PHILADELPHIA — When Eric J. Barron became president of Pennsylvania State University in 2014, he walked into one of the toughest jobs in higher education at the time.
The university community, including the board of trustees, was bitterly divided over the school's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal that started in 2011 and led to the ouster of the former president and the legendary football coach Joe Paterno.
Then in 2017, sophomore Tim Piazza died after a booze-fueled fraternity party that led to lengthy legal proceedings and an overhaul of the Greek system. Penn State successfully pushed for an anti-hazing law and opened the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform.
