Lehigh University's James Peterson and MSNBC's Toure analyze the Freeh Report on the Jerry Sandusky – that top officials put power and publicity over the safety of children -- and debate whether there is a punishment appropriate for Penn State.
Coach Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials "repeatedly concealed critical facts" relating to sexual abuse allegations against assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky more than a decade ago.
The internal report concluded the alleged cover-up by Paterno, then-university President Graham Spanier and two other Penn State administrators allowed Sandusky to prey on other boys for years.
Chief investigator Louis Freeh, a former FBI director, says the behavior was "callous and shocking."
"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," Freeh said at a news conference in Philadelphia. "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized."
Sandusky is awaiting sentencing after being convicted last month of sexually abusing ten boys over 15 years.
Karen Peetz, the chairwoman of Penn State's board of trustees, says the board "accepts full responsibility for the failures that occurred," but that no members of the board would step down.
Ed will have reaction and analysis tonight at 8pET on The Ed Show on MSNBC with New York Times columnist Bill Rhoden.
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it all comes down to money and profit. that's what's the common balance always is. people don't count. lives ruined and never mind till your caught. money money money money.....is this our legacy when it's all said and done?
They should put all those guys who kept their mouths shut in a cell with Sandusky for a few years. See what pops up.
This is what happens when universities become places for playing games and not learning. The culture of glorification of sports and the need to bring in revenue allowed this to occur. Had the university not worried about these things this perhaps would not have happened.
Pattterno and Penn State decided to let evil grow and prosper by doing nothing. Shame on them now and forever.
It begs to answer the question as we all pay taxes and our military goes to foreign lands and kills for profit and gain for a few, are we too condemned to burn also?
No, because we don't have a choice as far as how our tax money is spent.
These dickheads chose to do what they did.
Even though I never liked Penn State football, I had respected Paterno for instilling a sense of ethics into his players. That respect I had had for Paterno went the way of the dodo at approximately the same time the Regents fired him. At that point, I knew that Paterno's sense of right and wrong had become deficient.
However, after hearing what Freeh had to say about the Sandusky Debacle at Penn State, and that Paterno knew as early as 1998 that Sandusky had a pedophile problem but felt that the reputation of His football team was more important than the lives of future Sandusky victims, I knew that the legacy that Paterno would leave behind was far different, yet far more important than Paterno, with far too much hubris feeding delusions of grandeur, had intended to leave behind:
The lives, health, and well-being of people is the only thing that has intrinsic value and really matters. The reputation of a football team (or team for any other sport) and associated University, is essentially dependent upon how the lives of people are valued. By comparison that same reputation, when linked to winning, to championships, etc., is fleeting and inconsequential.
Paterno, more than anyone else at Penn State, will go down in history for having aided and abetted Sandusky's pedophile cravings, and for having allowed Sandusky to rape several young, already troubled boys, whose lives would have had much better chances of being happy, if only Paterno had not essentially forced his "superiors" to cover it up and give Sandusky a retirement package with far too many perks, along with University facilities, including places like gym showers where a pedophile could continue damaging the lives of more boys.
If only Freeh had also associated then AG Corbett's desire to be elected Governor, and his associated preference to get campaign contributions from Penn State Boosters than to proceed towards convicting Sandusky, which could have been done while Corbett was still AG. Personally, I think Corbett should resign for subjugating his obligations as AG to his goal of getting elected Governor.
And you may ask WHY? And its the same old thing MONEY it would hurt the University! The coach is dead and I would suspect is in a nice warm place. Only one other thing I can say about this sick and inhumane attitude. How republican of them!
what a shame, ruined his reputation, his family's and penn states also, all for $$$$$$$$$$, paterno scumbag
Typical sports-run university of power elites protecting themselves like with anything else, this just happens to be sexual assault on minors by one of them. What else has this university clan protected itself from? How likely is it that this is happening at other such institution?
Governor Tom Corbett's hands are pretty freakin' dirty, too . . . why didn't Freeh dig into the role Corbett played when he was PA AG and investigated Sandusky in 2009.
As to the Penn State BOT . . . what a bunch of corrupt miscreants. They all need to step down. As to the Nittany Lions, that particular football program needs to be ended forever.
Ed, I must respond to the part you didn't address in tonight's show about taking down that stinking statue of the Perp...Jerry Sandusky. Yes, all students should petition to take it down! It's as offensive as having a statue of a terrorist up there! This is a case of multiple RAPES that was ignored by the Board of Trustees (who should all resign IF they were there while this was going on and turned a blind eye) and yes, the Governor's hands are dirty (who needs 3 years to investigate this kind of crap?), and whoever was there and in charge at Penn State when this happened, tho they're retired now, should be held accountable! Which brings me to a point: This kind of crap is what is going wrong with our country...that is, NOT holding the privileged few accountable for their actions, innactions, and crimes! One more thought. I grew up being taught that one ah-@!$%# wipes out all the atta-boys. That's how Penn State should look at this child molester rapist! No "credit" for anything else he supposedly did to buy off the BOT and cover years of crimes! To those young boys/children, he was and remains a terrorist!
Penn state should have all their sports programs suspended for ever.
What should we expect, about 40 years ago college football (and then basketball) became a business more than a part of education system for educating. So what in American business has it not corrupted at one point in time or another? I would say about half of American business is built on corruption to some extent and a great extent for a few. Once those corrupt systems get too powerful in their extension offices (like Penn State football being an extension office of NCAA) it can become criminal - can happen to government agencies, remember Three Days of the Condor, ever hear any argument that agency corruption by renegades portrayed in that movie does not happen in our agencies?