Pennsylvania auditor general recommends post-Sandusky changes at Penn State

HARRISBURG - As a consequence of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual-abuse scandal, Pennsylvania State University must break down "a culture that shunned transparency," state Auditor General Jack Wagner said Wednesday.

Following up on recommendations he made in July, Wagner released his office's complete report on changes he says the university must make to be accountable and ensure that complaints like ones against Sandusky do not go unheeded. The state Attorney General's Office has charged three high-ranking university officials, including former president Graham B. Spanier, with covering up such complaints.

Among Wagner's recommendations: Remove the university president from the board of trustees; make the university subject to Pennsylvania's open-records law; and shrink the board from 32 to 21 voting members.

"We are not claiming that implementing our recommendations would have prevented the horrific actions that occurred," Wagner said at a news conference in the Capitol. "Even so, we are convinced our recommendations, if implemented, will reduce the potential that similar breakdowns in human character will remain undetected for decades."

Penn State spokesman David La Torre said that the university was reviewing the report and that it "welcomes input."

In his 124-page report, which compared Penn State with 81 other educational institutions, Wagner and his auditors found that aspects of the university's governing structure dated back decades and were problematic.

For instance, as Penn State's top administrator, the president reports to the board of trustees. But he also serves on the board and, as its secretary, controls the flow of information to other board members.

That creates a conflict and concentrates too much power in one person, said Wagner, who recommended that the president be removed from the board.

Penn State's board also is much larger than those of other public universities reviewed. The governor, now a voting board member, should remain on the board but without a vote, the report recommended.

Board members' term limits also should be nine years, Wagner said. Limits now are 15 years for current members (with exceptions) and 12 years for trustees who join after July 2013 (also with exceptions).

Penn State - a public land-grant university that receives hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding and support - should also be subject to the state's Right-to-Know law, Wagner said. State-related schools such as Penn State are exempt.

"Our intent is not to give Penn State another black eye," he said. "Rather, our intent is to correct structural deficiencies in governance, of which there are many."