It should come as no surprise that the Sandusky affair is not fully over. It appears that some of the Pennsylvania State University trustees believe that the report on the affair may not have represented them fairly or accurately. Clearly, "good name" perhaps even over responsibility is a serious matter for nonprofit board members. But more importantly, as nonprofit board members are the "surrogate" owners on behalf of the public, if board members truly fail, they should certainly not continue to remain as board members. Core to their duty of care is the responsibility to respond when wrongs have been done. And of course, not demonstrating their innocence leaves board members, severally (individually) and wholly (all together) liable for deeds that resulted in serious harm when performed on the member's watch. So, these members have a personal stake in clearing their name. Let's hope that they have the same level of personal responsibility for seeing that acts of harm can be avoided and/or acted upon (when identified) as soon as what has happened is known.
Seven Pennsylvania State University trustees followed through Monday on a promise to take legal action to obtain documents from a report on former coach Jerry Sandusky's child sex abuse.
The trustees' petition, filed in Centre County, argues state law grants a nonprofit's board members access to any records reasonably related to the performance of their duties. The trustees argue the university was harmed by the report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, which concluded that former administrators, including longtime head coach Joe Paterno, failed to act when they learned of Sandusky's abuses. The report also criticized Penn State's culture of reverence for the football program as a factor that insulated Sandusky. The petition described the report's conclusions as "subjective, hyperbolic, and sweeping."
The documents requested are being withheld to protect people who provided information to the Freeh report investigators with a promise of confidentiality, university president Eric Barron said in a statement Saturday.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20150421_Penn_State_trustees_sue_to_get_Freeh_report_documents.html#jBH5Bp2eI4RZFA8e.99