One of Pennsylvania's most prestigious football teams
The Nittany Lions, play their home games at Penn State. When it was discovered that Jerry Sandusky, a former coach, had sexually assaulted young boys starting in 1998, the institution made headlines in 2011 for all the wrong reasons.
Several children reported being sexually assaulted between 1998 and 2008
Yet the institution did nothing about it. When a mother of an 11-year-old kid claimed in 1998 that Jerry had showered with her son, no legal action was taken despite the complaint. He was charged with maltreating 11 youngsters who were 13 or younger. Later, Jerry was found guilty for 45 out of 48 criminals ranging from indecent assault and corruption to endangering the welfare of children (Crandall, Parnell, & Spillan, 2013). He was sentenced in prison.
Even though, Jerry was the only one to commit the crime physically
While other members were involved indirectly. For instance, a former janitor James Calhoun, who once caught Jerry showering with a boy, hesitated to report to the authorities fearing reprisals. Ten boys molested by Jerry were beneficiaries of Second Mile Charity, co-founded by Sandusky. Hence Jerry's ability to identify his targets through his charitable organization seems obvious (Brown et al., 2015). In 2011, when the grand jury was released, Sandusky was arraigned in court on 40 criminal charges and was released on a $100,000 bail (Weber, 2012). Schultz and Curley stepped down from their positions of Athletic Director and Senior Vice President respectively and later were charged with felony and failure to report allegations of abuse, endangering lives of minors whom they were mandated to protect. The head coach was also fired. This paper analyzes the Penn State Scandal referring to the following theories: Virtue theory, Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Individualism.
Virtue Theory
This approach focuses on four main moral standards: justice, temperance, honesty, and courage. Honesty implies being truthful. In 1998, when Jerry revealed to shower with a minor, he promised the investigating authority that he would never molest children again. But in a few years later the situation repeated (Crandall et al., 2013) Jerry also lied to the children and their parents presenting his deals to be a part of the charity. Schultz and Curley lied to the grand jury, ensuring everyone they know nothing about the molested children. Moreover, both of them claimed to have no idea of what had been going on. The fact that both Schultz and Curley were occupying the leading positions in the institutions means that they had the responsibility to reprimand and report anyone who would have harmed the children. However, they absconded this duty by giving Jerry a leeway that is more than immoral.Later, Curley and Shultz pled guilty to endangering the children's lives and allowed justice to be served. Jerry can only be described as a coward and heinous criminal since he failed to use self-restraint while coaching the boys. Though he had a same-sex attraction, he should have looked for adults instead of taking advantage of the innocent children (Sanderson & Hambrick, 2012).Temperance is a capability to set judicious cravings and expectations. As an institution of higher learning, Penn State's first responsibility to the society is to protect all the stakeholders in the institution and most importantly the minors (Crandall et al., 2013). However, the sluggish nature of the institution, regarding sexual offenses by Sandusky, illustrates the institution's lack of boldness in tackling moral misconduct. Therefore, it is no wonder that Jerry's conviction led to the reputational damage of the system as well as the destruction of careers of many people such as Curley, Schultz, and Spanier, who was the President of Penn State at the time of Jerry's crime.
Individualism
Based on Friedman's individualism theory, the main objective of business is to make a profit for the owners of equity. Centered on the Friedman's theory, the individuals involved in this scandal were using this theory for their gains. Pattern, Schultz, Curley, Calhoun, and James, as well as many others, were trying to maximize the revenue for Penn State and let the scandal go on for 15 years. The administrators at the institution strived to contain the sexual offenses claims for as long as they could since this would have allowed them to maintain their reputation and keep generating revenue (Crandall et al., 2013). Besides, most of the administrators at the institution such as Pattern and Schultz did not concern sexual offenses against the boys to be their problem and, therefore, were individualistic since they were only ensured with their welfare. As for Jerry, he can be classified as a predator established Second Mile Charity as an avenue for molesting innocent children. One would hope that the donor funding he had got would have been used to improve the lives of the less fortunate ones. However, Jerry used the funds for his gains. Failure to act honestly while maximizing the revenue has the capacity of ruining the overall organization's reputation as well as drawing it into unnecessary lawsuits (Sanderson & Hambrick, 2012).
Kantianism
This theory emphasizes on the ethical standpoint, in which all people should do what is correct in respect of the other individuals. By sexually assaulting the young boys, Sandusky put his family, his employers, his friends, and his charitable organization at stake, and when his crimes were unearthed, he destroyed so many careers. If he had employed the Kantianism theory before assaulting the boys, he would have thought about how his actions would negatively impact on the other people (Crandall et al., 2013). Also, he did wrong in respect to the boys he molested since he caused them emotional anguish, physical harm, and these scars affected them through their lives. The Janitor who received the report on the kids being molested and failed to act accordingly was hurting the boys indirectly. Schultz and Curley also exposed the young boys to an increased risk of sexual molestation since they neglected to report to the police about criminal tendencies of Sandusky.
Utilitarian Theory
The utilitarian theory determines what is right or wrong depending on the outcomes of the actions of an individual. This theory, therefore, means that a good action should lead to the right consequences for all the people involved. Based on this principle, employees at the Penn State did not adhere to the utilitarian theory since their failure to act on allegations of sexual assault from one of the former staff members exposed the children to harm (Chappell, 2012). Besides, Sandusky's actions were wrong since they led to emotional agony and pain for the young boys, loss of jobs to his friends at Penn State, and reputational damage to his employers. The failure of Schultz and Curley to report the allegations of sexual assault to the authorities is wrong according to the Utilitarian theory since they exposed the boys to danger (Sanderson & Hambrick, 2012). Their silence led to irreparable damage to the young boys since they may have a low self-esteem, which could adversely affect their ability to sustain healthy relationships and succeed in life (Prato, 2013).
Conclusion
The discussion has critically analyzed the Penn State Scandal using the Virtue theory, utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Individualism theories. The virtue theory illustrated that the scandal was devoid of moral principles, while the utilitarian approach shows the consequences of the scandal on the personal and institutional level. Besides, the Kantianism and individualism theories illustrate how the individuals involved in this scandal acted according to their interests, endangering the lives of their co-workers and the children they were bound to protect. From this analysis, it is prudent to state that each member of the society should take consider voicing against immorality as his/her responsibility since it is the only way to make schools, churches, and playing grounds safer for every child and all members of the society as a whole.
References
Brown, N. A., Brown, K. A., & Billings, A. C. (2015). “May No Act of Ours Bring Shame” Fan-Enacted Crisis Communication Surrounding the Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal. Communication & Sport, 3(3), 288-311.
Chappell, B. (2012). Penn State abuse scandal: A guide and timeline. National Public Radio.
Crandall, W., Parnell, J., & Spillan, J. (2013). Scandal at Penn State. doi:10.4135/9781506323930
Prato, L. (2013). We are Penn State: The remarkable journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions. Chicago: Triumph Books LLC.
Sanderson, J., & Hambrick, M. E. (2012). Covering the scandal in 140 characters: A case study of Twitter’s role in coverage of the Penn State saga. International Journal of Sport Communication, 5(3), 384-402.
Weber, J. (2012). College Football 2011: The Year of the Scandal. Hyperink.
