I can tell you that as a physician, I can't just ignore a report of child abuse. It doesn't matter if I don't see it myself. If someone tells me they witnessed something like this, I have to call child protective services. Your responsibility is to assure that someone checks on the child.

That's the thing. Paterno didn't see anything. And for all he knew the graduate assistant who reported it to him could have had a longstanding issue with Sandusky. The fact is that Paterno reported it to his superiors the next day. I've heard reports that he did continue to check on it, but child abuse cases do move slowly.

We also need to remember that despite the allegations about Sandusky now, at the time he was very well thought of (creator of a philanthropy for at risk youth, legendary football coach, etc) by those around him. This would mean that it would be hard to believe that he could do a thing like that. However abusers often are people that seem like they have an excellent reputation (to outsiders).

In terms of the grad assistant who witnessed the rape, I can only guess that he was in incredible shock, which is why he didn't intervene. I have no other answer than that. I don't agree with what he did, but I also know that whether he is held legally responsible or not, this will haunt him for the rest of his life.

That gets into being a mandatory reporter. I had the same responsibility when I was a preschool teacher during college.

I do wonder if Paterno, as a state employee at a college, had a similar responsibility. Like Kevin, I don't know enough PA law to say one way or the other.

Either way, you have to think Paterno made a conscious choice to do only what he thought he was required to do. He heard something awful about someone he had known for years, and chose to limit his reporting of the incident.

I wasn't talking about Paterno.

I agree.

Like they were saying on CNN, there's a legal obligation and a moral obligation. I do not know the details beyond what the media is reporting years later.

I agree, and I am not saying that Paterno didn't do what he was obligated to do. This is more of a comment towards others saying you can't just report things if you didn't see them happen. You actually should. Children rely on people reporting sketchy things. The system is set up in such a way that people aren't immediately arrested. Look at this case, Sandusky was investigated for 3 years before he was arrested. The important thing is to let someone check to make sure that the kid involved is not being victimized.
Honestly, could you really live with yourself if you didn't do something and it turned out to be true?

I think this sums up how us Penn State students/alumni are feeling - as written by a Penn State associate professor.

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/we-are/

I can't thank you enough for posting this. Honestly, this is what I have been trying to explain to people about the situation. This situation has truly shown me who my real friends and "sisters" (from other schools) are. Just like I would never tell the Alums of Virginia Tech how to feel about what happened at their university, I would appreciate it if people who have no connection to PSU would stop telling me how I should feel. In general-don't tell people how they should feel about anything.

Whoa.

It's true. The way that they may feel they will always (unfairly) be associated with such a tragic event is the same way that PSU will always be associated with this. Just because people didn't lose their lives through death doesn't mean these victims (not the students or alums--the actual victims) didn't lose something close to their lives during the time they were victimized by this monster.

If you think that this event will not tarnish the school to the point they will lost funds, alumni support, and potential students--then you need to really look at this again. Many of us are disgusted by what happened and the fact that nothing was done for these victims sickens us.

As a Virginia resident and wife of a very proud Hokie graduate, I can emphatically tell you NO. THERE IS NO COMPARISON. A trusted coach and authority figure did not shoot those students and professors. There is no shame in being part of the Virginia Tech nation.

There should be no shame in being part of the PSU nation, as it was one individual, but that seems not to be the case at this point for many.

Penn State is not state-owned; rather it is state-related.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-related

Its employees are not state employees.

I think Paterno may have done what he was legally obligated to do, but failed on a moral front (to borrow DrPhil's comparison)

Thanks, I wasn't sure of the employees' status. That may affect his responsibility as far as reporting it.

The man who is heading up this investigation will be on The Early Show this morning.

Another news source was discussing criminal and civil suits. Not only will individuals affiliated with Penn State be possibly held liable but also, possibly, Penn State itself. The comparison was made with Watergate in terms of "what did you know and when did you know it."

I will update my post when I see the interview and get more info.

I can't tell Penn State alums how to feel. I will just say that I don't think about the VTech shooting when I think about and see VTech. Of course, those who were on VTech's campus that day or whose family member was victimized are more likely to think about that shooting everytime they see or hear VTech.

VTech =/= that shooter
VTech > that shooter

Agreed. I'd add to that that with VA Tech, both alumni and the rest of us have the perspective of 4+ years. The situation at Penn State is fresh and raw and in the front of everyone's minds -- I would think it would be very hard to have any real perspective at this point.