By Kareem Shaker

Hundreds of Penn State alumni grilled new PSU President Rodney Erickson over two of three scheduled town hall meetings addressing the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The main gripe was over the mid-season firing of Joe Paterno after a record 61 seasons on the Penn State coaching staff, including the last 46 years as head coach.

Paterno, 85, was abruptly fired in the middle this year's football season after news broke that his former assistant Sandusky had been repeatedly accused of sexually molesting boys.

"We turned our back on Joe Paterno," one man said. "I would like to encourage that the board issue a private apology to Paterno and let the record show his retirement at the end of the season. He should be allowed to retire in honor."

The alumni repeatedly defended the Brooklyn native and scoffed at Erickson's repeated attempts to quell the fire.

"We certainly want to honor Joe Paterno as the future unfolds," he said, without naming specifics.

The crowd even laughed when Erickson told them he had not met with Paterno face-to-face since the scandal broke, but had sent him a thank-you note. Erickson tried deflecting the attention of the universifty and onto Sandusky, without much avail.

"It grieves me very much when I hear people say `the Penn State scandal.' This is not Penn State. This is `the Sandusky scandal,'" he said. "We're not going to let what one individual did destroy the reputation of this university."

"It's a shroud of secrecy still," said another alumni. "You said it's not a Penn State scandal, but it is, because perception is reality."

Penn State will hold the final of the three town hall meetings in New York City Friday.

 

Penn State president says school has no plans to honor Paterno

Penn State president Rodney Erickson says the school has not made any plans to honor former football coach Joe Paterno.

In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal Erickson was meeting with alumni for the third time, this time in New York City.

With Paterno re-admitted to the hospital Friday with complications from lung cancer treatment, Erickson wished the former coach well but backed the Board of Trustees' decision to relieve him of his coaching duties because "the ability to lead was compromised."

Paterno found himself embroiled in the controversy after it became known that he passed along a report of alleged sex abuse by Sandusky on a 10-year old boy to his superiors in 2002, but never notified police.

About 300 alumni attended the the 90-minute meeting. It got heated at times due to the anger from some alumni about how the university handled the situation.

 

Penn State Alumni Hammer New President On Joe Paterno Firing