Election process opens for PSU trustees
STATE COLLEGE (AP) – The latest election for Penn State trustee members may serve as another barometer of how well the university is recovering from scandal in the minds of alumni.
Only a housecleaning will do, some of the school’s more vocal alumni say, in order for them to regain trust in school leadership following the turmoil that started in 2011 with the arrest of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on child sex abuse charges.
The election process began this month with a nomination period for prospective candidates for the three seats on the 32-member board. Alumni will vote this spring.
“It’s going to take more new blood on the to the board to make changes,” said Matt Prisby, a 1971 graduate who has traveled from his home in Hilton Head, S.C., for the past two board meetings.
Until last year, the trustees election was a mere afterthought among the school’s more than half a million alumni.
All that changed after the Sandusky scandal.
In the aftermath last year, the board election, drew plenty of attention. More than 37,000 alumni voted, shattering the record set in 1990 by about 10,000.
Three candidates who voiced varying degrees of criticism of the board won seats on it: former football player and current attorney Adam Taliaferro, prominent donor and outspoken board critic Anthony Lubrano and retired U.S. Navy captain Ryan McCombie.