The Penn State Mess Gets Worse

The Atlantic:

The emails reportedly never mention Sandusky by name, instead referring to him as "the subject" or "the person." The first email, sent 16 days after Mike McQueary reported witnessing Sandusky in the shower with a boy, was from Vice President Schultz to athletic director Curley explaining the plan was to "talk with the subject [Sandusky]... contact the charitable organization [Second Mile]... and contacting the Department of Welfare."
But, a few days later, Curley apparently wrote this in an email to President Spanier:

"After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe [Paterno] yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps. I am having trouble with going to everyone, but the person involved. I would be more comfortable meeting with the person.. tell him the information we received... and tell him we are aware of the first situation."

They develop a plan to deal with the problem in house, to tell Sandusky there's a problem and offer professional help. Curley writes in an email that if Sandusky cooperates, they'd be willing to work with him. If not, they'd have to inform Second Mile and the Department of Welfare. Former university President Spanier was supportive of the new idea, but was also aware how bad it would be if people found out they didn't report Sandusky:

"The only downside for us is if the message isn't 'heard' and acted upon, and we become vulnerable for not having reported it. But that can be assessed down the road."

It was in that same email that Spanier used "humane" to describe the way they were planning on handling the situation.

What a major league fuck up by the University.  It is probably a good thing that Joe Paterno is no longer available to testify or serve time in jail, because that is probably where he'd end up.  As it is, his reputation is in absolute tatters.  All the good things he'd done in his life will forever be overshadowed by this disaster. 

When are institutions like Penn State and the Catholic Church going to realize that the cost of making such a scandal public are much lower than the cost of covering up the crime while the perpetrator goes and commits more crimes?  But, a word of suggestion: if somebody is going to make such a terrible decision, try not to do it in email.