<p>Heaven forbid the marching band or seniors not get their moment at the football stadium. And of course missing one football game is exactly the same as withdrawing every student from the university. God forbid anyone sacrifice anything at all, no matter how small, to demonstrate that football is not more important than the sexual assault of a child.[/sarcasm]</p>
<p>I know good people who went to Penn State and I’ve never had an issue with Penn State. But I’ll tell you what, watching the reaction of some Penn State supporters has been absolutely sickening. </p>
<p>Neonzeus, I hope if you are learning anything it’s that even 40 plus years of being a football coach does not excuse turning what amounts to a blind eye to child rape. You will learn that there are things far, far more important than football and that zero tolerance is exactly the right action for certain actions/inaction. Ask your future self how long do you think the coach that knew of your child’s assault but declined to pursue it to the full force of the law should be allowed to coach?</p>
<p>You want to share a stadium with a coward who could have prevented a child’s molestation but instead walked away and instead of going to the police when to a football coach? Go for it but I can assure you that your future self is not going to feel as you do today. Or at least I hope for your sake that is the case.</p>
<p>greenbutton, I do not think nor have I ever said that everybody who lives in Centre County is guilty by association. Nor is everyone associated with the university. But anyone who refuses at this point to take the strongest possible stand and send the clearest possible message that no football program is important enough to override acknowledgement of the enormous evil that occurred in its name becomes thereby an endorser of that evil.</p>
<p>So, any time there is any controversy with any program because of an alleged wrongdoing by a coach or team member (sports,music,debate,theater,science competitions, chess matches, you name it),everything should shut down for anyone else not even involved? How does that solve anything?</p>
<p>No offense, but you’re crazy. College students are not toddlers. They know–some of them much better than you–exactly how ugly the real world is. Those of them who are over 18 are also adults, just like you. Do not mistake them for pet dogs, or for small children throwing a tantrum. They can go to war, vote and marry. They are responsible for their actions, and their actions right now are disgraceful.</p>
<p>To those of you citing some bull**** vigil as a sign of PSU’s sound moral standing, lol. The only response to this incident that wouldn’t have smacked of hypocrisy and fakeness would have been Paterno’s immediate resignation, PSU forfeiting this weekend’s game, and a collective reevaluation of the university’s purpose.</p>
<p>When an activity is an engrained into the culture as is the football program at Penn State, and it goes as seriously awry as it so clearly has, there needs to be a strong statement, “This is not who we are.” Business as usual with a token nod to the victims sends exactly the opposite message: “This is exactly who we are.”</p>
<p>“all he had to go on was hearsay”
yuh, we shall see</p>
<p>katlia, you have a good point- these students were deceived by their beloved leaders. It is a very harsh and unfortunate lesson. It may take them time to take all this in.
And, they will learn some valuable lesson in spite of their initial pain and confusion.</p>
<p>I do not think they or all in Happy Valley are guilty by association, btw, even though I think this whole thing was heinous, evil, and smacks of a football program abusing too much power and respect.
There is such a thing as right and wrong. Wrong was done, laws were disobeyed, including the law that requires the reporting of suspicions of child abuse.</p>
<p>I fear that this scandal may run much deeper than we all want to know.
I pray that the victims can heal, and that others with pedophilia will ask for help, and that others will not protect them from exposure and legal action if they have victims.</p>
<p>What seems important to me is to learn that Paterno is NOT a hero. While Sandusky is a sick man, driven by compulsions to do evil things even when he knew he was harming victims, and putting program, university, his family, and himself at risk, Paterno is an EVIL man who enabled a serial molester, and seems to have covered it up for a very long time (and likely enabled him to rape some more.)</p>
<p>This is an important lesson for students everywhere.</p>
<p>Thanks. And Pug…I’m a practicing lawyer who urges caution about rushing to judgment based on emotion rather than the facts. No one has claimed that Joe Paterno had knowledge of a child rapist within his program but ignored it. He did handle the informaton that he received about possibly having a child rapist within his program by promptly telling the men who were responsible for reporting the information on behalf of the school. It’s plausible that he wouldn’t have participated in any investigation since he was forwarding hearsay, not something he saw himself. He would not necessarily have been given further details about any investigation conducted by the police if such an investigation had actually occurred. It is plausible that he might have concluded that since there was no arrest, that the allegations were found to be baseless. We can guess at a lot of different scenarios, but won’t know the full story until we hear more facts at the trials.</p>
<p>I’m not writing about that grad student’s choice to leave the room when he might have been able to intervene (if the reports are accurate), or the fact that he’s still employed. I understand some reasons why PSU and the prosecutors may wish him to remain employed, but I’d only be speculating.</p>
<p>The folks sitting in that stadium are statistically likely to be sharing the stadium with child molesters, drug dealers, wife beaters, thieves and even a future murderer or two. Surely there will also be some victims of child abuse, who choose to watch their school play the game too. Every time we go to the mall or any other public place we risk being in the company of criminals and undesirables. It doesn’t mean that we’re making a moral statement that their crimes are ok. We don’t need to shut down a mall to make a statement that we don’t like its open door policy.</p>
<p>I’ve been practicing law for about 35 years, so my future self can only blame maturity for my opinions.</p>
<p>Neonzeus, the problem I have with the defense that you have outlined is that it does not make sense that Joe Paterno would not have asked McQueary exactly what he saw, was he certain, could he have been mistaken, etc. Given such a serious report, Paterno made a huge mistake if he did not get the details from McQueary and report them in detail to his higher ups. If they did not appear to pursue it, Paterno had the power and influence to be sure that they did, or he could have taken it directly to the police. Being a company man, or “good German” is not a very good defense for a moral failing even if it might be for a legal one. Not following up for details of such a report is a significant failing.</p>
<p>I find McQueary’s conduct more understandable. He chose flight versus fight in an extraordinarily bizarre, upsetting, revolting, and probably frightening situation giving the perpetrator’s age and influence. McQueary was no hero, but he is the one who should have been able to rely on those above him doing the right thing with the information that he gave them. The low man on the totem pole does have some right to expect that the people above him know what they are doing. If he were a complete coward, he would not have reported it at all, but he passed the ball to his superiors and they fumbled it. Should he have done more? Certainly, but McQueary did enough to stop Sandusky had Penn State done their jobs.</p>
<p>Wow so some one cant play football one day or march in a band. Guess their disappointment is more important then the boys abused by one of their own. To celebrate and chear and shout go Penn while this is going on is shameful. </p>
<p>And these Penn students are not children. They are adults. Don’t need to be coddled. They need to know the truth about their so called paragons of nobilty</p>
<p>Bogney: I understand your point and I think from a human approach you make a lot of sense. However, the training that I’ve seen often instructs employees to turn allegations of wrongdoing over as soon as possible and not to conduct personal investigations particularly when there may have been a violation of law. The goal is to get the investigation into the right hands, before corrupting witness recollections, possibly engaging in slander, risking claims of witness intimidation, or otherwise affecting the situation. Until there’s some evidence, there’s often a goal to maintain confidentiality during an investigation to protect the innocent if the allegations are unfounded.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that PSU’s procedure for reports of wrongdoing and employee training included the same directions. I don’t know what their procedures called for. Obviously, their procedures weren’t very good or were violated, since we’ve been told that no further reporting or investigation was done. IMO however, it wasn’t negligent to turn a report of possible illegal conduct or misconduct over to others who were designated to handle such matters for the university, especially if there could be a conflict of interest (friendship or otherwise). </p>
<p>My first reaction was completely aligned with you about McQueary, but now I think that he should have at least said “what’s going on here” or otherwise tried to help the child if he truly believed a rape was occuring. I also can’t imagine how he was able to have any contact with Sandusky after the occurrence, unless he changed his mind about what he saw. From a professional standpoint, it will be interesting to hear the facts presented at the trials. From a personal standpoint, this is a classic “what would you do” dilemma that I’ve been discussing with all of my kids. I hope this situation will refresh their consciousness about moral responsibilites. It’s tough though - one of my sons in his early 20s was threatened with a weapon when he tried to stop a fight. It made me proud that he was willing to get involved, but risks come with involvement.</p>
<p>So…by the reasoning stated somewhere upthread, no one should be attending a Catholic church anymore and those who are, are all enablers of pedophilia as well?</p>
<p>Sorry for abbreviation. Penn state. We aren’t suggesting they drop of school. We are saying they should sacrifice one football game. Make a statement they wont support those that covered up for a pedophile </p>
<p>So what if its senior day, this is just football. Seems no one here much cares about the little boys who where hurt by their leaders. And hounding have to be the ones who did the assaulting to hurt child. Turning a blind eye and doing nothing is justnas bad</p>