The Lions' Pride

Wanted to share a letter that my buddy emailed to the BOT after the press conference last night. Thought it was very thorough and shared the views of a lot of Penn State alumni and students right now:

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Board of Trustess of Penn State:

I write to you as a distraught alumnus of Penn State. The recent developments and turmoil ensuing as a result of the actions of the despicable few who defamed the school of which I am so proud to be an alumnus have wrenched my body, mind, and soul unlike I could have imagined.

Your handling of the situation and the publicity of this tragic event have been nothing short of terrible and deploring.

The lack of explanation in your press conference, your continued employment of Tim Curley, your posting on the Penn State homepage of a gracious letter by Graham Spanier who is just as culpable as all others implicated, the continued payment for counsel to Curley and Schultz without explanation, the continued employment of Mike McQueary, exhibiting what seemed to be a lack of knowledge on the subject matter at hand as it developed over the course of 13 years, not being aware that at the time of the 2002 incident that the General Counsel for the University was also the General Counsel for 2nd Mile, and, in general, miscellaneous other poor discourse too numerous to continue to enumerate herein, illustrate the poor and appalling manner of your collective handling of the situation.

For a university such as Penn State to have a Board that acts with such a lack of inequality in decision making and such a lack of swiftness with such a lack of first hand knowledge is unfathomable.

The Board of Trustees in many institutions never has to be called to act in such a forefront as the one at Penn State has had the unfortunate circumstance. However, the sheer lack of leadership exhibited by the Board has me embarrassed beyond belief. As long as all current members of the Board are serving, I will be sure to make every available effort to ensure that I vote out every current sitting member of the Board of Trustees.

Furthermore, I find myself asking: how did the Board of Trustees who works arm in arm with the President of the University not be aware of any of the allegations brought forth? On the one hand, if they did not now know, how could the Board wait for almost a full week to pass before firing the President? If they did know, then they are equally as culpable as all others involved and should be brought to resign immediately. I suppose the answer to that question may arise out of the on-going state, local, and potential federal investigations.

To that end, it has become clear to me that the changes the Board eluded to during the press conference on the evening of 9 November should also stem to include the entire Board as well with immediate resignations of all members.

In my mind, although Coach Paterno could have done more as he himself stated, the Board took the opportunity exploited further by the media to politically turn attention away from themselves and utilize Coach Paterno as a scapegoat for the Board's own shortcomings. How the Board continues to maintain Mike McQueary as an employee of the University is absolutely inexplicable. As a human being, MCQueary himself should be held in the same light which the Board has cast on Coach Paterno.

I pray that those children and their families who have been irreparably hurt by the alleged actions and enablement by those implicated in the current law enforcement investigation are brought some relief.

I pray that all Penn Staters the world over who may be distant to the events, but affected immediately by their broad reach find fellow Penn Staters to help their hurt and pain they feel for those affected children.

I pray that those entrusted with the future of the students and the University are given the grace and intelligence, which the current Board falls so short on exhibiting, to continue to perpetuate in a positive motion the institution for which I am so grateful.

With much regret and disappointment in the Board,"