One big difference from Penn State

[Medill '03]

Penn State's case concerned events from years earlier perpetuated by one high-level individual. The questions became, "What did Paterno know, and when did he know? Or what should he have known?"

But at NU, the allegations involve the entire team, especially after their letter in defense of Fitz. How is the program supposed to proceed from here? With the firing of Fitz, they're all presumed sexual abusers—past and present, unless they were whistleblowers. And if they didn't perpetuate the sexual abuse, then they watched it. They were complicit. Not to mention, apparently they also suffered it.

It's not like media, or commentators, or fans can just blame Fitz. In fact, he seems to be just about the only person that players and the report agree DIDN'T know about the hazing. He took the fall by losing his job. But the players will take all the blame from here. And the stigma will attach to all NU players of the last 25 years as well, no matter where they go.

The failure of the report, and then the response by Schill, was not disclosing the scope. Was this so widespread as to deserve firing for the coach even though few have claimed that he knew anything? Or was it localized to some players and not others, a kind of dirty secret that many players resented and resisted to no avail over the years?

Leaving these questions without answers puts all these players in a bind.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I still don’t think JoePa knew. I don’t think he imagined that anyone could do something that heinous.

 

[hdhntr1]

I still don’t think JoePa knew. I don’t think he imagined that anyone could do something that heinous.

Still feel JoPa was treated unfairly. When he heard of something suspicious, he reported it to his superiors, But they destroyed him anyway.

 

[Catreporter]

I don't think many fans are going to think it's a team full of sexual abusers. Unsupervised 18-to-22 year olds do a lot of stupid things. That's why they need an adult in the room.

 

[Medill '03]

I don't think many fans are going to think it's a team full of sexual abusers. Unsupervised 18-to-22 year olds do a lot of stupid things. That's why they need an adult in the room.

So far much public response has definitely identified the team, past and present, as sexual abusers.

 

[rll1957]

Psu guy here and my heart aches for you guys I was an athlete and had two sons play college baseball and both survived minimal hazing at d3 level it happens I think the reaction by northwestern is over the top but in the current atmosphere not unexpected

 

[HSC111]

I still don’t think JoePa knew. I don’t think he imagined that anyone could do something that heinous.

I have been on a high school basketball team and worked at three different places of employment where something like this had happened. Two involved a married authority figure fooling around with an underage girl, one involved a party with drugs that left someone dead, and the other a guy getting drunk and threatning to kill his girlfriend. It was suppose to kept under wraps but two supervisors were stupid and inadvertently let the secret slip, one was figured out using common sense because the guy involved with the underage girl was really dumb about going about it and the other was known because the mother of the other underage girl talked about it openly.

Incidents like this are hard to keep a secret. I don't believe for one minute that Paterno didn't know what was going on and I also believe football players and even students were aware of what was going on. I also believe Fitz knew more then what he is letting on.

 

[rll1957]

Everyone always does what’s best for them. It’s human nature

 

[BillMedleyFan]

Let’s be real here fellas. The Penn State scandal involved sexual abuse of children. Pretty much the most disgusting and horrible crime imaginable. I don’t understand how anyone with kids could allow that to fester all those years.

The Northwestern scandal involved adults who had the free will to leave the team at any moment.

 

[Jonny2TheP]

Let’s be real here fellas. The Penn State scandal involved sexual abuse of children. Pretty much the most disgusting and horrible crime imaginable. I don’t understand how anyone with kids could allow that to fester all those years.

The Northwestern scandal involved adults who had the free will to leave the team at any moment.

I truly don’t understand how anyone could even put this near the same league as Penn State. Yet, I’ve seen people make that comparison this week.

Are people’s memories that short that they don’t remember how truly horrible that case was? This things at NU isn’t good, but nowhere even close to that. Like not even in the same zip code.

 

[rll1957]

I truly don’t understand how anyone could even put this near the same league as Penn State. Yet, I’ve seen people make that comparison this week.

Are people’s memories that short that they don’t remember how truly horrible that case was? This things at NU isn’t good, but nowhere even close to that. Like not even in the same zip code.

No rational person equates the two my point is everyone does what they think helps them same at osu wrestling and msu gymnastics how far do you want to go. I think Fitzgerald is getting sacrificed

 

[rll1957]

Hey I’m hoping psu hires him next year after Diaz bolts to another job

 

[corbi2961]

Penn State's case concerned events from years earlier perpetuated by one high-level individual. The questions became, "What did Paterno know, and when did he know? Or what should he have known?"

But at NU, the allegations involve the entire team, especially after their letter in defense of Fitz. How is the program supposed to proceed from here? With the firing of Fitz, they're all presumed sexual abusers—past and present, unless they were whistleblowers. And if they didn't perpetuate the sexual abuse, then they watched it. They were complicit. Not to mention, apparently they also suffered it.

It's not like media, or commentators, or fans can just blame Fitz. In fact, he seems to be just about the only person that players and the report agree DIDN'T know about the hazing. He took the fall by losing his job. But the players will take all the blame from here. And the stigma will attach to all NU players of the last 25 years as well, no matter where they go.

The failure of the report, and then the response by Schill, was not disclosing the scope. Was this so widespread as to deserve firing for the coach even though few have claimed that he knew anything? Or was it localized to some players and not others, a kind of dirty secret that many players resented and resisted to no avail over the years?

Leaving these questions without answers puts all these players in a bind.

There is not even a remote comparison to the PSU situation. The hazing that allegedly happened at NU and got Fitz fired, is a relatively harmless right of passage that still happens in the vast majority of HS and college locker rooms to this day. Turning a blind eye to Child rape over the course of decades is neither relatively harmless nor something that occurs in other college athletic programs.

 

[Medill '03]

There is not even a remote comparison to the PSU situation. The hazing that allegedly happened at NU and got Fitz fired, is a relatively harmless right of passage that still happens in the vast majority of HS and college locker rooms to this day. Turning a blind eye to Child rape over the course of decades is neither relatively harmless nor something that occurs in other college athletic programs.

That may be true, and that’s certainly what most of our players believe. Based on the media reports and the president’s actions I don’t see why the public will agree.

 

[CappyNU]

There's no need for any discussion of things related to Penn State in comparison to or otherwise, so please everyone stop making threads about it.