Penn State officials failed humanity test

By Jeff

Penn State University messed up in so many ways with this controversy regarding former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual abuse of multiple underage boys.

First, the alleged abuse began as far back as 15 years ago, and we're just hearing about it now. These are children we're talking about. If there was any chance this story was true, it needed to be addressed back then.

Second, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz clearly did something wrong. They are being charged with perjury and failed to inform authorities of what they knew regarding the controversy. They could have easily stopped this from the beginning but were apparently too busy with damage control.

Third, if it is true that the graduate assistant saw Sandusky with a 10-year-old in the shower, he should have done more than just go to coach Joe Paterno. I know it's hard to put ourselves in his position, but I'd like to think that if I were in his position, I would either stop the abuse myself by any means necessary, or I would call the police immediately. I would not go running and ask someone else to do so.

Fourth, Joe Paterno may have legally done all he was required to do to not be implicated in this controversy when he told his superiors of what the graduate assistant told him. He didn't see anything himself. I get that defense. But I also think the man had an obligation to not just pass it off and put it out of his mind. A man who worked under him and was allowed access to campus facilities as recently as LAST WEEK, may have been sexually abusing children. Paterno should have inquired the incident further.

The biggest failure of all the people above, especially Sandusky, is that of human decency and morality. You don't just brush off an alleged sex scandal of children because it would give the university a bad name if it made it to the press. Not if you consider yourself a good person. You leave no stone unturned and you do whatever it takes to figure out if the man actually did it or not. If he did, you better make damn sure he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and is never allowed on campus again. You don't just ban him from bringing more children to campus.

Let's look at that part of the story for a moment. If Paterno, the grad assistant, Curley or Schultz went to the police back in 2002 when they first heard about the issue, other children would have been spared alleged abuse from Sandusky. Banning a sexual predator from bringing his prey to a specific place does not protect potential victims. Not in any way, shape or form. It just takes away one place for him to assault children.

Imagine if you're a parent and one of your sons went to one of Sandusky's camps. You know what, I can't imagine that situation. And their anger and distrust should not be limited to Sandusky. They should be pissed at all of the above individuals. Paterno, Curley and Schultz endangered countless children. All it would have taken to protect these children was a simple phone call. All they needed to was dial three digits and report what they knew or suspected.

Instead they took the easy road and completely failed as humans.