Penn State child sex abuse scandal
As a result of the scandal, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) imposed sanctions on the Penn State football program: a $60 million fine, a four-year postseason ban, scholarship reductions, and a vacation of all victories from 1998 to 2011.
NCAA President Mark Emmert stated that the sanctions were levied "not to be just punitive, but to make sure the university establishes an athletic culture and daily mindset in which football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people.
[31] The investigation was initiated in the spring of 2008 after Aaron Fisher (identified in court papers as "Victim 1"), then a freshman at Central Mountain High School in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania, reported that Sandusky had been molesting him since age 12.
[42] Paterno left for Pittsburgh to attend an awards ceremony shortly after meeting with McQueary[43] and did not return to State College until late Saturday night or Sunday morning.
[67][24] Congressman Pat Meehan asked Education Secretary Arne Duncan to probe whether Penn State violated the Clery Act when it failed to report Sandusky's alleged actions on campus.
[81] At that hearing, prosecutors requested to the court that Sandusky be declared a sexually violent predator under Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law, which would subject him to stringent reporting requirements if he is released.
On November 1, 2012, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and NBC News, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that Spanier would be formally charged for his alleged role related to Sandusky's crimes.
[85][86] Later that day, Kelly announced that as part of a superseding indictment, Spanier, Curley and Schultz had been charged with grand jury perjury, child endangerment, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice in connection with the scandal.
[107][108] On November 7, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said that though some may have fulfilled their legal obligation to report suspected abuse, "somebody has to question about what I would consider the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child."
"[117] In an editorial for the Centre Daily Times, literary critic Robert Bernard Hass, a Penn State alumnus, compared Paterno's downfall to a Greek tragedy and suggested that despite his many good deeds, pride and age contributed to his failure to report the incident to police.
In a phone interview with NBC Sports's Bob Costas on Rock Center with Brian Williams, Sandusky denied the allegations, though he admitted showering with boys and inadvertently touching them "without intent of sexual contact".
"[172] Frazier's testimony added that, given what had been reported publicly and in the grand jury presentment, he felt that Coach Paterno leading the football team onto the field would not send the right message.
[180][181] Freeh concluded that Schultz, Spanier, Curley and Paterno "failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade", as well as violated the Clery Act.
[230] On November 17, NCAA President Mark Emmert personally wrote Erickson to ask him how Penn State had exercised control over its athletic program in the wake of the scandal.
On July 16, Emmert appeared on PBS' Tavis Smiley and said that with the release of the Freeh report, Penn State had "weeks, not months" to answer the questions he had raised in the November letter.
In announcing the sanctions, Emmert said that, although the behavior could be called more egregious than any other seen in NCAA history, and thus a multi-year suspension was appropriate, they concluded that it was as important to drive "cultural change" at Penn State as much as it was to hold it to account.
[237] In announcing the sanctions, Emmert said that he intended the Penn State case to be "the cautionary tale of athletics overwhelming core values of the institution and losing sight of why we are really participating in these activities can occur."
[249] Erickson subsequently told ESPN's John Barr that Penn State was facing as long as a four-year ban from play had it not agreed to the sanctions that were ultimately imposed.
He also "categorically" denied that the NCAA had threatened Penn State with a death penalty had it not accepted the sanctions, and added that using it as a backup in case of such a rejection was "never even a point of discussion within either the executive committee or the Division I board.
[259] On September 20, 2012, Penn State released an announcement that the institution had hired the law firm of Feinberg Rozen LLP to assist in the handling of any personal injury lawsuits that could emerge as a result of the sexual abuse allegations that had been made against Sandusky.
[263] Though he had originally "endorsed [the NCAA settlement in the immediate wake of the Freeh report] as 'part of the corrective process'",[264] Corbett and other state lawmakers had recently begun to object to the prospect of the $60 million fine being spent mostly outside of Pennsylvania.
[264] The Patriot-News said of the suit: "[It] comes after a year of withering criticism of Corbett by some quarters of the Penn State community, which has seen the governor and his fellow PSU trustees as too quick to brand former head coach Joe Paterno and others as fall guys for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
"[266] On June 6, 2013, federal Middle District Judge Yvette Kane said she could not "find any factual allegations" and threw out the lawsuit calling, it "a Hail Mary pass" that easily warranted dismissal.
Nicholas Mirkay, a University of Hawaii law school professor and nonprofit governance expert, found it surprising Penn State leadership allowed a board member with even a tangential connection to the Second Mile to lead settlement negotiations.
[294] Penn State appealed the ruling in November 2016,[295] and the case judge also awarded an additional almost $5 million to McQueary based on a separate charge that his firing was retaliation for whistleblowing.
[299][300] Findings:[301] At the time of the NCAA sanctions, one columnist had characterized them (scholarship restrictions, a bowl ban, loss of revenue) as a fate "worse than death" for the Penn State football program – noncompetitiveness on the field.
[302] In addition to the expected damage to future recruiting from those sanctions, the NCAA had enacted a temporary exception to transfer rules which allowed current scholarship players to leave the tainted program.
[305][306] In October 2012, Moody's downgraded Penn State's bond rating to Aa2 citing "anticipation of the substantial financial impact on the university from the ultimate cost of future settlements and possible judgments".
[307] It would not be until February 2016 that Penn State would see its rating restored to Aa1, with Moody's citing a stable outlook and the university's ability to continue operating despite Pennsylvania's delay in enacting 2016 appropriations.
[311] In November, the warning status was lifted as the accreditor was "impressed by the degree to which Penn State has risen, as a strong campus community, to recognize and respond to the sad events.
