Organization

  • Structural sensibility focuses on the interplay between structure and agency
  • A phenomenon is not caused simply by one or the other – both contribute equally
  • The Sandusky Scandal did not happen just from one thing – it was brought on by many factors that would fit the structural sensibility
    • The way in which The Second Mile Program was set up and what it brought to the scandal
      • Young boys attended the charity (giving Sandusky his victims)
      • The young boys showered at the school (site of the scandal)
      • The charity was run by Sandusky so he had authority
  • The way in which the staff was organized
    • Members of the janitorial staff saw Sandusky abuse the children (one spoke out and a member said that they were afraid that they would lose their jobs if they said anything about it)
    • Graduate assistant saw Sandusky abusing a child and told Joe Paterno who then told the athletic director the next day
  • How the police contributed
    • Investigation was started in 1998 after one of the victim’s mothers called university police to tell them that Sandusky showered with her son and touched him inappropriately
    • Not even a month later the investigation is called off after the District Attorney “decides the case warrants no criminal charges”
    • Sandusky continues to sexually abuse young boys until he is finally arrested in December of 2011
    • What would have happened if they continued with the investigation? Could Sandusky been behind bars years before he actually was if the police didn’t call off the investigation?
  • Showering
    • I never played any sports where the team or coaches showered together but if football is a sport where the team showers together, then it wouldn’t seem like the biggest deal if people said that Sandusky was showering with them which could be another contributing factor into how the scandal went on for so long
  • How Sandusky got close to the boys
    • He had them over his house
    • He would take them to the football games
    • He would call them at home
    • He would buy them things