Penn State Sandusky scandal

Parent Cafe
5241

<p>“In circling back to Paterno it was up to them to set Paterno straight and tell him it was sexual abuse of a child and that it would be reported. So now Paterno is implicated as well. He knew, if not before but most definitely after he talked to them again. He knew.”</p>

<p>Any reasonable person would know. You cannot talk to McQueary and come out of that and wonder what is the extent of it. Any person in the position of power, capability and humility would not leave it as ambiguous and a cloudy issue, they will either get to the bottom of it or realize exactly what it was. The deniable plausibility is legal speak that everyone plays. That always has been my sense of the situation all along.</p>

<p>And from the email, Paterno might have been a lot more instrumental and could have been the person who convinced everyone to cover up, not the other way around. Same thing happened before with the dean of student affair that resigned, so it should not be that surprising that Paterno is capable of similar thing.</p>

5242

<p>The statue needs to go immediately.</p>

5243

<p>"You think they were receiving direct payments, mini? From who? I’m not willing to go there, because as long as Paterno kept the Penn State football machine humming he had all the money and prestige he needed. "</p>

<p>That’s just one possibility, and not the one I had in mind.</p>

5244

<p>I had commended Paterno earlier for at least being man enough to tell the truth to the grand jury, but now it seems likely he just, once again, passed the buck to Curley and Schultz.</p>

5245

<p>Well, mini, don’t be coy now! I’m obviously not getting it.</p>

5246

<p>“I had commended Paterno earlier for at least being man enough to tell the truth to the grand jury, but now it seems likely he just, once again, passed the buck to Curley and Schultz.”</p>

<p>Not just passing the buck, if what Curley wrote in his email is true, Paterno also lied and perjured himself to the grand jury.</p>

5247

<p>it appears Paterno did more than “pass the buck to Curley and Schultz” It appears that he commandeered the whole process. quietly, behind the scenes, without using any email of course. </p>

<p>“Absolute power corrupts absolutely” </p>

<p>also I read on a blog somewhere that Spanier had reportedly disclosed being a victim of child abuse in his family, has anyone else heard anything about that. I don’t know if it’s accurate. Lots written about him, according to some of the stories he has a bit of a reputation of being arrogant and unethical. Comes across as very smarmy to me.</p>

5248

<p>You are right, pardon my wording. </p>

<p>It seems Paterno was very clever in testifying to a half-truth, thus avoiding the perjury charges. He left it up to the other two to deny the whole thing. I wonder if they discussed this prior to the grand jury.</p>

5249

<p>Have been following this thread the past several days, but between selling a house (and dealing with an obnoxious buyer) and then hitting the road for a mid-west tour of drum corps shows…I haven’t had a chance to post. Now, taking an afternoon off in a hotel in Muscatine, IA, I can catch up on things.</p>

<p>With all the information that has come out - it is truly amazing how arrogant, self-serving, and stupid these men were. What idiots. I never defended any of these men, but I did not want to condemn them until there was actual evidence. Now I hope they all end up in jail. As for Paterno’s die-hard supporters, I just feel sad for them. As greenbutton noted - it is always heartbreaking when someone you trust and admire betrays you. With all the good he did for the university (and there was much) - his name is tarnished forever.</p>

<p>I realize that the NCAA will likely sanction the school, and I guess they can shut down the football program. I still don’t think that serves any real purpose, punishes many innocent people, and jeopardizes many other athletic programs. But if they do - so be it.</p>

<p>On the positive side - the people responsible for this mess are gone, the students and alumni joined together very early on to raise money and awareness for child abuse, the new administrators have been pro-active following thru with the initial recommendations made by Freeh, the school has started many programs and initiatives to help victims of abuse, THON raised over $10.5 million, and there seems to be no negative impact on applications, acceptances, or job placement. And one of the most positive things I have seen is the decision to have the Freeh report released simultaneously to everyone - PSU community, BoT, media, and general public. To me, that transparency is a major step forward.</p>

<p>This tragedy has been devastating, and the students, university, and entire community have learned some very difficult lessons and have had to face some hard realities. But I am confident they will all bounce back stronger, more focused, and determined to never let something like this happen again. In the end - I am still very proud to be a Penn State parent and know that my son is getting an excellent education and is having an overall positive experience.</p>

5250

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<p>I bet they’ll sue them all - both institution and individuals, plus Joe’s estate. </p>

<p>Like I said, Paterno is “lucky” he died so that he won’t have to live through having process servers lined up on his porch and parachuting into his back yard with lawsuits in hand. The others involved will not be so fortunate.</p>

<p>I agree the statue should come down. It’s quickly attaining a status similar to Sandusky’s mural - a painful reminder of a hero gone wrong and trust betrayed.</p>

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<p>That is the saddest part of this whole mess for Penn State in general - that through all of this, Penn State was and is a fine academic institution. The school’s academic quality is still there. But for now and for some time to come (but not forever) it will be known as Scandal U. </p>

<p>Its main institutional and cultural mistake was buying into its football pride so completely that some of its senior leaders lost their common sense when a monster turned up in their midst and threatened to create a scandal. And now the coverup scandal will be far bigger than the child molestation scandal would have been if they had dealt with it back in 2001 (or whenever they first knew).</p>

<p>In fact I think Joe Paterno would be an even more revered and admired figure now than he was before if he had blown the whistle on Sandusky back then. He would now be seen as not only a great coach who was a positive influence and who helped many young men and who gave so much to the community, but also as a guy who did the right thing, who saw a wrong and put it right, despite potential costs to himself and the program he loved.</p>

<p>I hope the Penn State community learns from this to never again let the football program be in a position to warp the common sense judgment of otherwise good men, but I worry that it won’t. I worry that even now far too many students, alums, and boosters are wishing and hoping this whole thing would hurry up and go away so they can get back to focusing on football.</p>

5251

<p>I myself am irked at some that blindly defended some or one or all of these men. It’s is that mind set that well, couldn’t be that bad the allowed Sandusky to continuefor over a decade with who knows how many victims. I am all for prove people guilty first, but their lack of action and the years of ignoring for selfish reasons is pathetic. </p>

<p>It was never about the little boys in their eyes. Ot was about protecting themesleves a dpsu football.</p>

5252

<p><<i worry="" that="" even="" now="" far="" too="" many="" students,="" alums,="" and="" boosters="" are="" wishing="" hoping="" this="" whole="" thing="" would="" hurry="" up="" go="" away="" so="" they="" can="" get="" back="" to="" focusing="" on="" football.="">></i></p><i worry="" that="" even="" now="" far="" too="" many="" students,="" alums,="" and="" boosters="" are="" wishing="" hoping="" this="" whole="" thing="" would="" hurry="" up="" go="" away="" so="" they="" can="" get="" back="" to="" focusing="" on="" football.="">

<p>While I am sure there are many individuals in that number, there are just as many (and probably more) individuals that consider football just ONE of the multitude things they love about Penn State.</p>
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5253

<p>The first allegation I’m aware of that Sandusky was abusing a boy as far back as the 1970s.</p>

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<p>The lawsuit on behalf of several victims he’s already been convicted of abusing, plus one new one, is aimed at preventing Second Mile from transferring half of its assets to a different entity.</p>

5254

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<p>Enough people put Joe Paterno on a pedestal that he almost became a law unto himself. Whether those people also loved Penn State for reasons besides football is irrelevant to coureur’s point. </p>

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<p>The last numbers I saw had applications up but the yield down. The yield may drop further as the summer melt occurs. There was certainly anecdotal evidence of an impact. Moreover, without looking at the trends for Penn State and peer institution, it is premature to say that there was no impact. In addition, these numbers do not tell us about the quality of the incoming class. But frankly, if I were on the Penn State faculty (and I have friends who are), I would want those numbers to drop for a year or two. Why encourage the administration to think that it is business as usual?</p>

5255

<p>I think THIS fall is where we will see applications go down. Tuition is going to go up again, and the scandal will drive things down as well. I agree that would be a good thing, for many reasons. I think the quality of the incoming class is superb. I may be biased, as the parent of one of them :)</p>

<p>As far as devotion to football, that is not just a Penn State issue. Appalachian State, Small College of Wherever, even Temple — these schools do not play PAC 10, SEC and Big 10 schools because they like the trip. Not because they like to be easy season opener. They play for the money, for the share of the revenue. There’s the notion of throwing PSU out of the BIG 10, but that won’t happen because the other schools simply can’t afford it either. Financially speaking. That won’t change until you can fill a stadium for debate or broadcast an economics conference, or until State governments support public universities in a more significant way. Not saying that’s a good measure of priorities, just an observation.</p>

5256

<p>You are so right, greenbutton, and it’s not just football. There are colleges where devotion to basketball is just as fervent, and a few places where the long-term basketball coach is just as revered. Those schools face the same danger – of becoming so addicted to the money, and to the image, that grown men lose perspective. Let’s hope that all schools which host big sports, and receive big sports money, are using this terrible episode as an opportunity to do some soul-searching and to put some fail-safes into place.</p>

5257

<p>[Joe</a> Paterno?s Lying in Jerry Sandusky Abuse Case Further Taints His Legacy - The Daily Beast](<a href=“Joe Paterno’s Lying in Jerry Sandusky Abuse Case Further Taints His Legacy”>Joe Paterno’s Lying in Jerry Sandusky Abuse Case Further Taints His Legacy)</p>

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5258

<p>Maybe Paterno went to confession after he lied, and was told that his lie was humane. </p>

<p>Sent from my MB865 using CC</p>

5259

<p>Greenbutton, it’s a story for another day but don’t be so sure that the Big Ten won’t entertain a substantive evaluation of whether or not PSU should be dismissed from the conference. There are officials at the member schools whom were never happy with the expansion to PSU and today there are several other university athletic programs, admittedly not as lucrative as that of PSU (but without the touch of scandal), that would accept a Big Ten invitation in a heartbeat. Remember, Ohio State University dumped their popular and succe$$ful coach as soon as they found out he lied.</p>

5260

<p>I hate to bring this up, but I have to point out that there’s no real proof, yet, that Paterno lied, unless Curley and Schultz give him up (which they may well do, if it appears that it will help them). The e-mail doesn’t say exactly what was talked over with Joe, although of course everybody is assuming (probably correctly) what it was. Proving it will be a lot harder, especially since Paterno is dead.</p>