Penn State President Spanier removed, Joe Paterno fired by unanimous decision of trustees

11/9/11, "Penn State president removed, Paterno out immediately," CNN

"Coach Joe Paterno and the president of the school have lost their jobs, effective immediately, over a child sex abuse scandal at Penn State, university trustees announced Wednesday night.

John P. Surma, vice chairman of trustees, said that President Graham Spanier was being replaced and Paterno, the longtime head football coach, would not finish the remainder of the season.

Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will serve as interim head coach. Rod Erickson, executive vice president and provost of the school, will be interim president, school officials said.

Stunned Penn State students congregated after the announcement.

Spanier has been president of the school since 1995.

Paterno was given the news of the unanimous decision early Wednesday evening in a telephone call made by chairman of the board Steve Garban and Surma. Asked Paterno's reaction, Surma said, "That's a private discussion that I would rather not characterize."

Surma said he hoped that the school's 95,000 students and hundreds of thousands of alumni would believe the decision "is in the best long-term interest of the university, which is much larger than athletic programs."...

Two Penn State officials are accused of failing to report the alleged abuse.

The U.S. Department of Education said it will launch an investigation into whether Penn State failed to comply with an act requiring colleges and universities to disclose the number of reported criminal incidents on campus each year. "In addition, in certain cases, the institution must issue a timely warning if a reported crime represents a threat to the campus community," it said in a statement....

State Attorney General Linda Kelly said Monday that the alleged failure of Timothy Curley, 57, Penn State's athletic director, and Gary Schultz, 62, the university's senior vice president for finance and business, to report abuse claims "likely allowed a child predator to continue to victimize children for many, many years."...

Curley and Schultz stepped down late Sunday after an emergency meeting of the university's board of trustees. The case has raised questions on how Penn State officials handled allegations."...

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