Although three former members of the Penn State Board of Trustees have been honored with emeritus status, they didn’t get that title without a fight.
Almost every alumni-elected member of the board either abstained or voted against conferring the emeriti trustee title on Carl Shaffer, Marianne Alexander and Linda Strumpf.
“I want to point out to you that irony is not lost on the Penn State community that it’s almost four years since Joe Paterno was fired and yet we have not honored him, but today we look to recognize three people for meritorious service,” alumni-elect Anthony Lubrano said, noting that he opposed the entire category of emeriti trustees.
Lubrano suggested that Alexander, Strumpf and Shaffer exercised poor judgment bordering on a breach of their duties to Penn State when they were on the board’s executive committee during the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal and agreed to the NCAA’s consent decree “without reading or reviewing it, or even asking to.”
Ted Brown, a fellow alumni-elect, also questioned the emeritus nominations, especially because he said Strumpf had been told via phone only last year that he would no longer continue in his role as an active trustee on the board. “’I guess now I know how Joe Paterno felt,” Strumpf reportedly told Borwn, according to Brown.
However, Mark Dambly spoke in defense of the three nominees, saying he had reviewed each of their qualifications and they had demonstrated “exemplary service” to Penn State.
Trustee Keith Eckel, chairman of the committee that nominated the emeritus candidates, spoke to the importance of respecting differing opinions and maintaining unity as a board in the face of disagreements.
“We can share different opinions on the positions that individuals have taken,” Eckel said. “But I don’t think in any way be divided in recognizing the unselfish service that members have made.”
Trustees Lubrano, Brown, Bill Oldsey, Al Lord and Robert Tribeck all voted against the measure. Fellow alumni-elects Bob Jubelirer and Alice Pope abstained, while Barb Doran and Ryan McCombie voted for conferring the three former trustees with emeriti status.
“I think it’s a misconception that [the alumni-elects] vote as a block. Historically, we have been unanimous,” Lubrano said after the meeting. “Today you just have people voting for what they felt was appropriate.”
Outside of the civil disagreements over the new emeriti trustees, Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting was quick and quiet, having little in common with meetings less than a year ago that featured contentious fights and spectators being escorted from the room by security.
The trustees approved some new spending for a couple major projects for the university, including a new academic support center for student athletes. The board approved $7.2 million dollars for the completion of the new Morgan Academic Center at University Park, which is slated for completion before Fall 2016.
The trustees also gave university staffers to go-ahead to continue work on replacing Penn State’s course management system ANGEL with a more comprehensive and better-functioning learning management system. Although a final total has not been determined, the trustees approved a cap of $10.3 million dollars for the project, which will involve hiring new staff and purchasing additional infrastructure.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the trustee referred to by Ted Brown.
