1. Sex Scandal Crisis for Penn
State University
Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky
By:
Molly Ehrhardt
Whitney Smith
Kailin Moore
Michelle Arena
2. History/Background of Penn
State
Pennsylvania State University was founded in
1855, and since then has grown to 24 campus-
es
Its academics are compared to the Ivy League
universities
Penn State had worked very hard for this pres-
tigious reputation, and demanded the same of
all its employees
3. Joe Paterno
December 21, 1926-January 22,
2012 (age 85)
Head Coach for 45 years
Was a beloved figure in the
college community
Had five undefeated seasons, 33
bowl appearances, and two
National Championships
He and his wife, Sue, donated
more than $4 million to Penn
State
4. Jerry Sandusky
Penn State assistant coach
Worked under Paterno for 31 football seasons,
from 1969 to 1999
Retired from his position but continued his in-
volvement at the school as a coach emeritus.
5. Crisis
Sandusky started a charity in 1977 to
help troubled children in Pennsylvania
Several children from his organization were
Victims
8 boys were brought onto Penn State’s
campus, where they were molested and
raped
Ranging in age from 8 to 17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDEpnjRIYo&feature=related
6. Victims
8 Victims in total
Victim#1- Mother says Jerry began to pull
her son out of class and secretly force the
boy to perform sex acts on him.
Her son began asking for information about
identifying "sex weirdos" -- and when she
asked why, he told her he thought Jerry
was one of those people.
http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/11/penn-state-scandal-vic
7. Victims cont'd
Victim#2- Graduate assistant caught
Sandusky forcing himself on a 10-year-old
boy
Reported to multiple people, but police were
never notified
Sandusky was told not bring any more boys
from Second Mile back onto the campus.
8. Crisis Management
It was 'swept under the rug'
Acted as though the scandal never
happened
Tried to save their reputation by taking the
least amount of corrective action possible
9. 3 C's
Compassion. Credibility. Control.
Compassion- Not penalized until late 2011
Credibility- So many people knew about
the rapes, but no one said anything
Control- The situation was left alone until
the abuse charges spread and the story
broke out
10. Media coverage
Bad relationship with the media
Interviews had no compassion
Little communication
Very unorganized
Extremely delayed
Unprofessional
11. Reputation/Image
Joe Paterno's reputation was destroyed
University's reputation with the media-
destroyed
With the public- destroyed
Future students were nervous and....
Most Alumni stayed loyal
12. Prodroms-
Time line
1994 – Boy known as Victim 7 in the report
meets Sandusky through The Second Mile
program at about the age of 10.
1994-95 – Boy known as Victim 6 meets San-
dusky at a Second Mile picnic at Spring Creek
Park when he is 7 or 8 years old.
1995-96 – Boy known as Victim 5, meets San-
dusky through The Second Mile when he is 7
or 8, in second or third grade.
13. Time Line Cont'd
1996-97 – Boy known as Victim 4, at the age of 12
or 13, meets Sandusky while he is in his second
year participating in The Second Mile program.
1996-98 – Victim 5 is taken to the locker rooms
and showers at Penn State by Sandusky when
he is 8 to 10 years old.
Jan. 1, 1998 – Victim 4 is listed, along with
Sandusky's wife, as a member of Sandusky's
family party for the 1998 Outback Bowl.
1998 – Victim 6 is taken into the locker rooms and
showers when he is 11 years old. When Victim 6
is dropped off at home, his hair is wet from
showering with Sandusky. His mother reports
the incident to the university police, who
investigate.
14. Recovery
A full recovery for Penn State will take
years
All they wanted was to regain the
confidence that was lost
Crisis management plan was not used
correctly
Not prepared for a sex-abuse crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UuaL7myqnM
15. Corrective Action
Joe Paterno was fired on November 9th
Jerry Sandusky was arrested on November
th
5 with 40 criminal counts related to
sexual abuse of children
Athletic director, Tim Curley, and Senior
Vice President for Business, Gary Schultz
were “charged with perjury and failure to
report to authorities what they knew, as
required by state law
President Graham Spainer had been fired
17. Almost six months later,Penn State is still
feeling repercussions from both the crisis
itself and the way it was handled
It was very preventable
Should have been handled much more
effectively
