AP A Penn State grad’s open letter to the university, via today’s The Daily Collegian:
After shock and sadness, I am now in never-like-it-before anger mode.
I am beyond shame and disgust that Mike McQueary is still in any way associated with PSU. By not intervening, by not contacting authorities and most grotesquely, by seeing Sandusky around PSU and young children for a decade afterwards, McQueary is the horrifying embodiment of not doing things the once righteous “Penn State way.”
At best, he is a coward. More accurately, he is an accomplice to felonies that destroyed innocent children. How dare he think for one more second that it is okay to be a part of PSU, or any society that values humanity. How dare he not fall down on his knees and beg forgiveness from the families? All for what, McQueary — a job coaching football? How black-hearted have we become?
Trustees, I beg your attention: if he is still on the sideline Saturday, I — and I bet I’m not alone — am done with Penn State forever.
Matt Kalafat
Class of 1991
Strong words. But Penn State interim head coach Tom Bradley said today in a press conference that McQueary will be coaching at the Nebraska game. (UPDATE: Penn State now says McQueary will not be there. Update II: Death threats.). Bradley, though, refused to elaborate, leaving the big question: if he shows up, where will McQueary be stationed?
- On the sideline? Not likely. According to Wikipedia, McQueary is “easily identified on the Penn State sideline by his bright red hair,” and under present conditions, that’s not a plus.
- In the press box? That would make it look like he’s hiding. Plus there’s that awkward ride up and down the crowded stadium elevator.
- In disguise? Might have worked on Halloween weekend, but not now.
- In Goodyear Blimp? I see no way this could end badly.
Look, I’m only trying to laugh here to keep myself from crying. A lot of folks are feeling the same as the above-mentioned letter writer, in that McQueary’s presence at Saturday’s game would be an insult to the alleged victims, and another mark of shame for the university. You can paint over Jerry Sandusky’s image on the Penn State heroes mural in downtown College Station, but no amount of oil-based paint will cover this.
McQueary is The Man Who Knew Too Much, the only known witness (save for a janitor now mentally incapable of testifying) to one of the actual alleged acts by Sandusky of child sexual abuse. McQueary has been vilified in the press and to the full extent of public opinion. His crime? Witnessing a sexual crime perpetrated on a child and, instead of calling the police, calling his father, and then running it up the university chain of command, where it died of neglect.
McQueary was the witness, according to the Grand Jury report, who saw Sandusky sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in the shower area of the Penn State locker room in 2002. And then, knowing that the incident had been swept under the rug, he remained silent — even with the knowledge that Sandusky had subsequently been seen in the company of other boys on campus.
Pretty damning stuff. But let’s look at it from McQueary’s point of view for a moment.
What if McQueary had gone straight to the cops … and the boy then denied the whole thing? And you know Sandusky wasn’t going to confess. Where does that leave McQueary? It’s not like he witnessed a murder. Here, the victim can actually bury you.
But I guess I’m playing Devil’s Advocate here, because I think I know — at least I hope I know — what I would have done.
1. Intervene. Let him know that you know. Make sure you’ve stopped the assault. 2. Tell Joe Paterno. I have no problem with that … but if after a day or so it’s clear that the cops haven’t been notified, then I do it myself. 3. Resign. If no one believes me, I’m leaving, and taking this public. The stakes are just too high not to do that.
I’m not sure how McQueary could have gone on coaching there with the knowledge that, almost certainly, other boys were being abused. Is any job worth that? At what point do you look at Paterno’s team motto: “Success With Honor”, and not want to throw up?
The Allentown Morning Call says that the Penn State Board of Trustees does not plan on making McQueary resign, but they are asking that he not be present on the sideline on Saturday. But as we’ve already learned in this fiasco, events can change direction on a dime. Brian Cuban (brother of Mark Cuban) seems to think they will, as a matter of fact. Cuban is a Pittsburgh area native.
On one level you have to feel bad for McQueary, who was Penn State’s starting quarterback in 1996 and ’97 before embarking on a failed career in pro football. He signed with the Oakland Raiders in 1998, and ended his pro career when he was cut by the WFL Scottish Claymores in 1999. He returned to Penn State as a graduate assistant in 2000.
Not only was McQueary a former Penn State player, but he’s a State College native, making him emotionally tied to the university as a person can be. Indeed, McQueary’s father, Mike, said the scandal has been hard on his son.
“It’s not that he’s not willing (to address the scandal),” McQueary’s father told The New York Times earlier today. “I think it’s eating him up not to be able to tell his side, but he’s under investigation by the grand jury. He’ll make it. He’s a tough kid.”
But I’m not sure what “his side” might be. Don’t play a sad dirge for Mike McQueary. It’s the victims in this case who need your thoughts, your prayers, and maybe, finally, no thanks to McQueary, a little justice.
***
Rick’s Cafe Americain appears on Thursday. Contact Rickchand@gmail.com.
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- staph1nfection - Nov 10, 2011 at 8:50 PM
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This might sound a little crazy, but is it possible that McQueary is being treated differently because The Board now has knowledge that he was a Sandusky victim when he was a child? That’s the ONLY reason I can possibly think of for him to be treated any differently than the others by The Board, as he is arguably the most at fault in this whole mess.
If that scenario was the case, I assume people would view him (and his strange actions during the shower encounter) a little bit differently.
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- lewp - Nov 10, 2011 at 10:40 PM
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I happen to know Brian Cuban and he anticipates this:
“Expect a settlement reached for McQueary to resign in the very near future”
The Penn State nation is hurt and pissed. It’s just a matter of time before McQueary is axed as well.
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- jerseyshoregiant - Nov 12, 2011 at 8:57 PM
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not just the Penn State Nation, the entire Nation is hurt and pissed!
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- kinggw - Nov 11, 2011 at 5:17 AM
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Im sure im one of the few, but I think that Penn State handled this correctly. That is in terms of who they have fired.
McQueary should not be fired in my opinion. Its easy to say that if you were in the same situation you would have done x, y, and z in that situation. In fact, yesterday many former football players like Matt Millen and Doug Flutie have offered the I would have handled business myself argument. Thats bullshit. I think there is a good chance they would have paralyzed by a multitude of emotions and not known the proper course of action to take in that particular moment. McQueary consulted his father who gave him advice to let Paterno know what he witnessed.
The reason why I think that Paterno was rightfully terminated is because of his actions or lack there of after what McQueary told him. The incident McQueary witnessed took place in 2002. Paterno was well aware that Sandusky had been accused of similar behavior in 1998. It was clear there was a pattern of behavior. Nevertheless he acted with no urgency and with no regard to other potential victims. Paterno, unlike McQueary, was the the boss and in many ways his power and influence superceded that of the AD. In other words he was obligated to do more than to just kick it up the ladder to cover his ass.
Sadly, I feel that many in Penn State nation aren’t upset with McQueary because he failed to stop a heinous act of pedophilia or neglected to call the police. I think people are mostly upset the fact that McQueary set off a chain of events that have ruined the legacy and ultimately caused the firing of their beloved JoePa.
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- tomtravis76 - Nov 11, 2011 at 11:31 AM
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Its very easy to play Monday Morning QB. We all wish he would have stopped this, we all think we would run in and protect every child, we all think we all are programmed to always do what is right. Well, we are not, if so this would be utopia. Some people are raised and told all their lives to mind their own business, could be the McQueary family values, not what we would want, but that is how he could have been raised. He made the wrong choices. He trusted his mentors and they failed him. They all failed the young kids. Don’t make McQueary the bad guy here, he showed his colors. Sandusky is the evil one here, he is the one rapping kids, he is the one who made everyone else make poor choices, he is the one who destroyed so many lives. Sandusky was the one running around hurting people, all the other people involved were cowards in not stopping this sick individual. The PSU administration has been wrong for a long time in protecting Sandusky, for that those people are all paying the price. But this ultimatley comes back to Sandsuky, the destruction he has caused. Sandusky needs to have his life end, so he can’t cause anymore harm.
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- bigharold - Nov 11, 2011 at 3:02 PM
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“Don’t make McQueary the bad guy here… ”
That really isn’t the point. It’s not so much that he’s the bad guy it’s that he was the guy. He was there and it was his responsibility, as a human being, to do more. When this occurred McQueary was a 28 year old educated MAN that came from, (by all accounts), a good family. He certainly knew right from wrong and the gravity of the situation. His failure to act at the time and subsequent silence precludes him from receiving any sympathy or empathy. And, it should make one wonder if he should ever be allowed to coach or supervise young people. In life it’s usually easy to know what the right thing to do, .. because it’s almost always the hardest thing to do. You don’t always have to stand tall but you ALWAYS have to stand up.
Like Paterno, he showed a breathtakingly profound lack of judgement. One might allow for a bit more understanding towards McQueary because Paterno not only had a more comprehensive understanding of Sandusky he also had more than enough profile and reputation to deal with the issue head on. Nevertheless, like Paterno, McQuearly will pay for it with his reputation and likely his career. We are all eventually held responsible for our actions in life and Paterno and McQueary are no exceptions. It sad that a young man was put in the position that he had to make such a life altering decision at a relativity early age. But he was and he made the wrong decision. It’s also sad that a coach that has spent decades doing the right things for the right reasons and being such a positive force in his community will now always be remembered for a scandal in which he too made the wrong decision. But, the sympathy and understanding in these circumstances need to be reserved for the victims.
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- mbg19 - Nov 11, 2011 at 5:26 PM
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I have made McQueary a bad guy because he allowed the abuse to continue for not only the few seconds or moments in the locker room, but because days, months and even years after he met with the AD and the VP he said nothing. He walked shoulder to shoulder with Sandusky on multiple occasions, and had to see the guy on campus on a regular basis. How can any “man” have witnessed such a horrible act, and then turn around and spend any amount of time with him. How does one not turn and ask “why aren’t you in jail?” the only explanation I can come up with is that either McQueary wasn’t thorough in his explanation of what really happened that night, or he was offered something in return for his silence. In either event, he should be removed from PSU and if he was forthcoming with the entire story in 2002, Paterno and possibly, maybe others shouldn’t have lost their careers. McQueary is the second most responsible for the actions after March 1 2002, and if this is how Penn State wants to show they are committed to a brighter tomorrow, well they need to remove the dark cloud that follows them in the form of McQueary.
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- vikesfansteve - Nov 11, 2011 at 5:58 PM
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Don’t make McQueary the bad guy!
28 yrs old. Tried out with the Raiders. Doesn’t make NFL so goes back to Penn State where he was the qb for 2yrs.
Witnesses Sandusky anally raping a 10 yr old. Has the size to stop it, could beat Sandusky senseless. What does he do? He runs away.
He then tells his Dad who goes to coach Paterno 24 hrs later & then follows up on it no further.
Years later he see’s Sandusky around campus with other little boys & does & says nothing.
Talk about selling your soul for a job.
HE IS A MAGGOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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- tomtravis76 - Nov 11, 2011 at 6:18 PM
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McQueary is a coward, Joe PA and the administration are enablers/ criminals, Sandusky is a Monster.
We don’t know what the administration told McQueary, wait to see how the story unfolds for him. They lied to everyone for years about Sandusky, even before McQueary was around, so what makes you think they didn’t spin a lie to continue the cover up about Sandusky to him. I am not defending McQueary, he didn’t step in when a young child was being hurt, and he is a coward for that. Just don’t forget that Sandusky is the evil one here, he created this awful mess. Hate for Sandusky should grow. Again,Sandusky is the evil monster who preyed upon these boys.
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- twinkydefense - Nov 11, 2011 at 9:55 PM
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Mr. Chandler
There is a very good rationale for elevating a legal system of prosecution above the public trials and oppobrium of vigilantes and journalists.
I presume you would have no objection to submitting yourself to the same Good Samaritan standard that obligates individuals informed about the culpable inaction of their superiors? I am referring here, of course not only to Mr. McQueary’s and Mr. Paterno’s inaction, and the moral oppobrium that has denounced it with unspeakable revulsion, but to all morally reprehensible inaction. With all the easy condemnation being professed with respect to Mr. McQueary and Mr. Paterno, it would seem that no one professing such condemnation sees a problem: behavior that is morally reprehensible and yet lawful. I submit that this is the dilema of the Good Samaritan standard.
Does such a standard apply in all cases of moral inaction, ( e.g. poverty, sickness, war, injustice, disability, depravity, accident, etc.), or is it to be restricted to only those cases that just happen to incite public outrage and widespread media coverage?
Finally, do you suppose that the didactic adage about glass houses has any merit with respect to your own inaction in the past (widespread media coverage and and public knowledge aside)?
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- jerseyshoregiant - Nov 12, 2011 at 9:33 PM
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Shouldn’t people in the care of other peoples children, like Paterno and McQueary, be held to a higher moral standard? Usually people in positions like Paterno and McQueary have morals clauses in their contracts, although Paterno’s contract is probably a handshake.
Teachers are generally held to a higher moral standards as they should be and college football coaches are considered teachers of young men.
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- rubbernilly - Nov 12, 2011 at 11:53 PM
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Let’s have a little clarity on this:
Moral inaction (of and by itself) is not *necessarily* a bad thing. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. Just because there isn’t a clear cut distinction where the gray over here begins to tend toward white and the gray over there begins to tend toward black does not mean that you don’t recognize black when you see it, or white when you see it.
You, apparently, need such a clear demarcation. Most high-functioning adults do not. Just because one cannot, in the abstract, construct a clean syllogism regarding the a priori classification of any and all Good Samaritan situations does not mean that in a particular case one cannot arrive at a positive conclusion, with defensible reasoning.
But we’re not talking just about moral inaction. We’re talking about ongoing moral inaction, where there are expected (if not known-certain) victims of violations and abuse, and those victims are children. It is an error of classification to compare that to walking past a homeless person without giving them change, for instance, which is what it seemed your post was trying to do.
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- malice420dotcom - Nov 11, 2011 at 11:29 PM
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Soooo, Where were the elite Worldwide Leaders in sport news for 14 friggin years ?
It’s hard to believe not a single journalist, TV host, analyst, coach, guest or water cooler “Hey ! did you hear?” had a sniff of this guy and turned him in when the entire town knew? The guy gave the media a couple of shots. 14 years, seriously ! The guy should have been Herman Cained ten years ago,
Many kids were abused because of the media silence. What was the media game, cover up and shut up for access ?
Really now !!
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- 1historian - Nov 12, 2011 at 11:22 AM
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(This will never happen BUT) if on Thursday a gigantic blizzardly icky terriblistic snow storm hit the neighborhood and on Saturday morning there were 3′ of snow there and there was no sign of it stopping – what would people do?
They would cancel the came.
But this is just spin time, this is just dumb kids running around (and lighting candles whenever they see a camera) and even OWS trying to get some of the action.
Welcome to America 2011
PLAY BALL!!!
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- jerseyshoregiant - Nov 12, 2011 at 9:14 PM
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I just know that if I were in a similar situation as McQueary and I acted the same way he did, the phone call to my father would have went something like this.
me – “Dad, I just saw so and so(lets assume my father personally knew the guy) raping a young boy in the shower at the football facility, what do I do?”
dad – “WTF do you mean what do you do, did you stop it, did you call the police”
me – “no”
dad – “Then get the F back there and put a stop to it if you can, get that child away from him and call the police”Of course I truly believe the phone call to my father would have been made after being interviewed by the police.
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- cleekk - Nov 14, 2011 at 5:22 AM
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Frankly, I get worn out with all the hysterical moral outrage from people that know what they would have done in that “moment of truth.” And I’ll bet that if this situation, had never occurred, and Mike Mcqueary and Joe Paterno were sipping coffee in the field house one morning while reading the news that a graduate assistant from Florida State had witnessed Jimbo Fisher raping a 10 y/o boy, that Mike McQueary would have said, Man, if I had seen that, I would have beaten Jimbo Fisher to within an inch of his life. And Joe Paterno would have said, I’ll bet Bobby Bowden knew about this and chose to do nothing. The REALITY is that given the circumstances in which these men found themselves, the majority of us morally outraged would not have reacted much differently. Yes, we know what SHOULD have happened – as Paterno said, in hindsight, I wish I had done more – but I’m not convinced that in that “Moment of truth” that wearing their shoes, we would have done it differently. Now that we have the benefit of seeing what has happened, we have the clarity to react differently – McQueary and Paterno didn’t have that benefit. In McQueary’s defense, viewing the rape was probably such a shocking sight that he probably didn’t know what to do – and while we can say what he should have done, he was risking his dream of coaching at PSU by reporting it outside of PSU channels – again, something that no one else is taking into account. That doesn’t make it right, but it would cloud most people’s judgement as well. Furthermore, my opinion is that this was handled improperly. Whether you believe it or not, Sandusky has plead “not guilty.” In the court of public opinion, his guilt has already been decided. A few years ago there was an incident at another university where a national championship coach was forced to leave over the allegations against some of his players. Lives were ruined, player’s reputations were destroyed, and in the court of public opinion radical changes needed to be made – immediately. Turns out the Duke Lacrosse team was innocent, but that didn’t save the coach’s job. Oops.
