I'm a Penn State alum who took pride in the Success with Honor philosophy the University touted and now am ashamed at the lack of honor displayed by my school.

I don't pretend to know what is in the hearts and minds of other people. Frankly, none of us fellow humans can. But I know this: For Penn State to even be mentioned in the same sentence as something as hideous as a child abuse scandal, mistakes had to have been made.

Further mistakes, I believe, were made in how Coach Paterno was fired and the subsequent public relations damage control conducted by the University administrators and the Board of Trustees. There is no honor in any of the actions after the scandal broke, only slimy behavior intent on covering one's self interests.

As the parent of two young boys, I teach my kids everyone makes mistakes. When you make a mistake, however, you need to take responsibility for your actions and try to improve for next time.

Penn State leadership needs to stand up and do better. . It's the only way anything positive can come from this dark time. Honor is not just something to be displayed when trying to achieve success. It is possible to fail and to handle one's self with honor too.