Legally, Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier deserve due process.
Legally, they are innocent until proven guilty. Legally, they haven’t even been
accused of wrong doing.
But Penn State University is not a court of law, and due
legal process should not stop the University’s Board of Trustees from doing the
right thing, and insist that Joe Paterno never coach another football game.
This is why Penn
State need not and must not wait any
longer to fire Paterno:
Though the particulars are yet unclear of what and when Joe
Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children, what is not
unclear is that Sandusky – Paterno’s right-hand man for decades – was raping
and molesting children inside Penn State football facilities for many years
under Paterno’s watch.
- If Paterno never had the first clue that this was going on,
he is responsible for his own ignorance as the leader of the Penn State
football program.
- If Paterno did have implicit or explicit clues about
Sandusky’s behavior – and it seems he did – he had a responsibility to find the
truth and to take action to stop it.
- If Paterno had direct knowledge of Sandusky’s sexual abuse,
he is directly responsible for the sexual abuse of children.
Whether or not Paterno ever faces criminal charges for
covering up Sandusky’s crimes, the fact remains that, with or without
knowledge, Paterno allowed Sandusky to commit these acts at Penn State for decades.
Petition Drawn Up To Fire Penn State President Graham Spanier
Column: Any One Person Could Have Stopped Jerry Sandusky Sex Abuse
Opinion: Paterno Must Step Down, Football Season Must Be Canceled
Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly told media this
week that Paterno was not yet a legal target because when then-Penn State
football graduate assistant Mike McQuery told Paterno of an incident between
Sandusky and a child in the football team showers in 2002, Paterno reported
this to his superiors, Athletic Director Tim Curley, and Gary Schultz, who was
in charge of campus Police.
It is absurd to say that Paterno’s responsibility at Penn
State University went no further than telling Curley and Schultz. Legally, Tim
Curley may have been Joe Paterno’s superior. In reality, Curley answered to the
most respected, most recognized, longest-tenured and highest-paid member of the
Penn State Athletic Department – Joe Paterno.
Regardless of the precise extent and the timing of Paterno’s
knowledge of sex abuse within his football program, this scandal represents a
stunning lack of leadership and accountability from Joe Paterno, and he should
not be employed by the University for even one more day.
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