State Senator John Yudichak, D-Luzerne, has made a statement asking the Penn State Board of Trustees to seek an amendment that would alter the consent decree of NCAA sanctions against the university.
The NCAA, which did not conduct its own investigation into the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case before levying its sanctions on the university, accepted the Freeh Report as the proper presentation of facts when Louis Freeh had no subpoena power -- which would have been needed to conduct a full investigation into the incident, Yudichak said.
Yudichak said in the statement he believes that the Board of Trustees also acted too hastily in those "critical" 15 days following the November 2011 arrest of Sandusky.
“Decisions made in those critical days were based in the grand jury presentation for the termination of Spanier and Paterno, which set the stage for the Freeh report,” Yudichak said.
The Freeh Report, which he said cost the university somewhere between $90 million and $150 million, needs to be re-examined because not all of the facts are on the table, Yudichak said.
“It is incumbent upon the Board of Trustees to seek an amendment to accepting the NCAA sanctions and for the NCAA to revisit the sanctions after the trials of Spanier and the other former Penn State administrators to conclude and the NCAA needs to be pressed,” Yudichak said.
First, Yudichak said he believes that the facts need to be gathered. Second, he said the university and the Pennsylvania legislators need to find a way to protect any student of any age that comes to Penn State. And third, he said, a way needs to be found to preserve the university.
“The narrative cannot be closed until those three things occur. The Sandusky victims need to have some sort of healing in this process and all of the facts need to be presented,” Yudichak said.
Penn State spokesperson Lisa Powers had no comment on the statement.
