Former Penn State defensive coordinator and founder of the Second Mile nonprofit that operates programs for young people, Jerry Sandusky, is facing child sex charges. A grand jury found eight young men were the targets of either sexual advances or assaults by Sandusky from 1994 to 2009. All of the victims were participants in Second Mile activities.
Sandusky has been charged with 40 counts, including four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.
Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, 62, are also charged in the case. The two are facing counts of perjury and failure to report child abuse.
State Attorney General Linda Kelly has said that Coach Joe Paterno properly followed the school's reporting statute and is not an object of the investigation. Despite that fact, many are saying that Paterno is losing a public opinion battle. For example, The Fabulous Forum blog on the Los Angeles Times' website has called for Paterno to resign in the wake of the scandal. Additionally, Ryan Cooper wrote on the Washington Posts' website that Paterno must go.
Now it's your turn to weigh in. Is the criticism of Joe Paterno justified? Do you think he should resign? Or did he properly follow Penn State's protocol for reporting such incidents, and therefore he should not be implicated along with his colleagues? Please post your thoughts in the comments section below.
(Photo of Joe Paterno statue by Flickr Creative Commons User audreyjm529)
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I would love to see Penn State get a smart, young new coach, but this is not the way for Joe to step down and more than when one of his players goes out and gets drunk. You don't fire someone or pressure them to quit because of what someone else does.
Sometimes it hard to step up and do the right thing, but when kids a involved you got to step up. Joe needed to do more!!! Sham on him!
Paterno, Curley, Schultz, and Spanier are each culpable for all harm that came to any child by Sandusky since, at the latest, 2002
Paterno, Curley, Schultz, and Spanier would have handled it differently had Sandusky embezzled from the program.
Paterno, Curley, Schultz, and Spanier would have handled it differently had it been their own children, or grandchildren, rather than vulnerable at risk children with less recourse. -The privileged exploiting the vulnerable children.
Paterno, Curley, Schultz and Spanier put a football program over the safety of our children.
These men violated their responsibility to the school, the students, the community, the children, and the graduate student that turned to them for guidance, and to any morality, ethics, or integrity. Instead of being role models and providing guidance to the graduate assistant, they inculcated him into the self-serving world of cover-ups.
Paterno,, Curley, Schultz, and Spanier have further damaged the image of corrupt football in America.
Paterno, Curley, Schultz, and Spaniet deserve the same consequences the non-privileged would face. The same consequences the weirdo, unhygienic recluse in the ill-kempt house down the road would face. Or worse. They were looked to, set themselves up as, leaders of integrity. Transparency, honesty, and accountability a decade ago would have preserved and cemented their sought-after moral reputations as leaders of the community they, instead, betrayed.
Were charges held back until Paterno made his record???
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