Re: Sandusky, Penn State, how culpable was the Board of Trustees?
This is a tragic reminder to all trustees of non-profit boards involving children.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/penn-state-trustees-failed-sandusky-report/2012/07/12/gJQALjBTfW_blog.html
According to the report on Penn State, the board’s lapse in oversight allowed four top school officials, including former president Graham Spanier, to mishandle the Sandusky affair. Spanier and and Paterno, along with Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business, and Timothy Curley, athletic director, “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade,” the report says.
SNIP
The report says that the officials failed to tell trustees what was happening when they became aware of Sandusky’s behavior, but it does not absolve the governing board of responsibility: Had the board been more involved in school affairs and properly performing its oversight responsibilities, they would have known, the report says.
The report continues:
Once the Board was made aware of the investigations of Sandusky and the fact that senior University officials had testified before the Grand Jury in the investigations, it should have recognized the potential risk to the University community and to the University’s reputation. Instead, the Board, as a governing body, failed to inquire reasonably and to demand detailed information from Spanier. The Board’s overconfidence in Spanier’s abilities to deal with the crisis, and its complacent attitude left them unprepared to respond to the November 2011 criminal charges filed against two senior Penn State leaders and a former prominent coach. Finally, the Board’s subsequent removal of Paterno as head football coach was poorly handled, as were the Board’s communications with the public.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/12/us/pennsylvania-penn-state-investigation/index.html
The report also says the four men, "unchecked by the board of trustees that did not perform its oversight duties, empowered Sandusky to attract potential victims to the campus and football events by allowing him to have continued, unrestricted and unsupervised access to the university's facilities and affiliation with the university's prominent football program. Indeed, that continued access provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims. Some coaches, administrators and football program staff members ignored the red flags of Sandusky's behaviors and no one warned the public about him."
= new reply since forum marked as read