In the race for the stupidest rich guy in the United States

                                      ... Anthony Lubrano has to be in the running

I do not like to denigrate others, and I hate to be blunt, but Anthony Lubrano, who somehow was elected to the Penn State Board of Trustees, ranks right up there with the stupidest rich guys in history -- although Donald Trump is leading the United States in that category today. 

Let me give you an example of what Penn State is facing right now. Penn State is a 4.3 billion dollar operation with close to 100,000 students on 20 campuses. The school has been listed in the top ten research institutions in the country according to the National Science Institute, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in research contracts. The university also has a multi-billion dollar endowment.

The Penn State board of trustees hired a new president this week to take the helm in the spring. With all of the problems caused by the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal, new president Eric J. Barron will have a major role in attempting to do some image-repair work for the school. 

Barron brings a distinguished resume with him to Penn State, and some of it was burnished in Happy Valley. He worked there for 20 years as a professor of geosciences and then dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. He is currently the president at Florida State University. 

President Barron had to engineer Florida State through some negative publicity because of rape allegations that were filed last year against the school's quarterback, Jamais Winston. The quarterback was cleared of criminal charges and was named as winner of the Heisman Trophy. His team then won the 2013 national championship.

The important focus for Barron should be on the current students, along with the faculty, staff, alumni, and benefactors, building a promising future for everyone. He must also work to mend fences in Harrisburg with the politicians and the new governor the state will have next year after having horrible relations with the current one. 

Barron will have to make the case that Penn State is deserving of the state support after the school -- and public education as a whole -- has been denigrated by the governor's office over the past four years. The state contribution is a multi-hundred million-dollar situation, and that will be on his plate.  

Barron will also have to deal with unhappiness with the tuition increases that the school raised throughout the tenure of former president Graham Spanier, who, along with two other administrators, will be on trial in the near future in Harrisburg. They are accused of covering up the Sandusky scandal. That in itself will again draw attention to Sandusky. 

Current students want Penn State to turn away from the scandals of the past. That is what a marketing/pr professional said must be done in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. Their strategy is simple: Focus on the future, not the past (URL below).

So what does recently-elected Penn State trustee Lubrano say should be uppermost on Barron's agenda? Instead of focusing on those major areas for concern, Lubrano said this to the AP: "Without question, the first challenge he faces is tackling the issue of Joe Paterno. He and I will be having conversations, no question about it. And I will share with him what alumni all over the country will share with me. Unless and until we address the elephant in the room, it will be difficult for us to move full speech ahead." 

Lubrano has drawn a line in the sand regarding Barron: Either you capitulate to our demands, or we will make life difficult for you. That is what he was saying in those sentences. (There may be an animal in that room, but it will not be an elephant.) 

What Lubrano ignores is that the alumni contributions have continued to Penn State despite some alumni anger about handling of the Paterno firing. 

Barron is a smooth cookie. He did not navigate the waters that he has in his past without having those skills. The new president will have to face the Paterno conundrum at some point, but he is aware that no decision can be made until the trial of the PSU administrators takes place. 

The new president said this to the New York Times in response to questions from Lubrano et. al., “The wisest answer is to tell you to give me time, O.K.?” he said. “I watched all of his great strengths as a faculty member and as a dean and as someone who loves this institution, but in my view whatever we do, we have to make sure that we do it with a high sense of dignity and honor. And sometimes that takes time.”

That trial could be put on hold because of what the three -- Spanier, former AD Tim Curley, and former VP Gary Shultz -- argued in seeking dismissal of their charges in papers that were made public today. That could happen because of the problems caused by former PS legal advisor Cynthia Baldwin.

Baldwin said that she was defending all three during their grand jury testimony, but then testified against them before the grand jury. If that is not a conflict of interest, what is? 

So, Mr. Lubrano, Mr. Barron was duly elected by all members of the board. They have not drawn any lines in the sand, and that is how the board should act. Give Dr. Barron time.

Story about request for dismissals

<http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/02/penn_state_defendants_ask_judg.html#incart_river>

Marketing: Look to the future

http://www.triangleama.org/how-can-penn-state-university-rebuild-its-brand-after-sandusky/