As I see it, it was the Grad Assistant's responsibility to notify the police about the 2002 incident. All Paterno could do is say that a Grad Assistant told him Sandusky was molesting boys ... would be struck down as hearsay. Paterno did the right thing, and as far as I'm concerned, is clean. As noted, he had fullfilled all of his legal obligations. He alerted the authorities, and from that point on, it is THIER job to get in touch with the Grad Assistant and pursue the matter further. Paterno himself had absolutely no direct evidence of the crimes .. but the Grad Assistant did. This is Sad. Paterno is being hung out to dry for something he handled appropriately. It's not his responsibility to investigate crimes .. that was the job of the "authorities" he alerted.
The authorities he reported to were the university authorities, not the legal authorities. From a legal standpoint he fulfilled his duty. Going from there to "doing the right thing" and "handled appropriately" takes a lot more leeway than I accept.
I can't agree. Grad students are not full time employees and have no job security, they can be fired for anything. They are not responsible authorities of the university and their only responsibility at all is to tell their superiors. University administrators are the ones with the legal responsibility to involve the police or not to involve the police in a university incident. I disagree again. Yes, he followed procedural rules. But as a high-level department head with a large staff, he has a moral obligation to follow up. It is difficult to imagine the AD and chancellor handling this without input from the head coach, anyway.
Yep .. when it comes to legal matters, a lot of people disagree with me. ... and it has served me well. Got out of Jury Duty one time becaue I refused to accuse a driver of a heist for murder, when his buddy is the one who killed the person. LA law states that if a death occurrs during a felony, then ALL individuals are guilty of second degree murder. I disagreed. The guy who committed the murder is guilty of murder ... they guy driving the get away car, who didn't even step foot in the bank, and didn't even know a person was killed, IMO, is not guilty of murder.
The Grad student in question is their current WR coach and past starting QB. To say that his, or anyone's obligation in this situation is to just advise a superior is absolutely crazy. I honestly don't know how he, and the people above him he told, can sleep at night.
JoPa gets told that his right hand man was seen corn holing a 10 year old in the AD showers and he moves on after reporting it? Sorry, not buying it. Paterno was right in the middle of this cover up. They should forfeit all of their bowl wins. :hihi:
It was mentioned this morning on one of the talk radio shows that the original guy investigating the initial 1999 incident decided to discontinue the investigation (for some unknown reason). Also, he apparently was back on the case in 2005 due to other alleged incidents when he mysteriously disappeared. His body was never found but he was formally declared deceased only a few months ago. I only caught the tail end of this discussion and would appreciate any further detail.
Me either. But grad assistants are students, not university staff and can't be held accountable for much of anything. If he witnessed an obvious crime he should have called the police, but if he just saw suspicious behavior, then he should report it to his superior. My grad assistants better tell me anything they see that is suspicious and let me decide whether to call the police or pass it up the line. I'm a manager with responsibilities for my unit and its my ass on the line if anything goes wrong, so it's my call on any responses that must be made. And I guarantee that if I pass it up the line, I get something in writing from my director assuring me that it is being handled by the proper university authorities.
