What is wrong with our universities?

[Sharisr32]

I can remember my Dad coming home and asking during the Vietnam riots "What is wrong with kids" Guess they didn't see it the same way the rest of the world did ---

 

[deerman]

Crazy....yes worry more about a winning team.......than what happen to those young boys.....bet alot more than a few knew about it.....

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I don't see how it is the universities' fault that the students and FANS had a riot and destroyed property.

It is all in the upbringing. They should know better than to destroy property that is not theirs. It is not the responsibility of the teachers to wag their fingers at them when they've done something wrong. They should have known better by parents disciplining their children.

 

[sourland]

RP I am in complete agreement with you - the second time tonight.

The molestation was Penn State's dereliction, but the behavior of the students goes back to how they were brought up.

 

[debilorrah]

I am still trying to figure out how they aren't firing that one coach. He is a mandatory reporter. If he reported it to Paterno and saw nothing was done, he is compelled by law to tell someone else.

So now why almost 10 years later is it ok to keep him on the payroll?

And I agree that it is not the universities fault. That is like saying it was car's fault for driving drunk.

I hope the parents of the students protesting Paterno's firing have reeled their kids in and taught them a thing or two.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

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Whoop! On a roll!

 

[redhen]

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Yep... some sick folks.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Not to excuse any one's behavior, because what has happened is appalling. Just want to speak about the academic culture.

Academia is a very strange place that has very little in common with reality. There is a very definite hierarchy and a distinct chain of command. Everything you do must go through that chain of command. It is built into the culture that once you have sent something up the ladder, your job is done. If you have spent the bulk of your career in that environment and have never worked outside of academia, it might not occur to you to move outside of that chain of command. Is that right? Of course not. It is a world with a very narrow vision and zero grasp of reality.
There is also an atmosphere of fear at work, especially for the guy that was a graduate assistant. That guy at that point was in a very tenuous position career-wise. There is no whistle blower protection in place in academia. They will say that there is, but so much of promotion and tenure is nebulous and popularity based that junior faculty members are pretty much held hostage to what senior faculty want. Graduate students are in an even worse place. The completion of their degree, their job and their future is all based on what the senior faculty think about them. In this case the graduate student saw a VERY powerful supervisor doing something inconceivable. He clearly didn't know what to do about it and asked his father. His father told him to tell Paterno, the highest boss the kid had. He did that. In academia land that is the end of what the kid can do. Pushing outside of this chain of command would have meant he lost his job and his degree. Much of that world is a hostile working environment. I'm sure the grad student did all that he thought he could do.

Now, do we wish that he had been brave enough and strong enough to speak up louder and to the police. Yes, of course. Should Paterno have spoken up louder and to the police? Yes, of course. Should he have fired the coach doing the evil deeds? He** yes. Ultimately the blame should run up and down the ladder of hierarchy. The president and Paterno should have lost their jobs and possibly should be prosecuted as accessories. The guy that witnessed it all will likely lose his job. I just hope we don't vilify him and forget the guy that did the deed and those that were in a position of leadership over them both.

 

[debilorrah]

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You are SOOO right!!! I was pleased to see that the school whateverheis was let go and a new one appointed that fired Paterno and sent McQueary home. However I completely disagree with McQueary receiving his salary!!!!! He is mandated reporter as an employee of a public institution. It is his responsibility to see that the abuse he witnessed is addressed. Period.

I am not arguing, just po'd at this whole thing. There is a process and it is NOT being followed.

 

[chickened]

I tend to agree that concerning the individual behavior it is related to upbringing and teaching our kids right from wrong. The schools do have security albeit probably under funded and oblivious and obviously not the kind of security equipped to deal with such things as the current dilemma or available to handle the basic reporting like the police.

There is a push in Oregon's universities to not allow students to carry to protect themselves but yet they turn a blind eye to pedophiles and rapist... any wonder more stuff like this doesn't happen? This good old boy attitude give the decent teachers a bad name. Universities should be a safe place for kids to learn not a place to get... whatever. So I do hold the universities responsible I mean who runs those places the students or the faculty? I do know not all universities are like this.