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.
charles clymer 
Charles — well said. I continue to be appalled by the Penn State situation and some reactions to the sanctions.
I appreciate that. I’m stunned by the reaction of these people. You’d think there would be universal consensus against something like child molestation.
You’re ignorant enough to think that punishing innocent people is the right thing to do? Punish the students and the taxpayers. That’s fucking great logic dipshit.
Stay classy, buddy.
Stay illogical and shallow-minded, my friend.
I have to agree with Wayne with what he is saying about punishing innocent people that had nothing to do with Jerry Sandusky!! I do not believe that the students should be punished for something that they did not do at Penn State!! I am sorry this but you are ignorant with your ranting!! I do not believe that taxpayers should have to pay more money!! YOU REALLY DO NOT HAVE ANY LOGIC!!
couldn’t agree wtih you more! This guy is stupid!
case in point…
Boy Wayne you really are an idiot
Because logically, we can deduce that since Hitler and the SS kill 6 million Jews, we can remove scholarships from unrelated german people. Yeah, I’m the idiot.
Not angry with the verdict or decisions. Angry that the people that were notified still have their positions while students that had nothing to do with this incident, reek the havoc and discipline. Why did they not lose their jobs? Why are they not tried for anything? Penn State used to be a great college. I now consider them, false. Just a disgrace. . .
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Instead of thinking about a stupid game–which in the end, that’s all football is–people need to start looking at the bigger picture here and that is the innocent young boys whose lives are screwed up forever. And what’s even sicker is that these boys were troubled individuals who had no support to begin with, hence why they were in Sandusky’s “camp”. It makes me sick that some people had the knowledge to do
something about it and did nothing! These are young, innocent children we are dealing with here. And in the case of the Penn State football players–they are able to transfer with scholarships to other schools and be starters on the other teams. They do not necessarily have to throw their football careers away.
I came across this from a post by a fellow author friend of mine. I agree that his is a terrible tragedy, and those children that were raped deserve justice. They might never be the same again, and have to deal with this for the rest of their lives. As far as I’m concerned they should resort to old school methods and stone the guy who did this to them.
However, the students who received scholarships to play football there are NOT to blame for this. Yes, Joe knew about it and the cover up went all the way to the top….so the correct action is to punish everyone? Not so. I don’t think it was right to take away wins since 1998. The guy who raped the children was sick, and Joe was the coach of the football team, but his turning his head has absolutely nothing to do with the students who won the games, nor does it have anything to do with the plays he called. As bad as this is about Paterno’s charcter, what he does off the field should have no bearing on the wins he has UNLESS he was cheating or something like that. Taking away his wins in my opinion was just too far of a step. I understand that someone needed to be made an example of, but let’s be honest. The reason it came down this hard was because it was JOE PATERNO, the all-time winningest coach, and up until this point there was really nothing that tarnished his character. This society has a knack for wanting to bring “big people” down because, well, they’re “big people”. Those in the spotlight are always targeted first. Sad, but let’s be honest here, it’s true (don’t believe? The latest scandal is the Twilight Couple breaking up because she cheated. How many times does that happen in the world? Hell, how many times does that happen an HOUR? But since they’re in the spotlight, it’s so much worse, so unbelievable, so new, so scandalous. And there are so many people that say they “can’t believe it”. Really?? Where are you from??).
Football scholarships were taken away because of this? Really? Again, where’s the relevance here? Why can’t the FOOTBALL PLAYERS get into a bowl because of what the COACH did? Yes, he’s the top dog for the team, so to speak, but don’t punish the players and students for this. The cover up went to the top…okay….deal with those involved. Case and point – to borrow project’s line – when President Bill Clinton was exposed for his relations with Monica (I know she was of age and it was consensual, not arguing that at all), should we hold the entirety of the United States responsible and punish EVERYONE for what he did? No? But it happened at the top, AND they tried to cover it up…shouldn’t we all be held liable? Do you see the relevance? Again, I KNOW that a child was raped, which is FAR FAR worse than what President Clinton did, but the fact of the matter is that the punishments of a person representing a certain team, or organization, shouldn’t be passed out to everyone. If your oldest child, who you ask to set the example for their younger siblings, goes and steals, is their punishment going to be spread throughout the children? It shouldn’t be. By all means, fire those involved and those that covered it up. Hell, I say burn the rapist at the stake or stone and flog him, torture him for all I care, but 20 football scholarships and four YEAR bowl ban? On the football team? People who have NOTHING TO DO with the crime committed NOR the cover up? C’mon man. Fining the entirety of the entire university?? Did the president look for the whole university’s support in the cover up scheme?
So, if I’m going to argue against it, the next question that rises is what would I have done better? For starters, why not fine THOSE INVOLVED instead of going after their organization? (Could it possibly be because…oh, I don’t know…perhaps Penn State University has more MONEY than individual people? hmmm?) Make them pay the families for the rest of their lives. It’s not enough? Nothing will EVER be enough to compensate for what was done to those children. We can all agree on that. Also, make it so that those people involved in the crime cannot associate themselves with ANY university EVER again. Paterno’s dead, I know, but for those still alive. Make it so their resume experience is null and void. The issue here is another classic case of people at the top thinking they’re above the law. Anything they received because of their affiliation to Penn State should be stripped from them.
Those are just my thoughts. Personally, I think the NCAA took this one to the extreme because Joe Paterno was the one involved.
J. K.
State College native and I completely agree, its ridiculous that a sport can override morals and abuse of children. Cry me a river that the coach died as this all came about, it doesn’t take away from the fact that he helped cover up pure evil, making him not the god to be worshiped in this town, and everyone cant seem to get over his “legacy” and he should be held accountable for his actions, no matter how many wins or foundations, or charity’s, or no amount of money makes anything he did OK.
Penn State Pres. Graham Spanier, Senior VP Gary Schultz, and Athletic Director Timothy Curley and YES, Joe Paterno (even though hes no longer with us) they, should be the ones suffering the consequences. They should be dismissed (NO SEVERENCE PAY OR PACKAGE), they are the ones who should be paying the the fine (let them sell everything they have) they should be the ones banned and barred from anything to do w/ PSU from this day forward until the day they no longer are alive. The house cleaning needs to be quick! AND severe! Not to mention any one on the coaching staff and any trustee(s) found to have knowledge of the abuse, if uncovered in the future, they should also be held accountable. But the students, no.
Well here is what I have to say about this. Sandusky is in jail where he belongs. Why hasn’t Tom Corbett and other officials even been questioned about what they knew about it. If you read the sloppy Freeh report, the DA’s office is the one that said there was not enough evidence to prosecute Sandusky at the time. Everyone says that these people didn’t do enough to protect these kids. It sounds to me like Law enforcement in general didn’t do enough to protect these kids. Why didn’t the parents of these kids push things further? There is just a lot of unanswered questions yet. Everyone has their own opinion on things. FYI, I’m not a Penn State or any other fan of any sports. I don’t watch sports! I do read news stories though and the Freeh report is full of flaws. They have already started making corrections to it. For $6.5 million, this report should not be like this. I believe there is a huge cover up, but I believe that this has to do with people’s poilitical carrers more than just the high ranking officials at Penn State. Start with the Attorney General from that time period and the Centre County DA’s office. If they dig into that, I think Ray Gricar will be found buried in State College somewhere. Like mycomment or not, this is my opinion. I don’t feel the NCAA should have made a decision this quickly on Penn State. This is still an on going investigation! Wait for all the facts and then make a decision.
I honestly couldn’t agree more. Very well spoken here! People have lost sight of what really happened here that caused the downfall (for reasons that I can’t imagine) and that is sad. You have to set an example to show everyone that shit like this does not fly. It lets other colleges and universities see that if they themselves are working to get away with crimes similar, this is what they are in for. Hopefully now many victims will get help sooner, because personally, losing scholarships is does not compare to a life forever changed by the horrible actions of another person.
OK what about all he church and the mess up with kids what about all the other school don’t here about them