Penn State Board of Trustees to Alumni: Drop Dead.

"We need ‘the right kind’ of people on the Board." ​Trustee Naren Gursahaney

Penn State Board of Trustees Chair Matt Schuyler. (Photo credit: Penn State)

For 149 years, Penn State alumni have been able to elect their own representatives to the Board of Trustees. Yesterday 24 trustees, including alumni-elected trustees Carl Nassib and Brandon Short, voted to abolish that by adding a new internal ‘nominating committee’ to decide which alumni trustee candidates will appear on the annual election ballot. 

What will be the judging criteria? Nobody knows, but we’re assured by Board leadership that whatever they decide will be great.

The remaining six alumni-elected trustees: Ted Brown, myself, Christa Hasenkopf, Ali Krieger, Anthony Lubrano, and Jay Paterno (Matt McGloin was not present) voted against this new rule and host of other equally egregious ones included in the amended bylaws.

I am very proud of the work the six of us did to try and convince the unelected trustees to not pass these new bylaws. We all spoke eloquently about our faith in our fellow alumni to elect good trustees who would represent us well on the Board, and the contradictions and problems present in the new bylaws (read the motions I filed before the meeting here). But I am deeply saddened by the actions of the majority of the Board, whose attitude was summed up best by Trustee Naren Gursahaney’s statement, in trying to justify why alumni should not be trusted with free and open elections: “We need the right kind of people on the Board.”

I quickly voiced my objection: “Your statement is chilling. And I feel could be construed by alumni as condescending, and arrogant.”

Now based on the new rules, Board leadership may view this statement as me expressing my disagreement publicly and remove me from the Board, banned for life, and ineligible to run for trustee again, ever (Sections 2.02 c and 2.03 c). One trustee asked for anonymity last night when speaking to OnwardState for their excellent article, citing fear of  Board retaliation for public dissent.

For many years, the Executive Committee has made no secret of their disdain for the alumni. They want your money, they want you to buy branded merchandise, but most of all they want you to be silenced. Today they took a very big step towards accomplishing just that.

I have given this a lot of thought, and have come to a decision. I was honored to be elected by my fellow alumni to do one job: protect the interests of our university as a fiduciary. I will continue to do that job for as long as they want me to, and I will do it with robust dedication. Because that is my job, and my duty. I take that seriously.

Further, I am immensely fortunate to have been born in the United States, which has a First Amendment protecting free speech. Any governing document that tries to take away that right from a member is illegal. For raising issues, requesting information I am entitled to, and trying to engage my fellow trustees in honest deliberation I have been stripped of committee assignments, issued a Letter of Censure from the Executive Committee, and had my social privileges revoked*. I have had to file a lawsuit to gain access to that information.

If my lawsuit is successful, large sections of the new bylaws will be shown to be illegal; specifically Sections 2.02, 2.03, and 2.04 that greatly restrict a trustees access to information, and sets up some trustees as gatekeepers who decide which trustees will get the information necessary to fulfill their fiduciary duties, and which will not.

Lastly, I put my faith in the judiciary system of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which states clearly their statutes (Title 15, Section 5512(a) specifically) govern the Penn State Board of Trustees and not the 24 ‘C-Suite’ executives—their label, not mine—who are sure they know who ‘the right people’ are, and who aren’t.

*They even told me to leave a social event at a public restaurant, but that’s a story for another day.

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As a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, I will from time to time be made aware of certain confidential information.  I will also engage with Trustees and administrators in private, off-the-record conversations, with the expectation of privacy on both parties. I take these expectations seriously, as they are required in order to catalyze important discussions.As a fiduciary, it is also important that I engage in conversations with all stakeholders of the University. Stakeholders like you.  Discussions will involve publicly available information and issues before the Board, as well as my personal thoughts, concerns, and ideas. I also will continue to solicit your thoughts, concerns, and ideas, and plan to engage in meaningful conversations with you on those topics. I hope that you will continue to share your concerns and ideas with me at barry@barryfenchak.com.