<p>I also wondered that. Makes no sense.</p>
<p>Thank you for posting the link greenbutton. The “op-ed” written by Paterno is astounding to me. For anyone who doubted the rah-rah boosterism, doubt no more. That this is his final word on years of abuse is very telling. If I had read this in a vacuum without any knowledge of the charges and circumstances I would think that there had been a team cheating scandal at worst or maybe a drug charge. Wow.</p>
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<p>From [CNN.com</a> - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com%5DCNN.com”>http://www.cnn.com)</p>
<p>The report destroys Penn State’s football program.</p>
<p>The NCAA is going to give them the “death penalty”.</p>
<p>^^^Failure to take steps for 14 years until Sanduskys arrest in 2011. Can only mean there was sufficient evidence of what Sandusky was doing dating back to 1997 and that Spanier, Schultz, Curley and Paterno knew.</p>
<p><a href=“http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/07/12/freeh.report.pdf?hpt=hp_t1[/url]”>http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/07/12/freeh.report.pdf?hpt=hp_t1</a></p>
<p>You can download the report here.</p>
<p>Regarding post 5460 about Spanier’s attorney report, I think this is legal semantics (ala “I did not have sex with that woman”) where the specific words in the report were not used. I will, however, be able to give some new examples in my reading classes for inference.</p>
<p>**“Total disregard for the safety and welfare” of the child victims. ** </p>
<p>NOW can we get rid of that friggin statute??</p>
<p>RE: 5467.</p>
<p>Right. He was told about “horseplay.” Sickening.</p>
<p>This paragraph in the report jumped out at me:</p>
<p>“Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, the Special Investigative Counsel finds that it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at the University – Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley – repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities, the University’s Board of Trustees, the Penn State community, and the public at large.”</p>
<p>As did this one bullet point finding:</p>
<p>“A decision by Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley to allow Sandusky to retire in 1999, not as a suspected child predator, but as a valued member of the Penn State football legacy, with future “visibility” at Penn State and ways “to continue to work with young people through Penn State,” essentially granting him license to bring boys to campus facilities for “grooming” as targets for his assaults. Sandusky retained unlimited access to University facilities until November 2011.”</p>
<p>If you go through the report, Paterno and the people who ran both Penn State the University and the football program were only, repeat only concerned about the public image of the football program. </p>
<p>That to me is the biggest indictment of all: that the program which for decades has repeatedly claimed in public to be the paragon of what college athletics should be has in fact been hiding child molesting. I’m reminded of the Catholic Church’s response to allegations of child molestation: hiding, obfuscating and ignoring.</p>
<p>I know there are a lot of Penn State defenders and this horrible situation is not representative of the many alums and students. My niece (PSU '10) is a very level-headed young woman who worked hard as an engineering major and has a good job and she sensed something wrong. She enjoyed her time at Penn State and was a moderate football fan. By her senior year she had enough. She lived off campus (last 2 years) and was ready to get out of Dodge. She just kept saying that she was sick of the culture and that it was just “too much”. She is now embarrassed and disgusted.</p>
<p>An alumnus just posted a very thoughtful call for action on another site. </p>
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<p>I certainly appreciate the sentiment, but the first reply also resonated with me: </p>
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<p>From the report . . . May 1998 - Schultz is informed of the investigation and ponders, “Is this opening Pandora’s box?”</p>
<p>Wow. That’s right, slam that lid back down, don’t open the box. Just lock it up . . . forget about it . . .</p>
<p>BTW, if you read the report, pages 19 & 20 show that Paterno lied about not knowing anything until McQueary told him. Paterno said he was confused about what to do, but the report makes crystal clear that he knew about allegations back in June, 1998 and, further, that Paterno was directly involved in discussing how they could hide this by moving Sandusky out of the actual football program. </p>
<p>If you read further, it turns out there was a decision to report Sandusky but that it was reversed when Curley met with Paterno. In other words, Paterno changed the decision from reporting. That is bad. They have the emails between Curley, Schultz and Spannier talking about this and about their risk for not reporting. </p>
<p>They really need to consider taking down the statue.</p>
<p>I’m now down to Exhibit 3B, an e-mail where someone suggests they make a different assistant coach, Joe Sarra, the Dean of the College of Science.</p>
<p>An assistant football coach. As the science dean.</p>
<p>^This is why the Paterno family should never release the letter. It makes Paterno look a lot worse and completely in denial. First step to change for the better is to realize that there was a problem.</p>
<p>“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims,” said Louis J. Freeh, the former federal judge and director of the F.B.I. who oversaw the investigation. “The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.”</p>
<p>Utterly disgraceful that Spanier has a Federal Government job relating to national security. This while continuing to deny ever knowing anything. I am disgusted this man was given such an opportunity to “protect” in light of his lies and manipulations.</p>
<p>And Paterno’s family denying he knew about the '98 shower incident. I recognize they may have not known that Paterno knew, but to vehemently deny when his family really had NO way to know what Joe actually knew was ludicrous and fueled the PSU reaction, you know, aw poor JoePa was fired and he was innocent! They claimed his innocence based on his “character”. But that’s what this was all about, these men had no character. They were suits, concerned only for upholding their own interests.</p>
<p>The report details that they never implemented the Clery Act from 1990 to 2011, leaving them in violation of a Federal Statute. They ought to be more worried about that than the NCAA and its sanctions.</p>
<p>Under the Clery Act, punishment can be up to $25,000 per offense and the potential loss of Federal financial aid.
[Clery</a> Act Reminder ? Why the Penn State Scandal Matters to the Academy | University Business Magazine](<a href=“http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/clery-act-reminder-–-why-penn-state-scandal-matters-academy]Clery”>http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/clery-act-reminder-–-why-penn-state-scandal-matters-academy)</p>
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IMO, this doesn’t show how PSU students “get it”. This shows how the culture is all about the “WE”. WE are one, WE are special. WE will all wear blue and WE will show the world how special WE are. Oh, and yes, this is about child abuse. See what WE are doing? Aren’t WE special.</p>