Freeh Report <————-click
- The remains of a once proud icon
In what has been described as a “knee jerk reaction,” Sunday morning officials at Penn State tore down the statue of Joe Paterno with no warning to the town or university. Today, the entire Penn State football team awaits possible sanctions from the NCAA. According to Politico.com:
The NCAA came forward to say that it will levy “corrective and punitive measures” against the school. The sanctions will be spelled out Monday, the NCAA said without disclosing further details.
NCAA President Mark Emmert hasn’t ruled out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program in the wake of the scandal, saying he had “never seen anything as egregious.”
The Paterno family issued a statement saying the statue’s removal “does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State community.”
“We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth,” said the family, which vowed its own investigation following the release of an investigative report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that found that Paterno and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex abuse claims against Sandusky.
The family called the report “the equivalent of an indictment – a charging document written by a prosecutor – and an incomplete and unofficial one at that.”
The bronze statue, weighing more than 900 pounds, was built in 2001 in honor of Paterno’s record-setting 324th Division I coaching victory and his “contributions to the university.” Students chanted, “We are Penn State” as the statue came down.
The sanctions represent a significant change in the N.C.A.A.’s operating procedures. The NCAA will punish a university for moral transgressions as opposed to violations of specific bylaws. In other words, it will punish Penn State for something other than rules violations. If that is the case, then any school is vulnerable.
We have to ask ourselves why and by whose authority the NCAA takes such draconian measures. How will destroying a sports program help the victims? Many people feel that the NCAA is stepping outside its jurisdiction. There has been no investigation and many of the key players still have only been charged with failure to report to authorities and perjury. They have not been found guilty.
JoePa has been dead 6 months. He is no longer here to speak up for himself. The Board of Visitors hired the Freeh report. That report was not independent. What possible motive did the Board of Visitors have? That should be obvious. They wanted a layer of insulation for themselves.
Jerry Sandusky, a name that will forever be associated with serial child molester, has not been employeed by Penn State for over a decade. Those who failed to report what they knew or didn’t know to authorities are no longer with the University. What possible good does it do now to destroy the remains of Penn State? The alumni don’t deserve it, the current students don’t deserve it, the athletes don’t deserve it, the people of Happy Valley don’t deserve it and the people of Pennsylvania don’t deserve it. The victims aren’t helped. The NCAA needs to enforce their rules and leave violations of morals to someone else.
Shame on the NCAA! Shame on Penn State for ripping down that statue. This was a Sunday morning massacre. Lack of institutional control may be the problem but it isn’t up to the NCAA to be judge, jury and executioner. Penn State needs to heal and to learn from a series of devasting mistakes. Do those victims not still look up to Penn State and are their heroes not still there? Taking away the heroes doesn’t help the healing.
JoePa was 85 years old when he was fired from Penn State. I am willing to bet that Joe never had 1 single workshop or inservice about appropriate response to child abuse. His age is significant. Joe’s authority on such matters was his church. Need I say more? His church’s own track record is so poor on handling sex abuse cases, it is difficult to even type the words. If Joe looked to a higher authority to guide him on the appropriate thing to do, then his behavior was inevitable.
Great men are often flawed. Perhaps they wouldn’t even be great men without the flaws. Joe played it by the rules. He brought up a team from nothingness in the 40’s to a nationally ranked team many times over. He did it by example and by raising the bar. His flaw might have been too much trust, seeing too much good, or protecting his school too much. Alone, these do not seem like punishable offences, until we bring in Sandusky. I doubt that Joe knew that such vileness even existed. He didn’t operate in that sort of world. Joe Paterno remains a great man, in my book and in the book of many others.
This is a toughie, especially after the Freeh report. I made a four year, not insubstantial investment in Penn State on behalf of one of my children’s undergraduate education so I got to know the community fairly well. Paterno really was an icon and did much good in that town. His judgement about the initial Sandusky information was mortifyingly incorrect, but I nonetheless have been more than a bit disturbed by the rapidity with which the university has been ready to throw his entire legacy, without differentiation, and the whole football programme, into the dumpster. It seems crushingly extreme, a bit like rubbing out photo images of disfavored apparatchiks on the Kremlin wall when there is a change in wind direction.
My proposal would be to move the statue to the Library entrance. JoePa and his wife gave millions of dollars to the library. That ain’t nothing. There is a lot to be proud of about Joe Paterno. That an old man, not a particularly worldly one at that, could not grasp the enormity of the crimes of a man he considered a friend is a failing by any objective standard, but it isn’t the sum of Joe Paterno’s life or his contributions to the University and to his players.
As to the NCAA sanctions, they haven’t been announced yet, but I would think the best thing that could happen to Penn State is that they continue to have great teams and great seasons.
I understand the opposite view and realize that the failure of judgement at the Coach/AD/UNiversity level was damn near criminal, if not in fact criminal. I also appreciate that victims continued to accumulate because of this failure. This troubles me greatly.
Scout, you are always wise. I wish you had written the thread.
I cannot get past Paterno’s age and the fact he lived in a world where these things didn’t happen and if they did, they weren’t talked about.
You and I both know they did and do happen. However, we also know that you dont go running off and running your mouth at the institutional level. Its tricky business. JoePa was very much a victim of the times also.
I don’t have the ties to Penn State you do but we have always liked Penn State. Paterno was always the model. That has to account for something.
Child molesters are sneaky bastards. I expect not one of those men ever saw Sandusky doing anything inappropriate. That just isn’t how it works. That’s what makes it so hard to deal with. How do you accuse someone of something you have not witnessed?
What a horrible shame–for all concerned. Sandusky might has well have gotten out a knife and cut out the heart of Penn State because that is the end result.
I’m thinking that this is all about money, damage control, and PR.
Other than that…I don’t have dog in this fight.
I think the Freeh report definitely was. the Board of Regents or whatever they called themselves ordered up the study. One might ask about their culpability also.
Absolutely one of those guys should have picked up the phone and called the cops. However, that had been done before. Sandusky still ran loose. For those who have never worked with someone who was a little creepy in that department…its easy to be critical. You really have to witness things with your own two eyes and ears before you report unless you want to get sued. That includes the institution. Now…that is if you are just dealing with the adults. If you are dealing with a kid, the deal changes and for minors, there are very strict rules about reporting which include fines.
Here is the caveat. Paterno and his colleagues don’t deal directly with children and never had indication to think child X was being abused. That really changes the playing field.
I cannot believe what I just read. First, the association of the removal of the Paterno statue with a massacre and then to use the VT moniker, “We are Penn State.” What are they thinking? Clearly they do not get it. Testimopny stands that Paterno knew of at least two incidents and reported neither. He was a teacher. His inaction contributed directly to the abuse of others. He put money and himself over the interests of children. This is not porn or an on-line chat — this is physical abuse taking place at his facility. Penn State will heal, just as VT is healing, but VT heals without honoring the shooter. Perhaps the names of the victums of Paternao’s self interest should have been put on the statue instead to make sure that they are remembered as time passses and memories of Paterno’s failure to get involved fades.
Blue, I don’t think VT invented We are _____. but if they did, remember that everyone said We are VA Tech right after that tragic event and all the colleges said it in solidarity.
What you aren’t grasping is that Paterno didn’t teach children. There are no Paterno victims. He wasn’t a child abuser. How about reading up on the case and then coming back with something accurate to say.
To the Penn State students and alumni, something did die….I guess you better start believing.
There is no testimony that Paterno knew jack. Paterno knew what he was told. Heresay. Do I think he did the right thing? No. But I have stated his case in the thread. NCAA sanctions do nothing to help the victims and cut the heart out of Penn State.
There are other ways to make a point and to ensure everyone Does the Right Thing in the future.
I absolutely don’t think Paterno and gang acted out of greed.
Just in from CNN
The NCAA announced a $60 million fine today against Penn State University as part of the fallout from the child sex abuse scandal involving former coach Jerry Sandusky. The university also is banned from bowl games for four years.
The NCAA also vacated all of Penn State’s football wins from 1998 to 2011, stripping the late Joe Paterno of the title of winningest coach in major college football history.
Thanks for that update. I am not sure they have the authority to do that. It is a horrible thing to do to Penn State’s current students.
It sickens me. Jerry Sandusky sickens me. The NCAA has just rubbed salt in the wounds of everyone.
I agree with everything except the banning from bowl games. They ought not to punish current or prospective players, fans and students for actions certain individuals did in the past.
The university was right to remove Joe’s statue.
I like Scout’s idea of placing it at the library. The Paternos have given millions to that library over the years.
I think we are expecting Paterno to have done things that many of us wouldn’t have the know how to deal with. Remember he only heard hearsay from cops etc. Child molesters have the edge because they are sneaky bastards. If you never see anyone do anything wrong, it is pretty difficult to accuse them of anything. You cannot make accusations on heresay unless a kid tells you. Joe didn’t teach kids. He taught adults. I also expect each state is different.
I can argue both sides of this and have. I have taken the opposite side with Mr. Howler.
How do I feel…in the middle. I think Paterno is a great man. I will look at his whole life and how many kids he helped. Thousands!!! He raised the bar for college football. For those who think football is king, if you followed collegiate sports you would appreciate the high standards found at Penn State compared to many other places.
Its easy to lump it all together and go with generalizations and stereotyping but you don’t get the full picture and understanding.
More from NY Times:
N.C.A.A. Fines Penn State $60 Million for Sandusky Case
The N.C.A.A. announced significant penalties against Penn State and its football program Monday, including a $60 million fine and a four-year postseason ban, in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal involving the former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
The punishment also included the loss of some scholarships and the vacating of all of the team’s victories from 1998 to 2011, but stopped short of forcing the university to shut down the football team for a season or more, the so-called death penalty. Still, the penalties are serious enough that it is expected to take Penn State’s football program, one of the most successful in the country, years before it will be able to return to the sport’s top echelon.
@Moon-howler
Removing the statue makes me think of the toppling of Sadam’s statue.
Sadam was, indeed, an evil human being. I don’t feel that way about
Paterno. I know very little about him AND college football, but from what I have
gleaned through reading about this case, Paterno was NOT an evil man.
However, here’s a clear case of an old saying; something about “bad things happen
when good people say or do nothing
I think the world may have stopped spinning on its axis. I am somewhere in the middle here, between blue and scout.
I think that not only did Paterno put the reputation of the school first, so did the adminstration at its highest level. The real victims here are the young boys who lives will be forever altered by betrayal of a man they trusted to care for them, Sandusky. Paterno knew something was amiss, either by willful ignorance or turning a blind eye, he was aware that there was a serious problem. Maybe he thought G-d would cure Sandusky if he prayed enough, I don’t know, nor do I care. I wonder, did Paterno allow his own grandchilren to spend the night with Sandusky? I doubt it.
Having said that, I also think that Paterno deserves his day in “court” so to speak. He is gone and therefore can’t defend himself, but given his time at Penn State, shouldn’t someone on his behest be given an opportunity to speak in his name? What bothers me is now we are talking about Paterno and not the scurge of child abuse. These kinds of molesters are the worst, they take the trust of a young child and twist it into depravity. They often do not work in a world undetected, so how do we work to stop such abuse, THAT should be our focus, not a statue.
I think now we have other victims, thanks to the NCAA. There was just no need for all that. None of the people are still there. Paterno is dead, Spenier, gone. Curley gone, and the other dude also. (I forgot his name). How will crippling the program at Penn State help the victims.
I think the Board of Regents also bears some responsibility. Paterno was there over 60 years. When a head coach is there that long…he really becomes invincible. They raced out to get that report done to somehow exonerate themselves some.
Elena, I don’t think you or I either one know what Patero know or didn’t know. He gave a statement under oath and was never charged with anything.
In my mind, I think a better plan would be to have a child sex abuse class mandatory for the next ten years for all students and for every adult employed by the school to to have to take a class on sex abuse and prove that they know the appropriate protocol should there ever be a repeat from anyone (and there will be). Naturally the course for the custodians would be different than the course for upper level administration.
The above sanction would be productive and directly related to solving the problem.
Destroying the football team which is what the sanctions will do, is purely punative and will not lead to reform. Additionally, the town will probably be economically hurt. Now and forever the discussion will be about what was done to JoePa and not what a horrible nasty thing was done by Sandusky to young men who were already troubled. Not one person of any consequence will be impacted by the sanctions. So why do them? Typical stupidity in a culture of punishment.
State College is Penn State. The “city” exists for the college. Why destroy people’s livelihoods?
I totally agree with Scout. He also has had a dog in the fight. Blue doesn’t know what she is talking about.
While these men with authority went along with their lives, these boys suffered for years, in silence, living with an undeserved guilt and shame. It isn’t just the moment of the abuse that is horrific, its the long term consequences. The unseen “scars” that abuse victims carry with them. I don’t have alot of sympathy for Joe Paterno, or the adminstrators, or the assistant coach who did the bare minimum of reporting it to Paterno and subsequently the administration.
Let’s step back and ask…what would you have them do? I would start with Mc Redhead busting up the little gang rape in the shower. What was he thinking? If you witness a crime, you and you alone are responsible for reporting it. I can’t get past that.
The others didn’t witness the offense and you immediately are on very shaky grounds making any accusations. Had Mc Redhead called the cops or punched out Sandusky and pulled him off the kid, then 1998 on would not have happened.
Paterno could have been God’s brother and he still can’t accuse someone of something that he didn’t witness. I think he gave bad advice. I think he should have told McRed Head to call the cops and report what he heard and saw. Spanier should have then been notified.
Sandusky was not an employee. He just had way too many privileges.
I am going to make the bold suggestion that many of you all are very short sighted about all of this and perhaps have very distant knowledge of what athletic programs really are like. First off, let’s back off football a little. It isn’t the only sacred cow. Secondly, what do you think happens when a woman is raped by a player on any team? How about when some bozo player goes in and steals, beats someone up, has an honor violation, etc?
Back to the woman….do you not think that she becomes slut of the century? This has been an on-going problem. Yet no one hears an outcry over it. I have turned my back on players before because of their dirty little habits. Their fans are horrified that their hero would be doubted. Why he is a good kid. He wouldnt do THAT. Bull.
I guess what I am trying to say is, probably more was done by Paterno et al than by most schools when some pig gets out of line. Maybe it was because Sandusky was an adult and not a player. They at least pulled his parking slot and took his locker room keys away.
I have been on the peripheral of athletic programs (not directly involved) for most of my life through one relative or another, including several schools. I thought everyone knew of this stuff. Do you all honestly think Bobby Knight led the straight and the narrow until he slapped that kid and verbally abused him? He was abusive and insulted anyone who crossed his path. He sneered at the college president and lived in a mansion. He was a taker until the day he was fired. Then he went and bilked his next assignment.
The Paternos at least gave back. They lived in a modest house and gave great fortune to things that were important to them. I grew up in a college town. Penn State was dealing with gentlemen who thought about others. These gentlement didn’t do enough. They made mistakes.
Yes, there are victims. There are also victims at other colleges. Women who have been beaten up and abused, raped, and if they report, the hounds of hell come down on them. Sorry to burst the bubble but Sandusky isn’t the first nor will he be the last.
The NCAA is making an example of PSU. The axis around which all of this turns is certainly the child rapist. However, those in authority bear the responsibility of the long silence and coverup. They are complicit in the ongoing criminal enterprise. Restricting access to the facility is a cop out. He should have been arrested and charged. This animal committed and continued to commit crimes thanks to that coverup.
If it takes knocking off a few heads to get the message accross that your students (male or female) are your first priority then I’m all for it. There really is no middle ground. My vitriolic stand on this might surprise some but I find the abdication of responsibility of those in authority at PSU to be unforgivable. Parents trust these institutions with their most precious gift: their children. To think that this trust would be betrayed to save a single sports program enrages me.
Andy, I agree Sandusky should have been arrested and charged a long time ago. Who dropped the ball in 1998? Why didnt Mc Redhead pull him off that kid and call the cops?
Who that is left at Penn State was in any way complicit? Even the custodial who was a witness is unable to testify.
I have always been against group punishment. What the NCAA has done is like mega group punishment on steroids of the class next door.
I fail to see how destroying a school for a decade helps the victims or really sends a message to anyone.
Penn State students weren’t raped. Troubled children were raped by someone who worked for Penn State until 1998. That program has now closed down.
In a previous response I spoke of required classes on sex abuse for students and employee classes for those who work at the college. An additional class that should be required on all campuses is suicide prevention both for students and for all college employees. Just something siimple like how to spot someone in trouble in your dorm or taking one of your classes. There are approximately 10-20 suicides annually on a campus with 30,000 students.
Those going out into the world would be a little better armed as human beings if they had these classes.
Paterno was a good coach, perhaps a great coach, but he clearly was no hero. The statue needed to come down and needs to stay down to prevent his coaching memory from overshadowing – vindicating him on campus while the memory of what he allowed to happen is forgotten. Allowing the statue to remain would be IMHO a memorial to looking the other way on child abuse.
I will agree with you that the NCAA has now created another new set of victims, but again these sanctions are not directed at the kids or frankly at Sandusky. They are focused on the Paternos and other school alums and leaderships nationwide and set out the risk and penalty of putting football, cash and reputation over an educational institution’s special responsibility to our youth. The NCAA has it right and Penn State has it right — finally.
If Penn State had it right, they would have not sneaked and removed the statue on a Sunday morning. That was cowardice. Do it while everyone was looking.
I don’t know that I said Joe Paterno was a hero. I think he built up a sports program for more than a half century that sure pulled a lot of young men out of the coal fields of Pennsylvania (and elsewhere) and gave them a life that took them far beyond what they would have had without JoePa. I think these players were role models for the kids at 2nd Chance.
In all this discussion, everyone has talked about what Joe did. No one is blaming the perp. I find that incredibly offensive. Jerry Sandusky is a rapist and sexually assaulted children. No one else. I can’t imagine that his family didn’t know. Oh wait, one son did know. That puts that kid in a difficult place for sure.
Paterno is now a martyr and in 5 years, long before the affects of this sanction wear off, Sandusky’s name will no longer be remembered.
The grand jury report states that Paterno called Curly and reported that that “graduate student” had witnessed Sandusky “fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy”. What happened next was that Curly and Shultz took away Sandusky’s access to the locker room. Whether Paterno knew the full extent of Sanduskys depravity is meaningless, he knew Sandusky had done something incredibly inappropriate. If that had been HIS grandson, I wonder how willing Paterno would have been to just ignore it and move on. Is Paterno the most guilty, of course not, but he morally he absolutely bears some of the responsiblity for being a man with authority who did nothing. All evil needs to flourish is for good men to do nothing.
Sound bytes and bumper stickers won’t answer this solve this one either.
Paterno is dead. He can no longer answer his accusers. All who is left is his family with a great deal of unanswered questions. It is a family who has given to a town and school for decades and decades. They should have been treated more respectfully than what amounts to a bull dozer sneaking in one Sunday morning while everyone was at church, right before the NCAA bull dozer came along.
I don’t think for one minute the desired result will ever be achieved. There is not going to be a learning experience here. There will be nothing now but pure definance. After the Freeh report, many people were taking another look and talking about how to prevent these types of crimes against kids in an adult/semi adult setting. Punishing a school when no one is left? Not so smart. The sanctions had the opposite affect.
What is clear (through testimony and emails) is that Joe Paterno was alerted several times that Sandusky was playing with the boys – and instead of stopping it – he just went along with it. He allowed Sandusky to continue to work with kids, allowed him to have access to the University facilities, etc. In essence, he was like the get away driver of the bank robber – he is part of it. Paterno even went so far as to lie to the grand jury in an effort to continue the cover up. He did not want to expose Penn State to the humiliation, but now look at the program – the next coach Will think twice before turning a blind eye to the situation.
Actually, Paterno had not one ounce of control over whether Sandusky worked with kids or not. It was a private organization started in part by Sandusky. Sorry, Second Mile. I called it 2nd Chance. Sandusky did not work for Patero after 1998.
Pat, you need to go review the facts of the case.
I believe Sandusky should have been banned from campus and Spanier should have called the state attorney general simply based on rumor. He was in a position to do so without fear of being sued. Meanwhile, Mr. Redhead who witnessed a rape did not pick up the phone and call the cops. Does anyone else have a problem with that or is the tasty morsel of Joe Paterno just a little too tempting and tasty?
My favorite quote from the NCAA press conference: “Football will never again be placed ahead of educating … young people,” NCAA President Mark Emmert declared. Compare the salaries of coaches and faculty and you’ll see who’s placed ahead of the other. If Sandusky had been an assistant professor instead of an assistant coach there would have been no debate about whether to turn him in to the authorities. Major college sports is big business and makes a lot of money for a lot of people. The decision on the NCAA penalties, just like the PSU decision not to report Sandusky, was a business decision made to preserve the goose and keep it laying golden eggs.
I have to ask this question. I understand that most of the responders here do not follow college sports or probably even attend college sports functions. Its apparent from what you say.
I don’t think that Paterno and Spanier and Curley did the right thing either. My problem is that I have to go back to McQuay. I would be right with Paterno if he had handed McQuay the phone and sat there while he called the police to report a crime.
If the NCAA is going to sanction Penn State, it probably needs to look a little closer at every other college, large or small, that covers a up a rape, or an honor code violation. It happens all the time and much of the pressure comes from the top and through the alumni. If the alumni are pissed off, the coach gets fired and often, yes, the college president. Recent events at UVA point out that unless you play your politics right, your job is on the line every day of your life.
Now, should that have influenced the code of silence? No, not in a perfect world. In the world of reality, you had better believe it does. From the top to the alumni, especially the ones with deep pockets.
While we are breaking the code of silence, you don’t have to go very far to to see a mini-me version of exactly what happened at Penn State. Pick any local school that has had a sex scandal and start asking who knew what when. Someone knew something in each and every case. Yes, I mean in the City of Manassas, and in Prince William County. It doesn’t have to be a high school. Middle schools work also. Teachers know certain people are creepy. People know that some folks are just a little too familiar, a little too touchy, or don’t have the same barriers to other people’s space as the rest of the building. What are those people going to do or say? They say nothing because they can’t. You cannot go around making accusations. The administrators probably know there is just a little something off there too. What can they do? Nothing.
Listen to your kids. Sometimes they know, sometimes they are just being mean. I don’t believe for one minute that no one knew about the band director who was finally caught.
There are people out there that it is just only a matter of time.
Unfortunately, Sandusky is the tip of the iceberg. Child predators, really any predators are able to work their evil because they deal in a subject most of us don’t want to talk about. They operate on the sneak and have been known to make their victims the perpetrators. That’s a whole other topic.
Does anyone agree with me that bad things happen when good people
say and/or do nothing?
@punchak, of course, but it is an over simplification. Right now I am in the middle of reading how Penn State and many other colleges and universities aren’t in compliance with the Clery Act that has been around for about 20 years. Penn State didn’t even have a plan in place.
It is a federal law that tracks certain crimes that happen around college campuses (not necessarily on). Many people on the Penn State campus had never heard of the Clery Report. I know I sure hadn’t. The ovesight is the US Dept of Education. Well, there is a job for that cabinet level. Send a letter to all colleges and universities telling them they want a copy of their plan in 3 months. If it isn’t in, fine them a thousand bucks a day until they have it.
http://chronicle.com/article/IgnoranceLow-Priority-of/132839/
Penn State is far from the only school not in compliance.
The time line in the Freeh report is interesting. It would tell us more if it were stretched out horizontally to really show the amount of time that passed between “discovery.”
I certainly don’t think all the law suits are over. More people dropped the ball than just the university folks we know about. I seriously doubt if these people had had workshop 1 telling them the steps in dealing with child sexual abuse. It isn’t always intuitive. They consulted the commonwealth’s attorney and the campus police chief as well as various attorneys.
Everyone should at least look at the time line which starts about pg. 17. It is a real eye opener. I feel differently about the entire situation after seeing the time line. To say that none of these men cared is simply wrong. Did they do the right thing in all cases? WEll obviously not.
The Freeh Report is up at the top of the post.
Some very thought-provoking questions with Brad Hirshfield: Did the NCAA Get It Right
http://live.washingtonpost.com/bradley-hirschfield-120724.html
Child abuse is reported to a senior official. Rather than go to the police to report the crime, the senior official keeps it all in the family, hush-hush, because the reputation of the program is more important than the lives of the children that would continue to be destroyed. It was right for the statue to come down, it was right for the Paterno legacy to be erased and for the arrogance of this “football school” to be brought back down to planet Earth. A mere hand slap by the NCAA would have done nothing to change that arrogant culture of football-program-above-all-else. The people whining over the sanctions really make me sick. Sorry your kid can’t play football for the best team ever anymore–by the way, exactly why are you sending him to college in the first place?
No, Paterno didn’t teach children–I get that—but he was informed of a crime and he kept silent. Going to the police with suspicions is not the same as “making an accusation.” It’s doing the right thing to help prevent possible future victims. It’s how anyone with an ounce of humanity can sleep at night, once informed of such a monstrous act.
Emma,
In the first place, there is strong argument that the NCAA operated outside of its purview. Many people who aren’t real football people would argue that it really isn’t authorized to impose sanctions that don’t violate sports rules.
Paterno would have been the first person to tell you that retrospectively he should have done more. He didn’t. He also brought thousands of kids up through a top notch sports program that was a real model nationally–Kids that were HIS responsibility. How many kids now are adults who would have been down in the mines at age 60?
I know, it takes a village to raise a child and that we are all responsible for children…he would have probably thought that also.
I find it offensive that a person can give to a school, a program, and kids, using his talent and then because of the inactions of ADULT Mcqueary and pervert Jerry Sandusky, have everything he ever worked for reduced to rubble. Joe is dead and can’t defend himself now.
Where is the criticism of McQueary who SAYS he witnessed a child being raped and did nothing. Seriously? Is Joe the biggest target for the football haters? Never do I hear about monster Jerry who obviously started a program for kids to lure them in by tangling the carrot of Penn State football at him. Maybe its unfair of me to say he started a program for wayward boys to lure them in. I dont know what came first, the chicken or the eff…just that he is a monster.
I don’t think Joe did the right thing either but….I also don’t believe he deserves to have all the good in his life destroyed. We are evaluating him with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. He had no idea how many kids were involved or that someone talking to Sandusky wouldn’t fix the issue. While you and I might know that you can never rehabilitate the Sanduskys of the world, I doubt if Joe did.
As for suspicions, that is a rather naive thing to say. In a tight knit community where the district attorney has already refused to prosecute, making such an allegation about someone who used to work for you is dangerous business. (think lawsuit) There are also personnel issues that require privacy.
The people I have gotten in my most violent arguments about Joe with do not like football and have had no experience around sports programs. I don’t like group punishment and Joe isn’t here to defend himself. In fact, Sandusky wasn’t even convicted of the rape of Victim 2.
No one is left at Penn State will feel the punishment who had any responsibility for what happen.
Just out of curiosity, do you think the Paternos should ask for the money back they gave the library?
For the record, I have no connection to Penn State. My closest connection is watching a Penn State game and they always beat my husband’s team. Its the principle of the thing. Oh, and I am a coach’s daughter but that was many years ago. If it weren’t for an athletic program (not Penn State) I woudln’t be here I guess. I just have had the misfortune of knowing how some of this works and truthfully, Paterno was one of the better ones and I don’t mean just in football.
@Moon-howler “Listen to your kids. Sometimes they know, sometimes they are just being mean. I don’t believe for one minute that no one knew about the band director who was finally caught.”
No one knew. My kids were all in that band program over the years. As far as anyone knows, he never touched any of the school kids there. He lived in a more distant county, and the incidents happened in his home. Hence all the shock and denial when it happened.
@Moon-howler I agree that McQueary’s actions were reprehensible–how do you walk away from a scene like that? But he wasn’t a senior official, he was a grad student unfortunately infected with the same protective culture. Sandusky had his day in court, whether we agree with the outcome or not. Such is our legal system.
“In a tight knit community where the district attorney has already refused to prosecute, making such an allegation about someone who used to work for you is dangerous business. (think lawsuit) There are also personnel issues that require privacy.”
As a person who is legally bound by profession to report any and all suspicions of abuse, that rings hollow to me. That’s the kind of cowardice that damages countless lives. McQueary WITNESSED child abuse, he didn’t just suspect it; he reported it to his superior (WRONG!), who should have reported a WITNESSED crime. When told of such things, a man who thinks about his legacy and the future of the football program instead of the long line of victims deserves what Paterno got. Lots of people who do wrong are also really, really nice folks in many other ways.
In other words, you had better have more under your belt than heresay and rumors or be in a position to be making accusations. Paterno reported it to his bosses.
Now, with hindsight, yes, he should have seen that Sandusky was an incurable pervert. That’s the problem with incurable perverts. They hide it from their friends. The people that see it are the victims. I have known one. You would never know it.
Paterno wasnt legally bound by profession to report, I wouldn’t think. When you witness a crime, you should report it. It has nothing to do with reporting child abuse. I have had people tell me McQueary was young. I don’t think 24 is too young to see something like that going down and not stop it.
I think Paterno should have handed McQueary the phone and insisted he call the police. But I wasn’t there. I seriously don’t think college people have been trained how to report child abuse (of any sort) because they don’t deal with minors. I checked around and what the school might really catch it over is the Clery Act not being in compliance.
You assume what Paterno was thinking. There is nothing I have read that makes your thoughts any more than speculation. Why would reporting Sandusky after he no longer worked for Penn State damage Paterno’s legacy? He could have spun that a million ways so that didn’t happen. I doubt that it ever occurred to him that there was a long line of victims. I expect understanding the mind of a pervert was totally alien to Paterno.
I go back to thinking he was a decent man who isn’t here to defend himself. I can’t speak for the other men involved. I only know about Spanier and I can’t say what or how I know. I only speak for Joe. Maybe because he is dead and gone.
So….we purge him from Penn State like he was an out of favor Russian? I think recent events have made certain that JoePA lives forever in the heart of Penn State, with or without his statue. I just think one error in judgement should not destroy the good deeds of 60 years.
I am all for holding the person who did it respeonsible. He should never see the light of day.