If you’ve signed on to any social media site in the past day or so, your feed on that site is bound to have been inundated with posts about Penn State.

 The nation seems divided in their opinions and positions about sexual abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Gerald Arthur “Jerry” Sandusky and Joe Paterno’s role in the whole mess; and those actually residing in and around Penn State are no different.

Much of the criticism of Joe Paterno is coming from a group of people with the mindset that after Paterno was informed of an eyewitness account of the abuse and notified the Athletic Director at Penn State University, it was his moral responsibility to follow up on his initial reporting. This discrepancy is where the divide begins and drastically deepens.

 Many of the students at Penn State fall into one of two categories: save Paterno, or crucify him. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are impossible to traffic without seeing emotional posts by students about their passionately referred to “JoePa.”

 One student, Bryn Kandel tweeted that “his job was to tell the AD of something suspicious he heard, he is not an investigator, and he did what his job was to do.”

The question then becomes, was it Paterno’s responsibility to follow up on the incident? If an employee reports a serious allegation to his boss, is it then in that employee’s place, much less his responsibility to follow up on the report and question his boss? No, the employee should be able to trust his boss and the protocol in place to handle such problems, and the same should be true at Penn State.

A schism has emerged among students, with many feeling as though Paterno had moral responsibilities to follow up on the Sandusky reports. They feel as though Paterno has caused irreparable damages to the Penn State reputation, seemingly forgetting that Sandusky, not Paterno, is the one who actually committed the heinous acts with the potential to damage the reputation of the University.

Two students currently living on campus at PSU were asked to share their opinions on the scandal.

The first, a freshman wishing to remain anonymous, feels that “Paterno should have been allowed to at least finish out the season and leave on his own terms. This university owes him that. 61 years of dedication, success with honor and a passion for the university matched by nobody. He is Penn State, we are proud to say he represents our University, and that no board member can take that away from him. He deserves more than a mere phone call telling him he’s out of a job as well. He did not break a law, he followed proper protocol and informed his superior of the matter, to which he was informed it would be taken care of. The same man, who said it would be taken care of however, keeps his job. It is beyond me and beyond all of us as to how that works on a logical standpoint. The students of the university are up in arms and infuriated, sad, embarrassed at the recent events that have unfolded and we are all affected by this. I personally do not condone all of the reactions going on at the university in retaliation to the results of the recent press conference. Many are going downtown to “riot” and I completely disagree with that. It will accomplish nothing, change nothing and because we are in the national spotlight, it will make us look that much worse. When the dust finally clears from this, I believe that we will move on. It will not be an easy process but life is not easy. However, as a community, we will be there for each other, we are strong, we are Penn State.”

Kandel, a Penn State sophomore, shared the following opinion and description of the atmosphere around campus.

“I mean, there’s definitely mixed opinions on campus right now… The atmosphere seriously did a complete 180 within an hour of this coming out. There is a huge riot downtown in honor of JoePa supporting him and very angry that he had been forced out. Some believe he was morally wrong… Personally I don’t think he was wrong in any way. I don’t think it was his responsibility to follow up. He is not a life saving hero that needs to focus his full attention on one accusation he received from a grad student. His job is to coach our football team. That is exactly what he did and he shouldn’t be asked to do anything more. That’s how I feel—others think he should have followed up more.”

When asked to comment on the manner in which Paterno was notified of his firing, which was by phone call, Kandel responded by saying “That’s how our Board of Trustees informed him of his departure. Terrible. Earlier JoePa announced that he would retire after this season, and it’s a shame the BOT had to force him out before he could finish. I believe it’s truly unfair!”

Turmoil and tragedy, nearly the antitheses of what comes to mind when the phrase “Happy Valley” is mentioned, now encompass the home many considered the “next happiest place on earth.” A truly sad and heart- wrenching time for many at Penn State, the best anyone can hope for is to follow advice of the new image replacing many students profile pictures on Facebook paired with the PSU emblem, to just “Keep calm, and fight on.”