NEW YORK TIMES Op Ed: The travesty of the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky scandal speaks loudly to institutional power and the culture of protection, cover-up and secrecy that prevails in college athletics, specifically, and university administrations, in general. But the severity of Sandusky’s offenses goes beyond the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s reach for the following reasons:..
According to Mark Emmert, the president of the N.C.A.A., the association’s mission “is to be an integral part of higher education and to focus on the development of our student athletes.”Any penalty administered by the association against the Penn State football program will adversely affect the athletes it should be developing. Since no athletes were implicated in these charges, penalizing the football team or other athletic teams would only result in penalizing the innocent…
Instead of thinking about punishing Penn State athletes and sports teams for the hideous Sandunsky affair, the N.C.A.A. should be addressing the organizational culture of athletic departments in which good and bad people ignore criminal behavior. By making this a priority, the N.C.A.A. will be fulfilling its duty to develop student athletes… (more)
