It's more than sickening. Their football program should be suspended for a season. Hit them where it hurts. I hope those poor kids sue Penn State and anyone who covered it up for over 15 years. Shame. Paterno's once god-like name is mud.

I hope they sue too and each get an excessive amount of money....To think that men, husbands and fathers would let that go on..........

What do I think? I think they should be smacked upside their collective heads and suspended for a lot longer than one season. If they are just given a slap on the wrist, this kind of cover-up will continue everywhere where this happens. Pedophiles will always be around, and cover-ups will continue to exist as "sound" business decisions, unless a clear message of zero tolerance becomes the norm!!!!

I think that all involved in the cover up should face criminal charges. Hope they lose everything in civil suits.

Had Paterno taken a strong stand years ago, then the countty would have known about integrity. He disgraced himself.

I think Penn State should be suspended for 2 seasons, and Joe Paterno's name have an asterisk as being fired for allowing a known child molester to use state facilities under his(Paterno's) control.

Regardless of who did what or not, I do have compassion for all the students that are just trying to get an education. Now when they go anywhere and say, Penn State, a red flag could go up and they could get punished even verbally, even though they did nothing or even knew what went on.

And the denial/arrogance/whatever you want to call it continues...

It was reported on the Pittsburgh news that students gathered at the HUB (student union) to hear the news. Just as the report was to come on, the station was changed on all the TVs.
THEY DID NOT LET THE STUDENTS LISTEN!

Still whitewashing it. Paterno's dead and disgraced despite his family trying to spin it. I'd like to see the three others in jail down the hall from old Jerry. Ball less men to let this happen to little boys. Monsters all. Protecting a known pedophile. And Dottie should be indicted as well.

I dont know what the *right* answer is.. I do think those that were in on the coverup should face some type of punishment. But to suspend the football program now?? What good would that , except to punish football players/cheerleaders that are now using the program to fund their education. That would be punishment for a whole generation that had nothing at all to do with the cover up.

I agree it would again be damaging kids that are innocent to all of this. The adults found involved should be terminated immediately with the possibility of charges for the ones that they have evidence against. I think the boys and their families should absolutely receive a monetary award.
The entire university was not involved and should not be punished for the evil deeds of those that were willing to cover up and break the law, those people however need the worst of the worst leveled on them and definitely that worthless sob's wife needs to face the facts and tell the truth. No way she didn't know!

"What good would that , except to punish football players/cheerleaders that are now using the program to fund their education. "

Frankly, Penn's football program is by invitation only from Penn scouts. They take minimal courses, and are told that football comes first.
The main purpose of the football program is to make money for the school (and Paterno also personally pocked a lot of money from sponsors) - and not the education of the so-called student athletes - few of which actually graduate at the end of their football eligibility.

I agree, why punish the kids who are now in the program. Although I am not a football fan, I do see it as a way to make money for the school and it also brings spirit to a school.
This story will fade. It is unfortunate and so sad on many levels, but Penn State has a good rep over all and hopefully will still attract top students.
I don't know how they all lived with themselves. More worried about a scandal than the lives of young boys.

Read this article and you may change your magnanimous opinion, Ellendi. The author is justifiably enraged with Paterno, who it seems was really the puppet master behind allowing Sandusky to rape boys for the past 15 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: What a scum

I think the football team should be suspended for 2 seasons. Football is a major fundraiser for a university. I also think that those who participated in the cover up should be thrown in jail. I don't know how they can sleep at night or live with themselves. If the whistle had been blown in the late 80s, many young boys would not have had to go through all the sexual abuse.

Living here in Pa., Penn State football is big busness but Penn State is also a terrific educational institution...I have 4 in my immediate family, sons and grandsons who have gone to PSU for the education not for the football and each has received a very good education and are all in great jobs....It is a shame to fault the whole college but I do agree those who knew of the terrible things that happened should be punished and punished severely, not a slap on the wrist....
I also agree about most of the football players, being there on scholarships and most of them not graduating...What really irks me is how many other needy students could benefit from the money thrown away on "recruiting" these players.....
We, our family, has to laugh, when one of the grandsons attended PSU, he had never been to Beaver Stadium or had no idea who Pappa Joe was...He went to learn!

The entire Board should resign -- certainly the most recently elected member who ran on a platform of promoting Paterno for sainthood!

I don't know that it would do any good. I've never had much confidence in the rubber stamps who populate most school boards -- led around by their noses by administrators.

However...who among us knows what's going on in OUR schools? Are your schools proactive in trying to prevent the opportunity for pederasty? What about hazing?

All my family(except me:I attended another university) are Penn State grads . I am so thoroughly disgusted about this scandal , it almost makes me ill. When I think of those little unprotected boys and those big Poobahs covering up the slimeball's molestations , I want to scream. The almighty football. Hit it where it hurts and put penalty on the team. After all they put football above these little boys protecting the pedophile. Sue everyone including Dottie Sandusky, the enabler.

The students are bystanders and should suffer no more than the shame and embarrassment that their school officials brought to the name of Penn State. But the officials who knew and did nothing should all be fired. All of them. This is a teaching moment for the students and the entire nation. Everyone goes who abetted this criminal.

My DH is attending some lectures by the sports department at Northwestern University. I find it telling that NO ONE has brought up this subject in the Q & A. NU has *real* student athletes, not football hires, but I'd like to know if/how they protect against hazing and abuse.

What's 'telling' is that this is a huge story, all over the media, but...no one is bringing it up at 'their' school.

If they suspend their football program that will only hurt the players, cheerleaders, band members etc. that are there now. Why the hell should they pay for those fools who let this happen?

I think every single rotten person that knew one little bit of what was going on should be prosecuted and sent to jail. They should lose their retirement, pension, and whatever else they were going to get paid.

They should also be sued civilly and be taken to the cleaners.

EVERYONE that knew should have to pay. How would they feel if that was their son, grandson, nephew. They all make me sick.

And I think this is just another example of how greed and power and lack of morals is bringing down our country.

It isn't just Penn state's football program that loses if the team is suspended, it is the entire community. All the workers in all the restaurants, all the hotels, etc. will lose tons of money if they are suspended for a season or two.

The perps and enablers, the board, should be fired and prosecuted. The athletes, students, band, and community should not be. I hope the NCAA can find a different way to punish only the guilty without including the innocent.

Maybe if the football program is suspended, those athletes could do what other students are supposed to do...get an education! I say this as a wife of a man who attended the University of Notre Dame on football scholarship. Even back then...early 60's...and to this date...Notre Dame student athletes LEARN and graduate. In MOST colleges, they do NOT.

Of course we people in PA will be footing the bill because Spanier is still raking in the big bucks, and Penn State is paying the salaries AND the legal fees of Curley and Shultz. And worse of all the old pedophile himself gets a $60,000+ pension a year and has for years and will continue to.

All who are convicted should lose their pensions, especially the old perv.

Maybe this will put things into perspective....

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8163189/penn-state-cannot-allowed-football-team

And the university should continue the scholarships of the athletes/cheerleaders/band students while the program is shut down.

Here is a link that might be useful: Penn State should not play football A predator used the program as bait, and university officials didn't stop him

One more instance in the Western world of the Almighty Dollar superceding everything else.

And the addiction seems to have become so pervasive.

Integrity seems to have slid a long way down the priority scale.

Could be that it may scuttle us,, before we're through.

ole joyful

Excellent article, LuAnn and I agree with it. Yes, it's too bad about all of the bars and restaurants and people who make a living off of football. The NCAA better step up and put an end to football at Penn State or they will forever lack any kind of credibility. And the trustees at Penn, once a felon is convicted, should abolish retirement benefits and demand repayment for legal fees incurred in the defenses of those convicted.

Sleeperblues, if you have a spouse who commits a felony, do you think you should be punished, also, if you are completely innocent of the crime? I agree that legal defense fees should not be paid by the university in the first place, but to abolish retirement benefits upon conviction will result in wives being left penniless. I think they should at least receive the equivalent of a widow's pension . These crimes are hideous, but we should not punish the innocent by proxy.

Shermann,
How would Sandusky's wife be left "penniless"(well, maybe after all the lawsuits drain HIS personal funds), when she will have his SS benefit and her personal retirement funds.
So - he loses his pension from Penn - unless she is a complete clueless idiot(as she wants us all to believe) she has her own retirement funds(IRA at the very least) and SS to live on.

Penniless - HAH.

Do I understand correctly that all the Sandusky children were adopted? What 'agency' OK'd this 'couple'?

I think that the NCAA should go well beyond their ill-named "death penalty" to a punishment more deserving that name, and ban Penn State from football forever. Furthermore that penalty should also attach to the administrators involved in the cover-up, so that anywhere else they go the same penalty would be enacted for the duration of their employment.

As the article LuAnn posted states the cover-up here allowed the molesting to continue for years, solely to protect the reputation of the football program. That is considerably worse than the violations mentioned involving academic cheating or surreptitiously paying the athletes, and consequently, it deserves a considerably more severe punishment.

"Do I understand correctly that all the Sandusky children were adopted? What 'agency' OK'd this 'couple'?"

I'm sure that Jerry and his wife were considered the best possible family for a child. Same as the people who funded Jerry's charity. Same for the people who entrusted their little boys to Jerry's care for football camp.

Hindsight is 20/20, you know.

I think that it's very possible that PSU will be broken by this. Consider the liability of civil suits by the victims and I believe I've heard that there's the possibilty of the loss of federal funding and now the NCAA will be getting their shot..

Here is a link that might be useful: Stood up to Paterno

>> ... if you have a spouse who commits a felony, do you think you should be punished, also, if you are completely innocent of the crime?

In my opinion, no. If you are completely innocent of the crime, no. But in this case there is not one piece of me that believes his wife is innocent. I believe she knew about it or at the very least suspected it and enabled it by deciding to not find out the truth. Do I think she should be penniless? I don't know. But I certainly do think that she should be held accountable and punished somehow.

And as far as Penn State goes? Heck - how many times does a whole group get punished for the bad actions of a few? That's a lesson I was always taught - that my actions had impact well beyond me and I was responsible for that. One bad apple, as "they" say. In this case, it was a whole lot of bad apples, some more rotten than others.