By Mike Hothi
President Obama weighed in on the Penn State sexual abuse scandal Sunday, accusing the school of putting too strong an emphasis on their own prestige.
“What happened at Penn State indicates that at a certain point, folks start thinking about systems and institutions and don’t think about individuals,” Obama said during a press conference in Hawaii
“Evil can thrive in the world just by good people standing by and doing nothing,” Obama added. “And all of us I think have occasion where we see something that’s wrong, we’ve got to make sure that we step up.”
The scandal is centered on Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who allegedly sexually assaulted a child in a school locker room.
The incident was reported the it to head coach Joe Paterno the following day. Paterno then reported the assault to university administrators who dealt with the matter internally.
Amid allegations of a coverup, Paterno was fired last week and two of the University’s administrators resigned.