Penn State Board of Trustees Meets Privately, Takes No Action or Vote

The Penn State Board of Trustees met behind closed doors and a cordoned-off hallway to discuss the NCAA sanctions agreed to by Penn State President Rodney Erickson and ultimately supported the decision made Monday.

Called at 5 p.m. Wednesday in room 107 of the Penn Stater Conference Hotel, trustees avoided media and offered no comment after the meeting adjourned. 

Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre released the trustees’ statement at 8:16 p.m. The complete statement is below:

‘The Penn State Board of Trustees met for a discussion tonight. A vote was not required and none was taken. The Board finds the punitive sanctions difficult and the process with the NCAA unfortunate. But as we understand it, the alternatives were worse as confirmed by NCAA President Mark Emmert’s recent statement that Penn State was likely facing a multi-year death sentence.

‘The University and Board resolve to move forward together to recognize the historical excellence in Penn State’s academic and athletic programs. We anticipate and look forward to demonstrating our outstanding performance in complying with the sanctions. We continue to recognize the important role that intercollegiate athletics provides for our student athletes and the wider University community as we strive to appropriately balance academic and athletic accomplishments.

‘Penn State will remain a world-class educational institution of which our students, faculty, staff and alumni can be justifiably proud. The commitment demonstrated by our student athletes in recent days embodies all that is good about Penn State and we look forward to unprecedented support by the Nittany nation when we take the field this fall.’