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By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
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Most Penn State students interviewed at local campuses Thursday disagreed with university trustees’ decision to fire football coach Joe Paterno, but a variety of opinions surfaced at a forum at Penn State Wilkes-Barre.

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Charles Davis, PSU W-B chancellor

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Terry Franklin, of Glen Lyon

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At Penn State Hazleton, Nicole McLoughlin, 18, of Pocono Mountain, said Paterno should not have been fired “because he told someone higher up (of abuse allegations) like he was supposed to. They just never reported it.”

Leeann Tufaro, 18, of Hackensack, N.J., agreed with her friend, saying it was Paterno’s supervisors who “didn’t do anything. Everybody’s going to criticize (Paterno) because he’s so famous. We always knock down the famous people.”

Late Wednesday, university trustees fired Paterno and university President Graham Spanier after the state attorney general announced charges of sexual abuse of children against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Neither Paterno nor Spanier face charges, but as the two most visible figures at the school, they’ve been under intense scrutiny for being aware of allegations against Sandusky and not doing more to bring them to light.

Andrew Slavin, 19, of Philadelphia, said he drove to University Park on Wednesday. “There were riots, but we got there too late to see them. The whole school is in an outrage.”

Slavin said Sandusky “belongs in jail” and trustees “should have let (Paterno) finish the season.”

Niguel Williams, 18, of Long Island, N.Y., also said trustees should have let Paterno retire. “I think he was just caught in the crossfire.”

At Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Christina Hanley, 19, of Nanticoke, said it wasn’t Paterno’s fault that his superiors didn’t report sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky to police. “He told who he needed to,” she said.

Terry Franklin, 19, of Glen Lyon, said Paterno’s firing was “bogus” because he reported Sandusky’s alleged actions and testified before a grand jury when asked. He said trustees should be replaced because they should have let Paterno retire “rather than strip him of his dignity and all the work he’s done.”

Richard Dante, 20, of Hunlock Creek, said he feels bad for Paterno, but also for the alleged victims and their families. “I don’t know how to feel. My friends are divided. Half are angry for Joe Paterno and the other half are angry for the victims.”

Penn State Wilkes-Barre Chancellor Charles Davis said at a campus forum on the issue, sponsored by the campus Student Government Association, that a mix of emotions is natural.

“A lot of people are upset. A lot of people are disappointed. A lot of people are sort of like the weather that’s outside, in a gray funk. They don’t really know who to be upset at, who to be disappointed in, what to be disappointed in and how do we get out of it,” Davis said, encouraging questions or comments from the approximately 30 students, faculty members and staffers attending.

Davis said he believes the board of trustees “did what they thought was in the best interest of the university. … We may agree or we may not agree.”

One student said he is proud there were no riots at the Wilkes-Barre campus. Another asked if Davis thought the scandal would affect the Wilkes-Barre campus in enrollment or donations. Davis said he thought indirect impacts were possible, but it was too early to tell.

Some students said it was too early to judge Paterno because all the facts weren’t in. Steven Putzel, associate professor of English, said he’s disturbed not only by the alleged abuses, but “by a lot of the student response” after Paterno’s firing.

“Nobody knew what Paterno knew and when he knew it. … But that guy is so guilty,” Putzel said. “He knew something went on and he didn’t check.”

“The best thing that can happen for us is that we see this as a life lesson. Yes, we have to live our lives morally, we have to do the right thing. That’s how Joe Paterno lived his. He did the right thing in most cases. … But the fact is he destroyed his entire legacy with a sin of omission; he didn’t follow up. … Spanier didn’t follow up. Our board of trustees did exactly the right thing to let these men go,” he said.