Paterno: Here to stay?

Sandusky and Paterno

Joe Paterno, head football coach at Penn State, is being asked by some to resign and others to stay in light of recent allegations against his former Assistant Coach, Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky has been alleged to have sexually abused at least 8 boys during his time with Penn State. There are eyewitness accounts from a custodian, a graduate student, and accounts from boys who allege that Sandusky sexually abused them.

One eyewitness brought it to Paterno’s attention after he says he saw Sandusky shower a ten year old boy and sodomize him in the locker room. It was decided that Sandusky could no longer bring boys to the locker room, but he still had access to Penn State. Law enforcement was never involved and the incidents of possible child rape were never reported to anyone outside the administration. 

McQueary, a former graduate assistant who reported the incident in the shower, reported the incident to Paterno. He is currently the assistant football coach with Paterno.  The question is whether the administration did enough to handle the situation and who actually knew about it. The grand jury implies that President Spanier knew about the allegations and had been reported to him by the Athletics Director, Curley. 

Spanier never contacted the campus police or local law enforcement but testified that he felt he handled the situation appropriately and that Curley has his unconditional support through this. Spanier has now been criticized for his actions and his lack of handling the situation.  It is said this incident was victim six, and there should have been more done.  The mother of one of the sons is extremely upset and claims that Spanier should be putting his unconditional support behind the victims, not Curley. The boys have been through a lot, and deserve more than what they received from the administration. 

The indictment has shown that Sandusky has raped boys over the last ten years and indicates a known pattern and severe lack of judgment by the administration and university officials. The president especially should have taken more severe and legal action against Sandusky.

Many argue that Paterno did what he was supposed to do by reporting it to a higher official. Yes, he could have done more, but when you tell your supervisors or administration something this sever, you would assume that it is being handled appropriately and professionally. Alerting his supervisors immediately after the claims were brought to him has saved Paterno from criminal prosecution for now. Paterno was very clear and concise when recounting what exactly he knew, when he knew it, and how he knew it. 

Critics are calling for Paterno to be fired and the Board of Trustees are meeting this week to discuss what may happen to the coach’s future at Penn State. No matter what happens to Paterno, I think it’s important that we look at what happened with the administration, especially Spanier when these allegations were brought to their attention. If the president knew, why wasn’t more done? Can Spanier be held accountable for knowing any of the information and not doing more? McQueary’s report was not the first that they had received about Sandusky and sexual misconduct. There was even a sexual misconduct investigation by University police in 1998 involving one of the youth involved in Sandusky’s youth foundation, Second Mile. 

Either way, I don’t entirely see the fault falling on Paterno. I don’t think he did anything wrong, but he could have done more right. I believe the administration, especially Spanier should have done more and alerted law enforcement.