Letters to the BOT

What most people don't know, is the BOT is being flooded with letters questing their recent decisions.

Several of these powerful letters are listed below.

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You have the rare luxury of hindsight and the opportunitiy to reverse your decision to fire Joe Paterno and instead accept his resignation. I would assume that you have been following the media (we know you cave to the media ie your knee jerk reaction in firing Joe Paterno in the first place). With all of the information from credible sources you should realize that legally you have no grounds to fire him. In time this will come back to haunt you. The same way the initial decision in the handling of Jerry Sandusky by the attorney general, Ray Gricar, Corbett and the Penn State board of Trustees is now coming back a thousand fold. Can you not learn from your mistakes? Fix this travesty while you still can.

Elizabeth Morgan
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Dear Board of Trustees,

I want to start by saying that I'm not prone to overreaction or one to send a lot of complaint letters. I also serve on boards of both public companies and non-profits and believe I have a sense of the pressure the Trustees were initially under and continue to experience as well as the sometimes cloudy interpretation of the Board's responsibilities.

I am simply disappointed and deeply saddened. While the pressure was tremendous, you had an opportunity to stand tall and represent an ideal and you missed it. You validated a mob mentality being stirred by irresponsible media. You did what was expected rather than what was right. In so doing, you took away the opportunity for the Penn State community to stand tall and point out to the world that the actions of Jerry Sandusky were not the actions of Penn State.

I am not so naive to think that if everyone had it to do again, they would not recognize that different steps would have been immeasurably better. Mistakes of commission and omission were undoubtedly made. However a statement like what follows would have given us all something to rally behind. It would have been calming during the storm. It would have been the kind of leadership that is expected of you.

"The board has been deeply concerned about the events that have been unfolding. We've thought long and hard and debated what steps to take. In the end, we are guided by the values and principles this institution has stood for and continues to stand for. We feel a great sense of sadness and we will diligently continue the process of investigating and seeking to understand what has occurred. Our positions may change as facts unfold. For now however we are not going to abandon good people who we believe acted according to their best judgment at the time, in very difficult circumstances. As a board, we are not going to bend our principle of fairness and loyalty due to the rush to judgment we are seeing until we have factual information that indicates our loyalty is misplaced.

At the same time, the Board will not exercise blind loyalty. The situation is deeply concerning, and we will find out what we as an institution need to learn from this and we will insist on appropriate accountability. But to be very clear and specific, it is inconsistent with the values of this university to turn our backs on people we believe are good because of pressure we are under. Joe Paterno remains the head coach of our football team, but more importantly a valued educator and member of the Penn State family. He is not beyond evaluation regarding these events; however we don't expect perfection, just good moral character and selfless intent and dedication to what Penn State is. If there were improprieties, his record will not excuse them. However his record is clear and he deserves our support at this time - regardless of the pressure and rush to judgment we are seeing.

We want to reiterate that the principles we are dedicated to at this time are due process and standing by good people in trying times. These are principles we want our students and alumni to be able to count on. We will update you as the Board continues its work."

More than simply an opportunity lost, the course you chose is heartbreaking and will shape the path for years to come. I won't presume to speak for all, but many alumni feel rudderless due to the lack of leadership in this critical time.

Respectfully,

Bill Boor
BS - Chemical Engineering
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Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a current student and Alum of Penn State I was disappointed with the board’s action to terminate a long standing member of the University with haste and without foundation. The board allowed media pressure and opinion to taint their judgment. This is not the way any organization should run their business.

In fact within the entire situation as best as the current evidence suggests Joe Paterno did the right thing, yet he has been vilified by the boards decision. Just because a decision to accept Joe’s retirement is not necessarily supported by the media’s desires is not nearly enough for the board to take further action. In fact in taking this action the Board has further tarnished the Penn State Brand by allowing the prevailing opinion to flourish. Further the board has fostered the opinion that this was a “football” matter when in fact the accused had no longer reported through Joe Paterno in 2002.

If the Penn State Community had bowed to public opinion of the time in 1946 there would be no “We Are”. Back in 1946 it was the Football Program that stood up for the right thing in the face of adversity. This was one of the defining moments in our history and for that I am proud. The Board failed in their duties during their recent decision and failed in their duties since 2002. Either the board was aware of the situation in 2002 and failed to insure the incident was reported or it was not. If the board was not aware then organizationally something is wrong since a decision not to report such an incident should have been brought to the boards attention. By firing Joe Paterno the board has placed the blame for its failure wrongly upon an individual who did was required of him. This is not the Penn State way and the decision should be reversed.

“We are Penn State” This is what we should stand for. We should right this wrong and then we should do what we should have done in the first place. Compile all the facts, make appropriate decisions that impact those affected based on those facts, and put adequate controls in place to insure that whatever went wrong cannot happen again.

I am Proud to be a Penn State Alum and will forever be so. However, if this board can not correct its wrong I for one will do everything in my power to insure we correct this by working tirelessly to insure the Board is replaced with people who understand what Penn State is and should be.

Please take the time and consider what has transpired and correct the mistakes that have been made.

Sincerely,

John R. Cohrac Sr. ‘90