Since former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with sex crimes related to boys on Saturday, there has been nationwide uproar, with calls for everyone involved in the scandal at PSU to lose their jobs.
Athletic director Tim Curley, senior vice president Gary Schultz, head coach Joe Paterno and receivers coach Mike McQueary have all been under fire after allegedly knowing about Sandusky sexually assaulting young boys and keeping it in house.
This allegedly happened for over nine years, mind you, on Penn State’s campus. McQueary allegedly saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy. He told Paterno, who told administration, who did nothing.
If true, it’s inconceivable, unacceptable and disgusting.
Said Bob Schneider, a professor of sports management at the State University of New York, Brockport, via The Christian Science Monitor:
“I really like to discuss issues that are debatable – issues where you can pick a side and defend it, where you can make an argument that a reasonable person might not agree with, but that they can understand. But I’m having a really hard time finding the other side on this one.”
That appears to be the sentiment across the nation, that, no matter the circumstances at the time, there is no excuse for allowing a predator to roam the campus for nearly 10 years and do nothing about it.
To many across the country, it appeared those involved in the scandal were more concerned with the university’s reputation or their jobs than doing the right thing and putting an end to the madness.
When it comes to allowing sexual abuse against children for years, that’s nothing short of murder in some people’s eyes. It’s one of the most monstrous things college football has ever known. And to think, Penn State was regarded as an upstanding university before the scandal.
Will Penn State ever be forgiven?
Maybe.
But I have a hard time ever forgiving an institution that allows sexual abuse to go on because it’s worried about its reputation.
This is the kind of scandal that could stick with Penn State forever, etched into its annals and hung as high as a championship banner, always reminding it what happened in its darkest days.
