Spotlight PA, an investigative news group, is suing Penn State because the Penn State Board of Trustees chooses to meet behind closed doors repeatedly.
“The trustees met for hours on Jan. 16 for a ‘briefing’ on the matter — a gathering not previously disclosed to the public — and again Jan. 29 in ‘executive session,’ according to sources” who spoke with Spotlight PA.
“The meetings were held behind closed doors to avoid public discussions on the topic, the sources said,” according to Spotlight PA.
Excluding the public from board meetings violates the state Sunshine Law, which requires government-related bodies to deliberate and vote in public. The state annually provides Penn State with more than $300 million in funding.
Spotlight PA continued in a Feb 15 article:
A Penn State spokesperson wrote of the Jan. 16 gathering that “counsel conducted this privileged informational briefing and no deliberation occurred.” The spokesperson added that trustees discussed “confidential and privileged matters” during their Jan. 29 executive session and that the private meeting was legal under the law’s exemptions.
Discussing whether to name something after a former coach likely does not fall under any of the executive session requirements, said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, of which Spotlight PA is a member.
“The public is entitled to see how decisions are made, not just the final vote,” Melewsky said. “That’s why deliberation is expressly required to be public.”
Under Neeli Bendapudi, Penn State’s president, the university seems to have successfully evaded most transparency measures under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law.
Spotlight PA is suing in Centre County court, seeking an injunction that would force Penn State to follow the law for a change.
Keeping Mum
The circumstances surrounding Paterno’s firing in 2011 undoubtedly make Bendapudi and most of the university’s board of trustees squeamish of having this debate in the open.
It was part of the burgeoning Penn State Perjury Scandal – then known as the Penn State Sex Scandal or the Jerry Sandusky Scandal – where eight perjurers – all grown men – when they testified in 2012 – claimed Sandusky abused them when they were teens and preteens and collected millions for their yarns.
Firing Paterno
On November 9, 2011, Penn State Board Chairman John Surma publicly announced the firing of Paterno and was supported by his sycophant trustees. Penn State fired Paterno by phone after 46 years as a coach – and during the season. He was the winningest coach in college football history.
At that time, Sandusky (and hence Paterno) was technically innocent until proven guilty. That did not matter to anyone. The firing of the legendary coach put the imprimatur of guilt on Sandusky and Paterno.
Paterno died two months later at age 85.
Paterno was fired in 2011 for his alleged mishandling of a child sex abuse allegation in 2002.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General alleged that nine years earlier, a graduate assistant and former football player, Mike McQueary, told Paterno that he saw Sandusky raping an unknown 10-year-old boy in the Penn State shower room.
The way the prosecutors told it was that McQueary, who is 6’5″ and then 27 years old, ran away in utter cowardice, and did nothing to stop the 57-year-old naked Sandusky rape the little boy in the shower.
Allegedly, McQueary went to Paterno the next day to report it, and Paterno did nothing other than talk about it with his superiors.
(The prosecutors later changed the date from 2002 to Feb. 9, 2001. They further claimed they did not know who the boy was. He never came forward at the trial. McQueary also changed his story so many times the Sandusky jury did not know what to believe. They acquitted Sandusky on the only charge that involved Paterno.)
After Paterno’s death in January 2012, three university officials, including former Penn State President Graham Spanier, served short jail sentences on child endangerment charges. All were based on the bogus McQueary story.
Why Now Paterno?
Many at Penn State and the Commonwealth continue to admire Paterno, who brought two national championships to Happy Valley.
Joe Paterno led the Penn State Nittany Lions for nearly half a century, becoming the most victorious coach in major college football history with 409 wins. He was known for his emphasis on both athletic excellence and academic success among his players.
His admirers had generously donated to the university. Many stopped donating after Paterno was fired.
Know-Nothing Media
A certain local PA newspaper, whose reporters and editors know nothing about the facts of the Sandusky case, and are more interested in the Sunshine Law, thinks the lack of transparency at Penn State is about “the great toll that secrecy at Penn State has already taken on Sandusky’s victims, the university and Paterno’s legacy.”
The so-called victims…
Sandusky had no victims. He was the victim of a brace of liars (above) who cashed in for millions.
Reverend Knows Better
Reverend Joe Stains wrote a rebuttal to the media’s biased reporting on Sandusky. He referred to this matter in reply to the Scranton Times-Tribune, “Stop keeping secrets—publicly debate proposed Paterno honor.”
His rebuttal was published in the dailies in Johnstown, Altoona, and Sunbury, PA.
Paterno Discussion Needs Sunlight
Rev. Stains wrote:
Should naming Penn State University’s field after Joe Paterno be publicly debated? Absolutely.
Advocates have no reason to balk about this. The record shows that as soon as Paterno was told about the Jerry Sandusky shower episode, he contacted university authorities, and left it in their hands.
The newest NCAA requirements, revised in response to the Sandusky affair, require anyone suspecting sexual abuse to report it promptly to university officers and stop there, lest they be accused of tampering with the outcome.
Paterno’s actions were a model of the revised guidelines.
The shower episode was grounds for party-line condemnation of Paterno for egregious mishandling of allegations against Sandusky.
Yet the episode itself now appears to be a paper tiger.
On the night of the episode, eyewitness Mike McQueary was quizzed by mandated reporter Dr. Jonathan Dranov, who three times asked him if he saw anything sexual. Three times, McQueary said, “No.”
Dranov testified in court to this. The media didn’t report it.
At Paterno’s funeral, Franco Harris asked McQueary if he saw anything sexual in the shower.
McQueary said, “No.”
Harris recorded this in his podcast “Upon Further Review.” Again, there is no media coverage.
After the grand jury’s record was (illegally) leaked to the press, McQueary protested he was misquoted in the leak.
Prosecutor Jonelle Eshbach replied by email: “I know a lot of this stuff is incorrect, and it is hard not to respond. But you can’t.”
Candidates for egregious mishandling might include McQueary or Eshbach, but not Paterno.
I write to Spotlight PA
In light of this, I wrote to Spotlight PA reporter Wyatt Massey, who has been reporting on Penn State.
I wrote:
I have reported on the Jerry Sandusky case and have ample evidence of his innocence, not only on the fictitious charge of the rape of a 10-year-old boy in the shower room at Penn State (which was the basis of Paterno’s firing and of which charges the jury acquitted Sandusky), but also his factual innocence on all charges.
I believe some Penn State trustees privately know this, but fear public discussion. One brave trustee, Anthony Lubrano, is unafraid to tell the truth that Sandusky is innocent.
In the case of Penn State’s recent secrecy regarding “Paterno Field”, the growing evidence of Sandusky’s innocence may be a factor in keeping it quiet, even more than Sandusky’s “guilt” resurfacing.
The issue is that an innocent man is in prison. Penn State helped put him there, and as it went down in 2011-12, Penn State had a shocking lack of respect for due process – particularly the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” – and a more than immoderately inordinate lack of gratitude toward Paterno’s service to the institution.
The current motive of some at Penn State to revisit honoring Paterno – after his death – while they evidently dishonored him during the last months of his life – and name a field after him is not entirely generous.
Some want to name the field so that they can reactivate Paterno supporter-donors who stopped donating because of Penn State’s treatment of a man who helped build the institution, and others, seeing donations down, want to trot out his widow, Sue Paterno, for fund-raising.
Except for Lubrano, they forget Sandusky is still in prison and seemingly have little intellectual curiosity to investigate the possibility that Sandusky is innocent.
However, anyone who spent a little time investigating the evidence may well realize what I have: this should be called the Penn State Perjury Scandal, not the Penn State Sex Scandal. As Dr. Frederick Crews said – “the truth about Jerry Sandusky is exactly the opposite of what the public believes.”
Perhaps the Penn State Board is wise to meet in private so they don’t have to face any inquiries that could arise with Paterno discussions regarding the institution’s role in sending an innocent man to prison.
Feel free to quote me. If convenient, call me at 305-783-7083.
As Rev. Stains said, “No wonder Penn State prefers no public debate.”
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Frank, I applaud your noble, courageous, insightful reporting. May the truth set free this innocent man!
Hey, are you ready for some fun and fireworks? Then you’re invited to a party on my patio on the fourth of July! Come and join me and my friends as we celebrate America’s birthday with food, drinks, music, and games. We’ll have burgers, hot dogs, salads, soda, beer, and more. We’ll also have a DJ spinning some tunes and a karaoke machine for those who want to sing their hearts out. And of course, we’ll have a spectacular view of the fireworks show from my patio. It’s going to be a blast! So don’t miss out on this awesome party on my patio on the fourth of July. RSVP by June 30th and let me know if you’re coming. I can’t wait to see you there. Penn State Area
I agree. Penn state is more important than one man – Paterno or Sandusky. I study the case and it does seem Sandusky is innocent. But so what ? His life is almost over It is not Worth more than the health of Penn State.
By trying to free this old man you can bring disgrace on Penn State and The Commonwealth. We call it common wealth because we all share in each others wealth. We have to make sacrifices. It doesn’t matter at this point if Sandusky is innocent. That’s irrelevant. penn state is relevant. A judiciary that people respect is relevant. .
You are also evil. Sandusky’s innocence as well as Paterno’s, Curley’s and Schultz’s innocence is VERY relevant.
You are also a chomo
Why don’t you put yourself in prison and see how it feels and your reputation ruined you are a sick human being no one is worth this University that whole board should be ashamed and hopefully can not sleep with the guilt
PSU once distinguished itself by standing for “success with honor”. The honor is gone if an institution chooses to throw its most distinguished honorees under the bus to preserve its pristine “image”–an image which then becomes a falsehood. No. If it wants to regain its prestige with class, it must sacrifice to regain that honor. Do the right thing–or forever become one more parable for hypocrisy.
Scully, you are clearly a person of low intellect, and, a person of even lower moral fabric.
Commonwealth means common wealth? Like monetary wealth? Like we all share the money? Like the “victims” of the PSU tragedy shared the money?
The Penn State tragedy is that a totally innocent man has spent over a decade imprisoned.
Well, Scully-boy, hard times are coming. Your best option is to crawl back into your hole with your cell phone and lookup the meaning of Commonwealth.
At least he’s not a chomo
WHAT AN IDIOT!
The thing you people and especially this deplorable writer fail to grasp is that Penn State was at stake. That’s more valuable than whether one man is innocent or guilty.
For my money it is clear that the accusers lied but how could Ira Lubert or anybody stand up against the media.
Sandusky lived well off of Penn state and so he paid the price. Penn State is bigger than any one man. Dr Neeli is right to forget this issue. Sandusky is 80 he will die soon. Once he does nothing anybody can do can change things.
You are evil.
You’re a chomo
https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/Report/MdjCourtSummary?docketNumber=MJ-20301-CR-0000033-2023&dnh=%2FPuKUK0cwyZ73AtyE6yJHg%3D%3D
You are evil indeed.
of course you would remain ‘anonymous’ . That’s what evil sniveling cowards do. I hope you never have a loved one accused of things they did not do, fall victim to the corruption in the courts in our ‘commonwealth,’ and wind up in prison.
I agree you are evil
You are another sick person nobody absolutely nobody is worth a mans life and reputation so he is 80 let him out so he can enjoy his family without you ignorant people
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Where is Brandon Short? He claimed to have a master plan when he shamelessly endorsed Josh Shapiro (the man who put Graham Spanier in prison for doing absolutely nothing wrong). How does he sleep at night knowing he is in a position to help, but chooses to the path political cowardice? He’s 80 year’s old, rotting in prison, Speak up!
Brandon has been a disappointment to the alumni (I did not vote for him), and an inconsequential member of the BOT. He’s a blowhard. I hope he is not re-elected.
Frank, you have a remarkable talent for weaving together bits and pieces of information about this case into easy to read and understand ‘short stories’. THANK YOU! I hope every article brings many more supporters to seeing the truth. For this PSU alum, I am saddened that my alma mater has done such shameful things, but I am far more distressed that Sandusky is innocent and still imprisoned. Justice for Jerry!
Jane Miller, I agree with your comment. Thank you
Agree totally with your comment.
I have never heard of Spotlight PA but I’m going to be sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for a response to your letter, Frank. You covered everything “spotlight” on.