NCAA asks U.S. Education Department to help create guidelines for dealing with minors on campus

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - NCAA President Mark Emmert is asking the U.S. Education Department to help create advisory guidelines for universities about dealing with ball boys, ball girls and other minors on campus.

Emmert said he contacted Education Secretary Arne Duncan after allegations of child-sex abuse surfaced at Penn State and Syracuse over the past month.

"We're looking into that right now," Emmert told The Associated Press on Monday. "Because we've never been involved with this kind of thing before, we're trying to determine what is the best thing to do."

The Education Department announced a month ago that it would conduct an investigation at Penn State. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., a former U.S. attorney, has encouraged Duncan to investigate possible Clery Act violations; the law requires schools to report the number of crimes on campus and provide warnings in a timely manner if safety is threatened.

The scandal at Penn State has cost coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier their jobs. Former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting boys for years.

Syracuse and area police are investigating allegations made by three men who claim they were abused by assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, who has been fired.

They are the ugliest scandals in a year of college sports marred by alleged improprieties at major institutions including Boise State, Miami, Ohio State and Tennessee.

"We have had a heck of a year of scandals and disruptions," Emmert said. "To have really good success on the one hand and all these grenades blowing up has been frustrating."

But nothing has been more disconcerting to Emmert than these allegations of child-sex abuse.

"I think we all, and by that I mean society, need to be very vigilant when there are people in positions of power and who entail a great deal of trust because someone can be taken advantage of," Emmert said.

Last month, Emmert announced that the NCAA had started an inquiry into whether Penn State had violated rules of institutional control. It is not yet a formal investigation.

Emmert has asked Penn State to respond to a variety of questions by Dec. 16, though he noted Monday that it was unlikely the school could provide all the answers in time .

Emmert said he has not yet begun a similar inquiry at Syracuse.