Penn State University Board of Trustees vice chair Keith Masser was recently interviewed by the Associated Press about e-mails in 2001 between then-university president Graham Spanier and vice president Gary Schultz about whether or not to report the allegations of child sex abuse involving Jerry Sandusky. Because of some of the comments made in that interview, a Penn State alumni group, Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship want Masser to resign his position.
In the associate press interview, Masser stated that it appeared that top administrative and athletic officials were all involved in making the decision to not report the incident to the authorities. The Penn State group asking for his resignation released a statement that wonders how Masser read about the e-mail, when the board has said they would not look at the report until it was released to the public.
From Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News via PennLive.com.
"The trustees have repeatedly promised that they would not review or edit the report scheduled to be released late this summer. They have, in fact, said that they would first see the report only when it was released to the public. That begs the question whether Mr. Masser has had an opportunity to read the email file and, if so, who provided it to him. Former President Graham Spanier, who has not been accused of any crime, has sued the university for access to all of his emails."
The real concern about Masser's comments, according to Robert J. Tribeck, a lawyer for the alumni group, by even saying that there was a cover-up, it feeds into the media sensationalism of a case like this that has and could still do a lot of damage to the university image-wise.
"We have to question the effectiveness of the university legal counsel and PR firms to allow a trustee to make such statements. Contrary to what Mr. Masser may believe, his statements, made a member of the Board of Trustees, constitute a statement of the Board of Trustees and will undoubtedly be utilized in pending litigation against the university."
Continue following this StoryStream for more news on the entire Penn State scandal, including the Graham Spanier investigation and the Jerry Sandusky trial.