For some additional insight, here's an article from the local newspaper of Centre County, PA.
(Bold emphasis mine)
(Bold emphasis mine)
...you have to understand the culture that has prevailed for at least as long as Paterno was in charge of the football program. It was, right up until he was removed from his position Wednesday night, a climate of Kremlin-like secrecy, of tightly-controlled access, of rule by dynamic terror. It was understood that if you wanted to be around his program in a professional aspect, you did so at his pleasure and by his rules. And that kind of climate is a petri dish for what happened in what must now be called the Sandusky Scandal.
But the toxic climate isn’t confined to the football program at Penn State. It’s pervasive on the campus from the lowest worker in the Office of the Physical Plant to the corner offices in Old Main. It’s all about keeping your mouth shut, doing your job, looking the other way at the various indiscretions and currying favor with those above you in the food chain in order to keep or improve your position. Stray from these guidelines at your own peril.
Anybody that's been involved with a large university - public or private - can understand the mentality described in this article. PSU may be worse in this regard than other schools, but they all have a code of "Omerta" to some degree.