Inside Old Main, the iconic Penn State administration building, a faction of the board of trustees is standing up to take control of the sex-abuse controversy engulfing the university.
That group does not include board Chairman Steve Garban, the former Penn State treasurer and vice president for finance and operations. Sources suggest a new chairman could be named soon. A message left for Garban was not returned on Tuesday.
Trustees lack confidence in Garban?s ability to lead the university out of this mess given his close relationships with Curley, Schultz and university President Graham Spanier, sources said.
Yesterday,
sources indicated Spanier's job and that of head football coach Joe Paterno were in trouble over their handling of the sex-abuse allegations.
The board is creating a committee to investigate the scandal.
The trustees dislike how a few board members appeared to have been notified that charges against Curley and Schultz were imminent while the vast majority of trustees were left in the dark until Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, shortly after Attorney General Kelly released the indictment, some board members were told they should wait until Thursday to discuss the charges. That didn?t sit well with everyone. A core group demanded, and got, an emergency meeting within 24 hours, sources say.
Twenty trustees made their way to State College for
the Sunday night meeting, while others called in by phone. It was at that session that the board began to question Garban?s leadership, and a faction began to coalesce around the need to take assertive actions.
Some trustees believe the university?s handling of the matter has been bungled. Sources said
the statement issued Saturday by Spanier vowing his unconditional support to Curley and Schultz caught some by surprise ? and disgusted them.
Some left Sunday?s meeting under the impression that the public statement would say the trustees wanted Curley and Schultz to step aside, and not make it look like it was a voluntary decision. Curley is on paid leave. Schultz resigned.
Some also were upset over
Paterno?s decision to release a statement without notifying university administrators or the board.
Trustees wonder why no connections were made between two alleged incidents at Penn State involving Sandusky ? one in 1998 and one in 2002, both involving young boys in the showers of the Lasch Building that houses the football program.
They also are questioning why then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, now an assistant coach, didn?t physically stop
the assault he told the grand jury he witnessed in the locker room shower in 2002.
The board meets on Thursday in closed session and on Friday in open session.
Gov. Tom Corbett is planning to attend Friday?s meeting, but sources say there is some concern that statements he makes could politicize an already complex situation. Corbett and three of his Cabinet secretaries are ex-officio members of the trustees. He had planned to attend the meeting months before the scandal broke.
Sources said the trustees also are aware that the former administrators are charged, not convicted, so handling the matter properly is of utmost concern.
?Therefore, what if you have a trial and they are found innocent and you have done thing precipitously that you regret later. For the university, it?s not just a legal case. It?s a matter of the proper handling of the matter for the university," a source close to the board said.
