He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lasch Building
Update: As noted in the comments, there are situations where communal showering is not avoidable or a terrible situation, so I have edited for clarity.
This is Part III on the history of the cover-up in the Penn State University rape case. You can read Part I here and Part II here. To reiterate for the third time, the purpose of this series of posts is to focus on the systematic cover-up by PSU of the Jerry Sandusky rape case as it spanned decades, was investigated in the late 1990s, and not a damn thing happened to him until the Grand Jury investigation of 2010 concluded. My purpose is to show that this was not, obviously, an isolated incident and that it did not happen in a vacuum. Men knew. And, instead of doing the right thing, these men did – nothing.
Actually, they did worse than nothing as they did whatever they could to protect the status quo and their brand name, but I am getting ahead of myself. Suffice to say, what they didn’t do was protect the children whom Sandusky was sexually abusing and raping.
Warning: I will be quoting from the Grand Jury Report, which I normally wouldn’t do as it’s quite graphic and disturbing. However, I can’t really write about the history of the cover-up without quoting from the report, and as distasteful as the details are, I believe the severity of the abuse needs to be known so that we can try to prevent something like this from happening again. Part of the problem is that much of Sandusky’s behavior was downplayed as horsing around or inappropriate touching or some other bullshit. I will expand on this thought later in the post.
In the second part of my series, I was delving into the case of Victim 2, the most well-known of the cases because it involves an eyewitness, a former graduate assistant and current PSU assistant coach, Michael McQueary. In reading the findings from what happened after McQueary reported his what he saw to Joe Paterno, head coach, and Tim Curley, PSU Athletic Director, I discovered that this is where the spin, the minimalizing of the rapes, and the ass-covering began in earnest.
PSU administration starts the spin game in earnest
We are back to the case of Victim 2. Here is where I left off the last post:
But, here you see, is when the Wurlitzer starts spinning.
Curley testified that the graduate assistant reported to them ‘inappropriate contact’ or activity that made him ‘uncomfortable’ occurred in the Lasch Building shower in March 2002. Curley specifically denied that the graduate assistant reported anal sex or anything of a sexual nature whatsoever and termed the conduct as merely ‘horsing around’. When asked whether the graduate assistant had reported ‘sexual content’ ‘of any kind’ by Sandusky, Curley answered, “No” twice. When asked if the graduate assistant had reported ‘anal sex between Jerry Sandusky and this child,’ Curley replied, “Absolutely not.”
Just horsing around. In the shower. With a young boy. Nothing sexual. At all. Inappropriate, yes. Uncomfortable-making, sure. But, you know, nothing sexual or anything like that. The contradictions and bullshit within that one paragraph are enough to make my head spin, and it only gets worse.
Graham Spanier, President of PSU
In writing about the testimony of various PSU administrators, I am going to be commenting frequently as much of their testimony is incredible in the true sense of the word, meaning difficult to believe. I have no idea how these men rationalized to themselves the shit that they said in their testimonies as it would take some nifty mental gymnastics to come to the conclusions they did.
It’s Tim Curley’s turn on the stand. Curley testified that he had told Dr. Jack Raykovitz, Executive Director of The Second Mile about what McQueary had reported to him. Curley also told Sandusky that he (Sandusky) could not bring young boys to the PSU campus any more. Then, Curley told McQueary that Sandusky was not allowed to bring young boys to campus any more and that ‘the information’ had been given to the director of The Second Mile. Curley also told PSU President Graham Spanier about what happened, though Curley didn’t specify what, exactly, he told Spanier. Spanier testified that he approved Curley’s handling of the situation.
Curley did not report the incident to the University Police, the police agency for the University Park campus or any other police agency.
So, to recap, when Curley was given information about a possible crime committed on campus, he didn’t notify police of any stripe. Keep that in mind as I continue dissecting the PSU admin’s testimony.
Gary Schultz, Senior Vice President for Finance and Business, took the stand and testified about the meeting with Curley and Paterno. Schultz said that Paterno had reported ‘disturbing’ and ‘inappropriate’ conduct upon a young boy in the shower by Sandusky. Schultz also testified about the subsequent meeting with Curley and McQueary. Schultz couldn’t remember if McQueary had told them about the shower rape.
He testified that he had the impression that Sandusky might have inappropriately grabbed the young boy’s genitals while wrestling and agreed that such was inappropriate sexual conduct between a man and a boy. While equivocating on the definition of ‘sexual’ in the context of Sandusky wrestling with and grabbing the genitals of the boy, Schultz conceded that the report the graduate assistant made was of inappropriate sexual conduct by Sandusky. However, Schultz testified that the allegations were ‘not that serious’ and that he and Curley had ‘no indication that a crime had occurred.’ Schultz agreed that sodomy between Sandusky and a child would clearly be inappropriate sexual conduct. He denied having such conduct reported to him either by Paterno or the graduate assistant.
OK. I need to stop here and take on this bullshit by Schultz. He has plenty more to say, but I can’t let this paragraph go by without ripping it to shreds. Let’s say that he is telling the truth that he and Curley were not told of the anal-rape of the young boy in the shower. I think he’s lying through his teeth (as did the Grand Jury), but for now, I’m going to let this statement stand. He testified that he heard Sandusky was in a shower with a young boy. There is no reason for this scenario to occur – none. From this remark alone, Schultz and Curley should have turned Sandusky over to the cops. A grown man showering with a young boy is fucking wrong. Do I know if it’s legally a crime? No. But, I would at least call the fucking cops and inform them so they could do their damn job and investigate whether a crime had occurred.
Moving on. Schultz testified that he and Curley were told that Sandusky was wrestling with a young boy in the shower and GRABBED THE BOY’S GENITALS. Yet, Schultz wasn’t sure this was sexual, and he thought the allegations were ‘not that serious.’ Not that serious? Not that serious? Re-read what I just wrote. A grown man was showering with a young boy, wrestling with said young boy, and grabbed the boy’s genitals. To Schultz, this was a gray area and just not that serious. Personally, I believe it’s crystal-clear that this was sexual in nature and a very serious allegation; Schultz and Curley had more than enough to at least call the fucking police.
I have no idea how someone could hear just what I quoted above and not do all within his power to make sure that Sandusky never got within a thousand feet of another young child again. How could these two men hear just what I excerpted above and concluded that the allegations were ‘not that serious’? Try as I might, I cannot crawl into their minds to see what they were actually thinking – it’s too foreign – and repulsive – to me.
Testimony heats up as PSU administration scrambles to cover their asses.
Jack Raykovitz - President of The Second Mile (Executive Director then)
Schultz went on to recap what he and Curley had decided – to prohibit Sandusky from bringing Second Mile children to campus. Note, they did NOT bar Sandusky completely from campus, just said he couldn’t bring any Second Mile children with him – which was unenforceable, anyway. They had told the director of The Second Mile – something. We’re not sure what, but the ‘information’ was passed along. This was like a game of Telephone in which the message just got garbled and watered down as it passed from one man to the next.
Schultz testified that he thought the ‘child protection agency’ might have been notified as they had been in the 1998 investigation. He allowed that there were similarities between the 1998 investigation and the 2002 allegation, what with Sandusky being naked in the shower with a young boy and displaying inappropriate sexual conduct*. Schultz went on to say that the 1998 incident was investigated by the University Police and the ‘child protection agency’ under the aegis of then-counsel, Wendell Courtney. Courtney was then and is now the counsel for The Second Mile. Schultz agreed that Spanier was apprised of the 2002 incident and that Spanier approved of the action taken by Curley and Schultz as a result.
Here’s the kicker: Schultz oversaw the University Police as part of his position – which was probably why he was in on the meetings, even though his title was Senior Vice President for Finance and Business – and never reported the 2002 rape to the University Police or to any other agency. He did not review the 1998 investigation and never tried to find the boy from the 2002 rape. No one from the University tried to find the boy. Think about that one for a minute. Schultz did not question McQueary for specifics, nor did anyone else. Schultz didn’t know that there had been a lengthy report produced by the University Police in the 1998 case. He and Curley never talked about the possibility of going to the police with ‘the information’ they received in 2002. That’s a whole lot of nothing from these men, I must say. Schultz retired in June 2009, but held what amounts to a senior vice president position at Penn State until the Grand Jury report was released. He and Curley were both placed on administrative leave on Sunday, November 6th.
Next up on the stand was President Spanier. He has a background in sociology and marriage and family counseling. I report that without comment, allowing you to draw your own conclusions. He essentially confirmed Curley and Schultz’s testimonies, saying:
Curley and Schultz came to him in 2002 to report an incident with Jerry Sandusky that made a member of Curley’s staff ‘uncomfortable.’ Spanier described it as ‘Jerry Sandusky in the football building locker area in the shower [ ] with a younger child and that they were horsing around in the shower.
Wendell Courtney, PSU General Counsel
Now, again, let me stop here. Imagine you are President Spanier and two members of your staff came to you with the exact paragraph I quoted above. What would your reaction be? Mine would have been, “What the fuck is a grown man doing taking a shower with a little boy? That’s some fucked-up shit, man.” There is no explanation for that kind of behavior – none. On that basis alone, I would have turned the suspicions over to the police and let the chips fall where they may. Let me reiterate: There is no fucking circumstance in which a grown man showering with a young boy is OK. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.There is no fucking circumstance in which it is OK for a grown man to bring a young boy into the shower with him and then instigate ‘horseplay’ in order to feel up said boy. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.
The reason I’m emphasizing this is because all these men tried to weasel their way out of taking responsibility by minimalizing what they had been told. Oh, if they’d been told that Jerry Sandusky had anally-raped someone, of course they would have turned him over to the police. Again, I believe at least some of them were told exactly that, but that’s besides the point. It shouldn’t have had to reach the scale of anal rape in order for these men to do the right thing and report Sandusky to the appropriate authorities – to anyone, really. Even if all they knew was what I excerpted above, it should have been enough to make them realize that there was something desperately wrong with Jerry Sandusky and giving him a position of power at PSU so that he could continue his assaults was equally wrong. The fact that even under oath, they tried to slough off their responsibility is despicable.
More incredibly, Spanier testified that even in April of 2011, he did not know the identity of the employee. Think about that. He didn’t even bother to find out WHO the perpetrator was – he was that incurious about the whole thing. He also testified that he was never told the conduct was sexual in nature. What. the. fuck. Grown man. Young boy. Naked. In the shower. By definition, that is sexual in nature. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with these men.
Spanier concluded by saying that, no, Curley and Schultz didn’t indicate they were taking the allegations to the cops, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, or any child protection agency. He also testified that he was not aware of the 1998 investigation.
All these men failed in their moral duty to protect vulnerable boys from a sexual predator. All of them had enough information to go to the police, and yet, not one of them did. I find this reprehensible.
In Part IV, I will finish up with the last (known) victim and the findings of the Grand Jury. For now, I just want to thank you all for reading my posts and for commenting. You have bolster me so that I can continue to wade through this muck and write post after post about it. Thanks.
*My interpretation of the similarities.
I’ll be reading all three series. I’m an alum.
I wrote about this morning here…
http://progressivepoc.com/2011/11/13/i-bleed-blue-and-white-psu-alum/
It is unimaginable. Will read and comment…
That’s an excellent post, thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Thank you, Allan. I enjoy your writing and some of your writing has inspired me to write other posts.
Were you at PSU in 2001 when the Black Caucus leaders were being threatened? If so, I’d be curious to hear if you see any similarities in terms of official university reaction.
Hi Amy,
I left PSU in 1996. I do remember there was something happening with the black students at PSU around that time and there was a call for Alumni to come up and support. I do believe these were the threats you are referring to. Unfortunately, the mobilization request was right before 9/11 so many Alum couldn’t and didn’t make it up. I believe this all led to the take-over of the Hub building.
PSU is not the most welcoming climate as far as people of color are concerned unless you are an athlete. We have long struggled with the university on that front. As I tell people all the time, I lived in the South and was never called, “ni$$er” but I was up at PSU just walking down the street. This is why the AA Alum are very close because we had to be in that environment and why our ties are so strong with each other that can’t be divorced from PSU.
Princss6, I read your very moving blog that addresses your personal response to the ongoing travesty, and I posted the following comments there:
Princss6, thank you for having the courage to share your very personal and painful reaction to the horrific tragedy that has taken place at your beloved alma mater, Penn State. It must be hard to watch the chilling facts unfold because of your very personal connection to the university.
Not that it should matter, but do you happen to know, or is there any way to find out, the race or ethnicity of the eight victims identified? We know from the Grand Jury report that all of the eight victims were “underpriviledged” boys and most came from single family homes. All were affiliated with Jerry Sandusky’s organization, The Second Mile which ironically and sadly was founded to help “troubled” boys.
Is it possible that the Powers That Be at Penn State would have found it more difficult to turn a blind eye to what was happening if any of the children were “one of their own”? Would JoePa and company have continued to sit on the sidelines if someone had caught Sandusky in the showers with one of Paterno’s grandsons? Would local police and social service agencies who knew of Sandusky’s predatory tendencies respond this way if they thought that it was the children of donors who were abused in this way? What are your thoughts on this?
I responded over there, too!
Here’s my response.
Thank you for your comment.
I’ve been racking my brain about how to find out if Sandusky targeted boys of color. All I can do is point to some clues and generalities. Because of having been to the school, I initially thought white children. That is just the demographics of the area and who gets “perks” with the PSU football program, generally speaking. I read the GJ presentment and there were no identifying information. So this is what I know:
1) The local area is almost exclusively white.
2) People of color do not want to live there because of that unless they are associated with the University.
3) Second Mile has three offices – State College, Camp Hill and King of Prussia – all in PA, none in inner cities where as the media parlance goes you would find “underprivileged” read black kids.
4) As another alumni mentioned on FB – the participants (boys) in Second Mile are diverse.
5) It appears to me that the boys were local.
6) Race plays a part in everything, even the lily whiteness of PSU and the surrounding environs.
7) Patriarchy and white supremacy go hand and hand. The mother interviewed on Good Morning America appeared to be white, even though he face was not shown and her voice was altered.
9) Prima facie, in this instance where you target children who no one will believe and do nothing about, that tends to lead to boys of color.
So is it possible that boys of color were targeted. I think there are some things that suggest it is possible. As I said elsewhere, I don’t think McQueary would have saved a white boy either. But there are also things that suggest that these were not black boys. And since I’m going on speculative cues and no direct evidence, I’m withholding judgement on that front. In other words, I have nothing firm or validated. I believe it could go either way. I’ve been told that there is a picture somewhere out there with Sandusky and one of the victims from a bowl trip. I’ve not done the research to try and find it because 1) it may have been removed and 2) to protect the identity of the minor in this case. Honestly, I don’t think we will know until this goes to court and the victims have to testify.
Thank you for your excellent post, princss6. I agree with you on the complexity that alums must feel. In fact, I will touch on that in my future post on the reactions to the firing of Paterno. I have bookmarked your post and will link to it when I write that post.
Thank you! And thank you for this series. It is excellent and very thorough. And above all else, so important to educate others on the systemic issue of our rape culture and glorification of entertainers/athletes as good as the default.
I am too emotional to say anything more than thank you, for expressing what so many of us are too shocked and disgusted to say, without wanting to grab a baseball bat and beat the mess out of these bastards.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/10/SP0U1LSR7Q.DTL
I guess Paterno didn’t have much use for lesbians in the sports program either.
Of course these dudes never bothered to phone the police or tried to find the victim. They each had gone above and beyond to not tell law enforcement, but had notified so-and-so, what more could they do? As soon as one guy passed that hot potato, his involvement was over. He could sleep at night knowing he’d done the absolute most he could do. And that child protection agency knew about it. Besides, it was just horsing around anyway. And they took the guys keys away! And barred him from bringing kids on campus!
Ugh. That last one really gets to me. “Just don’t do it on campus.” That’ll really stop an aggressive pedophile. As if there isn’t a big whole world of hotel rooms and basements and cars in which to prey on young boys.
Fuckers.
They *said* that they took Sandusky’s keys away and barred him from bringing kids to campus but he continued to do so for years and no one stopped him. He even ran an overnight camp for kids on another Penn State campus until 2008.
“Sandusky held the football camps through his Sandusky Associates company from 2000 to 2008 at Penn State’s Behrend satellite campus near Erie. There were never any complaints, according to a spokesman. Still, Behrend’s athletics director said he wishes someone had told him about the 2002 allegation.”
link: http://www.cumberlink.com/sports/penn-state-fb/article_64566ad2-0d4a-11e1-ab3a-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1dcKda4Fm
This whole thing has touched so many chords of rage, sickness and a feeling of helplessness in me that I’m not sure exactly what to say. I spent over 30 years of my working life as a social worker and counselor, mostly with children and families. I have dealt with rape and sexual abuse in just about all its forms and even testified as an expert witness a few times.
The cover up, the blatant lying and failure to act or protect these children and now the CYA going on makes me livid. There is no hell too deep or too hot for all those involved.
Thanks very much for your analysis. It’s right on. Best I’ve read yet on this horrifying subject.
I’d like to know whether Paterno was asked in the grand jury investigation whether he was told of the 1998 case. Remember, according to one of the victims, Sandusky told him that Paterno met with him in May 1999 to inform him that that he wouldn’t ever replace Paterno. Later that year Sandusky inexplicably retired.
And no doubt that Curley as athletic director would have been involved to some degree in whatever retirement terms were worked out for Sandusky and would have had a conversation with Paterno about why a football icon was calling it quits in his coaching prime.
It’s hard to believe that the 1998 case and perhaps other rumors didn’t directly lead to Sandusky’s retirement. If this case is going to be fully investigated, then this apparent link must be explored.
If Paterno knew in 1998 or 1999 that Sandusky was a suspected pedophile, he was obligated to contact the real police — not those working for the university.
I also wonder if records of the district attorney who disappeared in 2005 were ever subpoenaed. What was the basis — in writing — of him not deciding to charge Sandusky?
Keep up the great work.
I think that the PA Attorney General has to appoint a special prosecutor in this case: to investigate the death of the Centre Co. DA; to investigate any failure to go forward by PSU; to ivestigate Sandusky’s conduct with the charity.
And, go forward and procecute to the fullest extent of the law.
I think they should bring in the Dept of Justice. It is alleged that I believe at least two of the boys were taken across state line for PSU Bowl Games. Flying with the team and staying in the hotel with the team.
Grand jury report, page 14: Victim 4 testified that Sandusky took him to 1998 Outback Bowl (Tampa) and 1999 Alamo Bowl (San Antonio).
Thanks asiangrrlMN. Horrifying. I wonder how many of these orgs (schools and charities) have this going on. Just fucking unbelievable, unconscionable, appalling.
There is no fucking circumstance in which a grown man showering with a young boy is OK.
I agree about 99% with what you’ve written but not with this. Male locker rooms often have shared shower rooms, and there’s really no alternative to showering together. But a man throwing soap on a boy and wrestling with him in the shower? That’s not a boundary issue, it’s a sexual assault.
I understand about the communal showers in gyms, but when it’s an underage boy, a prudent non-predatory adult would, if only to avoid the APPEARANCE of impropriety and to not run the risk of acting inappropriately, suggest that they shower one after the other in order to preserve privacy.
A guy who used the communal showers as a hunting ground, on the other hand…
Thank you for this series. It’s very plain and simple when it comes down to it, isn’t it? You have laid it out so well.
I keep thinking about victim #2, no one knows who that even is? Is the kid even still alive? McQueary was the last to see him alive when he left him alone with Sandusky. Who was then to bring the kid home I guess. Perfect. I hope he got there. I hope he breathes still.
I am a gay man. I have 2 sons. Am I a terrible person if it turns out that we showered together at some point?
I’m not trying to be mean, angry, or difficult here.
–Bose
No. I should have nuanced that better. It was late, and I was tired. I will clarify.
I think showering with one’s own children is a different set of circumstances. Just as Michael Jackson’s sleepovers wouldn’t have raised eyebrows if it had been his own kids sharing the bed. I maintain most adults in a position of authority, especially if they had connections to a youth charity, would know better than to introduce the possibility of a compromising situation by showering with a kid who was NOT their own. If only to avoid being accused of improper conduct, if nothing else.
I am now your newest HUGE fan!
How could a university remain silent & turn it’s back on so many children being molested after countless witnesses saw Sandusky either fondling or having sex with little boys? What is the reason? Was it the children’s blackness? And why is this mofo out on bail?
And this just beats all…I read the Judge who set unsecured bail for Sandusky the alleged serial child rapist is a volunteer at his charity Second Mile. WTF?
I posted these over at BJ, but want to post them here too.
I am grateful for these kick ass take no prisoners blog posts, asiangirl.
Yes, there is no such thing as consent between any child and any adult so even if Sandusky asked or claims he did, he never received consent AT ALL. No child can consent under any circumstances.
PEDOPHILIA IS A POWER TRIP, period. It is always rape, it is always assault, it is always violent dominance. Indeed, one can see from the GJ testimony the hatefulness in Sandusky’s actions. Even in his own book he used language that describes his propensity for violence.
Pedophiles damage and traumatize children FOR LIFE. Most pedophiles charm their victims, get to know them, get their trust before they move in for the kill. Pedophilia is predatory behaviour.
As a former child victim of two molesters, one a relative, the other a “friend of the family”, I can attest to this; and what was done to me is tame compared to what Sandusky did to these children.
Millions of children around the globe are sexually abused every day and although most of the abuse is perpetrated by males, these men are often enabled by not only other men but the women in their lives. You can bet Sandusky’s wife knew.
Pedophilia is epidemic and all pedophiles have enablers, supporters, admirers, fans, deniers, and supporters. Hell, they even have tourist agencies.
Just want to add, what really pisses me off about the judge granting Sanduksy nearly unconditional bail i.e. he can see his grandkids over Thanksgiving for Christ sake – it is very likely he might attempt suicide, which is what these sick cowardly fucks usually always do out of self-pity and their need to avoid facing consequences. Attempted suicide would also win him more sympathy. Pedophiles are highly skilled manipulators.
Death is too good for Sandusky. He needs to be forced to face the judicial music as do all of his enablers, fans and other complete low life losers.
I’m so sorry, MacKenna, for what you’ve experienced. As one survivor to another, you have my heartfelt sympathy.
Yeah, the judge/bail part is also sickening. This whole case is.
it is very likely he might attempt suicide, which is what these sick cowardly fucks usually always do out of self-pity and their need to avoid facing consequences.
You’re in my head. I said the same thing. Sandusky will probably take the coward’s way out rather than face the music.
This was really fucking difficult to get through, but everyone needs to read it. Twice. The mind just BOGGLES. I can’t even process the amount of people who knew. Something is really rotten in society. Thank you for writing this. This is one of the most important things I’ve read in a while.
You were right at the start. Grown men don’t shower alone with boys who are not their relatives. Sure, at the gym sometimes people end up showering together. But a man taking a child into a shower? Alone? at night? No, you were right initially. That’s an indication something was planned.
I have no sympathy for any of them. I’ll save that for the mostly unknown boys they didn’t care about.
OMFG! Oh My Sweet Jesus. If it is found to be true that young boys were pimped out to rich donors, that is wickedness beyond belief. Let everyone who covered it up rot in prison and shut the mofo down including Penn State Football. Whew Lawd…this is too wicked! Just too much..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPK-yW6lU1o