The Penn State Board of Trustees has approved a settlement with at least one additional victim of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, but several trustees vocally opposed the settlement.
The board held a special teleconference meeting on Thursday morning to discuss the proposed settlement for an undisclosed amount of money with “one or more” victims of Sandusky’s child sexual abuse. The measure ultimately passed 18-6, with only alumni-elected members of the board voting against the measure.
Only the alumni-elected members spoke during the public discussion session the meeting, voicing concerns that they weren’t given enough time or information to make an informed decision.
Some also attacked the Freeh report, saying that Louis Freeh’s conclusions about Penn State in the wake of the Sandusky scandal falsely imply that Penn State is legally or financially responsible.
Trustee Anthony Lubrano, picking up on a topic he’s discussed before, said he and the other alumni-elected members have been repeatedly denied access to the documents gathered by Freeh during his investigation at Penn State. Lubrano said he would need to be able to review those documents to be able to make an informed decision about Penn State’s legal responsibilities regarding Sandusky’s victims.
“Unfortunately, Penn State continues to pay almost three years later, and today we look to pay again,” Lubrano said. “But I say no more. No more resolutions to approve settlements while denying trustees access to the materials used to prepare the Freeh Report; no more feeding at the trough of Penn State.”
Trustee Bill Oldsey took a different approach. He pointed out that trustees only had about 40 minutes to discuss the settlement in executive session before being expected to vote on the resolution. He also said he felt “uncomfortable” voting on a “decision involving this kind of money” without input from the board’s legal counsel.
Trustees Ted Brown, Barbara Doran and Alice Pope prefaced their comments by expressing their sympathy and compassion for all of Sandusky’s victims, but went on to voice similar concerns saying they had not been given enough time or information to make such an important decision.
Doran also implied that members of the Second Mile – Sandusky’s former nonprofit for at-risk youth that he used to find some of his victims – should be held financially responsible instead of Penn State.
“Every day we silently stand in support of the Freeh Report is another day we allow the world to believe we agree with its conclusions,” Pope said.
In October 2014 the university agreed to pay a $59.7 million to settle claims filed by 26 men who said they were victimized by Sandusky.
However, there are still outstanding claims that have yet to be settled.
Penn State is not currently releasing the number of victims or amount of money involved with Thursday’s settlement because of legal confidentiality restrictions, according to a university news release. However, Penn State officials say they may be able to release more details in the future, but do not give a timeframe for when that might be possible.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. to include input from a university news release about the settlement.
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