For Penn State to reclaim the moral high ground now, it needs to do five things.
First, it should announce that it will not participate in a postseason bowl game this year, forgoing, potentially, millions of dollars. Second, it must discipline the rioters. A university cannot allow its students to rampage so destructively — and so amorally — without consequences.
Third, it must promise not to use its status as a state institution to shield itself from the inevitable civil lawsuits that will be brought by those who were allegedly abused by Jerry Sandusky, the former Paterno assistant coach at the heart of the scandal. There is, in fact, some ambiguity about whether Penn State can claim that immunity, as Bill Pennington pointed out in The Times this past weekend. But this is not a question that should be fought in court; Penn State should accept the consequences of what happened.
Fourth, Penn State should establish a compensation fund. After the Virginia Tech massacre, that school gave $8 million to survivors and victims’ families, in a fund run by Kenneth Feinberg, the former administrator of the Sept. 11 victim compensation fund. Indeed, Feinberg, who is independent and fair-minded, would be a fine choice to administer a Penn State fund. Sadly, he’s done this before, helping the Diocese of Covington, Ky., distribute $84 million to 252 victims of clergy sexual abuse in 2004. As for where Penn State would get the money, a good place to start would be the $50 million or so in football profits the school is expected to reap this year.
Finally, Penn State should announce that it will cancel the 2012 football season. Yes, that would mean a self-imposed “death penalty,” which hasn’t been seen in big-time college sports since 1987, when the N.C.A.A. instituted a ban on Southern Methodist University’s football team for paying players under the table. Penn State players who still want to play football should be allowed to transfer to another school without having to sit out a year, as current N.C.A.A. rules state; those who stayed would get to keep their scholarships. The coaches who would have to find new jobs? I don’t have much sympathy; anyone who’s been around college athletics knows that there are no secrets in a locker room. The notion that they were all in the dark about Sandusky is, frankly, pretty unlikely.
