Punishment for Penn State

The NCAA meted out harsh penalties to Penn State for ignoring the child sexual abuse carried out Jerry Sandusky.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association meted out harsh penalties to Pennsylvania State University this week, after the school’s leaders and late football coach Joe Paterno were found to have ignored years of child sexual abuse carried out by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The NCAA fined Penn State $60 million, banned it from postseason play for four years, and cut the number of football scholarships it is permitted to offer.

The decision also stripped Paterno of his legacy as the most successful college football coach in history, canceling all the team’s wins since 1998, when the coach first learned of Sandusky’s behavior. A report commissioned by the university found last month that administrators and coaches had turned a blind eye to the crimes of Sandusky, who was convicted of 45 charges of child sex abuse in June. In a symbolic admission of guilt, a statute of Paterno outside Penn State’s Beaver Stadium was quietly removed this week by university authorities.

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