The 267-paged report from former FBI Director Louis Freeh confirmed what many who have followed the Jerry Sandusky case always suspected, that Penn State covered up the now convicted pedophile and former Penn State defensive coordinator for 14 years (1998-2011). No one told the Board of Trustees, and no one said a word to students that a possible threat to their community was on campus. Nothing. It just makes you sick to your stomach.
The scandal broke last fall amid accusations of Sandusky sexually abusing a child in 2001, and it was only speculated that top university officials knew about his monstrous behavior before then. Today's report stated that the late legendary head coach Joe Paterno, former President Graham Spanier, former Vice President Gary Schultz and former Athletic Director Tim Curley all knew of the allegations of child molestation going back to at least 1998 and "repeatedly concealed critical facts" about the case from authorities and the public at large, for fear of the "consequences of bad publicity." This finding was based on the analysis of 430 interviews and sorting through millions of emails relating to the case. And who, besides naive and biased Penn State students and alumni can question that now?
When former graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Paterno about what he witnessed between Sandusky and a preteen in a locker room shower that occurred on Febuary 9, 2001, JoePa took his time notifying his superior because he didn't want to bother anyone on a weekend. And an email showed once Curley and Paterno talked about the allegation, it was decided among the top brass that Sandusky should be treated "humanely." In other words, they willfully covered up what would have been a devastating scandal that would've meant the loss of the prestige of the football program.
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Charlie, that statue (of Paterno) has to come down and NOW. They should also shut down the entire program for one year and then do a study to see if it should ever be reinstated.
What was done and covered up is beyond horror. Think of the many lives altered forever, and the worry was about treating Sandusky fairly?
The whole place needs to be torn apart and rebuilt from the bottom up, this time preferably putting people in administration with a spine AND a conscience.
2 - Charlie
Vic, I'm glad you reminded me about the statue. I completely forgot about that and have since edited the article to add that to the "to do" list, if you will.
I'd love to see the Penn State football team take a whole year off too, but I didn't think that was realistic. So I came up with the bowl eligibility idea.
We'll see what happens in the coming weeks and months.
3 - Baronius
Why shut down the program? Who does that punish? What does it prevent? I can't imagine another program is going to rethink a lax position on child molestation because Penn State got a one-year suspension. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm no fan of college football, and I'm not saying this to defend Penn State. I think college athletics have become an industry, and it's ruined them. But for the life of me, I don't see what a suspension of the program would accomplish.
4 - Dr Dreadful
Have to agree. The number one assumption of the vast majority of people or organizations who do something dishonest, illegal or unethical is that they won't get caught. Punishments are not deterrents and shouldn't be regarded as such.
5 - Baronius
I've got nothing against punishment for those who did wrong. It sounds like most of the people involved are indicted or in jail. But punishing their coworkers, students, or recruits isn't justice.