Penn State Tears Down Paterno Statue

Yesterday Penn State tore down its statue of local hero Joe Paterno. The action came two days after a banner plane flew over the university bearing the warning: “Tear it down or we will.” Penn State’s president has issued a lengthy statement. An excerpt:

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.

Tomorrow the NCAA will announce “unprecedented” sanctions against the school.



While ESPN reported that the university is not expected to receive the so-called “death penalty,” which would shut down its historic division-I football program, the sanctions are believed to be serious enough to equal the drastic measure. The NCAA’s penalties are believed to be based on moral violations rather than rules infractions and are linked to its investigation of a lack of institutional control in the way the university handled the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.