Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged earlier this month with 40 counts of sexually abusing eight young boys from 1994 to 2009. He has since denied such claims.
Penn State students overturned news van on College Ave in s protest against the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in State College, Penn., November 9, 2011. REUTERS/Pat Little
According to John Remiro at USA Today, “The report details claims of alleged sexual encounters with boys in Sandusky’s home, hotels and Penn State locker rooms.”
Sandusky has said that there was some “horsing around” with young boys, as well as showering, though claims none of it was sexual.
However, Penn State assistant Mike McQueary testified that in 2002, he witnessed Sandusky conducting sexual acts with a 10-year-old boy in the university showers. McQueary reported the scene to his supervisor, Head Coach Joe Paterno. The scene eventually reached university president Graham Spanier, who did not call the police.
A potential rape went unreported, but Paterno banned Sandusky’s privilege to a Penn State shower key. As Jon Stewart said, “They run a tight ship…”
According to ABC News, “[Paterno and Spanier’s] firings came after two other top school officials were charged with perjury and failure to report sex abuse, allegedly committed by Sandusky.”
One would think that something as serious as an unreported rape would justify not only firing the alleged offender, but also those who did not act to stop it. This doesn’t appear to be the case with Penn State students, who are rioting against Paterno’s firing. Why are they rioting? Because Paterno has managed the most wins in the history of major college football.
Dan Harris of ABC News, who found himself in the riot, reported that thousands of “students learned that Joe Paterno had been fired … [and] the response was ferocious.”
Police had to use tear gas to control the crowd. Apparently, students were “overturning a TV news truck, knocking over light poles, and throwing rocks at police,” reported CNN News.
Students are outraged by the firing of a professional who failed to act upon a potential rape of a child.
How is this even possible? How can the rage of losing a game-winning-record coach outweigh the rage of his failure to put a stop to someone who has potentially abused children? Any person, especially one of authority, is responsible for reporting a potential rape. And as human beings, we should never put a score card above the well-being of a child.
