OT: Ex-Penn St. Prez Convicted

[JS]

We had very extensive discussions here of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Here's a notable piece of the fallout.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was convicted Friday of hushing up child sexual abuse allegations in 2001 against Jerry Sandusky, whose arrest a decade later blew up into a major scandal for the university and led to the firing of beloved football coach Joe Paterno.

The jury found Spanier guilty of one misdemeanor count of child endangerment over his handling of a complaint against the retired assistant football coach but acquitted him of conspiracy and a second child endangerment count.​

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I woke up to this news and changed the channel. I do believe it is important to run to ground the sorry story of Sandusky and the lives he has touched in the wrongest of ways. That includes those who had knowledge and looked away now living and dead. I do have my hackles raised when I hear people close to the crime getting misdemeanor deals in order to spear "the bigger fish" so to speak; in this case the College Pres. But for all I know he was a butt buddy of Sandusky's and signed off on burying the dirt. Anybody in that position should go into general population with a sign dangling off his neck.

 

[Big Fan]

What's missing from this story is after 5 years and originally being charged with 14 counts including multiple felonies including perjury he gets convicted a of a misdemeanor - a misdemeanor. The state prosecutors spent all that time and money to find out they didn't have any evidence of the crimes originally accused of. FYI 75% chance he wins on appeal because the judge did some things that he shouldn't have. In PA the statute of limitations for this crime is 2 years - it happened in 2001 but the judge let this one charge stand.

 

[augustaTC]

My brother went to Penn State, so I'm hardly unbiased.

I think the legal system has finally completed its due process and, as usual, some will argue that penalties weren't enough (or too much), but it is what it is. The University has paid enormous financial penalties. Enough? Who can say, but certainly unprecedented. My biggest gripe has been that the NCAA President (who's left a trail of let's just say questionable decisions as he bounced from university to university, including UConn) grossly overreached his and the NCAA's authority in what to me at least seemed a bid at personal self-promotion and unwarranted piling on. And those actions almost, but not quite buried the football program, when virtually no-one who had even a tangential relationship to the Sandusky tragedy was active - different coaches and totally blameless athletes who had nothing to do with anything that had happened many, many years before they entered the university.

You never want to forget the victims or the circumstances that allowed the atrocities to happen. But the individuals have been held accountable in courts of law and a very fine university has a stain on its reputation and image that will probably remain for generations.