Lawmakers and university officials across the USA are moving quickly to tighten up rules on who must report sexual abuse on campus in the wake of the Penn State scandal.
A key issue likely to be debated in state legislatures is whether reports should go straight to police, and whether new laws are needed to shore up vague guidelines and polices about child safety on campus.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, said state lawmakers in the next few weeks would introduce bills to explicitly outline educators' responsibilities if they witness or suspect abuse.
He earlier said the assistant coach who, as a graduate assistant in 2002, witnessed former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly abusing a child "met the minimum obligation of reporting it up" to head coach Joe Paterno, but the assistant "did not, in my opinion, meet a moral obligation."
That assistant coach, Mike McQueary, said in an e-mail made available Tuesday to the Associated Press that he stopped the action he saw and went to police.
In the e-mail written Nov. 8 to a friend at Penn State, McQueary wrote: "I did stop it, not physically but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room. I did have discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police. no one can imagine my thoughts or wants to be in my shoes for those 30-45 seconds trust me."
McQueary added: "I am getting hammered for handling this the right way or what I thought at the time was right."
According to the grand jury report, McQueary testified he spoke to his father and then to Paterno before speaking to athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz, who oversaw campus police. Curley and Schultz face perjury charges in the case.
In addition to Pennsylvania, several other states are considering tougher laws about reporting sex abuse of children -- including Iowa, Maryland and New York.
"Penn State does create a sense of urgency," said Stephen Scott, chairman of the Iowa Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Task Force. He told The Des Moines Register this week that the group may add college officials to the list of those required to report abuse.
The group may also require that school districts report abuse by teachers to authorities beyond the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. State law requires most school employees, child care workers and medical personnel to report sexual abuse of anyone younger than 12 to the state licensing board, which can suspend or revoke a teacher's license.
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman sent an e-mail to faculty and students Tuesday that they should "act immediately"' and report to police cases of abuse or other crimes on campus.
In New York, Republican Assemblymen Jim Tedisco and George Amedore plan to introduce a bill requiring college coaches, administrators and employees, including janitors, to report suspected child abuse.
Under current law, those who fail to report the abuse can face fines and up to a year in jail. Tedisco says the law includes "nothing mandatory at all at the college level."
Tedisco says colleges play host to children under 18 for all sorts of programs.
Meanwhile, Graham Spanier, the ousted Penn State University president, resigned Tuesday from the board of directors of U.S. Steel and board of advisers of the Defense Department's Naval Postgraduate School.
Contributing: Jens Manuel Krogstad, The Des Moines Register; The Associated Press
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