Penn State deserves death penalty for Sandusky cover-up
Joe Paterno and other Penn State officials enabled the actions of Jerry Sandusky. (AP photo)
(Updated: 12:45 p.m.)
If we make a big deal about a college football program playing dumb when a recruit takes free shoes or tattoos, or his family lives in a house rent free, how can we look the other way when evidence screams that one of the nation’s most powerful universities enabled a pedophile?
How can we sit through something so sick and vile as the testimony in the Jerry Sandusky trial and conclude that this was a one-source scandal worthy of only one individual or entity suffering consequences?
Penn State should not be allowed to play another football game. It put sport, image and fundraising above everything else. That is what every cheater in college athletics does, and because of that it deserves the NCAA’s “death penalty.”
Southern Methodist University, one of the nation’s top academic schools, saw its football program given the death penalty in 1987 because it put athletic success above what so obviously was considered morally acceptable. Isn’t it now clear that Penn State did the exact same thing?
In fact, what the powers Penn State did was worse. Their actions involved not materialistic goods but defenseless victims who will suffer for the rest of their lives.
According to a 267-page report by former FBI director Louis Freeh, the four most powerful men overseeing the university and the football program – president Graham Spanier (since fired), athletic director Tim Curley (on “administrative leave,” under indictment for perjury), vice president Gary Schultz (suddenly retired, also under indictment) and the late coach, Joe Paterno (fired in what would be two months before his death) — knew far more about Sandusky’s sick perversions and abuse than they let on. They knew it far longer than they let on.
And here’s the punctuation, your honor: They “concealed critical facts,” according to Freeh.
There’s a term for that: cover-up.
“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State,” Freeh stated.
We don’t need to know anything else.
When this story first broke, Paterno said, “This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as one.”
Many agreed. Many still do, including some misguided alumni and football All-Americans and probably surely those numbskull students who marched on campus, embraced Paterno’s statue on campus and protested his firing without any regard for the victims.
The problem is concluding that because Sandusky’s reprehensible acts did not lead to a competitive advantage, the football program shouldn’t pay. But the cover-up changes that. What the powers at Penn State did was beyond anything any college athletic program has ever done, beyond free clothes or free rent and academic fraud.
To hell with a free Camaro. We’re talking about sweeping allegations of a child sex offender under the rug in order to protect a school’s image, fundraising and recruiting. There is no more extreme example of a lack of institutional control.
Penn State deserves to be hit hard. That may seem unfair to the student-athletes, officials and fans who knew nothing of Sandusky’s acts or the cover-up. But that’s the case with all NCAA sanctions.
This investigation was commissioned by Penn State at a cost of $500,000 per month. So much for Freeh having some anti-Penn State agenda. The report numbers 267 pages, resulting from 430 interviews and 3.5 million emails and documents. Freeh’s staff included former prosecutors, FBI agents, police officers, attorneys and a Navy SEAL.
Freeh said he found “more red flags than you could count, over a long period of time.” He said the leaders at Penn State had a “callous and shocking disregard for child victims.”
He said an “inference could be drawn” that the school was trying to protect the football program, noting, “bad publicity affects a panorama of different events, including the brand of Penn State, the reputation of coaches [and] the ability to do fundraising.”
He said Paterno was not being singled out, but at one point declared: “The facts are the facts. He was an integral part of the act to conceal.”
Emails reveal Paterno was clearly following the school’s internal investigation into allegations of a 1998 assault of a young boy by Sandusky in the Penn State locker room showers, something Paterno publicly denied. The same school leaders “proposed a plan of action” after learning of a 2001 incident reported by an assistant coach, but then decided against informing authorities.
“The most powerful leaders at Penn State … repeatedly concealed critical facts,” Freeh concluded.
The “Tone at the Top” of the school, he said, dissuaded school janitors from coming forward after witnessing incidents: “The janitors were afraid of being fired for reporting a powerful football coach.”
Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison. He could’ve been stopped sooner. But Paterno and the powers at Penn State were too concerned about the ramifications, off and on the field. That makes it a football scandal, as well.
By Jeff Schultz
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810 comments Add your comment
PSU Alum
July 12th, 2012
1:34 pm
The Dawg fans love to pile on when they can. It’s all they have in life.
TallaDawg
July 12th, 2012
1:34 pm
Exactly BRW.
UGA
July 12th, 2012
1:36 pm
Don’t drag us into this mess.
Cannot imagine any SEC AD handling/covering-up something like the Penn State scandal.
Dennis
July 12th, 2012
1:36 pm
To restore integrity to the university, the Penn State Board of Trustees should step forward themselves and ban their football program for five years!
ZFlynn2
July 12th, 2012
1:37 pm
Type this in Google: Penn State should get death penalty
See how many articles have this title. See how America is obsessed with the death penalty (and have lazy “reporters” who parrot the same idiotic “stories”, -propaganda really).
America has an Oligarchy ruling and a Prisons for Profit system. Oligarchy and draconian incarcerations and laws ALWAYS precede Fascism. Toss in the public’s love of hysteria and witch hunting and the recipe for disaster seems to be almost finished. Scary.
Bill in VA
July 12th, 2012
1:37 pm
Talk about whom the penalty hurts, if that penalty is a huge monetary fine, who will that hurt??? The non-involved students and the taxpayers, that’s who!
TallaDawg
July 12th, 2012
1:38 pm
rational person @1:29 – The terms of the By-Law speak for themselves. What’s more, if you really believe your position, I hope you are not in a position of trust.
UGA
July 12th, 2012
1:41 pm
PSU – I am sure it must feel like a pile-on, but I suspect that 99% of all “Dawg fans” believe that this is a most regrettable situation for Penn State and feel bad for alum/fans/players.
It is not Penn State specifically where the desire for punishment comes from – it is that such a powerful hierarchy let something so criminal and damaging go on for so long, that severe punishment of the institution (any institution) must occur.
Dont think so
July 12th, 2012
1:41 pm
Naw, your just saying that because its not your College or University. All the culprits are gone and you don’t make the innocents pay for jerkoff top brass’s mistakes.
rivercard
July 12th, 2012
1:42 pm
Agree Dennis. At first I thought about them maybe just contributing all proceeds from football to causes related to child sex crimes, trafficking, etc. but there are too many moving pieces to pull that off.
Shut it(football) down for awhile and establish a center/studies or something related to help study and fight these issues.
Eric
July 12th, 2012
1:44 pm
I feel the new recruits should not suffer for what happened years ago, I also believe some of these kids was abused but some are just trying to cash in on the big class action law suit that will be filed in the near future…
Eric
July 12th, 2012
1:44 pm
I feel the new recruits should not suffer for what happened years ago, I also believe some of these kids was abused but some are just trying to cash in on the big class action law suit that will be filed in the near future…
Eric
July 12th, 2012
1:44 pm
I feel the new recruits should not suffer for what happened years ago, I also believe some of these kids was abused but some are just trying to cash in on the big class action law suit that will be filed in the near future…
Restore Pluto's status as a planet now!
July 12th, 2012
1:44 pm
Too soon?
President O
July 12th, 2012
1:45 pm
If PSU does get hit with a huge fine I think we ought to even the playing field a little and see to it that the folks making over $250,000 per year pay their fair share of the fine. That way, at least some of their pampered kids won’t be able to attend PSU and we’ll have more diversity on the campus there. That’s a win/win in anybody’s book.
Parade of Knuckleheads
July 12th, 2012
1:48 pm
Jeff is right about Penn State,
SMU – Southern Methodist University was never that bad.
tomato
July 12th, 2012
1:49 pm
Yes, Eric. The current PSU football players are the true victims here, and the kids who were raped may or may not be liars. You’ve got your priorities straight!
Well
July 12th, 2012
1:49 pm
“Whatever……At least we still have the Steelers…..What do you have? The Falcons? HA!”
No, what you have is a tainted football program that will NEVER escape ridicule. Again, grow up.
Jeff Schultz
July 12th, 2012
1:49 pm
Thanks everyone for the early comments. Honestly expected there to be more resistance to the “death penalty” idea, but obviously not.
Jeff Schultz
July 12th, 2012
1:50 pm
Atomoic Dawg — Unfortunately there’s always innocent victims when it comes to NCAA probation.
Well
July 12th, 2012
1:51 pm
“I am no where near Philly….Alpharetta…..For now. Can barely stand the stench here.”
At least it doesn’t smell like dirty old men from PSU. BTW, Delta is ready to take you back to Penn at any time. Please leave if you hate it here so much.
NW ATL 4 LIFE
July 12th, 2012
1:51 pm
@ Pedophile State University Alum
LOL…take your *** back to Pennsylvania then buddy. Ur Probably some white trash, Jersey shore wanna be from the Philly ‘burbs who drives a busted @ss V6 Camaro with leaking T-tops. Your state is trash and your states university’s all time hero just had his “image” shattered and thrown in the crapper. Pedo State U hasn’t been relevant in CFB for damn near 20 years any damn way
Jeff Schultz
July 12th, 2012
1:51 pm
R. Stroz — Congrats for being ahead of the curve.
RxDawg
July 12th, 2012
1:52 pm
Death penalty? No.
Strike every championship, win, and stat from the records that came under Joe Pa? Yes
Well
July 12th, 2012
1:52 pm
“The Dawg fans love to pile on when they can. It’s all they have in life.”
And you feed them more and more ammo, PSU alum.
Jeff Schultz
July 12th, 2012
1:53 pm
Rational Person: “Perhaps you can point me to the NCAA rules governing the sexual abuse of young boys ad the penalties for it.”
<< It’s called: Lack of institutional control, the all-encompassing NCAA hammer.
tcb
July 12th, 2012
1:54 pm
The NCAA lacks the moral authority to provide a death penalty unfortunately.
However, if my school were on PSUs schedule, I would be writing my AD to ask them to cancel the game. I feel confident my fellow alumni would make the athletic department whole for this decision.
uncle kirk
July 12th, 2012
1:54 pm
So who greased this Freeh guys pockets for this investigation. Pretty easy to throw a dead man under the bus when he cant defend himself. They got the guy that committed the awful acts, he is in jail for good. Let it go. How does anyone know anybody could have stopped this guy from molesting others? Rapists and murderers get off on technicalities all the time….and then they rape and murder some more. I guess we should go ahead and fry everybody that has to do with our legal system too. No matter what any of you think, all the facts are not being revealed. Maybe there was a cover-up. But i guarantee people are being thrown under the bus to cover up for others not being mentioned.
Jeff Schultz
July 12th, 2012
1:55 pm
Paula — “Jeff, your stupidity never ceases to amaze me. An entire athletic department (and its athletes) should be punished for what a handful of people at the top of the university did, or in this case didn’t do?”
OK. Since you’re an expert on stupidity: Isn’t that always the case in an NCAA probation?
older man
July 12th, 2012
1:55 pm
1/ Fire all involved staff & go for jail time… 2/ NO football for 10 years but allow Penn to function in Education 3/ Recind all pensions & benefits, including the $12 m given Paterno
The Truth
July 12th, 2012
1:55 pm
Roddy White thinks Penn St. is ok. He just tweeted that Penn St. should not have reported to the media that PSU has a coach “rappin” kids. Falcons fans should be so proud!
Ken Stallings
July 12th, 2012
1:56 pm
Totally in agreement with you on this one, Jeff! This is beyond anything else in terms of scandal in the history of college sports. To place the public image of your football program above protecting children from perhaps the most heinous felony crime is evil. These aged men did exactly that, and for well over a decade. They have shamed themselves and their school.
PSU Alum
July 12th, 2012
1:57 pm
So it’s come to this….Calling me names.
Can you see why I dislike it here?
5150 UOAD
July 12th, 2012
1:58 pm
Jeff!! you expected SEC fans to be against the Death Penalty for any team not in the SEC? Really?
The SEC fans care ONLY about football and SEC football. They would love for every other team be disbanded!
Every week there is another SEC player getting arrested or suspended for something but God don’t look at the SCHOOL for those problems.
Gregg
July 12th, 2012
1:59 pm
NCAA has a different set of rules for certain schools…..we shall see.
Jimmy Jack
July 12th, 2012
2:00 pm
The death penalty is in order. If the NCAA cannot or will not mobilize this effort; then I hope the administrators at Penn State will come forward to end the football program.
thethird
July 12th, 2012
2:01 pm
It’s not lack of institutional control, but something much worse. It’s having so strong an institutional control that they were able to rationalize covering this up for the sake of the institution.
abby normal
July 12th, 2012
2:01 pm
Sandusky is going to spend the rest of his life in prison as well he should. Those who enabled him should be prosecuted and, if convicted, sentenced to the maximum allowed by law. Giving Penn State the death penalty would have an adverse affect on many innocent people who had nothing to do with the whole sick affair.
President O
July 12th, 2012
2:03 pm
Agree completely, Jeff. Keep up the good work.
Jeff Schultz
July 12th, 2012
2:03 pm
For those asking about NCAA death penalty: It can be implemented for as short a term as one year, I believe. Prior: Kentucky basketball, SW Louisiana basketball, SMU football, Morehouse soccer, MacMurray tennis
thethird
July 12th, 2012
2:03 pm
It’s criminal.
boycott
July 12th, 2012
2:04 pm
If my alma mater were on their schedule, I would call for cancellation. The opponents should take it out of PSU’s and the NCAA’s hands, and refuse to play against the pedophile enablers.
rivercard
July 12th, 2012
2:04 pm
link to report
http://thefreehreportonpsu.com/
St Simons - we're on Island time
July 12th, 2012
2:04 pm
Roger Goodell sent a message, and its been received.
NCAA – in charge of even younger kids, What message will you send?
Dennis
July 12th, 2012
2:05 pm
The PSU Board of Trustees commissioned this 300 page report. They all need to read it. Then they need to do the right thing, not wait for whatever the NCAA might do. And anyway, the alumni will just blame the NCAA for going “too far” or worse yet, not far enough, thus bringing ridicule to both the NCAA and PSU. No, the Trustees need to shut down the football program for a few years and by doing this demonstrate to everybody that they are going to restore integrity to the university. It’s like oatmeal, it’s the right thing to do.
OldFan
July 12th, 2012
2:06 pm
The lack of institutional control was really an expression of what the institution in fact wanted to control: money, recruiting, power, and image. Those same things, regrettably, will keep the death penalty from being imposed.
Dawglasville
July 12th, 2012
2:06 pm
5150 UOAD – Glad to see that your hatred for UGA will allow to trivialize something as massive as a school cover up of children being raped into your daily pot shots at the in-state rival. Bravo.
rivercard
July 12th, 2012
2:09 pm
Dennis’ is the right solution, but if they can’t find the guts to do it, boycotts idea should be used.
There should be no football in that stadium for a few years.
RxDawg
July 12th, 2012
2:10 pm
“The recruiting advantage that was gained, and more importantly intended, by the cover-up makes this an NCAA violation”
See I disagree here. The cover up didn’t give them any advantage, it just kept things the same in regards to the performance of the football team. I see everyone is comparing to SMU. SMU was cheating, they paid players to get in the best and that had a direct impact on the field because they got better players. PSU is a criminal case. The cover up did not make them a better football team. Let the civil and criminal courts cripple the program in it’s own way. There is no need for the NCAA to get involved.
University Diaries » Penn State Should Get the Death Penalty
July 12th, 2012
2:11 pm
[...] Penn State Should Get the Death Penalty When this story first broke several, Paterno said, “This is not a football scandal and should not be treated as [...]