Published in the Centre Daily Times, December 17, 2013
The recent report from former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell on Penn State’s progress on the Athletic Integrity Agreement reveals that Mitchell is working beyond the scope of the AIA.
The scope of the AIA was supposed to be strictly on Chapter 10, Recommendation 5 of the Freeh report, which consisted of just nine items.
One of those items, 5.4 Academic Support for Athletes was completed before the Freeh report was published. Mitchell’s report not only addressed item 5.4, but at least one dozen topics not covered under the AIA, including facilities security, ethics, cooperation with law enforcement, Clery Act reporting, the shake-up of the athletic department medical staff and the March4Truth.
To make an analogy, Mitchell is like the car mechanic who was supposed to do an oil change but gave the car an unnecessary overhaul — and charged full labor by the hour.
According to the most recent accounting, Michell’s firm has taken more than $2.1 million for his unnecessary work.
Penn State was the model for combining academics and athletics. Prosecutor Frank Fina’s recent comments that he found no evidence that Joe Paterno was involved in a cover-up surely means the Freeh report was wrong and should not have been used in place of a real investigation.
Most alumni know that there was not an integrity problem with the football program. The integrity problems are with the Penn State board of trustees, the NCAA and Mitchell
It seems to me that the BoT is throwing money around trying to clean their own reputation and not for the betterment of PSU. Do you think that any of them really read any of the articles dealing with this mess? A monetary moniter is needed to stop the throwing money away for useless inquiries.
ReplyDeleteThe BOT members get a daily e-mail from PSU Pubic Affairs that contains media articles about PSU. Letters to the editor are included in that e-mail. I'm sure some members read the daily slug, while others don't.
DeletePSU doesn't need a monetary monitor. PSU needs to get rid of the corrupt people on its Board.
AMEN!
DeletePerhaps the extra hours and $$$$ are a subtle incentive, dare I say bribe, to make sure that $enator Mitchell gives favorable reports and recommends an early dial back of the sanctions. If that is the case, lets all hold our noses, keep our hand on our wallets and hope for the best.
Delete"PSU needs to get rid of the corrupt people on its Board."
DeleteHow would you go about doing that? Is there a way to get rid of them besides the Governor replacing them?
I think arrests would be one way to do it. I don't need the governor to do that. In fact, I suspect the Governor might make the list of Trustees to be arrested.
DeleteNorthern Nit,
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't roll that way. Mitchell is committing fraud. He needs to go to jail.
The AG and Federal investigations will put an end to the NCAA Sanctions. We don't need Mitchell.
Ray
No that would sell a lot of newsprint (and advertising)! Forget DePalma, we need Spielberg to produce a mini series in order to capture the scope of this travesty.
Delete