Mandatory reporting is a fact in almost any organization that deals with youth. Schools, churches, youth sports and scouts come to mind. The problem is that Universities are not set up to deal with youth, they are aimed at educating and dealing with young adults. I would say all universities have a strong program to deal with the different problems of young adults, but are just not focused on young children. But by now every university should be rethinking and refocusing their own policies across the board.
I have had about 25 years of front line leadership in Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Exploring. The worse drug case I had to deal with was with a Cub Scout, not a teenager as most Boy Scouts were. He was in the hands (not literally) of a professional counselor within less than an hour after the revealing incident. Most of my years were in Boy Scouts, Scoutmaster or Committee Chairman most of the time. The most prevalent drug was Ritalin, which it became neccessary to quickly understand. We discussed the possibility of actually having a Ritalin Patrol, the Patrol flag would have been interesting, but politically incorrect. As far as I was concerned in the great outdoors we could find enough for a Scout to do if he elected to skip his meds, excess energy we can deal with. The only bad incident was in having a Scout on Ritalin whose parents failed to inform the leaders. Thankfully when he went off his meds, we had enough experience to figure it out. Plus because we made no big deal of it, the Scout was honest when asked directly. I gave it up, not because of my age, but because the training began to take more time than my actual involvement. That and grandparenting is such a joy.
Paterno was 82 years old and I do not think his age affected his football coaching abilities. But he was for so many years in a program focused at a different age level he was in affect too far removed from the immediate problems he faced.
It would be interesting to know what yout oriented traing he may have had. I doubt there was any, which is the institutional failure of Penn State.
It would be even more interesting to know if "The Second Mile" that Sandusky founded had an effective youth protection program. As a note, Joe Paterno was for a while on their board as was Jack Hamm and Matt Millen still is.
An even bigger stink that most of you have not heard about is Mike McQueary, the witness to the event. As a student at Penn State besides being a quarterback, Mike was in the Health and Family Services program. He had courses in youth protection and reporting, what was he thinking? Had that 10 year old been his student and he a teacher why would it be any different than what it was. Mike has had threats and will not be on the sidelines Saturday. It is probable he never will be again.
Paul in PA
