My last posting on school shootings dealt with a school’s reasoning that it is
cheaper to hire a new professor than intervene with a potential shooter and
risk a lawsuit. That sort of reasoning strikes at the heart of problem of mass
school shootings. The anecdote in that posting appears to be under-the-table
actions by a school administration whose main goal apparently is the protection
of the school and its reputation—at all costs.
But it is not just shootings. Look at Penn State. There were
no deaths at State College, but young boys’ lives have been scarred forever;
they have been psychologically and physically damaged. And how did Penn State’s
leadership respond? The school thought of the institution first and put
protecting the university’s reputation ahead of the safety of children. The
following is a direct quote from the findings of the Louis Freeh report
investigating Penn State sexual abuse scandal:
Our
most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and
welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State.
The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to
protect the children who Sandusky victimized. Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno
and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the
safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest.
It appears that Penn State responded with a wink and a nod,
an incomprehensible willingness to turn a blind eye to child abuse. Both
schools—Penn State and Virginia Tech—put the reputations of their respective
institutions ahead of taking action. Neither school took the correct course of
action when confronted with crimes—Virginia Tech at the double homicide in West
Ambler Johnston Hall, and Penn State when confronted with eye witness accounts
of child abuse. “Protect the school and
its reputation” appears to have been the mantra of these administrations bent
on shielding their inactions from review and recriminations.
The Appalachian School of Law, Virginia Tech, and Penn
State; in all three cases, the inaction of school officials struck at the heart
of common sense and human decency. In all three instances, at all three
schools, the words “mediocre” and “incompetent” leadership describe the actions
of the schools’ administrations. (To be continued)
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