Penn State Board of Trustees to Alumni: Drop Dead
- Thread starter PSUFTG2
- Start date
Brandon Short... what happened to this guy? Did he sell out to the establishment?
I’ll make this simple. What will substituting say 6 clones do? What is it that 20-some like minded, like-qualified people can’t do that adding 6 more will magically unlock?
Do they really think they get everything exactly right? If so, who cares if there is a stray dissenting vote along the way under the status quo? If they don’t, and they know it, I’ll tell you from experience that that naive-sounding question from the peanut gallery - the folks that aren’t overtrained to think alike - is what usually gives you a fresh start at solving the problem. Frankly the ***** in that room are too focused to see what the true problem even is half the time. I bet they jump straight into solutioning without knowing what they’re trying to do way too often.
Do they really think they get everything exactly right? If so, who cares if there is a stray dissenting vote along the way under the status quo? If they don’t, and they know it, I’ll tell you from experience that that naive-sounding question from the peanut gallery - the folks that aren’t overtrained to think alike - is what usually gives you a fresh start at solving the problem. Frankly the ***** in that room are too focused to see what the true problem even is half the time. I bet they jump straight into solutioning without knowing what they’re trying to do way too often.
We saw the “expertise” of the B&I trustees at work in November of 2011, which could be generously described as complete vocational incompetence.
Apparently what they needed was more insularity.
Not until PSU becomes insolvent.
The power bloc is tired of the alumni-elected trustees being a thorn in their side. They want to exercise their agenda with ease. Currently, they get what they want but with the “annoyance” of the alumni-elected trustees sideshow. So, they will eliminate the sideshow.
More trustees who smell like them. None who smell like us.
Believe 2026 is the most recent target to eliminate the operating budget deficit. Let's see.So, 2025? 2026?
Remember, there is a reason Schuyler lost his job with Hilton.
And spend your money elsewhere. I trust this BOT to spend my money--like a drunken sailor. I do not trust them to spend it wisely. But we'll never know as it all is under "The Cone of Silence" (tm). Anyone who asks questions is put under "double secret probation".The Penn State civil war is over. The bad guys won. I feel bad for the hard core rebels who are like the Japanese soldiers who kept fighting WW2 into the 1970s. They won, we lost. Forget about PSU governance and spend time volunteering somewhere. I promise you it will be a lot more fulfilling.
Wow. I bet you are one that believes we should give blindly to NIL as well? You must not be an alumna/alumnus?
No....Joe gets fired, and a bunch of old crankers finally realized this University actually has a Board of Trustees. Up until that point, no one really cared that much.
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I would disagree Barry has a lot more people engaged than used to be.... What we are all are seeing is beyond disappointing frankly a disgusting dictatorship that wants to stay behind closed doors with no accountability and transparency yet telling everyone that their goal was to be more transparent than ever before a number of years ago. This is why so many have chosen to donate their money to other places than PSU. Soon PSU will be rivaling the U.S.A. for the largest amount of debt that they can't pay off.
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Just totally AMAZING to know that Purdue University has ONLY 9 (nine) Trustees, plus one student trustee.
Evidently proficient and expert in their career and able to offer the best advice and counsel to the University.
Nine - 9 .... plus one student appointed by the Gov. .... evidently this number works very well !
No, Brandon, you absolutely vote against the entire package if there's something in there that isn't right. You vote it down and re-draw the bill. If that line would have instead said 'no former PSU football players allowed on the Board', would you have voted against it? Of course you would have. I thought you were taught better with 'Success with Honor'.View attachment 619815
Penn State Board Of Trustees Alters Election, Conduct Codes
With new bylaws, the board will be able to decide who can run for alumni seats and can punish those who speak against board decisions.onwardstate.com
View attachment 619817
Former players just don’t make good stewards -period. There would/could be a notable exception here and there (Franco for example if he ran) but can anyone name the last player who did anything productive? Taliaferro? Short? Nassib? Some hope for McGloin but probably doesn’t matter anymore.
Precisely. The best he could come up with is the lower number of signatures for nominating petitions (something he argued against in committee) and some vague crap about enabling the Board to work better with technology and student affairs. Guess he needs more padding for his resume'.
Rucci's tenure was so memorable that it's rightly forgotten. Then there was Steve Garban..........
Some amendment proposals I put forward (with more context provided to the Board) that Board leadership (in violation of Robert's Rules) refused to allow to be brought up for individual voting by the Board:
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I must somehow be missing those sections of the amendments that, as Brandon Short maintains, improve the Board's workings with technology and student affairs.
To the couple people that think my stance has anything to do about Joe, stop. If our rankings — no matter how imperfectly they’re derived — haven’t been tanking (all while serving fewer PA kids, at least on a % basis), I would not feel so strongly. But blowing thru billions on new facilities and getting a crappy return on it begs some questions.
It’s about time the state and the university come together to figure out how to train and creating talent that works in-state at a higher rate.
It’s about time the state and the university come together to figure out how to train and creating talent that works in-state at a higher rate.
To expound on your point a bit --
There have been former athletes/football players on the BOT for a very long time. Among others... Jesse Arnelle, Steve Garban (who actually realized the grave mistake the BOT was making in Nov. 2011), Dave Joyner (I think?), Paul Suhey -- all on the BOT well before Nov. 2011. As was Ira Lubert, who was a PSU wrestler.
As mentioned, football players Todd Rucci was a B&I BOT member, Bob Capretto is currently a B&I BOT member, and of course now we have Jay Paterno, Brandon Short, Matt McGloin, Carl Nassib, all from football, and Ali Kreiger from soccer. I've probably missed a couple, as this is off the top.
Former varsity athletes have an easier path the BOT seats due to name recognition and relative popularity. I've been guilty as charged there as well by voting for a number of them. Doesn't make them better suited to advise and help govern a $10B entity, but here we are. Capretto may be an exception here, as he was an Orthodontist who became a a multi-millionaire through his financial investment career and savvy.
And now, we apparently don't even want them to ask anything except the softest of softball questions in public, and probably get scolded behind closed doors if they dare to do so there. (They risk being sent to the nerdy kids' table in the lunchroom if they don't comply with the Mean Girls' Rules of Order).
They might be doing the most bang-up job we could ever imagine, but without transparency and accountability, we just won't know for sure. Telling and expecting us to trust them, and us actually buying that, is mind boggling to me. The lack of courageous leadership that steers this ship, and apparently has for a long time, and now banishing all doubters of their omnipotence, is sad and infuriating. I give Barry credit for raising his hand, knowing he will have it slapped by 2 dozen people.
Rucci was a Tom Corbett appointment stooge…nothing more…
I am trying to make up for the opportunities I missed by being the one Son to NOT go to Catholic Elementary school.
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Then you aren’t paying attention. Shame on you.
According to the gossip going around Facebook and X (see Kevin Horne) that's not the reason.
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Explains why his parachute was less than golden.
Read more. Whine less.This current crap fest with the BOTS has nothing to do with Joe.
You should read more and whine less.
Doesn’t Aaron Burr say this in Hamilton?
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What happened with Joe happened. He's dead. Has been for some time. All of the admins and BOT folks who handled this are gone (some are also no longer with us). As much as I can, I've made my peace with it. The one thing it did was make me a bit more skeptical than I once was.
This stuff is from a completely different BOT--though they are acting in many of the same ways. My objections to their actions are in the here and now--not in the past. You can't change the past. But you can address the present. And it s*cks. I am more ashamed of Penn State now than I was in 2011, as bad as that was. You know, if they actually knew what they were doing as far as running a university goes, it wouldn't be quite as bad. But they think they do--and the facts seem to indicate that they don't. They know how to take over an institution, but they don't know what to do when they do. Rankings are down and costs are up. The average middle class PSU student can't afford to go there--and in fact it seems that TPTB want more out of state students so they can get more fees to try to stay solvent. Were I a student now, I'd never have been able to go to Dear Old State. I'd have ended up at Buck U (Bucks County Comm. Coll. for those who do not know the joke) or Temple. Maybe Princeton (yeah, I know that sounds odd, but they do give scholarships and my dad was out of work my first two years and I was quite academically qualified).
This stuff is from a completely different BOT--though they are acting in many of the same ways. My objections to their actions are in the here and now--not in the past. You can't change the past. But you can address the present. And it s*cks. I am more ashamed of Penn State now than I was in 2011, as bad as that was. You know, if they actually knew what they were doing as far as running a university goes, it wouldn't be quite as bad. But they think they do--and the facts seem to indicate that they don't. They know how to take over an institution, but they don't know what to do when they do. Rankings are down and costs are up. The average middle class PSU student can't afford to go there--and in fact it seems that TPTB want more out of state students so they can get more fees to try to stay solvent. Were I a student now, I'd never have been able to go to Dear Old State. I'd have ended up at Buck U (Bucks County Comm. Coll. for those who do not know the joke) or Temple. Maybe Princeton (yeah, I know that sounds odd, but they do give scholarships and my dad was out of work my first two years and I was quite academically qualified).
Joe Paterno’s Speech to the BOT following his first National Championship
Delivered January 22, 1983 (29 years, to the day, before he passed away)
“I very much appreciate those words. You know this is the first Board meeting I have ever been to in 33 years so if I look a little shocked and scared, bear with me, I really do appreciate this. I would hope maybe on this occasion since I’ve never addressed a Board meeting, to maybe share some thoughts with you as to where we are and what I hope we can get done here at the University. It pleases me, obviously, to happen to be part of the Number One football team. I am pleased also that it happened at this time in Dr. Oswald’s career that he could leave feeling that he finally got it done. Having been a former coach, he knows how tough it is to get on top of the pile and everything else. It pleases me in a lot of ways. But after having said that, and I’m going to be very frank with you, and I may say some things here that maybe I should not, but it does give me an opportunity to tell you how I feel and what I want to do and what kind of contributions I’d like to make to this institution as I stay on. You know, obviously, all of us are disappointed in the newspaper reports that some of our academic departments are not rated very high. That bothers me. It bothers me to see Penn State football be Number One and then to pick up a newspaper several weeks later and we find we don’t have many of our disciplines rated up there with the other institutions in the country. I want to share just a couple of things with you and I hope you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
“I think this is a magic time for Penn State. Dr. Oswald has said this, and I have felt it, and I think he is probably more attuned to it than anybody. There has never been a time when Penn State has been more united or proud. Now maybe it’s unfortunate that it takes a Number One football team to do that. I don’t think we can lose the opportunities that this moment presents to us, and I don’t mean in athletics. I’m not even concerned about the athletic aspects of where we are, I think we can handle that and make sure that we can maintain the kind of teams that you people like to see and you can be proud of and identify with the type of students and the type of football players we get. But I think we have got somehow to start right now. I think Dr. Oswald came to us at a time that we absolutely had to retrench in some areas and he has done a magnificent job for us. I for one want to thank him for what he has done for intercollegiate athletics. We would not be Number One in athletics if it had not been for his cooperation. Every time I ever went to him he never said no to me. I’d like to be on record as having said that. Maybe once in a while there has been somebody in between us that has not presented my case accurately, but anytime I have had an opportunity to sit with him and discuss some things that we needed, he’s never said no to me. I don’t think we’d be where we are if it hadn’t happened that way. But I go back to a fact that we are in a national situation that I have never felt as I have felt now.
“I have been all over the country in the last few weeks. I have been in Florida, been in California, I’ve been in airports in Chicago and Atlanta, you name it, and I’ve been there recruiting and doing some other things trying to capitalize on the position that you have when you’ve had success and trying to make some corrections in what we have and the abuses of the intercollegiate program. Some of the thoughts that I have expressed–and I don’t mean to make this a testimonial of Dr. Oswald–but he was one of the people that came up with the ideas that we had to raise the level for scholarship. He was one of the Council of the American Council of Education, one of the select committee, that came up with the standards that we proposed out on the Coast and I’ve gotten a lot of publicity for having made some speeches out there, but it was Dr. Oswald and some other college Presidents who got together and proposed those standards. But everywhere I’ve gone I’ve heard nothing but, ‘boy, Penn State, Penn State, what a great bunch of people, what a great institution,’ and all of those things.
“So we do have a magic moment and we have a great opportunity, and I think we have got to start right now to put our energies together to make Penn State not only Number One, but I think we’ve got to start to put our energies together to make this a Number One institution by 1990. I don’t think that’s an unfounded or a way-out objective. I think we need some things. I talk to you now as a faculty member. I talk to you as somebody who has spent 33 years at Penn State, who has two daughters at Penn State, who probably will have three sons at Penn State, who has a wife that graduated from Penn State, who has two brother-in-laws that graduated from Penn State, and I talk to you as somebody I think who knows a little bit about what’s going on. Who has recruited against Michigan, Stanford, UCLA, who has recruited against Notre Dame, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard and who has had to identify some things that they have that are better than we have and has had to identify some of our problems. I talk to you as somebody that I think knows a little bit about what’s going on in the other guys, and I think a little bit about what’s going on here. We need chairs. We need money so that we can get some stars. We need scholarship money. We need scholarship money to get scholars who can be with the stars so that the stars will come in and have some people around that can stimulate them and they can be stimulated by the stars. We need a better library–better libraries would be a better way to put it–so that the stars and the scholars have the tools to realize their potential. We need an environment of dissent and freedom of speech and freedom to express new and controversial ideas. Basically, this Board is in a lot of ways reactionary because you are more conservative than anything else. That is not a criticism of you as individuals, but I think that’s a fair criticism of The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees for the 33 years that I have known them going back to Jim Milholland who was acting Chairman and President when I first came. We need more controversy, we need more freedom, we need more people to come to us with different ideas, we need more minorities. I am constantly fighting the battle, ‘we don’t have enough blacks; we don’t have enough minorities’ everywhere I go, and I don’t have the answers to it, but I’m giving you some impressions. We can’t be afraid, too reactionary to new and disturbing ideas; however, we can’t do some of the things all at once. I think that Dr. Oswald and the new President and Ted Eddy, our Provost, have got to sit down–I’m probably not speaking in turn, I’m probably way out of whack, I’m probably on a page that I probably shouldn’t be on but I feel so strongly about it I want to say it–to sit down and put down some priorities. We have some excellent departments. And I know because when I get out in the field we have some excellent departments that can be absolutely outstanding in a relatively short time. We also have some departments that are absolutely lousy and we have lazy profs who are only concerned with tenure and only concerned with getting tenure for some of their mediocre colleagues.
Delivered January 22, 1983 (29 years, to the day, before he passed away)
“I very much appreciate those words. You know this is the first Board meeting I have ever been to in 33 years so if I look a little shocked and scared, bear with me, I really do appreciate this. I would hope maybe on this occasion since I’ve never addressed a Board meeting, to maybe share some thoughts with you as to where we are and what I hope we can get done here at the University. It pleases me, obviously, to happen to be part of the Number One football team. I am pleased also that it happened at this time in Dr. Oswald’s career that he could leave feeling that he finally got it done. Having been a former coach, he knows how tough it is to get on top of the pile and everything else. It pleases me in a lot of ways. But after having said that, and I’m going to be very frank with you, and I may say some things here that maybe I should not, but it does give me an opportunity to tell you how I feel and what I want to do and what kind of contributions I’d like to make to this institution as I stay on. You know, obviously, all of us are disappointed in the newspaper reports that some of our academic departments are not rated very high. That bothers me. It bothers me to see Penn State football be Number One and then to pick up a newspaper several weeks later and we find we don’t have many of our disciplines rated up there with the other institutions in the country. I want to share just a couple of things with you and I hope you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
“I think this is a magic time for Penn State. Dr. Oswald has said this, and I have felt it, and I think he is probably more attuned to it than anybody. There has never been a time when Penn State has been more united or proud. Now maybe it’s unfortunate that it takes a Number One football team to do that. I don’t think we can lose the opportunities that this moment presents to us, and I don’t mean in athletics. I’m not even concerned about the athletic aspects of where we are, I think we can handle that and make sure that we can maintain the kind of teams that you people like to see and you can be proud of and identify with the type of students and the type of football players we get. But I think we have got somehow to start right now. I think Dr. Oswald came to us at a time that we absolutely had to retrench in some areas and he has done a magnificent job for us. I for one want to thank him for what he has done for intercollegiate athletics. We would not be Number One in athletics if it had not been for his cooperation. Every time I ever went to him he never said no to me. I’d like to be on record as having said that. Maybe once in a while there has been somebody in between us that has not presented my case accurately, but anytime I have had an opportunity to sit with him and discuss some things that we needed, he’s never said no to me. I don’t think we’d be where we are if it hadn’t happened that way. But I go back to a fact that we are in a national situation that I have never felt as I have felt now.
“I have been all over the country in the last few weeks. I have been in Florida, been in California, I’ve been in airports in Chicago and Atlanta, you name it, and I’ve been there recruiting and doing some other things trying to capitalize on the position that you have when you’ve had success and trying to make some corrections in what we have and the abuses of the intercollegiate program. Some of the thoughts that I have expressed–and I don’t mean to make this a testimonial of Dr. Oswald–but he was one of the people that came up with the ideas that we had to raise the level for scholarship. He was one of the Council of the American Council of Education, one of the select committee, that came up with the standards that we proposed out on the Coast and I’ve gotten a lot of publicity for having made some speeches out there, but it was Dr. Oswald and some other college Presidents who got together and proposed those standards. But everywhere I’ve gone I’ve heard nothing but, ‘boy, Penn State, Penn State, what a great bunch of people, what a great institution,’ and all of those things.
“So we do have a magic moment and we have a great opportunity, and I think we have got to start right now to put our energies together to make Penn State not only Number One, but I think we’ve got to start to put our energies together to make this a Number One institution by 1990. I don’t think that’s an unfounded or a way-out objective. I think we need some things. I talk to you now as a faculty member. I talk to you as somebody who has spent 33 years at Penn State, who has two daughters at Penn State, who probably will have three sons at Penn State, who has a wife that graduated from Penn State, who has two brother-in-laws that graduated from Penn State, and I talk to you as somebody I think who knows a little bit about what’s going on. Who has recruited against Michigan, Stanford, UCLA, who has recruited against Notre Dame, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard and who has had to identify some things that they have that are better than we have and has had to identify some of our problems. I talk to you as somebody that I think knows a little bit about what’s going on in the other guys, and I think a little bit about what’s going on here. We need chairs. We need money so that we can get some stars. We need scholarship money. We need scholarship money to get scholars who can be with the stars so that the stars will come in and have some people around that can stimulate them and they can be stimulated by the stars. We need a better library–better libraries would be a better way to put it–so that the stars and the scholars have the tools to realize their potential. We need an environment of dissent and freedom of speech and freedom to express new and controversial ideas. Basically, this Board is in a lot of ways reactionary because you are more conservative than anything else. That is not a criticism of you as individuals, but I think that’s a fair criticism of The Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees for the 33 years that I have known them going back to Jim Milholland who was acting Chairman and President when I first came. We need more controversy, we need more freedom, we need more people to come to us with different ideas, we need more minorities. I am constantly fighting the battle, ‘we don’t have enough blacks; we don’t have enough minorities’ everywhere I go, and I don’t have the answers to it, but I’m giving you some impressions. We can’t be afraid, too reactionary to new and disturbing ideas; however, we can’t do some of the things all at once. I think that Dr. Oswald and the new President and Ted Eddy, our Provost, have got to sit down–I’m probably not speaking in turn, I’m probably way out of whack, I’m probably on a page that I probably shouldn’t be on but I feel so strongly about it I want to say it–to sit down and put down some priorities. We have some excellent departments. And I know because when I get out in the field we have some excellent departments that can be absolutely outstanding in a relatively short time. We also have some departments that are absolutely lousy and we have lazy profs who are only concerned with tenure and only concerned with getting tenure for some of their mediocre colleagues.
Continued...
“Alright, now I’m telling you how I feel about it and I may be all wet. But I’ve dealt with all of them, and a lot of these latter groups. Some of these people in the latter group would make Happy Valley Sleepy Hollow if we let them. It’s certainly not invigorating. We’ve got a new President and I think that he and Dr. Oswald need to sit down and have to probably make some tough decisions.
“Pirandello, the brilliant Italian playwright–I suppose brilliant and Italian is redundant–wrote a play ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’, in which the characters of an unfinished play come to life and then they try to finish the play. Well, I believe that Penn State has not necessarily all of a sudden come to life. That would be an unfair criticism of all of the great things that have been done here in the 33 years that I have been here. But I think it’s more alive today than at any time in 33 years that I’ve been here. I think it’s well organized, and I think it’s got thrust and wants to pursue. It’s alive but it’s looking. I think we are not looking for bricks and mortar–and most of you people are businessmen–and we are not looking for GSA money. I think we are looking for the soul of this institution. The soul may be an overstatement, but I’m not sure I’m overstating the case. I think we’re literally looking for a soul. Who we are, what we are, and I think that basically comes down to soul. We need to find out soul. We need vibrant, aggressive, brilliant teachers and scholars. We have some, but we don’t have enough of them and that’s why we need chairs. We need to give them the resources to grow and the freedom to challenge some of the old ideas and old conceptions that have made this country backward in a lot of ways, and have made this state the one with the highest unemployment of any state in the northeast part of the country.
“I’m a football coach. I sit down with my staff and I look at our schedule and our squad and we say this is what we want to do and this is what we can do. And then we set priorities and make decisions as to how we can achieve our objectives. We put a plan together and we stick with it. We don’t jump from one plan to the other and we bust our butt to get it done. And that’s what has to be done with Penn State in the ‘80s. We can’t wait. It would be nice to say we can wait and in three years put together a major fund-raising campaign. We can’t wait. I am only telling you that as somebody who’s in the field. We can only hold up our finger as Number One for six more months and then we have to play the game again and we may not be Number One. Six short months to capture this magic moment. We have got to raise $7 to $10 million bucks as far as I’m concerned in the next six months or we are going to lose some things and an opportunity we have. How do you go about raising $7 to $10 million is somebody else’s concern. I’m willing to help in any way I can. We need $7 to $10 million in the next six months to get us the impetus that we need because we don’t want to lose it. I think we’ve got to take this magic moment and stick it in a jar and we’ve got to preserve it until we open it up in 1990.
“Dr. Eddy, the other day at an alumni meeting down at Pittsburgh where we had over a thousand people in Allegheny County. Stan was there and some of the others were there and the next night we went to Westmoreland County where we had over 580 people and they turned away 300 people. There is a great group out there right now wanting to get involved in it. Dr. Eddy said it the other night better than I can. He said, and he almost sounded like a football coach, we have a great chance and challenge to make our University Number One in many areas and in coming together to do it we may find out we will have as much fun doing it as we had fun doing it in New Orleans. It was a very moving speech and it hit home. I have had a lot of people come to me wanting to know how they can help. I said to you I have given 33 years, two daughters, and probably three sons to Penn State. I am ready to help where I can to make “Number One” mean more than when we stick that finger up it’s only football. We are losing a great President; we’re starting a new era. As Jim Tarman said the other night, we are fortunate that where we are that we’ve been able to get there our way. We’ve not cheated, I mean not deliberately, you never know with that thick rule book. We’ve done it with people who legitimately belong in college. We’ve set a standard in one area that I think created a challenge for us to reach in all of our areas. You are the people who are going to have to help us do it. There are a lot of us that want to get on with it.
“So, thank you very much for this wonderful resolution. I’m moved. I think you know how much I love this institution and how much I appreciate what it has meant to me and my family for 33 glorious years. 33 years of a great love affair that I have had with this place in this town. I have no regrets. I’m only anxious to get on with some other things to make it even bigger and better, not in a sense of size, but in the context of quality and influence in this country and in some of the things that I think it’s important for a major institution of this size to do. So, thank you very much. I hope I didn’t bore you with it too long.”
“Alright, now I’m telling you how I feel about it and I may be all wet. But I’ve dealt with all of them, and a lot of these latter groups. Some of these people in the latter group would make Happy Valley Sleepy Hollow if we let them. It’s certainly not invigorating. We’ve got a new President and I think that he and Dr. Oswald need to sit down and have to probably make some tough decisions.
“Pirandello, the brilliant Italian playwright–I suppose brilliant and Italian is redundant–wrote a play ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’, in which the characters of an unfinished play come to life and then they try to finish the play. Well, I believe that Penn State has not necessarily all of a sudden come to life. That would be an unfair criticism of all of the great things that have been done here in the 33 years that I have been here. But I think it’s more alive today than at any time in 33 years that I’ve been here. I think it’s well organized, and I think it’s got thrust and wants to pursue. It’s alive but it’s looking. I think we are not looking for bricks and mortar–and most of you people are businessmen–and we are not looking for GSA money. I think we are looking for the soul of this institution. The soul may be an overstatement, but I’m not sure I’m overstating the case. I think we’re literally looking for a soul. Who we are, what we are, and I think that basically comes down to soul. We need to find out soul. We need vibrant, aggressive, brilliant teachers and scholars. We have some, but we don’t have enough of them and that’s why we need chairs. We need to give them the resources to grow and the freedom to challenge some of the old ideas and old conceptions that have made this country backward in a lot of ways, and have made this state the one with the highest unemployment of any state in the northeast part of the country.
“I’m a football coach. I sit down with my staff and I look at our schedule and our squad and we say this is what we want to do and this is what we can do. And then we set priorities and make decisions as to how we can achieve our objectives. We put a plan together and we stick with it. We don’t jump from one plan to the other and we bust our butt to get it done. And that’s what has to be done with Penn State in the ‘80s. We can’t wait. It would be nice to say we can wait and in three years put together a major fund-raising campaign. We can’t wait. I am only telling you that as somebody who’s in the field. We can only hold up our finger as Number One for six more months and then we have to play the game again and we may not be Number One. Six short months to capture this magic moment. We have got to raise $7 to $10 million bucks as far as I’m concerned in the next six months or we are going to lose some things and an opportunity we have. How do you go about raising $7 to $10 million is somebody else’s concern. I’m willing to help in any way I can. We need $7 to $10 million in the next six months to get us the impetus that we need because we don’t want to lose it. I think we’ve got to take this magic moment and stick it in a jar and we’ve got to preserve it until we open it up in 1990.
“Dr. Eddy, the other day at an alumni meeting down at Pittsburgh where we had over a thousand people in Allegheny County. Stan was there and some of the others were there and the next night we went to Westmoreland County where we had over 580 people and they turned away 300 people. There is a great group out there right now wanting to get involved in it. Dr. Eddy said it the other night better than I can. He said, and he almost sounded like a football coach, we have a great chance and challenge to make our University Number One in many areas and in coming together to do it we may find out we will have as much fun doing it as we had fun doing it in New Orleans. It was a very moving speech and it hit home. I have had a lot of people come to me wanting to know how they can help. I said to you I have given 33 years, two daughters, and probably three sons to Penn State. I am ready to help where I can to make “Number One” mean more than when we stick that finger up it’s only football. We are losing a great President; we’re starting a new era. As Jim Tarman said the other night, we are fortunate that where we are that we’ve been able to get there our way. We’ve not cheated, I mean not deliberately, you never know with that thick rule book. We’ve done it with people who legitimately belong in college. We’ve set a standard in one area that I think created a challenge for us to reach in all of our areas. You are the people who are going to have to help us do it. There are a lot of us that want to get on with it.
“So, thank you very much for this wonderful resolution. I’m moved. I think you know how much I love this institution and how much I appreciate what it has meant to me and my family for 33 glorious years. 33 years of a great love affair that I have had with this place in this town. I have no regrets. I’m only anxious to get on with some other things to make it even bigger and better, not in a sense of size, but in the context of quality and influence in this country and in some of the things that I think it’s important for a major institution of this size to do. So, thank you very much. I hope I didn’t bore you with it too long.”
