Football Coach Sandusky Victims Compensated by Penn State

Penn State University has confirmed that it has paid out nearly $60 million in compensation to the victims of former assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky.   Around 23 young men who filed to receive compensation for child sexual abuse have signed agreements with the university and have been paid out, confirmed Penn U.  It said that several other such agreements were in the pipelines, with the school still needing to decide who merited a payout and who didn’t.

The President of Penn State, Rodney Erickson made it clear from the day that the once revered Sandusky was convicted that the university would do all it could to compensate victims. In a statement this week, he said: ”We cannot undo what has been done, but we can and must do everything possible to learn from this and ensure it never happens again at Penn State.”

This policy has been applauded by the victims who believe that Penn State is sincere in its willingness to learn from the past and prevent incidents like this happening in the future.  A lawyer representing three of the victims, Jeff Anderson noted: “I have to applaud them, because they said ‘not until we’re satisfied that no one else will get hurt.’ ‘The settlement of their cases in no way heals, in no way lessens the wound that remains open and the scars that are deep.”

In 1977, while working for Penn State, Sandusky founded The Second Mile, a non profit charity to offer underprivileged and at-risk youth the opportunity to play sports.  He continued working with the charity even after he retired from Penn State.  In 2011, after a two year investigation, Sandusky was convicted by a grand jury to 52 counts of child sexual abuse over a 15 year period in his capacity of football coach for the youth of The Second Mile.  He is currently serving what will probably be a life sentence.