I am no guy fawning all over Paterno.Yes,he has been a great coach for a long time.
However, yes,Paterno DOES have superiors. Several actually. If you need me to run down the list,it's the same at EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL. NO coach is above his superiors.
As far as I can tell, he found out the information, and then went directly to his Athletic Director and President to tell them what he was TOLD. Paterno did not physically see anything happen as far as we know right now. As far as JoePa goes, you cant fire someone based off of a rumor that a player told you....that leads you down a long road of wrongful termination lawsuits.
He went to his superiors and told them what he heard, that way his superiors could do their job,investigate the matter, and take action. That's relatively cut and dry. You do that with ANY job when a matter like this happens.