Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner believes a too-closed and tightly centralized power center at Penn State University contributed to the severity of the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal.
In a special report released Wednesday, Wagner said the university?s clout, as it evolved under former President Graham Spanier, was weighted too heavily toward the president?s office.
As a result, too many trustees learned of controversies only on a ?need-to-know? basis, leaving almost no chance for the board to review or challenge a decision such as the one that university emails suggest was made in 2001 to handle internally a witness?s allegation against Sandusky.
Wagner called for Gov. Tom Corbett, the Legislature and Penn State trustees to make changes, including:
- Removing the university president and the governor as voting members of the board and cutting its size from 32 to 21 so power can be shared more evenly among all members.
- Ending most of Penn State?s exemptions from the state?s open-records law.
- Changing university bylaws to require a simple majority of the board to be present at any meeting before official action can be taken, and to lock a revolving door between the university?s senior management and trustee membership.
- Taking additional steps ? beyond adding a public comment period at board meetings ? to improve public access to the board, including a hotline for people wanting to report concerns and an earlier publication of board meeting agendas. ?
?BREAKDOWNS IN HUMAN CHARACTER??
Wagner said there is no guarantee the proposals contained in his report would have prevented the Sandusky scandal, which he said ultimately occurred because of ?breakdowns in human character.?
But he argued that Spanier?s concentration of power helped create conditions in which such a problem could fester, and said the proposed changes ?will reduce the potential that similar breakdowns in human character will remain undetected for decades.?
Sandusky, the longtime defensive coordinator to legendary head football coach Joe Paterno, was convicted in June of sexually abusing 10 boys between 1994 and 2008.
Sandusky is serving a minimum 30-year state prison sentence.
Spanier, former Senior Vice president for Business and Finance Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley are charged with obstruction of justice, endangering the welfare of children and other crimes for what prosecutors say were their roles in trying to conceal accusations against Sandusky.Numerous board members have said Spanier, who could control the flow and content of information to the board as its secretary, shared very little about the evolving investigation or the degree of Penn State?s exposure before Sandusky?s arrest Nov. 5, 2011.
Spanier, Penn State?s president since 1995, was removed from office by the board several days later. ?
?THE SAME OPERATION?
?Wagner buttressed his arguments for reform with findings that of the nation?s other 20 largest public universities, none has its president as a voting board member. None of those schools has more than 19 board members, and all require a majority to be present for action, as opposed to Penn State?s 13 of 32.
He also complained that, for all the turmoil Penn State has been through in the past year, President Rodney Erickson and the board have made only minimal changes to university governance.
?It?s pretty much the same operation,? Wagner said.
Wagner?s reforms were endorsed as something all universities should take a look at by Michael Poliakoff, vice president of policy for the Washington D.C.-based American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
?These are good recommendations that I think will be very useful to Pennsylvania,? said Poliakoff, a deputy secretary for postsecondary and higher education under former Gov. Tom Ridge.
Poliakoff said he has wondered how differently the Sandusky scandal might have played out had different checks and balances been in place at Penn State, and he applauded Wagner for recognizing that the problems in State College had a structural element to them.
However, Poliakoff said Penn State is not the only place where boards have become rubber stamps for powerful presidents. ?That?s why all schools should look at this ... and use it as a springboard for a complete reassessment of what it means to be a [college] trustee,? he said.
About half of the changes proposed by Wagner would require action by the Legislature, which has adjourned for the year, but is likely to revisit Penn State issues in 2013.
Steve Miskin, spokesman for the majority House Republicans, said Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson County, shares Wagner?s concerns about university governance. ?It is something we are interested in looking at,? Miskin said.
Many of the other reforms, Wagner said, can be instituted by Penn State?s trustees or senior management.
Penn State officials declined to comment on the specifics of Wagner?s report, In a statement, spokesman David La Torre said the university welcomed Wagner?s input and will conduct a ?thorough review? of the recommendations.
Wagner said spoke earlier Wednesday with Karen Peetz, chairman of Penn State?s board of trustees, and got some ?pushback? on the suggested removal of the school?s president from the board.
Wagner said the counterargument is that it might be unwise to limit the powers of the presidency as Penn State embarks on a search for a new leader.
As for the governor, Wagner said it?s too difficult for a governor to sit on a university board that wants to maximize its state appropriation and balance that with a duty as chief executive of state government to make sure taxpayer funds are allocated fairly to all needs.
?The governor simply cannot faithfully serve two masters,? Wagner said.
Corbett?s press secretary, Kevin Harley, said the governor agrees with calls for downsizing the board and placing Penn State and other state-related universities under the open-records law. Corbett is open to discussion on several of the proposed changes, Harley said.
Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/11/pennsylvania_ags_recommendatio.html
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