This Just In
July 12th, 2012
12:18 PM ET

Reactions to Penn State report flood social media

Penn State University bashers and supporters alike took to Twitter and Facebook on Thursday when the report on an internal probe into the school's child sex abuse scandal was released.

Lavar Arrington, a former Penn State player, responded on Twitter after reading the report.

The probe found that top university officials, including former President Graham Spanier and then-head football coach Joe Paterno, concealed child sex abuse by ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky  and showed a "total and consistent disregard" for his victims. The concealment was meant to "avoid the consequences of bad publicity," the report said.

Penn State leaders disregarded victims, 'empowered' Sandusky, review finds

The probe's leader, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, said that ex-athletic director Tim Curley consulted with Paterno following allegations against Sandusky and "they changed the plan and decided not to make a report to the authorities."

Key players in the Penn State report

This, the report found, resulted in a failure to protect Sandusky's victims or warn the public about his behavior.

How the Sandusky case unraveled

Heated conversations immediately began on Penn State's Facebook page.

"The only important part of that report are the recommendations for the FUTURE! We need to all take a lesson from this, learn from some mistakes and use the recommendations to move on to make PSU a stronger place. It makes no sense discussing what happened in the past and what emails were sent. Complaining about the past does not make for a strong future!" Joey Schwartz wrote.

Controversy has swirled around how much Paterno knew concerning Sandusky's abuse, and given the report's findings, was a popular thread for commenters.

"You are all giving a bad name to the school and current students like myself. Time to swallow your pride and recognize that JoePa made very grave mistakes, and even he probably didn't understand the gravity of them at the time. This is undeniable proof that not only did he fail to act, but he influenced the decisions to report Sandusky to the authorities," Sean McFarlane posted.

"It's not a complete, unbiased report. Period," Bettina Kline wrote.

"This is not an idictment of Penn State students and Alum or even most of the people who work there. This is an idictment of its leadership and administration. Penn State students and Alums can keep their heads held high if you do the right thing and that is stop worshiping a man and althletic program that failed to protect innocent children. If you can do that then you have nothing to be ashamed of," Mike Carlson posted.

"If my degree was from Penn State, I would sue to get my tuition back," Jonathan Hubbard wrote.

"I'm so shocked (not) that Penn State throws a man who is not here to defend himself under the bus. I find it very convenient that the ones trying to avoid damning themselves blame the one who is dead. Why didn't anyone do anything? The truth will never be known. The whole thing is sick," Rhonda Head said, referring to Paterno's death in January.

"Launching a private investigation, spending 10 million plus on lawyers and PR... Why not just admit mistakes were made and move on. Use that money towards our education please" Alex Pawelski shared.

Darren Rovell, a sports business reporter, was one of many taking to Twitter with an immediate reaction.

He also shared this update later:

Former Ohio State and New York Giants football player Jason Winrow tweeted this in response.

Charles Robinson, senior investigative reporter for Yahoo! Sports, speculated on Penn State's future given the findings.

ESPN Radio host John Kincade responded to the late Paterno's previous statement that this was not a "football scandal."

Aaron Nagler, NFL blogger for Bleacher Report, responded to those who initially defended Paterno.

Clay Travis, author of "Dixieland Delight" and "On Rocky Top," singled out what he found to be the worst truth of the report.

A Miami Heat reporter, Rizzmiggizz, responded to other people's calls for Penn State's program to be shut down.

Penn State supporters also took to Twitter using the hashtag #WEARE, standing up for their university before and after the report was released. Many reactions were ambivalent, showing either disappointment in the report or their school, but most were looking forward to moving past the scandal.

TheSchoolPhilly, a social media site covering Penn State, showed a lack of enthusiasm for the supportive tweets, and offered this instead:

Here's more of our coverage:

Key passages from Penn State report

Penn State community still admires Paterno

What do you think about the report and its findings? Let us know in the comments below and sound off on CNN iReport.

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Filed under: College football • Football • Jerry Sandusky • Joe Paterno • Penn State
soundoff (270 Responses)
  1. Keq

    They should keep the Joe Paterno statue; however, they should engrave the word "COWARD" over his name.

    July 16, 2012 at 12:38 pm | Report abuse | Reply
  2. John Walker

    We are pedophiles, forever more.

    July 16, 2012 at 2:23 pm | Report abuse | Reply
  3. David Crosby

    The only thing the Paterno family is concerned with is keeping millions of dollars..The victims will clean them out...

    July 16, 2012 at 3:19 pm | Report abuse | Reply
  4. Dave

    I was raised a strict catholic,after the ped cover up was exposed I never set foot in a catholic church again and never gave them another dime

    July 17, 2012 at 11:53 am | Report abuse | Reply
  5. Brian

    We are PSU - Pedophile State University.

    Better get used to it cuz the Middle School and High School kids refer to PSU as Pedo State and Chi Mo State.

    This is the Paterno Legacy!

    July 18, 2012 at 9:11 am | Report abuse | Reply
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