, but most of the action stops there. Fans, administrators and journalists have moved on to other subjects just as soon as they condemned the perpetrator. 

When sexual assault occurs on college campuses, including NC State, the response feels all too similar. Right here in Raleigh, a Wolf Alert is sent out as compliant to the 1988 Clery Act, after which the university handles it discreetly and life moves along for those not involved. Per a Technician article from 2015, the survivor has the option to pursue charges through the court system and Student Conduct, and the process ensues from there. Not only should this process not be invalidated and deemed ineffective, but the culture surrounding sexual assault must also change for positive results to ensue.

Signing a pledge from the It’s On Us campaign sounds good on paper, as does denouncing individuals like Jerry Sandusky, but both do little to change the actions of vile perpetuators. Until the value of survivors is increased by society and serious conversations are had, the unsubstantial words feel meaningless.

Joe Paterno, who actively attempted to safeguard a child molester, has a legacy that was tarnished in the immediate revelation, but has now been given praise by the university for the product that he was able to produce on the football field for half a century. While several positive reforms have been instituted by Penn State since 2011, the underlying fact is that the continued lionization of Joe Paterno and the way that the program has responded to such adversity voids all credibility for the reasoning behind reforms.

People talk about the terrible nature of sexual assault, but don’t follow through with actions that prove their stance against it. Stanford, in response to the infamous Brock Turner case, banned hard liquor from its campus, despite the sobering fact that alcohol doesn’t rape anyone. Upon research, this was the only campus reform that I found to have occurred following the incident. That job fell to the lawmakers and the university simply chose to keep students from drinking.

We’re tone-deaf. America is tone-deaf. Many universities remain tone-deaf. 

We cannot lose sight of the true epidemic that is sexual assault and retreat into spouting out words that do little to create any positive change. Change begins with funding shelters, informing individuals of resources and the continued publishing of those resources to students across the nation. Change doesn’t begin with fostering an environment that praises the actions of a football team to overcome the adversity left by the name on the front of their jersey. This only allows for the problem to manifest itself in greater extent and breeds an environment with little progress.

Until the words change, the actions never will.