Influence of Moral Reasoning Essays - Graham Spanier, Jerry Sandusky

Influence of Moral Reasoning Essays - Graham Spanier, Jerry Sandusky Influence of Moral Reasoning CRT/205 April 13, 2014 Captain E.F. Rollins Influence of Moral Reasoning What were the actions taken by the person you chose? Penn State President, Graham Spanier, failed to report alleged incidents in which Penn State football assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, had inappropriate contact with minors that ranged from groping to anal sex (Amiel, 2011). Spanier chose to ignore these allegations because he did not investigate to see if there was any foundation to these claims. What was the impact of those actions? The impact of Spaniers actions was that these allegations were ignored and left to grow in numbers unchecked. This failure to investigate or report and ignoring the allegations led to Spanier appearing to be guilty of covering up for Sandusky. He appeared to be guilty by association because he did nothing. Another impact of Spaniers actions was that Penn State was portrayed negatively in the press and, therefore, viewed as an unsafe place for children or young adults. If you had held the same position, what action would you have taken? If I had held the position of Penn State President, I would have placed Sandusky on leave of absence and conducted an investigation of these allegations to see if there was any truth in these allegations or if these allegations were just from students that were trying to get back at Sandusky. At the end of my investigation, I would report my findings and the allegations to the police. I would not have covered this up because covering something up makes you appear to be guilty. How did your moral reasoning impact your decision? My moral reasoning impacted my decision in the fact that my moral values are against harming a child in any way whether physically or verbally. I believe that it is wrong to harm defenseless children especially by authority figures since children are taught to respect authority. People in positions of authority that take unfair advantage of children are misusing their authority for their own selfish desires. These predators realize that children are taught to respect authority and are less likely to resist or report the abuse because the children will be scared and feel like it was their fault. REFERENCES Amiel, Barbara. "This isn't the way to protect our children." Maclean's 5 Dec. 2011: 14. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ic/ovic/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Magazines&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA275312158&source=Bookmark&u=uphoenix_uopx&jsid=b028a910b6fe8f269458ce36c476ebda