Penn State Goings-On

[Sheilbh]

Beyond the head coach, president and AD to whom?

I've said I think they need a couple of years to entirely re-build the program. 

There's two things in that quotation that strike me, obviously there's the janitors not reporting it out of fear and loyalty.  But there's also that Sandusky seems unconcerned at being caught and walking out of the showers holding hands with his victims.  The level of immunity he had, or of implied tolerance by the entire university, seems very high.  He wasn't even terribly furtive about it.

[Admiral Yi]

There's two things in that quotation that strike me, obviously there's the janitors not reporting it out of fear and loyalty.  But there's also that Sandusky seems unconcerned at being caught and walking out of the showers holding hands with his victims.  The level of immunity he had, or of implied tolerance by the entire university, seems very high.  He wasn't even terribly furtive about it.

Except your example explicitly shows Sandusky did not enjoy implied tolerance by the entire university.

[Sheilbh]

How so?

[OttoVonBismarck]

I don't agree with forcefully ending the program. On some levels I do think that should be done, but ultimately I don't know that it's the best outcome for anyone involved.

What I'd like is to see the State of Pennsylvania get involved. What I'd like to see is basically something similar to "receivership" for a municipality or a company that has gone bankrupt. I'd like to see the Governor of Pennsylvania appoint a total non-PSU connected person to be basically in charge of PSU for 5 years. PSU would still have a selected President, but the State appointed "receiver" would have to sign off on anything the President does. The State appointed receiver would also have summary dismissal authority of any employee at PSU who he thinks was complicit in the coverup, and would have authority to summarily dismiss any employee who is hindering efforts to reform the school to prevent any future coverups.

In addition to a top-level receiver who will basically sit on the University President's shoulder and have final say on all university matters, I'd put the athletic department into a separate receivership, to last for 20 years. The position of AD would still exist, but everything the AD did would be signed off by the athletic department's state-appointed receiver.

Additionally, a special office of the Pennsylvania State Police would be set up at Penn State. While the normal city and university police would had ordinary policing, this State police office would have sole responsibility to investigate any potential criminal actions by Penn State employees. All employees of Penn State will be required to sign an agreement stating any observed misdeed of another university employee will be reported immediately to this special State Police detachment. Any employee found to have known of a misdeed or crime who did not report it to the state police detachment will be summarily fired, and any contract employees will have as part of their employment contract a "claw back" provision which would allow Penn State to retroactively "claw back" some of their compensation if they are fired for this reason. This police detachment would be wholly independent of Penn State, but would give regular reports to the Penn State President and State-appointed receiver on its activities, activities specific to the athletic department would also result in a report being sent to the AD and AD-Receiver.

Every quarter this police detachment would conduct an "audit" of sorts of the athletic department, and grill the scholarship athletes on whether they had reported anything to a coach. If it is found an athlete reported any kind of inappropriate activity to a coach, and the coach didn't report it to the State Police detachment that coach will be immediately fired. The same goes if the athlete reported something to any school employee and that employee didn't go to the State Police.

Additionally, after the first year any employee who reports a misdeed to someone other than the State Police, even if it is to their supervisor, and even if that supervisor then reports it to the State Police, that employee will be fired. Basically it will be repeatedly drilled into the heads of all PSU employees for one year that any inappropriate activity must be reported to the State Police first and is not to go up the chain of command. By "misdeed" I mean anything that would be a crime or would violate school policy, not just stuff relating to child abuse.

I would also like to see the Governor mandate Penn State cannot sign any multi-year coaching contracts for a period of 10 years, and will be capped at total compensation for any coach (including head coach) at $500,000/yr for 5 years. After that the AD Receiver, at his discretion, may alter or eliminate the cap.

Additionally, the budget for the special State Police detachment, and the receivership in general will be 100% funded by Penn State. First, up to 5% of the Athletic Department's general revenue will be used to pay for the State Police detachment and the receivership. If more money is required after that, the remainder will come from whichever source PSU's leadership decides on (they can take more from the Athletic Department or can take it out of general revenue.)

The receiver will also be solely responsible for the litigation against PSU concerning Sandusky's activities, and his only goal will be to equitably settle the case and to minimize any litigation by entering into speedy settlements.

Finally, any after-expense profits of the Athletic Department, for a period of 20 years, 10% of those will go into a charitable trust that will distribute those funds to any charity in Pennsylvania, not associated with Penn State, that does charitable work with children. Additionally, over the 20 year period if Penn State has paid in less than $20m into the trust, it will be required to make up that deficit by whatever means it wishes. (So if somehow the Athletic Department isn't in the black enough to fund at least 20m/20 years, then the rest of the school will have to kick money in.)

[Admiral Yi]

How so?

How not?  Janitor A didn't say "that's just Jerry being Jerry." Or "that's not very nice but a few kids' anal virginity is a small price to pay to uphold Penn State's image." 

[OttoVonBismarck]

I'd also like to see PSU forfeit the last 10 years of football games, including all bowl games. That way Paterno will no longer have the major college coaching wins record.

[Sheilbh]

There's no report of the crime Yi. When you've witnessed something like a rape I think tolerance is inaction, not your own moral position on it.

The janitors were in a far worse position, no doubt, but there's a pattern at the top and bottom of the uni of staying silent through whatever combination of fear and loyalty. That's why I think the problem was institutional and cultural. So the changes needed are far wider than just firing individuals.

[Neil]

I'd also like to see PSU forfeit the last 10 years of football games, including all bowl games. That way Paterno will no longer have the major college coaching wins record.

Yes he will.  He still won those games.

[Neil]

The janitors were in a far worse position, no doubt, but there's a pattern at the top and bottom of the uni of staying silent through whatever combination of fear and loyalty. That's why I think the problem was institutional and cultural. So the changes needed are far wider than just firing individuals.

Wouldn't covering your ass the the position of anybody in that situation?  The changes you're looking for aren't to the institutional culture, but rather to Western culture, and they're not going to happen.

[jimmy olsen]

The janitors were in a far worse position, no doubt, but there's a pattern at the top and bottom of the uni of staying silent through whatever combination of fear and loyalty. That's why I think the problem was institutional and cultural. So the changes needed are far wider than just firing individuals.

Wouldn't covering your ass the the position of anybody in that situation?  The changes you're looking for aren't to the institutional culture, but rather to Western culture, and they're not going to happen.

That's not true. An assistant coach at Baylor squealed on the head coach's plan to cover up the murder of one basketball player by another.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I'd also like to see PSU forfeit the last 10 years of football games, including all bowl games. That way Paterno will no longer have the major college coaching wins record.

Yes he will.  He still won those games.

Preposterous, I say otherwise, and I'm always right.

[jimmy olsen]

Wow, the rumors I've hearing about the punishment are crazy. If they're true this really is worth than the death penalty. 

[stjaba]

Wow, the rumors I've hearing about the punishment are crazy. If they're true this really is worth than the death penalty.

What rumors are you hearing and what are your sources?

[jimmy olsen]

Wow, the rumors I've hearing about the punishment are crazy. If they're true this really is worth than the death penalty.

What rumors are you hearing and what are your sources?

Just a lot of stuff I see floating around the net, nothing I would consider reliable. Probably just panicking Penn Staters fearing the worst.

Stuff like a 5 year bowl ban and loss of all scholarships during that time period.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Wow, the rumors I've hearing about the punishment are crazy. If they're true this really is worth than the death penalty.

What rumors are you hearing and what are your sources?

Just a lot of stuff I see floating around the net, nothing I would consider reliable. Probably just panicking Penn Staters fearing the worst.

Stuff like a 5 year bowl ban and loss of all scholarships during that time period.

That will just engender outrage at Penn, rather than cause a re-evaluation of their slavish devotion to sports icons.