Monday, July 6

An Open Letter to President Barron

Dear President Barron,

In the July/August 2015 (dead tree) edition of the Penn Stater magazine, you remarked:

"Nobody gets to see Penn State. They get to see Sandusky."

And then you asked:

"...how to get people to realize the number of compliments this institution deserves?"

The answer is quite simple.  

You and the unaccountable trustees must resign and let individuals who put the best interests of the University take over.  They will do what's necessary to restore the University's honor.

As the record shows, you flatly refuse to do so.

While you may have mouthed the words that the Freeh Report was "not useful to make decisions," you have agreed to stand by decisions made from it and live with the public relations that were generated.  

This is the record as agreed upon by the PSU BOT and the NCAA and as BELIEVED by the public:

Penn State "allowed Sandusky's serial child sexual abuse."  

The conduct of PSU officials was "egregious" and "amounted "to a failure of institutional and individual integrity far exceeding a lack of institutional control or individual unethical conduct."

Penn State had a "culture in which a football program was held in higher esteem than the values of the institution, the values of the NCAA, the values of higher education, and disturbingly, the values of human decency."


Barron has done nothing to correct the record
 on Sandusky and instead has contributed to it.
You have done NOTHING to correct that record and, in fact, have contributed to it.

You doubled down on the "lack of integrity" farce by committing Penn State athletics to  a new (unneeded) athletics integrity agreement with the NCAA.   

You also agreed to continue paying former Senator George Mitchell for positive public relations  disguised as monitoring.  Well, at least you now know that those payments for Mitchell's positive PR haven't amounted to jack squat.

And quite tellingly, when the BOT debated the issue of reviewing the Freeh Report, you sat in silence, holding your finger over your mouth.  

Silence.  There's been far too much of it.

When evidence surfaced in July 2013 providing that Louis Freeh lied about his discovery of the "secret file" of Gary Schultz, Old Main remained silent.

In September 2013, when Sandusky prosecutor Frank Fina publicly stated that he "did not find that evidence" in reference to the late coach Joe Paterno's alleged role in a cover-up, Old Main remained silent.

When the Moulton Report (p. 158) was issued in May 2014 and proved that the Penn State emails were not discovered by Louis Freeh, Old Main remained silent.

Was the silence a result of the embarrassment over an $8.5 million outlay for a fraudulent investigation and worthless report?  

Perhaps.  But then you made the situation worse by talking.

In April 2015, when asked about the return of the Paterno statue, you stated that there is a group of people who believe it should never be returned  "because of what they know."  Then you winked into the camera.

And you wonder why people still view Penn State and Joe Paterno as enablers of Sandusky's sexual abuse of children?

It is quite obvious that you and the unaccountable members of the PSU Board of Trustees (PSU BOT)  have put your self-interests ahead of the University's.

The PSU BOT won't correct the record because - among other reasons - it justifies their removals of Spanier and Paterno.

And you won't correct the record because you answer to the PSU BOT.

Quit whining, Dr. Barron.  

This is your Penn State.

18 comments:

  1. Just thinking out loud here, but what shouldn't be held in higher esteem than the values of the NCAA?

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  3. This needed to be said, and you say it better than anyone else could Ray. Your courage, tenacity, and tireless "never quit until the truth is known and the liars are exposed" attitude continues to inspire and galvanize the rest of us to stand with you until Penn State and JVP are vindicated.

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    1. Thanks, Carole.

      Keep up the fight. One of the main reasons I write this blog is to keep us in the fight.

      Luckily, there are times when the media does the job for me -- even if they don't do it as well as we would like.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for telling it like it needs to be told Ray. I am an alum and I agree with you that the board members need to resign and so does Barron because he is own by this pitiful board.

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    1. Gary,
      I have no expectation they will resign for the good of PSU. I do have hopes that they will be forced out by the Legislature for the good of PSU.

      Delete
  5. Puppet Barron dances to the beat of BOT leaders ( those who pay him ), a weak minded individual with no sense of right and wrong may do that. Why was Ken Frazier asked, during Corman case deposition, about any 'outside influence" in his decision to fire Joe Paterno? No one else was asked that. There seems to be a strong outside infuence in maintaining this entire charade. Up to Dec 1, 2011 Ken was expert at ridiculing pharmaceutical Merck victims in court, i.e. VIOX drug, but totally changed to victim advocate at Penn State. No trial or court time for any of these Snadusky 'victims' in the handing out the many millions. Fascinating. Ken became Merck CEO just 22 days after Paterno is fired. Job well done?

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    1. Thanks, fj,
      Amazingly, Ken Frazier "forgot" all of his legal training when he said the firing wasn't about "right or wrong in a legal sense." It is unfortunate that the Paterno family didn't hire an employment attorney immediately and file a lawsuit. They would have won easily.

      As for an outside influence, I think we all know who that was.

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    2. Noting that Keith Masser's and Kenneth Frazier's depositions proved that the Board defamed Paterno posthumously in March 2012 by lying about him being fired for "failure of leadership," the Paterno family should consult an attorney about legal action against Penn State.

      If Sue Paterno is reluctant to sue Penn State, she should consider it a form of cancer surgery or a root canal. You have to cut through healthy tissue to remove cancer, and drill a tooth to remove decay. She can always sue Penn State, prove the University (as represented by the 11/9/2011 Board) guilty in court, and then donate to Penn State the judgment minus attorney fees and costs. The money could go to create a mandatory freshman leadership ethics course to help avoid the production of ethically defective graduates like Peetz, Frazier, Surma, and so on.

      Delete
  6. Outstanding! Hired by the same people who have sent PSU down the drain. It has never seems to amaze me how the B continues to make such outlantish mistakes. But then again they continue to make outlandish statements. When do you think that the Alumni will rise up and say "enough is enough". I will continue to read as much as I can about the direction that the B is taking PSU as I will always be a loyal alumni.

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    1. Bob,
      The B's "mistakes are not by accident" -- they're intentional. They have been that way since May 2011.

      Delete
  7. Very well done, as usual, Ray. Perhaps it’s my “educator” bias, but Barron’s interview had lots of words that said little. He seems to think if he talks a lot and uses plenty of big words everyone will think he’s a hero. I was struck with his response to the question about Paterno and the “not so Freeh report”. One comment about Sandusky, then off and running about other issues. Nothing about Freeh or his promise to fully vet the report. Very disappointing interview but I’m not surprised.

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    1. Jeff,
      Thanks for your comments. Barron is much like many of the folks who polish seats with their brains at the BOT meetings. He's not as smart as he thinks he is.

      Delete
  8. I just forwarded this page to Barron and the BOT:

    I don’t agree that President Barron should resign despite his two serious errors in judgment—participating in the “hands up” demonstration that effectively and falsely accused a police officer of shooting a suspect who had surrendered, and his public attack on the alumni Trustees—but he does need to work quickly to restore the trust and respect he destroyed through the latter action. I think he can still make a good President if he does that, noting his excellent ideas for holding down the costs of a Penn State education.

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  9. Perhaps FSU was one step ahead of PSU when opting to change Presidents!

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  10. How many "errors" is he entitled to? when will he respond?

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