The National Collegiate Athletic Association has implemented an independent task force to manage the endowment levied against Penn State on Tuesday, Penn State announced Tuesday.
The $60 million endowment came as a part of the consent decree between the university and the NCAA.
The NCAA announced as a part of its sanctions that Penn State be mandated to pay a $60 million fine. The university will pay $12 million a year for the next five years into a special endowment. The money from the endowment will be used to fund programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse, as previously reported.
Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs in the College of Medicine Craig Hillemeier is one of two Penn State faculty members asked to be a part of the task force. He said he thinks he was chosen for the role because his job as Medical Director and Head of Pediatrics at Hershey
Medical Center has focused on children.
Hillemeier said it is “very exciting” that Penn State is able to play a role in the process of discussing and recommending how the funds will be distributed.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a press release that the NCAA has determined that child sex abuse is a national issue, so the money from the endowment will also be available to other states.
Dean of the College of Health and Human Development Ann Crouter was also asked to be a part of the task force. She said the NCAA said that “a minimum of 25 percent” of the endowment will stay in Pennsylvania. She said she thinks the university chose her because the College of Health and Human Development focuses on issues related to children, youth and families.
Crouter said she will be a part of a group of about 13 people whose roles will be to discuss how the funds should be used.
“We’re going to be thinking about what kinds of programs would be eligible to apply for funding and what criteria would be used to evaluate proposals,” she said.
Crouter said it is important that faculty from Penn State be a part of the task force to ensure that it is successful.
“I think it’s very important for Penn State that this fund be a success and make a difference in the lives of children,” Crouter said.
Hillemeier said he thinks the task force is a positive step and proof that Penn State has been moving in the right direction. The task force “is an affirmation [of] what we’ve been doing over the last year to protect the safety of children.”
The sanctions imposed by the NCAA on July 23 came as a result of Former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s report on the university’s handling of reports that former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was abusing boys.
The Penn State Board of Trustees hired Freeh’s investigators in November and their report was released on July 12.
Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse on June 22.
