Dr Winston O'Boogie;1069917 wrote:His supervisors did fail, no doubt about that. Paterno failed too. As a leader, you don't just simply push the button as required but sit by idly if the power doesn't come on. That's what Paterno did.
And yes, Paterno and Sandusky did coexist for years after Paterno knew at the minimum that the guy was a child molester. Sandusky came and went in the offices at will. That is coexisting. That Paterno allowed that is unfathomable.
So in your opinion, what do you think of this scenario?
McQ to Jpa: I saw Sandusky acting inappropriately with little boys
Jpa to superiors: McQ told me such and such
Superiors to Jpa: okay, we will alert the authorities and look into it
MONTHS LATER
Jpa: What happened with the Sandusky case?
Superiors: we looked into it, it wasn't true, no police action necessary
What is Joe Pa supposed to do? I'm not saying that scenario is exactly what happened (because we'll never know), but it's a lot more plausible of a thought than "Joe Pa co-existed with a guy he
knew was a child molester".
If my protocol is to report it to my superiors, and my superiors botch it and subsequently lie to me, how am I personally responsible?
I know it's a much less significant situation and in no way compares to the horrors of child abuse, but the chain of command situation is very similar to what happened with Jim Tressel at Youngstown State. Tressel was alerted to possible violations, he reported it to his superiors, his superiors were dirty and lied to him about it, Tressel then told the NCAA that nothing was wrong, the NCAA finds wrongdoing and punishes Tressel's superiors but not Tressel, because Tressel didn't actually do anything wrong.
IMO, the people who are so against Paterno here seem to struggle with the concept that JoePa wasn't the highest link in the chain, and that his superiors' words and actions most likely have to do with Sandusky's continuing presence around Penn State than anything Joe Pa did.