One Year Later, Alumni Watchdog Group Raises More Questions than Answers

NEWS RELEASE:

Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship Continues to Pressure Board of Trustees
on Need for Objective Investigation, Immediate Resignations and Transparent Leadership

October 31, 2012 – On the one-year anniversary of the release of the Grand Jury presentment revealing Jerry Sandusky as a serial pedophile who used his charity, The Second Mile, to gain access to young victims, Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship (PS4RS) has compiled a list of the “Top 25 Unanswered Questions.” By raising and communicating these questions to the general public, PS4RS seeks to uncover the many real truths in this tragedy and to address the full scope and responsibilities of all parties involved.

1. Just how was Jerry Sandusky — an approved adoptive and foster parent — allowed unfettered, unauthorized, individual access to minors through his charity, The Second Mile, a non-profit licensed and audited by the state with oversight by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General?

2. How did Centre County Children & Youth Services (CYS) and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) – both with decades’ long relationships with Jerry Sandusky — repeatedly fail to identify him as a sexual predator? Who is currently investigating and evaluating their roles from 1998 to present?

3. What action, if any, was taken by the executive leadership of The Second Mile after the organization was notified by Penn State officials of Jerry Sandusky’s behavior related to the 1998 and 2001 cases? How has The Second Mile escaped intense judicial scrutiny for allowing a suspected pedophile to remain in contact with children?

4. With widely-reported discrepancies in each one of Mike McQueary’s court testimonies pertaining to his 2001 Lasch Building locker room observations, just what exactly did Mike McQueary see that night?

5. Why did Tom Corbett, in the role of Attorney General, delay the arrest of Jerry Sandusky for nearly three years?

6. Why was Tom Corbett permitted to accept $625,000 in gubernatorial campaign contributions from a charity whose founder he was investigating? As governor, how did Corbett approve a $3 million dollar grant for The Second Mile while he was overseeing a grand jury investigation of its founder?

7. Why was Governor Tom Corbett at the November 9th Board of Trustees meeting with an advanced hotel reservation, when for all prior meetings, he sent a proxy?

8. Chairwoman Karen Peetz and the Penn State Board of Trustees have repeatedly said that Tim Curley and Gary Shultz will get their “due process.” Why was Joe Paterno not afforded the same consideration? What specific information did the Board of Trustees use to make their decision to terminate Paterno on November 9, 2011?

9. Where are the Penn State Board of Trustees’ meeting minutes from November 9, 2011 and why are they the only meeting minutes that have not been publicly released, even after repeated requests, and a legal requirement to do so?

10. Why did the Board of Trustees immediately grab power from Graham Spanier, force his resignation, and not allow him to manage the crisis from day one? What facts did they have to inform this decision?

11. Why didn’t the Board of Trustees ask for a detailed account of Penn State officials’ participation in the Grand Jury investigation, especially if Graham Spanier and General Counsel Cynthia Baldwin were aware of the proceedings?

12. Why hasn’t the Board of Trustees acknowledged that it acted precipitously in terminating Joe Paterno in November 2011, before any facts were uncovered, before the Board became aware that the statements attributed to Mike McQueary in the Grand Jury presentment were false, that Mike McQueary gave numerous versions of his story, none of which provided any details to Joe Paterno, and before the Board became aware that Joe Paterno followed University reporting protocols as they existed in 2001?

13. Who specifically leaked the Grand Jury presentment to the media in November 2011 and why? Why has Attorney General Linda Kelly not been corrected and admonished regarding the false information contained in the Grand Jury presentment? Why was the presentment written as an indictment of Penn State and not The Second Mile?

14. Pertaining to the controversial emails between Tim Curley and Gary Schultz that were discovered during the Freeh investigation, just who is “Coach” – Paterno or Sandusky?

15. What was the specific contractual arrangement between Penn State University and The Second Mile regarding taking minors on campus? Who approved this?

16. With whom at Penn State did The Second Mile administrators interface regarding Sandusky’s office, access to football facilities, football tickets, Bowl trips?

17. Why was Jerry Sandusky in the President’s luxury box at the Penn State football game the week before the 2011 Grand Jury presentment was released? Who invited him to the game? Why did Trustees who had knowledge of the investigation not act on this?

18. Four Penn State Trustees were named in the Freeh Report for having prior knowledge of the Sandusky Grand Jury investigation, dating back to spring of 2011, and doing nothing about it. Only one of those Trustees, Steve Garban, has so far resigned. Why are Jim Broadhurst, John Surma and Edward Hintz still holding their Trustee positions?

19. What is the overlap in personnel between The Second Mile board members, employees and donors and that of the Penn State Board of Trustees, employees and donors? Why were conflicts of interest not identified in the Freeh Report?

20. Where is former University General Counsel Wendell Courtney and what specific legal counsel did he offer Tim Curley and Gary Schultz when he billed them in 2001 for three hours of research into reporting suspected child abuse?

21. Was Cynthia Baldwin required to report to the Board her involvement in the Sandusky Grand Jury investigation? Did she or did she not tell the board she attended the Grand Jury questioning with Tim Curley and Gary Schultz? How could she offer to represent the three PSU employees (Curley, Schultz, Spanier) when they testified to the Grand Jury, yet be there representing the University?

22. The Board of Trustees has repeatedly been asked to produce the Letter of Intent, Scope of Work and Memo of Understanding, as well as all proposals received from other potential contractors before the November 2011 hiring of Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP. Where is this documentation and why haven’t the Trustees released this information? Was the relationship between Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan, Pepper Hamilton, and various board members and their employers, including Mr. Frazier and Mr. Lubert, disclosed to all Trustees? What was the role of the law firm of Reed Smith and what is that law firm’s relationship to individual members of the Board and their employers?

23. Why has the Penn State Board of Trustees (formally or informally) accepted the unsupported conclusions of the Freeh Report and allowed an incomplete and judicially irrelevant document to serve as the basis for NCAA sanctions, Middle States Accreditation warnings and premature civil settlements brought forth by victims?

24. Who first suggested the use of the Death Penalty as an appropriate penalty handed down from the NCAA – Rodney Erickson or Mark Emmert? What date and time did those conversations begin? Did Rodney Erickson present/recommend the specific sanctions that were agreed upon? Was Rodney Erickson being untruthful when he said Penn State was threatened with the Death Penalty? Why was counsel with expertise in NCAA matters not engaged until July 2012, despite the November 2011 notice from the NCAA?

25. When will Penn State University make plans to properly honor Joe Paterno’s 61 years of service?

The membership of Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship has grown rapidly since the release of the Freeh Report in July 2011. The organization, which currently reports more than 15,000 members nationwide, was formed nearly one year ago to effect positive change within the University Board of Trustees. For further information on PS4RS, please visit www.PS4RS.org, email [email protected], join our online forum The ELMS http://forum.ps4rs.org or search “WE intend to vote out the Penn State Board of Trustees” on Facebook. Follow PS4RS on Twitter at @PS4RS.