PSU rocked with record fine in child sex abuse scandal
Until last week, the largest fine ever issued by the federal government in a so-called Clery Act case was $350,000. That levy was assessed against Eastern Michigan University in 2008 for the failure of officials there to timely warn students of campus-posed dangers following the murder of a student.
That exaction was eclipsed in a big way last Thursday, with an announcement from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that Pennsylvania State University is now on the hook for nearly $2.4 million (the amount awaits final approval) for the laxity of administrators there in failing to take actions to keep students safe.
The Clery Act is federal legislation passed back in 1990 that seeks to promote safety on American college campuses. Federal regulators say that its directives were roundly ignored at Penn State, as revealed by the university’s failure to comply with its provisions in the child sexual scandal that so centrally engulfed the school in past years.
The sordid tale involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky — now 72 and serving a minimum prison term of 30 years following conviction on 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys — continues to play out in a big way with the feds’ announcement, which signals by far the largest fine doled out since Clery was enacted a quarter century-plus ago.
The penalty issued after an exhaustive five-year investigation into the scandal. The DOE stated that 11 “serious findings” were uncovered in its probe.
One of them related to the university’s failure to issue an emergency notification to students that a campus danger was posed by Sandusky’s presence. Although Sandusky had retired as a coach in 1999, he continued to visit the campus well into 2011. Regulators say that school officials were well aware by that time that Sandusky posed a risk to the student community.
When colleges do not disclose the information required under Clery, noted a DOE principal in discussing the fine, “there must be consequences.”
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