Being a blogger of “Hot Air,” of course there is no way I can remain silent about the firing of Joe Paterno. First of all, let me say that I do not disagree that Penn State had to make some changes. In the face of the Penn State Administration’s failure to go to the police with their suspicion, and all the heartache and pain that has happened more or less as a result of this failure to act, change was needed. What I am particularly outraged about is the way that the national press, scores of prominent and not-so-prominent sportscasters, and many talking heads across the media have attacked Joe Paterno, almost as if HE were the sick man that assaulted all those boys. So I would like to point out that Joe Paterno did not molest any children. Yes, Paterno did not call the police on the spot, but let’s look at what he DID after learning of Sandusky attacking and raping a young boy in the Penn State locker rooms.
Assistant Coach Mike McQueary interrupted Sandusky in the act of raping a ten-year-old boy. McQueary went to Joe Paterno, and the two men went together to the administration where McQueary repeated his observations. So, obviously now, Joe Paterno, a third-party (or hearsay) witness, had pretty much fulfilled his reporting obligation. Remember that two school officials are now in legal difficulties for their failure to act, including Vice-President Gary Schultz. Pennsylvania state law REQUIRES the ranking official of an institution who is notified of suspected child abuse TO IMMEDIATELY REPORT his suspicions or information directly to Pennsylvania Child Welfare Services. In other words, neither McQueary nor Joe Paterno were required to report what McQueary had seen, because they notified both Athletic Director Tim Curley and College Vice-President Schultz of the child abuse. On the other hand, Schultz WAS REQUIRED BY LAW to do so IMMEDIATELY, as he was the ranking school official notified of the incident.
A state police official later 1) acknowleded that Joe Paterno was not legally obligated to report the Sandusky attack (for the reasons mentioned above), and 2) stated that Paterno had suffered a “moral lapse” because he did not report the incident to police. But when one reviews Paterno’s actions and the legal requirements placed on ranking school officials, it suddenly begins to look like a not-so-cut-and-dried indictment against Paterno. But Penn State officials needed to “act, and act quickly” (to quote Mel Brooks) to protect themselves and their jobs in the face of the coming and justified public outrage. Firing the college president and vice-president was appropriate and justified. Firing the athletic director was maybe not so justified, but understandable, as he also was a ranking school official. Firing Joe Paterno, however, was overkill…but perhaps Penn State officials believed that the public clamor (as well as media screaming) could be quelled by the sacrifice of one more high-profile individual. Coach fired, case closed. Perhaps Joe Paterno should have himself gone to the police, and taken McQueary with him. That is something that Joe Paterno will live with the rest of his life, as will McQueary.
Joe Paterno’s great accomplishments and great generosity to the staff and students of Penn State will now be overshadowed by the Sandusky scandal that resulted in Paterno’s downfall. But when one steps back from the clamor and the self-righteous finger-pointing, the light of calm reason that shines on the situation is quite revealing. The truth is that Joe Paterno lost his job, but more importantly, his life-earned reputation and dignity, because the Penn State administrators left standing in the wake of the scandal needed a large, impenetrable shield to hide behind. Unfortunately, that shield was Joe “JoePa” Paterno.
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