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	President Obama Reflects on Penn State Scandal Detroit News November 12, 2011 http://detnews.com/article/20111112/SPORTS0203/111120358/President-Obama-reflects-on-Penn-State-scandal#.Tr4RGfK23eg.email Coronado, Calif.— President Barack Obama says the Penn State sex-abuse scandal should lead to "soul-searching" by all Americans, not just Penn State. "Obviously what happened was heartbreaking, especially for the victims, the young people who got affected by these alleged assaults," he told Westwood One radio in an interview Friday night. "And I think it's a good time for the entire country to do some soul-searching — not just Penn State. People care about sports, it's important to us, but our No. 1 priority has to be protecting our kids. And every institution has to examine how they operate, and every individual has to take responsibility for making sure that our kids are protected." The Penn State scandal has cost several university officials their jobs, most notably longtime football coach Joe Paterno, who was faulted for not alerting police after he was told about alleged sex abuse by a former assistant coach. Obama said that the scandal shows that "you can't just rely on bureaucracy and systems in these kinds of situations. People have to step forward, they have to be tapping into just their core decency." When kids are mistreated — or anyone, for that matter — "all of us have to step up, we don't leave it to somebody else to take responsibility." Obama spoke at halftime of a college basketball game — the Carrier Classic — between No. 1 North Carolina and Michigan State, held on the deck of an aircraft carrier. The president, a huge basketball fan, also discussed the NBA lockout. "It's killing me!" he said. But he also said he had no plans to intercede. "My attitude is that, in a contest between billionaires and millionaires, they should be able to figure out how to divvy up their profits in a way that serves their fans who are allowing them to be making all this money," Obama said. He made a similar comment about the NFL lockout a few months ago. Report: McQueary out The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported Friday night that Penn State receivers coach Mike McQueary told the team's receivers he will no longer be their coach. McQueary reportedly gave the players the news during a brief conference call and also told them jokingly he's in "protective custody" at a secluded location. The Patriot-News' report came several hours after school president Rod Erickson put McQueary on administrative leave, capping a tumultuous week in which his name surfaced as a key witness in a grand jury investigation into child sexual abuse allegations against a former coach. McQueary testified in a grand jury investigation that eventually led to child sex-abuse charges being filed against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky . The scandal led to the firing of Paterno.
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