By Scott Tibbs, July 25, 2012
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. -- Matthew 6:24
Penn State "University" should be thrown out of the NCAA. Extreme situations require an appropriate response, and an example needs to be made.
There has been a lot of talk about the sex abuse scandal at Penn State "University" and what can be done to prevent things like this from happening in the future - both in protecting children from sexual predators and ensuring that the proper authorities step in and protect victims in case the unthinkable happens.
Penn State "University" failed on every possible level. Joe Paterno (who some people actually still respect for some reason) failed, the assistant coaches failed, the "university" trustees failed, and even law enforcement failed. Children were horribly abused and the people who could have protected them failed to step in because they were more concerned about money than morality.
Since the root of this problem is the love and worship of money, the obvious solution also involves money. Penn State "University" should be thrown out of the NCAA. No NCAA school will be allowed to play Penn State in any sport and will face severe sanctions if they break the ban.
What this will do is put the fear of God into institutions of higher learning. Colleges and universities will be so terrified of losing the massive piles of money brought in by their athletic departments that they will not even consider covering up the abuse of children should it be discovered in their midst.
Of course, this is not an ideal solution. The best solution would be for those in positions of authority to be of high moral character - people who would immediately do everything they could to stop these sorts of demonic actions from taking place, and bring the perpetrators to justice. But because human beings are naturally hopelessly corrupt (Romans 3:10-12) we need to have disincentives for evil behavior.
The NCAA could easily make an example out of Penn State "University" and put the entire American university system on notice that this type of failure will not be tolerated and will be severely punished. But does the NCAA have the courage and integrity to do this? I hope so.
