PSU's trustees were told of probe

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Pennsylvania State University trustees were briefed by then-President Graham B. Spanier about a grand-jury investigation of child-sex-abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky months before his arrest, university president Rodney Erickson said Tuesday.

Erickson said he did not attend the briefing, which he said took place in May or July while he was provost, nor was he told it had occurred until after Sandusky's November arrest blew up into a national media firestorm and Spanier resigned.

The briefing is likely to fuel further questions about what university leaders, including the trustees, knew and did in the months after the investigation came to light last spring.

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

Erickson's comments were part of a hour-long interview on the eve of three meetings with alumni, many of whom are angry at how the university and board handled the Sandusky case.

During the interview in Old Main on Penn State's main campus, Erickson, 65, told the newspaper that he intended to step down as president after his employment contract ends in June 2014 and that a national search would be conducted for a successor.

Erickson spoke of the importance of the university's alumni, who have the chance to ask him questions directly during three town hall-style meetings: Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Thursday in King of Prussia, and Friday in New York City.

"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.

Erickson pledged a more open administration than those before his. To buttress that assertion, he and the university released some details of his employment contract and compensation. His contract includes a base annual salary of $515,000, with the possibility of more through performance bonuses.

Erickson took office in the wake of the arrest of Sandusky, who faces 52 criminal counts stemming from alleged sexual abuse of boys spanning more than a decade.