There has been plenty of media coverage of the Penn State scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky and the criminal charges against him. Even more coverage has been focused on Joe Paterno, who until last Wednesday was the head coach of Penn State’s Nittany Lions football team.

After the announcement was made public that Paterno had been fired from his position of nearly 46 years, the streets of State College, Pa., were occupied by protesting Penn State  students outraged that the coach had been let go. The students proceeded to destroy public property while attacking police officers and flipping over a news van.

The Penn State riot was an obvious display of discontent in response to an act that was undeniably necessary.

Sandusky allegedly sexually abused eight young boys that he encountered through his  charity for troubled youth, The Second Mile. His actions were witnessed by a number of Penn State staff members, but Sandusky was never officially reported to authorities outside of the university or The Second Mile officials.

Paterno was among those who were informed of Sandusky’s heinous acts, and yet Paterno never took the responsibility upon himself to inform police about the sexual abuse, which had allegedly been going on for more than 15 years. For this reason, Paterno was fired as head coach, and the students of Penn State went on a rampage of destruction, gaining nothing but an even more tarnished reputation.

The amount of news coverage that surrounded the initial arrest of Sandusky was enough to inform the entire Penn State community of the allegations and the connection that Paterno had to the case, and yet students were still infuriated by the decision to fire him. A full scale riot broke out because the Penn State community seems to believe that a packed trophy case is much more important than bringing justice to those children who might have been spared the atrocities they faced had Paterno  spoken up years ago.

Sure, Paterno has played a part in numerous victories for the Nittany Lions, but he also played a part in enabling Sandusky’s actions. Though he did report an incident to his superior, when no disciplinary action was taken, Paterno had a responsibility to take his information to the police. Any time a crime is committed against a person, especially against a child, it needs to be reported. Paterno made a choice to stay quiet, and in doing so, he signed his own pink slip. Students of Penn State should gain some perspective before they decide to take their anger out on their own community.