A statue of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was taken down Sunday from outside the university’s football stadium. A report from Louis Freeh that detailed the far-reaching coverup of child sex abuse by Jerry Sandusky led the university to remove the statue, announced earlier Sunday morning in a statement:
Throughout Penn State, the two most visible memorials to Coach Paterno are the statue at Beaver Stadium and the Paterno Library. The future of these two landmarks has been the topic of heated debate and many messages have been received in various University offices, including my own. We have heard from numerous segments of the Penn State community and others, many of whom have differing opinions. These are particularly important decisions when considering things that memorialize such a revered figure.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. I believe that, were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse.The famed statue of Joe Paterno was taken down from outside the Penn State football stadium Sunday, eliminating a key piece of the iconography surrounding the once-sainted football coach accused of burying child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant.
The NCAA announced they will detail sanctions against the university at 9am eastern on Monday:
A high-ranking NCAA source said, “I’ve never seen anything like it,” according to CBS News, which first reported the sanctions.ESPN reported that announcement will not be the NCAA’s well known “death penalty,” but it will include deep scholarship cuts and loss of bowl eligibility for many years.The announcement will be made at 9 a.m. ET Monday in Indianapolis by NCAA president Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA’s executive committee, according to a statement….The NCAA has handed down the death penalty — which shuts down a program for a year — once, to SMU in 1986. However, a source told ESPN that Monday’s penalties could be more crippling than a death penalty.
University cultures that overemphasize sports in the academic environment are perhaps more susceptible to these warped institutional decisions that set aside the original missions of their schools. Penn State, founded in 1855 as an agricultural school, operates with the mission to educate “students from Pennsylvania, the nation and the world, and improves the well being and health of individuals and communities through integrated programs of teaching, research, and service.”
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