[Husker] What about McQuery?

[Nick Chevance]

Excellent comment, Scott, especially the last one.

Thanks very much.

Nick

On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 8:33 AM, Scott Stewart <fourtwophd at gmail.com> wrote:
> Andrew,
>
> I think you and many others are merging issues about what is moral behavior
> and what is illegal behavior.
>
> In my occupation, I am a "mandatory" reporter of child abuse. That means if
> I am aware of child abuse I must by law report it. There are a few people
> in that realm (teachers, healthcare workers, counselors). All other people
> are voluntary reporters. They can report it, but are not obligated by law.
> There are advantages of being a mandatory reporter, ie "whistleblower" in
> that you are protected from any legal repercussions. Voluntary reporters
> are not necessarily covered from lawsuits though they are given a lot of
> room.
>
> The only mandatory reporter by Pennsylvania Law was the President of the
> University. There policy as I read it was employees were to inform their
> supervisor up the chain to the President and he was the reporter. I have
> worked at institutions before with similar rules and they are not there to
> obstruct reporting. Instead they are there to avoid having multiple
> investigations being opened on the same case and therefore slowing down the
> process.
>
> By law the only individual who did something illegal by not reporting was
> the President of the University.
>
> The President, AD, and others have also been charged with perjury because
> they misrepresented what they knew about the abuse to the Grand Jury. That
> is another issue. The AD was not obligated to report, but is obligated to
> tell the truth to the Grand Jury.
>
> I would suspect the conspiracy charges could involve both the reporting and
> the Grand Jury if they can show that the President instructed other
> employees not to report the incident.
>
> Now morally, there can be a lot of debate about what McQuery should or
> shouldn't have done. But legally, he did not violate the law if he told the
> truth to the Grand Jury.
>
> While we all think that we would behave differently, the social psychology
> research (Zimbardo) demonstrates our behavior is more often influenced by
> the behavior and expectations of those around us. The person who stands up
> against the group is the exception, not the norm.
>
> Scott

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