commentaries

Lets remember that Sandusky was a retiree when this happened. Like most university retirees, he has use of the library, gyms, etc. What has most PSU people upset is that Sandusky got his victims from the 2nd Mile Charity, which has no connection to PSU. Yet the board members of this charity have not been investigated, neither was the local DA investigated who refused to indict Sandusky from an earlier incident. Also, the only charge Sandusky was found not guilty on was the one that occurred in the locker room.

The willful ignorance and greedy focus of Penn State University officials to dismiss and protect immoral and illegal actions by a coach with the end goal of protecting the football program is absolutely the issue. Nobody was protecting innocent victims when a coach or retired coach was using athletic facilities to carry out inappropriate relationships with minors. Calling the NCAA actions too harsh and moaning about punishing innocent parties is an overreach. The penalties should foster some hard thinking and house cleaning at Penn State and other universities. It's time to stop looking the other way in order to reward athletic programs that refues to police the behavior of their coaches and athletes. Athletic prowess does not excuse unethical, immoral or illegal behavior.

Every word in this piece smacks with the tone of a "True Believer". If it takes a village to raise and educate a child, it most certainly takes a village to protect them! Vile creatures like Jerry Sandusky engage in their kind of criminal behavior because of the status afforded them by their adoring fans. They feel entitled and untouchable, their power over victims stemming from the public buy-in to their status vs that of their victims. True Believers have littered history with regrettable victims they could not see until the status they bestowed upon their "chosen" was torn away. The NCAA imposed "the highest sanctions for the worst of crimes" as they did because the Penn State culture (programs, students, college history, lore) implicitly raised Jerry Sandusky to the status he used as a cover to injure, while maintaining him in their midst.

It was the culture of accountability that Penn State is being most penalized for. So the only way to change that is to punish the institution that let this happen. Yes, most students and faculty are not implicitly connected to this case, but the attitude is the thing that is being addressed here, and that does affect all of the people connected to the institution.

Paterno is dead. Sandusky should be dead for what he did. Many (most?) of senior people at Penn state that should have done something have lost their jobs (good!). I struggle with how much people who had nothing to do with the sordid affair should be punished. Dont know the right answer,.