Seven years removed from the first Penn State alumni trustee election (2012) that was influenced by the formation of Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, we are both proud and dissatisfied in the impact of our efforts. Having democratically removed all nine of the 2012 incumbent alumni-elected trustees over a three-year period, we are proud that an engaged alumni community rallied to replace them with those whose overarching commitment has been to truth and transparency. Collectively since 2012, alumni-elected trustees have pressured the NCAA, fought for governance reform, exposed the university’s false Sandusky narrative, challenged internal conflicts of interest, and most recently, petitioned the court to review the evidentiary basis of the Freeh Report’s conclusions in an effort to have it formally repealed. We are disappointed because, since 2012, inside the boardroom, those alumni-elected trustees – in their quest for truth and transparency -- have been marginalized, stonewalled and excluded, further illuminating gross deficiencies in Penn State’s governance. Alumni-elected trustees were nine of 30 voting members back in 2012. Today, they are nine of 36. No matter how important – or righteous – their stance, it is a sobering reality that they lack the leverage to rectify the disastrous consequences of the 2011/12 board’s crisis mismanagement. It is even more disheartening that newer trustees – business and industry, agriculture, at-large -- have been unwilling to address the immoral and unethical board decisions related to the Sandusky crisis that have unnecessarily cost Penn State more than a half billion dollars and immeasurable reputational harm. As we look toward our eighth trustee election since the Sandusky scandal, we are confident that alumni are united in selecting individuals who will continue to work to complete our unfinished business. We’ve all been through the process enough times to know who is working for truth and transparency and who is not; therefore, we will not be endorsing candidates in 2019. PS4RS will, however, continue its watchdog role, and work to compel our state lawmakers, recognizing that they have the ability and authority to repair Penn State’s unhealthy, cloistered governance that had, for decades, operated unchallenged before our awakening in 2012.
