FC: PSU BOT Slanders Joe Paterno In The NY Times & Philly Inquirer

Question

Continuing its vendetta against the old coach, anonymous sources on the Board Of Trustees slandered him IMHO. Here are some of the lowlights with my comments:

"Paterno may have followed the law following his conversation with Mike McQueary (MM), but he didn't act morally." MM never told Paterno that he witnessed the sexual assault of a young boy and that Sandusky needed to be arrested immediately. You can conclude that because it's what MM said under oath at the Curley-Schultz preliminary hearing in Bellefonte (source: court transcript). MM testified that out of respect for the old coach he just told him that "something of a sexual nature" occurred in the Lasch showers. This is exactly how the Department of Public Welfare investigator described what happened in 1998, concluding that JS' conduct had not risen to the level of sexual abuse of a minor. (source: DPW redacted files released in accordance with state law).

"Paterno undercut the authority of the BOT by asking to coach the remainder of 2011 and then retire."
The BOT undercut its own authority by allowing Schultz, UNDER INDICTMENT FOR PERJURY AT THE TIME, to do what it didn't allow Paterno to do, to retire. In fact, Schultz, whose job required him to initiate a University Police investigation, failed to act morally by neglecting to do so.

"Paterno's inaction in 1998 resulted in Sandusky getting off in that case."
Not true. Centre County DA Ray Gricar was preparing to prosecute JS in 1998 based on the file given to him by University Police Chief Tom Harmon but could not proceed "when one agency of the Commonwealth (him) says it is sexual assault while another Commonwealth agency (DPW) says it isn't." (source: sworn depositions from Centre County assistant DAs at that time). Harmon added that he had notified Shultz of his findings but only him, not Joe Paterno. (source: legislative hearing).

MM also testified that in the 2002 case he didn't know the name of the lad, where he was from, didn't recognize him, and had no way to find him. Thus Paterno was highly unlikely to get JS arrested because there was no known victim (source: court transcript).

"Joe Paterno failed to follow Penn State's established policy and procedures in 2002."
Paterno followed established policy and procedures at that time (source: http://www.bennovak.net/2012/01/reflections-of-a-former-trustee/) and reported his information to AD Curley plus the man in charge of the University Police, Schultz (source: PSU organization chart).

Originally posted on Open Forum by Crimson Lights.