Blame Penn State administrators

I take exception to Benner [Jan. 16 column] adding Pennsylvania State University in with the other schools that had football scandals. The lack of NCAA control that he expressed at Penn State was at the university administration level and not the football program. Because the administration allowed a suspected pedophile, who happened to be a football coach retired for nearly a decade, to retain his emeritus status and to have an office on and use of the campus was a catastrophic error in judgment at the highest level of the university. Those at the football level made that clear to their superiors, as was brought out during the grand jury testimony.

Penn State has one of the cleanest football programs in the country. Penn State sets the bar for graduating not only football players but especially African-American football players. Only Northwestern has a higher graduation rate in the Big Ten. Penn State also has committed no major NCAA sporting violations—ever. Only Stanford University can say that.

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Edward McCauley
Carmel