Reply #84: since when is firing only appropriate when a law is broken? [View All]

[TorchTheWitch]

Yes, Paterno followed the LAW but did he follow the school's ethical rules? You can't tell me that any school doesn't have it's own set of ethical rules and responsibilities that are entirely separate from the law and entirely more stringent. There is no way on earth that Penn State's only ethical rules and responsibilities in such a circumstance is to just follow the bare ass minimum of the law and to hell with all the rest.

Paterno had an ethical responsibility as a staff member of that school to do everything possible to ensure that everything was being done to stop any further criminal acts by the pervert and ensure the safety of every single child or student or employee or guest on that campus. There's no way I will believe that the school did not have an ethical code of conduct and responsibilities that anyone in a staff position and particularly those whose positions deal with students directly are obligated in such a circumstance to contact police or child services or both and make every effort to stop the abuse and protect every child, student, employee or guest of that campus from an alleged predator.

Paterno's firing doesn't have jack shit to do with the law, it has EVERYTHING to do with his responsibilities as a staff member of that school. For fuck's sake STUDENTS get a big fat student handbook that details what behavior is inappropriate especially including such behavior that would require they be dismissed, you better bloody believe that every employee contracts when hired to follow the rules and obligations in the employee handbook, and that the staff dealing with students directly and in leadership positions are going to have a handbook so fat it needs it's own bookshelf.

These kids you've been talking to are too damn STUPID to have been admitted to this school if they can't figure out that much. They're making lame excuses because they've allowed themselves to be blinded by the school's decades of it's own bestowing of imagined god-like status on Paterno instead of using the brain they should have been required to have in order to gain admittance as a student.

Shame upon every single one, and shame on anyone buying into their excuses and believing they have one iota of merit.