To say that my blood was boiling and I wanted to throw up by the time I was done would be an understatement of unbelievable proportions.  It took me an hour of talking with Irish Woman and doing other things before I felt better.  Now remember, I only read about it in a report that was pretty dry and legalistic.  I didn’t actually witness the acts, or have a trusted subordinate come to me with detailed allegations of horrific abuse. But I was still ready to lash out over it.  If what is alleged is true, then the people involved failed to protect children who were put under their care or the care of their organization.  While I was outraged and upset over reading about it almost a decade after the fact, everyone from a janitor to the university president chose to do next to nothing to stop it while it was occurring.

If the allegations are proven to be true, those involved need to go to prison.  No deals to admit fault and pay a fine and pick up gum wrappers on the weekend should be made.  In order to deter other adults from failing to protect the innocent, they need to serve hard time in a way that others can see is the consequence of doing nothing in the face of evil.  End of discussion on that point.  One of the sacred responsibilities of any adult, and an educator particularly, is the safety of children.   Willful ignorance or outright indifference to the plight of a horrifically abused child is not only criminal, it is evil.  My gut tells me that the alleged actions were taken so that the Penn State football program and the university itself wouldn’t look bad, a motivation that in the end perpetuated the abuse of children and will probably tarnish Penn State for decades to come.

Over at In From The Cold, George Smiley suggests that the football program at Penn State be taken down entirely, and I agree wholeheartedly.  The leadership of the program appears to be either rotten through and through or is ignorant and incompetent.  Either way, there is no way in my mind that current coaching staff and management did not know of at least past allegations and still did nothing to stop the abuse or report it to the proper authorities.  If Penn State wants to keep its standing as both a respectable educational institute and a top-tier athletic program, it needs to thoroughly gut its leadership corps and bring in an entirely new slate of coaches and administrators.  Keeping even one person who either knew or should have known about the abuse on the payroll delegitimizes the entire organization.

Failing that, the NCAA would do itself credit by disassociating itself from Penn State entirely. 

I hope that before he goes to his appointed place roasting over a coal fired spit, the filth that committed these horrific acts has the decency to provide the names of his victims so that they can be offered compensation and support.  I hope that the people who saw this abuse and did nothing can realize just how wrong they have been and try to make amends.  I also hope that the victims of this evil can find peace and healing in their lives.  But most of all I hope that this tragedy is used as a negative example by all who take responsibility for the most vulnerable members of our tribe so that they can better protect them from the savages and predators in our midst.

*I hate the soft words molestation or sexual abuse.  Having or attempting sex with a child or anyone else who is incapable of giving consent to sexual contact of any kind is rape.  Period. Dot.  Softening the term just makes it sound like something much less horrific.