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University Case Issue   The former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period

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The former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period. A grand jury charged Sandusky with 40 counts of abuse. Sandusky, 67, maintains he is innocent. He played football and coached at Penn State for 32 years — 23 of them as the team's defensive coordinator. He and his wife, Dottie, raised six adopted children (Chappell, 2011).

 

Key Figures:    

Tim Curley, Athletic Director

Gary Schultz, Senior Vice President for finance and business

1. 1. 6453. Paterno, Head football coach – 1966 - November 2011
      79061593. Spanier, University president – 1995 - November 2011

1. 1. 1001. McQueary, Alleged witness to abuse.  Assistant coach (Graduate assistant when he witnessed act.)
      6305. Calhoun, Janitor and alleged abuse witness

1. 1. 11517. Gricar, Centre County district attorney from 1985 to 2005

1. 1. 6849668994. Courtney, Formal General Counsel for Penn State University

 

Timeline:

Saturday, Nov. 5: The investigation into Sandusky, Curley and Schultz becomes public, with prosecutors accusing the former assistant coach of making inappropriate sexual advances or assaults on eight boys, from 1994 to 2009 (Chappell, 2011).

 

Sunday, Nov. 6: Curley and Schultz vacate their university posts following an emergency meeting with school officials (Chappell, 2011).  Curley was placed on administrative leave; Schultz retired.

 

Monday, Nov. 7: Curley and Schultz are arraigned on charges of making false statements to the grand jury and failing to report the possible abuse of a child (Chappell, 2011).

 

Wednesday, Nov. 9: Paterno, coming under increasing criticism and pressure to resign in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, announces that he will retire at the end of the 2011 season when his three-year contract expires. In a statement, Paterno said, "This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."But hours after Paterno made his announcement, the Penn State Board of Trustees announced that it had fired both Paterno and school president Graham Spanier — "effective immediately," according to the Board of Trustees. In their place, the trustees named Executive Vice President and Provost Rodney A. Erickson as the school's interim president and assistant coach Tom Bradley as the interim head football coach (Chappell, 2011).  Spanier continues as a faculty member.

 

Friday, Nov. 11: Penn State places McQueary on administrative leave. The move comes one day after the school announced it would be "in the best interest of all" if McQueary did not attend the season's final home game, citing multiple threats made against him (Chappell, 2011).

 

Sunday, Nov. 13: The leader of The Second Mile, the charity Sandusky founded and, according to prosecutors, used to find his alleged victims, resigns. President and CEO Jack Raykovitz held the post for 28 years (Chappell, 2011).

Monday, Nov. 14: The ongoing child-abuse investigation has found almost 10 other young men who may have been abused, according to a report in The New York Times. In a telephone interview with Bob Costas, Sandusky admits to showering with boys, but he says he is innocent of the charges and that he only "horsed around" with them (Chappell, 2011).

 

Thursday, Nov. 17: City and university police dispute McQueary's claim that he spoke to police and "made sure it stopped" after allegedly witnessing Sandusky abusing a boy in 2002 — claims the assistant coach seemingly made in an email to friends after the scandal became public (Chappell, 2011).

 

Wednesday, Nov. 30: A civil lawsuit is filed against Sandusky, The Second Mile, and Penn State claiming that Sandusky sexually abused a plaintiff more than 100 times when he was between 10 and 14 years old. The plaintiff, identified only as John Doe, 29, is not among the eight alleged victims in the grand jury's report. The news comes one day after Second Mile urges its supporters to make future donations to another charity, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (Chappell, 2011).

 

Wednesday, Dec. 7: Jerry Sandusky is arrested a second time pending new assault charges. The new charges include sexually assaulting two boys involved in the Second Mile Charity (Curry, 2011).

 

Penn State fired Paterno and President Graham Spanier on November 9, four days after Sandusky was arrested. Athletic director Tim Curely and vice president, Gary Schultz, are accused of perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse, both individuals stepped down from their posts.

 

From the timeline above, a series of traumatic events transpired. Remember—everyone in this country remains innocent until proven guilty. With these accusations there will most likely be a long line of legal proceedings. Currently, this case may only be the tip of the iceberg; and the legal proceedings will continue for months.

 

The Managerial Communication team that developed this case scenario believed many facts will not appear in mainstream media for some time. Even though it may seem that this case is cooling down, the team believes litigation will continue for some time.

 

Works Cited

 

Chappell, B. (2011, November 30). Penn State Abuse Scandal: A Guide and Timeline. Retrieved December 6, 2011, from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/08/142111804/penn-state-abuse-scandal-a-guide-and-timeline

 

Curry, C. (2011, December 7). Jerry Sandusky Arrested on New Sex Abuse Charges. Retrieved December 7, 2011, from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/jerry-sandusky-arrested-sex-abuse-charges/story?id=15104944#.Tt_P51ZnRBk

 

 

Note: On-Campus Managerial Communication students prepared this case scenario.  Please read three articles about this case that were published after 2012 and include that information in your case answers.  Be sure to provide citations and a 

 

FINAL CASE STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

 

Discussion points:

1. What are the three most important issues or problems in this case? (the lives of people directly affected by the situation, the lives of people indirectly affected, image of the university, reputation of the university, impact on recruiting students, impact on recruiting student-athletics, firing people too soon, not firing people soon enough, business and money,  other)
2. Who are the stakeholders in this situation?
3. Identify in rank order, who you think are the three most important stakeholders in this scenario.
4. Explain how you think the scandal will affect student recruitment efforts at the university.
5. Explain how you think the scandal will affect the football program at the school.
6. How does ethics and professionalism play into this situation?
7. What crisis communication/policy changes would you recommend that PSU implement so that situations like this can be avoided?  Of course, your recommendations could apply to any organization (public or private).

 

Please prepare a memo from you to me (submit as an attachment to an email).  Be sure to type each discussion question before you provide the answer for the question; please use regular print to type the question, and use the “bold” feature for your answers (Times New Roman—12 point font).

Please note:  Under your name in the heading of the memo, please type the following statement:

This memo is only for BCOM 601 Managerial Communication course use.   (Be sure to bold the statement)

Please write or call should you have any questions about this case assignment.