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Penn State Scandal: Morality vs Legality

Just because you've fulfilled your legal obligation, should you ignore your moral obligation?

The stories of students rioting at Penn State over the firing of football coach Joe Paterno surprised me. Rioters claimed he did nothing wrong, but I disagree - by doing the bare minimum, he turned a blind eye to repeated child abuse.  

In 2002, Mike McQueary, a graduate student and member of Paterno’s coaching staff, allegedly witnessed Jerry Sandusky sodomizing a young child in the Penn State locker room showers. Rather than stop the assault, he left, waiting until the next day to report what he saw to Paterno. Paterno in turn reported it to Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, vice president for finance and business who oversaw the campus police. 

Rather than investigate the allegations or find the child involved or call the local police or child protective services, the University told Sandusky he’d no longer be allowed to bring children on campus and closed the case. 

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I have so many questions about this scandal: How do you witness a crime, especially a crime against a child and walk away? Why did McQueary not stop the assault? If McQueary had been a kid himself that would be one thing; he wasn’t, he was 28 when he witnessed the alleged rape. Why then, at the very least, did he not call 911? Why did he leave the scene of the crime and phone his dad for advice instead?  

McQueary and Paterno, according to officials, did what was required under the law: They notified superiors. But morally they failed. This isn’t a gray area. It’s not witnessing a co-worker take some office supplies - it was the rape of a child.  Had he witnessed someone being stabbed in the locker room would he have called the police? 

The thing that has my head spinning is that any of this was an ethical challenge for these men. What type of world do they inhabit that the reputation of a university football program is viewed worth more than the price of protecting a pedophile?

As state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said at a press conference, ”Somebody has to question about what I would consider the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child. I think you have the moral responsibility, anyone. Not whether you're a football coach or a university president or the guy sweeping the building. I think you have a moral responsibility to call us." 

I wonder how you can look at yourself in the morning, knowing that your failure to act had endangered scores of children? Sure you can tell yourself that you did what was required under the law, perhaps that will make it easier to sleep at night. McQueary is now the father of a toddler. I wonder how he, or Paterno, who is a grandfather, would feel if someone had the chance to stop the rape of his child or grandchild, but didn’t for fear of losing his job?


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