Penn State officials answer questions on Sandusky scandal

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Penn State President Rod Erikson says the sex scandal embroiling the football program appears to have had little effect on the university's functioning.

At a town hall meeting with students Wednesday night, Erikson said there has been no measurable effect on fundraising or on recruiting by employers while applications are about 4 percent ahead of where they were at the end of November 2010, the Centre Daily Times reported. He said university officials have a "big job ahead" but the support it is receiving is "buoying" them.

Jerry Sandusky, a longtime assistant coach at Penn State, was charged last month with molesting boys he met through a program for troubled youngsters. Two university officials were charged with failing to report child abuse.

Joe Paterno, who had been head coach for 46 years, was fired in the wake of the scandal. A demonstration in support of Paterno that turned into a student riot gave the university more bad publicity.

Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses Madlyn Hanes told a young woman who asked about feelings of shame that Penn State students do not have to let the scandal define them.

"I would submit to you that we should emerge from this more compassionate and with resolve," Hanes said. "I think going forward the communities that you will join will benefit from that compassion that you will learn."