Legally right, morally wrong and JoePa football
by Andrew McDermott
November 17, 2011
A once prestigious university, whose motto is "Success with Honor," now finds its reputation tarnished forever by the acts of one man and the serious lapses of judgment of others.
The Penn State football program and the university's reputations have been permanently marred from the recent child abuse charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, as well as the perjury charges against former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz. Because of the child abuse charges, University President Graham Spanier was forced to resign from his position and legendary coach Joe Paterno was fired by the Board of Trustees.
Questions and rumors about the scandal at Penn State abound, but I have only one question: How could this situation continue for so long?
Jerry Sandusky was Penn State's defensive coordinator for 30-plus years until he retired in 1999. In 1977, Sandusky founded the Second Mile Charity, a foster home dedicated to helping troubled boys and boys with an absent parent. The first alleged incident with an underage boy occurred in 1994, with more incidents allegedly happening every following year until early 2009. On two occasions, witnesses, a janitor and Coach Mike McQueary, observed Sandusky naked in Penn State locker room showers with underage boys.
McQueary, 28 years old and a graduate assistant at the time he saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy, reported this incident to Head Coach Joe Paterno, who then reported it to Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz. Apparently Curley and Schultz did not report this incident to anybody. All they apparently did was take Sandusky's keys to the facility. Seems fair that an alleged child molester gets his keys taken away as a slap on the wrist, right? WRONG.
The actions, or should I say inactions, of these men have caused a entire respected university community to suffer. Even though McQueary and Paterno did what they LEGALLY were supposed to do, however, they apparently did not do what they MORALLY should have done.
Ask yourself this question: If you saw an old man molesting a young boy or girl, would you intervene? How could McQueary see this happening and just walk away? McQueary’s not intervening was a major failure on his part and will most likely cost him his coaching position since he is now “on leave” and possibly in protective custody. See you later, Mike, after you've been fired.
How could Joe Paterno not have called police directly after he realized no legal action had been taken against Sandusky? This is one test you failed, JoePa.
As much as I have admired Joe Paterno almost my whole life, this scandal has really caused me to lose respect for him. Sure, he is the all-time leader in college football and one of the best coaches ever. But for a man who lived by the motto “Success with Honor,” how could he focus on his football program alone and refuse to help put a monster like Sandusky behind bars?
People who know me can tell you I came out of the womb wearing a Penn State jersey. I have always been I PSU fan, and this scandal isn't going cause me to reconsider Penn State as my first college choice. I will not love the university any less.
But this Sandusky debacle has forced me to question blind allegiance. It has opened my eyes into what the world is really like beyond watching football heroes, coaches and players alike, at Saturday games. People may believe taking the legal way out of difficult situations is the easiest way to deal with the dilemmas they face. Justice is blind. Sandusky will be found guilty or not guilty if he ever makes it to trial. Life will go on.
Making tough, ethical decisions, moral choices, however, have forced me to acknowledge a question I never thought I would ask about football at Penn State: Whatever happened to doing the right thing?
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Link to read the Grand Jury report transcript that led to Jerry Sandusky’s arrest and charges: http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4181508116.PDF
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