We Aren't! ... Penn State! Part I

Part I: The "Lester the Molester" Myth

I've been compiling some thoughts and analyses of the Bernie Fine situation over the last few days, and enough people have asked me about it that I wanted to explain in long form. As much as I've been defending my alma mater on Twitter and Facebook these last few days, some subjects demand more than 140 characters and the average Facebooker's attention span. There are so many aspects to this story that I'm going to break up my post into at least 2 parts. Here in Part I, I'm going to focus on one angle of the story that has not been adequately covered-- the perpetuation of the fallacy that it must be obvious if someone is a child molester. Most molesters do not look or act anything like the "Lester the Molester" caricature-- the dirty, creepy deadbeat who sleeps in the park or drives a windowless white van-- that many people picture in their heads.

Before I get to that, however, if you're not a Syracuse person and/or don't know all of the broader facts of the case, I recommend reading this article by Brian Harrison and John Brennan, 2 Syracuse sports bloggers who are also attorneys. It is the best and most comprehensive summary and analysis of the situation I have seen to date. I echo one of their quotes in particular: "Syracuse is not Penn State, and any comparisons to the situation are made by people either ignorant of the facts or just plain incapable of reason." Just because two stories share one similarity does not mean that the rest of the stories are the same as well.

I do not agree at all with the calls by many pundits for Syracuse to fire Coach Jim Boeheim. My position (and the position of probably 99% of Syracuse alumni and students) would change should any credible evidence appear that Boeheim knew of Fine's behavior and failed to intervene and/or was part of a cover-up.

One argument by "Fire Boeheim" proponents is that Boeheim "must have known what was going on." (I'll address that crowd's other claims in Part II.) This implies that if someone is a child molester, it must be obvious. That is absolutely wrong. My father has worked with school districts and school employees for more than 30 years. He has attended seminars and employee training sessions on stopping child sexual abuse and looking for indicators thereof. The first lesson of one such seminar was "get out of your mind the image of the vagrant on the park bench." In real life, most child molesters are not sketchy-looking creepers who drive windowless vans. They are esteemed members of the community-- teachers, coaches, religious leaders, public officials, parents, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents... people who "you think you know." They lure children into their grasp because children know and trust them. (For that matter, most sexual assaults against adults are also by people known to the victim and not by random thugs.) It's very easy for parents to tell kids to avoid strangers... to avoid the vagrant in the bushes or the weird guy in the van. When the molester is a community leader or family member? Different story.

It was not obvious that Bernie Fine was a molester... if in fact he was. (Don't forget, people are still innocent until proven guilty.) Molesters are capable of seeming perfectly normal to most of the world. They skillfully lead double lives; they keep their dark side hidden. It is possible to be friends with a molester for 40-some years and not know that he was a molester, particularly if there were relatively few victims. Bobby Davis, the first to accuse Fine of molesting him, came from a broken home. For a period of time, he lived with Bernie Fine's family in their house. Fine took him in, fed him, got him a job as a ballboy, got him into summer camps, and got him tryouts after college with European teams. To most of the outside world, Davis looked like Fine's adopted son, a member of his family. Davis went on road trips (supposedly) to babysit Fine's kids. We were a less cynical nation in the 1980s. It's easy to look at the situation now with 20-20 hindsight and claim everyone "should have known." But altruism didn't set off alarm bells back then.

 The former Syracuse players and other alumni who rose to Fine's defense when the story first broke are not fools or co-conspirators. Bernie Fine was legitimately their friend. He helped them and others over the years. Fine did so many good things for so many people, how could he possibly be a child molester, the lowest form of scum in our society?

That is the most important lesson here. Most child molesters resemble Bernie Fine far more than "Lester the Molester." Truly protecting children from sexual abuse means recognizing that and acting accordingly, knowing the more subtle warning signs to look for and heed. Calls for scorched earth style firings miss that point entirely.