New Penn State president says trustees knew of Sandusky allegations

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Penn State trustees were briefed by then-university president Graham Spanier about the child molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky weeks before his arrest, Penn State President Rodney Erickson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Erickson said the trustees were told in May or July, but that he didn’t know the meeting had taken place until after Sandusky’s November arrest, which led to Spanier’s resignation under pressure from trustees.

‘I have no idea, because I wasn’t there,’ Erickson said when asked how serious the allegations were characterized as in the briefing. ‘Nor did I know it was taking place.’

FULL COVERAGE: Penn State scandal

Erickson will be meeting with university alumni to answer questions in a series of town-hall meetings starting Wednesday.

‘The first thing they need to hear from me is that we’re not going to let the actions of one individual define who we are as an institution,’ he said.

Spanier stepped down and head coach Joe Paterno was fired in the wake of the allegations due to their inaction after being in told in 2002 by Mike McQueary, then a Penn State graduate assistant, that Sandusky had sexually abused a boy in a campus shower.

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-- Houston Mitchell