Is This Joe Paterno's Statue with Limitations?

Perhaps it was public pressure or another step in heading off the NCAA and Big Ten posse, but Penn State president Rod Erickson has decided to remove the statue of Joe Paterno from the front of Beaver stadium and put it in storage.

Now the question is whether the statue is gone for good or until the university decides to display it elsewhere or return it to the stadium.

ESPN said that crews arrived at the stadium before dawn Sunday, which means Erickson did not want to have campus police dealing with angry students or supporters of Joe Pa who still don't hold him accountable for his role in harboring a pedophile.

Jerry Sandusky is in jail for the rest of his life, Paterno has gone to his grave and the statue will be gathering dust. Erickson said, according to ESPN, that he decided to remove the statue because it "has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing."

I don't question that. I also know, however, that Penn State administrators must be concerned that the NCAA will find it within its authority to hand down sanctions against the football program, perhaps even the death penalty.

There have also been suggestions that Big Ten officials should consider kicking Penn State out of the conference.

I have heard commentators say that the pain and embarrassment suffered by Penn State is enough punishment and that imposing sanctions on the football program would be piling it on. Those voices, however, don't quite get it: This is not about improper benefits or breaking other NCAA rules, many of which are archaic, if not silly.

This is about letting an assistant coach prey on young boys for as many as 14 years without anyone having the courage to stop it, even if it meant losing his job in the long run.

Penn State may be bigger than many small cities but it is still a closed community and everyone from Paterno to former president Graham Spanier thought they could apply the Las Vegas axiom: What happens in Happy Valley, stays in Happy Valley.

This is not just a football coverup; this goes right up the food chain to the highest levels of school administration. And the inaction by Penn State officials over the years enabled Sandusky to ruin the lives of many more young boys.

I was talking about Paterno to someone this week whom I have had business dealings with recently and he revealed that he was abused by a babysitter when he was a boy. "It's something you live with your whole life," he said.

Removing Paterno's statue is a symbolic step but a necessary one. It doesn't end this tragic story, however. There are civil suits, criminal trials and perhaps NCAA and Big Ten fallout coming down the pike.

Let's just hope that Penn State officials truly grasp the crimes they helped perpetuate and don't plan to return Paterno's statue to the stadium when the dust settles.