Penn State Univ. trustees "broke their own public silence late Tuesday night, following an emergency conference call among the board," according to the Harrisburg PATRIOT-NEWS. Members "discussed what to do in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal and an explosive outcry at the minimal response by university President Graham Spanier" and football coach Joe Paterno. While the trustees last night "stopped short of saying whether they would dismiss either Spanier or Paterno, they communicated in powerful language that they stood squarely with the outraged public." And they "strongly suggested that a major shakeup was coming" (Harrisburg PATRIOT-NEWS, 11/9). The PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE reports Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett "plans to attend the meeting Friday of Penn State University's board of trustees." The governor's Dir of Communications & Press Secretary Kevin Harley said Corbett has been "very much involved" in the PSU matter. State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said that Spanier "should lose his job unless a clear explanation is made for why university officials didn't report the allegations to police." Pileggi insisted that "serious questions need to be answered and there should be a change in Penn State's leadership if there are no good and fast answers." Meanwhile, Spanier postponed tonight's PSU 35th annual Renaissance Fund Dinner until spring. He said he postponed the event because "our attention is so heavily focused right now on the troubling charges by the attorney general" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 11/9).
UNHAPPY VALLEY: ESPN.com's Howard Bryant wrote the "entire edifice of the Penn State monument is crumbling, yet no one involved seems capable of producing the most obvious, and decent, response, to acknowledge that each of these men failed to uphold his responsibilities spectacularly." Bryant wrote the "legendary Paterno failed," as did AD Tim Curley and former interim Senior VP/Finance & Business Gary Schult, both of whom face charges of perjury. Curley is currently on administrative leave, while Schultz resigned from his position (ESPN.com, 11/8). In Pittsburgh, Gene Collier writes under the header, "PSU Handling Worst Nightmare In Worst Way." Collier writes PSU has "has no more idea of how to handle a public relations disaster than it does an eyewitness account of a sexual assault on a child in the shower at its football facility" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 11/9). In DC, Deron Snyder writes the "sordid mess has become a tragedy of errors," from Spanier giving Curley and Schultz "his 'unconditional support;' to a spokesman implying that scandal-related questions were off-limits at Tuesday's scheduled news conference; to school officials canceling the news conference about 90 minutes before it started" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 11/9). ESPN's Tom Rinaldi said, "People are waiting to hear something from Graham Spanier. They want to know, right now, who is the lead and definitive voice from Penn State University." ESPN's Bryant added, "This is a massive institutional failure. It's a failure on everybody's part here when you look at the number of people who were in a position of authority to do something and didn't do it. It's inexcusable" ("Outside The Lines," ESPN, 11/8). ESPN’s Mike Greenberg: “Where is Graham Spanier? How in the world can this be going on and he not address it publicly to everyone?” (“Mike and Mike in the Morning,” ESPN Radio, 11/9).
