"No one likes a tattletale"
It's heard in nearly every school in America, and has become a staple of childhood vernacular. It's some of the first peer pressure that kids will ever succumb to, and it's used in every case from cheating on tests to pushing out on the playground.
Into our teen years, keeping a secret is sometimes the only thing that signals a bond between pre-teens.
As we get older, a "tattletale" becomes a "snitch", and we learn that the mafia, gangs, and drug dealers will all kill those who tell on them, or at least that's what movies tell us.
With so many influences telling us NOT to speak up when something is wrong, it's a wonder that things like informants and witnesses actually exist. Unfortunately, the constant stream of negativity toward truth tellers has effected our psyches, some more than others.
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When the Penn State scandal news started to surface, it was like a mini 9/11 for me. I was glued to the TV, watching every talking head show that I could to see if anyone had any new information. I read countless articles from a variety of sources, trying to wrap my head around the insanity that was unfolding. With so many different levels, there seemed to be endless updates followed by even more endless questions.
I finally came across a piece that included the grand jury report, and forced myself to read every sentence. If you haven't read it yet, it should be required reading if you feel like making a comment or having an opinion on the subject. It may be difficult for you to read, and may induce vomiting, but it's a must read.
Here's the severely abridged version:
- 8 total victims who have testified to the grand jury that they were at one point either sexually assaulted, molested, or raped by former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky.
- The center of the main controversy involves Victim 2, when a Penn State graduate assistant, who we now know to be coach Mike McQueary but is unnamed in the report, witnesses Sandusky raping what he believed to be a ten year old boy in the Penn State locker room showers.
- McQueary went home, talked to his father, and then told head coach Joe Paterno in the morning.
- Paterno then called athletic director Tim Curley, had him over at his house the next day and told him what McQueary had said.
- A week and a half later, McQueary met with Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz, who assured McQueary that they would look into and take care of the matter.
- Neither Curley nor Schultz contacted either campus, city, or state police about the matter, and no attempts were made to contact child protective services, or to find out about the child of question. They promised to forbid Sandusky from bringing children on campus, which went unenforced.
- Curley and Schultz both testified to the grand jury that they were under the impression in 2002 that the events witnessed by McQueary were "not that serious" and that they were given "no indication that a crime had occured".
- Using the testimonies of both McQueary and Paterno, the grand jury found that the testimonies of Curley and Schultz were not credible, that they should have reported the incident to the proper authorities under Pennsylvania law, and that they both made materially false statements to investigators.
In the wake of the grand jury report being released, a veritable shit storm has been unleashed upon Happy Valley. Sandusky was arrested, got out on bail, and then went shopping wearing Penn State apparel. Curly was given administrative leave to fight his perjury charge, and Schultz retired. McQueary was put on indefinite leave before telling the team that he was done for good. And as you most likely know, Joe Paterno was fired by the board of trustees.
One of the particulars that most people may not know, is that McQueary is protected under the Pennsylvania whistleblowers law (because Penn State is technically a government institution), which is why he was not named in the grand jury report, and why he is not able to be fired for being a whistleblower. If he had wanted to remain on the coaching staff until the end of the season, he was lawfully allowed to do so. The only way that he would be fired, is if the new head coach did not retain him on the coaching staff next year.
Joe Paterno was swiftly fired by the board of trustees for seemingly a moral failure to do more than just tell his superiors, and most likely for sitting on information of this nature for so long, which allowed for a blow up of this nature. The students, fans, and citizens of Penn State rallied for their beloved coach, and supported him with a ferocious tenacity. After his dismissal, fans were left to partake in an emotionally draining, and somewhat inconsequential with the current state of affairs, football game this past Saturday.
My reaction to all of this came in various stages and waves, fluctuating with each story I read or saw. Before reading the grand jury report, it seemed ridiculous that Paterno and McQueary were even mentioned as having culpability in the case. They both went to their respective bosses, who were in a better position to deal with the issue. Plus, it would seem to fall under the administrations job description, not a coach and a graduate assistant, I thought.
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