Harsh Punishment for Penn State

(Indianapolis) The NCAA has fined Penn State $60 million in addition to numerous other penalties for its handling of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

The amount is equivalent to one year of football revenues. The money will be used to establish an endowment for the victims of child sexual abuse.

PSU will also lose 10 initial football scholarships and a total of 20 scholarships each year for four years and be banned from postseason play for four years.

In addition, all of the football program’s wins from 1998 through 2011 have been vacated.

The NCAA decided against giving the university the so-called “death penalty,” which would be a minimum one-year suspension of the program.

Yesterday, Penn State president Rodney Erickson ordered the removal of the statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium.

Erickson said in a statement, “I now believe that, contrary to its original intention, Coach Paterno’s statue has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our University and beyond. For that reason, I have decided that it is in the best interest of our university and public safety to remove the statue and store it in a secure location.”

Workers immediately removed the statue.

Paterno and several other Penn State leaders were blamed in a report written by former FBI director Louis Freeh for covering the sexual abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky.

Freeh was commissioned by the university’s board of trustees to investigate how many people knew of the allegations against Sandusky and why those concerns were never voiced to the board of trustees or the police.

Freeh concluded several people, including Paterno, chose not to report the allegations to avoid negative publicity for Penn State and the football program. Freeh’s report stated the abuse of several victims could have been prevented had they acted.

Jerry Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 criminal charges related to the abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period.