Paterno Won Sweeter Deal Even as Scandal Played Out
By JO BECKER
In January 2011, Joe Paterno learned prosecutors were investigating his longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for sexually assaulting young boys. Soon, Mr. Paterno had testified before a grand jury, and the rough outlines of what would become a giant scandal had been published in a local newspaper.
That same month, Mr. Paterno, the football coach at Penn State, began negotiating with his superiors to amend his contract, with the timing something of a surprise because the contract was not set to expire until the end of 2012, according to university documents and people with knowledge of the discussions. By August, Mr. Paterno and the university’s president, both of whom were by then embroiled in the Sandusky investigation, had reached an agreement.
Mr. Paterno was to be paid $3 million at the end of the 2011 season if he agreed it would be his last. Interest-free loans totaling $350,000 that the university had made to Mr. Paterno over the years would be forgiven as part of the retirement package. He would also have the use of the university’s private plane and a luxury box at Beaver Stadium for him and his family to use over the next 25 years.
The university’s full board of trustees was kept in the dark about the arrangement until November, when Mr. Sandusky was arrested and the contract arrangements, along with so much else at Penn State, were upended. Mr. Paterno was fired, two of the university’s top officials were indicted in connection with the scandal, and the trustees, who held Mr. Paterno’s financial fate in their hands, came under verbal assault from the coach’s angry supporters.
Board members who raised questions about whether the university ought to go forward with the payments were quickly shut down, according to two people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
In the end, the board of trustees — bombarded with hate mail and threatened with a defamation lawsuit by Mr. Paterno’s family — gave the family virtually everything it wanted, with a package worth roughly $5.5 million. Documents show that the board even tossed in some extras that the family demanded, like the use of specialized hydrotherapy massage equipment for Mr. Paterno’s wife at the university’s Lasch Building, where Mr. Sandusky had molested a number of his victims.
The details of Mr. Paterno and his family’s fight for money seem to deepen one of the lasting truths of the Sandusky scandal: the significant power that Mr. Paterno exerted on the state institution, its officials, its alumni and its purse strings.
Since Mr. Paterno’s death in January, Mr. Paterno’s family, lawyers and publicists have mounted an aggressive campaign to protect his legacy. The family and its lawyers have hammered the university’s board of trustees, accusing members of attempting to deflect blame onto a dying Mr. Paterno. This week, they angrily disputed the conclusions of an independent investigation that asserted Mr. Paterno and other top university officials protected a serial predator in order to “avoid the consequences of bad publicity” for the university, its football program and its coach’s reputation.
On Friday, Wick Sollers, a lawyer for Mr. Paterno and his family, said that it was Penn State that last summer proposed the lucrative retirement package, and that many of the aspects of the proposal — use of the plane, the luxury box — had existed in prior contracts.
Information about the salary paid to Mr. Paterno, one of the longest serving and most successful college football coaches in history, had for many years been hard to come by. In recent years, though, it became fairly common knowledge that he earned about $1 million annually, not counting his television deals and his contracts with shoe and apparel companies.
But speculation about just how long he was going to remain the well-compensated coach of Penn State had been going on for a decade or more. Mr. Paterno survived an attempt to force him into retirement in 2004, and before the Sandusky revelations, his most recent deal ran through the end of 2012.
According to university records, Mr. Paterno first expressed a desire to revisit his contract in January 2011. It was very early in that month that he learned he had been subpoenaed to testify before the Sandusky grand jury.
But it was not until summer — after Mr. Paterno, the university president and two other senior officials at the university had all testified before the Sandusky grand jury — that the idea that Mr. Paterno might retire in exchange for a multimillion-dollar payout gained traction.
By August, a deal had effectively been reached, though it and the idea that Mr. Paterno might make 2011 his last season had not been announced at the time. Details of the agreement were known to a handful of board members but not shared with the full board, according to people with knowledge of the events.
On Nov. 5, 2011, Mr. Sandusky was arrested, and two Penn State administrators — men who were Mr. Paterno’s superiors — were indicted on charges of failing to report to the authorities a 2001 allegation that Mr. Sandusky had attacked a young boy in the football building’s showers.
Quickly, it became clear that Mr. Paterno, too, had failed to go to the authorities or even to confront Mr. Sandusky after he had been told in person of the episode. The prospect that Mr. Paterno, a revered figure, might be fired by the board of trustees was suddenly real.
Mr. Paterno quickly issued a statement saying, in effect, that the board need not act, that he would resign at the end of the season. Neither he nor the university revealed that he had effectively agreed to do so already, in return for an expensive financial package.
The board fired him anyway, a decision that caused rioting and led to an angry and often very personal backlash against the trustees, but it agreed to honor his contract. It was then that the full board came to find out what the university was obligated to pay Mr. Paterno.
Over the ensuing months, as revelations about the role Mr. Paterno and other university officials played in the scandal mounted, a schism developed among the board members, according to several people with knowledge of the events.
There were some who argued that it was unseemly to pay the remainder of the money and other perks owed to Mr. Paterno, according to several people with knowledge of the discussions. They wondered whether, given Mr. Paterno’s failings, it might be possible to nullify the contract, or at least renegotiate it and reduce the payout, the people said.
Others worried about the hostility they would face if they tried to strip Mr. Paterno, still beloved in many quarters of the campus, of money that he was contractually owed — a prospect that grew even more worrisome after he died on Jan. 22 this year. During a conference call, one board member worried aloud that failure to make good on what was owed to the Paterno estate could lead to another “reign of terror” by Mr. Paterno’s supporters, according to a person who was on the call.
With rumblings that the Paterno family was thinking of suing the board of trustees for defamation, the board dispatched its lawyer to negotiate the final payments. All the board wanted in return was a release protecting the university from such a lawsuit.
The Paternos refused. Mr. Sollers said in his statement that “the retention of their legal rights in a case of this magnitude and complexity is customary and appropriate.”
The board of trustees ultimately agreed to make good on the full package anyhow, and in April paid what was owed to the Paternos. Additional demands, like the desire by Mr. Paterno’s wife to make use of the athletic department’s hydrotherapy facilities, were met. The board did draw the line at the family’s request to use the university’s corporate jet, arguing that the contract limited that use to the coach himself. And it refused the family’s demand to retain use of the stadium box next to the university president’s, the one reserved for the head coach, offering the family the choice of two other suites on a different floor.
Still, Frank T. Guadagnino, a lawyer hired by the board in November to handle a variety of aspects of the scandal, suggested that the board felt it did not have much maneuvering room when it came to the discussions with the Paterno family.
“We were providing for payments due under the contract,” he said in an interview Friday. “So we weren’t really negotiating.”
He added that, given revelations in the independent report released this week that suggest that Mr. Paterno knew about allegations of child abuse involving Mr. Sandusky as far back as 1998, the question over whether the university could rightfully renege on paying the Paterno family what was owed under the August amendments was “complicated,” and one that “we haven’t looked at.”
At a board of trustees news conference Friday, Karen B. Peetz, the board’s chairwoman, made clear that the issue would not be revisited. “Contracts are contracts,” she said. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/sport ... nted=print
Yes, obviously. There is a huge difference. Look, I'm not defending anything about Penn St. here. I don't give a shit about Paterno or his legacy or their stupid football team.
I'm still disgusted I'm supposed to pay and go and cheer for this guy next year.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want my school to lose its soul the way PSU did.
it aint that frickin bad is it? some grown adult who plays or coaches some sport @ some university hired a woman for sex. who frickin cares?
Yes, obviously. There is a huge difference. Look, I'm not defending anything about Penn St. here. I don't give a shit about Paterno or his legacy or their stupid football team.
I'm still disgusted I'm supposed to pay and go and cheer for this guy next year.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want my school to lose its soul the way PSU did.
it aint that frickin bad is it? some grown adult who plays or coaches some sport @ some university hired a woman for sex. who frickin cares?
well if he was arrested for solicitation or participated in an illegal act, I'm sure that's a violation of their campus code of conduct. I don't know Temple's code of conduct, but typically when students are in violation they are suspended from privileges, such as on-campus housing or participating in extra curriculars. If different rules are applied to athletes, particularly star athletes, or if they start getting into a gray area of deciding certain violations don't matter as much as others, they will start creating an environment in which bad behavior is permissible for a few. That's how scandals like the Penn State atrocity start brewing. I had a student who was thrown off a team for smoking a cigarette. Of course she's not the star of the team.
"I need your strength for me to be strong...I need your love to feel loved"
Paterno Won Sweeter Deal Even as Scandal Played Out
By JO BECKER
In January 2011, Joe Paterno learned prosecutors were investigating his longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for sexually assaulting young boys. Soon, Mr. Paterno had testified before a grand jury, and the rough outlines of what would become a giant scandal had been published in a local newspaper.
That same month, Mr. Paterno, the football coach at Penn State, began negotiating with his superiors to amend his contract, with the timing something of a surprise because the contract was not set to expire until the end of 2012, according to university documents and people with knowledge of the discussions. By August, Mr. Paterno and the university’s president, both of whom were by then embroiled in the Sandusky investigation, had reached an agreement.
Mr. Paterno was to be paid $3 million at the end of the 2011 season if he agreed it would be his last. Interest-free loans totaling $350,000 that the university had made to Mr. Paterno over the years would be forgiven as part of the retirement package. He would also have the use of the university’s private plane and a luxury box at Beaver Stadium for him and his family to use over the next 25 years....
(edited for brevity)
At a board of trustees news conference Friday, Karen B. Peetz, the board’s chairwoman, made clear that the issue would not be revisited. “Contracts are contracts,” she said. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/sport ... nted=print
Yes, obviously. There is a huge difference. Look, I'm not defending anything about Penn St. here. I don't give a shit about Paterno or his legacy or their stupid football team.
I'm still disgusted I'm supposed to pay and go and cheer for this guy next year.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want my school to lose its soul the way PSU did.
it aint that frickin bad is it? some grown adult who plays or coaches some sport @ some university hired a woman for sex. who frickin cares?
Maybe you have a point. Not like we don't all do stuff that's "illegal" like speeding and underage drinking.
I'm kind of torn on the situation.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Maybe you have a point. Not like we don't all do stuff that's "illegal" like speeding and underage drinking.
I'm kind of torn on the situation.
i understand your view. you are proud to be a student at this school & you are proud of the school. i get that. schooling makes us feel awesome. we support our schools something fierce.
but it's just some sports guy having intercourse with some hired sex lady. it aint the end of the world. at this exact moment 9 billion ppl are having sexual intercourse with a hired woman or man. it aint no thing. out of those 9 billion people you & i are not one of them and you are a student and i am not.
That just reaffirms my stance in not having a facebook page. There are a lot of PSU supporters that are delusional and still have no idea what the hell is going on.
Alright, alright, alright!
Tom O. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
Maybe you have a point. Not like we don't all do stuff that's "illegal" like speeding and underage drinking.
I'm kind of torn on the situation.
i understand your view. you are proud to be a student at this school & you are proud of the school. i get that. schooling makes us feel awesome. we support our schools something fierce.
but it's just some sports guy having intercourse with some hired sex lady. it aint the end of the world. at this exact moment 9 billion ppl are having sexual intercourse with a hired woman or man. it aint no thing. out of those 9 billion people you & i are not one of them and you are a student and i am not.
I was a student last century. Still a season ticket holder.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
I feel for the students, alumi, faculty, community and anyone else who is associated with the school but had nothing to do with the rape culture.
Which is, you know, about 99.99% of everyone associated with the school.
Not to downplay the horrible things that have been done by the other .01%.
Your numbers are wrong.
Statistically, with 557,000 alumni, a current enrollment of 94,000, and a current staff of 44,000 ... and assuming there were 20 people aware of Sandusky's actions ... that would be 0.002878% of everyone associated with the school.
Assuming 1/4 of the total population (12.75M) of Pennsylvania is a Penn State fan and add that to the above figures, and it is 0.00051%.
Statistically, with 557,000 alumni, a current enrollment of 94,000, and a current staff of 44,000 ... and assuming there were 20 people aware of Sandusky's actions ... that would be 0.002878% of everyone associated with the school.
Assuming 1/4 of the total population (12.75M) of Pennsylvania is a Penn State fan and add that to the above figures, and it is 0.00051%.
you're a sharp son of a b, dude. very impressive. i do love me some math whizes
Reading between the lines of comments by NCAA president Mark Emmert, it appears Penn State has some serious explaining to do if it wants to avoid major sanctions for its handling of sexual abuse claims against Jerry Sandusky.
NCAA president Mark Emmert spoke with Tavis Smiley of PBS and delivered a harsh assessment of school officials in the wake of the Freeh Report delivered last week.
"I've never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university and hope never to see it again," Emmert said during the interview. "What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we'll have to decide."
Emmert said the NCAA would wait to hear Penn State's response to the Freeh Report, but wouldn't equivocally take a possible death penalty to the football program off the table.
"We'll hold in abeyance all of those decisions until we've actually decided what we want to do with the actual charges should there be any. And I don't want to take anything off the table."
The only other instance of the death penalty came after repeated violations by SMU during the 1980s. Emmert said the situation at Penn State was uncharted territory for the NCAA>
"This is completely different than an impermissible benefits scandal like happened at SMU, or anything else we've dealt with," Emmert said. "This is as systemic a cultural problem as it is a football problem. There have been people that said this wasn't a football scandal.
"Well it was more than a football scandal, much more than a football scandal. It was that but much more. And we'll have to figure out exactly what the right penalties are. I don't know that past precedent makes particularly good sense in this case, because it's really an unprecedented problem."
It may not be fair to but there will be collateral damage. The football program and school benefited greatly for 14 years while these kids were tortured. At least he and the school have the all time win total to show for it. They can't take that away, can they?
Don't worry though, the Paterno's are on the case.
Alright, alright, alright!
Tom O. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
I feel for the students, alumi, faculty, community and anyone else who is associated with the school but had nothing to do with the rape culture.
Which is, you know, about 99.99% of everyone associated with the school.
Not to downplay the horrible things that have been done by the other .01%.
Your numbers are wrong.
Statistically, with 557,000 alumni, a current enrollment of 94,000, and a current staff of 44,000 ... and assuming there were 20 people aware of Sandusky's actions ... that would be 0.002878% of everyone associated with the school.
Assuming 1/4 of the total population (12.75M) of Pennsylvania is a Penn State fan and add that to the above figures, and it is 0.00051%.
It may not be fair to but there will be collateral damage. The football program and school benefited greatly for 14 years while these kids were tortured. At least he and the school have the all time win total to show for it. They can't take that away, can they?
Don't worry though, the Paterno's are on the case.
They all just need to shut up and go away before they get themselves in some sort of trouble.
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
"Who knows if the Penn State statue authorities will be swayed by the airborne threat. But how awesome would it be if the plane came back tomorrow, tied a rope to the statue, and flew away with it?"
"Who knows if the Penn State statue authorities will be swayed by the airborne threat. But how awesome would it be if the plane came back tomorrow, tied a rope to the statue, and flew away with it?"
Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; WF Center 10/21/13; WF Center 10/22/13; Baltimore 10/27/13; WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
i do believe that is the greatest message i have ever read in my entire life
i love this fucking country
when some folks get tired of the bullshit sometimes shit really does hit the fucking fan
that statue just might wind stuck up some folks' fat fucking asses
i gotta say i love the, "we will take charge of things & do shit on our own in our own way" way of thinking/deal with bunk ass bullshit
look what i found while looking up vigilante justice in a online dictionary
vigilante n. someone who takes the law into his/her own hands by trying and/or punishing another person without any legal authority. In the 1800s groups of vigilantes dispensed "frontier justice" by holding trials of accused horse-thieves, rustlers and shooters, and then promptly hanging the accused if "convicted." A mother who shoots the alleged molester of her child is a vigilante.
Penn St. leaders passed on reform
By Don Van Natta Jr.
ESPN.com
In November 2004, four of Penn State's leaders, including then-president Graham Spanier, sat down at Joe Paterno's kitchen table on a Sunday morning. The men asked the iconic coach to retire. Paterno said no, and that was that.
That same month, seven members of Penn State's board of trustees proposed sweeping reforms that would strengthen the board's oversight power of Spanier and other campus leaders, including Paterno, according to documents obtained this week by "Outside the Lines." The group told the full board, "Decisions scrutinized with the benefit of hindsight need to withstand the test of being informed decisions."
But the board never took a vote on the proposal. Spanier and then-board chairwoman Cynthia Baldwin considered the reforms -- and, just as Paterno had done, said no, three current trustees say.
The revelation comes to light five days after former FBI director Louis Freeh's firm released its school-sanctioned report on what the university did to protect children in the wake of the arrest of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and the board's Nov. 9 firing of Paterno and Spanier. The report, which blasted the board for poor governance and a failure of leadership, has led some trustees to say they now regret that the good-governance proposal was never put to a full vote of the board's 32 members eight years ago.
The 2004 proposals are eerily prescient considering how the trustees, according to the Freeh report, were left in the dark by Spanier, Baldwin and trustee Steve Garban as the Sandusky criminal investigation escalated in 2011. If the proposals had passed, the trustees say the measures might have made a difference in the way the board had responded to the Sandusky matter.
Two trustees said Freeh's investigators had asked them and other trustees about the 2004 good-governance proposal and appeared determined to find out why it had not been adopted. One trustee also said Freeh's investigators told them they had obtained emails between Spanier and Baldwin and others discussing the merits of the trustees' proposal. The trustee also said Freeh's investigators said that the emails showed "Spanier and Baldwin put a stop" to the good-governance proposal. "They didn't want the added scrutiny," the trustee said.
"It was a big, missed opportunity," said Al Clemens, another longtime trustee. "Back in 2004, we just knew there wasn't enough accountability, and it seemed like a reasonable step to try to protect the university. It seemed like the right thing to do."
Penn State Joel Myers, a longtime trustee, said the Freeh investigators told him that if the good-governance proposal had been adopted by the board back in 2004, "This [crisis] could have been avoided."
After the good-governance proposal was discussed in a private board session in 2004, at least four young boys were sexually abused by Sandusky. Two trustees who spoke on condition of anonymity said they fear the board's failure to adopt the good-governance proposal will be used by victims' lawyers in the negligence lawsuits against Penn State.
"This could increase our liability," a current trustee said, "possibly by millions."
Yet there is no mention in the Freeh report of the trustees' failed good-governance proposal or the Spanier and Baldwin emails. A spokesman for the Freeh Group declined to comment.
The board's failure to improve its good-governance practices is a curious omission from the Freeh report, which made the trustees' governance failure a main focus of its findings.
The report blames the trustees for weaknesses in the university's "culture, governance, administration, compliance policies and procedures for protecting children." In particular, Freeh's investigators criticize Penn State's failure to abide by the Clery Act, the 1990 federal law that requires college administrators to report potential crimes on campus to law enforcement authorities. The law is named after Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University student murdered in her dorm room in 1986.
In particular, the Freeh report concludes that the trustees had abdicated many of their leadership responsibilities to administrators, especially Spanier and Paterno. And repeatedly, the report criticizes the lack of transparency at the top of Penn State.
"The board's over-confidence in Spanier's abilities, and its failure to conduct oversight and responsible inquiry of Spanier and senior university officials, hindered the board's ability to deal with the most profound crisis ever confronted by the University," the report states.
At last week's board of trustees meeting, trustee Ken Frazier said his colleagues on the board were "deeply ashamed" by the findings in the Freeh report. The trustees and current university president, Rodney Erickson, have pledged to adapt some, if not all, of the recommendations made by the Freeh Group. Alumni groups have called for the resignations of some or all of the trustees, and several trustees confronted Garban, the ex-chairman, at last week's meeting and urged him to quit.
No trustee has resigned.
Spanier declined to comment for this story, a spokesman said.
Charles De Monaco, Baldwin's attorney, released a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying she took the "issues raised in the memo very seriously" and sought counsel from the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities to address the board. De Monaco said an attorney recommended by that group addressed the board about "governance best practices."
He said the board made changes over the next three years of Baldwin's tenure as chairwoman and beyond: "Ms. Baldwin, as chair, did not in any way interfere with the board's consideration of the issues raised in the Nov. 9, 2004 memorandum," De Monaco said. "To the contrary, Ms. Baldwin was instrumental in facilitating a full discussion of those issues. In addition, she continued to consult with the AGB for guidance."
Myers, one of the trustees, "vaguely" recalled attending such a seminar, but Clemens said he could not remember it. "More importantly, we didn't make any changes that we needed," Clemens said. Myers said a few "small changes" were made in governance over the next few years, but he said he could not recall them.
De Monaco referred a reporter to the board secretary for details of the governance changes that he described. The secretary did not return calls.
Penn State spokesman David La Torre said Tuesday that "memos written for the board do not require a board vote." He said the minutes of the Nov. 18, 2004 board meeting do not show that this issue was discussed during the public session; he declined to comment whether it was discussed in a private session.
Among Penn State's current 32-member board are leaders of corporations, including leaders of Merck and the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, alumni, Pennsylvania residents and appointees of the governor. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, who is mentioned sparingly in the Freeh report, is also a trustee.
In 2004, a group of trustees became concerned that the board was nothing more than a group that rubber-stamped decisions made by Spanier and his lieutenants, three trustees said. They became concerned that Spanier appeared to be keeping them in the dark on important matters, they said.
Several new trustees who joined the board back then also became alarmed that there was not a subcommittee to deal with financial matters. In March 2004, the board approved an audit subcommittee.
In corporate boardrooms, Sarbanes-Oxley, the 2002 federal law setting enhanced standards for public company boards and public accounting firms, also had non-corporate institutions reconsidering best practices. Penn State is a $6.5 billion not-for-profit corporation with a $1.8 billion endowment and an enrollment of 96,000 students.
Governance procedures had last been amended by Penn State on January 19, 1996, the trustees in 2004 had discovered. And that fall, the trustees consulted with an outside law firm in Philadelphia to bring sweeping changes to the responsibilities and operations of the board of trustees.
When making its proposal during a private session at the Nov. 18, 2004 meeting, the small group of trustees said, "Our goal is to be certain that we as trustees are fulfilling our fiduciary duties in a meaningful way and that when we are requested to consider matters of importance, we are following a process which is exemplary and also consistent with all legal requirements and 'best practices,' " a memo of talking points shows. "This will enable the trustees to act in the best interest of the university, the administration and the various constituencies we represent."
The trustees proposed an improved environment for "informed" decisions, saying "the adequacy of information for board meetings needs to be reviewed and such information needs to be provided with sufficient advanced timing to allow trustees and the board as a unit, to meet its due diligence and fiduciary duty requirements before voting."
They also said to improve compliance "in an era of heightened scrutiny, boards are employing independent outside legal counsel as advisors. Such counsel should work with university counsel to create an environment that both facilitates and protects the governing body and the administration."
The trustees also proposed a number of significant changes to the university's by-laws, giving the board ultimate authority for personnel decisions, which had previously been the decision only of the president. These amendments were also not voted on by the full board.
Clemens is "deeply hurt" that it didn't go forward.
"I was disappointed it never went anywhere, and we didn't do anything to improve the accountability of everyone," he said. "That's the important thing. We didn't get an outside attorney with governance experience. That's what we were trying to do, and it didn't happen."
According to the Freeh report, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office told then-university counsel Baldwin on Dec. 28, 2010 that Paterno, athletics director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz would be subpoenaed to testify before the Sandusky grand jury. Baldwin did not seek outside counsel's advice.
The Freeh report found that Spanier and Baldwin dealt with the escalating Sandusky crisis throughout 2011 with no outside advice from lawyers with experience dealing with grand jury investigations. Spanier and Baldwin also failed to seek the full advice of the board on how to handle the crisis.
This failure was noted by the Freeh Group, which referred to the administrators' "over-emphasis on 'The Penn State Way.' " As defined by Freeh, "The Penn State Way" is "an approach to decision-making, a resistance to seeking outside perspectives, and an excessive focus on athletics that can, if not recognized, negatively impact the university's reputation as a progressive institution."
Baldwin and Spanier representatives have both said the Freeh report contains many errors, though no specifics have been provided.
Maribeth Schmidt of the alumni group Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship said the board's inaction and the omission of the failed good-governance proposal in the Freeh report are disturbing.
"This new development certainly raises additional questions about the integrity of the Freeh report and further demonstrates that its objectivity is severely in question," she said in a statement. "The members of Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship would certainly expect that any misstep by the board -- especially one this significant -- which occurred in the years included in the Freeh investigation would have been documented and reported in its entirety."
The closest Freeh's investigators come to mentioning the board's evolving governance procedures can be found in the fine print, in footnote 557: "See Standing Orders of the Penn State board of trustees, Order IX. This statement on the general policies of the board of trustees was initially set forth and approved by the board on June 11, 1970 and amended from time to time, the most recent being January 19, 1996." http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... eform-2004
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"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
"I need your strength for me to be strong...I need your love to feel loved"
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
"I need your strength for me to be strong...I need your love to feel loved"
I just read about this. Amazing.
http://deadspin.com/5925999/joe-paterno-negotiated-a-3-million-ejector-seat-after-he-was-subpoenaed-for-sandusky-grand-jury
Maybe you have a point. Not like we don't all do stuff that's "illegal" like speeding and underage drinking.
I'm kind of torn on the situation.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
but it's just some sports guy having intercourse with some hired sex lady. it aint the end of the world. at this exact moment 9 billion ppl are having sexual intercourse with a hired woman or man. it aint no thing. out of those 9 billion people you & i are not one of them and you are a student and i am not.
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
rightfully so.
I will understand why he did this, though never condone.
I would like to think much good will come out of this and the eras that I, Paterno
and many others grew up in will be forever gone.
I pray the children are safer, let's just please not make them into little adults.
https://www.facebook.com/Nittanyville/p ... 6170801210
That just reaffirms my stance in not having a facebook page. There are a lot of PSU supporters that are delusional and still have no idea what the hell is going on.
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
I was a student last century.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
Statistically, with 557,000 alumni, a current enrollment of 94,000, and a current staff of 44,000 ... and assuming there were 20 people aware of Sandusky's actions ... that would be 0.002878% of everyone associated with the school.
Assuming 1/4 of the total population (12.75M) of Pennsylvania is a Penn State fan and add that to the above figures, and it is 0.00051%.
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
Updated 16m ago
Reading between the lines of comments by NCAA president Mark Emmert, it appears Penn State has some serious explaining to do if it wants to avoid major sanctions for its handling of sexual abuse claims against Jerry Sandusky.
NCAA president Mark Emmert spoke with Tavis Smiley of PBS and delivered a harsh assessment of school officials in the wake of the Freeh Report delivered last week.
"I've never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university and hope never to see it again," Emmert said during the interview. "What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we'll have to decide."
Emmert said the NCAA would wait to hear Penn State's response to the Freeh Report, but wouldn't equivocally take a possible death penalty to the football program off the table.
"We'll hold in abeyance all of those decisions until we've actually decided what we want to do with the actual charges should there be any. And I don't want to take anything off the table."
The only other instance of the death penalty came after repeated violations by SMU during the 1980s. Emmert said the situation at Penn State was uncharted territory for the NCAA>
"This is completely different than an impermissible benefits scandal like happened at SMU, or anything else we've dealt with," Emmert said. "This is as systemic a cultural problem as it is a football problem. There have been people that said this wasn't a football scandal.
"Well it was more than a football scandal, much more than a football scandal. It was that but much more. And we'll have to figure out exactly what the right penalties are. I don't know that past precedent makes particularly good sense in this case, because it's really an unprecedented problem."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... AV3MIl5mc0
Drop the hammer shut it down
Don't worry though, the Paterno's are on the case.
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
It wasn't a bad number for a quick guess though.
They all just need to shut up and go away before they get themselves in some sort of trouble.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
http://deadspin.com/5926679/?utm_campai ... socialflow
"Who knows if the Penn State statue authorities will be swayed by the airborne threat. But how awesome would it be if the plane came back tomorrow, tied a rope to the statue, and flew away with it?"
2010: Newark 5/18 MSG 5/20-21 2011: PJ20 9/3-4 2012: Made In America 9/2
2013: Brooklyn 10/18-19 Philly 10/21-22 Hartford 10/25 2014: ACL10/12
2015: NYC 9/23 2016: Tampa 4/11 Philly 4/28-29 MSG 5/1-2 Fenway 8/5+8/7
2017: RRHoF 4/7 2018: Fenway 9/2+9/4 2021: Sea Hear Now 9/18
2022: MSG 9/11 2024: MSG 9/3-4 Philly 9/7+9/9 Fenway 9/15+9/17
that would be pretty damn awesome.
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
...a little bit of both maybe?
Agree.
WF Center 4/28/16; WF Center 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22;
Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; WF Center 9/7/24; WF Center 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24
Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
Did you eat 'insert disgusting object to eat while on bath salts here' yet today?
i love this fucking country
when some folks get tired of the bullshit sometimes shit really does hit the fucking fan
that statue just might wind stuck up some folks' fat fucking asses
i gotta say i love the, "we will take charge of things & do shit on our own in our own way" way of thinking/deal with bunk ass bullshit
next will be when someone takes out sandusky
that will be glorious
vigilante justice fuckin rules!
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
vigilante n. someone who takes the law into his/her own hands by trying and/or punishing another person without any legal authority. In the 1800s groups of vigilantes dispensed "frontier justice" by holding trials of accused horse-thieves, rustlers and shooters, and then promptly hanging the accused if "convicted." A mother who shoots the alleged molester of her child is a vigilante.
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
This is awesome.
:corn:
currently it is 88 degrees
with the heat index it feels like 93
humidity is 55%
it is a perfect day to string up bunk ass child rapists & their enablers. set the fucking place on fire. bring the cess pool down.
but don't worry bout it
the paternos are on it remember?
what a fucking joke
http://youtu.be/aTogv-jmWdE
louis freeh former fbi director kickin ass & takin names.
http://youtu.be/EVcZo15-jOM
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce