Ballots for the Board of Trustees election are officially in the hands of Penn State alumni to select three alumni trustees (if you’re an alum and haven’t received a ballot yet, request one here). There are currently four candidates seeking election: Barbara Doran, Ted Brown, Dan Cocco, and Bill Oldsey.
Voting began Sunday, and former Penn State Trustee and football player Adam Taliaferro endorsed Cocco Sunday morning.
Received my PSU trustee ballot this morning & excited 2 support @DanCocco. A recent grad willing 2 work with every1 on the board! #VoteCocco
— Adam Taliaferro (@Tali43) April 10, 2016
“Dan is a qualified recent graduate who has pledged to work with everyone on the Board,” Taliaferro wrote on Facebook. “He understands current BOT issues and wants to help bring the Board together to fix the issues of the past and secure the future for PSU students.”
Cocco is the only candidate not endorsed by Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship (PS4RS). PS4RS was formed in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal to remove trustees it viewed as having mishandled the situation and to be an ongoing watchdog group.
Taliaferro was elected as an alumni trustee in 2012 and served until 2015. He was seen as somewhat of a moderate, siding with the PS4RS bloc occasionally and voting with the majority some of the time. He did not seek reelection last year and is currently member of the New Jersey General Assembly.
Taliaferro was paralyzed making a tackle for Penn State against Ohio State in 2000 during the fifth game of his college football career. Doctors told him that he only had a slim chance of learning to walk again, but after eight months of rehabilitation, Taliaferro defied the odds and learned to walk again. He went on to earn a law degree.
All alumni are eligible to vote in the BoT election. Voting closes at 9 a.m on May 5.
