While I disagree with the calls for Penn State's football program to be shuttered, I think that anyone who has followed this scandal can agree on one thing--the two men responsible for enabling Jerry Sandusky's rampage who are still employed at Penn State need to go. Specifically, I speak of former school president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley. Spanier was forced to resign as Penn State's president in November, but is still a tenured sociology professor at the school. Curley has been on administrative leave since his November indictment for perjury and failure to report. And yet, looking at the Freeh report, And yet, looking at the report, there is no defensible reason why these gentlemen (a term I use in its loosest possible sense) should still be on Penn State's payroll. We need to tell Spanier's successor, Rodney Erickson, and the Penn State board of trustees that Curley and Spanier need to go.
Let's review. Despite knowing about an incident in 1998 in which Sandusky molested a boy in a locker room shower, they made no effort to limit Sandusky's access to football facilities. They fostered a culture in which anyone who reported wrongdoing in the football program would get thrown under the bus to protect Happy Valley's crown jewel. When Curley discussed the 2001 shower incident with Paterno, he backed away from initial plans to report it to child welfare authorities. Rather than tell Curley that this was unacceptable, Spanier was complicit in the decision to handle it internally on the grounds it would be more "humane"--while knowing full well that it could blow up in their faces. Even worse, they potentially put the victim in greater danger by telling Sandusky that Mike McQueary had seen him in the shower--while not bothering to check on the victim's welfare.
At least two legal experts have said that there is enough evidence to charge Spanier and Curley with child endangerment, and charge Spanier with conspiracy and grand jury perjury. But even if their actions fall short of criminal misbehavior, they violate every standard of morality and ethics that are known.
The only reason Spanier wasn't fired altogether is that it is extremely difficult--and justifiably so--to fire a tenured professor. At the time, we only knew that he failed to make sure the 2001 incident was reported to police. And Curley probably hasn't been fired yet because at the time, he was only charged with lying about what he knew in 2001. But now we know both men were actually complicit in the decision to cover up the 2001 shower incident. If this isn't enough evidence to get rid of these two men, I don't know what is.
Penn State already took a big step in cleaning up its image by not hiring one of Paterno's assistants as his successor. To my mind, the next step is to give Spanier and Curley their walking papers as soon as it's legally possible to do so. So help me tell school president Rodney Erickson and the Penn State board of trustees that Spanier and Curley have to go.