Louis Freeh, a former FBI director that conducted an investigation for Penn State University, has reached rather damning conclusions regarding the conduct of former football coach Joe Paterno and other university leaders. Freeh stated that university officials, "repeatedly concealed critical facts" about assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse, and purposefully hid the information from authorities.
According to the report, the university put the need to avoid bad publicity ahead of the need to stop ongoing child abuse. Also contributing to the university issues was (according to MSN.com):
- A striking lack of empathy for child abuse victims.
- Lack of oversight by the board of trustees.
- "A president who discouraged discussion and dissent."
- Ignorance of child abuse issues and laws.
- A football program that had opted out of university programs and training on reporting requirements.
- "A culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus community."
The report went on to state:
The most saddening finding by the Special Investigative Counsel is the total and consistent disregard by the most senior leaders at Penn State for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims. As the Grand Jury similarly noted in its presentment, there was no "attempt to investigate, to identify Victim 2, or to protect that child or any others from similar conduct except as related to preventing its re-occurrence on University property.
Four of the most powerful people at The Pennsylvania State University -- President Graham B. Spanier, Senior Vice President-Finance and Business Gary C. Schultz, Athletic Director Timothy M. Curley and Head Football Coach Joseph V. Paterno -- failed to protect against a child predator harming children for over a decade. These men concealed Sandusky's activities from the Board of Trustees, the University community and authorities. They exhibited a striking lack of empathy for Sandusky's victims by failing to inquire as to their safety and well-being, especially by not attempting to determine the identity of the child who Sandusky assaulted in the Lasch Building in 2001. Further, they exposed this child to additional harm by alerting Sandusky, who was the only one who knew the child's identity, of what McQueary saw in the shower on the night of February 9, 2001.
These individuals, unchecked by the Board of Trustees that did not perform its oversight duties, empowered Sandusky to attract potential victims to the campus and football events by allowing him to have continued, unrestricted and unsupervised access to the University's facilities and affiliation with the University's prominent football program. Indeed, that continued access provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims. Some coaches, administrators and football program staff members ignored the red flags of Sandusky's behaviors and no one warned the public about him.
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