Earlier today, the Penn State board of trustees released what it says will be its final statement regarding the ousters of school president Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno for their nonfeasance in reporting suspected child abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Most of the focus is on the board finding that Paterno demonstrated a "failure of leadership" by not reporting a 2002 incident in which Sandusky was allegedly molesting a boy in a locker room. However, the first paragraph contains a pretty damning statement about Spanier's actions in the wake of that incident. Apparently he didn't tell the board all that he knew about it.
We determined on Nov. 9 that Dr. Spanier should be removed because he failed to meet his leadership responsibilities to the Board and took insufficient action after learning of a 2002 incident involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and a young boy in a Penn State facility. This failure of leadership included insufficiently informing the Board about his knowledge of the 2002 incident. He also made or was involved in press announcements between Nov. 5-9 that were without authorization of the Board or contrary to its instructions. (emphasis mine)
Those "press announcements" included the infamous statements of "full support" for athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz. Those statements would have been reason enough to give Spanier the boot. But not telling the board all he knew about that episode in the shower? Talk about idiocy.
If I'm Spanier and I'm reading this, I'm very afraid. After all, federal prosecutors investigating the Sandusky affair apparently suspect a cover-up by school officials. Does anyone here seriously believe a university president wouldn't tell his bosses about something this explosive unless there was a cover-up? I doubt it.
Spanier is still a tenured sociology professor at Penn State. The impression that a lot of people following this case--including yours truly--have is that the only reason Spanier is still employed in ANY capacity is because it's extremely difficult to fire a tenured professor. Based on this statement by the board--which was almost certainly shared with federal and state investigators--I wouldn't count on Spanier having a job for much longer.