STATE COLLEGE, Pa. On the steps of Old Main, Peter Buckland strives to shift the focus of conversation. In his hands is a large white piece of poster paper on which are written three words in green marker. 

Aligned one on top of the other on Buckland’s poster, it’s those three words justice, healing, caring that he feels represent the appropriate focal point of conversation during the sex abuse scandal haunting the Penn State community. 

‘I think that people are fixated on some kind of frenzy that shouldn’t be happening,’ said Buckland, a 35-year-old doctoral student in the College of Education. ‘I think that the real issue has to do with these three words: justice, healing and caring. At no point from the beginning of the grand jury indictment, no one did the right thing, the absolutely right thing, which is always to go beyond what your minimum requirement is.’

As a result, Buckland has spent the last three days from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the steps of one of the most famous buildings on the Penn State campus. He doesn’t yell or shout he doesn’t make a scene at all. Clad in jeans, a flannel jacket and a wool hat, Buckland merely hopes to be a figurehead in the transformation of people’s perception of the scandal.

He views the acts committed by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and the subsequent firings of several high-ranking PSU officials and football head coach Joe Paterno as an opportunity to spark change.

To become better people.

‘I don’t really care about that football game. I like football, but this isn’t about a football game,’ Buckland said. ‘And it’s easy for it to be about football and the game. I think that what people need to do is they really need to focus on who they are and who they are together. I think people really need to reflect on who they are and what they think is best in the world.’

As such, Buckland disapproved of the riots that students engaged in on College Avenue following the news of Paterno’s firing late Wednesday night. Though he says he can understand why it happened poor timing by the administration and frustration of students who worship PSU football coupled with a lack of maturity he feels Friday night’s vigil is a much better way to gather the student body together.

The vigil, which is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Friday on the Old Main Lawn, provides a chance for thought and reflection in a controlled setting, Buckland said.

‘I think that the vigil is exactly what should happen,’ he said. ‘And it’s one of those things that I wish it could have happened immediately. The vigil is right because it’s about you and it’s about me and it’s about quiet, calm patient focus on the things that really are important.’

One of the things Buckland stressed as important was compassion toward Penn State wide receivers coach Mike McQueary. McQueary witnessed the alleged sexual assault by Sandusky of a young boy in Penn State’s athletic facility shower and reported the incident to Paterno.

As the week continued, and McQueary remained a part of the staff while Paterno was fired, multiple threats were made against him. The Board of Trustees announced on Thursday that McQueary would not be on the field for Saturday’s game as a result. And on Friday, the interim president Rod Erickson announced that McQueary had been placed on administrative leave.

But Buckland, who went to high school with McQueary at State College Area High School, said people don’t understand the magnitude the witnessing of that shower scene had on a man who dedicated his life to Penn State.

‘He went to high school with Jerry Sandusky’s kid. We went to school with those boys,’ Buckland said. ‘I was not friends with Mike McQueary by any measure. But (Penn State) was more than just his job. It was his total identity in this thing that he’d been involved with for so long and with families that he was so close to.

‘So that moment, going to the showers that shock and appall is about so much more than just what was happening to that boy. That was his entire life, his whole life.’

And that’s where the words on Buckland’s poster tie in. Like many, he said he can’t imagine the pain Sandusky’s victims must feel, especially as they are now adults.

They are the ones that need the most support and help at this time.

‘They’re men now,’ Buckland said. ‘What is that like to walk around with that? They need people to care about them, to love them. I want people to care.’

To best exemplify his feelings, Buckland turns to a classic American film: As Good as it Gets. The 1997 movie, which starts Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt features a scene in which Nicholson’s character explains how much he cares about Carol Connelly, played by Hunt.

And that, Buckland said, as ‘silly’ as it may seem when applied to the scandal at Penn State carries an important message as the State College community attempts to move forward.

‘Nicholson says to Helen Hunt, he says, ‘You make me want to be a better man,” Buckland said. ‘It’s totally outside of this whole thing, but that’s what this should get people to do. It should make them want to be better people.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on November 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13