The recent shocking and horrific revelations that have emerged from the atrocious saga at Penn State University involving the schools former assistant coach Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky have sent shockwaves throughout the world of college sports and higher education in general.
Thus far, the saga has claimed the jobs of longtime coach Joe “Pa” Paterno and President Graham Spanier. Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, two high-ranking administrators at the institution have been indicted for perjury charges. Mike McQueary, the person who witnessed the incident involving Sandusky and the then 10-year-old minor in 1998, yet, instead of contacting the police, rather called his father and later reported the incident to coach Paterno is facing potential disciplinary action as well.
This story is one that is tragic and heartbreaking on several levels. Anyone with any reasonable amount of compassion has to feel for these (at the time) young boys, now adults and be outraged at the sexual exploitation and level of callous manipulation they endured at the hands of alleged sexual predator Sandusky. According to prosecutors, there are more revelations in store. It is probably safe to say that there is more distressing allegations to be presented to the public. Sad. Sad. Sad.
My fellow “DiverseEducation.com” blogger, Pamela Reed has written a fantastic pull-no-punches article about the sordid allegations and reductive behavior of a number of individuals, known or unknown, involved or connected to the scandal. She covers all the important bases in her piece. I cannot add much more to her insightful and precise commentary. That being said, I want to focus on another issue that is an ongoing problem on college campuses — sexual assault.
Sexual violation of women (and, in some cases, men) has been a problematic fact of life on college campuses for decades. A 2007 survey financed by the Justice Department stated that 1 in 5 undergraduate women are the victims of attempted actual sexual assault. For men, the rate was 1 in 16. More recent statistics collected last year (2010) by the New York University Health Center revealed that:
§ One in 4 college-aged women report experiences that meet the legal definitions of rape or attempted rape.
§ One in 5 college women are raped during their college years.
