If university’s officials are serious, they must start by cancelling all remaining games this season. They should prove to the world that they really care about the young victims raped by Coach Sandusky over a 15 year period. They should prove that they don’t care more about the football program –the millions of dollars generated and the TV promotion– than they care about the lives and welfare of the rape victims.
[Black Star News Editorial]
Can Band Play On, While Rape Victims remain unhealed?
Disgraced former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno should do the right thing and relinquish all his football victories dating back to 2002, when he found out that his assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had been raping young boys as young as 10 years old, including on university facilities.
Penn State University officials say they want to “recover” the university’s name and its “reputation.”
If university’s officials are serious, they must start by canceling all remaining games this season and even ponder carefully before resuming play.
Penn State must prove to the world that they really care about the young victims –many Black boys — raped by Coach Sandusky over a 15 year period. They should prove that they don’t care more about the football program –the millions of dollars generated and the TV promotion– than they care about the lives and welfare of the rape victims. (Here in New York a similar case remains beneath the radar).
There is obviously much at stake for Penn State. Will the university officials choose football and money over compassion and remorse for the young rape victims from broken families?
Sandusky, the alleged sexual predator, started his alleged serial rape campaign at least by 1999 according to the authorities and a grand jury “finding of fact.” Coach Joe Paterno was informed in 2002 by a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary of one rape case. McQueary caught Sandusky in a shower where he had pinned a 10-year-old boy against a wall and was in the act of anal rape.
The grand jury “finding of fact” details Sandusky’s abuses of at least eight victims and instances where Sandusky was caught on the act on other occasions. Sandusky even disapproved of one victim’s relations with his girlfriend and reportedly became “clinging” when other young boys sought to flee from the abusive relationship.
He lured them with gifts and trips to Penn State football games including out of state travels. He forced victims to perform oral sex on him; he too performed oral sex on the children, or tickled their bellies, or squeezed their rear ends. He even created a bedroom in the basement of his home, where he lured victims, then joined them in the basement to rape them.
The details in the “finding of fact” are revolting.
Coach Paterno was informed of the 2002 rape and although he reported it to the althetic dierctor –and the school’s president Graham Spanier also became aware– Paterno and university officials never went to the police.
Paterno might have been aware of the Sandusky abuses dating to 1999 as well. It was in 1999, after all, that Paterno notified Sandusky, his top assistant, that he would not succeed him as head coach. Sandusky, then only in his 50s, retired.
Yet Sandusky remained as “professor emeritus” and apparently continued his abuses.
Paterno and Penn State wanted to beat the record of 408 wins set by Grambling University’s legendary coach, Eddie Robinson, for Division I NCAA football by any means necessary. That’s probably why it was not until last week that Sandusky was finally arrested and charged. The arrest came about a week after Paterno broke Robinson’s record, earning victory number 409.
More evidence of culpability by university officials and perhaps even law enforcement officials may emerge in the near future in the coverup that allowed the crimes to continue.
Penn State must forfeit all victories from at least from 2002 to 2011 by the Paterno coached team. Otherwise, the NCAA should do the right thing and void those victories, now tainted by the program’s coverup of the sex crimes.
By continuing with business as usual, and playing football this Saturday, and for the remainder of the season, Penn State will confirm that it cares more about football and money.
What’s more, Penn State will expose itself to additional liability because lawyers for the victims would argue that even after the dismissal of Paterno and Spanier for covering up Sandusky’s crimes, the university still went ahead and played football.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
