The Big Ten issued the following statement to ESPN.com, responding to the recent report in the Chronicle of Higher Education concerning the league's response to the Penn State fallout:

"There have been several reports, stemming from an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, that reference certain emergency powers described in a draft document entitled Standards and Procedures For Safeguarding Institutional Control of Intercollegiate Athletics that has been under review by the Big Ten's Council of Presidents and Chancellors. The draft obtained by the Chronicle was an early draft put together by the Big Ten staff in order to surface all of the options available. The option of giving emergency powers to the Commissioner to fire personnel is not under consideration by the Presidents and Chancellors."

Rittenberg