Let's make one thing clear for those of you who apparently have completely misinterpreted everything Penn State-related over the past week--the NCAA isn't punishing the innocent by levying severe sanctions against Penn State, rather they're punishing the university culture that allowed the innocent to be stripped of their innocence in the first place.

The facts are there. Multiple people looked the other way while an assistant football coach sexually abused a number of children, continually allowing him to attend university functions and use university facilities despite having an inkling of what this man was capable of.

Related
STORY: Penn State penalties: $60 million fine, 4-year bowl ban
This is disgusting.

And yet, since the very moment it was announced that the University That Paterno Built would face "unprecedented sanctions" in the wake of the Freeh Report findings, people who should know better wondered aloud "Why are you punishing innocent people for the actions of a few?" as though only Jerry Sandusky, former president Graham Spanier and the now-deceased Joe Paterno should face penalties.

Here's why.

As anyone who has ever attended a Division I school (and I hold degrees from two) will tell you, jocks and coaches in the marquee sports like football and basketball are allowed to get away with a lot more than the rest of the student body because they help bring in staggering amounts of money to the school each year. The culture of hero worship on college campuses nationwide encourages students and administrators alike to look the other way when it becomes apparent that people who are really good at sports think they're above playing by the rules the rest of us must abide by.

There is no other way of putting this: the NCAA needed to send a message that the ol' sweep-it-under-the-rug-and-maybe-it'll-go-away mentality that many major institutions have when it comes to something that threatens to slaughter their cash cow will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

What Penn State is faced with isn't the death penalty, but its damn close. A $60 million fine, five years of probation, four year bowl game ban, loss of dozens of scholarships and 14 years of wins completely vacated.

The NCAA has said specifically the non-revenue sports will not be affected by the sanctions. Football players, recruits and students who came to Penn State specifically for the football program are free to transfer to other schools. Life will move on.

But anyone claiming the innocent are being punished here is just plain wrong. Penn State football will be back on its feet in a decade or so. The truly innocent in this case have already been punished, and they'll spend the rest of their lives recovering from the abuse they suffered at the hands of a monster.

Do you agree or disagree with this?

I have no problem with the punishment and I'm glad they took that statue down.

Eh....I kinda don't agree with it. For the simple fact that they didn't play the game of football, the students did. I understand the sentiment behind it, but you ARE punishing innocent people for the actions of a few. So 14 years of stats are just going to be wiped out because you want to make an example out of someone? University culture? It's laughable to punish somebody for taking pride in their school. Had the fans and students KNOWN what was going on, it wouldn't have come to this and I'm sure it wouldn't have been condoned. What Sandusky and Paterno and whoever else involved did was despicable. They already took down his statue (fitting enough.) The individuals responsible needs to be held accountable. Not 50,00+ students.

Alan Smithee wrote:

I have no problem with the punishment and I'm glad they took that statue down.

Alan Smithee wrote:

I have no problem with the punishment and I'm glad they took that statue down.

Some of these sanctions include:
- 60 million dollar fine
- Ban from bowl games for four years
- Reduction of football scholarships
- Vacating of all victories won from 1998 to 2001.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57477633/penn-state-slammed-with-ncaa-sanctions-over-handling-of-jerry-sandusky-sex-abuse-scandal/

Do you think all of this was deserved?

Quote :

July 23, 2012 9:20 AM
Penn State slammed with NCAA sanctions over handling of Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal


Updated at 10:01 a.m. ET

(CBS/AP) The NCAA imposed a harsh set of sanctions on Penn State Monday, less than two weeks after an independent investigation found that football coach Joe Paterno and other senior school leaders failed to stop former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky from sexually abusing children on campus.

NCAA President Mark Emmert announced that the association was banning the football team from all post-season play and bowl games for four years, reducing the program's number of scholarships from 25 to 15 per year for four years, and fining the program $60 million. The association also vacated all of the program's wins between 1998 and 2011.

"Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people," Emmert said.

The program will also be on probation for five years. Current Penn State players will immediately be allowed to transfer without sitting out a year, Emmert said. One coach told CBSSports.com last week that Penn State recruits were already calling him trying to gauge interest in their talents.

When asked about Paterno's role in the scandal, Emmert said the NCAA decided to withhold judgment on individuals.

Sandusky was convicted on 45 criminal counts last month at a trial that included gut-wrenching testimony from eight young men who said he abused them as boys during the course of a decade.

"No matter what we do here today, there is no action that we can take that will remove their pain and anguish," Emmert said.

Emmert fast-tracked penalties rather than go through the usual circuitous series of investigations and hearings. The NCAA said the $60 million is equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the football program. The money must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at Penn State.

After an eight-month inquiry, a firm led by former federal judge and FBI director Louis Freeh produced a 267-page report finding that Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley, university vice president Gary Schultz, who oversaw the campus police department, and university president Graham Spanier "never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest."

Sexual abuse might have been prevented if university officials had banned Sandusky from bringing children onto campus after a 1998 inquiry, the report said. Despite their knowledge of the police probe into Sandusky showering with a boy in a football locker room, Spanier, Paterno, Curley and Schultz took no action to limit his access to campus, the investigation found.

The May 1998 complaint by a woman whose son showered with Sandusky didn't result in charges at the time. The report says Schultz was worried the matter could be opening "Pandora's box."

Officials later did bar him from bringing children to campus.

Six months to the day after Paterno's death, the iconic statue of him was removed from the front of Penn State's football stadium Sunday. In addition to the statue being hauled away from Beaver Stadium, the Paterno memorial was covered up.

Everything is gone: every plaque, every word, every reminder of six decades at Penn State - erased memorials to a man who, in the end, said he wished he had done more.

As I've already stated, I have no problem with the punishment of this institutionalized pedophilia. It's too bad that anyone who didn't have anything to do with it suffers the consequences too but doing just about anything less would be almost like a reward.

Ooops. Didn't see Red's previous thread.

Merged.

To answer the question:
I agree with the fines and being suspended from participating in certain games; however, I don't agree with the reduction of scholarships or the invalidation of past victories. It was the players who won those games.