Penn State Scandal

I posed a question today on my Facebook page, asking if Penn State and the Catholic Church would have reacted differently to sex abuse allegations if more women served at the top of these institutions.


My local paper's cover displayed the pictures of the late Joe Paterno and three other top administrators at the school, which caused me to consider this question. In a report published Thursday, which I have not read yet, these men are portrayed as consciously trying to keep information about Jerry Sandusky's unlawful assault of a child from the police, seemingly to protect their careers and the reputation of Penn State University.

 I received one response, and it was a thoughtful one:

"Yes, too simple. It's not inertia either. It's a conscious decision to protect power - both personal and institutional - and reputation, the underpinnings of which are quite common among the leadership of large organizations. In my experience, women and men behave no differently in these situations. In fact, it's very unlikely they would have ascended to such professional heights without having the instincts to protect the institution first and foremost."

I posted the following comments next: "We start my govt class with the Federalist papers, which acknowledge repeatedly the need to disperse power and fight ambition with ambition. This model doesn't fit naturally into the business world. In business (Church included), unless the consequences of these scandals impact the bottom line, I guess little changes."

I'd like to explore further some of the themes raised in this exchange, especially my question about females in leadership roles and how they may or may not handle crisis situations within a business. What do you think?

 

What are others saying?

David Brooks of the New York Times made the following comments, which are relevant.

 

"Commentators ruthlessly vilify all involved from the island of their own innocence. Everyone gets to proudly ask: “How could they have let this happen?”

The proper question is: How can we ourselves overcome our natural tendency to evade and self-deceive. That was the proper question after Abu Ghraib, Madoff, the Wall Street follies and a thousand other scandals. But it’s a question this society has a hard time asking because the most seductive evasion is the one that leads us to deny the underside of our own nature."

There are over 400 coments to his post. I'd like to read some of them.