FanPost

Graham Spanier Can Go To Hell

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/01/report-penn-state-trustees-knew-of-abuse-claims/1?csp=34news

As President of the University, it was Graham Spanier's job to vet the risk that the GJ investigation posed to the University once it became known that University Officials were being questioned as part of the investigation. It was then his job to present to the board his findings, and recommend and implement an appropriate course of action. He did both of these things...and failed miserably.

Based on what we know today, the reason PSU looked so disorganized and unprepared in it's response to this crisis is not because of gross incompetence on behalf of the BoT. It shouldn't be their job to step in and manage a crisis as it unfolds; that job falls squarely on the shoulders of the President. This is like asking Congress to manage the day to day of a military campaign. No, the reason PSU went off half cocked and in an ad hoc fashion is because the man who should have been leading the charge screwed the pooch and totally missed the risk that this posed.

Look at tOSU. The school president is taking the lead in managing that PR crisis, not the BoT. We should have seen Spanier out in front of this, coordinating the message, and he should have had a plan ready to implement within 10 minutes of the story breaking. Because he failed to appropriately understand and prepare for this crisis, the BoT had to fill the void on the fly, and when you do things on the fly you make mistakes. That's why JoePa's retirement-then-firing wasn't coordinated to be executed in a more dignified fashion, and that's why they stupidly made that press announcement at 10pm.

Ladies and gentlemen, we hate the BoT because they are the face of the abysmal response by PSU to this crisis. They made mistakes, and handled it like they had no idea what they were doing. But they appeared this way, and were put in this position, by Graham Spanier and his complete failure to lead the University in his capacity as President.

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