DENIAL STRATEGY
Jerry Sandusky Pre-Scandal:
For nearly a decade preceding the eruption of the Penn State crisis, Jerry Sandusky embraced the denial strategy as his primary image restoration strategy. Sandusky sought to convince others there was no crisis, but rather misunderstood notions of his well-intentioned behavior. Despite allegations of severely inappropriate behavior, dating as far back as 1998, Sandusky avoided charges and prosecution by denying the allegations ever occurred (Thamel, 2011).
''They've taken everything that I ever did for any young person and twisted it to say that my motives were sexual or whatever,'' Mr. Sandusky said. He added: ''I had kid after kid after kid who might say I was a father figure. And they just twisted
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Collectively, they publicly sought to deny the existence of a crisis looming at Penn State concerning various allegations levied against Jerry Sandusky. While their true motives for denying allegations in the decade leading up to the crisis may never be known, it is apparent their strategy and actions played a crucial role in what now is unequivocally regarded as a ‘cover-up’ by Penn State University officials. Employment of this strategy was evident in the manner in which Paterno, Spainer, Curley and Schultz ultimately addressed allegations of Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy on Penn State property in early 2002 – nearly a decade before the crisis erupted in the national …show more content…
Various reports suggest that he acted to persuade the men not to report what they knew to the criminal justice system but rather to have ‘empathy for Sandusky’ with no known mention of concern for the victims and their families (Alderfer, 2013).
Their effectiveness in collectively denying allegations against Sandusky during this time lead the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Linda Kelly to comment retrospectively ''Those officials and administrators to whom it was reported did not report that incident to law enforcement or to any child protective agency. Their inaction, likely, allowed a child predator to continue to victimize children for many, many years” (Thamel, 2011).
Without question, Paterno, Spainer, Schultz and Curly’s use of the denial strategy prior to the eruption of the crisis was highly effective in that this strategy largely suppressed occurrences of official investigations, criminal charges levied against Sandusky and far-reaching impacts that would have otherwise damaged the image of Penn State
Many members of the community, media, and school rushed to assume guilt of the boys. The case started because the lacrosse team threw a party at a off campus house over spring break on March 13th. The catch, they hired two exotic dancers to perform at the party.
A model citizen of the community, Jerry Sandusky joined the Penn State staff as assistant football coach under Joe Paterno in 1969. He was also a founder of The Second Mile charitable organization to help disadvantaged youth. Sandusky retired from this position in 1999 but still had access to the campus due to him being an emeritus professor (Crandall, 2014). Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of child sex abuse in 2012. He sexually abused 10 boys over a 15 year period (Cheppell, 2012).
Penn State football was once the pride of Pennsylvania. The Sandusky scandal changed all of that forever. The University had to learn many lessons. According to Layden, T. (2014), one of the biggest issues that caused the scandal to strive was the fact that those in charge probably felt the football program was too big to fail. In other words, they felt the success of the program was so important to the University and its fans that the scandal needed to be kept on a low profile.
Nevertheless, every authority figure at that time, was just as much to blame as Sandusky for cover up this ungodly act to children. (Fitzpatrick, 2012). Penn State crisis was emotional not just for them it was hot topic for all State College, and leadership for coach. They must not forget about the parents of the children that was Sandusky victim. Consequently, with all the leadership that was remove even legendary football coach Joe Paterno, in this way the healing could start from this crisis at the university of Penn State.
There are many influential items that were brought up during the trial that the judge used to impose his sentence. After a jury found him guilty of over 45 separate charges the sentencing process began, the judge made a statement regarding Jerry Sandusky's status in the community and the fact that he was able to become a predator without anyone knowing and was able to keep it covered up for so long (Bohm & Haley, 2014). The judge continued by also making sure that Sandusky knew the sentencing was being based on the facts brought up in court and that they are true beyond a reasonable doubt (Daily News, 2012). He also must consider the fact the way Sandusky not only committed these crimes but the way it occurred, such as how he abused the trust of the victims who at first had trusted him. These crimes that were committed were not committed against strangers and the judge makes a comment that just that fact makes this a whole lot worse than if it were actually being committed against a stranger (Daily News, 2012).
On November 4, 2011, Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator for Penn State, was accused of sexually abusing eight children during his time at Penn State. More news followed saying that officials at Penn State knew about the incidents, but failed to report any of it to law enforcement. Jerry Sandusky was with Penn State for a total of 32 years. In that time, his actions outside of football didn’t go completely unnoticed. In 1998, an 11-year-old boy told his mother that Sandusky showered with him and may have engaged in some inappropriate contact.
Modern Day Muckraking “In 1979, Goldschmidt, who as mayor had won national renown for the development of the downtown bus mall and the city 's then-revolutionary light rail, was tapped by President Jimmy Carter to be Secretary of Transportation” (Jaquiss). Neil Goldschmidt was a very successful politician, but he was hiding a very dark secret that the people of Oregon deserved to know. Should the type of person, who raped a 14 year old girl for three years, be considered someone that the people of Oregon look up to? This is just one of the questions Nigel Jaquiss addressed in his article about the affair between Neil Goldschmidt and a 14 year old girl that occurred from 1975-1978 (Jaquiss).
In 1998, a mother reported that Sandusky had showered with her son in one of the buildings on campus, which was quietly swept under the rug (Crandall, et al., 2014). In 2001, a football assistant, Mike McQueary witnessed a sexual encounter between Sandusky and a 10 year old boy and reported it to Coach Paterno (Crandall, et al., 2014). Paterno went to the group of four men who were made aware of the situation in 1998 and together, they confronted Paterno (Crandall, et al., 2014). Instead of reporting him to authorities, they told him to refrain from bringing young men to the facilities and informed the director of Sandusky’s charitable organization as well (Crandall, et al., 2014). When President Spanier next met with the board of trustees, he intentionally withheld the information regarding Sandusky’s actions (Crandall, et al.,
In November 2011, Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with ”years of sex crimes against young boys,”and also for, “inappropriately” touching children through the second mile program that Penn State had created for the football program (Layden). Also Joe Paterno and other staff
The Jerry Sandusky trial began in 2012 and was held in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in jail (Curry, 2015). The details of the case are horrific in nature, and worse is five men were made aware of the incidents and no action was taken to alert authorities. During the trial the victims were led through questions that all pointed toward the trust they had in Sandusky. The university is located in a small town setting where people work hard and have little; Sandusky reaching out to someone was considered a big deal.
The films The Nine Lives of Marion Barry and Anita, contribute to history in allowing us to go back in the past to see how we as a society chose how to handle scandals, which creates certain expectation and set boundaries during the era in which they occurred. With this information, we can then redefine the differences between events in the past and compare them today. For example, Barry was elected into office countless times after countless drug scandals surfaced about his coke addition, yet Anita Hill’s reputation was destroyed after she accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Many would consider this to be great injustice, resulting in confusion. As a result, the media plays such an important role in helping us understand and in showing how some scandals are very specific to time, place, and culture which is why people react differently to them.
Jerry Sandusky's son arrested, charged with child sexual abuse https://t.co/J94E77EbBZ — USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 13, 2017 The official said that this investigation started back in November. The minor's father contacted authorities about the alleged abuse. He stated that Sandusky had been allegedly sending his son text messages asking him for naked pictures of him. At the time, Jerry Sandusky's son was allegedly dating the mother
In 1988, Indiana Basketball coach, Bobby Knight, sparked much deserved criticism in an interview with NBC. NBC newswoman, Connie Chung, interviewed Knight and when asked in regards to not getting his way during a game he said, “I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” Knight quickly added that his comments should not be taken out of context. The university apologized for the comments and stated that they do not reflect the views of the university. These are absolutely deplorable comments to make on national television as the head coach of a prestigious basketball program like Indiana.
Sandusky holds onto his innocence. He believes that he was wrongfully convicted. Sandusky states, "Others can take my life. They can treat me as a monster. They can take away my heart, but I know in my heart that I did not do these alleged acts" (Bohm & Haley, 2014, p.309).
May 25, 1997, Sherrice Iverson, a 7-year-old girl lost the chance to grow up and live a full life. Jeremey Strohmeyer, a teenage boy walked into the women’s bathroom and intentionally molested and strangled the innocent child. David Cash was a key factor to whether that girl had a chance to a future or not. Choosing to ignore what he witnessed, he walked out of the bathroom leaving the teenage boy and 7 year old girl alone. Because of Cash’s decision, it created a controversial debate of whether he should continue to go to Berkeley.