Penn State will learn its fate at 8 this morning, and the NCAA will break new ground in the process.</p><p>When NCAA President Mark Emmert announces &#x93;corrective and punitive&#x94; actions against the Nittany Lions, it will have punished the university without an NCAA-led investigation. There was no hearing before the infractions committee, no opportunity for Penn State to present its case.</p><p>Unusual misdeeds &#x97; probably the most despicable in college sports history &#x97; call for unprecedented measures.</p><p>The sex abuse crimes of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, which according to a report by former FBI agent Louis Freeh were covered up for more than a decade by head coach Joe Paterno and university administrators, were shocking enough to make NCAA bypass regular procedures.</p><p>The 22-member Division I board of directors, university chancellors and presidents, gave Emmert the authority to act, and the punishment announced today is expected to deliver a resounding message.</p><p>An NCAA source told CBS on Sunday that the punitive measures are &#x93;unprecedented.&#x94;</p><p>They are likely to include a combination of penalties. Scholarship reduction, postseason ban, vacated victories and championships, fines and scheduling restrictions have been used in previous cases.</p><p>The death penalty &#x97; shutting down the football program &#x97; seems unlikely. It&#x92;s been applied only once in the past three decades, when Southern Methodist University&#x92;s program was shut down for two years in 1987 for repeated offenses.</p><p>But the behavior at Penn State is unlike anything the NCAA has addressed. Emmert said last week he had &#x93;never seen anything as egregious as this.&#x94;</p><p>Two weeks ago, the Freeh report concluded that Paterno and other officials had covered up Sandusky&#x92;s crimes to protect the football brand and the university&#x92;s image. In June, Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period. According to the Freeh report, Sandusky&#x92;s behavior was known to Paterno and others for more than a decade.</p><p>Freeh was hired by Penn State&#x92;s board of trustees, and his eight-month inquiry produced a 267-page report that concluded, &#x93;The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.&#x94;</p><p>The Paterno family questioned the Freeh report and has instructed their attorney to assemble a group of experts to review the facts in the case.</p><p>&#x93;We believe the only way to help the victims is to uncover the truth,&#x94; the family said in a statement.</p><p>The family issued another statement Sunday, shortly after the 7-foot bronze statue of Paterno was pulled from its spot at Beaver Stadium and taken to an undisclosed location.</p><p>The statue&#x92;s removal &#x93;does not serve the victims of Jerry Sandusky&#x92;s horrible crimes or help heal the Penn State community.&#x94;</p><p>But it does remove a symbol that had become a central focus in recent weeks. Many in the Penn State community believed the statue represented Paterno&#x92;s positive contributions. Others had their feelings represented by an airplane that flew over State College earlier last week that carried the banner, &#x93;Take the statue down or we will.&#x94; </p><p>The statue had been a place for Paterno supporters to gather and pray since his death on Jan. 22. Supporters have placed flowers and cards there over the past few months. Former Penn State football star Franco Harris said on Friday the statue should stay.</p><p>But Sunday, it left.</p><p>&#x93;I now believe that, contrary to its original intention, Coach Paterno&#x92;s statue has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing in our university and beyond,&#x94; Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. &#x93;For that reason, I have decided that it is in the best interest of our university and public safety to remove the statue and store it in a safe location.&#x94;</p><p>White House press secretary Jay Carney told Washington reporters that President Barack Obama believed &#x93;it was the right decision&#x94; for the university to remove the monument.</p><p>But Paterno&#x92;s name will remain on the university&#x92;s library as a tribute to the coach and his wife, Sue.</p><p>&#x93;The library remains a tribute to Joe and Sue Paterno&#x92;s commitment to Penn State&#x92;s student body and academic success,&#x94; Erickson said. &#x93;It highlights the positive impacts Coach Paterno had on the university. Thus I feel strongly that the library&#x92;s name should remain unchanged.&#x94;</p><p>A week before the scandal became public, Paterno won the 409th game of his career, surpassing Grambling&#x92;s Eddie Robinson on the career victory list. It would be his last game. Before the Nittany Lions&#x92; next contest, against Nebraska, Paterno had been fired.</p><p>In his last interview before he died of lung cancer, Paterno expressed sympathy for the abuse victims, regretted that he hadn&#x92;t done more to help them, and even then was talked about as a sainted figure for all of his contributions. Penn State&#x92;s graduation rates were always among the nation&#x92;s best, and there was never a hint of recruiting improprieties.</p><p>But under Paterno&#x92;s watch, horrible crimes occurred, and for more than a decade, according for Freeh, he was part of the cover-up. Today, Penn State will pay the price.