This is the first in a three-part series about the newly elected Penn State Board of Trustees members, who begin their terms on July 1. Profile No. 1 is Anthony Lubrano, who won a seat with 10,096 votes.
For newly elected Penn State Board of Trustees member Anthony Lubrano, his term will be a surprise. At least, that’s the acronym he’s using to turn his campaign promises into reality.
His plan is to secure – as in, an apology for the Paterno family – understand, reform, provide, restore, inform, suspend and engage.
Lubrano also has laid plans for everything from reaching out to alumni, faculty, staff and students through a speaking tour to reforming the board, to restoring the pride at Penn State.
A complete description of what each letter stands for in the acronym can be found on Lubrano’s website.
Throughout his campaign, Lubrano was extremely vocal about his disdain for the board’s handling of former football coach Joe Paterno’s dismissal Nov. 9 in wake of the child sex abuse allegations against one-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Lubrano still thinks blame is falling on the wrong person.
‘I use the word witch hunt to some extent – from what I’ve heard, the crux [of the investigation being conducted by former FBI director Louis Freeh] has been more toward Joe Paterno,’ Lubrano said Friday after winning election to one of three new seats on the 32-member board.
‘The sense I get is that this university is in lockdown. It’s not the university that I know. We’re too great an institution to let this happen to us.’
Lubrano, a 1982 Penn State graduate who is the founder of a financial services firm in Exton, Pa., said the trustees could have taken steps toward increased transparency just by regularly updating alumni on the vote totals.
‘They didn’t post every day for us, yet they knew,’ he said. ‘It’s the little things that mean a lot.’
The alumni sent a message, Lubrano said, voting en masse. Now, it’s time to give them the change that has been demanded.
The three new board members, which also include former Penn State football player Adam Taliaferro and former Navy SEAL Ryan McCombie, will start their three-year terms July 1. Lubrano believes they have the energy to put into action the promises of transparency and a more open board.
‘There’s actually discussions we’re entitled to hear,’ he said.
For example, Lubrano wants to enact a public comment period during board meetings to give the audience a chance to pose questions about or comment on issues trustees might otherwise miss.
He was one of three candidates that ran on the 86-person ballot who were endorsed by the grass roots alumni group, Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship.
A former baseball player, Lubrano also donated $2.5 million as the lead benefactor to help build the baseball park that bears his name. Lubrano Park – and Medlar Field, named after Lubrano’s Penn State coach, the late Chuck Medlar – sits directly across the street from Beaver Stadium.
Lubrano is anxious to get his term started.
‘It’s time we actually do what we say we’re going to do,’ he said.
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