The Child Molester

Sanctions against Penn State: 4-year bowl ban, loss of 20 scholarships, $60 million fine, and forfeiting all wins since 1998.

And much of the Penn State community is pissed over this.

Can I remind everyone of the graphic details here?

Between 1994 and 2009, Jerry Sandusky molested at least 8 children between ages 7 and 13. This was not just fondling, which is bad enough. He anally raped these kids and forced them to perform oral sex on him.

Nearly half these incidents occurred on Penn State property, and no less than 3 adults witnessed the abuse.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it was reported to university officials but Joe Paterno, Penn State Pres. Graham Spanier, Senior VP Gary Schultz, and Athletic Director Timothy Curley all knew of the abuse, chose to ignore it and do nothing to stop it, worked to cover it up, and lied about it under oath…

And there’s people who are angry because the football program is going to suffer?

Boo. Fucking. Hoo.

You’re lucky the program didn’t get the death penalty from the NCAA.

At what point did these people, in their minds, decide that preserving the legacy of a football program is more important than protecting children from sexual abuse?

You’re upset about a statue being removed? What about a 10 year-old child being raped in the shower and the man that wonderful statue is based on not doing anything to stop the abuse and then, covering it up?

There are folks claiming that this falls outside the purview of the NCAA’s oversight.

But isn’t the NCAA the governing body meant to regulate and oversee the actions of collegiate teams and their personnel? Aren’t there standards set for a reason? And when we break those standards (in this case, quite egregiously), should they not be punished?

Penn State isn’t being punished for the molestation of children. They’re being punished because their top officials failed to address this problem and worked to cover it up…. all to protect the school’s reputation and it’s football program.

Furthermore, at least one trustee knew of the abuse. How do we know other trustees didn’t know and failed to do anything?

Moreover, some say it isn’t fair that Penn State is being punished for the actions of a few.

You’re right when you say Penn State is being punished for “the criminal acts of a few,” but in this case, “the few” are, literally, the most important people at Penn State: the President of the college, one of the VPs, the athletic director, Joe Paterno (who we both know is highly, highly revered by the Penn State community), and most of the coaching staff… all were complicit in this horrible, disgusting chain of events.

So, what do you do when the very culture and top leadership of a college allows something so horrific and inhumane to happen? You clean house. You *DO* set an example. You make it abundantly clear that this kind of atmosphere will not fly in the future under NCAA regulations.

These children, now young men, will never completely get their lives back. When something like this happens to you as a child, and I speak from personal experience on this, no amount of therapy or drugs or hospitalizations will completely heal you. You’ll learn to live with it enough (with help, of course) to enjoy your life, but it’ll always be there in the back of your mind, an ever-present ghost of irreparable scarring and loss.