Should naming Penn State University’s field after Joe Paterno be publicly debated, as a recent editorial in the Mirror suggested? Absolutely.

Advocates have no reason to balk about this. The record shows as soon as Paterno was told about the Jerry Sandusky shower episode, he contacted university authorities and left it in their hands.

The newest NCAA requirements, revised in response to the Sandusky affair, require anyone suspecting sexual abuse to report it promptly to university officers, and stop there, lest they be accused of tampering with the outcome.

Paterno’s actions were a model of the revised guidelines.

The shower episode was grounds for party-line condemnation of Paterno for “egregious mishandling of allegations against Sandusky.”

Yet the episode itself now appears to be a paper tiger.

On the very night of the episode, eyewitness Mike McQueary was quizzed by mandated reporter Dr. Jonathan Dranov, who three times asked him if he saw anything sexual. Three times, McQueary said, “No.”

Dranov testified to this in court. The media didn’t report it.

At Paterno’s funeral, Franco Harris asked McQueary if he saw anything sexual in the shower. McQueary said, “No.”

Harris recorded this in his podcast “Upon Further Review.”

Again, no media coverage.

After the grand jury’s record was (illegally) leaked to the press, McQueary protested that he was misquoted in the leak.

Prosecutor Jonelle Eshbach replied by email: “I know a lot of stuff is incorrect, and it is hard not to respond. But you can’t.”

Candidates for “egregious mishandling” might include McQueary or Eshbach, but not Paterno.

No wonder Penn State prefers no public debate.

Joseph R. Stains

South Fork