Penn State trustee member announces resignation

The fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal continued Thursday as former Penn State board of trustees chairman Steve Garban announced his resignation. He is the first trustee to resign following the former defensive coordinator’s arrest last year.

Garban has been criticized for his actions in the months leading up to Sandusky’s arrest in November. An internal investigation conducted by former FBI director Louis Freeh determined Garban withheld information from other board members regarding a grand jury investigation of Sandusky in the months before his arrest.

Garban, a 1959 Penn State graduate who worked at the university for 33 years, faced numerous calls from board members and alumni to step down.

The internal investigation revealed that some board members felt Garban was too close to fired university president Graham Spanier, who notified Garban of the Sandusky grand jury investigation in April 2011.

“Some trustees thought Garban’s history of being previously employed at Penn State, where as [senior vice president] he reported directly to Spanier, hampered his ability to lead the board,” the report said.

According to Freeh’s report, Garban said Spanier did not believe anything would come from the grand jury investigation. As a result, Garban said he did not tell his fellow trustees what was going on since he did not believe criminal charges would be filed against Sandusky.

Garban resigned as board chairman three days after Sandusky’s Nov. 5 arrest and a day before the firings of football coach Joe Paterno and Spanier.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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