The Penn State Board of Trustees deserves credit for taking the initiative to conduct its own internal investigation into the Sandusky matter.
But the NCAA sent a terrible message to all universities across the country when it proceeded to condemn and sanction Penn State based on Penn State's own investigation.
The NCAA did not follow its own by-laws when it did not conduct its own independent investigation. Rather, the NCAA relied solely on the Freeh report for its imposition of extreme sanctions.
Now, if a large university with a prominent football program has a potential criminal problem, the precedent has been set by the NCAA that it will use a school's internal investigation for sanctions against the school.
For example, do you think that Alabama or Oregon would ever consider conducting its own internal investigation after what the NCAA did to Penn State?
As a past chairman and current member of the Board of Trustees at Juniata College, I commend Penn State's board for doing the right thing by initiating and paying for a comprehensive examination by a respected jurist and public servant.
Also, Penn State properly showed transparency by making the results of the Freeh report public for the entire country to review.
However, it is reprehensible that the NCAA, through its president, Mark Emmert, took the results of that PSU investigation and blatantly disregarded its own by-laws by refusing to perform its own investigation.
The NCAA has sent the wrong message to all American universities, that is, "If you do your own internal investigation, we will use it, and it alone, against you to level sanctions against you."
David P. Andrews
Hollidaysburg
