Bryan Machamer played basketball for Penn State at the same time as former Penn State Coach Mike McQueary played football for the school. McQueary, who saw Jerry Sandusky with a young boy in the shower, and he were friends. The university's former athletic director, Tim Curley, was invited to Machamer's wedding. He characterizes the entire Pen State athletic community as "close knit".
Machamer, now an optometrist, assures me that McQueary is a "good guy" despite not reporting former coach Sandusky to the police.
He said, "He could not believe what he saw. Jerry was like his uncle. His father and Jerry were friends. Jerry was Linebacker U."
More troubling, he describes the culture in the athletic department as "military like."
"McQueary did the right thing. This was Big 10 athletics. If there was a problem, you reported it to your coach. He followed the chain of command, which is what we were taught," said Machamer, who has often returned to campus for games after graduation.
Machhamer confided that it was an open secret among the Penn State community about Sandusky's activities. If that is the case, it is very disturbing that no one went to the police.
Sandusky most likely will soon be punished, but that does not guarantee that the these horrible transgression will not be repeated against other innocent victims. I am wondering what Penn State is doing to change their hierarchical culture.
Comedian Bill Maher has noted that all male cultures, such as the church and the military, seem to run into this kind of trouble. I suspect women question a chain of command culture.
If legendary coach Paterno insisted or perpetuated this type of culture, then Penn State was right to fire him. His players should have always known that their first loyalty was to protecting the abused.
Maher's comment shows he has never worked a corporate job, or a job where the chain of command exists. I'm not sure that this type of problem has anything to do with gender, and his thought that women would be somehow different is typical. In my experience, women are no more likely to speak up than men, and the main reason that no one of either sex speaks up is that they are afraid to lose their job.
ReplyDeleteThe "chain of command" structure exists in the corporate world as well, and I've never heard of a corporate paedophile scandal. The military has its problems with intersex sexual assault, but this is a different type of assault.
American society is not a fan of whistleblowers and given that so many people are living on a knife edge known as unemployment, many are reluctant to rock the boat.
I would posit that the problem has more to do with a culture that allows paedophiles to hide in plain sight, and offers them access to the young boys they crave.