Penn State is taking a beating in the court of public opinion for reports that is officials knew about sexual abuse allegedly committed by a former defense coordinator and friend of the program.
Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President for Business Gary Schultz were indicted on charges of perjury and failing to report a crime to the appropriate authorities.
Jerry Sandusky, former defense coordinator, was arrested Saturday on charges that he preyed on boys he met through The Second Mile, a charity he founded for at-risk youths. The charges against him cover the period from 1994 to 2009. He retired from the football program in 1999, but continued to use the school’s facilities until last week.
The allegations against Sandusky range from sexual advances to rape, with alleged victims as young as 8.
According to a 23-page grand jury report released Monday, the men were told in 2002 by head football coach Joe Paterno that a graduate assistant had told him he had seen Sandusky engaging in sexual misconduct with a boy of about 10 or 11 in the locker room showers.
According to the report, Curley and Schultz allegedly went no further with the information, didn’t seek out the alleged victim and didn’t have further contact with the unnamed graduate assistant.
If any of these allegations are true, then the people involved should be ashamed of themselves for potentially allowing future crimes to occur.
In this society, we don’t always like to speak out about difficult situations. It’s never easy to make the right call, but if sexual abuse is involved, then we are all obligated to notify the authorities.
In the Penn State case, the unnamed graduate assistant testified to the grand jury that he allegedly saw Sandusky raping a boy of 10 or 11. He also testified that Sandusky and the victim allegedly saw him witness the assault. If this is true, then the blame should go further then just Sandusky.
If one witnesses a sex crime, they should do anything possible to prevent it or make sure it’s brought to the attention of police and prosecuted. When failures occur to stop heinous crimes, the people who fail to stop it are also at fault.
The same should hold true for people in authority who are told about a sex crime and fail to act. At the very least, when a person is told about such allegations, he or she is responsible for due diligence and should thoroughly investigate them. They should also go to the police with the information and allow the authorities to fully investigate as well.
In Penn State’s case, according to the grand jury report, none of this happened after the alleged incident was reported.
Sandusky is innocent until proven guilty, but if he is found guilty, and Paterno, Schultz and Curley are as well, they should all face consequences for not taking proper action in the case.
The grand jury report is also full of other alleged failures, which includes a janitor in 2000 who allegedly saw Sandusky giving a boy of about 10 or 11 oral sex in the shower. Again, if the janitor truly saw this, then why didn’t he act or speak up? According to the report, he was visibly shaken by what he saw, but did nothing.
The days and weeks to come will shed more light on this scandal.
This all could have been avoided, however ”“ regardless of guilt or innocence ”“ if the people in positions of authority had done their due diligence in 2002.
Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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