chocoholic

I cannot believe that Joe Paterno is being given a free pass on this!!!! His responses are shameful and unforgivable.

Reading the 23-page Grand Jury report made me sick to my stomach.

Joe Paterno should resign from the Honorary Board if he had even an inkling about this. This is absolutely chilling!!!

chocoholic

And look at this letter from the President of Second Mile on the Second Mile website.

ABOUT US---a letter from the President of Second Mile

Bullying often “flies under adult radar,” taking place in situations where adults aren’t directly supervising. That makes it especially important that adults are alert to the signs that students are being bullied or are bullying.

Young people who experience bullying may have trouble eating and sleeping and often experience physical symptoms, like stomachaches and headaches that cause them to miss school. They may identify few classmates as friends and spend an increasing amount of time alone. They tend to shy away from activities and social events and are usually fairly uncommunicative about what’s happening at school. School attendance and performance usually suffer as bullying escalates.

Our stereotypical picture of a bully has been of a bigger and clearly aggressive kid. More recent research identifies bullying behavior as a way for students in the mainstream to improve their status with peers. As students get older, the bullying is less likely to be physical and more often involves ostracizing and belittling others, spreading rumors – often in cyberspace by computer or, increasingly, via cell phone – and placing others in embarrassing situations. Students who bully are generally disinterested in the needs and feelings of others.

If you think your child may be bullying others, make an appointment to gather information from school staff. Model respect, empathy, and kindness at home and steer clear of games and programs that make light of violent behavior. Let your child know that bullying behavior in any form is unacceptable and establish clear consequences.

If your child is being bullied, work together on strategies to deal with bullying, such as simply walking away or using humor or hanging out in a group. Promote activities that connect your child with others socially. But most importantly, work with the schools to intervene if the bullying does not stop. We need to protect children from its consequences.

Dr. Jack Raykovitz
President and CEO
The Second Mile

Youdon'tsay

Where can you find the grand jury report?

I agree that Joe Pa shouldn't get a pass. I am more sympathetic to the grad asst who surely knew what he was up against by even raising the issue with higher-ups. I think that took guts. The admin's total support for the two staff people is sickening.

chocoholic

GRAND JURY REPORT

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploa...resentment.pdf

tom1944

Should we take some time to see what facts come out? (Duke Lacrosse) It is possible that the University and Joe Paterno have conducted themselves in a manner that deserves the harshest criticism but maybe they/he are not worthy of our scorn on what they did or did not do.

2education

Facts are out just read them before comparing Apples to Pears

4gsmom

I get that he's revered almost like a God in Happy Valley, but I agree with you.

tom1944

The facts are not out yet. There is a grand jury report which are the facts as seen by the prosecutor. Should we skip the trial? I am not saying that anyone does not deserve criticism but can we wait for an explanation from those we want to rake over the coals. Has the prosecutor ripped into Paterno or the University for what they failed to do?

sherpa

Penn State to State Pen....

momofa12

The groundswell against the administration on facebook has been swift. For all those saying wait to judge, I agree that for the criminal matters we should. However, what is clear is that the administration from the top down hid information that they were obligated (legally, ethically and morally) to report. I do not think there is any question that this was wrong.

charlieschm

Notice that this prosecution didn't occur until after a woman became PA. Attorney General. Generally, I've found that women are much less tolerant of abuse of underage persons and much less respectful of a powerful good ole boys network. If women had real power in the Catholic Church, the coverup of abuse in so many dioceses would never had been tolerated.

The VP who was charged is the second most powerful person in the Penn State organization. The mature grad student said he personally recounted to that VP the anal sex that he saw with an underage boy in a Penn State shower. That VP was not only in charge of overseeing Penn State's police force, but also was probably in charge of overseeing all human resource matters.

The VP's sole response was to tell the coach he couldn't bring the boys onto campus. That allegedly is a case of protecting the reputation of your institution, but ignoring the needs of the kids. The VP is also charged with perjury before a grand jury. The Penn State President should be very very careful about coming to the defense of these guys.

chocoholic

I just read that all legal expenses for Curley and Schulz will be paid by PSU!!!!!!!!!

Joan52

I agree that these allegations are disgusting and sickening. What a shame that children can't be safe when doing sports or other activities. What an even worse shame that adults feel the need to cover up and protect abusers.

However, as to the fact that PSU is paying for the defense - many contracts of employment and insurance policies and practices require an employer to pay the defense costs of an employee. It may have nothing whatsoever to do with how the alleged perp is viewed. Remember, the law in the US is that someone is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

I feel for the grad student, who was probably not much more than a kid himself at the time. It took courage to report it, even to the coach, when the repercussions could have been so severe in his own life. It would have been easier to ignore it and keep walking. He probably did what he felt right; he must have trusted the people he reported to and may have thought that nobody would believe him. However, his report back then may be the basis for justice being served now.

I also feel for the children who were abused and hope that they are doing ok.

tom1944

charlie- I did notice that the prosecutor is now a women. Joan52 I read the grad student was 28 and wen to his dad about what he saw. They then called Paterno. Paterno called the AD and a meeting with the AD and Schultz, who was in charge of the Penn State polce, was held with the grad assistant.
Since Schultz is in charge of the police I wonder if that is enough to meet the requirement that in sex abuse cases the police must be notified.

Neonzeus

I read the Grand Jury report and was shocked. Yes, people are presumed innocent unless found guilty but the Grand Jury clearly had enough evidence to take this further. It is hard to believe that so many young men would have stories that are so consistent.

While employers should pay the defense of employees who are charged with wrongdoing within the course and scope of their employment, it is hard to see how any of these allegations of criminal wrongdoing would have been at the bequest of PSU.

I wonder if it would have made a difference if the grad student's parents had gone with him to file the report. While 27 is presumed old enough to handle this kind of issue by himself, the athletic department might have handled this differently if they believed that others had knowledge of it and were waiting to hear the result of the investigation. I also wondered if the school has a hot line for reporting misconduct. If not, that should be their first corrective measure so that no one has to report misconduct to someone in the chain of command for that particular incident.