I’m going to get this out of the way right now.
I’m not saying Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is going to jail. I’m definitely not saying he’s on the same level as Jerry Sandusky.
What I am saying is that Paterno needs to step down.
Before you fill the comments section with things like, “It’s not JoePa’s fault” and, “He didn’t even do anything,” I encourage you to read the Sandusky grand jury presentment. It’s shocking. It’s disgusting. It’s hard to get through.
But I don’t think you’ll be a defendant of good ole’ JoePa anymore.
For those of you that have been living under a rock the past few days, former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on 40 separate counts of child sex abuse.
Most of the alleged abuses did not take place recently. The first case of the abuse occurred more than 15 years ago.
But, I’m going to single out one case of abuse. Just one.
On March 1, 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant walked into the locker room at the Lasch Football Building on the University Park Campus. The graduate assistant looked in a shower to see Sandusky performing an unspeakable act on young boy estimated to be 10 years old.
Honestly, it’s hard to write this.
The graduate assistant then went to his office and called his father. Afterward, he phoned coach Joe Paterno, went to his house, and told him what he saw.
The next day (note that Paterno waited a full day), Paterno called Penn State athletic director Tim Curly to his home, where he described what the graduate assistant had told him.
About a week and a half later, Curly and senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz met with the graduate assistant, and the assistant told them what he saw. Curly and Schultz assured the graduate assistant it would be taken care of.
Obviously, with this particular case, there are many people at fault. The athletic director, Schultz, Paterno, and even the graduate assistant should share the blame. Everyone simply told their superior, and, according to the grand jury presentment, let the higher-up assume responsibility.
Bottom line, Paterno knew. Someone told him.
While Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation, isn’t there also a moral obligation? Shouldn’t Paterno have contacted the authorities? Shouldn’t he have phoned more people?
When something this sinister, this evil, this putrid is happening around you, let alone on your campus, you have a responsibility. I don’t care what anyone says. It is your responsibility to make sure it stops. Something like this needs to be handled properly. It shouldn’t just be shrugged off after a month or two.
If Penn State wishes to retain any semblance of the respect they once held, they will give Paterno the boot along with everyone else that knew about this. There is no way there can’t be some kind of consequences handed down. No way at all.
