Jerry Sandusky Case Analysis

Jerry Sandusky was the assistant football coach for Penn State University for a period of 30 years (Crandall, Parnell, & Spillan, 2013). He was highly respected by his peers and the community. Additionally, Sandusky founded The Second Mile organization to offer support and help to underprivileged youth. What is more sickening and completely obliterates any good name Sandusky made for himself over his long career is the fact he sexually abused young boys. Sadly, Graham Spanier (President), Gary Schultz (V.P.-Finance and Business), Timothy Curley, and Coach Joe Paterno of Penn State failed to protect additional victims by knowingly concealed the child predator’s actions from “the Board of Trustees, the University community, and authorities”

The Penn State crisis intensified as the investigations resulting in child sexual abuse charges for the former assistant football coach. More than two years later, “Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of child sex abuse” (Crandall, et al, 2013, p. 20). As the reputation of Penn State University stood in the balance, there was a division in stakeholder perspectives as to the accountability of the university (Crandall, et al, 2013). The four men that had an ethical responsibility to the university to uphold the well-being of the boys affected by Sandusky’s reign were no longer employees of Penn State. The interim President Erickson had Paterno’s statue removed because honoring a man with knowledge of child abuse sends the wrong message and hinders healing. Moreover, the NCAA penalized the university with sanctions that affected many other stakeholders. Further demonstrating the how all the events leading up to the crisis should have been managed properly to avoid or minimize as much damage as possible because innocent boys and stakeholders were