By Chewy Baumel ’13, Sports Editor

The scandals at Penn State and the University of Syracuse have brought shame and embarrassment to the sports world. Without getting into the gory, inappropriate details which most of the nation has heard about in the news, what has occurred in the football and basketball programs respectively is unlawful and has no place in our society.

At Penn State, former assistant coach and defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, was recently convicted on several counts of child abuse and much more. However, to make matters worse, the Penn State authorities– beginning with the head coach, athletic director, and president–were informed about the actions of their employee, Jerry Sandusky,  occurring on Penn State grounds in the locker room. And what did each authority figure do with this information? Not enough. The supposed acts of abuse occurred over a long time period, most recently in 2002, and the investigations are still ongoing.

The bigger theme in this case is not only the wrong and illegal actions of child abuse, but the false power that has been bestowed into historic football programs. Penn State, previously led by the renowned Joe Paterno, had a reputation as being one of the cleanest, proper, and fatherly football programs in the nation. The whole area of Penn State and Happy Valley worshipped and supported this fantastic program. But with this scandal coming to the surface, we have witnessed a huge cover-up in order to protect a football program. Authorities took a false oath of silence in order to protect a football program over the lives of innocent children.

The news is out and all the authority figures that had any involvement or knowledge of the situation have been ousted. The whole world has witnessed the complete and utter collapse of a historic program because a few men chose to remain silent.

The second case in the news has to do with an assistant basketball coach at Syracuse University, Bernie Fine, who allegedly sexually abused the ball boy and others involved in the program. Less information has been released in this case as it does not appear to be as widely spread within university programs. However, I feel the university has made a huge mistake in allowing head coach, Jim Boehiem, to remain in his position. As coach of a team, Boehiem is responsible as a father figure to protect his players, assistants, ball boys, and any other young men involved in the program. Although Jim Boehiem was never informed of Fine’s actions and wrongdoings, as head coach, it is Boehiem’s responsibility to have known that one of his ball boys was being taken advantage of by an authority figure. For these reasons, Boehiem should not be permitted to take the sidelines for the University any longer.

I fear as a sports fan that we will hear about many more cases in the coming years of cover-ups and hidings of unlawful actions in order to protect major sports program. With these two scandals, we would have seen two of the most heralded and respected sports programs in the history of collegiate athletics lose their reputations. Programs supposedly built upon integrity and grace have been exposed as nearly the opposite. I fear that the worst is yet to come if the power instilled in these sports programs continues to alter and interfere with our morals.

As citizens of the United States and part of a larger community, it is our responsibility to take action and protect the morals upon which our nation was built. We cannot sit back and allow people with greater power to take advantage of others and then just turn our heads. We must confront and speak up. The time to be silent has passed. Let’s take these scandals as a lesson to become better people who will let their voices be heard when we see something that is unjust. A moment of silence for the victims is the last things they need. Silence is what landed them in this trouble in the first place. A new generation must be ushered in, one in which we take nothing for granted.