Hopefully, because of the Penn State scandal, Universities will not overlook even the smallest accusation of child molestation and pornography.
It happened at the University of Michigan.
Here in Ann Arbor, in December, federal prosecutors charged Stephen Jenson, a resident physician at the University of Michigan hospital studying pediatrics, with possession of child pornography.
Yet a co-worker had reported seeing the child porn six months earlier. The co-worker briefly caught a glimpse of what she thought was child pornography on a computer Jenson had been using in a medical residents’ lounge. She told a supervisor, who then told another supervisor, who told another official and so on and so on, until at least eight Michigan employees knew about the child porn allegations.
After a series of misunderstandings and confusion over who was responsible for the case — and a lack of clear evidence beyond the woman’s allegation — no one reported Jenson to the police.
In November, as students rioted at Penn State University over coach Joe Paterno’s firing in the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the first hospital supervisor who had heard about Jenson started raising a question: Why hadn’t anything happened to Jenson?
Hospital officials huddled again and police were contacted a week later, and an investigation began in earnest.