<p>Joe pa(do grown people actually call him this?) certainly thought he was invincible…retiring on his own terms?..sorry joey,</p>
<p>I don’t have any vitriol, just the same disgust I have for any group of powerful men (and women) who cover up criminal behavior in the interest of protecting the reputation and power of the institution in which they are involved, and, by extension, themselves.</p>
<p>I’m glad Penn State acted as they did. What will be sad is when they find out there was at least one person on that board who already “knew” about the “sandusky problem.”</p>
<p>So sad for all of those boys.</p>
<p>[Penn</a> State football scandal will cost school millions - Nov. 10, 2011](<a href=“Penn State football scandal will cost school millions - Nov. 10, 2011”>Penn State football scandal will cost school millions - Nov. 10, 2011)</p>
<p>Perhaps this is what they were (wrongly) protecting instead of those kids.</p>
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<p>For those that have come forward, and for those that continue to live in silence.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>The thing is, had they called the police when they first knew about Sandusky, Penn State wouldn’t have lost millions. Probably wouldn’t have lost a single dollar. They would have done the right thing. Most people outside of State College, Pennsylvania wouldn’t have known anything about it. And a bunch of boys wouldn’t have suffered.</p>
<p>It’s always the cover-up . . .</p>
<p>goru-
I would think that there would be a clause, maybe even a morals clause, in their contract, that being indicted by a grand jury woudl be grounds for immediate dismissal</p>
<p>Everyone mentioning Paterno’s age in relation to the incident, remember this was 2002, nine years ago. He was not 84 then. He’s been able to coach a college football team at 84.</p>
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</p>
<p>I don’t know what the laws are in PA, but in MD, educators are required to report any concern about child abuse to authorities. It does not have to be witnessed.</p>
<p>As I made clear repeatedly several pages ago, I don’t think Curley, Schultz, or Paterno committed any crime here, and I think it was a gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion to use the grand jury to humiliate them.</p>
<p>But I fully, completely support the decision of the Board to fire Paterno. He has much, much more to answer for than his actions on a day or a couple of weeks in 2002. I strongly doubt Sandusky was anything like Paterno’s “friend” by that point, but they had been friends and close associates for decades before 1999. And Paterno had to be aware that Sandusky was continuing to use Penn State athletic and football facilities, both personally and with his charitable organization. Whether or not he knew that Sandusky had been caught sodomizing a 10 year-old in the football locker rooms, he knew Sandusky had been caught doing something seriously wrong with a boy there. And he did nothing for almost a decade afterwards to make certain anyone was protected from the consequences of that – not the hundreds of children with whom Sandusky came into contact through his organization, not Sandusky himself (Paterno purports to be strongly Catholic – on what basis does he avoid trying to help his former close friend cure a serious spiritual affliction?), and not the institution he supposedly loved (and that certainly loved him back). For years after 1998, for years after 2002, Sandusky continued to use Penn State facilities to seduce and to abuse children. I’m sure Paterno did not know the extent of it – even now, none of us knows the real extent of it – but I’m also sure Paterno had no basis to feel certain that it wasn’t happening.</p>
<p>He was the king there, and he didn’t lift a finger to make certain that the kingdom retained its integrity. He didn’t try to fix the problem. He didn’t do anything to put a wall between Penn State and Sandusky. And, obviously knowing that this shoe could drop at any time over the past three years, he clearly failed to get out in front of it, with the board, the press, anyone. When you are the king, that’s what gets you fired.</p>
<p>Also, his actions yesterday in trying to preempt the board’s action were unbelievably arrogant, and probably would have been enough to seal his fate if it weren’t sealed already. A responsible, adult leader doesn’t negotiate with his board by press release. He may be a beloved football coach, but his actions over the past week fully illustrate what a weird moral plane he inhabits. It’s not ours.</p>
<p>And as a further illustration of just how weird that moral plane is: the rioting Penn State students. For me, the personal failings of Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, Mike McQueary, or Graham Spanier really have little to do with the Pennsylvania State University and its greatness. But thousands of students chanting “One More Game!” and overturning vehicles? I was not such a fan of Penn State before, and I recognize that those students are probably not representative of the student body as a whole, but in terms of institutional reputation that is probably the worst thing of all. If I had a kid in high school thinking about colleges, I wouldn’t be worrying about Sandusky or Paterno, but I sure wouldn’t want my kid to get caught up in something as reprehensible as last night’s demonstration.</p>
<p>JHS…it is a crime in many states…not sure about PA law</p>
<p>IMO the trustees did the right thing. As this unfolds it is likely we will learn that several people knew more than what we have already learned. Like the Catholic Church debacle, this will taint PSU for a long time. The widespread fallout may be minimized if they take quick and decisive punitive action. </p>
<p>The Catholic church continues to celebrate the cardinals and Bishops that covered up the widespread abuse (they just transferred them to the Vatican) and as a result, they are still struggling to gain back their following. PSU needs to do the right thing to begin to right the wrongs (if possible) of a hand full of people. BTW - I just used the Catholic Church as an example and it it is not meant to incite a debate…it is just an example of covering up a heinous crime.</p>
<p>I am still in shock why someone would walk away from watching a 10 yo being raped instead of throwing a punch.</p>
<p>As far as the college students, approx 5K out of 30K in Happy Valley took to the streets. My guess is not every student agrees that JoePa should stay or leave on his on terms.</p>
<p>Requirements for reporting suspected child abuse in PA are clear:
Obviously, the dept of welfare would have called the police if the witnesses did not.
Quote:</p>
<p>§ 42.42. Suspected child abuse—mandated reporting requirements.</p>
<p>(a) General rule. Under 23 Pa.C.S. § 6311 (relating to persons required to report suspected child abuse), licensees who, in the course of the employment, occupation or practice of their profession, come into contact with children shall report or cause a report to be made to the Department of Public Welfare when they have reasonable cause to suspect on the basis of their professional or other training or experience, that a child coming before them in their professional or official capacity is a victim of child abuse.</p>
<p>(b) Staff members of public or private agencies, institutions and facilities. Licensees who are staff members of a medical or other public or private institution, school, facility or agency, and who, in the course of their employment, occupation or practice of their profession, come into contact with children shall immediately notify the person in charge of the institution, school facility or agency or the designated agent of the person in charge when they have reasonable cause to suspect on the basis of their professional or other training or experience, that a child coming before them in their professional or official capacity is a victim of child abuse. Upon notification by the licensee, the person in charge or the designated agent shall assume the responsibility and have the legal obligation to report or cause a report to be made in accordance with subsections (a), (c) and (d).</p>
<p>(c) Reporting procedure. Reports of suspected child abuse shall be made by telephone and by written report.</p>
<p>(1) Oral reports. Oral reports of suspected child abuse shall be made immediately by telephone to ChildLine, (800) 932-0313.</p>
<p>(2) Written reports. Written reports shall be made within 48 hours after the oral report is made by telephone. Written reports shall be made on forms available from a county children and youth social service agency.</p>
<p>Thanks sopranomom…do we know if that law was in effect in 1998?</p>
<p>
I thought this was a pretty funny suggestion, in the context of this thread.</p>
<p>I guess I’m just cursed with a sense that there’s always more to the story, that one version of the facts is always incomplete, etc. Here’s a thought experiment for everybody: is there anybody in your life–a family member, clergyperson, teacher–about whom it would be virtually impossible to believe that he or she was a child molester, unless you saw it with your own eyes? And if somebody came to you with just such an accusation about that person, would you really reach over and pick up the phone to call the police? Maybe you would, but maybe you would do what Paterno did, and call somebody else who had the obligation to investigate.</p>
<p>As for what, if anything, Paterno did to follow up, we actually don’t know that. As I noted above, people seem to think they “know” that he did “nothing,” but we don’t actually know.</p>
<p>Look, he probably didn’t do what he should have done–but this kind of rapid reaction always makes me uneasy. It’s pretty hard to get the genie back into the bottle if the facts turn out to be different.</p>
<p>By the way, reading the statute quoted by sopranomom92–this is what JHS was referring to way back in the thread. If I’m understanding it correctly, I don’t think anybody at Penn State had legal obligations under that statute.</p>
<p>As the Grand Jury Report also states in page 12, there was a violation of law here, as the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law requires immediate reporting by the institution when a staff member reports abuse:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf[/url]”>http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Press/Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment.pdf</a></p>
<p>This law was in effect in 2002 when the incident occurred.</p>
<p>Everyone really needs to read this Grand Jury report.</p>
<p>Yikes. The tone of this thread changed overnight.</p>
<p>This whole episode has been a teachable moment with our 16yo, who is destined for Clintonian greatness and fall because of his ability to parse words. I think it’s interesting the number of kids, including my own, who are so quick to defend Paterno. It’s disturbing to me, really, though I give them the benefit of the doubt that most feel mostly sorry for an old guy who reminds them of their grandfather. I encourage everyone to talk to their kids about what I think most of us are feeling – that to whom much is given much is expected. That meeting the letter of the law isn’t enough, especially for someone of Paterno’s power. The conversations have been exhausting. I started out feeling bad that I had raised some kind of morally bankrupt kid, but when you look at the behavior of the adults in this case, I think it’s good to get in there in the trenches and talk to our kids about how they would handle the situation and what’s the “right” thing to do.</p>
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<p>I could not agree more.</p>
<p>I keep coming back in my mind to three things in the Grand Jury report:</p>
<p>McQueary testified that he told Paterno what he saw.</p>
<p>The Grand Jury found him “extremely” credible.</p>
<p>The Grand Jury did <em>not</em> say that it found Paterno’s testimony credible, or not credible. It said nothing about his credibility.</p>
<p>As I said before, that silence speaks volumes to me.</p>
<p>If he weren’t Joe Paterno, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he had been indicted himself.</p>
<p>We could save a lot of legal expenses if we simply convicted people based on grand jury reports.</p>
<p>If it is true that the grand jury report is written by the prosecution then we are reading a document that is already skewed.</p>