Former Penn State President Graham Spanier will return to the university’s flagship campus this month to host a presentation and signing event for his latest book.
Spanier’s event will take place 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, inside the Penn State Bookstore on the ground floor of the HUB-Robeson Center. There, he’ll discuss and sign copies of his memoir, “In The Lions’ Den: The Penn State Scandal and a Rush to Judgment,” which largely centers on the former university president’s life and career amid the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
According to its website, the book “reveals how and why the university and many individuals, including Spanier himself and legendary football coach Joe Paterno, were unfairly targeted in a colossal miscarriage of justice.” The book, released in September, is available for purchase through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Audible.
A 12-minute audio sample of the 512-page book’s prologue is available online.
Spanier’s stop at Penn State marks one of the latest legs of his memoir-related speaking engagements. He’ll visit Altoona on Jan. 24 before heading down to South Carolina and Florida through mid-February. Previously, he brought his book tour to Pennsylvania locales like Scranton, Johnstown and Williamsport, plus several appearances in State College last fall.
Spanier served as Penn State’s 16th president from September 1995 until he resigned on Nov. 9, 2011, in the wake of the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. He was first charged in 2012 and convicted in 2017 on one misdemeanor count stemming from his handling of a 2001 report about Sandusky, a former assistant football coach and Second Mile charity founder, with a boy in a campus locker room shower. More than a decade later, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.
Spanier served 58 days of his 60-day sentence in the Centre County Correctional Facility in the summer of 2021. He was released on Aug. 4 before entering two months of home confinement, plus 200 hours of community service.
Today, Spanier is a consultant in national and international security, intelligence and risk management, according to his website. He previously taught courses on human development and family studies, sociology, demography and family and community medicine at Penn State.
According to the university, Spanier retired from his tenured position at Penn State. However, he retains his title as president emeritus and remains listed in the university’s online directory.
A university spokesperson said Penn State had no further comment on Spanier nor his upcoming event on campus.
Most charges filed against Spanier were dropped or dismissed following years of court battles leading up to his trial. The former university president was found not guilty on a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child, which alleged a “course of conduct” for not reporting Sandusky, as well as a felony conspiracy charge.
Former athletic director Tim Curley, as well as Gary Schultz, Penn State’s former senior vice president, both pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment charges in 2017 and each served short jail sentences in Centre County later that year.
Sandusky, meanwhile, was convicted in June 2012 and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in state prison. In 2019, a different judge sentenced Sandusky to the same prison term following an appeal. Sandusky has maintained his innocence and repeatedly sought an appeal of his convictions and a new trial, though a federal judge has put that process on hold.
Sandusky is currently serving his prison sentence at SCI-Laurel Highlands.
