When this course first started, one of our original blog topics was College Athletics. Other than playing volleyball and having a not-so-healthy obsession with the Olympics, I figured that there was no way that I would find anything in this category to blog about. I was pleased to come across a topic that I had enough interest in to be able to write my first blog post, one about the inclusion of transgender athletes.
Now, at the end of the course, I find myself writing about college athletics again, but this time, under a different category: Protest and Conflict. This past week, as part of the fallout from a child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach, Joe Paterno, Penn State’s head football coach, was fired, along with the university president and other officials.
Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach under Paterno, was arrested this week for sexually molesting at least eight young boys. Sandusky also ran a nonprofit organization for disadvantaged youth, and used his position as a football coach to gain access to these boys. In fact, at least one of these encounters was witnessed by a grad assistant, who is now an assistant coach for the team. Mike McQueary allegedly walked in on Sandusky raping a 10-year old boy in the locker room showers. McQueary did nothing to stop the attack, and reported it to Paterno the next day. Paterno supposedly talked to the administration, but nothing was ever done. Sandusky was basically told to keep his “activities” off of campus.
The students at Penn State took to the streets in protest…but not for the reasons that you might think. The students were protesting the firing of the iconic Paterno, one of the most successful coaches in NCAA history. Are you f*#%^ing kidding me? Paterno KNEW about the attacks, and did NOTHING! And the students are protesting this?!?! Where are the protests calling for the ouster, arrest, and conviction of every person who knew of this crime? Where are the protests in support of the defenseless boys who suffered the abuse of this monster, and continue to suffer? Instead of standing up for the victims of these crimes, the students at Penn State are protesting the firing of JoePa, who knew about this, yet refused to do anything.
This case just proves the insular nature of athletics. McQueary walked in on the abuse in the shower in 2002. Officials have known about this for almost a DECADE, and have done nothing, all in the name of protecting a football program. At the beginning of the semester, I was a little inspired by collegiate athletics actually taking a step in the right direction by including trans athletes. Any glimmer of faith that I held out for collegiate athletics being a beacon of progress has been shattered.
It is incredible to watch how people can support leaders even when they have failed us. Here is a good book to read more about this, The Allure of Toxic Leaders. People want to make excuses for the people they care about and have meaning in their life. Sports for some people are a big deal and when they say, we won; they actually are only a spectator. People can get wrapped up in game, the love of the game, and the support for it all. It is not at all surprising to have people protesting for an iconic leader in their mind who was not the perpetrator-nearly in their minds a bystander who could have done more, but did not do the act.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, my friend! I am actually amazed that I had and disillusionment left about Division I football. But hearing the depth to which people will go to protect a revered coach, program and university is shocking to my soul.
ReplyDeleteI share your outrage at the non-response from the witness, the coaches, the administration of the university. I am also outraged at the rioting students.
Higher education should be better than this kind of thing. And I hope someone, somewhere has found that child who was raped in the shower who would now be college aged. I hope he has every possible support he deserves.
I am not usually one to get sucked in to all the interviews that generally take place after a situation like this erupts, but I am not going to lie- I want to hear the former GA. I want to hear how he could have walked into the rape as it was happening and how HE DID NOTHING TO STOP IT AT THE MOMENT! Can any of us say we know what we have done, probably not, but I assume most of us would have done something at that moment to have stopped the attack? I am often on the fence on college athletics- sometime I see the point, others I just think it would be best to go away. Today....I would be perfectly content if the modern practice of college athletics just went away!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post Steve. Let me start by saying that I do feel as though anyone and everyone who had an opportunity to report the abuse to AUTHORITIES (law enforcement) should be dismissed from their duties and be prosecuted. I have worked with victims of sexual abuse and those who have sexually abused for six years and incidents like these are always disturbing (to say the least).
ReplyDeleteIn high school Penn State was my favorite football team. I admired them for running a "clean program" and having success on and off the playing field. Wow, so much for perception of the program.
While in class this weekend we had a great discussion on all the reasons why people choose to make certain decisions (like not reporting abuse to authorities). We talked about the immense amount of pressure that a graduate assistant faces if he/she chooses to "blow the whistle" on the entire program and Joe Pa. By doing so he may have thrown away his career or even his life. It was easy for us to sit at a table and talk about what he could/should have done as we were far removed from the institution.
Let me again say that I feel that ANYONE in ANY position should report abuse. McQueary had an opportunity to save hundreds of kids, including the boy in the shower, from being victimized. I believe that saving a child is far more important than any lost career opportunities.
I would encourage anyone who thinks that any of the Penn State coaches, including Joe Pa, carried out their duty to report to read the twenty-three page Grand Jury report that details the horrific abuse that Sandusky inflicted on each of the victims. After reading this it was hard to have an ounce of empathy or sympathy for any of the Penn State staff involved in the scandal.
Here is the link to the PDF of the report. I warn you that the Grand Jury Report is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. I read similar reports daily for work purposes and this particular report was difficult for me to read.
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/grand-jury-report-released-in-penn-state-sex-abuse-scandal/
I think Aaron's post says it all. I do not care how famous the program or the legend is, it is never okay to keep child abuse or sexual abuse quiet. There were many chances for many different people to report this abuse to the police but for some reason they all chose to tell their supervisor thinking that would solve it. In my opinion, these were not attempts to solve the abuse, these were attempts to avoid the possibility of ruining their career. If they tell their supervisor instead of the police, they do not have to be the one to make waves, and, if the issue ever surfaces they can say they went to their supervisor.
ReplyDeleteAs we discussed in class, there is always more to the story that we know but I see reporting child sexual abuse to a supervisor as a way to cover your rear in case it all surfaces instead of doing the right thing. Someone above expressed concern for the victims and I agree. We do not need for them to identify themselves and become re-traumatized, we just need to have more empathy and compassion for them instead of protesting for a coach.