Karen Peetz and her Sixty Million Dollar Mouth

Karen Peetz, The Sixty Million Dollar Mouth

There was once a TV series called the Six Million Dollar Man. If Karen Peetz's acceptance of the Freeh Report's findings, in her capacity of Chairwoman, and without authorization by a vote by the Board of Trustees, was the basis the NCAA used to say (falsely) that Penn State accepted the findings, I think it would be fair to call her the Sixty Million Dollar Mouth.

Objective evidence:

(1) http://www.psu.edu/trustees/pdf/standingorders.pdf says very clearly, “Make decisions and instruct the administration collectively as the governing body of the University; it being recognized and understood that unless specifically authorized, no individual Trustee has the authority to act on his or her own on behalf of the University or the Board;”

(2) The Board of Trustees NEVER voted to affirm the Freeh Report’s findings of guilt with regard to Graham Spanier, Joe Paterno, Tim Curley, or Gary Schultz. The Board NEVER voted to authorize any statement to the effect that Penn State was responsible for Jerry Sandusky’s activities in any way, shape, or form. As stated very clearly by Trustee Joel Myers at https://onwardstate.com/2013/03/01/trustee-joel-myers-rips-the-ncaa-and-freeh-report/, “A report can only be accepted or adopted by the Penn State Board of Trustees through a majority vote, which never occurred in the case of the Freeh Report. Contrary to the belief of many, it is important to make clear that the Freeh Report was never accepted nor was it adopted by the Board under the Charter of the University.”

The minutes of the July 2012 Board meeting quote Peetz as follows, emphasis is mine: "As we said yesterday, the Board, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for each of the failures that occurred." Trustee Peetz is therefore on record in the minutes as saying that Trustees affirmed the Freeh Report prior to the Board meeting, which means it is impossible for the Board to have approved this action. http://www.psu.edu/trustees/pdf/july2012minutesbot.pdf first page

(3) Trustee Peetz, in her capacity as Chairwoman, nonetheless spoke explicitly on behalf of the Board when she said (http://progress.psu.edu/resource-library/story/a-message-from-bot-chairman-karen-peetz), “The Board of Trustees, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for the failures cited in the Freeh Report.”

Peetz added in a subsequent NPR interview (http://www.npr.org/2012/07/13/156706851/paternos-legacy-marred-by-psu-sex-abuse-report): "I think our reaction is that the clarity that's come out of the report would show that 61 years of excellent service that Joe [Paterno] gave to the university is now marred. And we have to step back and say, what does that mean?”

(4) The NCAA used Peetz's (and Kenneth Frazier's) remarks as an excuse to impose the sanctions.
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Resources/Latest+News/2012/July/21207231

"Because Penn State accepted the Freeh Report factual findings, which the university itself commissioned, the NCAA determined traditional investigative proceedings would be redundant and unnecessary."

This is an outright lie because only Karen Peetz, along with Kenneth "people that look like you" Frazier accepted the findings. This means, in turn, that Peetz and Frazier, and also their colleagues, were derelict for failing to notify the NCAA that Penn State had never accepted the findings.

Joke for the Day
Q: Why did Egypt get ten plagues, and Penn State get Karen Peetz and Kenneth Frazier?
A: The Pharaoh had first choice.