Mike's Musings: The Cover-Up
Shortly before the Aurora massacre, the news was dominated by the fallout of Jerry Sandusky's criminal trial. Sandusky molested over twelve boys and as a result is spending the rest of his life behind bars. Few will disagree that justice has been served, although the pain for his victims will never go away.
Penn State is also in hot water, not only in public opinion but from the NCAA. A number of high ranking officials at the school, including legendary coach Joe Paterno, were fired or forced to resign. The NCAA imposed devastating sanctions and fines against the Nittany Lions football program. Penn State football, once highly esteemed across the country, will be forever tarnished.
Some have argued that the NCAA's sanctions are too harsh since the students are paying the price. Such a response is disgusting and reprehensible. Sandusky's victims are going to carry their wounds for the rest of their lives. No, it's not the student's fault, but the punishment isn't for them. It's for the school. You can't punish the administration without affecting the student body or Penn State fans. The guilt from all but destroying college football for millions of fans is their punishment.
If you don't believe me, think of it like this: Pennsylvania has a law requiring a person who suspects a co-worker of committing sexual abuse to report it to their superior. That happened to an extent, but it was covered up for the most part. What that says is that people who had the power to stop the abuse did not because they felt that the school and the football program's reputations were more important than the safety of children.
Cover-ups never work. In some way, shape or form, the truth will come out. It may be bad news to begin with (as was the case here), but it's going to be much worse once the public finds out that they were played for fools. Would it have been damaging to Penn State's reputation if they had put a stop to it immediately? To an extent yes, but really only because the public would be shocked. But had Penn State done the right thing and turned Sandusky over as soon as they found out, the damage would have been minimal and they would have been applauded for their actions. But by covering it up, they were almost destroyed.
Washington University in St. Louis has a good policy for dealing with potential scandals like this. As soon as they learn of something like this, they put a stop to it and alert the press of what is going on and keep them in the loop as they learn more information. The press in return publicizes that fact, and they also contact the school about rumors and stories before publishing the story. It's a mutually beneficial relationship while also dealing with the problem immediately.
The lesson here is that truth is the best policy. Penn State was not punished for Jerry Sandusky's actions. They didn't cause him to commit such unspeakable crimes. But they were just as guilty because they enabled him to keep doing it in order to preserve their reputation. That's why they were punished.
Penn State is also in hot water, not only in public opinion but from the NCAA. A number of high ranking officials at the school, including legendary coach Joe Paterno, were fired or forced to resign. The NCAA imposed devastating sanctions and fines against the Nittany Lions football program. Penn State football, once highly esteemed across the country, will be forever tarnished.
Some have argued that the NCAA's sanctions are too harsh since the students are paying the price. Such a response is disgusting and reprehensible. Sandusky's victims are going to carry their wounds for the rest of their lives. No, it's not the student's fault, but the punishment isn't for them. It's for the school. You can't punish the administration without affecting the student body or Penn State fans. The guilt from all but destroying college football for millions of fans is their punishment.
If you don't believe me, think of it like this: Pennsylvania has a law requiring a person who suspects a co-worker of committing sexual abuse to report it to their superior. That happened to an extent, but it was covered up for the most part. What that says is that people who had the power to stop the abuse did not because they felt that the school and the football program's reputations were more important than the safety of children.
Cover-ups never work. In some way, shape or form, the truth will come out. It may be bad news to begin with (as was the case here), but it's going to be much worse once the public finds out that they were played for fools. Would it have been damaging to Penn State's reputation if they had put a stop to it immediately? To an extent yes, but really only because the public would be shocked. But had Penn State done the right thing and turned Sandusky over as soon as they found out, the damage would have been minimal and they would have been applauded for their actions. But by covering it up, they were almost destroyed.
Washington University in St. Louis has a good policy for dealing with potential scandals like this. As soon as they learn of something like this, they put a stop to it and alert the press of what is going on and keep them in the loop as they learn more information. The press in return publicizes that fact, and they also contact the school about rumors and stories before publishing the story. It's a mutually beneficial relationship while also dealing with the problem immediately.
The lesson here is that truth is the best policy. Penn State was not punished for Jerry Sandusky's actions. They didn't cause him to commit such unspeakable crimes. But they were just as guilty because they enabled him to keep doing it in order to preserve their reputation. That's why they were punished.
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