PSU board leadership asks Lord to resign immediately
Leadership of Penn State University’s board of trustees apparently is not satisfied with trustee Albert Lord’s decision this week to forgo a re-election bid following controversial remarks he made about about Jerry Sandusky’s victims.
The board’s leaders issued a joint statement savaging his remarks and urging Mr. Lord to step down now. It was signed by chair Ira Lubert and vice-chair Mark Dambly.
It reads: “Trustee Al Lord’s remarks about the brave victims of Jerry Sandusky were offensive and embarrassing to the majority of the members of the Penn State Board of Trustees, the university community and all victims of sexual assault,” the board leadership said.
“We strongly condemn them. Members of this Board must hold themselves to a higher standard and represent our university with respect for all.
“While Mr. Lord has publicly announced he no longer intends to run for re-election to the Board, he should do the right thing and step down immediately.”
The statement, released by the university Thursday afternoon, follows a furor over comments Mr. Lord made to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the day after former Penn State president Graham Spanier was convicted last month of a misdemeanor count of child endangerment.
In an email to The Chronicle, the alumni-elected trustee and former chief executive of the student lender Sallie Mae, was quoted as saying:
“Running out of sympathy for 35 yr. old, so-called victims with 7 digit net worth,” Mr. Lord said. “Do not understand why they were so prominent in trial. As you learned, Graham Spanier never knew Sandusky abused anyone.”
Mr. Lord’s current term on the board expires June 30.
Mr. Lord could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
His reported comment was part of a series of extreme public statements in recent days that continue to reverberate around a scandal involving the school’s response to sexual assaults by Sandusky, a former assistant football coach serving a prison term for attacks on boys, some on the University Park campus.
The scandal that enveloped the university after his November 2011 arrest led to the departure of university leadership and the firing of the late football coach Joe Paterno.