I imagine they might scoot on that due to some statutes of limitations.
You should mail the bag to the chancellor, or the Board of Regents, or whoever runs the place.
That would be a really cool protest of this…everyone send their PSU paraphernalia to the Board of Trustees with a note explaining why you no longer want to own the stuff.
I’ve only read a few articles about the case, but it seems to me that Joe Paterno was likely just guilty of not believing the worst about someone he thought he knew. While that is certainly worth a pitting, I am not sure it’s fair to act as though the guy was complicit in child molestation. It’s also worth noting that in 2002, when Paterno was alerted to the matter, Sandusky had not been working for the Penn State football program for 3 years. He was not an employee of Paterno’s, so it’s not entirely fair to think he had the direct ability to fire him.
The larger question is why didn’t Paterno just scream from the rafters when he was told that Sandusky was molesting kids. I think the unfortunate answer is that it’s hard to accept that someone you think you know is a monster. This is why child molestation, rape, murder, and other crimes are so pervasive. People have a hard time imagining someone capable of such terrible acts can also, at times, be a sensitive, thoughtful, and seemingly well-adjusted person. This story speak less to Joe Paterno’s naivety or complicity, but to the nature of things like this. I know that if someone I didn’t know very well accused my brother of something similar, I cannot say with certainty that I would immediately call the police. I’d like to think I would if there were compelling evidence, but the moral and legal consequences of being wrong, coupled with my faith in my brother’s goodness would likely give me pause as it does most others in such positions.
This survey states that only 53% of people report child sexual abuse to authorities. Another study showed 25% of doctors did not report abuse-related child injuries to child protective services. I would also have to imagine that many of those people had far more evidence of abuse than Paterno had. I am not saying Paterno is blameless here, just that people should probably put down the pitchforks, and focus on the asshole who actually committed the crime. It would seem that Paterno was likely guilty of no more than being a normal, albeit credulous, person in a complex situation. Maybe the issue is that people though because he’s a good football coach, he should always make great decisions.
Yeah, that’s how I felt too, when I read the first article. I figured that somebody must have told the AD and the VP. I’d figure that someone could cover it up, but not Joe. I was figuring, “Somebody couldn’t bear to tell JoePa his longtime assistant coach was a child molester so they hid it from everybody.”
But if it’s true that Mike McQueary was the “grad assistant” who witnessed the assault, well game over man, game over. All the other things are smoking guns, but that’s the bullet wound for Penn State and everyone involved. Everything hinges on his testimony. If it’s true then:
[ul][li]McQueary knew that Sandusky had molested a kid. He told the AD and the VP that he saw “anal intercourse” in the shower. The AD and VP didn’t report it. In fact, they took the case so lightly that they didn’t even bother to find out what the kid’s name was. The PA AG had to issue a public call to ask the victim to come forward today.[/li][li]McQueary also told JoePa about the incident. Maybe he told JoePa exactly what it was, maybe he didn’t. But whatever happened, JoePa didn’t do much about it. Everybody in central PA knows Joe could have picked up the phone to anybody up to and including then President George W. Bush (Joe campaigned on behalf of both him and his dad) and gotten them to listen. But he didn’t.[/li][li]McQueary was a grad assistant in 2002. In 2011 he is one of the program’s top assistants. Amazing how he kept his mouth shut about this for nine years.[/li][li]After getting banned from Penn State, Sandusky started “coaching” local high school kids at football and wrestling programs. Guess who’s in charge of recruiting at Penn State…in other words, the guy who’s in charge of talking to local high schools about getting football players (who in central PA are often also on the wrestling team) to play for PSU? You got it: Mike McQueary is Penn State’s co-ordinator of recruiting. Are you meaning to tell me that not once, not even once, in McQueary’s whole time as a recruiter nobody said to him “Penn State? Hey, we have a former coach of yours helping out our kids here, Jerry Sandusky!”[/ul][/li]
One more thing about the “poor grad assistant” story being trotted out. Mike McQueary wasn’t just any old grad assistant…he was a former record-setting quarterback at Penn State. He’d worked with JoePa on a regular basis for years on and off the field. This was not some kid who was scared to come in and talk to Joe.
Right. Paterno and the other people involved here didn’t act as if they believed Sandusky was innocent. They acted as if he was guilty - they did their level best to distance themselves from him.
They did everything but call the authorities about their suspicions, which is the one thing they really needed to do.
WHAT?! Christ on a pogo stick. This has gone from “haha looks like JoePa isn’t such a saint after all” to “Fuck it, burn it to the ground” type of territory. If they were covering this up, and I don’t think there is any doubt of that, then what else has been covered up?
Wow. Just wow.
Even a few hours ago, I sorta figured that a handful of people were implicated in this, but that would be it. Now it’s approaching “fire everybody in the football program and start over from scratch” territory, completely aside from the criminal aspects.
The Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police said this, and I agree 100%:
So let’s get this straight: after Sandusky was reported to be seen anally raping a ten-year-old kid in a locker room, the Penn State administration decided to ban Sandusky and little kids from the locker room, but it was OK for Sandusky to be on campus whenever he wanted. You just go anally rape those kids somewhere else, old man!
From Duke’s link…
Nice avoidance of the real accusation there, Sports Illustrated…
McQueary, Paterno, Curley, Schultz, the Campus Police, the janitorial staff, and anyone else that knew about this should spend the rest of their lives in prison. Questioning whether Paterno should be forced to resign is a complete joke. Anyone connected to this case should immediately be placed on administrative leave while the investigation is conducted. If the details that have been in the press are true, these people should all go to prison.
How does McQueary not rush in to stop the attack from happening? He had only two options at that point, physically stop it himself or call 911. Those are the only morally correct options. Waiting until the next day to tell your boss is insane.
How do the janitors not tell someone when they witness a rape?
How do the campus police not press charges when he admits to showering and having inappropriate contact with an 11-year old?
Paterno? Let me get this straight, he has an assistant coach that is fucking 7 year olds in the team hotel as early as 1994, probably forces him to resign in 1999 after molesting an 11 year old, lets him continue to use the facilities and bring kids around the program for years afterwards, is told by an assistant that he has raped a 10 year old in those facilities in 2002, so he let’s him continue to use the facilities but tells him not to bring anymore kids by. I guess I’m of the opinion that Paterno rotting to death in prison is probably too good a punishment for him.
Curley and Schultz cover up the incident and ensure that Sandusky can keep raping kids. They should die in prison.
Sandusky? There are no appropriate punishments for him.
I though I couldn’t be shocked anymore but…
The perv was bring kids *to the University *to rape them??? What th…I mean…WTF???
McQueary *witnessed *him raping a child and didn’t beat the living snot out of him???What…I mean…hell…THE FUCK???
It might be easier to convert a couple of the campus dorms to prisons for all the staff that ought to be put away for this.
This. McQueary* knew about this for 9 years. NINE YEARS! He -had- to have seen Sandusky around the facilities. There’s no way in hell I could have continued working for an organization that essentially gave child molesters a free get-out-of-jail card. None. So seems to me, McQueary probably was hesitant about saying more than he already did, less he lose his ride on the gravy train - come on, coordinator of football recruiting at Penn friggen’ State? That has to be one of the easier jobs out there.
Include McQueary in the names of people I think should be tossed in jail for 20 years.
*(there are any number of jokes in there, all in bad taste and I’m probably going to hell for thinking them).
I guess they’ll finally have an answer to the age-old joke: Did you go to Penn State or the state pen? They can confidently answer: Both!
Well, they ARE only a few miles apart…
The more I think about it the more I think Paterno has to resign or be “encouraged” to. (I thought that before, even though he was winning, because having this aging guy hang around with his exit strategy being dropping dead on the field midgame really threatens to make the succession tough; this is why many businesses have mandatory retirement ages).
Here . . . there is no spin that makes Paterno look good.
He didn’t know exactly what was going on? It was going on at a facility of the football team, and he’s head coach. It’s his job to know and to investigate zealously the exact particulars of any funny business.
He didn’t think it was “that serious?” He’s been roundly denounced here for any suggestion that there is any degree of sexualized contact with a minor that is de minimis. Ditto the attitude of “oops, it was a mistake,” or “well, we thought it was an isolated incident.” Even the RCC, which bungled its handling of its own scandals, has by now figured out (for the most part) that it’s idiotic to assume that offenders like this ever stop.
He didn’t notice anything odd? WTF, I guarantee that if any of us had been closely exposed to Sandusky for years we’d have known something was more than a little “off.” The driving around “special friends,” always young boys, in his car. The gift giving. The sleepovers. Bringing them to games!
Or the ultimate cop out – he’s from an earlier, more innocent generation, and believe it or not, none of this ever occurred to him? Okay, then, he’s an old fool and there’s no justification for having an old fool in control of the safety of kids at the university’s facility, in charge of a team, in charge of really, anything other than quietly and with whatever shred of dignity he can, going off to spend time with his family in his remaining years, where his doddering ways don’t affect anyone else.
There are no heroes in this story. These kids were completely abandoned by the adults around them.
I’m particularly distraught by the graduate assistant that wasn’t man enought to physically stop the anal raping of a 10 year old child and instead chose to walk away and tell his boss. Not even the cops. If he had just yelled into the shower it certainly would have ended the rape but apparently the guy was too big of a fucking pussy to put himself at risk for a 10 year old stranger. I hope he thinks about what he didn’t do every night for the rest of his life.
Oh, the real motive is worse than cowardice – he was a recent NCAA athlete more than capable of stopping the situation. The strong implication, as the facts emerge, is that he was a fair haired boy destined for great things on the PSU coaching staff, and didn’t want to rock the boat anymore than he had to. Now that’s maybe even more disgusting than being a dolt or a coward.