Even now, as the heartbreaking details emerge, pages of grand jury testimony are absorbed and parsed, and a seamy picture of alleged child abuse and the subsequent failures to act comes into clear, indefensible focus, the reflex of the Penn State hierarchy involved is one of tone deafness.
That focus revolves not around the children who most needed the adults to be grown-ups but around protecting the power: the big, untouchable football program with its legendary coach with the big name and the big reputation, the do-gooder charity with the board of directors with the big names on it.
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AP Photo/Gene J. PuskarPenn State president Graham Spanier, left, and athletic director Tim Curley, center, celebrated coach Joe Paterno's 409th win.
Surrounded by so much bigness, virtually everyone in a position of authority at Penn State has, thus far, seemed to come up very small. Jerry Sandusky might not be innocent, but, as of today, he is legally not guilty. He was charged with 40 counts of felony sex abuse against minors. Despite anger and public opinion, Sandusky deserves the due process of the court of law as well as the presumption of innocence until his case is complete.
But Penn State president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley, vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz and coach Joe Paterno should be held to a higher standard. So should The Second Mile, a charity that was founded to help children. Whether or not Sandusky is convicted, each was faced with a critical choice with damning information and chose to protect the program. This is what power has become. More accurately, it is what power has always been, in existence to protect itself.
There is no defense for the number of people in positions of authority who had an opportunity to stop Sandusky and did not.
The university, responding to information provided by a graduate student in 2002 that he witnessed Sandusky performing anal sex in the shower on a boy about 10 years old, did nothing. The university did not call authorities and did not ever sever ties with Sandusky, allowing him to maintain an office on campus for years.
Regarding the caption to the accompanying photograph: It was pointed out in an online article (citation needed) that all this came out conveniently after Paterno became the all-time winningest coach in college football history. An investigation that has been going on for how many years?
ReplyDeleteThis is sad, but can those of us who have witnessed the bacchanalian nature of game days (and nights) at State College, PA, really be surprised by any of this?
ReplyDeleteAnd what happened to the graduate student who actually witnessed the crime? Why did he not call the police? Whatever his excuse was for not calling the police seems like it would be an even more valid reason why Joe Pa wouldn't. Each of them was an adult who kicked it up the university hierarchy. But Paterno was relying on questionable second-hand information (students have been known to lie).
If I had a grad student tell me about a proffie committing a crime on campus, I'd probably walk the grad student to the campus police office and tell him to repeat what he had told me. But if I were to report to the police that a proffie had committed a horrible crime, then I'd be opening myself up to a libel suit and other problems.
Each time a proffie engages in quid pro quo sex for an A+, does the school report it to the police? Or does the school quietly and quickly get the proffie to resign?
Either way, it's an abuse of power and a betrayal of trust. This whole thing is sad, but should Paterno really be the scapegoat?
Bubba, you would not be opening yourself up for libel. Most states (including PA) protect reporters of child abuse from civil or criminal liability. Neither would you need first hand evidence to make a report in the case of child abuse. The standard is reasonable suspicion, and agencies are set up to investigate appropriately. You would not, typically, need to go through the police, there are other channels more appropriate. A list of state child-abuse hotlines can be found here http://www.childwelfare.gov/responding/reporting.cfm. PAs number is (800) 932-0313.
ReplyDeleteMost states also list mandatory reporters, I've held jobs in the past where I was a mandatory reporter, those jobs knew it, and trained me incessantly. PA statutes list "school administrators" and "teachers" as mandatory reporters, which might be able to be interpreted as including the individuals in the article, but probably wasn't intended. The list seems to intend to indicate people involved in caring for and treating children (minors).
Not being a mandatory reporter doesn't mean you cannot report, or that you lose any protections if you do report. It only means that the penalties for not reporting are meted out in the afterlife instead of through our legal system.
I hope there is a law applicable, and that they are processed to the fullest extent. I'm doubtful it will happen. A society that values sports success over the welfare of children is a sad society indeed.
In my state if you are a supervisor of anyone -- and that includes coaches and graduate advisors -- you are a mandatory reporter.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth...I took our state's mandatory reporter class online after I found out that one of my students had a boyfriend who was routinely beating the shit out of her. It helped a lot in terms of allowing me to understand what my responsibilities were and in terms of laying out the libel issue (basically I can't be sued for libel. Period.). It took about 20 minutes. I'd suggest it for anybody.
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