[TRIGGER WARNINGS apply for this entire post for child sexual abuse/assault.]I'm reading through the
grand jury report on Sandusky (PDF) (well, skipping over the more gruesome parts), and I read this:
Before Victim 1 ceased contact with Sandusky, Sandusky routinely had contact with him at a Clinton County high school where the administration would call Victim 1 out of activity period/study hall in the late afternoon to meet with Sandusky in a conference room. No one monitored these visits. Sandusky assisted the school with coaching varsity football and had unfettered access to the school.
[...]
[Steve] Turchetta [an assistant principal at Victim 1's high school] said it was not unusual for him, as assistant principal, to call a Second Mile student out of activity period at the end of the day, at Sandusky's request, to see Sandusky. He knew of several students who were left alone with Sandusky, including Victim 1. [...] Turchetta testified that Sandusky would be "clingy" and even "needy" when a young man broke off the relationship he had established with him and called the behavior "suspicious." [Emphasis Mine]
This was in 2007-2008. Remember, Mike McQueary
witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in the showers--I'm sparing you the grand jury report on that incident, but it's at the link too and it's way worse than the "sexual assault" implies--in
March 2002.
McQueary failed to intervene and stop the assault, though he said Sandusky and the boy saw him enter the locker room, according to the report.
Instead, McQueary, then a 28-year-old graduate assistant, went to Paterno with the allegation. Paterno, the report said, alerted athletic director Tim Curley, fulfilling a legal obligation, but did not alert the authorities, shirking a moral one.
This is a different victim from the one I'm reading about in the grand jury report linked above. Five and six years later, Sandusky was still coaching and had "unfettered access" to a high school. That'll give you nightmares.
Back to the
grand jury report, I found something even more disturbing. After McQueary reported what he witnessed in the showers in 2002, which according to testimony from Tim Curley, Penn State Athletic Director, was reported to him by McQueary as merely "horsing around" and "inappropriate"--and doesn't
that make you wonder who is telling the truth?--here's what action was taken, plus a little extra tidbit about Sandusky's past prior to 2002:
[Gary] Schultz [then-Senior Vice President for Finance and Business at Penn State] testified that he and Curley agreed that Sandusky was to be told not to bring any Second Mile children into the football building and he believed that he and Curley asked "the child protection agency" to look into the matter. Schultz testified that he knew about an investigation of Sandusky that occurred in 1998, that the "child protection agency" had done, and he testified that he believed this same agency was investigating the 2002 report by the graduate assistant [McQueary]. Schultz acknowledged that there were similarities between the 1998 and 2002 allegations, both of which involved minor boys in the football showers with Sandusky behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner. Schultz testified that the 1998 incident was reviewed by the University Police and "the child protection agency" with the blessing of the then-University counsel Wendell Courtney. [...] Schultz confirmed that University President Graham Spanier was apprised in 2002 that a report of an incident involving Sandusky and a child in the showers on campus had been reported by an employee. Shcultz testified that Spanier approved the decision to ban Sandusky from bringing children into the football locker room and the decision to advise The Second Mile of the 2002 incident. [Emphasis Mine]
Right, so in 1998 they were aware of an investigation by the child protection agency and after 2002 the most action taken was to...bar Sandusky from the showers? Victim 1 testified that he was abused in Sandusky's home, so taking away access to the showers did absolutely squat to prevent further abuse. In fact, doing next to nothing seems to be a recurring theme in this entire nightmare.
Although Schultz oversaw the University Police as part of his position, he never reported the 2002 incident to the University Police or other police agency, never sought or reviewed a police report on the 1998 incident and never attempted to learn the identity of the child in the shower in 2002. No one from the University did so. Schultz did not ask the graduate assistant [McQueary] for specifics. No one ever did. Schultz expressed surprise upon learning that the 1998 investigation by University Police produced a lengthy police report. Schultz said there was never any discussion between himself and Curley about turning the 2002 incident over to any police agency.
[....]
Department of Public Welfare and Children and Youth Services local and state records were subpoenaed by the Grand Jury; University Police records were also subpoenaed. The records reveal that the 2002 incident was never reported to any officials, in contravention of Pennsylvania law. [Emphasis Mine]
So that entire argument that Paterno/University officials et. al did everything they were supposed to do, that everyone in this case did what they were supposed to do? Complete and utter bullshit. All of it.
And that, dear friends, is the point where I think I need to stop reading this because, quite frankly, it's only 9:30 AM on a Thursday which means it's too early to start drinking.
If this is not an example of a cover-up, then surely this is evidence of extreme incompetence at every fucking level. Victim 1, Victim 2, and their families were failed at every level by the adults they were supposed to trust with their/their children's safety and well-being. Children who may never have been victimized had this been addressed as it should were victimized, horribly so.
Nothing was done to stop this. It was more important to protect the university's reputation and to keep the football team from being damaged. The lives of those children were seen as less important than the interests of the football team.
You know, maybe the rules and laws say that Paterno did what he was supposed to do, McQueary too (even though the grand jury report indicates otherwise). But when you do report and you see nothing done (never mind that you actually
saw it physically happen in front of you and you did nothing), shouldn't there be a moral obligation to report it to authorities? Why does there have to be a fucking law telling you to do the right thing?
And because Paterno was rightly fired, now students are protesting and think it's unfair that he can't coach another game. Paterno is "disappointed" in his firing. I suppose asking he be disappointed in
himself and his failure to report and prevent the abuse of several children is too much to ask.
ETA: Jesus fucking christ. In 2000 a janitor saw Sandusky orally assaulting a boy and...he reported it to janitorial staff. As to who that victim is, he's "Vcitim 8" and his identity is unknown. There are victims tesitfying about abuse as early as 1994.
What the fucking fuck, people? All that's happening is that Paterno and Spanier are getting fired. They aren't being charged. There is no goddamned justice in this world.
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