Joe Paterno statue removed

Early Sunday morning, the statue of Joe Paterno was removed from outside Beaver Stadium. The president of Penn State, Rodney Erickson, released his decision about the matter to the public at 7 am on Sunday.  This decision comes 10 days after information was released that Paterno, along with three other top Penn State administrators, had purposely concealed allegations of child sexual abuse made against Jerry Sandusky. Their motive, as concluded by a former FBI director, was to shield the university and its football program from negative publicity.  While the statue was removed, Erickson announced that the Paterno name will remain on the university's library. Some speculate that the reason the statue was removed at this time is because of the sensitivity of time for the university.  The NCAA has initiated an investigation on the trustees and administrators involved in the situation.  It is possible that if the statue had remained, it would have served as a negative symbol in the discussion by the NCAA on a punishment for the football program.  However, the decision to remove the status seems to have divided the university.  One group wanted to keep the statue to remember all the contributions Paterno had to the university, while the other group wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible in order to remove the obstacle in the healing process of the university.  With the removal of the statue, the university is waiting anxiously to hear the results of the NCAA's decision of the punishment for the football program, which will be released on Monday.