Dear President Barron:

Taking on the position of a President of a prestigious university is a difficult task, a task not many can handle. Everyone has an opinion on the way things should be handled and the measures taken in certain situations-- but that is the job description. Before you came to be the President at Penn State, you were formerly the President at The Florida State University--yet another high functioning and thriving university.

You were president there when one of most highly covered scandals of the football team ever happened: when the quarterback of your football team raped a girl and got away with it. Being only 16 when this happened, a resident of the state of Florida, and right around the age of considering which college to attend, I was awe-struck. A football player at one of the top football schools in the nation at that time was getting away with sexual assault, possibly drugging, and raping a freshmen girl. Nothing was being done by the police force of the city of Tallahassee and nothing was being done by the prestigious staff of the Florida State University.

According to the New York Times article on the Jameis Winston Case, "The Florida State's athletic department knew about the rape accusation early on in January and the assistant athletic director called the police to inquire about the case. Even so, the university did nothing about it." Not only did you not inquire into the rape, you and the university didn't investigate the videotaping of the rape-- a direct violation of federal law.

The Florida State University under your guidance and direction President Barron, did absolutely nothing about this situation for an entire season and let this man play the sport he loved with no apparent repercussions. Imagine what it must have felt like for this girl to go to school for an entire semester with her rapist. It might be hard for you to empathize because you are not marginalized. Her rapist was glorified and put on a pedestal for the world to admire while no university official or police officer believed her narrative.

But I didn't go to The Florida State University, this should not bother me as much as it did. Fast forward to senior year when I chose to come to The Pennsylvania State University. Years before I even knew I wanted to come to Penn State, the terrible Jerry Sandusky case broke and sexual assault was at the forefront of every publication and college campus. Our president during the time, Graham Spanier, was put in the spotlight for covering up sexual abuse against children. Spanier resigned after the scandal broke and he was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, failure to report suspected child abuse and other charges(most of which got dropped in court in the following years and grueling court cases).

Given we can suspect that even if Spanier had not resigned, he would have been fired on the charges of sexual misconduct. The Jerry Sandusky case was made to look much like a coverup, where things were not told to the officials but its quite the opposite. Everything reported was told to the right people, and Spanier was only told once "that horsing around happened in the shower." The Jerry Sandusky case was not the coverup case that the Jameis Winston case was-- police officials and University Presidents were not trying to get a National Championship and Heisman trophy, but you Mr. Barron were. I don't want to downplay the Jerry Sandusky case either-- because it was terrible, my point is the way it was handled by the President Of the University.

My anger now lies here. You may wonder why I decided to be angry about this so many years later, or why now I chose to explain my views now. Recently at Penn State, a student died at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity on campus. He was heavily drinking and fell down a flight of stairs and sadly did not make it. Upon this, very harsh regulations have been put on Greek Life at Penn State. President Barron has made it his mission to let Penn State know this is not acceptable.

Question for you, Mr. Barron-- why do you get to pick and choose when to be a good president to a university?

I think I get it, Penn State Greek Life doesn't pay a quarter of your salary like FSU's football team did-- The Fraternities and Sororities are not entities you need to make happy to be famous or on the radar. The death at Beta Theta Pi was a horrible tragedy-- a tragedy that sadly could have happened anywhere at any time. At Penn State's downtown bar scene there are flights of stairs in which anyone, intoxicated or not, could fall down and injure themselves. The brothers who put that boy to sleep that night had no ill intentions of hurting him, they did not do it with the intention he would not wake up.

When Jameis Winston raped that girl, he. had. ill. intentions. When you decided to let information slide, you had intentions as well. Your own self-serving ones.

Yet you let it go, you didn't say a word, you let him play and win a national championship. You have decided to ban social's here at Penn State for Greek Life for the rest of the semester, and although I don't understand how the tragedy at one fraternity has now affected all the others that were not part of the situation. The rest of FSU football did not suffer for the mistake of the one either. Your ends do not justify the means. Like I started, you have to make hard choices I'm sure we don't all understand.

But President Barron, once the rape and ruining of this girls life happened at FSU, where were your regulations? Where were your sanctions? Where were your banning of alcohol consumed by football players? Where was your statement that this was not acceptable, at this level, or any level? Where was all of this? It was nonexistent because Jameis Winston was not in a fraternity.

My plea to you, Mr. Barron, is to take a step back. Being the President of a university is a large task and to say it lightly, you're not only disappointing me, but you're disappointing members of your university far and wide. If you do have a daughter how do you explain one situation is more important tan another.

I hope one day to have a president, at my university or in the White House, that cares as much about me and my rights as a woman, then he does about the money he makes from letting unethical things slide.

Sincerely,

A Penn State Student