University of Illinois Press

Ronald A. Smith, author of the recent book Pay for Play: A History of Big-Time College Athletic Reform, and professor emeritus of sports history at Penn State University, contributed a piece to The Washington Post’s Political Bookworm blog on college presidents and the current Penn State football scandal.

“It is nearly universal that college presidents are cheerleaders for winning athletic teams. Although they sometimes call for the reform of other institutions, they almost never move to reform their own. How much departed Penn State President Graham Spanier covered up will likely be revealed in the criminal and civil suits that will inundate Happy Valley in the months and years ahead. Spanier was a cheerleader, not a reformer, though he liked his name to be among those who called for reform.”