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Expected Announcement Of Penn State's New President Postponed

By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Penn State community will not find out who their new president is as early as anticipated. The Board of Trustees has cancelled a special session that had been scheduled for Friday and is meeting in executive session instead. It's not clear when the new president will be announced.

The year-long selection process has been wrapped in secrecy and, thus, left open to conjecture. When the Trustees announced the special meeting, they said it was to discuss a personnel decision, which was taken to mean the hiring of the new president. Students and faculty were excited. They're anxious to move on from the difficult period launched by revelations of child sex abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. So there is surely some let down after the school announced on Wednesday that the meeting "has been delayed indefinitely to allow for further consideration on the matter."

Trustee chairman Keith Masser has said a confidential process is allowed by state law and "attracts the most qualified and desirable candidates" because it allows them to protect their current careers.

The next scheduled public Trustees meeting is November 22nd. The new president will replace Rodney Erickson, who took over after his predecessor Graham Spanier was implicated in covering up Sandusky's offenses.

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