The NCAA concluded Penn State suffered “an unprecedented failure” of institutional integrity leading to a culture in which football was held in “higher esteem than its own values, those of the NCAA and higher education and most disturbingly the values of human decency.”

The Sandusky scandal in my opinion, was an internal affair involving a handful of Penn State leaders. Yes, it was handled improperly, but the football teams from 1998 to present, the student body and the State College business community should not have to suffer for the mistakes of a few.

Over the last several decades, the Catholic Church has had multiple child abuse scandals that spanned the entire country and beyond. The church has seriously violated “the values of human decency.” The church has covered up for years by transferring priests from one assignment to another.

We don’t know how many priests were transferred to or from Catholic universities because of this horrific child abuse scandal. What we do know is that the leadership of the Catholic Church was responsible for a cover-up for decades. The Catholic Church owns and operates all of its Catholic universities, which have football teams that had nothing to do with the church scandal — just like the Penn State team had nothing to do with the Sandusky scandal. Penn State athletes should not be punished by the NCAA.

If Penn State is to be penalized for a cover-up of a child abuse scandal, why shouldn’t all of the Catholic universities suffer the same fate, especially when you consider the magnitude of the church scandal in comparison to Penn State’s.

Jerry Sandusky stabbed Penn State in the back with what he did. Then the NCAA pierced it with a spear, doing greater harm to the university than what the Sandusky scandal did.

Fred Belair Annville