The aim of the cover-ups is to protect the school’s reputation/image and legacy, its money-making and prestige enhancing athletics program, as well as to conceal bad judgments by school officials, neutralize material witnesses, and protect perpetrators. Cover-ups of non-sex-related scandals are relatively easy to execute since the events don’t generate the collateral damage and attention-getting headlines associated with child sex–abuse. Additionally, the more powerful and revered the institution, the more difficult it becomes for anybody within it to expose bad behavior and take action.
