UPDATE: 4:00pm EST
The Penn State Board of Trustees said that they are taking “full responsibility” for not stopping Jerry Sandusky from sexually abusing children over the course of 15 years.
PSU board of trustees said they are “deeply ashamed” about its failures and indirectly implicates Joe Paterno.
Karen Peetz, the PSU board of trustees chair said at a news conference that-
“accepts full responsibility for the failures that occurred”
The failures were exposed in a recent investigation released by former FBI agent and federal judge Louis Freeh, the results of which showed that most of the senior leaders of PSU “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.”
Board trustee Kenneth Frazier said-
“Our hearts remain heavy and deeply ashamed. We are accountable for what’s happened here … People who were in a position to protect children and to confront a predator … did not put the welfare of children first”
The board members vowed never to let similar abuse happen ever again.
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What did the Penn State really know about Jerry Sandusky and his years of abuse?
STORY: Say What!? Joe Paterno Persuaded Penn State Officials To Cover Up For Sandusky!
That question and a slew of others will finally be answered, as an investigative report conducted by the F.B.I. has released all the details surrounding the University’s involvement with the convicted pedophile.
The University trustees who paid for the probe, led by former FBI agent and federal judge Louis Freeh, now have knowledge as to what University employees and head football coach Joe Paterno knew about Sandusky’s abuse on campus.
The report revealed that Paterno did not “do all he should have” to report Sandusky’s child abuse, and they concluded that his termination was warranted.
The report also found that the PSU administration failed to act appropriately, while the Board of Trustees failed to create an “environment that demanded proper conduct.”
The report found that the firings of former PSU president Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno to be appropriate.
The report has shed more light as to whether or not there was a cover-up by school officials and the Penn State football team to protect Sandusky.
The report says all four president Graham Spanier, football coach Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz knew about a 1998 investigation into Sandusky that didn’t result in criminal charges at the time, but none alerted the trustees and none took further action against Sandusky.
Freeh’s team focused on Penn State and what its employees did – or did not do – to protect the children who were abused by Sandusky.
More than 400 current or former school employees were interviewed since November, including nearly everyone associated with the football program under Paterno.
The Hall of Fame coach died of lung cancer in January at age 85, without telling Freeh’s team his account of what happened.
Sandusky is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of 45 criminal counts. The scandal led to the ouster of Paterno and the school’s president.
To read the Freeh Penn State report in its entirety, click here.
