Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Say What?

So the news has broken today that the NCAA has reversed its earlier scholarship penalties against Penn State University for alleged cover-up in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9716482/ncaa-reduce-penalties-penn-state-regarding-jerry-sandusky-child-sexual-abuse-matter?src=mobile

Coach Bill O'Brien is, I'm sure, very delighted that he will now have 75 scholarship football players on his team in 2014, 80 in 2015, 85 in 2016, and back up to his full complement in 2017.  Also, NCAA president Mark Emmert indicated that more scholarship cap reductions could be forthcoming a year from now.  NCAA officials also mentioned that the post-season ban punishments could be revisited.  Emmert, as the article mentions, was quick to insist that the reductions occurred not because it was felt they were too severe, but because those maintaining vigilance over this situation have decided that Penn state has done its due diligence in a good-faith effort to implement most of 119 recommendations issued by former FBI director Louis J Freeh in his eponymous report, issued more than a year ago, that led to the NCAA's punishments.

I have scoured the available outlets for reactions to this news, and besides what I consider to be the appropriate response, namely that this is a travesty of justice, a slap in the face to sex abuse survivors everywhere, I also saw a handful of other reactions quite repetitively, which I will list, with my responses underneath in red:


1.   "Good!  Now restore the vacated wins and the chance to play in bowl games!"

Are you freakin' kidding me??!!  Hardly worth dignifying with a response; if I had one, it would be something along the lines of, "I really hope none of your near and dear ones is ever the victim of a sexual crime, because I fear your return from the planet you are currently on will then be a particularly bumpy ride".


2.   "The NCAA didn't have a right to punish Penn State.  This was not an athletic matter; this was a criminal/state/civil matter and the NCAA overstepped itself by sticking its nose in".

The abuser was a member of the athletic department, the whistle blower, Mike McQueary, was a member of the athletic department, and Tim Curley, one of the alleged cover-up artists in this scandal, was the head of the athletic department.  Some of the abuse took place at the athletic complex of the University and on trips involving the athletic department.  PSU belongs to the NCAA, which organizes the athletic programs of its members and in turn, the members agree to follow the rules and regulations set forth by the NCAA.  "Ah," some of the commenters said, "Penn State didn't violate an NCAA rule by having a coach showering with, and behaving sexually inappropriately with boys at the Penn State facility and elsewhere, so the NCAA has no jurisdiction in this case!"  Well, The Plaza has no rule specifically against me donning a chicken head, moving tables in the lobby and doing gymnastics on its dime, either, but you can best believe that if I did, I'd expect my lovely 16-year tenure there to come to a speedy and abrupt halt.  It is just understood that we must conduct ourselves a certain way when we work/hang out somewhere and if we don't, some entity will appoint itself to make sure we don't work/hang out there anymore.  It certainly should be understood by a reasoning individual that if there are no specific rules in the NCAA charter against sexual abuse, the NCAA will still punish this because most reasoning people understand that no one should sexually abuse anyone, particularly an adult should not abuse a child; no self-respecting university would want to be known as Ped State; and no governing body, such as the NCAA, would want to be affiliated with such a member university without taking a moral stand on its own behalf.  What is wrong in the world that this has to be explained?  But if a school doesn't like the punishments levied for wrongdoing, let them feel free to leave the NCAA, or file suit against them.  And any fan who doesn't like the NCAA's punishments can feel free to quit watching college football.


3.   "The athletes and alumni of Penn State are innocent -- why should they be punished because some administrators failed to do their jobs?"

I addressed this previously in my post Hopeful, Part 2.  The football players with scholarships at PSU had choices.  Most players talented enough to be recruited by a Division 1A school have lots of choices.  How many choices did the victims have?  I said, "...what about all the thousands of students, employees and others who benefited all these years from an opulent football program that prospered on the backs of at least ten innocent abused boys?...I believe the message Penn State and our society in general needs to receive here is to get our priorities in order.  Football is not more important than education.  And nothing is worth the sacrifice of one precious soul to abuseNothing!!"  (As proof of the first part of my observation, interestingly, a PSU student commented today that the effects of the sanctions had trickled down to the non-athlete alums as well.  Why do we not acknowledge the benefits they accordingly reaped during the time the abuse and alleged corresponding cover-up transpired?)  I went on to say that many innocent people in our society are sacrificed to sexual abuse, such as a survivor's partners and children, because we have not risen up righteous to rid ourselves of it yet.  I wish I heard nearly as much sympathy for them as for the innocent athletes and alumni at Penn State!


4.   "Sandusky had left PSU as coach in 1999; nobody at the university should be considered responsible for anything he did there after that".

When Jerry Sandusky retired, Number 5 on his list of requests as part of his benefits package was to have "access to training and workout facilities".  Joe Paterno's response:  "Is this for personal use or 2nd Mile kids?  No to 2nd Mile.  Liability problems."  Yet University President Graham Spanier overruled that opinion, granting Sandusky the emeritus status that allowed him to bring children to Penn State grounds long after his official retirement to abuse them, as Mike McQueary witnessed.  Are we to believe that nobody who knew his history saw him there with kids?  This is why, as much as I would like to believe in Joe Paterno's innocence in allowing this matter to perpetuate, I just can't quite let him off the hook.  What I think is more likely is that he was getting older, being perceived as a has-been in the coaching biz, he nonetheless tried to exercise his influence in this matter, but his influence had wound down.  And I doubt that he was the only one who knew and saw.  My experience with molestation tells me otherwise.  And I also still can't get past the fact that none of these mandatory reporters, including Joe, notified the proper authorities at any point.


5.  "Well, since Penn State is catching a break, why not USC with the Reggie Bush incident?  All he did was get a little rent money."

Hmmm, you may have a point.  I don't know as much about the USC thing as the PSU scandal, only what I have read today.  But based on what I have read, I think the punishments of both schools ought to stand.


6.   "Why should Penn State be punished when even a couple of the victims said they shouldn't be?"

Gee, what a great idea!   Tell ya what, while we're at it, from now on, we'll just eliminate jury trials -- they're so expensive, such a bother, and no one really likes to miss work to serve on a jury.  From now on we'll just ask the victim, "What do you think we ought to do to his guy who molested you and 99-299 other kids?"  Blood and body parts would run in the streets.

All sarcasm aside, as a survivor I can tell you, at this stage of the game the two overriding thoughts these victims have is: How soon can all this weirdness be over and I get my life back?  (And the answer, from my experience is, life as you knew it is over forever.  Prepare for the New Normal.  Get yourselves some supportive people around you, people you can call at 2 AM, crying; who will never get tired of hearing you talk about this subject; people who will hold you and never let you go.  They'll be tough to find, if you can find them at all, but worth it when you do.  You'll need them).  And the second is, as mentioned in Hopeful, Part 2, some of these kids had death threats levied at them.  What the hell did you think they would say?


It goes without saying I am deeply disappointed in the decision of the NCAA.  Another case of money talking.  The message to society:  Sex abuse is no big deal.  Money is more important.  The message to sex abuse victims:  Nobody cares.  You don't matter.  Your pain and suffering are nothing.

Well, you do matter and I care.  Recently, I became aware of the possibility of yet another molester (for a grand total of three) in my extended family.  I am fed up to HERE with the prevalence of molestation in the world and the totally impotent attempts to end it.  I have decided to do something to try to help all victims, which I have alluded to in the final paragraph of Hopeful, Part 1.  I will have more details for how those interested can help after I assemble a plan and a team.

More Later,

Claudia