NCAA plans to levy sanctions against Penn State
Announcement comes after Paterno statue torn down
STATE COLLEGE, PA. – The NCAA announced Sunday that it will issue sanctions against Penn State in the wake of a scathing report that found that top university officials buried child sex-abuse allegations against a now-convicted retired assistant and led to the tearing down of the famed statue of coach Joe Paterno.
Shortly after Paterno’s statue was removed Sunday, six months to the day after he died, the NCAA came forward to say that it will levy “corrective and punitive measures” against the school. The sanctions will be spelled out Monday, the NCAA said without disclosing further details.
NCAA president Mark Emmert hasn’t ruled out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program in the wake of the scandal, saying he had “never seen anything as egregious.”
The Paterno family issued a statement saying the statue’s removal “does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky’s horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State community.”
“We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the full truth,” said the family, which vowed its own investigation following the release of an investigative report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that found that Paterno and three other top Penn State administrators concealed sex-abuse claims against Sandusky.
The family called the report “the equivalent of an indictment — a charging document written by a prosecutor — and an incomplete and unofficial one at that.”
The bronze statue, weighing more than 400 kilograms, was built in 2001 in honour of Paterno’s record-setting 324th Division I coaching victory and his “contributions to the university.”
Penn State president Rod Erickson said he decided to have the statue removed and put into storage because it “has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing.”
Many of those watching the statue’s removal stared in disbelief and at least one woman wept.