Penn State trustees feeling pressure from alumni

Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.

Penn State’s trustees fired coach Joe Paterno as outrage boiled up over how school leaders handled child sex abuse allegations against a former assistant coach.

Now it’s the trustees who are increasingly feeling the heat.

The embattled, 32-member board meets Friday, its first gathering since November and the frantic first week after criminal charges were filed against Jerry Sandusky, Penn State’s retired defensive coordinator.

Paterno was dismissed Nov. 9, the same day school president Graham Spanier also departed under pressure. The trustees pledged to search for the truth of the Sandusky case, and whether Penn State officials acted appropriately.

Some alumni and former players are now wondering whether the trustees themselves have been up front with them, and are questioning why Paterno was ousted without a full airing of the facts. Dozens are lining up for a chance to get on the board.

“The unfortunate circumstances that we’ve all been living through has put a spotlight on the leadership of the university,” Maribeth Schmidt, a 1988 Penn State graduate and spokeswoman for Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, said Wednesday. The group started in mid-November, growing out of what she said was a common frustration among members over a lack of due process at the school.

Those concerns took center stage last week when current president Rodney Erickson — who replaced Spanier — hosted hundreds of alumni at town hall meetings in Pittsburgh, suburban Philadelphia and New York.

Some questioned why trustees haven’t been more accountable, while others have asked why Penn State wasn’t better prepared from a public relations perspective if school leaders knew about the investigation. They were told about the case in the spring.

State authorities arrested the 67-year-old Sandusky on Nov. 5, and he is now charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He maintains his innocence and remains is out on $250,000 bail while awaiting trial.

Some at the alumni meetings have sought answers specifically about why Paterno was fired after 61 years with the Penn State football program, the last 46 as head coach. Paterno led the Nittany Lions to 409 victories and two national titles.

Paterno, 85, testified before the grand jury investigating Sandusky, and authorities have said he is not a target of their efforts.

But critics chastised Paterno and other school leaders for failing to report a 2002 allegation of abuse to authorities outside of the university.