<p>This story gets more disturbing and sickening by the day. The high school that victim one attended before leaving due to bullying, did NOT report the alleged abuse by Sandusky. In fact they tried to talk the mom out of reporting it. The mom actually reported it. The assistant principal was allegedly complicit in the bullying of the child after he reported the abuse. Here is the article in which the mom tells how it really went down. This high school and every administrator in it who refused to do their job and who allowed a man to remove children from its premises without parental permission on an ongoing basis, should be criminally charged for failing at their jobs.</p>
<p>bravo for the strength of this mother in the face of her son’s victimization, then the bullying, the denials, and the manipulations. sounds like the high school along with bullying this teen, also played the despicable blame the victim game, while ignoring serious threats to harm him. </p>
<p>I applaud this mother for maintaining her sanity and fortitude. Single mothers are often perceived in the media as not capable of giving their kids what they need, a la Second mile, these poor kids needed “charity” given their plight in life. I respect and admire this mother for speaking out and taking her son out of a downright dangerous place for him to be. At a time when the high school should have been demonstrating support and protection to this young man, they further victimized him.</p>
<p>What is absolutely horrifying is that if this ONE. brave boy had not come forward, we would still be talking about what a wonderful, moral, ethical man Paterno is and the spotless PSU program that never, ever had one ounce of scandal associated with it–truly a house made out of cards! I remember when a report about the rates of sexual assaults on different college campuses came out, people were comparing different schools and making assumptions about their safety. A psychologist stepped forward to say that it is actually the schools with none or very minimal rates that were the most dangerous because they indicated that victims were scared to come forward–that their complaints were being pushed under the rug in order to make the school look better. Things happen on all campuses–it’s how the administration reacts to rectify the situation, and how they treat the victims. PSU spent so much time and energy bragging about their virtue, that they resorted to having to cover-up anything that indicated otherwise–they only have themselves to blame.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Duke, but it will be interesting to see if Penn State is really hurt by this or if it’s just talk. The first number to watch would be Penn State’s admissions yield - whether it goes down significantly. If it does I wouldn’t expect it to stay down for more than a year or two, maybe three. </p>
<p>The ship will eventually right itself. Penn State has a lot more to offer than just football. Once they clean up the mess in football and hopefully begin to brand themselves as something more than a football powerhouse and the Church of St. Joe, this will all blow over.</p>
<p>Coureur, Seems like the issues are deeper than just the “mess in football.” Reports are that
senior administrators are interested in covering up anything that reflects badly on the university. If the articles in the nyt and wsj are to believed (and these are investigative journalists who are VERY good at their jobs) the this will not be so easy to fix.</p>
<p>It seems certain that Sandusky will either: (a) face trial, (b) plead guilty, or (c) die before trial. For those who suggest that opinions may only be ethically offered after “the process” plays out (note, this rule applies to opinions crtical of Paterno, opinions supporting Paterno are permitted under the Stand By Your Man Corollary); what process are we waiting for: Sandusky’s trial, the Freeh report, the NCAA investigation. Because Sandusky’s trial may not happen, and even if it does testimony from Paterno seems far from a given; the Freeh investigation is a PSU project (although we love Freeh); and the NCAA - we all agree on that one.</p>
<p>Since Joe is not the subject of a criminal investigation, maybe he can answer a few questions and clear this matter up once and for all. The truth will set him free.</p>
<p>Stats, excellent post. I’d only add that even if Sandusky goes go to trial, and even if Paterno does testify, it could be a year or more down the road. JoePa’s fans would have it that we all refrain from criticizing him for however long it takes. I suspect they hope that’s forever.</p>
<p>EPTR, I hadn’t thought about that – there’s been so much discussion about whether PSU should have done more than their legal duty in reporting. But school officials ARE required to report – no gray area. There was at least one case where Sandusky was caught in the gym by another adult, teaching Victim 1 some “wrestling moves.” </p>
<p>Why has no one at the school been charged??</p>
<p>I think the hardest of core are hoping that Sandusky puts his shoe laces to good use and Joe takes it to the grave (in the old school tradition). Which would leave us at the intersection of How Can We Ever Know For Sure and Never Speak Ill of The Dead.</p>
<p>If you ask Ollie North he’ll tell you sometimes plausible deniability is rich currency.</p>
<p>Stats 21–if you’re thinking that Paterno will tell the truth–from the Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p>In a meeting with Messrs. Paterno and Spanier and others, Dr. Triponey complained that the players were stonewalling her and suggested that Mr. Paterno ought to compel them to be truthful, according to one person familiar with the meeting. Mr. Paterno angrily responded that his players couldn’t be expected to cooperate with the school’s disciplinary process because, in this case, they would have to testify against each other, making it hard to play football together, these people say.</p>
<p>I fear these poor victims may never get a fair shake – how on earth can Sandusky plead innocent? He is still hoping everyone covers for him, and apparently he has reason to feel confident they will. They did it for so many years.</p>
<p>One thing about Freeh report, it is inconceivable that it will have any hard evidences against the school even if he uncovered a lot of stuff. I can’t imagine an investigation paid by the school will have incriminating evidences that can be used to sue the school for a lot of money. I imagine it will contain a lot of rhetorics and recommendations for changes but without pointing out any specific wrongdoings. I also don’t see any of the administrators that are potential targets for criminal and civil charges giving up any details that could incriminate themselves to any of the ongoing investigations, at least their lawyers would be telling them not to.</p>
<p>It is inaccurate to say that Central Mountain did not report the Sandusky suspicions to police – there is a paper trail that clearly shows that they did. And not that the distinction is important too much, but “happy valley” is a nickname for State College proper. Central Mountain is not even in the same county. Why do I care? Because State High has a very aggressive, active, and complete anti-bullying program, a well-supported gay community, and is rightfully proud of that. (I am anticipating somehow the victim being bullied out of school --not acceptable — will be blamed on our high school, too)</p>
<p>The Penn State aura stretches far and wide in the region. Sandusky had “unfettered access”, pulling his victim out of class without parental permission and, according to the mother, even taking him off campus. Is this normal protocol in that area?</p>
<p>I’ve wondered that too, sax. I’m guessing that once the details were made public in the grand jury report – especially the pulling-him-out-of-class detail – it wasn’t too hard for the other kids to figure out who Sandusky’s favorite student was. I hope it wasn’t someone in Sandusky’s camp. Or some angry Penn State alum at the court; the victim’s name must be recorded somewhere in the court system.</p>
<p>Greenbutton, where is that paper trail? I would be very suspicious of the timing of the report from the school as it compares to the timing of the report from the mom and her friend. I don’t doubt that the school reported Sandusky once they were aware that the mom had already done it! I’m sure they would do so just to cover their sorry a$$es.</p>
<p>It appears, from that article that I posted, if it is to be believed, that the high school did just about everything wrong. They let somebody other than the boy’s parents take him off campus, they were skeptical when he reported and made it clear that they didn’t believe him, they advised the mom not to report it and they made public the victim’s name while speculating that the alleged perpetrator would walk away. Oh, and I forgot, the assistant principal further victimized the boy by shaming and ostracizing him in his school community.</p>
<p>Employees of schools are mandated reporters. We are bound by law to report. Bound by law and for some of us, personal ethics and integrity. There seems to be a serious lack of both of those qualities in this series of events.</p>