Are NCAA Sanctions Enough for Penn State?

On Monday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) handed down sanctions to Penn State University for its role in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts of sex assault earlier this month.

According to an investigation led by former FBI director Louis Freeh, university officials, including former head football coach Joe Paterno, knew about the crimes that took place on campus, but did not take action to report them to authorities.

The NCAA was expected to hand down "unprecedented" sanctions in response, including the possibility of the football "death penalty," which would suspend the program for a period of time. The NCAA decided against that measure, however, and ordered the following, according to espn.com:

• $60 million fine to be put into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at the university ($60 million is reported annual revenue from football department)
• Vacation of wins from 1998 to 2011 (112 wins, six bowl titles and two conference championships)
• Four-year postseason ban
• Scholarship reduction from 25 to 15 each year for the next four years
• Athletic department on probation for five years 

Penn State University officials decided Sunday to remove a bronze statue of late football coach Joe Paterno. 

The 900-pound sculpture was removed from the exterior of the Penn State Football Stadium and placed in a "secure location," according to a report on cnn.com.

According to the cnn.com report, University President Rodney Ericksen said, "I now believe that, contrary to its original intention, coach Paterno's statue has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our university and beyond."

Paterno died in January from a battle with lung cancer at the age of 85. He was fired by the university in November 2011 shortly after news of the Sandusky scandal was made public. He was an assistant and head coach at the school for 61 years.

Did Penn State University make the right decision to remove the statue? Were the sanctions handed down by the NCAA enough?