Feds close Title IX investigation at Penn State, nearly a decade after Jerry Sandusky scandal

Nearly a decade after state prosecutors charged former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky with multiple counts of child sexual abuse in and around campus facilities, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has closed its Title IX investigation.

That portion of the Civil Rights Act prohibits sexual discrimination and harassment at schools and colleges that receive federal money.

The federal government found that Penn State “failed to protect students and address their complaints of sexual abuse in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal,” U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said Thursday. She said the university has agreed to a series of new policies and procedures designed to meet concerns about such issues.

Sandusky, 76, once considered a top college defensive coordinator, is serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence after being convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse in 2012. He has maintained his innocence.

In November 2016, the U.S. Department of Education fined Penn State $2.4 million after a separate investigation spurred by the Sandusky case determined the school fell short of meeting guidelines for disclosure involving crime on and around the campus.

Penn State also paid more than $100 million to settle civil claims from men who alleged they were abused by Sandusky over a period of decades.

DeVos said the investigation also found that from 2017-19 Penn State imposed interim suspensions in cases prior to providing the accused an opportunity to respond to allegations.

During the course of the Title IX investigation, Penn State officials said the school provided more than 80,000 pages of documents detailing policies, procedures, training, specific investigations and record keeping, among other issues.

University officials said Penn State worked with federal investigators to resolve their complaints and craft a resolution agreement. According to the university, the agreement requires Penn State to provide additional information to the Office of Civil Rights to update its policies and procedures, and to conduct expanded training for members of the university community.

“The university remains committed to increasing the responsiveness of its policies for our students and employees. We believe this review by OCR will assist Penn State in improving how it addresses the issue of sexual violence, misconduct and harassment on campus in the future,” a statement released by the university said.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said he’s pleased the investigation has finally been concluded and suggested his “Five Freedoms for American Children” proposal would go even further to protect children from abuse.

“I commend the Department of Education for taking long overdue action to address the failures that allowed Jerry Sandusky to harm children. Anyone who abuses a child or stands by silently as someone else does must be held fully accountable, and that includes institutions,” Casey said.