Harris Pastides speaks to reporters on Nov. 11, 2011.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP, WLTX) - USC President Dr. Harris Pastides has been named to a task force that will come up with guidelines for how to distribute a $60 million fine levied against Penn State.
The 10-member task force was named Tuesday by the NCAA.
The penalty was imposed on Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
The money will fund programs designed to combat child sexual abuse and help victims around the country. The task force will set policy and hire a third-party administrator who will choose which nonprofit groups receive the money each year.
One prominent Pennsylvania politician, House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody, wants the NCAA to keep all the funds in state.
The NCAA imposed tough sanctions on Penn State over its handling of sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky, a retired assistant football coach convicted of abusing 10 boys over 15 years.
The governing body acted swiftly following a school-sanctioned report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh that accused coach Joe Paterno and three top officials of hiding child sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky to protect the school and its powerful football program.
Paterno died in January at age 85. His family and the other school officials have all vehemently denied Freeh's allegations.
But the NCAA levied a four-year postseason ban, significant scholarship cuts and other sanctions to punish Penn State over its failure to report a serial child predator to authorities.
Penn State also agreed to pay $12 million a year for the next five years into an endowment to fund programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse.
Here are the members of the task force:
- Tim White, chancellor of University of California, Riverside (chairman)
- Nan Crouter, dean of the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State
- Rita Hartung Cheng, chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- Craig Hillemeier, vice dean for clinical affairs at Penn State College of Medicine
- Brian Gallagher, president and chief executive officer of United Way Worldwide
- Jane Lowe, team director of Vulnerable Populations Portfolio, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Harris Pastides, president, University of South Carolina
- Bryan Samuels, commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Pamela Shifman, director, Initiatives for Girls and Women, NoVo Foundation
- Raymond Torres, vice president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and executive director of Casey Family Services