Former Penn State players are taking a stand against the university.

WGAL News reported that more than 200 former Lion lettermen signed a letter requesting that Joe Paterno’s statue and the player wall return to the PSU campus. They also called for the university to issue an apology to Paterno’s wife, Sue Paterno, for the way his legacy was tarnished.

The letter, which got signatures from former PSU players across five decades, claimed that the university did not take proper action in the media firestorm of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal.

The statue was removed from outside of Beaver Stadium months after Paterno died in 2012 because of threats of violence.

Former PSU tight end Brian Masella, who played for Paterno in the 1970s, spearheaded the movement.

“We have been told during the last four-plus years that the board and administration are waiting for the appropriate time to repair the damage they created. Now is the appropriate time. Enough is enough!” Masella said in a news release.

Here’s the letter that the 200-plus Penn State lettermen signed:

We, the undersigned, are united by the common bond of having been a member of the Penn State Football Team. We state, unequivocally, that our program has always been one of integrity, honesty, and respect. Under Coach Paterno, we strove for academic excellence and made an ongoing commitment to becoming better men.

We remain saddened that the Penn State Administration and the Board of Trustees thrust our program and coach into an undeserved negative media frenzy in 2011. Nearly five years after the firestorm, they still have not defended us or corrected the false narrative. Our legacy and our university deserve better. Penn State’s leaders should take two steps toward repairing the damage that they created.

First, restore the statue of Coach Paterno and the players’ wall to where they stood previously outside Beaver Stadium. These testimonies to “Success with Honor” should never have been removed.

Second, a formal apology from the University to Sue Paterno needs to be issued. This is a common act of decency, which is both warranted and long overdue.
The university’s leaders have repeatedly stated a desire to restore unity to the Penn State community. We hope that they will not waste a great opportunity to do so.

To see the entire list of players who signed the letter, click here.