STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Candles, not police lights, have lit Penn State’s campus as more than 1,000 students and supporters gather for the victims in a child sex abuse scandal roiling one of the nation’s largest universities.
Friday night’s vigil was organized by students in the wake of a shocking grand jury report that accuses a retired assistant football coach of sexually assaulting boys, sometimes at university facilities. The report suggests school officials didn’t aggressively investigate or report the activity.
Penn State senior and vigil organizer Jessica Sever says she wants the vigil to put the focus back on the boys, especially after police had to break up a violent student rally touched off by Wednesday’s firing of longtime football coach Joe Paterno.
Paterno says he wishes he had done more about allegations against one of his former assistants.
