Now What?

Last November I wrote a piece called “High Priests and Football Coaches”. It was an essay about the Penn State scandal involving retired Assistant Football Coach Jerry Sandusky, who had just been arrested and charged with a series of sexual offenses perpetrated against young boys. The charges went back many years, and showed a clear pattern of predatory sexual behavior towards children. I went on to discuss the issues involving people who knew, or should have known, that this behavior had been going on for years- much of it right at Penn State facilities. I pointed out that in this case there was even an eye witness to one event, a rare occurrence in sexual abuse cases. I discussed how the worship of football clouded the judgment of people who chose to protect the prestigious Penn State Nittany Lion football program and their legendary coach, rather than protect children from horrific sexual abuse. At the time I was fairly sure I was on firm ground about the facts, or at least, what I thought were the facts. In truth, at that time the case had not been tried, and the jury was quite literally “still out”.

Well, that has changed. The jury is back, and they delivered an overwhelming guilty verdict on nearly every charge brought against Sandusky. If you followed the news during the trial, you heard heartbreaking testimony from many of the victims who are now young adults. Every one of these young men were asked why they didn’t speak up more forcefully to stop their abuser. Each had the same answer. They were convinced that no one would believe them because Sandusky and those who harbored him in the world of Penn State football were too powerful. This is much the same reason given by the legions of children who could not defend themselves against the abuse they suffered at the hands of scores of Catholic Priests. The children were right!

Another jury, of sorts, has also rendered a verdict in this case. About two weeks ago a law firm hired by Penn State released an exhaustive report on this entire sordid matter. The University was essentially forced into conducting this investigation of itself due to the public outcry, asking the question: how could this happen? So they hired the law firm headed up by Louis Freeh. Mr. Freeh is the former Director of the FBI, and by all accounts a reputable man, with the ability to conduct this investigation and have it go where it leads. Of course Mr. Freeh’s report laid out in plain language the answer as to how this could happen. It was the answer we all knew was coming.

The report made several major findings. I won’t list them all here, but the major indictment was that the most important men at this institution knew of Sandusky’s crimes and purposely decided not to do anything about it for fear it would reflect badly on the legendary football program and the god-like coach Joe Paterno. The very first finding in the report says there was “a striking lack of empathy for the child sex abuse victims”. This report isn’t about the crime- it’s about the cover-up. Mr. Freeh and his team documented how this cover-up was orchestrated by the University President, Vice President-Provost, Athletic Director, and Joe Paterno himself.

The story is very similar to the story we saw played out around this country and several other countries when the crimes of Catholic Priests were knowingly covered up by the Bishops under the winking eye of the Vatican. The very last finding in the executive summary of Freeh’s report says this all happened due to the “reverence for the football program”. All the details are in the report, and can be accessed on the internet. The next question is : Now what?

Admittedly, I have a biased point of view. My bias is the result of many years in close proximity to child abuse cases through my career. I also possess a moral and political bias against those with money and power who can victimize the helpless with impunity- those, who when caught, just commission a report then walk back into the comfort of their self-made kingdoms while the victims are left to suffer. So here’s my suggestion about what to do now. In my view the NCAA should impose the “Death Penalty” on the Penn State football program. In NCAA parlance, the Death Penalty means that Penn State should not be allowed to have a football program for certain number of years. No team. No games. No football scholarships. No Football.

If that seems a harsh position, it is. However, I can think of no better reason to impose this harshest of penalties than to make the point that football (with all the money and cultural hoopla it engenders) became more important than the welfare of children being violated and victimized.  Given what we knew (instinctively) back in November, and what we know now without doubt- it is a matter of our values as a society. The power and influence of this sport and the institution that profited from it turned those who, were otherwise good and learned men, into criminal shills who sacrificed children to protect their empire, their status, and their money. What is truly sad is that a modicum of good judgment and decency some years ago would have been better for them, better for Penn State, and infinitely better for the victims who came later because the leadership at Penn State turned their eyes from a monster in their midst. If they had just acted on their knowledge at the first report of it, they could have been heroes and honorable men. But they chose to cover it up instead, just as the Catholic Church did. The consequences are tragic- and the punishment needs to be equally as harsh.

I can hear the cries now. “What about the young athletes who are there now?”” They had nothing to do with this- why should their lives be changed?” “What about all the people who make a living from Penn State football? They didn’t do anything wrong.” (Penn State football is an $83 million enterprise annually- with a $53 million profit for the school). Ordinarily, I’m not one to suggest punishing the innocent for the sins of the fathers. But in this case it must be done! The NCAA, (and, in fact) all of us must send a message loud and clear that football and the power elite in sports are not more important than our values as a people. It’s easy to hide behind the notion that this was just an anomaly- a weird, one-time case. But we know it goes deeper than that.  We know that the power of this idol we’ve come to worship can change our character and cause us to do things we would not normally do- like sacrifice children. So, in spite of the fact that many people who had nothing to do with these events will suffer, we have to impose a penalty so awful, that this will never happen again. I’m not suggesting this will stop the Sandusky’s of the future- but it will stop the coaches, Athletic Directors, and University Presidents from sacrificing children (or any victim) to protect their golden sports calf.

Right now the Regents of Penn State are deciding about continuing to display a statue of Joe Paterno.  This goes well beyond a statue- it should be about the idolatry of football in our culture that allowed this to happen. We can still have our sports and enjoy the great things that sports give us, provided we don’t give up our decency as a people along with it.

Thanks for looking in.