The Penn State Board of Trustees held a conference call Thursday in order to update the members of the charges filed against former Penn State administrators, including former President Graham Spanier, university spokesman David La Torre wrote in an email.
Trustee Anthony Lubrano wrote in an email that the call took place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
The reason for the call, Lubrano wrote, was to inform the board of Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly’s announcement in regard to charges filed against Spanier and added charges filed against former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Interim Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz.
The board did not discuss the charges in detail on the conference call, trustee Betsy Huber said.
La Torre said he cannot comment further on the subject.
Spanier is facing perjury, child endangerment, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges, and Curley and Schultz were additionally charged with endangering the welfare of children, obstruction of justice and the conspiracy to commit the crimes they are charged with, according to Kelly’s announcement.
Both Curley and Schultz were charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse last November.
“The timing of these charges seems rather curious to me,” Lubrano wrote. “Hopefully, the decision to file the charges just days before the election was not politically motivated.”
He wrote that the presentment should not be immediately accepted, citing the presentment made last November which he said contained “gross inaccuracies.”
“We are all entitled to due process,” Lubrano wrote.
At the press conference where charges were announced, Kelly said these charges are a result of uncovering more information from the ongoing investigation.
“This is not a mistake, an oversight or a misjudgment,” Kelly said at the press conference Thursday. “This was a conspiracy of silence by top officials at Penn State, working to actively conceal the truth with total disregard to the suffering of children.”
The Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet on November 16, according to the website.
Curley, Schultz will appear in Harrisburg on Friday afternoon for their preliminary arraignment. Spanier will be arraigned on Wednesday.
Penn State officials could not provide further comment “out of respect for the legal process,” according to a press release.
