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A Discipline Problem: Paterno Fought Penn State Official Over Punishment of Players.
Wall St Journal ^ | NOVEMBER 22, 2011 | REED ALBERGOTTI

Posted on 11/22/2011 5:42:06 AM PST by Pharmboy

. STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno clashed repeatedly with the university's former chief disciplinarian over how harshly to punish players who got into trouble, internal emails suggest, shedding new light on the school's effort to balance its reputation as a magnet for scholar-athletes with the demands of running a nationally dominant football program.

In an Aug. 12, 2005, email to Pennsylvania State University President Graham Spanier and others, Vicky Triponey, the university's standards and conduct officer, complained that Mr. Paterno believed she should have "no interest, (or business) holding our football players accountable to our community standards. The Coach is insistent he knows best how to discipline his players…and their status as a student when they commit violations of our standards should NOT be our concern…and I think he was saying we should treat football players different from other students in this regard."

The confrontations came to a head in 2007, according to one former school official, when six football players were charged by police for forcing their way into a campus apartment that April and beating up several students, one of them severely. That September, following a tense meeting with Mr. Paterno over the case, she resigned her post, saying at the time she left because of "philosophical differences."

In a statement Monday, Dr. Triponey said: "There were numerous meetings and discussions about specific and pending student discipline cases that involved football players," which she said included "demands" to adjust the judicial process for football players. The end result, she said, was that football players were treated "more favorably than other students accused of violating the community standards as defined by the student code of conduct."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: football; paterno; pennstate
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To: The Sons of Liberty

God Father?


41 posted on 11/22/2011 9:26:06 AM PST by TiaS
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To: rwilson99
Paterno removed Sandusky from the football program in 1999 while he maintained his status as tenured faculty.

Not quite accurate.

First, Paterno didn't remove Sandusky, per se. Paterno told Sandusky in May 1999 (after the May 1998 investigation into Sandusky's behavior with Victim #6 and another boy we only know as "B.K") that he would not be Paterno's successor. Sandusky announced his surprise early retirement in July 1999 but coached the entire 1999 season.

When Sandusky retired, he was not a member of the tenured faculty. He was an emeritus faculty member (as are some other retired members). Sandusky had an office, phone, parking place, internet account, keys to athletic facilities, discount on tuition for himself and his adopted kids, and discount at the campus bookstore.

42 posted on 11/22/2011 9:28:21 AM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: Scotswife; sten
When JoePa wanted to “watch out” for his players, look how far he was willing to go! He went to Spanier and threatened to pull the plug on his fundraising if he didn’t fire this woman. Who was running this university? And now, when the poop hits the fan, JoePa goes for the “I’m just the football coach..” approach?

You hit the mark.

This has been the JoePologetic used by Penn Staters ever since this broke. Why who is Joe to launch an investigation? Why Joe is only a coach. Why he has no control as if he was some dictator god.

(They only forgot to add the /sarc on that last line)

43 posted on 11/22/2011 9:31:09 AM PST by Colofornian (JoePologists: Those who defend the personality cults of Joe Smith and Joe Paterno)
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To: dfwgator
So basically JoePa didn't care if Sandusky continued to diddle little boys, just as long as he didn't do it on campus.

It was more than just JoePa. In 2002, the solution that Curley and Schultz developed, and that was approved by Spanier, was to take away Sandusky's keys to the football locker room shower. to tell him not to bring little boys on campus (which Curley admitted under oath was unenforceable), and not to contact any law enforcement. Spanier agreed with the course of conduct.

In other words, Penn State was saying "we're not worried about you molesting boys, Jerry, and we won't report you, just don't do diddle them on Penn State's campus."

(Which is strange, when you consider Penn State permitted Sandusky to hold his sleepover athletic camps for you on Penn State's other campus through 2008 - so was it "don't diddle boys on the main campus"?)

44 posted on 11/22/2011 9:46:08 AM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: napscoordinator
I don’t see what this has to do with the case

Don't you get it? Think about it. If he covered for the misgivings of his players, don't you think he would cover for one of his coaching staff? (Which he DID! I have some personal friends and connections on campus at Penn State).

45 posted on 11/22/2011 10:09:13 AM PST by SlightOfTongue
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To: rwilson99
The Governor of the state should resign, he held Joe Paterno to a much higher standard than he has held himself in this case.

What? The Governor didn't sit at the pregame banquet coaches' table with Sandusky and his date, Victim #4, during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, while knowing that Sandusky had a problem with little boys.

Paterno did.

Paterno allowed Sandusky to bring a boy as his 'date' to the team's official home date overnights at Toftrees Golf Resort and Conference Center during the 1998 and 1998 seasons - even the full season after Paterno "forced" Sandusky to resign.

Do you know what happened in that room in the Toftrees when Sandusky was alone with the boy, thirteen in 1998 and fourteen in 1999? Sanduky molested him in the shower and room.

The Governor didn't sit at those pregame banquets making eye contact with Sandusky's boy toy date, like Paterno did. The Governor didn't know Sandusky had the boy there at Toftrees for an overnighter, like Paterno did.

And when it came time for the 1999 Alamo Bowl, the Governor didn't allow Sandusky to bring the boy (again, Victim #4) to San Antonio as part of the official Penn State contingent. To San Antonio, where Sandusky molested the boy.

The grand jury presentment says that McQueary told Paterno what he saw in the showers in 2002, but it's careful not to go into details. That allows Paterno to skate when he claims (lies under oath) that he was only told it was fondling or something of a sexual nature that upset McQueary.

The Governor didn't wait a day to report the incident to Curley, nor just forget about it afterward.

I'm certain the Governor didn't know about the 2000 oral sodomy observed by the janitor in the Penn State showers; I'm certain Paterno heard.

The Governor was the State Attorney General who actually initiated the investigation of Sandusky that resulted in his indictment and the indictment of Curley and Schultz. He launched the investigation based on a high school coach's report of suspected oral sodomy. Paterno is the guy who, despite knowing of the 1998 investigation and report, failed every ethical and moral test when told of the anal rape of a ten year-old boy by his friend, in Paterno's football showers. And they were Paterno's showers. Remember that the football facilities at Penn State are separate from the other athletic facilities.

What we've learned is that Paterno talked a big game when it came to morals and ethics; he just didn't apply them to his football team or his own oversight of the football team.

46 posted on 11/22/2011 10:17:54 AM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: Colofornian; Scotswife; rwilson99; org.whodat; starlifter; Pharmboy

all the homo lovers pushed to get them accepted in all places conservatives considered home... against the protests of conservatives. and when they are outed for doing what they always do, it’s the conservatives fault for what exactly? conservatives were held back from keeping them from the priesthood in the 70s and 80s... what’d that get us? conservatives didn’t want them in schools... what’d that get us? conservatives don’t like them in media... what’s that changed?

it’s always the fault of the conservative... NOT the homos or their ilk. funny how that is.

funny how all the anti-Penn Staters out there seem to avoid attacking the homo and the homo agenda. unless you’re pushing to remove homos from all schools, media, churches, and government... they will continue to do what they do.. which is push their agenda and infect society

if you haters spent half the effort attacking them as you do attacking a conservative for ‘not doing more’, maybe it’d get somewhere. of course, cowards usually attack those that cannot or will not attack back. like an 84 year old man

grow a set. push to have all homos removed from any organizations that have proximity to children under 18... and put in place liability laws that would crush any organization that knew they had a homosexual working for them, and didn’t remove him from proximity to children

why? because the incidence rate for homos to molest children is much, MUCH higher then heteros. it’s the fault of the organization, and society, for allowing these people to be within proximity of our children

if you won’t push for at least this... and just agree to go along with what you’re being told... are you any different from Joe


47 posted on 11/22/2011 11:02:50 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: sten
Duh, the POS old man was not an old man when he started on this path, football became his god many, many, many years ago. How many years did he have this queer working for him.
48 posted on 11/22/2011 11:07:54 AM PST by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by "AMNESTY" Perry and his fellow demorats.)
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To: sten; Colofornian; Scotswife; rwilson99; org.whodat; starlifter
You make absolutely NO sense...we should lay-ff JoePa because...why? Because we never prevented homosexuals to gain more of a foothold on campuses?

PATERNO ALLOWED SERIAL CHILD RAPE TO GO ON FOR YEARS (ACTUALLY ABETTED IT BY ALLOWING PENN STATE FOOTBALL TO BE SANDUSKY'S CANDY) BY PROTECTING ONE OF HIS ASSISTANTS. Period.

49 posted on 11/22/2011 11:23:09 AM PST by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must...)
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To: org.whodat

sandusky worked for PennState for 30 years and retired in 1999.

the event happened in 2002

people in Joe’s generation, which was before my parents, barely thought of things like this. they were blissfully ignorant in general. after all, what kind of freaks would do things like that?

oh yea... this generation would and considers it a common event


50 posted on 11/22/2011 11:24:23 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: Pharmboy

so you have no idea what homos have done to public school?

i guess you’re ok with that... since you’re allowing it to continue


51 posted on 11/22/2011 11:28:45 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: sten

You are one bizarre dude...


52 posted on 11/22/2011 11:31:33 AM PST by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must...)
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To: sten; Colofornian
sandusky worked for PennState for 30 years and retired in 1999.Sandusky stayed around Penn State, with office and everything, with emeritus status until the weekend the Grand Jury Presentment was released to the public. Nine years years and four months after he retired.

If JoePa didn't know earlier (and according to the Sports Illustrated Special Edition, even a barber close to the Penn State campus said that administrators from Penn State used to talk about Sandusky's problems with little boys as part of the barber shop conversation), he knew in 1998, or May 1998 at the latest. And yet he allowed Sanduksy to bring a boy with him to coaching meetings, team pre-game banquets at the coaches' table, home game sleepovers at Toftrees, bowl games (Outback and Alamo). Joe Paterno knew about the 2000 oral sodomy incident in the football showers; that kind of stuff didn't go on in Paterno's showers without him knowing about it. And if Mike McQueary told JoePa what he saw, as the Grand Jury presentment said, the Paterno knew about the anal rape, and not just about fondling.

We find out more and more each day that Paterno covered up anything that would bring disrepute to Penn State football - playing the player accused of rape, downplaying DUIs, refusing to discuss with the media the just-cut player who murdered another student, coercing local defense attorneys to plead out cases involving players so that they wouldn't bring media attention - and suggesting that Penn State players not be held to the same disciplinary standards as other students.

We now know that Joe Paterno was a self-righteous sham when it came to football.

Go back and read my first few posts from November 7 and 8.

Joe Paterno was my hero. As a kid in Seattle (a kid with no geographic or familial ties to Penn State or Pennsylvania) in the early 1970s, I put black electrical tape on my white backyard football helmet so I could be one of Paterno's Nittany Lions. I'm old enough that I have few heros. There are loads of FR members who will attest to my posts about how crushed i was by Paterno's role in this, and that was before we found out just how hidden he kept the transgressions of football players, and how he let Sandusky keep coaching and bringing a boy to official football sleepovers for two years after the May 1998 investigation started.

I believed in the Paterno myth. That's all it was. A myth.

53 posted on 11/22/2011 11:40:45 AM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: sten; Colofornian
Sandusky anally raped boys. He orally sodomized them. He manually violated them.

Paterno knew this and elected not to report this to the police or child welfare. He elected not to have Sandusky removed from the Penn State coaching staff in 1998 or 1999. He let Sandusky have keys to the athletic facilities, including the football showers. He allowed Sandusky to bring a boy to pregame home overnights, so that Sandusky could sexually abuse the boy in the room.

Why? Because Paterno was a coward, for one. But primarily because Paterno didn't want to do anything that might cause disrepute to the Penn State football program. Can't have Sandusky fired for showering with boys back in 1998. That might get in the paper. Can't let the 2000 oral sodomy matter become public. Can't ban Sandusky or have his emeritus status removed for cause. If people ask questions, then it would cast a bad light on Penn State football.

Joe Paterno was a facilitator. He was an enabler. He didn't care what happened to little boys as long as the good name of Penn State football wasn't harmed.

And with his inaction and cowardice, he helped Sandusky molest and rape more boys. He gave Sandusky time to destroy evidence of the 2002 anal rape.

And in the long run, he did damage not just to a football program, but to an entire university that will take decades to fix.

But again: boys were molested because Paterno was a self-righteous coward who refused to stand up to Sandusky and instead took action, or failed to act, so as to preserve the "good" name of Penn State football.

Yes, my posts are getting more vicious. But I'm finding out more.

54 posted on 11/22/2011 12:26:37 PM PST by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: Scoutmaster; Tribune7; Kid Shelleen
We find out more and more each day that Paterno covered up anything that would bring disrepute to Penn State football - playing the player accused of rape, downplaying DUIs, refusing to discuss with the media the just-cut player who murdered another student, coercing local defense attorneys to plead out cases involving players so that they wouldn't bring media attention - and suggesting that Penn State players not be held to the same disciplinary standards as other students.

We now know that Joe Paterno was a self-righteous sham when it came to football.

Disgustingly sad ping.

(Sad for those uninvolved at PSU - not the staff or perpetrators.)

55 posted on 11/22/2011 1:04:56 PM PST by brityank (The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional !!)
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To: Owl_Eagle; brityank; Physicist; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; GOPJ; abner; baseballmom; Mo1; Ciexyz; ...
I'm kind of wondering if the academia establishment is trying to set up JoePa.

The problem isn't Paterno not punishing players.

This is about Graham Spanier's minions doing a whitewash investigation of a perverted retired faculty member.

The more people talk about Paterno, the less they talk about Gary Schultz.

56 posted on 11/22/2011 1:59:02 PM PST by Tribune7 (Perry, Cain or Santorum)
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To: Scotswife
The same guy who pushed around Spanier regarding the firing of this woman, enabled a child rapist to continue his activities on campus for years.

I actually kind of think it was Spanier who did the enabling.

57 posted on 11/22/2011 2:03:16 PM PST by Tribune7 (Perry, Cain or Santorum)
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To: sten

Well said.


58 posted on 11/22/2011 2:06:13 PM PST by Tribune7 (Perry, Cain or Santorum)
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To: Scoutmaster
Paterno knew this and elected not to report this to the police or child welfare.

You don't know that he knew this. You surmise that he knew this.

Me, I think I'll wait for the trial.

Or at least until Paterno is charged with something like, say, Schultz.

59 posted on 11/22/2011 2:08:40 PM PST by Tribune7 (Perry, Cain or Santorum)
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To: Pharmboy

People who attack Paterno and McQueery will watch Sandusky go free, in part because the only two people who cooperated with investigators have had their credibility attacked and careers destroyed.

All the other SOBs who did things like commit purjury... Are still on Penn State’s payroll and having their defense paid for by the University.

That is the scandal.

Study things like wife swapping and swinging... Get a job as President of Penn State, and keep your tenure and status as a professor (after being ousted) despite the fact that you oversaw an environment that protected a monster.

When people make this story about Paterno, they are missing the point.

This story should be about why a coach forced out in 1999, was still allowed to roam campus with Emiritus Status.

But, it’s easier to point fingers at the only person who did anything to actually hold Sandusky to any account during his years of abuse.


60 posted on 11/22/2011 2:15:05 PM PST by rwilson99 (Please tell me how the words "shall not perish and have everlasting life" would NOT apply to Mary.)
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