The NCAA has broad sanctioning powers that include penalties for ethics violations. They should use those powers to kill the Penn State football program for a period of at least two years.
At least four Penn State athletic program officials knew about the rape of a child by a coach, and chose to look the other way to protect PSU football. The NCAA cannot look the other way. It must act.
In the 1980's, the Southern Methodist University football program was given the death sentence when it was discovered that a booster was paying some players to play football at SMU. Since paying players is a major violation of NCAA policy, and because SMU had already been placed on probation multiple times, the SMU football program was given the dreaded "death sentence", which cancelled part of two seasons, and all of another.
The PSU coverup of child rape was an attempt to prevent publicity that would harm their storied football program. If they swept the event under the rug in order to benefit PSU football, would that not constitute an offense of a magnitude at least as high as paying players?
If so, then the NCAA must sentence Penn State to a punishment that is equal to or greater than the punishment handed down to SMU. PSU should be banned from NCAA football for a minimum of two years.