<p>“This immediately makes me think they are trying to “make it go away as fast as possible” not for the victims but for the school.”</p>
<p>Yes, that’s right, also attempting to curtail financial cost, which will undoubtedly be huge.</p>
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<p>Predators tend to be very specific in their taste, and by the time a boy got to college, he would have been well past Sandusky’s target age, which seems to have been adolescents. </p>
<p>Plus, they wouldn’t have fit the power-imbalance profile. Like many predators, Sandusky chose kids who were disadvantaged in some way, because it made him feel like even more of a big man. Such kids would be more dependent on him (and thus less likely to tell anyone). Members of a renowned, revered football team wouldn’t be emotionally weak enough for him.</p>
<p>agree with you Sax. Given that the young men who testified represent only a percentage of the total victims, and victims may continue to come forward for years, it will be challenging for PSU to become transparent. </p>
<p>I wonder how these 8 victims will respond to this. I imagine they will not respond to PSU as PSU wants them to. Frankly, I hope they are guided by their attorneys, (and hopefully their therapists) to voice their own needs and expectations of PSU, as part of their own healing and empowerment.</p>
<p>Is the Freeh report going to be made public?</p>
<p>LasMa–you’re definitely right about his preference but Sandusky’s preference was not adolescents, remember these boys were selected when they were 10 and 11 for the most part. I wasn’t thinking he would have assaulted the football players, but simply demonstrated sexual misconduct, ie. sexual comments, grabbing their behinds, staring at them in the locker room, in other words, sexual harassment. I can’t imagine that Sandusky was capable of “normal” behavior as a coach, given who he was.</p>
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<p>There are two ways to change an ingrained culture: (1) a very long, very arduous process, that takes years, and is an iterative process (best case) of two steps forward followed by one step back; consider the transformation of IBM from a mainframe hardware culture into a software-and-services company as a successful recent example; (2) an enormous shock that makes it very clear to every one involved that the old way of life has to change; best example I can think of quickly is the transformation of German culture caused by its revulsion of the Hitler era and the nation’s defeat in World War II.</p>
<p>Maybe the community at Penn State has the will and the means to engage in the first process. But I doubt it.</p>
<p>Good to see a turn around from one of the PSU defenders</p>
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<p>As well as through the centuries. We are not yet in the “right” place in terms of getting predators to stop and getting victims to come forward, but we are making progress.</p>
<p>Annasdad, it’s interesting that you use IBM and Hitler as two examples of change agents.</p>
<p>IBM originated in 1911 and was very active during Hitler’s Germany in Germany. There is an exhibit at the Holocaust Museum in DC about this and I am sure if you google it will appear.</p>
<p>Another interesting thing about the Holocaust Museum, relevant to pedophilia, is that when you walk through the museum, you hear, over and over, exclamations of disbelief (I didn’t know that!). That is most likely a reaction to the school and religious scandals today of pedophila. </p>
<p>Pedophilia in the Holocaust? Sure. In the Middle Ages? There is a lot of pedophilia in de Sade’s works that take place in the MIddle Ages, involving religious figures.</p>
<p>The Freeh report will be made public in mid-July — and the official position is that the University will read it when released, not before, in order to avoid the conspiracy theorists’ claim that PSU admins will whitewash the report prior to public release. Early buzz is that the report is very bad. Very bad. It will be difficult for PSU alums to reconcile their love of their professors, peers, programs = their university…with the stuff in this report.</p>
<p>You could read the U’s offer of private compensation and counseling as an attempt to spare as yet unknown victims the glare of the spotlight and expedite timely assistance. Yes, it keeps PSU out of it as well, but kindness and compassion are not necessarily at odds with what is also good PR. If they were requiring each victim to substantiate their case, get a lawyer, file red tape, we’d be enraged that PSU was dragging its feet and resisting responsibility.</p>
<p>thanks greenbutton. you make a good point about how PSU’s offer does help future victims but just wondering, would they simply accept a self identified victim? that could actually get difficult.</p>
<p>Father91. If you are referring to my posts you have not been reading them very well. No turn around here. Just eagerly awaiting the findings and to hear from those in question.</p>
<p>Green button. I kinda feel like the victims are done and they can leave it up to the lawyers at this point. If the report is as bad as you have heard then I really have to question psu’s motives.</p>
<p>Sax: You wrote “Joe Paterno was a good man. He lived a good life and was a positive figure in the lives of many, many people.”</p>
<p>If you still agree with that statement, I will say I was mistaken and that there is no turn-around.</p>
<p>Nothing is black and white. The world is not binary. People are not entirely good or entirely bad. We are all a mixture of things.</p>
<p>@summerallday, you are so very right - every student, alumni, employee and parent should feel embarrassed for their university, Joe Paterno and the administration. Those that don’t think this has a direct impact on recruiting, admissions and even job prospects for graduates are living in a dream world. Those are the cold hard facts, and it’s going to have an impact for as long as this is in the news - and trust me, it’s going to be around awhile when the civil suits begin. </p>
<p>I do feel for those students who knew nothing and are now impacted, but that’s the way the world works. You can thank the past administration and Joe Paterno for that. I hope the university continues to do the right thing by making changes.</p>
<p>@veryhappy, you couldn’t be more wrong. Some people are just evil and shouldn’t be on this earth - Hitler, Sandusky, Bid Laden, Dammer, McVeigh…goodbye and good riddance, humankind is that much better without them.</p>
<p><<…every student, alumni, employee and parent should feel embarrassed for their university, Joe Paterno and the administration. Those that don’t think this has a direct impact on recruiting, admissions and even job prospects for graduates are living in a dream world. >></p>
<p>As parents (and speaking for my PSU student) - we are certainly horrified and embarrassed by the actions (and lack thereof) of university administrators. However, we have no ill feelings about the university as a whole. We are still proud to be Penn State supporters.</p>
<p>As for recruiting, admissions, job placement…</p>
<p><a href=“Shaken by Sandusky Scandal, a Changed Penn State Moves On - The New York Times”>Shaken by Sandusky Scandal, a Changed Penn State Moves On - The New York Times;
<h2>“Despite the relentless stream of bad publicity, applications to Penn State rose more than 1 percent to a record 116,595 this year. The number of donors to the university will also increase…”</h2>
<p>[PSU</a> president says admissions, acceptances up - NCAA - SI.com](<a href=“http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/wires/05/04/2080.ap.fbc.penn.state.trustees.2nd.ld.writethru.0855/index.html]PSU”>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/wires/05/04/2080.ap.fbc.penn.state.trustees.2nd.ld.writethru.0855/index.html)</p>
<h2>"Penn State’s president says the university could have its biggest incoming class in six years this fall with a 6-percent increase in acceptances.</h2>
<p>[Penn</a> State Live - Penn State career fairs saw significant growth in 2011-12](<a href=“http://live.psu.edu/story/59361]Penn”>http://live.psu.edu/story/59361)</p>
<p>“In the spring semester, Penn State held its annual Spring Career Days Feb. 6-7. Employer participation increased this year by 6 percent over last year.”</p>
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<p>Maybe not so much, at least not short-term.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/sports/ncaafootball/shaken-by-sandusky-scandal-a-changed-penn-state-moves-on.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/sports/ncaafootball/shaken-by-sandusky-scandal-a-changed-penn-state-moves-on.html</a></p>
<p>EDIT: cross-posted with GRCxx3</p>
<p>The university is offering to settle the civil suits. People have very short memories AND all are not obsessed with negativity or tittilating news. </p>
<p>They are too busy living their lives, working, taking care of families, etc. </p>
<p>There are also a huge amount of people who know it is unhealthy to fill their minds obsessively with this type of stuff, and don’t.</p>
<p><<edit: cross-posted="" with="" grcxx3="">></edit:></p>
<p>LOL! Great minds!</p>
<p>Father. Yes. I believe Paterno was a good man who was a positive influence on many many people. I just didn’t like him very much.</p>
<p>I think Paterno fits the definition of a Greek Tragic Hero - a great man who is undone by some flaw in himself.</p>
<p>In Paterno’s case I think the tragic flaw was a combination of two flaws. One, he apparently began to believe his own press clippings and thus concluded he could do no wrong. And two, he apparently was willing to turn a blind eye to the suffering of innocents rather than risk damaging the source of his greatness - the football program.</p>