<p>“I agree with Lasma and have said over and over it’s an administration problem. They were asleep at the switch at the very minimum and ignorant at the best and clearly they didn’t follow common sense or procedure or have any kinds of checks and balances in place.”</p>
<p>with all due respect, they were not asleep at the switch, or ignorant. Spanier definitely knew that what McQueary observed needed to be reported to law enforcement, and/or child protective services. He has a family therapy background, and there is no doubt, he knew what was required and consciously opted to not report. That is criminal enabling, not ignorance. I hope there is an active plan to indict him.</p>
<p>You have raised this point a few times now in the last few pages … however there is a catch … the board is not sitting and reflecting … it is making decisions; in the last couple days they decided;</p>
<p>1) The statue will stay … no mention of a review period or other info they need to make a decision (seeing what legal charges are leveled for example) … they jumped in and made a decision about the statue.</p>
<p>2) The Paterno contract will stay … again no mention of a review … they jumped in and made a decision about the contract. </p>
<p>I look at this situation like a stats problem … the boards actions could have two errors going to the opposite ends of possibilities.</p>
<p>Type I Error = over-react and possibly be harsher on PSU than necessary</p>
<p>Type II Error = under-react and possibly not support the abused the kids as much as they should.</p>
<p>Yes, the report just came out … the board made two decisions … both tried to minimize the chance of a Type I error … we’re not going to move too quickly and do something negative about Penn State until we absolutely have to.</p>
<p>These two decisions both favor PSU’s reputation over the abused kids. They left a statue that labels Paterno up a humanitarian. The statue could always be returned … however they, to me unbelievably, believe in the short term leaving the statue to be fair to the Paterno legacy and PSU is more important than the impact and symbolism that statue has for those abused.</p>
<p>48 hours ago I wrote as a parent I would likely support my child if they chose to go to PSU … since the report came out PSU’s reaction so far has pushed well onto the side of not supporting a decision to go to PSU … another similar decision and I’d probably move to veto land.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys, I think you missed my point. They were neither asleep at the switch, nor ignorant, nor lacking in common sense or policies. They made a calculated, cold-hearted decision about what was more important. They CHOSE football over hurt children.</p>
<p>Children are silent victims. Rape in general is underreported, but a serial rapist, raping adults, could not have gotten by with it all these years. The powers counted on no one talking. The victims were carefully selected.</p>
<p>They were neither asleep at the switch nor ignorant at the best. They had all the checks and balances in place to accomplish their goals. They accomplished what they intended - as it turns out, at least twice (in 1998, and 2001, and then every year thereafter).</p>
<p>Here’s more about the "Professor in the so-called College of Health and Human Development:</p>
<p>“No it’s the professors and the students and the TAs and the swim team and the basketball team and the cafeteria workers, the lawn maintenance people, and hundreds and hundreds of people that ARE Penn State and those are the people that should NOT be harmed.”</p>
<p>Let’s include Sandusky - he’s still a Professor Emeritus at Penn State. Let’s not act too hastily. Spanier is still Professor in the College of Health and Human Development. Let’s not rush to do anything about that.</p>
<p>Where are the adults? Where are the tenured faculty with all of this “academic integrity”?
Where are the other athletic coaches who’ve lived off the football program for way over a decade?</p>
<p>“This involved raped children. And the rapist was protected by Penn state football.”</p>
<p>The rapist was protected by the person in charge of maintaining the academic integrity of the entire university.</p>
<p>They are fortunate the Freeh report came out over the summer, when there’s a quieter campus. Still, I wonder what the professors are thinking and saying, why aren’t they banding together making a statement. Perhaps I missed something like that, but I am an adjunct professor at a small private LAC and I can’t imagine not wanting to be involved in the healing and communication.</p>
<p>Do you think the administration is actively involving faculty? I would think professors would have a strong investment in influencing the process for the better good and for a campus focused on education.</p>
<p>Bob Costas on “Meet the Press” called for closing down football at Penn State for a year. He asked Sandusky THE question: are you sexually attracted to little boys?</p>
<p>We are saying the same thing but think the outcomes can be different. I’m not arguing that there was no harm. I’m not even arguing that the statue should stay in place. I’m arguing that administration is at fault. I’m saying there was something really horribly wrong with the administration and people in the athletic department and it must be fixed. Whether you call it covering up or asleep at the switch or call it whatever you want. I’m arguing that the right decision is not to punish more people than those that need to be punished in our zeal. I’ve said they should have had a plan along time ago and the lack of response just confirms my opinion that administration needs to be fixed. The rapist was not protected by penn state football except in some metaphorical sense and maybe not even that…the rapist was protected by individual unethical people. I have no knowledge that the tenured faculty and other staff with access to administration has not tried to give counsel to administration. I have no knowledge that any of them have insider information that is not public and could have influenced the situation.</p>
<p>The rapist was protected by the Chief Executive Officer of the University, the representative of the university’s academic integrity, (and a Professor of Health and Human Development.) And the rapist was protected by the surrogate President of the University, the most powerful man at the university, the man who was basically Penn State’s face to the entire world.</p>
<p>And every academic, scholar, athlete, student, and alum benefited both directly and indirectly from their actions (whether they liked it or not). </p>
<p>And now that it’s all (well, not all - they still need to follow the money) out, where are the adults?</p>
<p>so to be clear… you think Penn State would’ve initiated the same coverup if Sandusky was an English professor?</p>
<p>Without the football program, there wouldn’t have been a coverup. This is ALL about football. The most powerful members of the university community were happy to sacrifice innocent young boys… to let them be raped, again and again, for no other reason than to protect the football program.</p>
<p>^^how can you say the rapist was not protected by football? Once PSU became as successful as it was, JoePa, Spanier, et al had a lot to lose. If the football program was a mediocre one, do you think this would have gone on as long as it did? Football, or the idea of winning is what cost these children their childhood.</p>
<p>If you want to be “inclusive,” I assume you think the victims ought to be consulted as well. How much weight do you think their opinions should carry?</p>
<p>Well there was another “scandal” with Michael Mann in 2010. Funny Spanier was at the helm in the “internal investigation” Wonder how he favored on the side of all the research money. </p>
<p>Yup I agree with this. My point is you could substitute any department, any program and the only fact is that administration knew about it and did nothing. It doesn’t matter what their reasons were because their reasons were wrong… and it was their decision to have made - as heinous as it appears now. There were probably many people involved and tangentially involved including the students with the football program that did not know what was happening and had no part of it. I’m saying that in my opinion it doesn’t solve the problem for the current administration to cut the program as some would do as a “solution.” It’s not “all about football” it’s all about “them” and to shift “blame” to the football program itself is just another poor decision. The blame is squarely at their doorstep. So anyway, I’ve said it about a dozen times and like anything it’s just my position and I’m still waiting for a good argument why the entire football program should be decimated but it’s time to go to sleep. A good argument might sway me. What I’d prefer to see is a plan of action from Penn State that’s swift, measured and appropriate…I suspect that is coming and then we can argue some more.</p>
<p>And yes soccerguy, I knew the governor was on the board which is why I said he should understand why the need for a overhaul of administration, including the Board of Trustees. </p>
<p>And yes, if it were possible I think they should talk to some of the victims and get their opinions. The ones that have gone public are old enough to give considered opinions.</p>
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<p>I hope you are a kid, because that is just gross and really not valuable discourse.</p>
<p>Yet another twist, this one regarding Spanier’s replacement, Rodney Erickson. This is the guy who, last November, vowed to clean house. But it turns out that, like everyone else, his own hands are dirty, and he knows it.</p>