PSU president says trustees were briefed months before Sandusky arrest
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Rodney Erickson
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State University trustees were briefed by then-President Graham Spanier about a grand jury investigation of child sex abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky months before his arrest, Penn State President Rodney Erickson said.
Mr. Erickson said Tuesday he did not attend the briefing, which he said took place in May or July while he was still provost, nor was he told it had occurred until after Mr. Sandusky's November arrest blew up into a national media firestorm and Mr. Spanier resigned. The briefing is likely to fuel further questions about what university leaders, including the trustees board, knew and did in the critical months after the investigation came to light last spring.
"I have no idea, because I wasn't there," Mr. Erickson said when asked how serious the allegations were characterized in the briefing. "Nor did I know it was taking place."
PG VIDEOPG VIDEOMr. Erickson's comments were part of a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the eve of three meetings starting Wednesday night in Pittsburgh with alumni, many of whom are angry at how the university and board handled the Sandusky case.
During the interview in Old Main on Penn State's main campus, Mr. Erickson, 65, told the newspaper he intends to step down as president after his employment contract ends in June 2014 and that a national search will then be conducted for a successor.
He also discussed various other topics, from the upcoming alumni meetings and criticisms of the board to the role of football versus academics and proposed legislation to bring Penn State under the state's Right to Know Act.
Mr. Erickson pledged a more open administration than those that came before his. To buttress that assertion, he and the university released some details of his employment contract and compensation.
Mr. Erickson's contract includes a base annual salary of $515,000 with the possibility of more through performance bonuses. He uses a university-owned car but has decided not to move into the official president's residence.
First Published January 11, 2012 12:00 am
