<p>Cross-posted with the posters breaking the news about Paterno and Spanier. Oh my gosh!</p>
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Well, it’s really bad for sure. But it’s not as if Penn State had an operating sex predator retraining program along with a system to quietly relocate offenders to different branch campuses.</p>
<p>Are mixing up the two events…the investigation that no charge were pressed was 1998, the shower room event with the grad student never was reported to the police. No investigation. That event was in 2002 and that involved paterno. That is the coverup. Why no charges were pressed back in 1998, who knows…</p>
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<p>covering up for child rapists is not integrity. please try again.</p>
<p>^ Was it a coverup though? Certainly the athletic director and the one other guy didn’t report it to the police, which is a coverup, but Paterno did tell his immediate superior about it, which isn’t exactly a coverup. Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>From the NYT “Spanier, 63, is one of the longest-serving (since 1995) and highest-paid ($620,000 a year) university presidents in the nation and has helped to raise the academic prestige of Penn State during his tenure. A trained therapist with a Ph.D. in sociology, he was known among the students for playing the washboard with local bands and performing magic tricks at certain functions.”</p>
<p>sickening to hear how much Spanier was paid to lead PSU and demonstrated a complete lack of leadership…even more sickening that he was a trained therapist, but somehow when he was told about Sandusky and a boy in a shower, he didn’t really listen, and didn’t ask any questions so he could fully understand what actually occurred. These are the most basic skills any trained therapist uses every day, even in non therapeutic interactions. The absolute gall to claim he “wasn’t told” what happened.</p>
<p>The Board of Trustees has made a courageous, difficult, correct decision.</p>
<p>Watching CNN now. These students apparently support a coach who participated in a child abuse coverup. What are they thinking?</p>
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<p>Yes. You’re missing that what actually happened doesn’t matter. What matters is what reporters are saying must have happened. </p>
<p>I’ve just heard the news about Paterno’s firing.</p>
<p>Unless the trustees have more information than has been disclosed, this is not a good decision, in my opinion. I’m listening to Herbstreit on ESPN complement the trustees for basically denying Paterno “the opportunity to go out on his terms”. I don’t agree with him.</p>
<p>Yes he covered it up because he let it sit. He did the bare minimum. He was told and he shrugged his shoulders, embraced hisnfriend, and moved on. It also appears he didn’t share all the details, denying what the grad student told him. He just did nothing, knowing what he knew or suspected. He just followed orders or hid the truth, and coddled a child molester.</p>
<p>I think the issue is that while Paterno did what was “required”, he did not do what was morally right. Once it was obvious that this whole thing was being shoved under the rug by his immediate supervisor, Paterno had a moral responsibility to go over his head to report it. Paterno had it from a reliable source that "something " happened. While he may not have had all the details, he had to know something was wrong. What if this had been his grandchild- how would he have reacted then? What he and the other
Staff did is reprehensible. Worse yet, we don’t and probably will never know how many boys were really affected.</p>
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<p>Says you. This is Duke Lacrosse again. What a crock.</p>
<p>^^^People in such positions of power have the obligation to avoid even the hint of wrong-doing. Whether or not all of the allegations are proven is immaterial. The fact that they did not act in any way on the reports and follow thru with fact finding is enough to make firing an appropriate punishment.</p>
<p>Bravo Penn State for making a difficult but appropriate decision.</p>
<p>Says the grand jury, says the state department of education, says the prosecutors, and gee says the man himself, looking back i should have done more…hmmmm…if he was sure he handled this right, why say that? Guess some would be fine if His child was a victim and the powers that be didn’t report it. And if you think they weren’t aware the 1998 events…The 1998 investigation was only three years earlier, just because no charge were brought, even this Sandusky admitted he did something bad and wrong, and he felt horrible, those same men did nothing, and each and everyone ofnthem had a moral obligation ton report what theynheard. Period. No excuses, non passing the buck, no not my job…they all coverednup by inaction</p>
<p>dadx~ did you read the 23 page grand jury report detailing the poor eight young boys who were victimized? this is not simply what the media is saying. Sandusky even apologized to the one mother who confronted him.</p>
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<p>There were $8MM in assets at the Second Mile foundation recently, plus whatever insurance they have that might cover such abuse awards. I don’t know if the lawsuits are public information or not, but if they are, you will know more than you do now.</p>
<p>I do not get it. if I ever witnessed a child rape, which is what this was, I would go directly to the police. Not the college higher ups. And what is wrong with these students supporting the coach? Do they care more about winning football games than those raped boys?</p>
<p>GA, now QB coach, should be fired immediately as well. This is not acceptable.</p>
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<p>You are missing that an old man was involved in a sexual situation with a child in the facilities, and the PSU coach, ARGUABLY THE MOST POWERFUL AND MOST ICONIC PERSON IN THE STATE OF PA, failed to notify the police.</p>
<p>You are missing the fact that the next morning, JoePa should’ve told the GA that he would go with the GA to the police station, because he is a mentor to the younger adults on his staff and believes in doing the right thing.</p>
<p>You are missing the fact that Sandusky “retired” in 1999 after having incidents with children and was still allowed on the PSU campus. Do you think JoePa thought that suddenly Sandusky no longer wanted to become the head coach at the school?</p>
<p>You are missing the fact that the GA is now on the coaching staff at PSU, in what can only be seen as a reward for keeping quiet. Do you know how many aspiring football coaches would kill to join a staff like that?</p>
<p>Further, is there any proof of what JoePa reported to his “bosses”??</p>
<p>GA to JoePa: I saw a kid getting anally raped in the shower by a 50 year old dude.
JoePa to bosses: ???</p>
<p>what did JoePa say? Did he tell his bosses that “the GA saw a naked man in the shower”? Is this like a game of telephone, where each time someone tells the story up the ladder, it gets less and less severe?</p>
<p>If you are renting a house, and your adult son tells you he saw a child anally raped in your living room, what do you do? Well, if you are JoePa, you would tell your landlord that “someone was in my living room who wasn’t supposed to be there.”</p>
<p>I don’t understand how you can defend JoePa. He was an icon. He was Penn State. He was supposed to be a mentor and trusted adult. He failed in every one of his roles, except winning football games (this year).</p>
<p>Great job by the board of trustees. I was hoping they would do the right thing, but I certainly wasn’t confident that they would. It’s nice to see that it actually happened.</p>
<p>Now comes the hard work; there’s much to be done.</p>