The sex scandal consuming Penn State University and its renowned football program has dominated the news and conversation since it broke over the weekend. In a rare front-page editorial, the Harrisburg Patriot-News argued yesterday that PSU President Graham Spanier and legendary coach Joe Paterno failed to do enough in the case. The editorial said Spanier and Paterno did the legal minimum in handling reports of sex abuse of young boys by former PSU defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. But, in this case, the newspaper argued, legally required action was not enough.

The Patriot-News concluded Spanier should resign and that Paterno should finish this football season, and then leave.

The Sandusky sex scandal, if allegations are proven, is a stunning condemnation of the respected university and the famous football program. The editorial said it well: “The allegations are horrifying in nature, stupefying in quantity, nauseating in detail.”

To summarize, Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coach who retired in 1999, was reportedly observed in 2002 performing a sex act on a 10-year-old boy in the Nittany Lions’ locker room showers. At the time, a coach with the PSU program who was then a graduate assistant, told Paterno about the disturbing things he saw. Paterno, in turn, told athletic director Tim Curley.

What was said as reports were relayed is in dispute, but grand jury testimony suggests some reports were sanitized or made to seem less horrific.

Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz, who have both been charged with perjury, reportedly told university president Spanier of the incident.

As the editorial and others have already observed — Paterno and Spanier appear to have done the legal minimum. They did not do enough to protect the children, apparently more concerned with the reputation of the university and the football program than with the safety — both physical and emotional — of the young boys Sandusky was reportedly abusing.

There were reports of sexual abuse of young boys by Sandusky while he was employed as a PSU coach, and later after he had retired but continued to run a nonprofit program for at-risk kids called The Second Mile. There were warning signs about Sandusky’s behavior around young boys at Second Mile as early as 1998, but the organization did not ban him from contact with children until 2008, when he admitted being under investigation.

Another male reportedly came forward yesterday, claiming to be a victim of Sandusky. The identity of the young victim in the 2002 shower incident is still not known. University officials did ban Sandusky from bringing children to campus, but there are questions about how or if that was enforced.

Commenting on the lack of follow-up and the failure to notify police, one columnist asked how Paterno, 84, would have handled the case if it had been his grandson who was being abused in another setting or at another university.

The case is complex, more charges could be coming and additional victims might still reveal themselves. A grand jury documented serious abuses by Sandusky, who is charged with abusing eight boys over 15 years. More ugliness could be coming, now that the case has become public.

Sandusky has not been proven guilty, but the crimes spelled out in the 23-page grand jury report are powerful.

Paterno and the university are clearly tarnished. Reports yesterday afternoon indicate Penn State trustees are planning for Paterno’s departure.

By trying to spare both the university and the football program embarrassment, the PSU officials who failed to contact police when allegations about Sandusky first surfaced have caused even greater harm to the school and football program.

Nobody in this case, except the state investigators who eventually took action, showed any real concern for the young victims of Sandusky’s advances.

Spanier and Paterno did not do enough. They might have met the minimum legal requirements in dealing with Sandusky, but they failed to meet larger, moral obligations to protect children. For that, they have brought shame on the university and football program.