Vote: Should Penn State Be Sanctioned by the NCAA for Its Sex Abuse Scandal?

It's a different sort of infraction, but does it deserve the same punishment?

It's the story that won't go away any time soon, and for good reason. The Penn State football sex abuse scandal continues to reverberate, because it's so shocking, and so disgusting. (And because new details continue to emerge—we had to interrupt writing this to post about further developments in the case.)

It feels a little frivolous to think about on-field matters right now, but we were prompted by @thefarmerjones (a friend and Penn State alum who reps all that's good about the school) to consider whether or not the football program deserves to be sanctioned by the NCAA in some way. The NCAA (a supremely messed up institution in its own right, to be sure) typically punishes schools for gaining a competitive advantage by breaking the organization's bylaws (think USC and Reggie Bush). That doesn't seem to be the case with the Nittany Lions.

But then there's "a lack of institutional control," a phrase used by the NCAA to describe rogue programs. If there's a program lacking in institutional control, surely it's Penn State, with its athletic director facing perjury charges, and its legendary coach fired for apparently shielding a sexual predator.

So should Penn State face sanctions from the NCAA, up to and including a possible suspension of the program? Should the dozens of upstanding people affiliated with the program be forced to pay for the hideous actions and judgment of a few powerful figures? And what role do the ugly actions of a segment of the school's student body play in that decision, if any? Vote below, and tell us what you think in the comments or on Twitter.

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