Dog’s Eye View on Penn State: President Erickson, go deep… very deep.

The lyin' in the boardroom. Kind of like an elephant... but easier to hide.

Jeez oh Pete! I keep hearing the same questions about Penn State’s Board of Trustees: Who knew what? And When? Governor Corbett has stepped into the spotlight on the issue– but is he really the best choice to be our hero who will bring everyone to moral and legal justice? Methinks not.

Here’s the problem: Corbett is on the PSU Board of Trustees, and the Board is investigating itself. It’s a classic case of the bulldogs running the dogpound. It falls in line with the fact that for over 15 years, Sandusky has been molesting boys while Tom Corbett has been the top dog in law enforcement in Pennsylvania. That’s how the humans over at the Huffington Post put it.

Maybe the title of today’s post should have been “The Lyin’ in the Board Room…”

As reported on NewsLanc, there are a lot of questions surrounding the influence that Tom Corbett has on the PSU Board of Trustees. The big question is whether or not he– or anyone else on the board– is as “guilty” as Joe Paterno for their silence.

In an effort to answer this question, Jeff Cole, of Fox News, recently interviewed Corbett (excerpt below, link opens in new window). The evasive language employed by Corbett boggles even the most astute dog’s mind…

Consider the following exchange from the Philly’s Fox 29 News last night:

When Cole asked about why Corbett failed to do anything for 15 years, Corbett dismissed the point that he should answer questions altogether. This is a hallmark of a human who is hiding something. Corbett said, with rhetorical defense, “Could anybody guarantee that [Sandusky] wasn’t out there touching children? There are not such guarantees.”

The interviewer retorted, which completely frustrated Corbett, “You could have guaranteed he wasn’t touching children by making an arrest when you knew there was two or three victims.”

“You don’t know when we–you–you can argue with me all you want– We’re not going into details,” Corbett said, stumbling.

“Again, at some point you had victims, right?” Cole asked.

“I– I can’t go into what we had,” Corbett said.

Lips pursed and turned downward at corners, eyelids half-closed, head bowed, turned aside

PSU Interim President Erickson, it’s time to go deep! Corbett is the most senior government official on the PSU Board of Trustees, and he refuses to answer a direct question. At the very least, he has confirmed for many the often-repeated belief that Penn State operates on an impenetrable good ol’ boys network.

Penn State needs complete transparency from the Board of Trustees on this one, please. How Penn State handles its failure will be considered by the federal Department of Education and our regional accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. If there ever were a time for outcomes assessment, this is it!

As you know, President Erickson, outcomes assessment is crucial to no less than three of Middle State’s accreditation standards for higher education. As you know, internal planning for Penn State’s next institutional report needs to begin promptly because the next review is scheduled for 2014-15. As you know, students will not be able to receive federal money for tuition if Penn State loses its accreditation.

Show the world that Penn State still has integrity.

President Erickson, this week you sent an email to the entire Penn State body telling them of your five promises. You just promised Penn State’s community to accomplish a “moral imperative to do the right thing — the first time, every time,” and you promised “transparency to the fullest extent possible.” At the very least, you need to personally exercise your executive powers to develop an independent panel of humans who will investigate the inner workings of Penn State administration.

President Erickson, please don’t misunderstand me: All good dogs love Penn State. Therein lies the rub. Can we really trust Tom Corbett with the future of Penn State? Are your words just rhetoric? Will there be actual transparency?

Stills from Cole's interview with Corbett. This is not the body language of transparency.

I wrote earlier about the scapegoating of Paterno, which we know was influenced by Corbett to the point where ESPN reported right away that the next PSU President under consideration is Corbett’s industry and government friend Tom Ridge. And we all know that big industry and PA government go together well, right?

What’s really going on here, President Erickson?