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.
all in the report are culpable starting with the president-vice pres-ad-head coach-bot all involved should've and should be removed
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LaVar Leap Arrington (@LaVarArrington) July 12, 2012The 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.
Not sure the NCAA will do or feels like it can do anything with Penn State, but pretty sure the Paterno statue has to come down.
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darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 12, 2012He also shared this update later:
BREAKING: Nike is taking Joe Paterno's name off its childcare center on the Nike campus.
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darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 12, 2012Former Ohio State and New York Giants football player Jason Winrow tweeted this in response.
As a former college football player, I'm beyond disappointed. As a parent, I'm horrified. Penn State let those kids down.
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Jason Winrow (@JasonWinrow68) July 12, 2012Charles Robinson, senior investigative reporter for Yahoo! Sports, speculated on Penn State's future given the findings.
Everything is offically in play now for Penn State. This report opens the door for all manner of sanctioning - criminal, civil & NCAA alike.
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Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) July 12, 2012ESPN Radio host John Kincade responded to the late Paterno's previous statement that this was not a "football scandal."
One thing we now know, unlike what we were told, this WAS a Football Scandal at Penn State.
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John Kincade (@JohnKincade) July 12, 2012Aaron Nagler, NFL blogger for Bleacher Report, responded to those who initially defended Paterno.
I hope the Freeh report is sent to the inbox of every kid at Penn State who protested when Paterno was fired.
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Aaron Nagler (@Aaron_Nagler) July 12, 2012Clay Travis, author of "Dixieland Delight" and "On Rocky Top," singled out what he found to be the worst truth of the report.
Most amazing detail from the report is that no one at Penn State ever confronted Sandusky after 2001. Ever.
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Clay Travis (@ClayTravisBGID) July 12, 2012A Miami Heat reporter, Rizzmiggizz, responded to other people's calls for Penn State's program to be shut down.
Forget the "Death Penalty" for Penn State...let them play and make millions....and make them donate EVERY DAMN $ to stopping child abuse.
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(@Rizzmiggizz) July 12, 2012Penn 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.
The media tries to put down Penn State in any way they can. Every Penn Stater knows what Penn State really is! #WeAre
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Brady Lucas (@bradyluu) July 12, 2012penn state proud. penn state forever. sing our love and loyalty, may no act of ours bring shame. may god have mercy on their souls #weare
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dennis mcnamara (@dennismcnamara) July 12, 2012#WEARE moving forward as a university and bringing light to an epidemic that happens everyday in our neighborhoods and communities.
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Chantelle Bellavance (@ovoxo_Chantelle) July 12, 2012We are not the actions of those 4. RT @MarkMcColey This is all terrible and the trust of many was betrayed. I still love my school. #WeAre
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Devon Edwards (@Devon2012) July 12, 2012TheSchoolPhilly, a social media site covering Penn State, showed a lack of enthusiasm for the supportive tweets, and offered this instead:
There's no way to defend this. We have to take it in the chest. Like men. Together. #WeAre
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(@TheSchoolPhilly) July 12, 2012Here'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.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Hope justice prevails.
This is not new. Football players and coaches around the country are given hero status when in reality many are mere obstructors of justice, murderers, rapists, criminals an the like. And the powers that be in athletics will continue to hide the egregious acts of these so-called "heroes" because they are worshipped and empowered to feel above the law.
Paterno's statue must come down along with his face painted over on the mural.
Sandusky will get it in the end from all his neighborly jail mates who hate pedephiles! Soap- up Tickle Monster!!!
We can only hope.
This happen at all Unversity nothing new
Really? Everywhere? How would you know unless you witnessed this?
Dirt and more dirt said: "This happens at all university. Nothing new"
Sanjosemike responds: It is true that large football programs generate millions from college football, but this does NOT mean that all coaches se*ually abuse young boys. I'd say it seems really rare.
This does not happen at all schools. That is a STUPID STATEMENT and just an excuse for a tragic occurence. You should be ashamed for not showing any compassion for the innocent children who were abused. This is not an indicment of all of the fine people, current and past, who attended Penn St. But for those like yourself who blindly try to defend this there is no hope. You are basically an uncaring and useless human being!
I figured the outcome of the investigation would be result in a cover up. Of course, did not except it to hit this hard on the blame of Penn State. I believe this goes back to life lessons taught to most people as a child either by our parents or teachers. When you lie and not truthful the lie builds and builds into a mountain of lies making the whole situation worse than if you would have told the truth. I guess they thought the lie would go away. Shame on them for allowing Sandusky to victimize these children. What shame these officials of the school brought to Penn State and students. I wonder what their transfer rate is out of the school right now or comparison of applicants wanting to attend.
If I had anything to do with this school I would eliminate it immediately.
Including but not limited to the following:
Tear up my Diploma
Take my $ and move to another school
Remove anything I owned with the schools logo and burn it
Not ever, mention that school by word of mouth again
Going further the school should be deleted from the NCAA records and affiliation of any and all kind.
How could you or would you ever want to be affiliated with that school or anyone who would be affiliated with that school.
I read the report and I am more disgusted today than I have ever been in my life.
@Richard Sheldon | Are you for real? Do you even know what a college or university is? I'm guessing you never attended one except for a pot party or to find a new beer bong. Or is your post simply trying to trump the other dumb things posted here? No wonder CNN is headed down the toilet if comments like yours are what goes for discourse on this site. Anyway, you forgot to mention razing the entire 150 year old campus and building an orphanage and child abuse prevention center in its place. Administration and the football program f'd up BIG TIME and deserve severe punishment. Students, alumni, faculty, academic programs, etc. should be swept into the fire with them? C'mon. Get a clue. Idiot.
Asking for, and publishing this report is the first and only thing Penn State has doen right. Lets hope it's a start.
Older women and younger guys are called Cougars...
Old geezers with young boys are called Nittany Lions!!!!
Oh...so you played football at Peen State....
Were you a "tight end"?
Penn State football motto- Success with honor. Now we know what a sick joke that was.
PENN STATE suck's....okay, at least some of them do...............
Joe Pa. was the King of State College. None of the other three could touch Joe, but if Joe wanted any one of the other three gone, they would be fired. So who was in charge?
Wow what a stupid story. You created nothing original. You just compiled a bunch of stupid opinions from twitter and called it news. Almost as bad as those list websites who just steal content from other websites and put it in list form to make a buck. Twitter sucks. And so does everyone that uses it
If I cared what these people had to say, I would be following on twitter. But I'm a loser who uses twitter
But I'm not a loser who uses twitter. So thanks for forcing it down our throats
I'll never understand studen't unyielding "pride" for their school. You can like your college and enjoy your time there. You can hope your football/basketball/whatever- team wins and be happy when they do but where do people get off on identifying with their school so much? There is nothing to be "proud" or "ashamed" of when it comes to your stupid college. The college isn't proud of you. It just is.