Joe Paterno should be fired!

[JaneDoe]

I don't know if this belongs in the debate forum or not. Actually, I can't believe this is debatable. Almost ten years ago a witness reports to Paterno that he SAW Sandusky, the Assistant Coach, abusing a ten year boy in the showers on Penn State Campus and Paterno did not report this to the police. He only reported to the Penn State administrative officials. That's not enough. How does he sleep at night? Now he claims he is shocked by the allegations of child abuse against Sandusky. I think it's disgusting.

He obviously was aware of Sandusky's abuse. He could have reported it the the police and helped to see that Sandusky was arrested years ago thereby protecting other boys from being abused. Paterno and all other Penn State officials who were aware of the shower incident and did not report it to the POLICE should be fired.

[GrayMatterWife]

Someone involved with all this had a statutory duty to report. They should be sued by the victim for their abrogation of that responsibility and charged criminally for facilitation or neglect or whatever the law allows. I hope the victim has a lawsuit against Penn State, where the real deep pocket is.

Bizarre. You know some creepy old guy is sexually assaulting children and you do nothing? You are more interested in keep the rep of the program protected? What the hell are you thinking?

[Momo]

These very young boys were from a center for at risk/foster youth. Can you imagine being a player & knowing the facilities you used on a daily basis were the site of child rape!!! Damn Paterno & Penn sate officials!

[Momo]

!

[scrub-jay]

This makes me physically ill.

[oceanchild]

I am SO fed up with Division I college football that I can hardly speak sensibly about it. Apparently no matter what anyone else does, USC is the only school that needs to be sanctioned.

[JaneDoe]

Apparently you can also be fired for knowing that players are trading tattoos for jerseys (Jim Tressel, Ohio), but not for knowing of the rape of a child and failing to report it correctly. This just makes me so sick. Do the right thing Penn State- fire Paterno.

[SuzySunshine]

They'll let him retire at the end of the season - I bet you a million bucks!

[scarlett09]

I am SO fed up with Division I college football that I can hardly speak sensibly about it. Apparently no matter what anyone else does, USC is the only school that needs to be sanctioned.

This.

Apparently you can also be fired for knowing that players are trading tattoos for jerseys (Jim Tressel, Ohio), but not for knowing of the rape of a child and failing to report it correctly. This just makes me so sick. Do the right thing Penn State- fire Paterno.

This.

I just don't understand how you could witness or know about the incident and NOT report it to the police! Why didn't this grad assistant go to the police?! What the hell were the AD and others going to do about it? Were they going to make sure the child got to a doctor and received counseling? Were they going to penalize this guy and make him "pay" for his crime? It's obvious none of those things happen when you report something like that internally, you HAVE to get the authorities involved. Obviously there was a lot of covering up in this story, but Joe Pa's reaction to the incident also reeks of trying to save this guy who was his defensive coordinator. Even though his defense clearly sucked around the time of this incident, as the team had a losing record during much of the first part of the last decade.

Full disclosure: I hate Penn State. It is nothing more than a football school with a good creamery and a decent meteorology program. It is a HUGE school in the middle of nowhere, where all the students do is party. I never hear anything good about the academic side of the school beyond the aforementioned ice cream and weather forecasting. Everyone gets all hyped up about the school - people from my home state want to go there, which I don't understand when there are much better schools in our state and region than this one. Or why they would pay $40K per year to attend a huge state university that is just average.

My loathing of Penn State aside, Joe Pa is some kind of deity on that campus and in the state of Pennsylvania. He can do no wrong, nobody questions him, etc. I highly, highly doubt he will be fired, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him step down and "retire" at the end of the season. I sure hope so, as he didn't do what was right and logical to protect that boy and now many others from this sick pervert. And how can he really be coaching still anyway? Have you seen one of his press conferences? He can barely talk or walk!!

I think it is horrible that this guy was abusing kids who were participating in charities that he created! It is now apparent that he had ulterior motives in creating those charities.

[scarlett09]

I don't hate Penn State as much as you do, but it's pretty common knowledge that the university and its programs (more than ice cream and weather forecasting) are top-ranked.

Not trying to start a debate, but who says that the university and its programs are top-ranked? I've always lived in an area that buys into the Penn State mystique and I've never heard anyone talk about the academic prestige of the place. Beyond the agricultural programs and meteorology program, of course. Or perhaps maybe I simply ignore anything I hear about them because I don't like them? I could buy that theory.

[Pollyanna]

Eh, it always just seemed like a big state school dressed up with a fancy name (which helps for getting a job/into graduate school). They do offer to reimburse students for their travel expenses if they come out for a visit which shocked the heck out of me.

Anyway, back to the firing...

and yes, everyone should go, time to clean the house so to speak.

[Momo]

Of course University of Pennsylvania IS top notch...Penn State is just a child rape facilitator.

[scarlett09]

Ugh, the story is recapped every 10 minutes here on the news. Guess I won't be watching too much local news for the next few months. There was a great quote from the State Police Commissioner at the news conference today -

"as a human being, I want them to remember three words: nine-one-one. If you have that information, I believe it is your obligation to bring it forward"

How do any of these people sleep at night??

[houseelf]

I fail to see what is debatable about firing him.

[fluffhead]

disclaimer: I know nothing about college athletics. I think it's all a big load of crap, and universities should be concentrating on academics and stop trying to get money from alumni to build stadiums and teams.

OK....

This guy saw a crime being committed, and he told the administration. That's what he's supposed to do! The administrators were supposed to take it from there, and the fact that they didn't makes them liable. If a student tells me about something going on at home, I'm not supposed to call 911, I'm supposed to tell the headmaster. I am not obligated to follow up - it's out of my hands. Yes, as a human being I would care enough to find out what happened, but I can't get fired for not being a nice guy.
So now, that same administration which fell down on the job should fire Paterno? Seems a little hypocritical to me.

The question I have is, did he see or did he hear about Sandusky continuing to commit acts with children after he reported him? If the answer is yes, then he's certainly liable for not re-reporting the situation. But if the administration decided that Sandusky was not to be reported to the authorities for that first incident, Paterno was in no position to go around them and call the cops.