Penn State alumni opinions show highs, lows

A new survey shows strong and growing support for Penn State from its broad network of alumni.

The Penn State Alumni Association has polled the university’s grads since 2012, as Nittany Lions grappled with the administrative changes, legal ramifications and public relations fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

“It’s important that we continue to proactively gauge the connection our alumni have to their alumni association and their alma mater,” said President Kevin Steele. “This survey offers us a lens through which we can better understand what our alumni think as we work together to support the university and engage the wider Penn State community.”

The most recent poll, conducted in December with a group of 1,294 respondents, showed overall positive feelings at a four-year high of 87 percent, up from the low point of 81 percent in December 2012.

For a university famously accused of having an obsessed football culture, the highlights stressed by the alumni had little to do with sports.

The survey asked for the top words and phrases that came to mind when hearing the words Penn State. Education and academics took first place with 43 percent, followed by various descriptions of the campus and environment at 34 percent and involvement at 29 percent. The university’s reputation came in at 26 percent.

Athletics, including football, took sixth place in the poll.

Downsides came in at 11 percent, with the scandal at 4 percent and the issues surrounding late longtime head coach Joe Paterno, who was dismissed after Sandusky’s arrest and died two months later, at 8 percent.

Drilling down into good and bad points, 74 percent felt the university was on a good track, up 12 percent from the last survey. Fifty percent credited academics for that feeling, up 13 percent. School focus was the high point for 24 percent, up by seven.

Overall handling of the scandal was 19 percent, down three from 2014, but how the university addressed the issue and took responsibility was 12 percent, double the year before.

Examples of being on the wrong path were just 26 percent total, a 10 percent drop. Almost all of the individual bad points, like general direction or tuition cost, fell. Only one general negative rose, a perception that the university is too liberal or political, up two points to 3 percent.

Problems with the board of trustees fell to 13 percent from 18 last year.

What is on the rise is how much people say they trust the trustees for information about the school. In May 2012, only 13 percent gave the board high marks in that area. The latest survey puts that number at 26 percent. The administration is also at a five-survey high of 41 percent on that question, but both current students (at 54 percent) and faculty and staff (62 percent) are seen as better sources of information.

“The strength of Penn State alumni and their clear commitment to quality and excellence in education and all endeavors is remarkable and clearly evident in this survey,” said university President Eric Barron. “These attributes, along with our alumni’s expressed support for the university’s mission and priorities, will help propel us forward to even greater heights. The alumni feel the university is moving in the right direction, and I couldn’t agree more. We are partners in progress.”

The study also took the temperature of the alumni as donors, finding 58 percent say they were likely to contribute to the university in coming years, up 2 percent from last time and tying the 2013 survey for a high water mark. That will be tested as Penn State is gearing up to begin a new capital campaign, coinciding with a new strategic plan.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Penn State alumni opinions show highs, lows."