Ordinarily, being a Penn State trustee is an honor. Most of the decisions to be made are self-evident and require nothing more than a good look at the budget. Today, it's different. Asking football coach Joe Paterno to step down is very likely the worst decision that this set of Penn State trustees will be forced to make. Why? Because Paterno is not only an 84-year-old legendary coach, he and his wife are major benefactors of the University. In 1997 they made a $3.5 million commitment to Penn State, and their name is on the library at University Park. Joe Paterno has been a major fundraiser for the University for most of his career, and he has always put the academic success of his players first. In football and in life, he deserves to be respected. What many people don't realize about major institutions of higher education is that they are very much like the military. There is a hierarchy that sets the pattern for administrators: assistant directors take information to dir...