Nov 26, 2013 3 min read

Steubenville, Ohio, and State College are about 175 miles apart, but are bound together in their fierce devotion to football and, now, allegations that officials in high places swept charges of sexual misconduct under the rug when it involved gridiron heroes.

On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine announced the indictment of the superintendent of the city’s school district for obstructing justice and tampering with evidence in connection with the August 2012 sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl by two football players from Steubenville High School in a drunken spree. To add to the gut-churning depravity of the incident, the rape was thoroughly and painfully documented on social media.

Charges were also lodged against an elementary school principal and wrestling coach for failing to report child abuse, and an assistant football coach is accused of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and allowing underage drinking.

DeWine explained, “While this started out being about the kids, it is also just as much about the parents, about the grown-ups, about the adults … While this began as a horrible crime, it also represents blurred, stretched and distorted boundaries of right and wrong.”

The exact nature of the accusations will be revealed once individual cases reach the courtroom and, of course, the Steubenville superintendent and the other officials should be accorded the presumption of innocence. But if they are found to have committed the acts of which they are accused, it will represent yet another black mark on a scholastic culture, both in high school and college, that places athletics – and, more specifically, football – on a pedestal at the expense of academics or even justice.

The parallels between Steubenville and State College are striking. Officials at Penn State were seemingly aware of credible allegations that Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach and Washington native, was molesting boys on campus, but preferred to look the other way in order to protect the university’s well-regarded and money-spinning football program. If the allegations against them are true, former Penn State president Graham Spanier, along with former athletic director Timothy Curley and Gary Schultz, a former university senior vice president, tarnished the reputation of the university by not reporting what they knew or suspected about Sandusky’s crimes. They now face trial themselves.

In Steubenville, it appears some adults were similarly eager to safeguard football luminaries from the consequences of their misdeeds. Bob Cook, a contributor to Forbes magazine, pointed out earlier this year that incidents like these end up being countenanced “when adults send a signal that athletes are to be held in high esteem, and the athletes absorb the belief that as long as they are loyal to the team, the adults surrounding that team will look away from anything that can hurt it.”

Along with prompting some soul-searching on the elevated plane football occupies on our high school and college campuses, the crimes in Steubenville and State College should prompt us to strengthen our laws regarding child-protection.

Legislation has been pending in Harrisburg that would accomplish this goal, though there is no indication when or if it will reach the desk of Gov. Tom Corbett. Cathleen Palm, the co-founder of the Protect Our Children Committee, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Our children-protection laws in Pennsylvania have been inadequate for decades.”

If they are given more muscle, we might be able to prevent thugs and predators from committing crimes like those perpetrated in Steubenville and State College.