Posted on 04/10/2013 6:34:55 AM PDT by FlJoePa
When thousands of Penn State alumni members woke up Wednesday morning, they would have found an email directing them to vote in the alumni trustee election.
They will find, if they missed the billboards, election signs or ads, they can select up to three candidates from a crowded field of 39.
Among them: lawyers, accountants, a few of the twentysomething crowd, a bunch who ran last year and some newcomers this year.
Wednesday started the first day for voting in the highly competitive and much-anticipated race, and alumni can vote as late as the morning of May 2. Voting is open to any alumnus, and anyone who did not receive a ballot automatically can write to bot@psu.edu.
The seats that are up for election belong to incumbents Paul Suhey and Stephanie Deviney, both of whom sought re-election amid continued alumni furor over the trustees’ decision-making on issues such as the firing of head football coach Joe Paterno or the acceptance of the Freeh report.
The third seat has remained vacant since Steve Garban stepped down last year.
Last year, more than 37,000 alumni voted — the highest total ever for an election that typically saw most of the voters coming from Centre County.
Now, since the Jerry Sandusky scandal turned Penn State on its head and some alumni have had the board of the trustees under the microscope, the interest has exploded.
Candidate William Oldsey has signs through State College, with a bunch in the median of Martin Street and a bigger one on state Route 45 heading toward the Old Fort.
The candidates have been stumping, making trips to and from State College to square away some details or to meet with groups.
Candidate John Mason was visiting this past weekend, and his friends Larry and Molly Snavely hosted a gathering at their College Township home. Mason was a longtime professor and administrator in Penn State’s College of Engineering before taking a job as the research dean at Auburn University in Alabama.
Richard Bundy, of Burlington, Vt., came to campus for a meet-and-greet at the Nittany Lion Inn in late March.
Barbara Doran, a wealth manager in Manhattan, will be in town Wednesday at The Autoport from 5:30 to 7 p.m. with fellow candidate Oldsey.
Doran and Oldsey both got endorsements from Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, the grassroots group of alumni that has been highly critical of the university leaders decisions related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal fallout.
The group, which goes by the acronym PS4RS, also endorsed Edward “Ted” Brown.
Doran and Oldsey also got public support from freshman trustee Anthony Lubrano, and David Paterno.
Former state Senate leader Robert Jubelirer was endorsed by Lubrano and was among the initial six candidates that the members of PS4RS were considering for their formal endorsement.
But for the 30-plus candidates who have not had their names bandied about by the PS4RS or some of the possible movers and shakers in the Penn State alumni community, they are not discouraged and have set out with websites, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. Some have hired public relations specialists to help them.
Candidate Sandy Sanderson, of Pittsburgh, said he has “serious concerns” about what the group wants in a trustee. He said he is fearful of a board that is too set on battling the NCAA over the sanctions and reinstating Paterno.
“It seems to me that their emphasis largely lies in finding candidates who are outraged in how Paterno was treated,” Sanderson said. “While I agree with them that the BOT needs complete turnover, what I want from a trustee is someone who is going to make effective decisions regarding the university as a whole.”
Candidate Fred Riefkohl, of Annapolis, Md., was not selected by PS4RS for one of the group’s endorsements, and he said those who were should be honored to receive support from their fellow alumni.
He expects candidates will need at least 5,000 votes to win a seat, and he has been reaching out to alumni, most of whom he said never voted in prior elections.
“In fact, they didn’t even know how to vote. Every new alumni I bring to the process adds a vote for me but also brings two more votes to the process. Those votes are available for fellow candidates to tap into. In other words, I see the increased participation of new candidates as a win-win for everyone involved, not a negative.”
Others have made it a point to be where the action is.
Several were on campus for the ballot drawing in February, such as Pratima Gatehouse, Ted Sebastianelli and Doreen Schivley.
Last month’s trustee meeting in Hershey saw a bunch of candidates, such as Sebastianelli, Harrisburg lawyer William Cluck and Christopher Owens.
Doran and Oldsey were in Harrisburg Tuesday for Penn State’s annual lobby-the-lawmakers event called Capital Day, and they had meetings in the afternoon with lawmakers such as state Sen. Jake Corman. Doran and Oldsey said fellow candidate Jubelirer, the longtime senator, helped get them in.
Suhey and Deviney face an uphill battle.
Suhey, a local orthopedic surgeon, has gotten into a war of words with the Paterno family and some of his fellow Nittany Lion lettermen.
The son David Paterno did not include Suhey in his endorsements and said the former player was not close with the former coach’s family.
Suhey said he was disappointed in the Paterno family’s “continued personal attacks.”
For Deviney, she risks being a board officer who could not be re-elected. She is the board’s vice chairwoman, who typically goes on to become the next board leader.
In an interview with the Centre Daily Times in February, Deviney said she has taken time to talk face to face with angered alumni. She said they might agree to disagree on some of the issues that have polarized the board from some of the alumni community.
The winners will be announced May 3 during the trustees meeting at the University Park campus. The winners will be sworn in at the next meeting in July, at the branch campus near Uniontown, Fayette County.
Mullaly (#28) Oldsey (#36) Doran (#22)
To the 11-11 b.o.t. members - we'll move on when you move out. You have proven your incompetence over and over again. Deviney and Suhey must be defeated.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who recognizes the importance of these races.
Here in Michigan, about half the republicans who voted for Romney, even bothered to vote in the college elections.
I’m a PSU alumni and I have received no e-mails about trustee elections. Ever. I can’t recall ever having received any e-mails from PSU about anything-—even requests for money.
Here in Michigan we have statewide votes for Board of regents seats at UofM and MSU.
Three Alumni positions are at stake and voting takes place from April 10 until 9am on May 2. All alumni are eligible to vote, regardless of donation history or membership in the Alumni Association. You should receive a ballot automatically if you are a member of the Alumni Association or have contributed to the Penn State Fund in the past 2 years. If not, simply request a ballot by emailing BOT@psu.edu with:
First and Last Name (maiden name if applicable)
Year of Graduation
College/Major, and
Current Home Mailing Address
Not even a mention of the Michael Mann scandal. I wonder what candidates would win if they promised to “clean up” the academic misconduct?
Mann is a liar and those that support him are the same - liar academia schmucks. However, the University is in the midst of a struggle so important, so intense, and so far reaching, that Mann doesn’t even register as an afterthought.
And, no this has very little to do with football. It has everything to do with the CEO’s of Merck, US Steel, BNY Mellon, and others putting THEIR business interests above all else - including their alma mater.
Something we in Florida do not get to do....vote for our schools BOT...and only recently have individual universities been allowed their own BOT. UCF (who will play at PSU in Sept) has the largest undergrad enrollment in the USA
Good that you all have choices w your BOT. PSU needs to stand up to the NCAA...and support the Paterno family. Anyone following the NCAA the NCAA the past few months know how corrupt they are
We only get to vote in 9 elected alumni seats. The other 23 are basically inside appointees. THAT is hopefully going to change as well, as PS4RS (and other groups) have been very effective in lobbying the state legislature to reform this mess.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.