[Updated at 4:18 p.m. ET] Mike McQueary - the Penn State coach who told head coach Joe Paterno about a child sex abuse allegation involving a former coach in 2002 - has been placed on administrative leave, interim school President Rodney Ericson said Friday.
The leave is "indefinite," Ericson said.
McQueary, who coaches the team's wide receivers, was a 28-year-old graduate assistant when he told Paterno of the allegation in 2002.
The scandal revolves around Jerry Sandusky, the football team's former defensive coordinator who is accused of sexually assaulting children. The scandal has led to the departure of four top university figures, including Paterno, amid widespread outrage over their perceived failure to contact police.
[Updated at 12:19 p.m. ET] Officials on Friday picked the leaders of a special Penn State University panel to investigate allegations that a former assistant football coach sexually abused children.
Kenneth Frazier, a Penn State trustee, will chair the university's special committee looking into the child sex abuse allegations. Frazier told the board of trustees on Friday that the inquiry will be "rigorous, objective and impartial."
State Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis will be the vice chairman and other committee members will be determined later, it was announced at a board meeting.
[Initial post, 10:16 a.m. ET] The interim president of Penn State University said Friday the board of trustees will vote on a proposal "to form a special committee to undertake a full and complete investigation of the circumstances that gave rise to the grand jury report" into child sex abuse allegations against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Rodney Erickson said it has been "truly difficult to comprehend the terrible nature of the allegations" of child sex abuse. He told the board of trustees his "heart aches" for the victims of the abuse.
If Paterno were to testify in court, wouldn't what McQuery told him (Paterno) be considered "hearsay" and inamicible in court? Paterno wasn't the one who witnessed any wrong-doings. He only heard about it. McQuery saw it actually happen. Yes, he was only 19-20 and Yes he did report it to his superior. But at 20 yrs old, I would hope he knew right from wrong. Why didn't he contact authorities? No doubt Penn State officials are in gross misconduct for not reporting it and for keeping in under the rug for so long. My heart goes out to the victim & their families. But my heart also goes out to JoePa. He did what he was supposed to do based on HEARSAY.
No, he was like 28. Read the grand jury report. It is a long read, but you would understand better.
He was 28 years old at the time not 19-20.
well legally Paterno is in the clear..Morally however he is not. It actually wouldn't be hearsy if he called police and brought forth the actual witness..
No, he was 28 years old! Old enough to know he should never have left that child with that monster AND should have called 911. It is that simple and I hope he faces charges also! HE LEFT THAT CHILD THERE!!!!!
Paterno is not going to testify against Sandusky...that irrelevant. He will be testifying in his own defense however, as the civil suites for negligence hit him and the possible criminal charges for a cover up.
It is not a long read, it takes about five minutes of person's time to be informed instead of ignorant.
Come on Eileen, save your broken heart for the victims. Paterno and anyone else who knew anything did not have to WITNESS anything to report to police and child welfare agencies. Any suspected child abuse is to be legally reported by educators, doctors, nurses, etc. to police. He did the lowest, bare minimum, and failed morally and as a decent human being. Boy, you can really tell the locals by their posts.
Eileen, he was a 28 year old graduate assistant, 6'5 at that. Walk away, run and call your DADDY? Sleep on it and go over to Joe Pa's with DADDY the next day to discuss????????????????????????? Come one, funny that this 28 year old grad student and his businessman DADDY who is a prominent member of the Happy Valley Community, all of the sudden get an Assistant Coaching job and SEVERAL Million Dollar Contracts from Penn State (respectively) shortly after they have this "discussion" with Joe Pa.......................What kind of 28 year old man runs to DADDY? A PUNK ASS ONE.
This is just like the catholic priest cover for each other. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of something much more.
Mcqeery should be gone NOW. I feel that joe pa has a certain downplaying in his responses like " oh, and say a little prayer for the victims" sounded like an after thought. Maybe he relayed the graphic message he was given as " horseplay or fondling or somthing" like making it less then it really was. On purpose or by accident, that's the question !
The man is like 85 years old, which may be why you interpret his way of speaking about it. I don't think he is downplaying it in anyway whatsoever.
You don't know how old the Pope if Penn State is? He is 84.
"like 85", one year off. Very relevant to my point or anything else for that matter...
did you know Sandusky had an office (that he used daily) in Paterno's football complex as late as last week!
Nobody went to the police and children continued to be victimized. And Sandusky was still hovering. Unbelievable.
Really think law enforcement should now handle this issue and all coaches and staff that knew about the cover up should be fired!
Do some research before posting. All the staff members that knew about it are being filtered out as time goes on. As of right now, as far as we know, all that knew about the abuse are either fired or on leave. Also, law enforcement has been handling it. The DA is fully investigating and there will also be a federal investigation as well as a Penn State internal investigation.
Well Penn State is doing a better job handling this than the Vatican would have. Gotta give them that.
Yeah at least they haven't relocated them to another Big 10 school. Yet.
In some "civilized" states,. having knowledge of a crime and not reporting it to law enforcement is a crime in and of itself. Telling ol' Joe isn't the same as dialing 911. All of these people are accomplices&co-conspiritors.Charge them all...it's more civilized than my first solution would be...
How can you ignore a grown man holding a 10 year old boy against a wall and raping him in the butt right in front of you? Why didn't they call police RIGHT THEN? No excuses. None.
McQuery should be charged criminally, if possible, for not stopping what he witnessed.
My heart goes out to the victims and their parents. All of these people who saw and heard of what this man did knew that he should have been behind bars for what he did. Yet they saw his man coming and going and know that there were no severe penalties for what he did. How could you walk around and not feel guilty for knowing what this man got away with and he had a youth organization with access to 1000s of INNOCENT ittle boys, who had thier lives stolen by this SICKO, PERVERT! The excuses in regards to they followed the law ARE JUST NOT ENOUGH. As a parent I would want answers. I would ask Joepa, McQueary, and everyone else to look me in the eyes and tell me why and how you could let a man get away with those actions!!!
I'm disgusted by what happened, but also know this guy reported it, probably the way the school required, and now he is headhunted? There is such a thing as a statute of limitations, and it should apply to McQuery. It's funny, a priest does it, he is the only one to go. I guess eveyone nationwide now knows, call the police, period.
The Catholic faith lost thousands of members because of those kiddie fiddling priests. Time will tell how many students choose another college to attend. Who would want to go to State Penn now? What shame they have brought on this school.
Yes. Call the police. Period. One positive lesson from this tragedy
Inamicable???? Hmm, inadmissible would have been the correct choice. It looks like Penn State is getting serious about this mess and well is should. Cleaning house will go a long way to restore the now tarnished image of Penn State.
After McQuery's shock upon stumbling on Sandusky raping that kid, I wonder if he would have tried to stop him if it was his son or one of his relatives? The same with Paterno after hearing what McQuery told him. I am certain they would have gone to the authorities but since the kid wasn't related to them, they didn't care enough.
Fire them all and expel any student supporting them. They are animals too.
You're an idiot.
That took long enough!