Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship



TO: Karen Peetz

RE: Penn Stater Magazine Article

FROM: Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship

DATE: 10/29/12

The one tough question the Penn Stater Magazine has yet to ask you is: “One year later, looking back at the way this tragedy was handled, what would you have done differently?”

Let me take a stab at that for you.

1) The apparent “culture” of passive board oversight should have been different. When FOUR – count them, FOUR — trustees were informed of a grand jury subpoena last spring, they did nothing. Didn’t ask a single question. Didn’t express one iota of concern for potential consequences. With the benefit of hindsight, YOU, Ms. Chairwoman of the Board should have asked the tough questions and prepared for every scenario, regardless of whether (or not) Graham Spanier minimized the situation. You had plenty of time, and you failed the University — long before November 9.

2) The apparent “culture” of fire-first, due-process-be-damned should have been different. You and your cronies sat around blindly, enjoying all the riches of a celebratory football season, believing that a grand jury investigation featuring the testimony of every single major ranking Penn State official (and then some) was somehow no big deal. And, then when it became one, you neither backed up the two men charged with perjury, nor ordered an immediate internal investigation into what exactly happened. Instead, you pointed the finger at the single most generous, loyal and impactful man to ever grace the campus of Penn State. Ms. Chairwoman, you had every opportunity to ask Joe Paterno the tough questions. Instead, you took the quick and easy way out, and the one that catapulted Penn State into the national spotlight as a knowing pedophile harborer. You ignored him. And you fired him, without cause.

3) The apparent “culture” of assigning the most critical tasks in the history of Penn State to buddies of board members should have been different. I ask you again, and publicly: Where is the letter of intent and scope of work provided to Louis Freeh and what exactly was he directed to report? There are anecdotes dating back to December that Freeh’s team had already completed their findings because they were charged by the Board with finding Joe Paterno and the football team responsible. They were unbelievable when heard in December; and then completely plausible after reading the report in July. You’ve stated that, as the “client,” the Board could not challenge Freeh’s flawed findings. Really? I’ve never heard anything so bogus. You know that report’s not complete; that it’s filled with errors and innuendo; and most importantly, that it’s not even true. You failed Penn State when you publicly gave an A-plus to a paper that didn’t even earn an F.

4) The apparent “culture” of taking what the NCAA dishes out should have been different. It is sickening that you allowed Freeh’s report to be used as the basis for sanctions that harmed literally hundreds of thousands of people who had nothing to do with Jerry Sandusky and his crimes. Every trustee should have stood united in defense of Penn State, instead of in fear. By not doing so, every one of you failed every one of us.

And 5) The apparent culture of “look away,” “keep on driving,” “move on” should have been — and SHOULD BE different. Who counseled you that assigning blame to everyone — including this year’s football team through their undeserved blue ribbon adornments — EXCEPT the Board of Trustees and moving on as quickly as possible was the path toward healing? I can assure you, Ms. Chairwoman, it is not.

You and your misguided colleagues may have Penn State degrees, but you are not Penn Staters. Through your collective and continual incompetence, you have come to represent the only flawed “culture” Penn State is in need of changing. And, that change cannot come soon enough.

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