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	How to Think about the Penn State Scandal: Why Trusted Institutions Allow Child Abuse Kelly Clark November 11, 2011 http://www.kellyclarkattorney.com/general/how-to-think-about-the-penn-state-scandal-why-trusted-institutions-allow-child-abuse/ By now, much of America—and all of sport-loving America—has been stunned by the allegations of child abuse at Penn State University against a former longtime coach, Jerry Sandusky, apparently with at least some knowledge by University athletic officials, including an Athletic Director and a Vice President, both of whom have been indicted for perjury and failure to report child abuse. There are even hard questions being asked about beloved coach Joe Paterno, and why he did not call police when he was made aware of allegations some years ago. What has become apparent in the days since the story broke is that the University’s response has been all about the University and not at all about the victims. On Monday, the President of the Alumni Association was on National Public Radio going on and on about how this story really shouldn’t tarnish the great legacy of the Penn State football program. Initial stories in the media seemed to focus almost exclusively on similar questions. Only in the last day or so has the topic rightly turned to larger questions—what about the victims? How did this happen? What is the take-away from such a sad story? I want to suggest that the most important lesson to be learned about this story is how such a situation—abuse and cover-up—can occur in a well-respected institution such as Penn State, with a hope that other institutions of trust will realize what not to do if faced with similar events. For, as a trial lawyer having represented over 300 men and women sexually abused by trusted adults in contexts such as churches, the Boy Scouts, schools and , athletic leagues, I have seen the way that such organizations respond to child abuse allegations. Almost always there is an element of denial and often cover-up. And such conduct always rightly shocks the public. But, how is it in the first instance that such respected institutions—we can now apparently add Penn State University to the list—act in a way so contrary to their ideals and reputation? What is going on here? The only way to understand situations like the one at Penn State is to recognize that in all such institutions of trust and respect, there is a perhaps understandable sense of pride, even uniqueness, that is dominant, and that often colors all else. Organizations such as the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts and others—even governmental entities such as public schools and law enforcement, itself not immune from child abuse in its midst—think of themselves as special, their work as wholly righteous. The organizations have noble purposes, their supporters are fervent and earnest, their workers tireless. The attitude in such places can be so strong that, when confronted with an ugly reality like child abuse, it produces a feeling that we are unique, our mission is so important, our work so noble, that ‘those kinds of problems’ could never happen here, and if they do, well then, we must first of all protect our good name and good work—even if that means we ignore, interpret, or sometimes even violate the rules applicable to the rest of society. The social philosophers have a name for this dynamic, of course: it is the belief that the ends justify the means. You can read about it in any history book. And so when an institution like Penn State University is faced with something so threatening to its work and reputation, so foreign to its ideals and self-understanding, as child sex abuse in its midst, the first instinct is to ignore it or try to make it go away. That cannot be happening here. We have worked too hard for excellence. We have too many people who believe in us. We are Penn State, and we are special. This thing did not happen. And so bishops transferred sexually dangerous priests, Scout officials ignored an obvious cancer of abuse in their midst, and football officials from a prestigious and storied university looked the other way when a boy was raped in their midst. I suspect this—what I call the curse of being special—after all, is what was really going on at Penn State. At one level, of course, it is outrageous, shocking, and devastating. But to allow ourselves to stop with those emotions would be to let ourselves off too easily. No one at Penn State—except perhaps Jerry Sandusky—woke up one day and decided to allow child abuse to occur. We must understand this if we are to learn from what happened. What happened was a product of the curse of being special. Now, this is not to let anyone off the hook–all those responsible for this abuse should be held accountable. But for those of us who care about kids, if we stay focused on the outrage of the moment, we will miss the point. For the point is to take these lessons—including the institutional grandiosity that resulted in such denial and cover up—and make sure that other institutions of trust learn them well, so we don’t have to keep reading this story over and over again.
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