Penn State's and Joe Paterno's Shame

CNN published a long article today concerning the release of the scathing Freeh Report about how Penn State University dealt with a sexual predator who for years abused young boys on and off campus.
The Report is not the conclusion because Penn State is still under investigation by the Department of Education and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which could do more damage to Penn State's reputation and that of its legendary football program.
The organization that grants universities their crucial academic accreditation is following the details of the scandal around university officials' handling of Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State football defensive coordinator convicted in June of sexually abusing children over a 15-year period.
Two former university administrators are awaiting trial for their role in the scandal, and more charges are possible as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General's Office investigates what Penn State may have known about Sandusky's behavior.
There is also the possibility of many costly civil lawsuits after former FBI Director Louis Freeh's finding that Penn State's most powerful leaders showed "total and consistent disregard" for child sex abuse victims and covered up attacks by the school's former assistant football coach.
"The university hired their own executioner when they hired Louie Freeh," said CNN legal analyst Paul Callan. "They are going to get pounded in civil litigation," which will probably cost Penn State millions of dollars by victims who use Freeh's report as "a roadmap" in their case.
Though in some ways, Callan added, Penn State should be commended for "hiring an investigator who was so brutally honest" in his review.
Freeh's report was so scathing that some say it could be the low point in the collapse of the university's reputation.
"In the public minds, yesterday was the moment that everyone remembers about Penn State, the higher ups and Paterno," said Callan. "You didn't hear it to that extent in even the Sandusky trial. This was likely the biggest moment of adverse publicity the university will endure."
Freeh released the Report, funded by the university, on Thursday, reporting that his team of investigators had found that several school officials had "empowered" Sandusky to continue his abuse.
Legendary head football coach Joe Paterno also could have stopped the attacks had he done more, Freeh concluded.
"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 wrote. "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized."
He blamed Paterno, former Penn State President Graham Spanier and administrators Gary Schultz and Tim Curley for having "never demonstrated ... any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest," while the board of trustees failed to perform its oversight duties.
That collective failure "to protect against a child sexual predator harming children" lasted "more than a decade" and allowed Sandusky to further harm his victims, the full report says.
There is also an on-going grand jury investigation into charges of perjury and failure to report abuse against Curley, a former athletics director for the school, and Schultz, a former vice president.
Richard Pokrass, a spokesman for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which issues the school's academic accreditation, said that because university leaders have acknowledged a problem and have been up front, it seems unlikely the school will risk losing that accreditation.
It is less clear what the Department of Education and NCAA inquiries will bring the school.
In November, the Education Department notified Penn State that it was looking into the school's compliance with the Clery Act, the federal law that requires universities to report crimes on or near campus and provide timely warnings if reported crimes threaten the campus community.
In his report, Freeh said top university officials forged an agreement to conceal Sandusky's sexual attacks more than a decade ago, outlining a culture of secrecy while pointing to an incident in which janitors aware of the abuse took no action, out of fear.
"They witness what I think in the report is probably the most horrific rape that's described," Freeh told reporters. "And what do they do? They panic." One janitor, a Korean War veteran, said it was "the worst thing he's ever seen." He and other janitors were "alarmed and shocked," but were afraid that if they reported it, they'd be fired.
The law carries fines of up to $27,500 per violation, but more critically, schools that fail to comply can be suspended from the federal financial aid program, according to the Department of Education.
Meanwhile, Joe Paterno's family is also dealing with the aftermath of the scandal and Report, which cast an even deeper shadow over the school's storied football program and the career of Paterno, who was widely beloved for bringing Penn State football to national prominence.
The former head coach died in January, just months after the scandal broke.
Whether or not Joe Paterno knew, knew but did not understand the implications, knew but chose to let it pass in trying to protect Penn State football, the truth is that his legacy is ruined forever. Joe Paterno had one moment in which to prove his mettle and worth as a human being, and he failed.
You can read my blog of November 6, 2011, for more on Paterno's catastrophic fall from grace.