It is no secret that Penn State has had the worst scandal in the history of college sports take place on its campus. This scandal has engulfed a legendary head coach, a college campus, and the surrounding community. The monster that is Jerry Sandusky will rightfully spend his remaining years in a jail cell for the crimes he committed at the college. In the wake of Sandusky's sex abuse scandal, there are many questions to ask, and many answers we may not want to hear.
What perplexes me about this story is that most news outlets are reporting on what this scandal will do to Penn State football, or what ripples will be felt by the rest of college football. There is almost no discussion about the victims of these horrendous crimes committed by Jerry Sandusky. There are no sanctions that can heal the victims and help them deal with the emotional damage done to them by Sandusky. While I was waiting to see just what the NCAA would do to Penn State, I couldn't help but think that the sanctions were somewhat of an appraisal. The NCAA was ruling on the value of the innocence of children. That is really what Sandusky took from these vitctims. In my eyes no price was too steep for Penn State to pay.
The first domino fell as the NCAA brought the hammer down on Penn State. The public didn't need to wonder very long about what punishment was in store for the Nittany Lions. Penn State was fined 60 million dollars as well as banned from postseason play for the next four seasons. They also face a significant reduction in scholarships with 10 initial scholarships lost and 20 total scholarships each season for the next four years. To make matters worse, all current players enrolled at Penn State are allowed to transfer immediately without penalty. However, what may hurt Nittany Lions fans and alumni the most is that their beloved coach Joe Paterno, will have all his wins from 1998-2011 vacated. This means the most winningest college football coach is no longer Joe Paterno. His win total dropped from 409 to 298. This scandal tarnished his legacy at Penn State, and now NCAA sanctions will drastically reduce his legacy.
Although he reported Jerry Sandusky to his Athletic Director, Tim Curley, Paterno did not do enough. In fact after Sandusky was investigated, Paterno still allowed Sandusky access to the Penn State athletic facilities. This would be an avenue for Sandusky to continue molesting children. Simply put, that cannot be allowed. I have to conclude that Paterno was an enabler to child sex abuse. If Paterno cared so much for his former assistant, he should have tried to get him help. Instead the people sitting in the highest chairs at Penn State, those who are given the responsibility to protect the college from issues such as this, chose to cover up the crimes and protect their public image. To make matters worse, they continued to let innocent children become victims of Jerry Sandusky under their reign.
Joe Paterno accomplished many great things while always pushing academics alongside athletics at Penn State. His "great experiment" was an initiative to recruit great athletes that also made the grades in the classroom. Paterno wanted his players to become better players, people, and upstanding citizens in society. After their time at Penn State "JoePa" hoped each and every player would leave with a college degree. Penn State was praised for how great it was academically and athletically for decades. Unfortunately, the higher a program is built up, the further they must fall when tragic missteps occur. In this case Joe Paterno was an enabler to Sandusky sexually assaulting children.
Enabling child abuse in any form is almost as bad as committing the crime itself. One of our primary goals in society is to protect our children and preserve their innocence. Joe Paterno was a man of value who had to know this. Simply saying, "Joe Paterno should have done better, shame on you Penn State." is not enough. The term institutional control comes to my mind. Penn State grossly fell short in this department. The death of Joe Paterno and the firing/resigning of every person in power at Penn State does not suffice as punishment.
Penn State University must deal with some hard times after such a disgusting scandal took place on their campus. In my opinion Penn State received a punishment worse than the "death penalty", and rightfully so. These sanctions are more accurately described as a "slow death penalty". As severe as the punishments are that were levied against Penn State, they will most certainly change the culture at that university, and the university needs that change desperately.
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