A different kind of Death Penalty

Penn State deserves the Death Penalty. That has become the battle cry of many now that the truth behind the atrocious and evil acts committed by Jerry Sandusky over a 14 year period at Penn State have now come to light. What started as the "apparent" actions of a rogue former coach; I say "apparent" because anyone who truly believed he acted alone was doing little more than fooling themselves; has ballooned into a scandal the likes of which not seen in college sports.
For those who have read all of, or at least some of, the report published by Louis Freeh, you are now aware that the university as an institution (and I cannot stress that enough) willingly looked the other way while Sandusky was molesting young boys in the institution's football facilities. They, the president, vice president, athletic director and even Joe Paterno himself, allowed a man who was not even a coach anymore, to maintain offices on campus, to attend practices, to bring young boys to practice to watch dear old Penn State. Despite a preponderance of evidence, they opted to sweep things under the rug and intimidate eye witnesses from coming forward. You don't cross Joe Pa.
In the end, at least 10, possibly more, children were subject to the whims of a sexual deviant of the worst kind and for that, the institution should face punishment the likes of which never seen. Not at SMU, not at Morehouse College, not at MacMurray College.
Now what that punishment is remains to be seen. Yes the NCAA could and quite possibly will impose the Death Penalty as was seen at the three colleges I just noted. Each was banned from athletic competition for at least one season amongst other sanctions such as loss of scholarships, a cut in funding and so on.
Generally the Death Penalty, or "repeat offender rule" as it is technically known, is used in the case where an institution violates NCAA bylaws while it is currently on probation for another violation, or within 5 years of that probation. However, like most large organizations the NCAA does have the freedom to bypass the preliminaries in the event of particularly egregious violations and do "what is in the best interest of the NCAA."
In most cases these violations have to be such that they give the violating school an unfair competitive advantage as was the case in the previous Death Penalty punishments. Some will argue that Penn State does not deserve the Death Penalty because they gained no competitive advantage from this. I would however argue that the university displayed a complete and utter lack of institutional control (the highest capital crime in the eyes of the NCAA) and that the willful cover up by Penn State officials and Joe Paterno that allowed for the use of an NCAA Division I football team as bait certainly falls under "egregious violations."
Many have chimed in on the other side saying that those who perpetrated these crimes are being, or will be punished already and that the rest of those connected to the school, the so-called innocent bystanders, should not be punished. While I agree that the former president, vice president, AD, and Sandusky will face their punishments, and that Joe Paterno is now answering to a "higher" authority, I don't think that they are the only ones who should be punished.
I think of, when this scandal came to light and Joe Paterno was fired, the student reporter who stood up in a press conference by the Board of Trustees and verbally attacked them for letting go of dear old Grandpa Joe. I think of the students who rioted when the same bit of news was released. I think of all of those who spoke at Joe Paterno's memorial service about what a great man he was. I think of all of those who believed that even though he was the head coach and had the responsibility to know and report any and all incidents occurring in his program, that Joe Paterno simply didn't know. Lastly I think of all of those who allowed the success, passion and love of a football team cloud their sense of judgement and moral decency; who allowed a culture where football was god and Joe Paterno was its patron saint to thrive.
For that Penn State deserves the Death Penalty.
I'm not so sure however that the Death Penalty as currently constituted should be used. The NCAA needs to really make a statement that on-field or not, crimes of this nature will not be tolerated and for that they need to get creative. I propose that the team be allowed to compete with the following criteria:
1) All games occur on the road or, if games are to be played at home then no one is allowed to watch other than scouts, opposing fans and families of the players for a period of 2 years
2) No games are to be televised for two years
3) No tailgating for games for two years
4) The statue comes down permanently
5) All references to Joe Paterno are stricken from the university permanently
6) The program loses all scholarships for all future classes for a period of 5 years
7) Every penny earned on football or other Penn State merchandise is to be given to charities and shelters that help children who have been molested and sexually assaulted
8) The program is barred from postseason play for 5 years.
This way, the players do not get punished for acts (I pray) beyond their knowledge, but the rest of the community gets a true wake up call that football, or any game, is not everything and that does not excuse them from their responsibilities as civilized human beings.