[Husker] What about McQuery?

[Smith, William]

Whistle-blowing, reporting illegal or unethical conduct to outside
authorities, is one of the riskiest moves any employee can undertake.
There are countless examples (my favorite is Jerome LiCari, the scientist
at Beech-Nut who discovered his employer was passing off sugar water as
apple juice) where someone has seen, could even prove, that criminal
activity was taking place in an organization, yet when the cat is out of
the bag, it is the whistleblower that quickly becomes the target of the
investigation.  What exactly do you know?  How long did you know it?  What
proof do you have?  Why didn't you report your suspicions earlier?  What
are you personal motives in coming forward at this time?  What
transgressions might you be hiding?  Even when the whistle-blower can
prove his/her case, future employability in the industry will be seriously
compromised.  

Further, even though it's tempting to think the police, the IRS, SEC, EPA,
FDA, highway patrol, whoever will come in and "clean house", there's no
guarantee of such.  Who's to say they are always on the side of right and
good?  In some instances aren't they in bed with the accused, part of a
sophisticated network of enablers?  (I'm going out on a huge limb here,
but I'll wager the Central Pennsylvania police, especially with no
corroborating evidence early on, are going to tread very very carefully
when it comes to matters involving "allegations" against the Penn State
athletic program.  That is, they will actually be inclined to be part of
the "damage control" response.)

I admit I know very little about this case (what the media wants to tell
me, and that is always open to suspicion), but it makes a lot of sense why
Michael McQuery did not go to the police.  It seems sickenly indifferent
in retrospect, but there are very good reasons why modern organizations
demand, and almost always get, loyalty from their employees.

Bill Smith
Towson, MD   

On 7/12/12 9:25 PM, "Andrew Smith" <arossman at earthlink.net> wrote:

>> ... this was a conspiracy among the president, vice-president,
>> athletic director, and head football coach to 1. cover up the crimes
>> of a child molester, and 2. allow the child molester to continue to
>> molest children for 14 years.
>
>What I've never understood (actually, I understand why but disagree with
>it) is the treatment of Mike McQuery compared to Paterno, Curley, etc.
>McQuery is the one who actually witnessed a rape, yet it seems did not
>contact the police and then when no action was taken against Sandusky,
>did nothing for several years.
>
>
>And below are my thoughts in response to an article which suggested this
>was a sports problem and asked "what have we learned?".
>
>The problem is that society (including the media) sees college athletes
>and coaches as members of a team first, then the university, and only
>then as a member of society. When crimes are discovered, the first
>question raised is "what did the coach do?", followed by "what did the
>university do?", and much later if at all "what did the police do?". It
>should be no surprise then that people do not go to the police when they
>should.
>
>For example, in the Sandusky case more blame for not calling the police
>is placed on those who were told of Sandusky's behavior (Joe Paterno and
>his bosses) than on the person who actually witnessed them (Mike
>McQuery) simply because they are higher in the athletic chain-of command.
>
>This is not just a sports problem. We saw a similar tragedy in how
>abusive priests were handled. Society encourages people to decide whom
>to inform, not based on the nature of the crime, but on the group to
>which a perpetrator belongs.
>
>The lesson we should learn is simple ­ let the nature of the crime guide
>who you inform, not the perpetrator¹s membership. If you suspect someone
>of abusing children, you do not go to the coach, church, or anywhere
>other than the police.
>
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