Joe Paterno's statue outside Beaver Stadium will remain up for now, according to a report Saturday by ESPN.com, but the halo that had been painted above the former Penn State coach's head has been removed from a mural in downtown State College.
Penn State's Board of Trustees decided this past week to keep the Paterno statue up for the meantime, according to ESPN.com, despite heavy pressure from the media and others around the country.
The Board of Trustees chose to take its time with any decision about the statue rather than cave to public pressure with a quick judgment.
"You can't let people stampede you into making a rash decision," an anonymous trustee told ESPN.com. "The statue represents the good that Joe did. It doesn't represent the bad that he did."
Another anonymous trustee told ESPN.com the statue "has to stay up."
"We have to let a number of months pass, and we'll address it again," the trustee said. "But there is no way, no way. It's just not coming down."
Artist Michael Pilato had painted a halo above Paterno's head on the State College mural following the coach's death in January. Pilato felt he had to remove the halo after Paterno was implicated by the Freeh report in taking part in a cover-up during the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.
Pilato painted a blue ribbon on Paterno's lapel, symbolizing support for child-abuse victims.
Pilato previously had removed Sandusky from the mural.
