Survivors
Sandusky's arrest doesn't erase the years of trauma his survivors continue to experience to this day. For survivor advocates, the goal of eradicating child sexual abuse continues to persist as well.
Because Aaron Fisher was the first survivor to come forward, former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in 2012.
In May 1998, a concerned mother reached out for help after her son had an uncomfortable experience with Jerry Sandusky in Penn State’s Lasch Building showers. One month later, the investigation dropped. Fourteen years later, the same man was found guilty for 45 counts of sexual abuse.
Courtney Benedetto
Managing Editor
Administration
The Sandusky case brought many imperfections with the university and its reporting system to light that would ultimately reshape higher education as a whole.
TJ Bard woke one morning in early November 2011 and walked down to the lawn of Penn State’s Old Main where tents filled with lights, cameras and reporters waited to greet him.
The Jerry Sandusky case has been one of the most defining parts of Penn State’s recent history, and ultimately has become a case example for many about what goes wrong with inadequate reporting policies in place.
Athletics
Penn State Athletics was rocked by Sandusky's arrest and Joe Paterno's firing that followed. The football program navigated unprecedented consequences — and the players did it all together. Meanwhile, the other Nittany Lion varsity teams stuck together in support of one another.
On Sept. 17, “Saving the Roar” made its debut and with it, the behind-the-scenes story of the 2012 Penn State football team was put on a larger scale than ever before.
Ten years have gone by since the Jerry Sandusky case rocked Penn State as a whole, but the epicenter of the earthquake was one of Penn State’s biggest attractions — athletics.
Community
Happy Valley faced an identity crisis in the days and week's after Sandusky's arrest. The town and student population were forced to take a step back and reexamine the university they thought they once knew so well.
Doug Komandt was taking an organic chemistry exam on Nov. 9, 2011. It was just a normal Wednesday night for the Penn State chemical engineering graduate.
For months, Terry Losch went home, turned on his TV and watched as his community’s name flashed across the bottom of every news outlet — followed by a variation of “sex scandal.”
Reporting
News trucks lined College Avenue for weeks after Sandusky's arrest, which had quickly become one of the largest stories in the nation. A taboo subject, reporters had to put themselves in precarious — and sometimes dangerous —situations.
Reporting from College Avenue, Brian Shoenfelt remembers Penn State students yelling to him, “Why are you doing this to us?”
When she graduated from Penn State in 2008, Sara Ganim didn’t expect to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 — just four years after becoming a professional journalist.
Megan Swift
Editor-in-Chief
The long and disconsolate story of Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse crimes can be traced back several decades, to as early as the 1970s.
William Aguirre
Digital Managing Editor
